This message was preached by Lasya V via zoom at Word Of Grace Church on Feb 7th,2021. for the audio please click here.
FIRST LOVE
Last week Manesh brought such a
timely word to us about the importance of belonging to God and to one another.
He spoke about the urgent need to stay connected in right relationship to God
and to one another, to stay in biblical fellowship and the first way we can do
that is by receiving God’s love and he quoted this verse from 1 John 4:19 – We love because He first loved us.
This stirred up in me the theme
of First Love that has been on my heart for several months now. There is
another place in the bible where this phrase is used. In Revelation 2: 2-5 - ‘I know
your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with
those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are
not, and found them to be false. 3 I know you are enduring patiently and
bearing up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary. 4 But I have this
against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember
therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at
first.”
I want to draw out 3 principles
for our life from this passage – especially verse 4.
1. The principle of priority.
a.
God’s
first love - God’s first love: 1
John 4:19 – We love because He first
loved us. Ephesians 1:4-5 “even as he
chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us[b] for adoption to himself as
sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will”
Have you ever made a vision board for yourself? What
do you put in there first? (Dad’s house analogy) Psalm 139: 16 ““Your eyes saw
my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days
that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them” To confirm
that our names were sealed with him before the foundation of the world it says
in Revelation 13: 8 “and all who
dwell on earth will worship it (speaking of the beast, the devil), everyone
whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book
of life of the Lamb who was slain.”
b.
God’s first command – Deut 6:4-5 “Hear, O Israel:
The Lord our God, the Lord is one 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” In fact when Jesus
was asked to sum up the ENTIRE law this is what he said in Matthew 22:37- 38 “You shall
love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all
your mind. This is the great and first commandment.” This is the command –
to seek first his kingdom, to first love him. First love is not puppy love but
priority love. To love is to be set apart – holy! Put him first in your day,
your tithes, your love.
2.
The
principle of remembrance
a.
God’s
Remembrance – 168 times in the bible
i. Lev
26:42 “then I will remember my covenant
with Jacob, and I will remember my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with
Abraham, and I will remember the land.” Does God remember because he tends
to forget? Does he have a bad memory from having always existed? No, he’s
omniscient, he knows everything! But for God to remember a covenant means he
will bless us in accordance with his promises. Genesis 30: 22 “Then God
remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb”.
ii. Then
again, the Bible also says that he will not remember some things. In Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake,
and remembers your sins no more.”
iii. It
is in the nature and character of God to remember His covenant and forget about
our transgression. Knowing this David cries out in Psalm 25:7 “Remember not the
sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love
remember me, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!”
b. What are we called to remember?
i. God’s
call to remembrance is not to look back but to look up. Remember from where you
have fallen. It is not meant to be in derision – it is a call back to first
love. Remember God, his nature, his love, his covenant, his sacrifice.
ii. The
first command to remember that comes to mind is of course the communion. In 1 Corinthians 11: 24 – 25 “This is my body, which is for you. Do this
in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper,
saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you
drink it, in remembrance of me.” We are called to remember the new covenant
in Jesus’ blood as often as we eat bread and drink wine. That’s pretty often,
isn’t it?
iii. But
this is not a new testament command – in Exodus
20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to
keep it holy” Numbers 15:40 “So you shall remember and do all my
commandments, and be holy to your God.”
iv. Why
is it important that we remember according to God’s word? What can our
remembrance do? Numbers 11:5-6 “We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that
cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.
6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna
to look at” Do you remember what happened to them? The whole generation
died without seeing the promise land. There is a remembrance that leads to
death and a remembrance that leads to life that is why God says in Colossians 3:1-2 “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on
things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds
on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now
hidden with Christ in God.”
v. On
the other hand, Joshua 4:6-7 “When your children ask in time to come,
‘What do those stones mean to you?’ 7 then you shall tell them that the waters
of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it
passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones
shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever.” It is important what
we remember in accordance with His word. What are the memorials in your life? What
are you remembering daily? What is in the forefront of your mind?
3.
The
principle of returning
Returning/
repentance has to do with our heart and it is a gift from God. It is the
rerouting system of our spirit. God had never had to repent of anything because
primarily, repentance is the means for us to access right belonging with God.
Jesus has never had to do that but since we are born in Adam we are born with a
sinful nature, and repentance is the only way we can adjust that relationship
with God. Peter shared the glorious gospel to thousands – with great boldness
and filled with the spirit. The people were impacted – they were cut to the
heart but realise that being impacted or touched by a message is not the same
as repentance. There is something we need to do with it. So Peter says in Acts 2:38 “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for
the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Now, repentance for salvation is a onetime thing. But there is a repentance
that is ongoing. If we are always in step with the Spirit, we will not have to
repent that much… but when we sometimes let the flesh lead, we take wrong
turns, and need to repent. There are 2 things that repentance does apart from
the forgiveness of sins:
i. It returns us to intimacy with God. Malachi 3:7 “Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.” God
is not one to punish us by withdrawing himself when we are broken. He gives
grace to the humble.
ii. It refreshes us - Acts
3:19 “Repent, then, and turn to God,
so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the
Lord” Matthew 11:28 “Are you weary, carrying a heavy burden? Then
come to me. I will refresh your life, for I am your oasis.”
Our response – is to follow Jesus’ example
1. Cultivate a secret life with God- Mark 1:35 “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he
departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.” Matt 6:6 “But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your
Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you”.
2. Let his interests become your interests
– John 2: 13 – 17 “The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and
Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found those who were selling
oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. 15 And making
a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen.
And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.
16 And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make
my Father's house a house of trade.” 17 His disciples remembered that it was
written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.””
At another
gathering, in Matthew 12: 48-50 he
says “While he was still speaking to the
people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to
him. 48 But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are
my brothers?” 49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said,
“Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father
in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.””
When the zeal
for His house consumes us, we are able to set our houses straight. There are a
million things demanding our attention from the second we wake up, but the
right order of priorities will return to our lives when we put him first.
3. Remember God’s promises and His covenant
– don’t look back, look up. Pay attention to what you remember, what is in the
forefront of your mind and heart. Is it the way people let you down, is it the
way you let God down sometimes, is it guilt, is it shame, it is pride or
offense, what occupies your mind most of the time? Take time to remember what
is true, write it in your journal, every time you eat, remember Jesus, in your
waking, your lying down, remember his promises and his steadfast love, his
faithfulness… Deuteronomy 11:18- 21
““You shall therefore lay up these words
of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on
your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach
them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and
when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 20
You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 that
your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the
Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the
earth”
4. Return/ repent – as often as it is
needed. And bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Matthew 3:8 Grief in itself
is not repentance. 2 Corinthians 7:9
“As it is, I rejoice, not because you
were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting”, but the true
test of repentance is in the fruit it bears. The rich young ruler went away
after hearing Jesus’ words feeling very sad, but he did not repent. On the
other hand, Zaccheus did not shed a single tear but he gave back all the money
he stole and lost all his riches in an instance. If anything he was rejoicing,
but that was true repentance. That is the true gospel as Paul also testifies
before King Agrippa in Acts 26:20 “that they should repent and turn to God,
performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.” And what are the deeds
in keeping with our repentance? Rev 2: 5
“repent and do the works you did at
first.””
Let’s pray.
Word of Grace is an Evangelical (Born Again), Spirit-filled (Charismatic), Reformed, English speaking church in Pune that upholds the Bible as God's inspired Word for life. We are a church community that has people from every part of India and parts of the world. We are here to put the Great Command and the Great Commission into practice by equipping and releasing every member into works of service. Word of Grace is a part of a wider international family of Churches called RegionsBeyond.To know more about us please log onto www.wordofgracechurch.org.
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