Return To Your First Love | Sunday April 12

Strong theology. Consistent serving. A full calendar. And still, a quiet question underneath it all: do we actually love Jesus the way we did at first? We sit with Revelation 2 and the letter to the church in Ephesus, where Jesus praises endurance and discernment but refuses to ignore the real problem, leaving first love. It is a sobering word for modern Christians who know how to “do church” while slowly losing closeness with God.

We also step into Luke 10 with Mary and Martha and name what so many of us normalize: distraction. Martha is not condemned for working, but she is exposed for being pulled away inside. Busyness can look like faithfulness while producing frustration, comparison, and a short fuse with the people around us. We talk about how spiritual drift is difficult to detect because it feels like routine, and how activity can replace intimacy until our faith becomes a form of godliness without power.

Then the warning gets sharper and more hopeful at the same time: the lampstand represents a church’s witness, and it is possible to keep the building and the programs while losing the presence that makes it truly alive. We end with a practical picture of repentance through Zacchaeus, where turning back to Jesus includes going back to make things right with people we have wronged. If you want Christian discipleship that is honest, Scripture-based, and focused on spiritual renewal, hit play. If it helped you, subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find it.

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Transcript

Welcome And Bible-Based Mission

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hello, this is Jamie Bridges, and thank you so much for joining us for this week's podcast. All of our services are inspired and built straight from the Bible. Let's get into this week's message recorded at Life Community Church.

Where We Are As A Church

God Sees You Not Shuns You

Ephesus Strong Works Lost First Love

Mary And Martha Choose Presence

Busyness Breeds Frustration Not Fruit

Distraction Leads To Spiritual Drifting

Lampstand Warning And The Presence Of God

Repentance Looks Like Making Things Right

Closing Prayer To Return To Jesus

SPEAKER_01 0:17

I want to freak you out, but if you got a Bible, let's go to Revelation chapter 2. Come on. Hey, so one of the things I want to share with you. 20 minutes. Wow. Okay. You know, you've heard maybe the State of the Union. Whatever president is coming forward is giving you an update, giving you kind of the status of where we are as a nation. And I want to take the next couple weeks where we're just walking through like where we are as a church, where we are as life community church, but also where we are as the big sea church. And really, this this letter to the church at Ephesus is to the church. And that needs to be said. It also needs to be a constant reminder that he's talking to men and women who've said yes to Jesus. That doesn't excuse you if you're in the room that you say, well, I don't have a relationship with Jesus, so this is for someone else. Regardless of how you got here or why you're here or what brought you here, God sees you. And we see that in the very first verse that we're going to read. He says, I recognize or I see who you are. I see what you've done. Like in Jesus is saying to them, guys, I notice you. So no matter who you are in this room, or as Casey said, where your journey has brought you in this relationship with the Lord, I want you to know more than anything that God sees you. God sees who you are, he sees what you've been through, what has been unjust, he agrees is unjust. What he sees as harm and shame that's been given to you, or maybe you've walked in, his grace and his mercy always is there. Like when Jesus confronts us, it's always from an angle to bring us back. That's new to us. Because we know what being shunned is, we know when people stiff arm us away, we recognize that. We understand being unfriended, we understand not being talked to, we understand a last name, a reputation. Like we get all of those things. And what Jesus tries to correct is that I'm not that way. That's what made Jesus so different. Jesus was sitting with sinners, religious people freaked out. When you read the Bible, most of the time, the religious people are the ones freaking out. Why? Because he's trying to get religion out to bring relationship in. When you understand a list of rules, you can check them off. When you understand relationship, you recognize there's no leaving. This is the difference. You and I think we can sever. God says, I'm trying to move you forward with the understanding that there's always redemption, there's always restoration, there's always forgiveness. This is a different mindset. This is what he is saying to this church. This is not about an update on where we are financially or attendance-wise, though I could give you some of those things and they're they're worthy to be talked about, but I'm more talking about where are we with Jesus? This is what he's saying to the church at Ephesus. Let's read. He says, I know all the things you do. They're being seen. I've seen your hard work, your patient endurance. I know you don't tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles, but they are not. You have discovered they are liars, you've patiently suffered for me without quitting. Have you ever had these conversations where someone's like, I really like you. You're a great employee, you show up on time, and then but I think you're a great husband, I think you're a great friend, I think you're very faithful, you're hardworking, but anybody? Nope. Just conversations in my house? All right. But I have this complaint against you. You don't love me or each other as you did at first. Look how far you have fallen. Turn back to me. Do the works you did at first. If you don't repent, I will come, I will remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. But this is in your favor. You hate the evil deeds of the Nicolashians just as I do. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. To everyone who is victorious, I will give fruit from the tree of life in the paradise of God. Again, this is a message that is sobering, it's relevant, it's something that we need to hear, but it's not always pleasing to hear. And Jesus is saying, like, I recognize this isn't all bad. There's some great things you're doing. In fact, this is an incredible church. He says, You got good theology, you have strong convictions, you're hard workers, you don't tolerate a compromise. Like he's saying, like, these are great things, but there's something important that I must address, and it's this. This is the turning point. He says, but you've left your first love. Ultimately, what he's saying is, you've gotten too busy. You've gotten too busy. You've become distracted by the things that are going on. You're talking about Jesus, but you're not doing it for Jesus. Luke chapter 10 is the other passage I want to share, and you know it. Potentially, if you've been raised in church at all, you know it. Someone's read it to you. You've talked about it at some point, usually with a bent or an angle, right? You're either Mary or you're Martha, and you've used it from that vantage point at some point, right? You've been busy about doing the things, or you've been just sitting at the Lord's feet. Either way, you've used it, and this is what Jesus says in Luke chapter 10. He says, Jesus' disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, and they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister Mary sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, Lord, doesn't it seem unfair? I love this, to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work. Tell her to come and help me. But the Lord said to her, Dear Martha, one translation says, Martha, Martha. You are worried and upset over all these details. There's actually only one thing worthy, worth being concerned about. And Mary has discovered it. And it will not be taken away from her. He says, Listen, I know you're busy. In fact, we almost don't even say, hey, how are you anymore? We usually lead with, hey, I know you're busy. It's the number one thing people say to me. To which I go, hey, freak show, are you watching me? How do you know I'm busy? What do you mean I'm busy? You don't know what I've been doing. Hey, hey, I know you're busy, but I wanted to talk to you about. Well, if you know I was busy, you probably would have moved on from now. We use that as an excuse of I'm not really gonna get to the root of what I want to talk about because I know you're busy. And the assumption is that you're busy. So I don't have to deal with it right now. What he's saying is, listen, if this is if this is productive, if this is us moving forward, Jesus is saying, I need you to put priority on what is actually important. In fact, I would say what we call productive, Jesus would probably call distracted. I think we we do things for the Lord in the name of the Lord, but at times we get so rigid, so comfortable, so stagnant, we forget why we're doing what we're doing. This is the danger of what he's saying. He's saying, listen, Martha, you're doing everything. It appears, Mary, you're doing nothing. I mean, if this happened today, what would this look like? Martha cooking, cleaning, hosting. Mary just sitting there like she's on, you know, like vacation with Jesus. Why? Because busy can distract you from what matters the most. Can we be real and say we're busy? Some of you, I need a nap just looking at your calendar. You're that busy. The Bible doesn't call Martha sinful, the Bible calls Martha distracted. It's what comes from distraction that makes me the most nervous. It's not that you're distracted. What Jesus is inviting the church at Emphasis to do is to recognize it. Recognize that you're distracted. Recognize, Martha, that you're distracted. I'm bringing to your attention that you're distracted because the danger of distraction isn't just being distracted, it's what comes next. It's how we how we go from here, how we leave here from that distraction. That's what makes me nervous because distraction ultimately or busyness creates frustration, not fruit. When you're frustrated, you got to go back to why you're frustrated, you're too busy, you're too distracted. She said, Lord, don't you care? She goes from serving to snapping in an instance. Have you ever been so busy you start getting mad at people who aren't? This is what's happening. She came to Jesus and said, Lord, isn't it unfair that my sister, like how many times have we said to the Lord, God, this is unfair that so and so, God, this is unfair. It's not that you're just you you you want to compare your life to someone else's. It's not, it's you're so busy, you're so distracted that now you're frustrated, and the fruit of your life is no longer there, it's only in frustration. You're frustrated. Look at Mary, she's just sitting there, breathing peacefully. Like, look at her, look at what she's doing, and Jesus calls out the distraction. NLT says, Dear Martha, like he's writing a letter. Dear Martha. Or Martha. Martha. Oh, I didn't know what you wanted me to do there. I was willing to go for it. Speaking of distraction, thanks, sound guy. I don't know what it was like in your home, but anytime you heard two names or the full name, it usually wasn't a promotion moment. It usually wasn't like you did really good. I mean, my family's in this room. My brother's not. I didn't hear Larry James a lot. Did you say it a lot, mom? She said she's like, I'm not participating in service like I did last Saturday. You could be doing everything for Jesus and still miss what Jesus is saying to you. This is where Martha was. She was so distracted. And he said, Listen, only one thing is needed. One thing. And Mary has chosen the presence over productivity. Your house can wait, food can wait. Jesus is saying, Don't don't be hospitable. He's not saying don't cook, don't clean, let your house just go. It's not what he's saying. He's saying in this moment, what you think matters doesn't matter. I would I would challenge all of us, no matter where we are, if I can't pause and sit and not be distracted, then whatever it is that is distracting me is actually what we're serving. Actually, I would say that's what owns you. If you're like, if you're so busy with work, just just call it what it is. That's who you're serving. If you're so busy with whatever fill in the blank, if you can't pause it, I'm not saying you don't go to work. Don't misunderstand me. Like he told me, all I gotta do is sit at the feet of Jesus. It's not what I said. It's what you heard, it's not what I said. Listening and hearing are two different things. Right? I'm told a lot by myself and by others. Sometimes I listen for a chance to respond. I'm not listening to hear, I'm listening to respond. There's a big difference between those two. What he is saying is in the moment that you're in, what matters most in this moment is what Mary chose. And he said, that thing is needed, and she chose the right thing. Martha, you're off. He calls her out. And this is what he's saying it's distraction. That's that's the point that he's getting at. It's not just distraction, it's drifting. Distraction leads to drifting, and this is what we have to be careful of. Distraction, busyness, leads to spiritually drifting. There comes a moment in all of our lives that we ask, How did I get here? And it might not have been intentional. You might not have woken up one day and said, You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna decide today to be addicted to fill in the blank. You probably didn't say that. Probably nobody said that. But you drifted so far that now you find yourself in the middle of the lake and you don't know how you got there. This is a result of distractions. You start drifting. And here's what's hard about drifting it's very difficult to detect. It's hard to detect because you can be busy in church, you could be leading, you could be preaching, you could be doing, and still be drifting. Drifting doesn't feel like failure, it feels like routine. So now you're just doing, and it's almost like second nature for you. You don't even have to think about it, you're just doing it, and now you're becoming numb. You're so numb you don't even know why you're doing what you're doing, you just know you should be doing it. You're drifting, is what it says, because it replaces intimacy with activity. This is what is going on with Mary and Martha. Martha put all of it into activity, she chose intimacy. It's no different in relationships. When you choose activity over intimacy in any married relationship, I promise you, when your kids are older or you've been married a long time, there will come a moment where you look at each other and you say, I know you, but I don't really know you. It's not that you don't know that person, it's that you've drifted so far apart, you just no longer recognize each other because you've done things out of routine for so long, and one of you doesn't like it. One of you is okay with it, thus creating more drift, producing more, posting more, doing all of these things, but praying less, lingering less, loving Jesus less. And Paul says, this is what it leads to. It leads to a form of godliness without power. He says that to Timothy, having a form of godliness, but denying its power. Paul looks at Timothy and says, Timothy, you're gonna do really well at leading others, but if you don't lead yourself first, you'll never be able to lead others. It will be impossible. Because if you're leading them based off of what you're doing, and you're not doing it based off of who you are, you're missing the whole point of it. That's that's the routine side of what Paul is saying to Timothy. And this is the warning. The warning of verse five of Revelation chapter two. This is the warning from Jesus. Consider how far you have fallen. Consider this. Consider how much you've drifted, consider how distracted you are, consider all these things and repent and do the things you did at first. This is the invite from the Lord. This is the invite of what he's saying. He's saying it's not just truth without tenderness. They they again they defended truth, but they lost compassion. They corrected theology, but they're they had very cold hearts. He's saying, I'm asking you to return to something that is familiar. And the familiar airity is whatever it is that had your attention when you first loved me. Just like he would say in a marriage, return to your wedding day, return to when it was really good, return to that moment so that you could be reminded of what it was like then. What is he saying? He's saying, Listen, there was a moment in time when it mattered. I want you to get that back. I want you to remember. I want you to do these things. And then here's what he ties in. He says, You didn't just lose your love for me, you lost your love for people. See, Jesus always brings in, so when he says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself, he always ties in our love for him and our love for people. In fact, some of the times, the greatest indicator on how you're doing with Jesus is on how you're loving people. So if I'm not loving people, if I find myself short with them, if I find myself as they're more of a product or or or something that I'm trying to fix or something I'm easily irritated with, or they're they're they're more of a project than they are a relationship. That ultimately is reflecting that me and Jesus probably aren't good. Because when me and Jesus are good, then all of a sudden I love from that standpoint. But if my bank is drained in my relationship with Jesus, I have nothing to give them. It's empty. I'm loving on empty, and now all of a sudden, uh again, I'm I'm reacting, I'm short, I'm I'm frustrated. All of these things stem from not just being distracted, but drifting. We're drifting. That's why John said, if anyone says I love God but hates his fellow believer, you know what that person is? A liar. You are a liar. He's ultimately saying, He's ultimately calling them back to repent. This is the warning and the promise. This is the beauty of Jesus, you guys. Jesus warns us, but he never does it without a promise. And this is what he says. Look how far you've fallen. Turn back to me, repentance. The works you did at first. If you don't repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. Again, this is a serious warning. Lampstands represented their witness as a church. Jesus is saying, a church can still have a building, you can still do worship, you can still do life groups, you can still give the missions, you can still send people out. Just know this. All those things. Yet you can lose the anointing, the presence that make it a church. Here's why there's zero pressure. Because I'm not the savior, I'm not the healer, I'm not the convictor, and this is probably the most scariest question that we can ask as church, big sea church. If the Holy Spirit left this building, would we even know it? Are we relying on someone to fix, or are we relying on the Holy Spirit to fix? Are we relying on someone to save, or are we relying on the cross and the redemptive work that He did there and the resurrection power that raised Christ from the dead? Are we relying on someone to fix our problems? I mean, the the the greatest I mean question right now that people are are saying to to us, and I hate to tell you, you know, say this publicly if you've asked this question privately to me or one of the teams, like like I feel like we're we're now too big or we're growing too big. I'm a solution kind of guy, I don't mind your problems, like yeah. Give me a problem, but give me at least three solutions. Why three? Because one is probably ridiculous. Two, we might work on that. And three, might actually be practical. And if we can put those three together, that's a solution. If you're bringing me complaints or you're bringing me concerns and you don't have solutions with them, you're just a complainer. But if you got a solution, that tells me you're not just thinking about the problem, you're thinking about how we're gonna fix it. So when people come to me and say, the church is getting too big, and now we're gonna build and now we're gonna be on 57 acres, my first question always is, what would you do? What would you have us do? Hey, we're maxed out, sorry, you can't be here. Oh, you, you, and you, you're in, you, you, you, you're out. Find another one. Where'd you come from? Go back. What is the solution? I get it's a problem. There's not a day, not a day that I don't drive and go, God, I would rather just stay here. I mean, my Friday, if I could just be real, I mean I don't. My Friday was so overwhelming that by the end of Friday night, listen to me, we're playing alt-off when I really cared. In this moment, I just didn't. I was so overwhelmed by this meeting, that meeting, all of these things, and I'm sitting there going, not one moment did they ever warn me about this in Bible college. Not one moment. Now, on me a little bit to schedule those kind of meetings all the same time. But listen, if you think I'm the kind of guy that's like, we're doing this and it's a pride thing, and and I want to do, like, throw that out right now. That is not it. I would much rather just say, let's stay here, us four, and no more. In my flesh, it would be a lot easier. But for the person who's acknowledging, we're growing too much, it's too big, we're are we gonna be a mega church? What would your solution be? Out of curiosity, what would you have us to do? It's a legit question. Don't send me an email though. It's rhetorical. It's rhetorical. Answer it within Jesse at lifeillinois.org with an IE. This is this is the promise that comes with the warning, and this is the promise to the one who is victorious. Who is that? To the one who repents, to the one who recognizes, Martha, to you who recognize I'm wrong here. We're called out, and I'm wrong here. To you, you are now victorious. Why? Because you've turned, you've turned from those things. You've recognized I'm distracted, you recognize I'm drifting. And listen to me, like Zacchaeus, you know the most amazing part of Zacchaeus' story? I know he's a wee wee little man. You know the best part of his story? When Zacchaeus got saved, his whole household got saved. And not only that, you know what Zacchaeus did? The Bible says he went back to everyone he wronged in business and he corrected the mistake. You know, you want to know why people don't believe that you've given your life to Jesus? You want to know why they see you as the old you? Because you've never addressed what you used to do. Because here's what we've done as the church. We're not going to talk about that. The old is gone. Behold, all things are new. And we don't even talk about it. The fact is, we need to talk about it. Because he says, here's what you lose. You lose the light on the top of the hill. Nobody is coming to the church anymore. He says, if you refuse to do this, you lose the lampstand, you lose the light. That means you can have a building on top of the hill, but nobody cares. Nobody sees it as a solution. Nobody's showing up. Nobody's going like they have the answer. No one's doing that. If you refuse to do this, if you refuse to come back to your first love, if you refuse to love people in their hardship, if you refuse to do those things, you can still meet in that building. You should go worship, worship in that building, but know this there is no light on. But if you do, man, you are victorious and not just victorious. You are now eating from the tree from the garden. You know what that means? That means the promises of God become real to you once again. But listen, this is just a quick idea. You might, if you've given your life to Jesus, don't blast it all over Facebook. Okay, the 55 and older don't care. Don't just blast it all over Facebook. Go back to someone. Start with one person that you wronged and make it right. And then in making it right, say, hey, note to self, I only made this right, not because I wanted good cred with you, not because of my reputation. I made it right because the Lord convicted me of this. That's what Zacchaeus did. He didn't just say, sorry, God, I'm gonna start over and abuse his grace. Oh, it's a new morning. My mercies are new. I can live like a jerk yesterday, but today's a new morning. Mercies are new every day. Stop that. Go back to yesterday. Find the person you offended and say sorry. Let them see Jesus there. Because he says, Listen, here's how the world will know that you love one another, that you you're my disciple. Here's how the world will know. Here's how they'll know the way you treat one another is gonna be the best demonstration of how they know that you're my disciple. Not where you checked in at. Not even what shirt you wear or what tattoo you have, but how you treat people is gonna be the best demonstration that you follow Jesus. That's it. That is the warning to the church. But here's the beautiful promise. When you repent, man, the promises of God, frustration is now fruit. Now all of a sudden, you know why people are coming to church with you? Because they saw the realness, the goodness, the grace, the mercy of Jesus changes everything. They now have hope for their lives because they've seen where you've been and they see where you are. That's a game changer. Amen. Come on, somebody. Jesus, we love you. But we can't do this thing without you. God, we've tried. Man, I've tried harder. I've done my best. It's not good enough. I need to lean into you. You're the game changer. You're the one that fixes it. You're the one that carries us. You're the one that convicts us. You're the one that saves us. You're the one that died for us. So, God, we lean into you. God, I pray that we would be a church that repents. We'd be a church that turns to you for the answer. I got a lot of ideas, but God, if they're not centered around you, they're just ideas. We need you, God, in the name of Jesus.