For the past few days in our Bible study together, we have looked at Jesus’ message for the church in Ephesus found in Revelation 2. First, we saw His complaint against them that their love for Him and each other had faded (verse 4). Next, we saw that Jesus called them to remember Him, their first love, and their love for each other when they first met and followed Him. Yesterday, we saw the call for the church in Ephesus to repent of their sins. Today, we are looking at the last command that Jesus gave the church of Ephesus: return to Him and their love for each other.
After acknowledging the sins of the church in Ephesus of forsaking their love for Christ and each other, calling them to remember Him and their love for each other, and instructing them to repent, in Revelation 2, Jesus gave the final part of His instruction to them. His final instruction to them was this: "Do the works you did at first" (verse 5). In other words, they were called to return to Him. They were to grow in their love for God and each other, serving Him and each other out of their great love. Because of God's extravagant love and forgiveness, there is always another chance to turn back to Him.
One of the greatest examples in Scripture that God gives us new chances to turn back to Him is found in a story Jesus told in Luke 15. In this parable, Jesus told a story about a man who had two sons. The younger son in this story went to His father and asked for His inheritance immediately, before his father had even died (verse 12). This was an extremely offensive request. This younger son was basically telling his father, “I wish you were dead.” He wanted what he could get from his father more than spending time with his father. His father granted his request, giving this younger son his inheritance. In this story, the younger son left his father and wasted away his father’s inheritance (verse 13). After losing all of his inheritance and finding himself starving, the younger son decided to go back home to his father. In his mind, he had destroyed his relationship with his father, and therefore, he assumed the only way to go back home was to be a hired servant of his father (verse 17-19). To his surprise, his father ran after him when he saw him coming back home, gave him new clothes to wear, and threw a party, completely restoring his relationship with his son. This, my friends, was an extravagant act of grace. The younger son returned home, and his father met him with grace and restoration.
Jesus’ parable was meant to teach an important truth: there is always restoration and forgiveness when God’s people return to Him. Perhaps this week you realized that your love for God has faded since you first committed your life to Him and you repented of your sin. Return to Him! Perhaps you've confessed to your spouse that you've treated them unkindly. Return to the way you treated and loved them the day you met them and the day you married them. There is always a new chance to return to God and our love for each other!
It is never too late to return to your first love, God, the way you loved Him when you first committed your life to Him. Turn back to Him today. Reconnect with Him and spend time with Him like you did when you first came to know Him and placed your faith in Him. Tell Him how much you love Him and praise Him for all He has done in your life. If you are married, your challenge is also to return to the time when you first fell in love with your spouse and exchanged your vows. Love your spouse and serve them like you did when you first fell in love.
11 To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything.
17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’
20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’
22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’
28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’
31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours.
