SEVEN LETTERS | Week 1 | Sermon · Rewind

SEVEN LETTERS | Week 1 | Sermon · Rewind

Pastor Daniel Goulding · Nov 13, 2023

Big Idea

Jesus cares far more about what we do with Him — knowing Him and being known by Him — than what we do for Him.

The church in Ephesus was hardworking, doctrinally sound, and bold, yet Jesus' complaint was that they had abandoned their first love for Him and each other. The Christian life isn't ultimately about the tasks we perform for God; it's about a thriving relationship with Him, and out of that overflow, we do good works — not the other way around.

Key points

1
1Jesus opens the letter to Ephesus by praising six things the church is doing well.
Pastor Daniel walks through Revelation 2:2-3, showing that Jesus commends their hard work, patient endurance, discernment of false apostles, doctrinal conviction, boldness, and perseverance under suffering. He notes Jesus deliberately starts with encouragement before correction.
2
2Despite all their good works, Jesus' complaint is that they have forgotten their first love.
Pastor Daniel explains that Jesus isn't using a 'compliment sandwich' to soften a rebuke — the praised things are genuinely good, but they cannot replace love for God and each other. He points out the terrifying detail that a thriving, numerically successful 20,000-40,000 person church could still be told they've fallen far.
3
3Closeness to God, like closeness in marriage, can breed complacency if we're not intentional.
Using his own story of meeting his wife, chasing her through Myspace messages and two-hour drives for twenty minutes together, Pastor Daniel shows how early love compels sacrifice, but familiarity over time can quietly erode that same passion — in marriage and in our relationship with Jesus.
4
4Jesus gives three steps back to first love: remember, repent, and repeat.
Pastor Daniel unpacks each step: remembering what the relationship used to feel like (citing David's prayer in Psalm 51 and the prodigal son remembering his father's house), repenting by making a u-turn back to God, and then repeating the practices — Scripture, worship, community — that used to be natural.
5
5The warning is severe: refusing to repent risks Jesus removing His presence from us.
He explains Revelation 2:5's warning that Jesus will remove the lampstand — meaning we can build something that looks successful without the Spirit's power behind it, becoming religious activity rather than a living relationship.
6
6Victory is pictured as a relay race where the goal is to keep the flame alive, not just run fast.
Pastor Daniel describes the ancient Lampadedromia relay race where runners had to protect a lit torch, not just win speed, as a picture of stewarding the presence and power of God through our lives and passing it faithfully to the next generation.

Application

Remember, repent, and repeat your way back to your first love for Jesus.

Remember what it used to feel like
Look back honestly at how alive your relationship with God once felt — in worship, in prayer, in reading Scripture — and let that memory stir you again, the way David prayed in Psalm 51.
Repent by making a u-turn
Identify any unrepentant sin or pattern you've been avoiding dealing with, and turn back toward God the way the prodigal son turned back toward his father's house.
Repeat the practices that used to be natural
Return to the ordinary rhythms — spending time in God's Word, showing up to church and LifeGroup, worshiping even when circumstances say not to — that kept your flame for God alive.
Do an honest assessment of your flame
Ask yourself honestly whether you're living fueled by the Holy Spirit or settling for religious activity that looks successful on the outside but has lost the presence of God.

Take it into your week

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Scripture in this message

From the transcript
“Revelation chapter two verse one, here's what it says. It says, write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand”
Read the whole chapter →
From the transcript
“But we just read in Revelation two, obviously follows Revelation chapter one. If you go read Revelation one, what you'll see is that John, the Apostle John has been banished”
From the transcript
“What we just read again, Revelation chapter two verse one starts, it says, Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus”
From the transcript
“Here's his message that he starts with to the church in Ephesus in verse two. He says, I know all the things that you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance”
From the transcript
“Here's where Jesus kinda turns the corner and kind of gives these guys the original throat punch. He says in verse four, But I have this complaint against you. You don't love me”
From the transcript
“What is his prayer? It's recorded in Psalm chapter 51. Look at what he says. He says, God, restore to me the joy of your salvation. Rejoice. Restore to me the joy of my salvation. Make me willing to obey you”
From the transcript
“He says, if we don't do this, you'll remove our lampstand and then he says, but this is in your favor. Verse six, you hate the evil deeds of the Nicolatians just as I do”
From the transcript
“My fear is that there's a lot of people who will get to the end of their life. And what Jesus says is what happened in Matthew chapter seven is that many of you will come to the end of your life. You will stand before me and I'll say, get away from me. I never knew you”

7-day devotional

A personal reading plan from this message — scripture, reflection, and prayer for each day.

Sign in to track your progress through this devotional.

Day 1

Jesus begins His letter to the church in Ephesus with genuine commendation. He sees their hard work, their discernment, their willingness to stand firm under pressure. These are not small things — they are the marks of a community that takes following Jesus seriously. And yet, right in the middle of that affirmation, something important is happening. Jesus is not simply handing out grades. He is setting a scene. He wants the Ephesians — and us — to understand that it is entirely possible to be doctrinally sharp, morally serious, and genuinely hardworking, and still be missing the most important thing. That tension is worth sitting with today. It is easy to assume that busyness in the things of God equals closeness to God. We serve, we volunteer, we show up, we hold the line on what we believe — and those things feel like love. They can be expressions of love. But as Pastor Daniel pointed out, they were never meant to be ultimate things. They are meant to flow from something deeper. Before we get to the warning, it's worth honestly receiving the commendation. God sees your effort. He sees the weeks you showed up tired, the times you held a conviction that cost you something, the ways you have persevered. That is real, and it matters to Him.

For reflection

What is one area of your Christian life where you are genuinely working hard — and have you recently paused to thank God for the strength He has given you to do it?

Pray

Pray in gratitude for the specific ways God has sustained your faithfulness, even in seasons that have been tiring.

Small-group discussion guide

For leading a group conversation about this message.

Open

This message centers on a warning Jesus gave to a church that was doing almost everything right — and what He said they were still missing at the center of it all.

Discussion questions

1
In Revelation 2:2-3, Jesus has nothing but good things to say about the Ephesian church's deeds, discernment, and endurance. What does it tell us about Jesus that He still sees something missing, even when all of those things are genuinely present?
2
In Revelation 2:4, Jesus says the church has 'abandoned' its first love — not lost it accidentally, but left it behind. What's the difference between abandoning something and simply drifting from it, and why might that distinction matter for how we understand Jesus' concern here?
3
Pastor Daniel pointed to Psalm 51:12, where David asks God to 'restore to me the joy of your salvation' — not to give him something new, but to return something he once had. What does that kind of prayer assume about what a relationship with God is meant to feel like?
4
James 4:7-8 promises that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us. How does that promise shape the way we think about repentance — is it more about removing a barrier, or about taking a step toward someone?
Related passage
5
Pastor Daniel described the Christian life as a torch relay — we receive the flame, run our stretch of the race, and pass it on. What might it look like, practically, for a community of believers to steward that flame together rather than each person managing it alone?
6
This message draws a clear line between doing things for Jesus and being with Jesus — while insisting we shouldn't abandon the doing. How might a community keep those two things connected rather than letting one quietly crowd out the other?

Pray together

Restored joy in knowing Jesus — and the grace to let everything we do flow from that

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Topics

First Love From Duty to Devotion Intimacy with God Remember, Repent, Repeat Spiritual Drift

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