Revelation 2:1-7: Mended sermon series week 4

Love is an interesting thing. I wonder how would you describe love? In today’s world love means different things to different people. Some describe it as a feeling; others a choice. Love can be an admiration you hold for your life’s hero, an affection you feel towards an animal, or a passion that rages inside. You can love you brother, you can love your dog, you can love spaghetti, and you can love fishing, but these are all different kinds of love. Love can be something that takes you unawares—you “fall in love.” But love can also be a decision you make, where you choose to love someone unlovable. We talk about love at first sight, yet people can fall out of love just as fast. In our world today, love seems less and less of a commitment and more and more like a fleeting passion that changes without notice. ‌‌ But there’s one thing I know about love, love is very, very powerful. And with that power, things we love, good things, can easily turn into bad things. If we’re not careful to control our loves, the things we love can start to control us. We’ve all seen this type of thing happen. Someone’s pursuit for pleasure turns into an addiction. Someones pursuit of income turns into an obsession. Someone’s pursuit of a relaxing hobby quickly morphs into an all-consuming idol. The things we love, if we don’t keep them in check, can take control of us. ‌‌ As we turn to the book of Revelation today we find a discussion on love. Not a commitment type of love, but more of a fading passion type of love. The type of love demonstrated in this passage is the type of love we are not to have. We find this lack of genuine love not in an uncommitted, careless individual, but in a local church—the church at Ephesus. Can you imagine? We find a church—the people of God—who have lost their love! Let’s read together Revelation 2:1-7 and learn about this church who lost their passion for God. So let’s read our text, and as we do there’s on big idea I want you to remember: ‌‌ Big Idea: take control of what you love, before what you love controls you