Sermonette: Do The First Works
#294s
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Given 21-Jun-97; 26 minutes
summary: As the congregation of Ephesus was admonished, we also need to return to our first love and diligently do the first works, including fellowship, continuing in the doctrine, and doing things properly. The Ephesians initially had steadfastness, keeping on keeping on, undeterred by every new wind of doctrine. They remained loyal to the apostles doctrine, the faith once delivered, embracing the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The Ephesian congregation received commendation for fellowshipping with one another as well as with the apostles, breaking bread with one another. When they prayed continually for one another, there was cohesion and unity. They also pooled their resources to help one another as they have need. Initially, the Ephesian congregation regularly and abundantly praised God. We need to praise God regularly and spontaneously in our prayers, singing hymns occasionally. We need to brag about God, thanking God for intervening in our lives. Hebrews 13:1-14 highlights these essential first works
transcript:
Since this is a [church sponsored] fast day which has been called for us to seek God's face and restore us to His good graces, I thought it would be fitting to speak on a topic that hopefully can provide some guidance on what we can do after this fast is over. And the reason why I say that is because it is well and good, to ask God's forgiveness, and do all the things that He would want us to do on this day, but what do we do after this? What should our actions be? What sort of things should we be doing to remain in His good graces? In a way this sermonette is a spinoff of Martin Collins' sermonette last week on Pentecost in the afternoon. You will remember that he went through Revelation 2:1-7, which is the letter to the Ephesus church. And in it, Jesus commends them for several things: for their good works; for how they stood up for the doctrine all those years; how they had seen those who were the false apostles and rejected them, and known who were the true ones. And also He commended them for persevering through many trials that they had gone through, but they had problems too, which Martin went into. I would like to go over verses 4 and 5 of Revelation 2, just for a few moments, so we can see what these problems were, and what Jesus commands them to do. Revelation 2:4 “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” So this was their problem. They had left their original zeal that they had had for God. They had left off doing many of the things that had shown God that they indeed had loved Him. They were loving Him, and not only loving Him, but loving their brethren also. So it is not just a matter of loving God, but we show our love for God often in the way we treat our fellow brethren. Just look at the end of chapter 25 of Matthew, where He says, “You know, I saw you doing this and that for your brethren,” and He says, “If you have done it unto them, you have done it unto Me.” Revelation 2:5 “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” “Remember therefore from where you have fallen.” Just take a look back and see where you were at that one time and what you did: repent, and that is what we are trying to do today. And then He says, “and do the first works.” It is not just repent, not just seek forgiveness and be contrite about it, but also do the first works. He gives us something to do. Then He gives a warning, if you do not do these things, “else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.” So we are going to focus on for the remainder of the sermon what these first works are, what the first works are that we should be doing. Because if we do not do them, then as much as we cry and sigh before God today, it will not make a great deal of difference over the long haul. So what are the first works? When was the Ephesus era's first days? Maybe that is an even more basic question. That era began with the founding of the church on the day of Pentecost in 31 AD. So we need to go back to that part of church history to get a few pointers on what it is that they did, that God commended them for. While they were doing those first works, it did indeed strengthen their relationship with Him, with God, but it also bonded them together as a church, and then they could go out and do the great evangelizing that they did. I am not saying necessarily that is what God's reaction will be for us—that we will go out and evangelize. I do not know. But at least because they were united, God was able to use them in the work that they were to do for Him. Let us go back to Acts 2 and just see what their first works were. We are going to start in verse 42 and go through 47. Now this is directly after Peter calls upon them to repent and be baptized for the remission of sins to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Three thousand people came forward for that. Now we see the aftermath: Acts 2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Many modern Bibles translate that more along these lines: “They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and in fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” So they split out the apostles' doctrine, and fellowship, as two separate things, and that is how I am going to treat them today. Acts 2:43-47 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. [This was part of the effect.] Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. These 3,000 souls, plus those that were being added daily, plus the apostles and those that were with them originally, were united in doctrine and in purpose, and they did things properly. They did things properly enough for God to commend them in the letter to the Ephesians. He said, “You need to get back to that; to doing things properly and doing things godly.” We may even consider this one section here to be the high-water mark ever of the church, as far as their being united and doing things properly. Now, I was not around during the 50s to know what happened at that time if it paralleled this. But we have at least this recorded in the Scripture to say that this was something that God commended His people for. So what did they do? I have here 7 things that they did that I think will be interesting as well as informative for us to do, to put on our list of things that we need to do. First, “They continued steadfastly.” I am breaking that off from the rest of the phrase. But I think it is very interesting to look at it just on its own, that they continued steadfastly. Other translations have, “they were devoted to,” or something along that line. But they had perseverance, endurance, and forbearance. They did not let anything that came up dissuade them from doing what they knew God required of them. They did not flail from side to side. They did not get chased about by every wind of doctrine. But they continued steadfastly. They held on, they endured. We might say, “they kept on keeping on.” Whatever things that Satan may have thrown up to them at that time did not get them down. So they were single-mindedly devoted to this way of life—doing what was right. The second thing, immediately upon the heels of that is, “They kept the apostles' doctrine.” Now this is, “The faith once delivered to the saints,” as found in Jude 3. What else could it be? These people did not know anything really, except what the apostles delivered to them of this truth. They did not jump at any new revelation, or someone's opinion over doctrine, but they kept to what the apostles taught. They did not deviate from that. And they devoted themselves to learning more and more of what the apostles instructed them of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Because that was all of the Bible they had outside of the Old Testament, but it was the life and teachings of Jesus Christ that gave them their uniqueness, and their energy as the first century church. The third thing that is listed here is fellowship. The people fellowshipped with one another. They fellowshipped with the apostles. They did not allow anything to get in the way of their relationship with one another. They kept in contact with each other. They deepened their relationships with the brethren by talking and sharing and doing things together. I think in a way, with all the split-ups that have been happening, all the different churches, that we have gotten a long way from a lot of this fellowship; it may have something to do with the distrust that we often feel towards each other, because we no longer know where each other may stand. But that fellowship is important so we can find out where each other stands and try to strengthen each other. And as we see later on, Christianity began as a more communal effort. It was not just you and me, but it was you and me and God. Do you understand what I mean? People today do not want anybody with them in their Christianity, it seems. They force people out. Many people who are the stay-at-home types do not want this fellowship, because they feel different from them. But that fellowship is so very important, and it is mentioned several times in this one section. The fourth thing is they broke bread together. This is also a part of fellowship, yes, but it is a much more specific form of fellowship. On the one hand you have hospitality, you have a host or a hostess or both. And you serve your brethren over a meal. Martin and I were talking just the other day in the context of hiring people. He said you can learn an awful lot more about a person when you take them out to dinner, than when you have just a simple interview across the desk, because people open up over a meal. The real person steps out. And you see that the first century church used this vehicle, a very good tool, to get to know one another, to be bonded with one another. So it is hospitality, it is serving the brethren, and it is fellowship all rolled into one. And do not forget, a pretty good meal while you are at it. The fifth thing mentioned here are prayers. Now this is the more solitary activity, more than likely. There are communal prayers. We say them before and after every service that we have. But the prayer that we do in our closet is the one that probably unites us the most with the brethren, as we heard last week. If each one is praying for everyone else, then everyone is saying the same thing. Everybody is being prayed for. The unity that you have with someone because you are praying for them binds us closer and closer together. So this is another thing that they continued steadfast in. It is not that they prayed once for their brethren and felt that was enough, but they prayed all the time for each other, often, with feeling. Not just by rote, not just because they are on your list, but that you sincerely want them to be healed. You want them to have a job. You want them and feel for them in whatever crisis they may be going through. And even if they are not having a crisis, that they may continue to be well, and to move forward in their spirituality, and their relationship with God. The sixth thing I picked up here was they had all things in common. They pooled their resources to help each other. You will notice at the end of verse 45 it says, “as anyone had need.” It is not necessarily saying that they all closed their bank accounts and put their money in a common pot. But as a person had need, they sold their possessions so that the other would have. Now this is a very sacrificial way of living your life. That if you see someone over there who has been out of a job, write him a check. Give them what they need. God has blessed you with that. Help those who have not been blessed or have been down and out for one reason or another. Oftentimes, we hear about these things after the fact. But as you hear about them, those are the things we should be doing. Giving of what we have, giving of God's blessings so that others may have as much as we do. The seventh thing I picked up here is what is there in verse 47, praising God. This is one of the things that we must continue steadfastly in doing. How often do you do this? Do you do it in your prayers? Do you begin your prayers with a praise to God? Let Him know that you recognize who He is, how much power He has, how well He has treated you, how merciful He has been. Do you ever sing hymns while you are busy with something else: Washing the dishes; washing the car; out working in the backyard mowing the lawn. Do you ever just burst out into song thanking God for what He has done? Does He mean that much to you that it would be a spontaneous action on your part to praise Him? It does not have to be something that just suddenly happens out of the blue. Thank God that you are alive. Thank God you have the precious truth that He has revealed to His apostle. Do you ever brag about God? Or do you hide him inside? Beth said something the other day that I was kind of surprised at, and it made me think about this. She said (it is kind of personal), “They [the neighbors] were talking about having children,” and the lady said she would like to have children, but her husband has had a vasectomy and so they cannot. And Beth said, “Well, if we have a child, it will be God's doing. He gets all the credit. He will want us to have another child.” Now I was kind of surprised that she said this to her because they are our next-door neighbors. We are fairly close to them, but I was just surprised that she threw God into the picture to let her know that God is the one that controls our lives. She was bragging on God. And I was proud of her. I did not think I would mention, but it is something that we need to do. We do not need to hide God under our cloak. He has given us everything we have. Paul says, “What do you have that you have not been given?” He is the One who provided it. Why should we deny that? Was it my might or my power that did this? God gave us everything. So do you ever let people know how many good things God has done for you? I mean, it does not have to be a big thing. Do you ever tell the people in the world, “Thank God for this”? Let them know that you think it was God! I am not just saying that because people say, “Thank God.” But do you really mean it when you say, “Thank God, He kept me from that accident?” Let people know that your God is the One that is beside you. Do people know that you are one of God's people? Or are you just Joe Schmo down the street who goes to church on Saturday? Is that all it is that they recognize you for? Is it a weird religion? Or is it something that you really feel, and they can see that you are dedicated to it? The book of Hebrews was written to these very same people, but it was about 30 years after what happened here in Acts 2. It was written to them when their first love had waned. And it was something written to try to counter what God and Jesus later criticized them for, trying to get them to go back to doing what they should have been doing in the first place; that they had been doing, but they had left off in doing. Paul says in Hebrews 5:12 that they have gone so far away that they needed someone to teach them the first principles of the oracles of God. He warns them not to neglect so great a salvation that had been offered to them in Hebrews 2:3. He said in Hebrews 2:1 that they needed to give the more earnest heed to the things they had heard lest they drift away. And then in the final chapter, chapter 13, he gives them a list of things that they needed to be doing. I just want to read this. I am not going to do any great expounding, but rather, I want you to recognize how many things that Paul mentions throughout the whole of chapter 13 are repeats of what they already did after Acts 2:38 or so. These are the first works. Hebrews 13:1 Let brotherly love continue. Number one, “Keep loving your brethren.” Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. Let us talk about hospitality. Be hospitable to those who come into the church. Be hospitable to even to our fellows who we have known for a long time. Do you ever think about how they may be strangers to us, or maybe we have known them a long time, but do we really know them? Hebrews 13:3 Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, and those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also. This talks about prisoners, but it can be applied to anyone who is going through a trial, who is having a hard time, who has fallen on hard times, who was in the midst of a battle with Satan over one thing or another. Have empathy for those people and pray for them and help them as much as you can. Hebrews 13:4 Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Let me put it this way: The marriage partner is your closest neighbor. And you better be showing brotherly love to that person first of all. So work on those marriages. Hebrews 13:5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” This is just the opposite, or this is the same thing just in different words of that community spirit that those people had. They were not showing any covetousness when they sold their possessions and gave them to one another as they had need. Hebrews 13:6 So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me? For in doing these things, we are in God's good graces, and He will not let any of these things come upon us. We have no need to fear. Hebrews 13:7 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. Remember, I was talking about how they continued in the apostles’ fellowship. This is saying much the same thing. Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He does not change. His Word does not change. His law is the same. What He is trying to get us to do has not changed either. Hebrews 13:9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. They continued in the apostles' doctrine, steadfastly, not drifting here and there with any strange thing that you may have heard. Hebrews 13:10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. Yeah, you are privileged. You are different. You are one of the elect. Hebrews 13:11-13 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. Maybe you wondered why I took such a long time talking about, “Are you ashamed of God? Are you ashamed of your religion?” Well, I knew this was there in Hebrews 13. Let us bear that reproach of bearing Christ's name whatever we do. Hebrews 13:14 For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. That is our goal. Hebrews 13:15-16 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for which such sacrifices God is well pleased. And we will be in His good graces. If we pray, if we praise Him, if we do good and share among our brethren especially, we are showing the mind of God. He repeats, Hebrews 13:17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. They are not doing this to be mean. They are not doing this to be petty. They are not doing this for any reasons of their own if they are doing it the right way. And they will be responsible for what they do. Hebrews 13:17-18 Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably. Hopefully we have all begun to use this day to seek forgiveness, to repent, to consider our part in the church's disunity, our individual part. So now as we go forth from here, let us begin to do the first works, and really work to repair the breaches.
RTR/rwu/drm
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