dannywoodall@yahoo.com 

Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. (Rev. 2:4)

I remember when I coached Little League I had second-stringers who weren’t your typical bench-warmers. One carried the rule book in his back pocket, and another would comment after a particular rough inning how we were much better last year. When I read the letter to the church at Ephesus, I’m reminded of my special team.

In spite of having the Apostle John serving in Ephesus, and Paul spending two years building the church, they had left their first love. They were strong in doctrine, but forgot the reason for the doctrine. I’m sure they knew John’s teachings by heart. They dissected his writings and knew for sure that Jesus was God in the flesh. They talked of love, but failed to practice it. Their doctrine was clear as ice, but also as cold, the church was starting to resemble a morgue. They were becoming the first Christian Pharisees. The Pharisees had helped preserve the Jewish way of life against the influence of the Greeks. They were strong defenders of the faith. However, by the time Jesus was born, most of the Pharisees were blinded by their own rules. Jesus didn’t fit their picture so they wanted to kill him.

The church at Ephesus needed to realize how far they had fallen, and repent. The slide from salvation by grace to salvation by works happens slowly. Along the way, they had done a few things right. They repudiated the Nicolaitanes and kept the faith. They had worked and exhibited patience. But it became a two step forward three steps backwards march. John realized how far they were from the truth. They needed to repent, not have another meeting, or pass a resolution, but repent.

Saving souls is our goal, and our doctrine should lead others to Christ, not have them running away from the cross. Christ arms are opened wide, not raised in a fist. People can’t see Christ because they are distracted by our insistences to dead dogma. Because they had left their first love, they needed to be reminded of Heaven. They were Christians because Christ first loved them He didn’t want them to trade in one set of rules for another. Without Christ, Christianity becomes just another religion.

Like the church of Ephesus, our team was good at fundamentals. The first baseman was a miniature version of Orlando Cepada, and one of our pitchers, a fiery red head, hit a batter in the head because his helmet was in the strike zone. He’s now a policeman. Like our team, the church of Ephesus was distracted by the details. One of our favorite plays was having the catcher try to pick off a runner at first. I used the signal of touching my cap to let the team know that the play was on. The first time we were ready for the play I touched my cap and all of the infielders took off their caps and started waving them. The umpire called timeout and marched to my dugout and told me it was poor sportsmanship to try and distract the batter in such a manner. I tried to explain to the umpire, but he wasn’t convinced.

The church of Ephesus knew the signals and wanted all Christians to know them too, but they were becoming a distraction. Yes the church needs to have sound doctrine, but the heart of our doctrine should be Christ. May we always have the humble heart of the publican and not the cold cold heart of the Pharisee.

 Copyright Danny Woodall