Revelation 2:1-7 - Forgetting Your Why (Guest Speaker Dennis Fountain)

Main Idea: There are a lot of Christians, people who claim to be a follower of Jesus, that have forgotten why they do what they do.

Sermon Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

But today, we're going to be in the Book of Revelation. So if you would take your Bible, and let's go to the Book of Revelation this morning. Excuse me, Revelation, and I'm not gonna read the verses yet, but I just gotta ask you a question.

Have you ever, Revelation chapter two, if you're wondering where, Revelation chapter two, we're just gonna preach the whole book of Revelation today, I'm kidding. Revelation chapter two is where we'll be in just a minute.

I wanna ask you, have you ever walked into a room, and as soon as you walk in, you go, why did I come in here? Yeah, be honest, how many of you have done that? Okay, good, everybody over 25 is like, I've done it.

Everybody over 60 is like, I do it every day. My mom is like, that is my life, son. And I'm like, I know, I live around you.

Like, listen, man, we all have those moments. We walk into somewhere, we're like, why did we come in here? A few, it was about a year ago, year and a half ago or so, the way our church is set up, we do not have this much space.

I am jealous of like Pastor Brian coming to a church that can already seat 250 in here. Like we are like this right here. And so we do the two services every week.

And so the way our church is set up, it's elongated like this. And if you can imagine with me, this door right here being my office. So if you have the office here, back that way, our foyer, it is ginormous like yours.

Your foyer is just huge. I'm kidding. It's like 10 by 10.

That's ours too. Our foyer, you walk in and it's like, I'm in the foyer, I'm in the auditorium, you know? And so back in our foyer, we have a little Keurig machine and all of that type of stuff.

And so there was this one day, it was a Wednesday afternoon, we have, we call it Midweek Connect or Growth Groups on Wednesday nights.

And so it was Wednesday afternoon, I was preparing for the Midweek Connect, the Growth Groups, and as I was prepping and getting ready for everything, I don't know if you are a coffee person, but I'm a coffee person.

I love coffee, I have, I would like to have like five or six cups a day, but I don't. I try to limit myself to two, maybe three, but on those, on Wednesdays, like you just, you need extra coffee. My wife and I call it Three O'clock Cuppa.

Now, that's a long nickname, but like we'll see each other and she'll be like, hey, have you had your Three O'clock Cuppa? I'm like, no, let's do it. So I got out of my office on that Wednesday, and I didn't want to go anywhere to get coffee.

I was just going to use the Keurig. So I walk out of the auditorium, I go to the back, I go to the Keurig machine, I push it on. You know, the Keurig, you got to give it like two minutes to warm up.

Well, I don't like wasting time. And so I'm like, all right, what could I do for two minutes? Oh, I'm going to go.

So I went in the auditorium and I started doing something for that night. And then I just turned around and walked right back in my office. I sat down in my office.

I started working again. It was like four o'clock an hour later. And I was like, why?

Oh, man, why am I so tired? I haven't had my cup of coffee yet. So I got up, true story, walked all the way to the back, started the machine again, turned it on.

I thought, I use the restroom real quick. Walked in, used the restroom, walked out, walked right back to my office. I got in my office, I sat down.

It's 5 15. And I'm like, why am I so tired? Oh, my coffee.

I get up, I go to the back, I turn the Keurig on a third time. I'm not exaggerating. Sometimes people think pastors, you exaggerate.

We do sometimes. This is no exaggeration. Third time, I turn it on, and I'm like, I do not want to wait for this.

I got to go up to the kitchen real quick, and I go to turn, and right when I did, I was like, no, self-discipline, self-restraint, don't accomplish anything. And I walked over and I stood right in front of that Keurig machine.

As it warmed up, I got my cup of coffee, I went to the office, I set my coffee down. I only drank like a portion of it, and then I forgot about it, because I started doing other stuff. I don't know if you've ever been there.

You just keep coming back in a room and you're like, why am I in here? What am I doing? What are we forgetting?

We forget the why. Why did I come in here? Why did I get up out of my office?

Why did I actually go to the back? The principle that I want to bring out from God's Word today is very simple and it's this. There are a lot of Christians, people who claim to be a follower of Jesus.

Listen, we claim to be a follower of Jesus, but we have forgotten our why. What do you mean by that, pastor? There are a lot of Christians that have forgotten why they do what they do.

And I want to challenge you this morning in remembering your why. Why do we gather on Sundays? Why do we serve at church?

Why do we steward our time, finances and abilities?

Why do I love other believers?

Why do we do what we do? So we're going to look at this morning, it was a correction that was given to the believers in Revelation chapter number 2.

So understanding that too many believers have forgotten their why, I want you to notice the verses that are before us today.

Revelation chapter number 2, verse number 1, down through verse number 7, we read these words, right to the angel of the church in Ephesus. Now we'll go back and we'll get all the context of all of this.

Thus says the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands, I know your works and your labor and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people.

You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars. I know that you have persevered and endured hardships for the sake of my name, and you have not grown weary. Verse 4, but I have this against you.

You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then how far you have fallen. Repent and do the works you did at first.

Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. Yet you do have this. You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Forgetting your why.

That's what we're going to talk about this morning. Let's pray and ask God to bless our time just in the next few minutes together, with our heads bowed and our eyes closed. Would you take just a moment?

And in the quietness of your heart, would you pray? And just between you and God, would you pray something simple of God, would you please speak to me today? God, would you please speak to me today?

And then make a commitment, God, if you speak to me, I'm going to listen to you. Just between you and God, would you pray that? Dear Lord, we're so thankful for your love and your care for us.

And Father, we pray that right now, as we get into your word, for the next few minutes together, would you help us to hear from you and to be challenged by you.

Lord, I pray that every one of us would receive your word, that we would listen, and that we would be changed because of it. I love you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

We're not gonna do a deep dive study in the Book of Revelation today, but we just need to know a few things. The Book of Revelation, mainly written to the seven churches of Asia Minor.

You can go through and see these churches of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. And there's so much in the Book of Revelation.

Of course, many of us look to the Book of Revelation as an end times letter, which it has a lot of that content for us. But what we need to know is really this is a letter from the Lord to His churches.

And so we can glean much information and much help from the passages before us in Revelation chapter number 2. As you come to the opening part, we find that Jesus is writing a letter through John to the church at Ephesus.

You're familiar with the church at Ephesus. Who is the church at Ephesus? Well, you know the believers of Ephesians.

How many of you love the Book of Ephesians? I love the Book of Ephesians. It's a great book.

Well, that's the church at Ephesus. Here's what we need to know about Ephesus. God had done a great work in Ephesus through Paul, as well as through a handful of others, Aquiline Priscilla, Apollos, Timothy and the Apostle John.

As a matter of fact, if you were to do a deep dive study into the church at Ephesus, you would find that the four main influences in the believers at Ephesus would have been Paul, Apollos, Timothy and John. That was their pastors over a few years.

Now for those of you that know scripture, Paul, he wrote 13 or 14 of the New Testament books that we know. Apollos, the Apostles called Apollos the greatest preacher or orator of their day. Timothy, well, Timothy was a protege of Paul.

He was someone that was raised up and that God had used and John, who was John? Well, John is the one who's writing the book of Revelation and he wrote the book of John.

Many of you know and could quote things that John wrote like for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten. You know that verse. John wrote that.

He was the pastor at the church at Ephesus. And I want you to remember that for the content that we're going to look at today.

I want you to notice first off this morning as we talk about remembering your why, before we really get into that, I want you to understand a few points.

Number one, I want us to know this, that God, he is very, he is fully aware of and blessed by your accomplishments for him. Did you know that God is aware of everything that you do for him and he is blessed by it?

That's what he says to the church at Ephesus. We won't get into it, but in the very first part, it says to the angel of the church at Ephesus, what is that word, angel? It's a simple word, it just means messenger.

So, this is a letter to the pastor of the church at Ephesus at that time. So, here's what the Lord says, I want you to give a message to the pastor to give to his church. So, here's the message to the pastor to the church at Ephesus.

Look at verse number two. Here's what the Lord says to the believers at Ephesus through their pastor. I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people.

You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars. Verse three, I know that you have persevered and endured hardship for the sake of my name, and you have not grown weary. What is he saying to them?

He says, we have to remember, Jesus is speaking to the church. Jesus says, I know your work, all you're doing for the Lord. I know your struggles and your efforts.

I know the endurance or consistency that you have had. Here's what the Lord says, I know everything going on in your life. I see all that you're doing.

You have stood up against false doctrine. That's in verse number two. You have right theology.

All of your ologies are in place. You know what you believe. You are serving God.

Man, hey, listen, here's what Jesus says. Church at Ephesus, you are doing an incredible work. Wouldn't that be awesome for the Lord to say that about you?

I mean, seriously, this is not a pride thing. I don't know about you, but I want the Lord to say Dennis Fountain, I see what you are doing and how you are serving me. And Dennis, I see it and I am blessed by it.

Hey, mom, dad, wouldn't it be awesome if the Lord says, I see how you are pouring into your kids. Grandpa, I see how you love your grandkids. Grandma, I see how you are investing.

Hey, Christian, I see how you are living your life at work. I see it and it is good. That'd be a great testimony.

I'd want the Lord to say that. Well, he said it about them. It's a great testimony.

What's the principle that we can learn from it? We can just learn that God is fully aware of my service for him.

Let's be honest.

I mean, let's be honest. Do you ever feel like you're overlooked when you serve God?

We all do.

I don't think anybody ever noticed that I stacked those chairs that day. I don't think anybody ever noticed that I teach every week.

I work in the nursery. I sing.

Man, does anybody notice? Hey, can I tell you right now? God does.

God takes note of how you serve him. And here's what God says. That's a blessing.

But the message isn't over. I wish it stopped there. But look at verse number four.

Because in verse number four, we read these words, but I have this against you. You have abandoned the love you had at first. You have abandoned the love you had at first.

What is Jesus saying to them? I want you to notice secondly with me this thought. You can be right about a lot of things, but still be wrong.

You can be right about a lot of things, but still be wrong. Jesus said, Hey, I know the work that you're doing. I know everything that you have done, but I have this against you.

You have left your first love. You have left the love that you had at first. This is interesting.

I mean, think about it. Remember the pastors that I just mentioned in the church at Ephesus, Paul, Apollos, John, Timothy. These are men of God.

And yet, here, they're off the scene. And here's what the Lord, stay with me. Here's what the Lord says to this church.

I know what you're doing, but you have forgotten why you do it. Oh, you're doing a lot of good things. But you have forgotten your first love.

You have forgotten why you serve. But I want you to notice the why that he gives them. And don't miss it today.

The why that he gives them is love. Hey, you're doing a lot, but you're doing it without love. Hey, you're performing a lot, but you are performing without love.

Hey, you are standing against sin, but you're doing it without love. You are working and laboring and you're enduring with patience.

All of your trials, you're staying close to your, you're just staying close to the church and you're doing things, but you are not loving me. That's a hard statement. But the scripture helps us understand and we know this.

I mean, you know the greatest verse that we could look at in John 3.16, for God loved the world in this way that he gave his one and only son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting or eternal life.

We know this today, that the entire reason that Jesus came to this earth was because of love. He first loved us, and so we can love him. But here's what he says to this church at Ephesus.

You have abandoned that love. You have left that love. This is the point I want to make today.

You can be right about a lot of things, but you can still be wrong. The truth is this. The motivation for the Christian life is supposed to be love.

We know 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 14, that the love of Christ compels us or moves us forward. Hey, did you know Jesus said in John 13, 34 and 35, I give you a new command that you would love one another just as I have loved you.

And then he said this in the next verse, by this type of love, will all people know that you are my disciples. Hey, my friend, we spoke about it for those that were here on Thursday or Friday night for the family weekend.

We need to understand that love is supposed to be the foundation of all of our Christianity. But I get the opportunity to speak in churches all across the US and our church. And can I just tell you about our church?

Moses Lake Baptist Church, sometimes we struggle with love being the foundation. As a pastor, sometimes I struggle with love being the foundation.

And so, I want us to understand, I'm preaching to myself just as much as I'm preaching to you this morning, but I would venture to say that if you are honest with yourself, you would readily admit just like me, there are days that I do, but I don't

love. I serve, but it's not out of love. Here's what the Lord says in scripture. We looked at it in 1 Corinthians 13.

If you serve within the church, but you don't have love, here's what the Lord says it's like. Someone's like, don't touch the drums, I'm touching them, it's all right. I'm not going to ruin them.

It's just like, if I were to come over here, and I were to just play all these bells and just make a lot of noise, here's what the Lord says, Christian, hey, when you serve in the church, and it doesn't have love, it just sounds like a bunch of

cantankerous noise. I hate to say this today, but you know what? There's a lot of churches filled with just noise. Why?

Because a lot of Christians don't love.

I told the story at the family weekend, so if you were there and you heard it, I apologize, but we, years ago, we were remodeling our church and we had a building given to us when we started, and so it was incredible, I mean, just a God thing.

But we were buying chairs for our church, and so we put up front a diagram of the church and the 250 chairs that we were trying to buy, and we encouraged everybody. At the time, it was $55 a chair.

So hey, buy a chair for you and buy a chair for a friend, and let's buy 250 chairs. Would you do that? And the church, all right, yeah, we're gonna do it.

So we took eight months and raised the money. At the time, it was $12,500 for us to buy these chairs. We were just a brand new church plan, I think at the time, maybe 40 people, 50 people come into church.

And there was this little lady, her name was Marlene Sutton. And at the time, Marlene was probably 83, 84 years old. And Marlene was one of those.

And some of you ladies, you think people don't know, but Marlene was one that when she was younger, she was on Rehazal Get Out. And it showed when she got a little older. And some of you think, oh, I can hide my cantankerous years.

Because you can't.

Some of you, that was Marlene and she owned it.

She was like, well, pastor, back in my day. And I'd say, tell me, Marlene. She'd tell me her story.

And man, Marlene, she's sweet. She came up to me. And we'd have people when they bought a chair, we would have them put their initial on that board up front.

Just stayed there all the time so people could put initial and we know how we're doing. Marlene came to me and she brought me a check. She said, Pastor, here's my check for $110 for my chair and the chair of my friend.

Can you put my name up there? I said, yeah, Marlene, I'll do that. So I walked up and I put her name there and she came back up.

She said, now, Pastor, I want to ask you a question. She said, where exactly on the chair is my name going to be? I said, excuse me, Marlene.

And she said, well, we have the names up there on the chairs. Where is my name going to be? Are you putting placards on the back or is it on the seat or is it on the front?

Where is it going to be? And it took me a second. I'm like, Marlene, we're not putting names on the chairs.

And she was like, we're not. She said, I thought for sure you're going to put my name on the chair. And I said, no, Marlene, we want anybody to sit in it.

She was like, well, yeah, that makes sense. That makes sense. We shouldn't put names on the chairs.

You know, she walks away. I use that as a silly illustration, and Marlene meant nothing in pride by it. But you know what?

A lot of Christians live their Christian life with a mentality that is my name. Put me first. Pastor bless me.

Sunday school teacher bless me. The music should bless me. The preaching should bless me.

Don't sit in my chair. Don't serve in my ministry.

Don't...

We do that all the time.

We all do that.

And here's what the Lord says to the church at Ephesus who was doing it.

You missed it. You missed it.

He said to them, you have forgotten why you do what you do. What was the one hindrance for this church? The one hindrance for this church was the absence of love.

Someone asked me a long time ago, Pastor Dennis, can you boil the Christian life down to just a few thoughts or maybe one phrase? And I said this, yes, it's love God, love people. Four words, two phrases from a series we did and a theme one year.

Love God, love people. Jesus was asked, what is the greatest commandment? He said this, love the Lord thy God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

And the second is just like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. Foundation of the Christian life.

Love God, love people. Hey, you can be right about a lot of things, but you can be still be wrong. Notice number three, and we'll do it quickly, is this.

What does Jesus say? He says, remember the first work of love and return. Look with me, verse number five.

Remember then how far you have fallen and do the works you did at first. Hey, go back to loving. That second part, he says, otherwise I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place unless you repent.

The idea of the lamp stand, and again, we don't have the time to dive into all of it, but it is the idea of God's presence within the church. The lamp stand is God's presence within the church, the light of God within the church.

Here's what God says. Oh, now don't miss it because it is a challenging lesson for every one of us. God says this, if you go through the motions, but you don't have love, I am not in that place.

Well, wait, doesn't the Bible say we're two or three are gathered, that the Lord is in the midst? That's out of context.

Yeah, it says that, but Jesus said when it comes to the church, if you're performing and doing and going, but not loving, Jesus says, I am, nope, that's not mine. I don't know about you, but I don't want Jesus to distance himself from me.

Now we know the Holy Spirit of God will never leave us nor forsake us. We understand that, but here's what the Lord says, my blessing is not going to be on that. But we're a church.

That doesn't matter.

You can put Tabernacle Baptist Church, Moses Lake Baptist Church, Lake City Lake Baptist, Redemption Church, Pride Church, I don't care what church you have, maybe not Pride Church, but anyway, whatever name you put on your door, you can have the

word church. It does not mean that God is in this place. What brings God in this place is when his people are serving in a humble heart with love. That's when God says, all right, I'll bless that.

I want you to understand and I want us to see this together. When you look at verse number six, Jesus said this, yet you do have this, you hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

The practices of the Nicolaitans was like some false doctrine. We're not going to dive into it, but false doctrine of the day. So the Lord's like this, hey listen, you're doing great.

You have good works. You're standing for truth. I know that you're standing against these people.

You know, a lot of us like to say who we're against. Right? When like election seasons come around, a lot of Christians are like keyboard warriors, blasting everybody else.

And then when they get in on public, they're like, why? Because the keyboard like empowers us. There's a lot of Christians that have the spirit.

Here's what the Lord says, hey, I know there's some things that you're against. That's good. I'm fine with you being against some things.

But if you're doing it and you're not loving, you're wrong. If I'm doing it and I'm not loving, the Lord says, Dennis Fountain, you are wrong. I don't want that.

So here's what he says, very simple.

What do we do? Remember, repent, return.

That's the story. Oh, do I have to do some sort of penance? Do I got to do some sort of giving?

No, no, no, no. Remember the first love. Hey, can I ask you a question?

When did you first trust Jesus as Savior? You don't have to tell me. Think about it.

I mean, when's the first time someone shared with you the gospel that you are a sinner, and that Jesus loved you, and he went to the cross, and he gave his life and died for you, and in that moment, a light bulb went on, and you began to understand

that, man, I am a sinner that needs a Savior, and the Holy Spirit of God knocked on the door of your heart and said, this is true, and maybe it was with your grandpa or your mom or a Sunday school teacher or a friend at work. Can you remember that

time? Hey, remember what it was like when you bowed your head and you humbled your heart, and you said, God, I recognize and I believe, and Lord, I confess that I'm a sinner, and I want to receive you into my life.

Hey, I want you right now to remember that. Here's what the Lord says. Keep going back to that place.

I keep going back to Sedalia, Colorado, in the high mountains just south of Denver when I was 20 years old, and I had been raised in church and I knew it all up here. But on that day, I put my faith and my trust in Jesus myself.

On that day, Jesus became my Savior. He was no longer just the God of my dad and the God of my mom and the God of my friends. No, he was my Savior.

You know what a lot of Christians have done? We've moved on from that moment. Here's what the Lord says.

Remember that moment.

Repent.

What is that? It's in the verse. Repent of where you're at.

Lord, I realize that I've been doing and not loving. And then here's the next part. It's really simple.

We mess it up. Here's what he says. Come back to the first work.

What am I doing? Remember love. I saved you because I loved you.

You serve me because you love me. It's that simple.

Remember, repent, return.

The last thought of verse number 7, and it's this. Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Here's the last thought and we're done. Every follower of Jesus needs to listen and respond. That's what verse number 7 is.

Hey, if you have ears, if you can hear this and process this, here's what Jesus says. I'm speaking to the church at Ephesus, but any follower of me that has ears and can process this, I'm speaking to you.

So Christian, I want to ask you a question.

Will you listen? I've been raised, I mentioned, raised in church. My wife and I both are pastors' kids.

We both grew up in ministry. I have been to more services and heard more people preach. I'm 42 years old.

I've heard more people preach in my lifetime than many Christians' lifetimes put together. I've sat in church, I grew up at church. My dad, if you've ever been...

My dad was a fellowshiper. He went to every meeting in our area. I fell asleep on pews.

I fell asleep at restaurants. I fell asleep on chairs. I fell asleep behind pianos and behind old organs.

And I grew up in church. Like I just grew up around it. And I've been in church now as an adult in ministry now for 20, 20 years, 21 years.

I've been pastoring for 14 years. And if I could tell you, if you said, Pastor Dennis, boil Christianity down to what is the one of the single most issues within churches today?

What is the single most issue at Tabernacle Baptist, at Moses Lake Baptist, whatever church? What's the single most issue? Here's what I genuinely believe.

A lot of Christians are at the same place Ephesus was.

They're doing, but not loving. I don't want to be that.

So know that God sees what you do. He's fully aware of it.

He's blessed by it.

But recognize you can be right about a lot of things and still be wrong with the Lord.

So what do I do? Remember the first love.

Repent of serving and living without love and return to love. And then what do I know? As God speaks, listen.

He who has ears to hear, let him hear. So this morning I just close and I ask you, have you forgotten your why? Have you forgotten why you do what you do?

I have one statement, one story, and we're done. Here's the statement. His love should rearrange everything in your life.

If I walked in today and I had a band-aid on my forehead, I had just a band-aid. And you walked up to me and said, Pastor Dennis, what happened to you? And I said, I got hit by a train.

One band-aid. You'd give me the same response you just did. And you said, you'd laugh at me.

But if I walked in today and I was in a wheelchair, full body cast, can you see it? All you can see is like my eyes through that little head cast and my mouth. That's all you can see.

And you say, Pastor Dennis, what happened to you? And I say, I got hit by a train. You would believe me.

Why? Because a train would rearrange Dennis Fountain. Here's what I'm going to tell you today.

When you trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, the freight train of His love moved into your life. His love should rearrange everything in our life. His love rearranges my priorities, my practices, my principles.

His love rearranges my marriage. His love rearranges how I parent. His love rearranges how I encourage my spouse.

His love rearranges how I go to work. God's love is supposed to rearrange all of that. But here's what a lot of us are doing.

We're walking around with a band-aid. And our life doesn't prove His love has rearranged my life. I ask you today, has His love rearranged you?

If it hasn't, you may have forgotten your why. What do I do?

Remember, return, repent.

But perhaps this morning, you don't even know the love of Jesus.

You've never trusted Him as Savior.

If you're here this morning and you've never made the decision to put your faith and trust in Him, can I tell you, today needs to be the day? You could do that in your chair.

You could pray and ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and come into your life. Maybe you want to know more about that. You can see me or see Pastor Brian afterward.

We'd take the Bible and show you how you could know it. But if you are a follower of Jesus today and you've forgotten your why, it's not hard.

Remember, repent, return.