2022-5丨General Subject：Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

General Subject：Loving the Lord and Loving One Another for the Organic Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ

II. Paul's blessing at the end of his Epistle to the Ephesians foreshadows a problem that would arise: the love in the church in Ephesus would fade, as indicated by the Lord's rebuke in Revelation 2:2-5:

Rev. 2:2 I know your works and your labor and your endurance and that you cannot bear evil men; and you have tried those who call themselves apostles and are not, and have found them to be false;

Rev. 2:3 And you have endurance and have borne all things because of My name and have not grown weary.

Rev. 2:4 But I have one thing against you, that you have left your first love.

Rev. 2:5 Remember therefore where you have fallen from and repent and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent.

A. The concluding word of Ephesians 6:24 adds a condition to the presence of grace: loving the Lord in incorruptibility; this seems to imply that if the Ephesians did not love the Lord in such a way, the grace of the Lord would no longer be with them.

B. Ephesians emphasizes the relationship between grace and love (1:2, 4; 3:17; 4:2, 15-16; 5:2; 6:23-24); this indicates that if we want to receive and enjoy grace continually, we need to fulfill one condition—love.

Eph. 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Eph. 1:4 Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love,

Eph. 3:17 That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

Eph. 4:2 With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, bearing one another in love,

Eph. 4:15 But holding to truth in love, we may grow up into Him in all things, who is the Head, Christ,

Eph. 4:16 Out from whom all the Body, being joined together and being knit together through every joint of the rich supply and through the operation in the measure of each one part, causes the growth of the Body unto the building up of itself in love.

Eph. 5:2 And walk in love, even as Christ also loved us and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor.

Eph. 6:23 Peace to the brothers and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Eph. 6:24 Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility.

C. The church in Ephesus failed in the matter of loving the Lord; such a failure became the main reason for the failure of the church throughout the ages—Matt. 24:12; Mark 12:30-31; cf. Dan. 7:25:

Matt. 24:12 And because lawlessness will be multiplied, the love of the many will grow cold.

Mark 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart and from your whole soul and from your whole mind and from your whole strength."

Mark 12:31 The second is this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." There is no other commandment greater than these.

Dan. 7:25 And he will speak things against the Most High and wear out the saints of the Most High; and his intention will be to change the times and the law; and they will be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time.

1. The genuine ministry of the New Testament always stirs us up to love the Lord Jesus with the first love, strengthening us in the simplicity of enjoying Christ as our life supply—2 Cor. 11:2-3; 3:3-6.

2 Cor. 11:2 For I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God; for I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

2 Cor. 11:3 But I fear lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your thoughts would be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity toward Christ.

2 Cor. 3:3 Since you are being manifested that you are a letter of Christ ministered by us, inscribed not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone but in tablets of hearts of flesh.

2 Cor. 3:4 And such confidence we have through Christ toward God,

2 Cor. 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to account anything as from ourselves; but our sufficiency is from God,

2 Cor. 3:6 Who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

2. The churches in Asia, including the church in Ephesus, turned away from the apostle Paul's betrothing ministry (2 Tim. 1:15; 2 Cor. 11:2-3); approximately twenty-six years later, when the apostle John wrote the epistle to the church in Ephesus, they had left their first love and lost the genuine enjoyment of Christ, resulting in the loss of the testimony of the Lord (Rev. 2:4-5, 7).

2 Tim. 1:15 This you know, that all who are in Asia turned away from me, of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.

2 Cor. 11:2 For I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God; for I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.

2 Cor. 11:3 But I fear lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your thoughts would be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity toward Christ.

Rev. 2:4 But I have one thing against you, that you have left your first love.

Rev. 2:5 Remember therefore where you have fallen from and repent and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent.

Rev. 2:7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.

Morning Nourishment

Rev. 2:4-5 ...I have one thing against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore where you have fallen from and repent and do the first works; but if not, I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place, unless you repent.

Paul’s words in [Ephesians 6:24] foreshadow a problem that would arise: the love in the church in Ephesus would fade, as indicated by the Lord’s rebuke in Revelation 2:2-5. Therefore, the concluding word of Ephesians 6:24 adds a condition to the presence of grace: loving the Lord in incorruptibility. In Revelation 2 the Lord charges the church in Ephesus to repent...; otherwise, He would come to them and remove their lampstand out of its place (v. 5). The light of the lampstand is the light of life (life is grace), and this light of life would be removed by the Lord if the church in Ephesus left their first love. This indicates that in order to maintain the light of life, that is, grace, the first love must be recovered. These verses show the Lord’s feeling toward the Ephesian saints: He was concerned about their love toward Him. This is why the apostle repeatedly uses the phrase in love in his Epistle and why, in this concluding blessing, he speaks of grace being with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptibility. This seems to imply that if the Ephesians did not love the Lord in such a way, the grace of the Lord would no longer be with them. (CWWL, 1953, vol. 2, p. 542)

The enjoyment of the Lord as grace is with those who love Him...One of the main points revealed in Ephesians is that the church, which is the Body of Christ, is also the bride of Christ, Christ’s wife. With the Body, the emphasis is on taking Christ as life; with the wife, the emphasis is on loving Christ. Therefore, this book emphasizes and also concludes with our love toward the Lord. The church in Ephesus, the recipient of this Epistle, failed in the matter of loving the Lord. Such a failure became the source of and main reason for the failure of the church throughout the ages (Rev. 2—3). (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3473-3474)

Because Paul was wise, he did not argue with the Judaizers concerning doctrine. Instead, he told the Corinthians that he was jealous over them with a jealousy of God. He went on to say that he had betrothed them to one husband in order to present a pure virgin to Christ. What a wonderful way of speaking! Paul’s word in 2 Corinthians 11:2 is very touching. It touches our heart in a deep way and stirs up our love for the Lord Jesus. Very often the Life-study messages touch our hearts in the same way. After reading a few pages of a message, the tender feeling within you for the Lord Jesus is stirred up, and you realize afresh how dear and precious He is. However, sometimes your theological and doctrinal mind may be troubled and raise questions about the Trinity or about Christ being the Spirit. You may wonder about modalism. You may question whether the ministry in the Lord’s recovery is trustworthy. But after reading a portion of a Life-study message, you once again begin to feel that as the Bridegroom the Lord Jesus is lovely and precious. Spontaneously you say, “O Lord Jesus, dear Bridegroom, I love You. Lord, thank You for Your word, for Your ministry, and for Your recovery.”...The Judaizers stir up questions, but the genuine ministry stirs up our love for the Lord Jesus as our Bridegroom.

Today’s Judaizers seek to shake the believers away from simply loving the Lord Jesus. Nevertheless, we should turn from the Mosaic law and from the prophets and focus our attention on the Lord. We need to see from 11:2 that we have been betrothed to one husband in order to be presented as a pure virgin to Christ. Therefore, we should say, “Our dear Lord Jesus is our unique Husband, and I am part of His virgin. I don’t care for doctrine or theology. I care only for the ministry that ministers Christ to me. He is the pleasant and dear One whom I love.” (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 462-463)

Further Reading: CWWL, 1953, vol. 2, pp. 542-544; Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msgs. 52-53; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 345