What was Wrong in Ephesus.
I. The spectacle Ephesus presented was that of a Church working most laboriously and patiently, the machinery kept steadily in motion, all at work and always at work, but with waning love, the fires going down. The word "somewhat" in our English version suggests that the evil was comparatively slight. In point of fact, however, there is no "somewhat" in the original, and the charge is really a very grave and serious one: "I have against thee that thou hast left thy first love." It is as if the doctor, called in to prescribe for what you deem a trifling ailment, should startle you by pronouncing, "There is disease of the heart."
II. How is this decline of love to be accounted for? The answer must vary according to the case. In the onset we must be clear about this: that it is not due to any capricious action on the part of Christ, to any unaccountable desertion of the soul by Him, to any arbitrary hiding of Himself behind a veil, far less to any change in His heart. (1) One man tries to retain the joy of conversion all his days, without making any progress or seeking anything beyond. A kind of fitful emotion is kindled, a flashing up of affection with vows of fresh consecration and a better life, followed in a little while by apathy and gloom, and he resigns himself helplessly to let things take their course. This cause of declension is operating today more widely and subtly than many of us think. (2) Another cause of waning love is the abuse of self-examination. It is beset with many and most subtle dangers. (3) Again, a Christian man becomes absorbed in worldly pursuits and enjoyments. He has no time for spiritual pursuits, for meditation, for making acquaintance with things unseen and eternal. Can any one be surprised that he loses his first love? Would it not be a miracle if he kept it? Or again, there are worldly friendships, followed in no long space by worldly conformity. "Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?"
J. Culross, Thy First Love,p. 62.
References: Revelation 2:4. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. iv., No. 217; Ibid.,Evening by Evening,p. 42.Revelation 2:4; Revelation 2:5. Ibid., Sermons,vol. xxxii., No. 1926.