Recapturing Our First Love | Crawford Loritts

foreign ((music playing)) thank you hey I want to welcome for those of you who are joining us all over the country all over the world uh welcome I haven't had a chance to do that all of our Atlanta area churches were so privileged today super excited today to have Croft Dr Crawford lauritz with us um he's as as you've already heard he's just become a dear friend through the years and he really is a go-to person for me and I find myself just wanting to take notes anytime I'm around him and anytime I even in casual conversation so would you please give a warm North Point Ministries welcome to Dr Crawford Lewis thank you well thank you so much Andy it's good to be here good to be here with you all and for those the other locations who are viewing right now it's a joy to be here once again with you now he's had me back here several times and so I I think he invites me back to see if I can finally get it right and so I thank you for the opportunity I'm I'm trying I'm trying it's a joy to be with you my wife's not with me today she had another commitment but she is the absolute Joy Of My Life we've been married now for 51 years and she's yeah she deserves combat pay being married to me for 51 years but uh and I would say she was just a child when we got married no that's probably I shouldn't say that but she is a yeah yeah she's she's absolutely wonderful we actually met in college um the story is about a week before I came back on campus for my sophomore year in college my high school sweetheart we had gone together all throughout High School dumped me kicked me to the curb can you imagine somebody getting rid of all of this he said yeah I can see that it's all it's true I stayed I was in my in my dorm room praying actually God no more women they mess you up every time and I'm not going to date anybody this semester I'm not going to be distracted or deterred you and me Jesus just you know I'm gonna stay focused on my studies and my relationship with you and all of this and people who know me know that once My Mind Is Made Up I can be fairly focused so I got up off my knees filled with this deep-seated stalwart single-minded commitment to not be distracted by the opposite sex and walked down the street and I was going to one of the buildings on campus and just rehearsing this decision to stay focused and all of this so then I opened the door this one building and there was a young lady that I hadn't seen before and I don't know what happened I got healed instantaneously I believe in Divine Healing and and so my mama taught me to be hospitable to strangers and so I I introduced myself I said hello I'm Crawford Rich what's your name she said I'm Karen Williams I said oh that's wonderful you know I've been assigned to you to be your tour guide and been showing her right now around now for 52 years she is the absolute Joy Of My Life the absolute year of my life but one of the things we've discovered in our marriages like you have if you've been married any longer than 30 days you've discovered this that's uh you know love is both a noun and a verb because you got to work at love is not automatic love is intentional you got to fuel it you got to prioritize it got to pour yourself into it and regrettably marriages fall apart all the time and a lot of those reasons can be put under the big banner of neglect nobody ever gets married and stand at the altar and look at one another say I'm going to destroy your life we don't do that we're in love we're in love but life happens and before you know it you don't intend to do it you sort of drift you start making assumptions and you don't resolve issues and you move over here you wake up one morning you wonder what happened to us that's also true in our relationship with God our relationship with Christ now I you know it's not a performance thing don't get me wrong you don't hear me talk about this in a second but that love needs to be nurtured it needs to be prioritized and you can do some of the right wonderful stuff and still be cold and dead in your heart Jesus had that in mind when he told John who was in Exile on the Isle of Patmos to pick up your PIN buddy I want to dictate some letters and by the way he he dictated seven letters to John and five of those seven letters are have basically the same template where there's celebration right this caution and then there's correction but this letter in Revelation Chapter 2 verses 1 through 5 really has I really believe our address in zip code all over it and we've got to pay attention to this because I happen to believe that this is the general condition if we're not careful of Christians here in the western world so he says John pick up your pen I got something I want to say now I need a little little detail here the church at Ephesus by the way this is a letter to the church at Ephesus is not one big huge place and like like this the church at Ephesus was probably a series of smaller house churches dotted all over the city and there was an elder over each one of these house churches and you can imagine so maybe there's 12 15 people crowded into a small house and this elder is reading this message from the mouth of Jesus himself and by the way when you read your Bible always read it in its emotional context and they're sitting there listening to this the very first thing that Jesus says to them is that he he celebrates them there is celebration I want to pick it up here in verse 1 it says to the angel of the church and Ephesus right the words of him who holds the Seven Stars in his right hand who walks them on the seven golden lamp stands I know your Works your toil and your patient endurance and how you cannot bear with those who are evil but have tested those who call themselves Apostles and are not and found them to be false I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my namesake and you have not grown weary ah just summarize this for a little bit now you're sitting there and you're next to your husband or wife I'm sitting next to Karen and the Elder reached this and he's it's like Jesus is giving us a standing ovation he is celebrating Us close examination of these two verses you might conclude that he he he's actually celebrating or commending them for right Behavior you just look at the verbs there you're enduring you're you're holding up you're patient all of this stuff is this no hint of anybody living in any protracted nastiness or whatever so he says no no that's that's that's good that is wonderful he's celebrating that secondly you have to look closely at this but it's there he's also celebrating the right beliefs there's a little line that says and you've put the test those who call themselves Apostles and are not they're not so subtle inferences that you you you have an accurate understanding of Truth and what's right and wrong and what the Bible generally teaches or what my words generally teach can discern when you know somebody's spitting on your foot telling them you restraining you you got that it's wonderful by the way I pastored for a number of years and Andy would probably tell you the same things people you know they transfer relocate to another city and they want to know hey Andy Crawford where where can I go is it church that you can recommend well at the top of our listener we're thinking about recommending places where the people are not you know screwing up too bad in their behavior and we want to rock them in a place where you know they actually believe what is true it's wonderful and if you're like me I'm sitting next to Karen and these words come across and I'm saying high five we ain't doing too bad Jesus is celebrating us keep that in mind it's legitimate and yet this next line takes the air out of the room he moves from celebration to caution and this is probably one of the most extraordinary statements in the Bible Jesus says this not John or another person but Jesus says this he says yet I have something against you oh you just said I'm behaving right and believe him right tension right I'm behaving right and I'm believing right but I Jesus says got a problem with you I have something against you there's something wrong with your brand of Christianity yeah you're behaving right you're believing right but there's something wrong with your brand of Christianity and then he gives a clear statement of the big problem listen to the statement I think sometimes lazy speakers have kind of like been a little sloppy with what Jesus says here listen to the statement of the problem it's what I have against you you're behaving right believe it right okay that's fine his problem I have the problem I have with you is that you have left your first love now I'm reading from the English Standard Version it says you have abandoned as another translation I prefer the term left he says you have left your first love I would suggest to you that Jesus is saying to them you have become distracted now hang in there with me I'm going someplace with this listen although it's not overtly stated I really believe what he is saying is that the right stuff that I commended you for has replaced the love that you should have for me you've gotten distracted by Right Stuff you've gotten distracted by good stuff you've gotten distracted by correct stuff but the problem is primary passion is given to that which is process or secondary issue let me let me let me give you an illustration not too long ago when I was pastoring I and one of those days I was really excited about I I uh there were some Christian leaders who were flying into Atlanta they wanted to meet with me and I was excited about this this media project they were going to prototype it here and uh it's about reaching a lot of people for for Jesus and it was it was just a great day and then I was going to hop on a plane and fly to another city and and there'd be thousands of people that I was going to share the gospel at this event and I was just really pumped about my day now people who know me know that I'm a little obsessive compulsive about time and for whatever reason I happen to be running late that morning which was not a good thing for a guy like me and so I'm running late and uh you know so I hop in the car you've been there and I'm excited about today but I'm all along I'm on my way to the office I'm thinking about what am I forgetting what am I forgotten forgetting something what am I forgetting about three-fourths of the way to office I go oh man I left my wallet on the dress I'm driving without identification now none of this stuff that I wanted to do was wrong they were all the advanced sweat was on my heart it was all great wonderful things but this good stuff distracting me for something necessary again the process is not the destination let me just you know I'm just too old to do recreational speaking so here it is look look look some of us some of us love what we do for Jesus more than we love Jesus we love our small groups we love the process and not even though the wonderful stuff but they replaced him thus he says you have left not lost implies distraction you you have left your first love now this is not the pedantic or the sequential term for first you know you do this and then do you do this and then you did it's not the orderly term for it's the essence term for first in other words that that which should establish all of the other priorities in your life and that which judges all the other priorities in your life at this stage of the game I I'm so grateful for my wife I mean the stuff that she's put up with me my mistakes my over commitment my travel schedule and all of the and the the hair brain stupid stuff that I've done through the years at this stage in my life you know she really is everything to me next to Jesus Karen our relationship establish all of the other involvements in my life this is what Jesus is saying it you you have left your first love in other words you love something more other things are more determinative and the dastardly irony is it's the right stuff that you love more think about that so don't get ticked off at people who are worshiping Idols wonderful Believers and followers of Jesus do it all the time foreign performance apart from the centrality of Jesus will always mean legalism always it was so arrogant sometimes and proud about how right we are we worship our theology rather than worshiping The Giver of our theology says you have left your first love and what Jesus is saying is that Christianity is a person not a process it's a person not a process hear me on this now this this is this it has a lot of freight here that I can't get into this morning the word love here is the Bible's New Testament is written in a language called Greek for the most part and there's there's different words translated for love but this is this is the word agape and some people say well that's God's unconditional love wow that's kind of superficial way of saying that it's more than that it's almost the indefinable word for love it's a love that goes beyond human comprehension there's no quid pro quo it's it's the pursuant love of God that ran you down when you're calling in the opposite direction it said love that found you in those hellholes it's that love that reached down and delivered you and wrapped its arms around you and wouldn't let you go even though you squirmed these people if you read Acts chapter 19 these these Ephesians I mean I can't go under the details of this because they did some raw nasty stuff Jack they were in these temples and all this other guy who were doing all kinds of crazy stuff you talk about ensnared and in Chains and and all of this this little dude named Paul an apostle shows up in the Agora of the marketplace outside the temple and they walk out of the temple after doing unimaginable filthy stuff and they hear him talking about a man who died on the cross in their place and for their sin and the love of Jesus watched over them it's almost as if Jesus is saying that the church that episode look at you now you don't do that stuff anymore that's good you're a little sophisticated oh that's wonderful hey you know your biteful that's good who who delivered you uh you you forgot you were helpless in fact you're a little smug and arrogant about your Christianity aren't you well now the air is out of the room we ain't doing this no more I'm looking for a hole in the ground he celebrates us right cautions us what I love about our savior is that he doesn't leave us dangling Jesus is not interested in condemnation he's interested in justification and deliverance and Hope so he says here's here's the prescription man here's the formula by the way he doesn't tell them to stop behaving right or believer right he says in so many words you have an alignment problem so now you come to verse five just the first part of verse he says now what do you do is well remember therefore from where you have fallen repent and do the works you did at first if you want to get cute and try to remember all this you said remember repent and redo let's put some meat on that the very first thing he says I want you to remember the the word remember has a bit of a double on time it's a bit of a double entender or or or there's this there's a there's a passive and active element to memory the word remember remember it's almost as if he's saying hey let's stop stop stop pull over don't keep going don't don't keep going faster in the wrong direction pull over I want you to look in the review mirror of your mind go back way back way back back back back but before you knew all this Christian stuff before you know all of this stuff about church and small groups and dynamic processes in my life before you know all that stuff I want you to feel the senses of your memory foreign how guilty you felt I I want you to remember how grimy you felt I I want you to remember how lost you then I want you to remember you could not do anything for yourself oh you tried to bootstrap it but it didn't work Jesus says I I I not your intellect rescued you would you remember that but there's an active part of memory as well doesn't just mean to recall it also means to rehearse I think what Jesus is saying is this I don't ever want you to get so sophisticated in your Christianity that you forget the dramatic miracle of your transformation and forgiveness every day of your life you need to rehearse the death burial and resurrection of Jesus for you don't get cute and by the way it's in the rehearsing of the death burial and Resurrection for you that drives entitlement out of your mind that keeps gratitude fresh and an appropriate sense of Brokenness and humility which is wonderful one no matter books you read Crawford okay you teach in some seminaries right none of that's bigger than the cross then he says I want you to repent the word repent there is a word that they could have been translated and change your mind change your thinking and I actually think there are two well change your thinking I think he literally means change your mind about how you're approaching your walk with God and again he's not eradicating this is not some verbally racer for what he said in verses uh uh you know two and three about right behavior and right beliefs now he meant that he meant that he said but look look I want you to understand I want you to understand that it's not the focus on the right Behavior and the right beliefs the focus is on your relationship with Jesus the focus is on a person that focuses on that love relationship out of that will come right behavior and right beliefs but change your thinking about all of that if you don't then you'll go around bragging to everybody about how how erudite and smart you are as a Christian how spiritually mature you are over other people and all of this kind of nauseating Pharisee nonsense and frankly our churches are too full of that stuff change your mind repent that's repentance is all about self out of the center of your Christianity that's what he's saying get you and other people and other processes out of the center of your Christianity by the way please forgive me but like I said I'm an old man you can you know we we kind of like do stupid stuff but look I gotta tell you something Andy and I talk about this sometimes I I I I am just uh burden for the the the nature of Christianity in our culture particularly our churches there's too much of our opinion ideas and thoughts we're making that equal to the gospel and we've institutionalized the nauseating arrogance and camouflaged it as authentic spirituality with a signature of authentic spirituality is profound humility and gratitude so that even when we have to denounce things that are wrong we do it with a tear trickling down our cheeks we take no pleasure in showing people up we take no pleasure and I'll I really told him well I wrote a Blog about him and I wrote a Blog about that thing I didn't ever do that again really seriously who are you the fourth member of the trinity remember repent change your mind then the last line is really cultivate your love do again the Deeds you did at first now I I have to say when I when I first studied this passage many years ago that one line bothered me because I didn't know what what is he talking about I went back to Acts chapter 19 and read that and I went through the book of his Seasons maybe there's a clue there and then it dawned on me he's talking about affections it fits the context he's talking about our affections he's saying you remember how you felt you remember how you felt when you gave your life to Jesus can you imagine these people laying awake at night feeling dirty and filthy the tears probably trickling down their chicks because they've done what they've done and they're feeling trapped and how come it's taken me so long to get better and I I don't like what I'm doing can I stop this and Jesus rushes into their hearts the chains fall off the guilt is gone it's almost as if Jesus says you remember how you used to before you knew any of this stuff yesterday awaken tell me how much you love me you should tell me how grateful you are for me ASA sounds corny but this is extremely personal to me I remember I gave my heart to Jesus when I was 13 and a half years old and I would literally I remember those days I would literally lay awake at night I didn't want to go to sleep because I just in the quietness of my bedroom dark I wanted to say Jesus and I did tell Jesus I love you will you help me will you help me understand this book I love you Jesus I'm telling my age here but there's an old song that says you don't send me flowers anymore we'll go home on this observation um this text always makes me think of Peter Peter and John 21 you know he Peter screwed up big time right it it denied Jesus and all of this and so this is after the after the crucifixion after the resurrection um they they're on Shore with with Jesus and Jesus is standing with charcoal fire as you recall Peter denied Jesus at a charcoal fire and so Jesus invites him he's fixing his meal for him and I can imagine Peter thinking ah I don't do charcoal fires and so he he gets over there and uh by the way the place of your failure can also become the place of your restoration and Jesus says to Peter he asked him the question three times he didn't give him a sermon he said Peter man do you love me yeah I love you Peter do you love me foreign yes I love you Peter do you love me Jesus didn't ask him that because Jesus needed the information Jesus asking those questions because Peter needed to hear in his own head the affirmation of what was core and Central in his Effectiveness as a follower It's All About Love it was after if Jesus was saying buddy if you love me there's no telling what I will do for you do you love the Lord do you love him cultivate that love respond to that love some of you who are watching or listening or mighty be in this room you you have yet to respond to Jesus and you're not here by accident I love how what Andy said earlier there's an agenda here and it's up front we want you to be delightfully overwhelmed by the love of Jesus he invites you to come because he loves you you don't have to be perfect you have to do anything but just say Lord Jesus I turn from my sin to you and I receive your love father thank you for yourself thank you for your love and mercy and Grace in our lives oh God you've been better to us than we could ever dream or imagine forgive us for being seduced by idols forgive us for choosing the process over the person God will you help us to be simple but clear people the greatest thing that could ever be said about us is boy that dude loves Jesus help us we pray in Jesus name amen