It’s the Fourth Sunday of Advent, and the message of love could not be more important.

I just saw something in Revelation 2, letters to the seven churches, that I hadn’t seen before. It’s the first letter, to the church at Ephesus. Their credentials seem impeccable:

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 name’s sake, and
  • you have not grown weary. (Revelation 2.2, 3, ESV, bulleted for clarity)

Great list! They worked hard, had patient endurance, and held straight theology, discerning the false from the true.

BUT,

I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. (Revelation 2.4, ESV)

Love. For whom? For God? Maybe. For each other? Possibly. How about for their neighbors? It’s that last option that I’ve never heard mentioned. Jesus was clear:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22.37 – 39, ESV, emphasis mine)

I don’t think we do such a good job at loving our neighbors. I know there’s a lot of bad stuff in our culture right now, and some conservative Christians have done an excellent job communicating our disapproval of a lot of values and behaviors. But we have not done as good a job at loving the people with those values and behaviors. I don’t think we’ve accurately reflected God’s character:

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5.8, ESV)

…God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance. (Romans 2.4, ESV)

It’s Advent, and why did Jesus come?

The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. (1 Timothy 1.15, ESV)

It’s Advent, and how was Jesus perceived?

…you say, “Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!” (Luke 7.34, ESV)