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î î f i r s t w o r k s ”
w o r k s o r
by Dr. Vance Havner
first works, faith working by love. Adding more wheels to the machinery is poor procedure when we do not have enough power to move the wheels we already have. We hear much about the perils of over-organization but the trouble is really under-motivation. Nothing is so boring and tiresome as “church work” without the Holy Spirit. Today iniquity abounds and the love of most has grown cold, as our Lord predicted. Revival is simply Christians and churches getting back from works to first works. Our Lord told us how: Remember, Repent and Repeat. We must take an inventory and compare our present state with our earlier condition when we did what we did because we loved the Lord. Business firms take stock and we go to doctors for phys ical check-ups. The church ought to take time now and then for self-examination. Remembrance must be fol lowed by repentance, a radical change of mind accom panied by confession and forsaking of sin, restitution and reconciliation, getting right with God and people. There must be separation from the world and submis sion to the Lordship of Christ. Then we are ready to do again the first works, to repeat, for we will have returned to our first love which produces first works. It is Revival or Removal for our Lord says, “ Repent or else I will remove thy candlestick.” Here is the heart of our problem today in the church at large, the denomi nation, the local church, the individual Christian. Why do we do what we do in church? Is it “works” or “first works” ? Until we face this and do something about it we are wasting our time. There is the frightening possibility that we may be developing in our churches today a generation of Phari sees who, with the best of intentions and unaware of their delusion, are doing many things that Christians do without being Christians at all or without a Chris tian motivation. High-pressure American promotional methods under religious auspices can produce an amaz ing output of “ church work” without the Holy Spirit being anywhere near the place. Church loyalty totally unrelated to love for Christ can turn out statistical wonders. These dear workers would be horrified if we raised any questions but our Lord knows the difference between “works” and “ first works” and says “ Repent . . . or else.”
/^UR L ord said to the Church of Ephesus: “ I know thy ** works” (Rev. 2 :2 ). Then He commanded them to “ do again the first works” (v. 5). What is the differ ence between the “works” of verse 2 and the “ first works” of verse 5? It lies in what He said in verse 4: “ Thou hast left thy first love.” It has been pointed out many times that the Thes- salonian church was commended for its “work of faith and labour of love and patience of hope” while the Ephe sians were credited only with work and labour and patience. They were busy with church work that were not motivated by the love of Christ. One wonders some times what our religious activities would look like if we eliminated all that is not the spontaneous expression of our love for Christ. It is about time to ask, “Why do we do what we do in church?” Do we do it because somebody has to, because we were appointed to do it or from a mere sense of duty? Sometimes we drive the automobile into the repair shop and say “Check the motor.” It’s about time we checked the motive in God’s repair shop. There has never been as much “works” in the church as now but not much of it is “first works.” We are long on “works” and short on “ first works.” It does not seem to matter much what the preachers preach or how the church members live so long as we raise the budget and keep the statistics high. We boast of our numbers when we ought to confess the sin of pride in empty figures. I go from church to church and do not often see even half of the membership so loudly advertised. The ineffectiveness of our witness to the world today lies in the fact that we are majoring on “works” when we need to get back to “ first works.” “ First works” are the things we do because we love the Lord, the outward expression of an inner effection, “ the love of Christ constraining us.” First love produces first works. Young Christians and young churches put us to shame with their zeal. A brand-new convert is always a refresh ing phenomenon but in trying to assimilate him into regular church activities we often exterminate his fer vor. How to keep first love and first works from degen erating into dead works is a major problem among us today. We try to remedy the situation by stepping up our activities when what we need is not more works but
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