The Ephesian church was told by Paul in Acts 20 that they would be troubled by false teachers, some of them arising from within the church itself. Paul wrote to Timothy (who was ministering in Ephesus) and spoke to him time and again about the false teachers that were and would be attacking the church (1 Timothy 1:3; 4:1; 6:3-5; 6:20-21; 2 Timothy 2:14-17; 3:1-5; 3:12-13; 4:3-4). Apparently the church paid attention, for Jesus lauds them for their resistance to false teaching. But he has a criticism. In Letters From The Lamb I wrote:

Jesus recognizes that the Ephesian church is a hardworking, faithful church, yet he accuses them of having abandoned their first love. It seems that in their zeal to oppose false teaching, they had forgotten all about the foundation of their faith, which is love. Paul had encouraged these very Ephesians to live “speaking the truth in love.” Apparently they focused on “speaking the truth” and forgot about the love. They had protected the gospel, but had failed to protect those to whom the gospel was addressed. They had lost sight of the very core of the message of Christ.

(Letters From The Lamb, p.51)

Without love, the truth ceases to be truth. Without truth, there can be no true love. We need both. We must resist false teachers, but never at the expense of love.

Jesus warned the Ephesians that they were about to lose their lampstand. In Revelation, the lampstands represent the churches; if Jesus removes their lampstand, it means they are no longer his church. We can be hardworking guardians of doctrine like the Ephesian church, but if we lose our love, we lose our right to be called a church of Christ. Christ’s church is a community of love. If that doesn’t define us, we’ve lost our right to exist.