Victorious in Love, Not Just in Works
"To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God." Revelation 2:7b
The concluding statement in the letter to the church in Ephesus states:
"To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."
At first glance we may assume being victorious means achieving victory over the common enemies of all Jesus' followers which are the world, the flesh and the devil. A key element in discipleship training is preparing Jesus' followers to effectively manage the inevitable challenges from these forces while traveling through life.
Maybe though this verse is talking about being victorious over something other than the world, the flesh and the devil. In the letter to the Ephesian church they are commended for many things:
good deeds
hard work
perseverance
no tolerance for wickedness
recognizing false teaching
enduring hardships
hating the debauchery of the Nicolaitans
Despite all these good things, the Ephesian church is chastised for being unloving. Something has gone wrong in this church that does most everything well. They have diverted their love for God and people and replaced it with legalism and doing good things. They were good at doing church but not so good at being the church. They have forgotten the key elements of being a Jesus' follower as stated in Mark 12:30, 31:
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: love your neighbour as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”
We learn from this letter to the Ephesian church the highest priority for churches and Jesus' followers is extravagant love for God and secondly for other people.
The longer we are Jesus' followers the more we tend to enjoy fellowship with fellow believers and to fall into patterns of worship and fellowship that we enjoy. In this letter Jesus is telling them (and us) to avoid this temptation. We must ask the Holy Spirit to help us not fall into the trap of being doctrinally sound, works focused, and separated from sinners whom Jesus loves intensely.
Those who are victorious by overcoming the natural trends in churches, and regaining the love for God they knew at conversion, are promised a huge reward in paradise. When the expression of love for God is done correctly the natural consequence is to exhibit a love for sinners the way Jesus does. We are all called to be disciple-makers. As disciple-makers our number one job is to love God. Only then can we become the vessels through whom Jesus expresses his love for those who do not believe in him.
