The Church With No Passion

The judges on American Idol are always telling the constantans to believe in what they are singing. The judges remind the constantans that to just get the words right and to sing the right notes is not enough. If they are going to connect with the audience they will need to sing with PASSION.

You see, without passion the audience in the studio and the audience at home will not believe them.

The same is true of us as Followers of Jesus. If we don’t have passion for Jesus and for His Kingdom, the world will not believe us and not believe in Him.

In Revelation 2:1-7 Jesus instructs John to write a letter to a church with no passion. The church was the Church at Ephesus.

Now, Jesus has some great things to say about this church. They were a:
Serving Church
Sacrificing Church
Steadfast Church
Separated Church
Suffering Church.

They seem to also be a very busy church with activities on every night of the week. They led the denomination in baptisms, giving, and mission projects.

But in verse four Jesus says, “He has this against them, they have forsaken their first love” Their first love was Jesus and they had forsaken, forgotten, abandoned Him.

In other words, they had lost their passion for Jesus and His Kingdom.

God wants His people to be passionate because He is passionate.

Deuteronomy 4:24
Because the Lord your God is an all-consuming fire. He is a passionate God.

John 2:17
His disciples remembered that it is written, “Passion for your house consumes me.”

God is passionate and the thing He is most passionate about is YOU!

What does it mean to have a passion for Jesus?

It means to live passionately.

Living passionately for Jesus involves several things.

First, it means we are to follow God passionately.

Numbers 14:24
But my servant Caleb - this is a different story. He has a different spirit; he follows me passionately.

Second, we have a passion for doing what is right.

Titus 2:14
He gave His body for our sakes and will not only break us free from the chains of wickedness, but He will also prepare a community uncorrupted by the world that He would call His own - people who are passionate about doing the right thing.

Third, to hate evil with a passion.

Job1:1
Job was a man who lived in Uz. He was honest inside and out, a man of his word, who was totally devoted to God and hated evil with a passion.

We are to lead passionately.

Romans 12:8
If your gift is encouragement, devote yourself to encouragement. The one giving should do it with no strings attached. The leader should lead with passion. The one showing mercy should be cheerful.

Leading passionately means to wait on the Lord passionately.

Psalm 37:34

Wait passionately for God, don't leave the path. He'll give you your place in the sun while you watch the wicked lose it.
I know that waiting and leading seem the opposites of each other. As a leader I cannot lead effectively unless I am following Jesus. Just as Moses said he was not going to move unless God moved, we lead only as God reveals to us the direction and the path to go.

Leading passionately means have a passion for justice.

Isaiah 16:5
Then God will establish a royal throne, in loyal love - the One who rules there will be utterly reliable, with absolute integrity under the auspices of David. With a passion for justice, He will be quick to decide and do what is right.

Leaders must lead with a sense of loyalty to God, reliability, integrity and a desire to lead people to do the right thing, the thing that pleases God.

We are to care passionately.

That means we need to be passionate about the welfare of others.

Colossians 4:12-13
Epaphras, another member of the Church, and a real servant of Christ, sends his greeting. He works hard for you even here, for he prays constantly and earnestly for you, that you may become mature Christians, and may fulfill God’s will for you. From my observation I can tell you that he has a real passion for your welfare, and for that of churches of Laodicea and Hierapolis.

We also need to have a passion to put others first.

Philippians 2:1-4
Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from His love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose. Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others, be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others too.

We need to worship passionately.

We are to sing with passion.

Psalm 33:1
Release your heart’s joy in sweet music to the Eternal. When the upright passionately sing glory-filled songs to Him, everything is in its right place.

We need to pray with passion.

1 Kings 8:54-55
Having finished praying to God - all these bold and passionate prayers - Solomon stood up before God’s Altar where he had been kneeling all this time, his arms stretched upward to heaven. Standing, he blessed the whole congregation of Israel, blessing them at the top of his lungs.

The church in Ephesus had lost all of the passion for Jesus in their living, leading, caring, and worshiping. God rebukes them for it. God being not only a God who rebukes, but a God who also corrects tells them how to get the passion for Jesus back.

God says REMEMBER.

We have to go back in our minds and hearts and remember what it was like when we first came to love Jesus. It is not just about believing in God or even about just believing God. It is also about loving God passionately.

God says REPENT.

We have to turn from apathy (yes, that is a sin) and turn to Jesus as the greatest desire and passion of our lives.

We have to care more about what God thinks and wants than what people think and want.

John 5:44
How could you possibly believe? You like to have your friends praise you, and you don’t care about praise that only God can give!

God says RETURN.

We have to start doing again what gave us the passion for Jesus in the first place. Things like worshiping with God’s people, praying with God’s people and individually, Bible study with God’s people and individually, serving, and sharing our Jesus stories.

Jesus also tells us that if we will do those things thus allowing Him to give us a renewed passion for God, then two things will result.

One is a renewed life. A life that is full. A life that is purposeful. A life that is passionate.

Second, an intimacy with God. We will know and experience the presence and power of God in our lives daily.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about knowing, really knowing, that God loves you passionately.

Look at Jesus’ words in Luke 23:34: “Father forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.”

Jesus is not just praying for the Roman soldiers.
Jesus is not just praying for Pilate.
Jesus is not just praying for the Jewish mob.
Jesus is not just praying for the Jewish religious leaders.
JESUS IS ALSO PRAYING FOR YOU AND ME.

Jesus said that there is no greater demonstration of love than laying down your life for someone. Jesus did that. And Jesus did that while you and I were still sinners. That is passionate love.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about loving God passionately.

God created you to love Him more passionately than you love anyone else.

If we don’t love God more passionately than we love anyone else:
We won’t experience fulfillment.
We are sinning.
We are living in fear and with lack of confidence. (Only perfect love does away with fear and only God’s love is perfect)

Jesus invites us to:
Experience His Perfect Love
To Be Fulfilled By Loving Him Passionately

Passionately Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe