While it is true that we do not do works to merit God’s love or righteousness, it is not true that works do not matter and that Jesus could care less about them.

In the last letter in the Bible, Revelation, Jesus appears to John the Apostle on the Isle of Patmos and speaks with him about the seven stars and the seven golden lampstands.

Jesus reveals that the seven stars symbolize the seven messengers of the seven churches in Asia, and the seven lampstands represent the seven churches of Asia, each with its unique role and significance.  Then Jesus tells John to write to each of the messengers of these churches.

Early on in each message, Jesus says, “I know your works.”  The first church messenger Jesus addressed was at Ephesus, and the messenger was told things that made it clear that Jesus was paying attention to what the church was practicing.  It starts out with Jesus saying some great things about the works of this church.  We know it is about the church because, in the end, Jesus says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” So even though the letter is to the messenger at Ephesus, it is really for the church at Ephesus.

For all the good things spoken about the church in Ephesus, Jesus eventually says, “Nevertheless.”

Revelation 2:4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent. 6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Jesus wants this church to change its mind and return to something it had lost along the way: a first-love state of being.  If they fail to return to this way of being, they stand to lose their influence as though they do not even exist any longer.  They had put the total emphasis on their existence in their moral works and forgotten their love for Him in the process. They were so focused on their devotion to doing the works they deemed most important that they became distracted from their love for Him.  I like that He ends with encouragement after the corrective instruction by saying they have something in common with him regarding what they hate.

Were you aware that a loving Jesus could hate something?  He does.

I wonder how many believers have ever taken to heart what Jesus says about what He hates and researched what it was about the Nicolaitan doctrine that merits hatred from Jesus?

This doctrine that Jesus hates is mentioned in a letter to another church because it is making its way into that church. It is occurring in Pergamos. In Thyatira, we discover behaviors akin to the doctrine of the Nicolaitins; however, the issue in Thyatira is directly tied to a false prophetess referred to as Jezebel. She is teaching the servants of God to commit sexual immorality and eat things offered to idols as though it doesn’t have any significance to their spirituality.  Basically, the doctrine of the Nicolaitins promoted an idea that was rooted in Gnosticism, which held that what was material did not matter; only that which was spiritual and unseen mattered to them.  Based on this type of thinking, the idea that sexual immorality or idolatry was no longer something to be ashamed of or forbidden because freedom had come. This type of teaching paved the way for people to engage in things without remorse of conscience or thought of consequence, as though Jesus now approved of such things.  But in Revelation, we find Jesus hates doctrines that promote license or the sense that such behaviors are of no real significance and should be overlooked.

Here’s the kicker: Ephesus hated this doctrine, and Jesus liked that they did so, but it could not overpower their need to return to their first love. The “nevertheless” still stands out as the significant call in this particular letter to the church at Ephesus.  Is it possible there could be a “nevertheless” if a letter were to be written to the modern-day church?  I do not want to hear “nevertheless” from Jesus.  I want to be so in love with Him that He has control of my spirit, heart, soul, and mind.  If I do hear a “nevertheless,” I am grateful for the grace that can bring me out of that place and into the place I need to be with Him.  Grace does not cover or hide us from a “nevertheless.”  It empowers and transforms us to rise above it.  It enables us to answer the call to change our minds and surrender our hearts to Jesus afresh.