The power of the early Christians was truly amazing. By the end of the first century (70 years after Pentecost), that small group of people gathered in the upper room expanded so much that with all the persecutions Rome could muster upon them, they numbered over 5 million in the Roman Empire alone.

However, something happened to them, and they began to resort to other means than the pure gospel presentations to reach humanity. As Jesus examined that period of the Christian era, what did He have to say about this group of believers? “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love” (Revelation 2:4, emphasis supplied). It is quite simple. They had lost their first love.

What had that first love been like in the beginning? What were they willing to spend on the love of Jesus? We have the example of Mary just before the crucifixion. “Behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment” (Luke 7:37, 38). She had obtained this ointment at a great personal sacrifice.2 This was no small deed.

Why was she willing to sacrifice so much for no selfish or personal benefit? Jesus also answered that question. “Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little” (verse 47). “When Christ is the object of our affections, those who have received His pardoning love will not stop to calculate the value of the alabaster box of precious ointment.” 3 This is the key to their success. Their life meant nothing to them, and this is why it was so easy to lay it down.

Do we really love Jesus supremely above anything else in this world? Are we prepared to make the “alabaster box” sacrifice just so that Jesus can have it? Do we want the power of the early church? Are we ready to work in the same manner as they did? “In their work the disciples constantly encountered privation, calumny, and persecution; but they counted not their lives dear unto themselves and rejoiced that they were called to suffer for Christ. Irresolution, indecision, weakness of purpose, found no place in their efforts. They were willing to spend and be spent.” 4

How many times I find people telling me how they love God more than anything else in this world and even weep during appeals in meetings. Yet they cannot get along in church capacity! Is it possible to love God with all our heart and then despise those with whom we are supposed to worship? “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20). It is for this reason that our relationship with each other in church capacity is a real testing point when we speak about our love toward God.

When we talk about evangelism we often want the best speakers to present the truth clearly to the world. We want the best in multimedia capabilities so that the truth can be clearly understood and make a definite impact on the hearers. I love using modern technology for the furtherance of the gospel message. This is as the Lord would have it, as expressed to the prophet: “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it” (Habakkuk 2:2). However, all this technology and natural or cultivated abilities alone are not able to accomplish the task of seeing souls converted.

What is the one thing that is needed, that the early church had, that gave this power? “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35). This is the real credential in a society where conflicts are constantly flaring up; where ethnic cleansing still happens even in the 21st century; where countries begin to close the borders and enact all types of protectionist laws at any major economic crisis; even where nation rises up against nation and kingdom against kingdom, finally here is a people that cross national and ethnic barriers! Here is a people that know no cultural barriers and disregard all linguistic impediments.

Because this principle was so different from the rest of the world, this idea so unique in the reclusive Jewish mind, Jesus calls it a new law. “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another” (verse 34). The real question is, Have we really accepted this new commandment in our life?

How is such a love possible? Again, the answer is quite simple. “As [His disciples] were drawn to Christ in greater love, they were drawn to one another.” 5 Do we love Jesus so much that there are no more national, ethnic, social, linguistic, economic, or personal barriers between us as brethren and sisters? Do we love Jesus so much that we see Jesus in each other?

Many years ago as I was growing up on a farm in Elverta, California, we had to get up really early one morning—before sunrise—to pick the zucchini, since we had not finished all the rows the day before. As we were picking up the squash in the field, the sun began to rise. It was my first distinct memory of the rising sun so early in the morning. I looked directly at the sun in amazement at how I could look straight at it without harming my eyes. After a few moments I went back to work. However, all I could see was the sun. The zucchini plants were the sun. The squash themselves were the sun. The bucket was the sun. My brother and parents were the sun. Everything around me was the sun. I closed my eyes, and all I could see was the sun. Have you seen the sun? Jesus is the Sun of righteousness or the daystar. “We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19). Has He arisen in your life to such an extent that all those barriers we were talking about have disappeared, and all we can see is Jesus in our fellow believers?

“After the descent of the Holy Spirit, when the disciples went forth to proclaim a living Saviour, their one desire was the salvation of souls. They rejoiced in the sweetness of communion with saints. They were tender, thoughtful, self-denying, willing to make any sacrifice for the truth’s sake. In their daily association with one another, they revealed the love that Christ had enjoined upon them. By unselfish words and deeds they strove to kindle this love in other hearts.6

What a wonderful experience we have been talking about! However, an unconscious change came into the church. What sadly changed them into a cold, formal, legalistic group of believers? They gave way to unkind criticism and lost sight of Jesus. The church members became reclusive and so concerned to save themselves that they lost the love for others. “Your interest, and efforts, and anxieties are for your family and your relatives. But you have not entertained the idea of reaching out for others around you, overcoming your reluctance to exert an influence outside of a special circle. You idolize yours, and shut yourselves within yourselves. That the Lord may save me and mine is the great burden. This spirit will have to die before you can flourish in the Lord and make spiritual advancement, before the church can grow and souls be added unto them of such as shall be saved.” 7

We all have our personal concerns. It is true that we need to save ourselves before we can save others. It is true that we need to work with our families and rescue them from the danger that will affect all humanity. And although “all should have an interest for their relatives,” they “hould not allow themselves to be shut up to them as though they were the only ones whom Jesus came to save.” 8

Are we having some of the same problems that caused the early Christians to come to a standstill and paved the way for future apostasy—and ultimately for the man of sin? “In the church of God today brotherly love is greatly lacking. Many of those who profess to love the Saviour neglect to love those who are united with them in Christian fellowship. We are of the same faith, members of one family, all children of the same heavenly Father, with the same blessed hope of immortality. …The people of the world are watching us to see if our faith is exerting a sanctifying influence upon our hearts. They are quick to discern every defect in our lives, every inconsistency in our actions. Let us give them no occasion to reproach our faith.” 9 When I see people of the same church unwilling to meet with each other because of ill will or animosities, I wonder if we are preparing for the kingdom of heaven or for the mark of the beast? When the man of sin is in our own heart—cultivated by this spirit of animosity—the natural result will be to accept the mark of the man of sin in the religious world.

Our greatest danger has never been from the outside. The Bible tells us that persecution will be the natural result of walking with Jesus. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). We expect that, and persecution has never hindered the growth of the church. However, there is something more sinister than persecution: It is when envy, suspicion, and evil surmising occur among professed believers. How perilous it is to say things in just such a way to cause someone to doubt the integrity of others—especially ministers or other workers. By doing this we weaken ourselves and actually hinder the progress of the gospel message.

Does this type of work bring us happiness and peace? Quite the contrary. “To build up one another in the most holy faith is a blessed work; to tear down is a work full of bitterness and sorrow.” 10 Grumbling and complaining have no joy in them. Finding solutions has not only joy but also a deep sense of fulfillment.

Because of their unconscious departure from love to one another, what did the early believers need? Remember, “Those mentioned . . . as losing their first love were not ranked with open sinners. They had the truth; they were established in the doctrine; they were firm to condemn and resist evil.” 11 Yet they needed to be reproved for their departure and to be reminded of how they used to behave. This is not a cold, formal type of reproof we are talking about—we are talking about a reproof that provides a solution!

Like the church at Ephesus, we as a church have the truth. We have the pure doctrines of present truth. We condemn open sin. Yet something is missing. The early believers began to lose love for souls for whom Christ died. Are we so in love with Jesus that we love the souls both inside and outside the church? Having love, doing good “especially unto them who are of the household of faith?” (Galatians 6:10).

“[The early believers] were losing their realization of the greatness of the love that God has shown for fallen humanity by making an infinite sacrifice to redeem them.” 12 Too often we get to the point of actually believing that we are better than another person. How does the Bible refer to such? “Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day” (Isaiah 65:5). We begin by comparing ourselves with the world, then by comparing ourselves to other churches, then comparing ourselves with different parts of our church itself, and finally within the local church itself.

How do I practically regain this realization of the greatness of the love of God for a fallen human being as myself? We must vigilantly watch our words and even our thoughts—and fill the void with the compassion of Christ for frail humanity.

To change one’s course is difficult. But the first step is to the NEED to change by a really thorough self-examination. (2 Corinthians 13:5.) No one else can do this work for us. It is a personal work.

Yet it is very hard—nearly impossible—to criticize ourselves because “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” We examine ourselves and usually find that we are perfect in every way. Others are at fault, not ourselves. However, we should not despair because the next verse gives us the solution: “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings” (Jeremiah 17:9, 10). The first step in recognizing our need is to invite the Lord to search our deceitful hearts: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23, 24).

One of the best ways to help ourselves is to help others. The old proverb still stands true today, “The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself” (Proverbs 11:25). The best way to help ourselves is to begin helping others. “We become overcomers by helping others to overcome, by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony.” 13

“This is the work you have neglected. You have shunned disagreeable responsibilities and have not gone to the erring and visited them , and manifested an interest and love for them , and made yourselves familiar with them. . . . You are not required to cloak sin, but to exercise that pitying love for the erring which Christ has exercised toward you .” 14

When someone does wrong, it is not enough just to say “I am sorry.” The Bible clearly teaches that there is a work of restoration to do. “If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die” (Ezekiel 33:15). That means that if I have injured someone’s reputation by my words, it is my responsibility to apologize not only to him or her, but to take action by finding those I had spoken to and rectify what I have said so that the reputation of that person can be placed in the right perspective. This is what it means to get ready for the outpouring of the Latter Rain. “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place” (Acts 2:1).

What happens when this love to one another is a reality? “If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us ” (1 John 4:12).

Do you remember when you first surrendered your life to Jesus as your personal Saviour? Do you remember how you felt about everyone around you? Do you remember how you desired to attend every single meeting of the church? Do you remember how you actually enjoyed every meeting—how you eagerly listened to every testimony presented? Then “Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works” (Revelation 2:5). “God is now calling for heartfelt repentance and for a return to the love that we once manifested toward one another .” 15