Teachings Of The Nicolaitans

How many of you today can remember your first love?

Can you remember back to that very first time when you first started dating? The very first time that you held hands with your true love? Remember all of the emotions that you had for that person and the trouble trying to contain those exciting emotions?

Remember when you came to know Jesus as your own personal Lord and Savior? He too, became your First Love. That is the way you are suppose to feel when you praise/worship/serve the Lord. Bursting with emotion which is hard to contain. Excited. Eager to be with. Happy to speak with and to talk about with everyone you meet. Longing to spend every waking & free moment with Him.

So, let me ask you now... What happened? Why don't you feel that way anymore? Why are you not filled with those same feelings as if you had just met your "First Love"?

In Revelations 2:4-6; to the Church in Ephesus, Jesus says:
"Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: you hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate."

Can it be that trying to worship/praise/serve the Lord you have spread yourself way too thin and now the joy of doing those things seem like such a chore? That now you are simply going through the motions and not doing them with a heart full of joy and happiness as if working for the Lord. Unfortunately, it is happening. Especially in todays huge megachurches. There are many individuals in the church, but just like everywhere else, it seems that only about 10-20% of them within the body are coming forward to volunteer to fill the needs of the church by serving or leading in a ministry. Those who do volunteer are the same individuals within the body who are already serving in two, three or more ministries just to simply fill a ministry need and over a short period of time, the joy of why they are there serving in the first place is slowly being lost or forgotten. Also, there may be other decisive factors going on within the church that may have dulled, confused or even desensitized the main reason why the love you feel for the Lord is no longer as it once was?


In Revelations 2:14-16; to the Church in Pergamum (Pergamos), Jesus says:
"Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality. Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth."


Nelson's 'New Illustrated Bible Dictionary' states that the definition of:
Nicolaitans: is an early Christian heretical sect made up of followers of Nicolas, who was possibly the deacon of Acts 6:5. The group is mentioned explicitly only in Rev. 2:6, 14-15, where it is equated with a group holding "the doctrine of Balaam," who taught Israel "to eat things sacrified to idols, and to commit sexual immorality." Balaam probably was responsible for the cohabitation of the men of Israel with women of Moab (Num. 25:1-2; 31:16). Therefore, the error of this group was moral rather than doctrinal. If the "Jezebel" of Revelation 2:20-23 was a teacher of this sect, as many believe, their sexual laxity was indeed strong. Most likely, they were a group of anti-law (Mosaic Law) practioners who supported a freedom that became self-indulgence. It may have been the same heresy condemned in 2 Peter 2:15 and Jude 11.

Unfortunately, this is even true in todays churches. We can see that the body of Christ has become just as divided as the current political landscape of this nation: Republicans / Democrats, Red States / Blue States, Conservatives / Liberals. The church can be currently described as either: Conservative / Progressive. There has also been noted an 'Exodus' from all of the mainline Christian churches (Catholic, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, etc.) to the smaller more grassroot conservative churches. Which immediately brings up the question, 'Why is there such a defection / exodus in mass from all of those churches'? The media may have the answer, over the last few years they have reported numerous times that sexual immorality within many of those 'Progressive' churches is continually on the rise. As mentioned above, it seems that the 'teachings of the Nicolaitans' is considered to be the accepted norm within the walls of those 'Progressive' institutions and that would go far to explain the reason why there is an increasing exodus from all of them... back to the Truth, back to their 'First Love', back to Jesus.