Christianity . Everything we do for God will be an attempt to trade our works for His benefits and blessings .
And isn ' t that what has happened today ? Here ' s an obvious example . In many churches , before the offering is received each week , the congregation is primed with a twenty-minute manipulative talk on ' giving '. " You will be blessed if you do and cursed if you don ' t !" " Sow a seed for your financial harvest !"
This shows us , 1 ) what the speaker really thinks about God . He doesn ' t want to bless you , but He can be bribed ; 2 ) what the speaker thinks of the congregation . I know you don ' t want to give to the Lord ' s work , but consider the benefits of doing so ! And so when we operate like this , just like the church at Ephesus , we have left our first love . Our motive is no longer love , but fear , greed , unbelief , etc . Remember , this church was full of good works , but they were no longer the first works , i . e . performed on the basis of first love . The message to this church was not :