Most of us tend to think of the ancient world as being kind of barbaric, uncivilized, but it really wasn't. In many ways it was just as "civilized" as we are now. But, back then, people everywhere (except Israel) worshiped many gods instead of just one. Of course there were those who didn't really worship any at all too, just like today, and then there were those who wanted to be worshiped. (again, like today) The difference is that back then, since they had Kings and dictators etc, they could force the citizens to worship them if they were powerful enough, and the Caesar's were. They didn't say the people had to worship "only them", but rather that they could worship who or what they wanted to as long as they also worshiped them. They made big state holidays over it every few months and would have parades and festivals and everything. They'd even give money to the poor so the poor would have enough money to buy an animal to sacrifice. The good thing about that for the poor was that once the animal was sacrificed, it was given back to them to eat. For many of them, that was the only meat they'd eat all year long since they were too poor to buy their own. (someone must have had a very good public relations man, because as you can imagine this made them quite popular!) If you really think about it though, this isn't all that different from what goes on in our time too.
Enter the Christians then who refused to worship the Caesar along with their God, just like the Jews before them. Now, consider, if you were poor, as most were, you would be risking your life in more ways then one if you converted to Christianity as you then wouldn't get any meat. How would you feel too if your family was poor and one of your adult children fell in love with a poor Christian and was converting? Or if they had children - your grandchildren would then be starving even more and in mortal danger. So Christians weren't liked very much because of this.
The world during that time had huge libraries, just as we do, although their "books" looked different. Still, philosophy, and even what we'd call psychology, as well as medicine, and politics were just as important to them as they are to us. And they were quite advanced too. They too believed in education and either sent their children to a school, hired tutors or taught them themselves. They had magnificent buildings, some much more magnificent then ours today, theaters, music, etc. They were quite civilized even if they did have slaves. They weren't bigoted or anything...anyone could be a slave, you just had to someone other then a Roman citizen. They were even open minded and liberal like we are, only as time went on they became even more so. Prostitution, while not considered something a gentleman or lady would do, was considered quite normal, as was homosexuality, abortion, etc. So again, it was very much like today in that regard too. As were their politicians...the lives of their politicians compared to ours now are pretty much identical really.
So the only "big" difference was the fact that the majority of the people worshiped more then one "god". (or is that really all that different from today after all?) This is what it was like at Ephesus then too. It was a major seaport too, although it no longer is.
OK, now that we know that the people of this time are not much different then we are, let's look at the letter. Every word of it's important but I'm going to underline the part that really got to me.
Revelation 2:2–6 —I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. *You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. *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. *
My thought was not only "have I in fact forsaken my first love?" but also, how could I have done so? How could they have done so? Look at all He praised them for! They obviously knew their scriptures and practiced what they preached, for that's what helps you become discerning, and they were praised for being discerning. In fact, it sounds like they're still doing so, so how could they have forsaken their first love???
What I got out of it as I studied was that it got to be automatic for them. Almost like running on auto pilot. They got to where they were so busy discerning, so busy arguing doctrine and debating it, so busy making sure they weren't involved in any of the false teachings that were being spread around, so busy simply persevering under the daily pressures of being persecuted because they followed Christ, that without realizing it they went from loving Him and doing all this because of their love for Him, to just doing it. They'd forgotten their personal relationship with Him as it all became routine.
It was a lot like what would eventually happen to the city as I guess they didn't heed the Lord's warning...or maybe it was their children who didn't. But eventually doing all their "good works" replaced their relationship - their love - for the Lord. That's kind of what happened to the city. Since no one cleaned out the harbor, over time, it eventually filled up with good soil. But the harbor, the seaport became useless and was eventually deserted. Their lampstand was removed.
I have to admit, this really hit me very hard and the Lord and I have talked about it and will probably continue to talk about it quite a bit longer, as I most certainly do not want to lose my first love! And I could see how very easy it would be for that to happen too. Although I admit that I didn't at first. At first I cried out against it, asking how I could possibly lose it by doing what He told us to do! By spending all the time I did in His word! But then, so did they. The Lord gently reminded me that I'd been asking Him for the last couple of months to help me improve my prayer life, invigorate it again. I remembered telling Hm that I knew something wasn't right, but just couldn't put my finger on it. Well, now He was answering me. (actually He had been all along, this was just the "clincher")
Once I admitted it was possible, the Lord reminded me that He told them and us what to do to make things right. "Go back and do the things you did at first". That was easy when I thought of it. When I was first saved I was so filled with Love for Him, that I would praise Him constantly, it came naturally whenever I'd be studying or praying, or just thinking about Him or His Word, or even talking to someone else about it. I can remember driving to or from work and having to pull over to the side of the road because i wouldn't be able to see anymore for the tears of joy and love that came as I was talking to Him. As you can imagine, that's what I've been trying to focus on a lot more now.
There's much I could say about the things He praised them (us) for too, but it would take forever and I really am hoping that this will just be an encouragement for you to each study the letters with Him yourself. There's no way I can go through each letter with you...well, I could but I doubt anyone would want to read so much
and besides talking to the Lord about them is better then hearing about it second hand anyway. So tomorrow I'll just try and give you all some of the rest of the main things He's been pointing out to me about this and wrap it all up for you.
But none of us have ever felt this extreme distress. Let me share something from one of my commentaries about this: 
) That story is in