A few lingering thoughts from Revelation 2:
As we read the letters to the churches in
Revelation 2-3 it is easy to look at them and think, well those churches are
messed up. However, be careful that you do not fall into a trap with this type
of thinking. It is like reading the story of the Pharisee and tax collector in
Luke 18:9-14 and thinking, "I sure am glad I am not like that
Pharisee." So when we read these warning and these blessings we need to
seek to apply them to our own lives and the lives of the churches we
serve.
It is interesting to me (as pointed out by
Ramsay in his commentary on Revelation from 1904) that the two cities that were
most severely rebuked (Sardis and Laodicea) are now completely uninhabited. The
two cities that are most praised (Smyrna and Philadelphia) are the two cities
that held out the longest before the Turkish conquest. Furthermore, Ephesus,
which was warned to repent or its candlestick would be removed, was moved some
3 kilometers from the location of the first century to the location
today.
While the churches addressed lived in a
very difficult time and in a society that was far from Godly they were still
called to account. No matter how much power, or lack thereof, that a church may
have in its culture the church is still called to be a guardian of the culture.
We as the church in America (or wherever you live) have not done a good job
with this at all. We have fallen asleep at our post and are paying the price of
allowing the enemy to come into our midst without even a fight. While the Ephesian
church was praised for standing for the truth, too often we as the modern
church do not embrace nor proclaim the absolute truth of the Gospel. Just as in
John's day there are many that claim to be a spokesman or spokeswoman of God,
but we must test them to see if they are of God. It is easy to be infiltrated
by false teaching if we are not resolute in our commitment to Biblical truth,
authority, and study.
At the same time we must be careful in our
zeal to stand for truth that we do not forget to love. The church from time to
time has been so good at hating sin that they have committed sins perhaps even
more dangerous than the sins they originally hated. The expression hate the
sin, but love the sinner is overused and perhaps missed used, but it is overused
because there is some real truth in it. We must be cautious also with how we
draw lines of fellowship. In doing so, there is a danger of placing judgment
upon those that God has not done so. When we make our own levels of maturity,
not defined in the Bible, there is a tendency to put ourselves above those we
disagree with.
A church that does not hold to the truth
is in danger of apostasy, while the church that does not love is in danger of
no longer being the church at all. Both are to be avoided if we are to not fall
to the same warnings given by Christ to the church at Ephesus. There are many
reasons a church can die or become stagnant. Sometimes the church forgets their
love for the lost and do not evangelize at all. Sometimes churches die because of
lack of love for the truth of God's Word. Sometimes a church can die due to an
overabundance of love for the past and tradition at the cost of the present and
future and new leadership. Sometimes a church can die because they show no love
to visitors or even to those that are not part of their inner circle. It has
been said that the church is great at killing off its wounded; I pray that is
not true where we serve. There are too many well intentioned dragons among
us.
The church at Smyrna shows a list of
contrasts and irony. It is written by the One that was dead, but lives, who is
the First and the Last. It is written to those that poor, but are rich; and are
being persecuted by those that claim to be Jews, but are not. Finally, they
will find life in death. I love it.
The church at Smyrna is encouraged to
stand strong with the promise of eternal life. It is interesting to me as I
study the history of Christianity that when persecution breaks out Christianity
grows. Perhaps when suffering comes we can understand more clearly what really
matters in life.
The church at Pergamum had some good
qualities and some bad ones as well; I would say that is the case with most
churches. The warning to them and to us is not to assimilate into the pagan
culture around us. We are called to follow the examples of Joseph, Daniel,
Jeremiah, and Jesus in which we live in a culture that is not of God, but to be
a beacon of light. While our issue in America is not worshiping an idol, false
god, or emperor, we do have our idols don't we.
The idols of materialism and commercialism
are rampant in our society. The key focus in many lives is how to obtain as
much material wealth and prestige as possible. Our society is eaten up with
greed. What is worse is many in the church have come to believe that the church
is something that is intended to please them rather than a place they go to
serve the Lord. If we don't like the product we are receiving we go find it
somewhere else.
The idols of pleasure and entertainment
are obvious as well. How many hours a day does that average Christian spend
watching sports, television, listening to music, messing around on the
internet, or whatever else they enjoy? Compare that with how much time we spend
on studying God's Word, praying, serving others, and evangelism and we begin to
see the extent of our issues. The idol worship, or near to that, we see with
athletes, musicians, and actors is outright pathetic to be honest. Could it be
that a great spiritual revival is needed in our churches?
Where are you tempted to compromise your
beliefs? Is it with sexual sins (not just adultery, but lust as well) being
that we live in a society that flaunts sexuality? Is it chemical addictions? Is
it simply remaining silent when we see injustice, legalized sin, or perhaps
extreme liberalism on college campuses? Is it with what you watch on television
and on the internet or even with video games? Have we forgotten how to blush?
Is it putting your job, country, or politics before your God? When we value fitting
into our society more than obeying the Lord we forfeit our right to be a true
witness.
Perhaps one way we can stay true to the
Lord is to focus upon what is coming in Heaven. Each of the churches are
promised a part of heaven if they remain faithful. If we understand what heaven
is and what is in store, then this world loses much of its appeal. To give a
few very imperfect analogies, to give up a prime cut of steak for worms is
ludicrous. To choose rocks over diamonds or dirt over gold is just silly. In
the same way, to choose the pleasures of this temporary world over the reward
of heaven is unthinkable if we know the true reality of heaven.
I'll stop now, but here is a link to the
lesson from Sunday night and the PowerPoint:
Here is this week's texts:
October 02, 2013 Eccles 1–4, Gal 3:19–4:7, Ps
109:24–31, Prov 24:8–9
[ ] October 03, 2013 Eccles 5:1–8:1, Gal 4:8–31, Ps 110,
Prov 24:10–11
[ ] October 04, 2013 Eccles 8:2–12:14, Gal 5, Ps
111:1–4, Prov 24:12–14
[ ] October 05, 2013 Song 1:1–5:1, Gal 6, Ps 111:5–10,
Prov 24:15–17
[ ] October 06, 2013 Song 5:2–8:14, Eph 1, Ps 112, Prov
24:18–19
[ ] October 07, 2013 Isa 1–2, Eph 2, Ps 113:1–3, Prov
24:20–22
[ ] October 08, 2013 Isa 3–6, Eph 3, Ps 113:4–9, Prov
24:23–24
[ ] October 09, 2013 Isa 7:1–10:4, Eph 4:1–24, Ps 114,
Prov 24:25–26
[ ] October 10, 2013 Isa 10:5–13:22, Eph 4:25–5:14, Ps
115:1–8, Prov 24:27–29
[ ] October 11, 2013 Isa 14–16, Eph 5:15–33, Ps
115:9–18, Prov 24:30–32
[ ] October 12, 2013 Isa 17–20, Eph 6, Ps 116:1–6, Prov
24:33–34
[ ] October 13, 2013 Isa 21–23, Phil 1:1–18, Ps
116:7–12, Prov 25:1–2
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