The seven churches

Intro

I want to read an story I read in a book this week on this passage.

Imagine a weary traveler, parched and exhausted, seeking refuge from the scorching desert sun. He arrives at a small oasis town named Laodicea, hoping for refreshing water to quench his thirst. To his surprise, he encounters two types of water sources in the town. The first source is a natural spring, flowing with cool, pure water from the nearby mountains. The water is invigorating, crystal clear, and life-giving. This spring represents the fervent faith and devotion of the believers, whose lives are deeply rooted in the teachings of Christ. The second source, however, is a lukewarm, stagnant pool of water. It neither refreshes nor warms the soul. It represents the lukewarm faith of some in the church, individuals who are neither fully committed to God nor completely rejecting Him. Their tepid faith lacks the zeal and passion that God desires from His followers. As the traveler encounters these two contrasting water sources, he realizes the importance of spiritual vitality. The natural spring symbolizes the vibrant, authentic relationship with God, where believers are on fire for Him, constantly seeking His presence and guidance. On the other hand, the stagnant pool serves as a warning, depicting the danger of complacency and half-hearted devotion. Just as the lukewarm water is unappealing and unbeneficial, a lukewarm faith fails to satisfy the deep spiritual hunger within. In this illustration, we are reminded of the words of Jesus to the church in Laodicea: "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:15-16, NIV). We read about the story of 7 churches, who this letter is addressed to. The common theme we see throughout this next passage is Jesus spoke, and he expected the churches to listen. He gave them praise on things they had right, and things that they needed to change. but in the ned the common theme that we see here is the theme of repentance and turn back to God.

before we get into the meat of what the end times is going to look like, before they could learn what it is that is to come we are reminded you need to repent of any sin and turn back to God. What we see consistently as a warning is that yes we may be okay in some areas but we must repent when we do wrong and turn our lives back to God.

HBI - We must not be apathetic about our faith but rather through patient endurance turn to Jesus with our whole lives for He is standing there waiting for us to turn to Him, though He wont be patient forever.

2:1-7 - church 1 - Ephesus

We first turn to the church in Ephesus. We know this church well, after all Paul wrote a letter to the Ephesian church. I found a map of the different locations of the churches that I found interesting. The churches are in what is now modern day Turkey. The island of Patmos is off the southwest coast of Turkey. I have a copy of this map in the booklet I am making.

Another thing we need to remember is that the churches and what is being told to them is integrally related to the vision of Jesus in Chapter 1. We are going to see this with all 7 churches.

Revelation 2:1 CSB

“Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus: Thus says the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands:

If we go back to chapter 1 we can see this in the beginning of verse 13 and 16. To get to the church, Ephesus is located on the Aegean sea at a major harbor. The city housed a huge temple to the goddess Artemis. There is only ruins now but they have built a replica of what it probably would have looked like.

Another thing that I need to address is the word angel here. (Rabbit trail)

I go more in depth in this in the booklet I am putting together, but there is argument on what this could mean. I mean no surprise there. It has caused confusion in the churches. The word angel can mean messenger as well. The 3 different views are that as John addressed the letters to the churches to the angel of the church are:

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Interpretation

1. Reference to a supernatural being.

2. Reference to a symbolic figure representing the supernatural character of the church.

3. Reference to a human figure.

My stance on it has been made this week in researching all of this. Given what we read in the beginning of Revelation, I believe that it is in reference to supernatural beings that God has placed over His body here on earth. But it would be more a reference to the churches, a reminder that Jesus is with them. Though they might need to repent, they might need to change, if they follow Jesus He will be with them.

Revelation 2:2–3 CSB

I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars. I know that you have persevered and endured hardships for the sake of my name, and you have not grown weary.

One thing to remember as we go through this is it is possible to live like you are a follower of Jesus, even go through the motions and follow the crowd around you, but that does not make you a follower of Jesus. If you believe in the assurance of salvation, this is important. And it is important to remember as we go through these churches and how they lives.

John commended them on a few things to start with, they had some admirable qualities. They showed good works through their labor and endurance. Their church discipline was something to be commended because it apparently guarded against false teaching.

We have a lot to go through, so I am going to go through the basics. Becoming apathetic about our faith, influenced by the world, whatever the case may be we see what actually went wrong in this church.

Revelation 2:4–5 CSB

But I have this against you: You have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then how far you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. Otherwise, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.

Repent and actually turn your lives to Jesus they are told, or they will be removed. If you do not repent and start living for Jesus again, then maybe they where never children of God to begin with.

Good works, and biblical correction can work well when done in love, the love preached about in the bible but when that love is forgotten then we have a problem. For example, If we try and deal with clear cases of sin in the church yet do it without the love of God all we get is hurt feelings. J I Packer wrote “Many of us western Christians can smell unsound doctrine from a amile away and yet the fruit of personal experience of God often proves rare among us.”

as we patiently endure what is going on around us, we must not get so distracted, by the world, apathetic about our faith, maybe even scared by what the world thinks that we forget that we must be living for God. Is our devotion to Christ waning? do we love without doctrine, do we uphold doctrine without love? it all needs to go together.

2:8-11 - Church 2 - Smyrna (smoor'-nah)

The suffering church of Smyrna has no rebuke from the Lord but a bit of a warning. We start out with the encouragement they received.

Revelation 2:9 CSB

I know your affliction and poverty, but you are rich. I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.

They are rich! Not in the eyes of the world, but because they are following God. But the warning they get lets them know that they can be fearless and still have hope. Which yes it does sound weird.

Revelation 2:10 CSB

Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will experience affliction for ten days. Be faithful to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Christ is Lord over anything we might face and because Her is Lord over any circumstance we have nothing to fear. Jesus warns us not to fear those who can kill the body, they cant affect your soul. But rather fear the one who Has power over your soul.

Billy Graham once said. “All I know from the short letters in Revelation is this: Christ commands us to overcome in the strength He alone can provide”

We are commanded to overcome and sometimes we do not know How, but then we are reminded that the strength to overcome comes from God alone.

2:12-17 - Church 3 - Pergamum

Again my plans be spoiled, I was going to go through all 7 churches, but alas I only have time for chapter 2. The last church we deal with today is called Pergamum, or in Greek Pergamos.

Revelation 2:13 CSB

I know where you live—where Satan’s throne is. Yet you are holding on to my name and did not deny your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who was put to death among you, where Satan lives.

Pergamos was nicknamed “Satan’s city likely because of it’s idolatry. The term also is likely because of a massive altar to Zuess, which looked like a throne. It is one of the most famous and ornate alters in the world.

Now imagine you live in a place like this, devoted such a huge building to the worship of the most powerful of the Greek gods. To stand up for faith in Jesus in a place like this would have dire consequences. It tells us here that some where put to death because of their faith. Yet they held on to the name of God in spite of what the world around them was doing.

But they had a slight problem, the mixing of Christian faith with paganism, or at least some of them did.

Revelation 2:14 CSB

But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block in front of the Israelites: to eat meat sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality.

They where doing wrong, the mixing of beliefs by some was going on and causing those who where not yet followers of Jesus to turn away and follow the pagan laws and try to follow Jesus laws.

It is not possible to blend beliefs. You can not have it both ways. This has plagued the people of God for generations. We have seen Satan creep into the church through compromising the word of God. You may think that we are not doing this now but we still do. Just look at progressive Christianity, how they are starting to twist the word of God to fit the world around them. This is still happening now.

It is not that we are called to be combative like I have seen some churches take it. We cannot fear, for example, becoming so relevant that we lose our Christian identity. We must live out the gospel. We can speak the truth in love seeking to reconcile the lost, not start an argument.

What we are told to do as a church is repent.

Revelation 2:16 CSB

So repent! Otherwise, I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

Repent of the belief that we can follow God and the world at the same time. God’s warning us now that we can not have it both ways, but we must follow Him.

So What?

I have a problem, I am having troubles being as concise as I need to be to cover this in a short amount of time, maybe I should just give up. But there si just so much good stuff here to go through. The intro was based on covering all 7 churches in one sermon but the message remains the same. Have we become apathetic about our faith? Are we patiently standing for Jesus? He wont be patient with us forever. Two main things I want us to focus on from these first three churches.

Is the Church reflecting the values of the world?

have we become apathetic about our faith, or have we repented and turned to Jesus.

Given the high degree of assimilation of the church and worldly values, more time spent entertainment then on witness and so one the prognosis is not good.

Are we trying mix faith with pagan beliefs. A warning against assimilation. When Pagans said that Rome fell because of the conversion to Christianity, Augustine responded that it fell rather because it’s sins where piled as high as the heavens and because the commitment of most of the Christians population remained too shallow to restrain the wrath of God.

The people in these first three churches where warned that the church must stand for truth in the midst of the world, not bend to suit the world. We must not strive to become so relevant that the gospel becomes irrelevant. We must speak the truth in love and not become purveyors of what people want to hear.

Overcoming by the strength of God

patiently enduring through the strength of God. What the trials we go through should cause us to do is to depend radically on God. Before John gets into what the end times is going to look like we are first reminded what it is the church should look like. If we are no longer reflecting Jesus but the world, then we must repent for we are only going to be able to overcome by the strength of God.