The Church Who Listens

Key Elements

In Revelation 2-3, John concludes each letter by reminding every church in every generation that the Spirit's message is not merely to be heard but embraced through repentance, faith, and faithful obedience to Christ.

Main Idea: Because Jesus still speaks to His church through the Holy Spirit, every believer and every church must listen with humble hearts and respond with repentance, faith, and faithful obedience.

I want our church, as individual Christ followers and as a whole, to hear what Jesus is saying to the churches in the Book of Revelation and allow the warnings and encouragements to motivate us to steps of repentance, faith, and obedience to Jesus.

Sources: Commentaries on Logos

Intro

It’s so good to be worshiping with you today. Open your copy of God’s Word with me to Revelation 2-3. (Make sure you’re signing up at the Next Steps area for all the events that are coming in August. We are kicking off a new church year and there’s so much going on and so many opportunities to get involved.)

Today, we conclude a series that we’ve been walking through this summer entitled 7: Ancient Truths For The Modern Church. And if you’ve been with us, you know we’ve been navigating the seven letters written by the Apostle John to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation. And what we’ve been able to do is look at what Jesus dictated through John to these seven churches and take the things that He identified-good and bad-and really ask some hard questions about ourselves as Christ followers and about our church as well. And what we’ve discovered as we’ve navigated these letters is that each church had its strengths and weaknesses. Each church was dealing issues that was common among all of them but in each letter, Jesus specifically identified the main thing that was hindering the church from being what He had called them to be and accomplishing the mission He has called them to accomplish. Even the two churches that Jesus doesn’t rebuke needed encouragement because of what they were facing and dealing with specifically in the context of the culture in which they were ministering. And in all seven of these letters to all seven of these churches, there’s one common statement that concludes what Jesus is saying to each church- “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.” Seven times. Seven letters. Seven churches. Jesus says it over and over again and John writes it down. Now that’s significant. That’s intentional. That’s not an accidental thing. Jesus is purposefully saying to all seven churches in each individual letter written to each church, “LISTEN!”

It almost sounds like a parent talking to their children. And if you’re a parent, you can definitely relate. Because one of the major challenges we face as parents is trying to get our children to listen to us. And sometimes it’s different depending on the stage of life they are in. When they’re little, you speak to them and it’s almost like you’re not even there. In fact, it’s really hard to get their attention. You can be standing right there and ask them to do something like pick up their toys, nothing. You say it again, nothing. And finally, you raise your voice just enough for them to realize you’re serious and they look at you like it’s the first time you said anything. As they get a little older, things change a little bit. You have to tell them to brush their teeth multiple times, to clean their room every day, pick up their clothes, take a bath, stuff like that. The problem isn’t that they didn’t hear you, it’s making that transition from hearing to doing. Then they become teenagers. Something happens at that age that’s a mystery. It’s a whole different set of challenges to deal with. And you still have to repeat yourself but what you notice is that most of the time in the middle of you asking them to do things, they say “I know, I know.” And sometimes they even finish your sentence. Because they know what you’re about to ask them to do. And then, our children become young adults, and it’s almost like you become smart as a parent, I remember when that happened with me and my parents. You see, in every stage of life with our kids, it’s not really about whether they hear or not, they do. It’s about whether they listen and obey.

And that’s the question Jesus is really asking these seven churches in the Book of Revelation. When Jesus concludes each letter with “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.” He’s not asking them do they hear what He’s saying. He’s asking them will they listen and obey what He’s asking them to do?

And as we look at this statement from Jesus that echoes at the end of all seven letters, that’s the same question we, as individual Christ followers and as the church, must answer as well. Today, Jesus is asking us will we listen to Him and obey what He’s calling us to do? Because the mark of a healthy church isn’t simply that it hears what Jesus is saying. The mark of a healthy church is that it listens to Jesus and is obedient.

Message

And this leads us to our main idea as we conclude this series today: Because Jesus still speaks to His church through the Holy Spirit, every believer and every church must listen with humble hearts and respond with repentance, faith, and faithful obedience.

Today, as we turn our attention to the concluding words repeated in each of the seven letters, we discover three foundations of a church who truly listens to the voice of Jesus:

1. The church who listens to the voice of Jesus recognizes His voice and receives His Word.

So, something interesting about this statement from Jesus to these churches is this-everything He’s saying to one church is meant for all seven and applies to our church today as well; and everything Jesus says is to the individual members of the churches and the church as a whole.

Notice, the purposeful intentionality of Jesus here. He says, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.” He begins by addressing “anyone” (the individual Christ follower and church member) and He progresses to addressing “the churches” (the entire congregation or church as a whole). Here’s what Jesus is saying, “when it comes to listening to the voice of Jesus and recognizing the voice of Jesus, the responsibility lies with the individual just as much as it does with the church as a whole.” Listen, if we as individual Christ followers are not listening and recognizing the voice of Jesus in our lives and receiving His Word and allowing it to lead, guide, and change us, how can we expect our church to be a church that does that as a whole? Becoming a church who listens to the voice of Jesus begins with us as individual Christ followers listening to the voice of Jesus.

Which naturally leads us to a question we all have to consider-What voice are we listening to? What voice is speaking loudest in our lives? Because there are all kinds of voices competing for priority in our lives and in our church. I’m not talking about hearing voices in our heads and that might be an issue as well, I’m talking about the voices of the culture. It’s the same voices that these seven churches in Revelation that John is writing to were being tempted to listen to. The wordly influences of the pagan culture around them-the voice of the worship of false gods, the voice of the worship of the Roman Emperor, the voice of temptation of sexual immorality, the voice of compromise to keep their jobs, even the voice of spiritual arrogance and pride and self righteousness that was prevalent in some of their churches. Now the voices that are speaking to us may not take the same form but they are still there-the voice of immorality of the culture, the voice of compromise, the voice of comparison from social media, and the voice that calls us to tolerate sin in our lives and the lives of those around us. Those are all voices that are screaming at us constantly daily. So, above all of those voices, the question we have to ask ourselves as followers of Jesus is are we hearing the voice of Jesus and more importantly, are we recognizing the voice of Jesus? And that applies to us individually and it applies to us as a church.

Which leads us to another question-how do we recognize the voice of Jesus when all these other voices are screaming at us? And the answer is that we have to realize who it is that is speaking to us. And Jesus reminds us of who He is in Revelation 1 and then at the beginning of all seven letters. As we’ve walked through these seven letters, every one begins with Jesus specifically identifying Himself in a different way, a way that specifically applied to the specific situation of the church to which the letter was written. For Ephesus, He says “I hold the seven stars and I walk among the lampstands (churches)”; for Smyrna, He says, “I am the First and the Last, I was dead and came to life;” for Pergamum, He says, “I have the sharp double edged sword;” for Thyatira, He says, “I am the Son of God with eyes like a fiery flame and feet like bronze;” for Sardis, He says, “I have the complete Spirit of God and the seven stars;” for Philadelphia, He says, “I am the Holy One, the true one, and I hold the key of David;” for Laodicea, He says, “I am the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the Originator of God’s creation.” Jesus knows every church, He sees every struggle they are going through, He walks among them and by His Holy Spirit He speaks directly to them. And because of who He is, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, He is worthy and He is worth listening to. And as individual Christ followers and as the church that’s a realization we must come to as well. Jesus Christ, the One who gave His life on the cross for us and shed His blood for us so that we can have access to a relationship with God through Him is worthy of our lives; and when we truly see Him and come face to face with His grace and mercy and forgiveness and not only that, His power and His glory, and we surrender our hearts and lives to Him as Savior and Lord we realize there is no one more worthy than He. And in that surrender of our lives to Him, we seek to hear His voice above all others and we take hold of His will for our lives knowing that among all the other voices in this life, Jesus’s is the one we can trust.

But here’s the key-we have to know His voice to recognize His voice. The truth is this some of these churches we’ve talked about had forgotten what the voice of Jesus sounded like because they had stopped listening to Him long before. Was He still speaking? Yes. The key was they weren’t listening.

Here’s what the voice of Jesus sounds like to us some times (play video of baby speaking jibberish) It’s true. Jesus is speaking to us but all we’re hearing is that because we are paying more attention to the other voices in our lives.

You see, to recognize the voice of Jesus and receive what He’s saying to us requires us daily listening to the voice of Jesus. It requires us sitting in His presence regularly. And when that becomes our daily practice, among all the other voices of the culture that speak to us on a daily basis, Jesus’s still small voice will be heard above the noise of everything else in our lives.

As believer’s we must ask “what is Jesus saying to me?” And as a church, we must ask “what is Jesus saying to us?” And when He speaks, we must be willing to listen.

The church who listens to the voice of Jesus recognizes His voice and receives His Word.

Second,...

2. The church who listens to the voice of Jesus responds with repentance and obedience.

The repeated command from Jesus to five of these seven churches in Revelation 2-3 is “Repent!” And it never comes in the form of a suggestion, it’s a command from Jesus. Jesus tells them, this is what you’ve done, this is the situation you are in, and there’s only one way back and that’s repentance. Because here’s the endgame of Jesus’s correction of the churches in Asia Minor who needed it, it restoration. That’s the whole point of Jesus’s addressing the issues that these churches are facing. You see, Jesus is not rebuking these churches because He’s given up on them, He’s rebuking them because He hasn’t given up on them.

Listen again to those familiar words from Jesus, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.”

And what is He saying?

To Ephesus-repent and return to your first love

To Pergamum-repent and stop compromising

To Thyatira-repent and stop tolerating sin

To Sardis-repent and wake up

To Laodicea-repent and regain your purpose

Jesus, speaking to these churches, tells them the first indication they are listening to His voice is repentance. The word that John uses here is the Grk word ἀκούω. It literally means “to pay close attention to and respond in conformity.” It is the evidence that repentance has occurred because it is belief followed by action. Which is the ultimate proof of repentance. It’s life change where a change of direction has occurred. And it’s in an active form. Jesus is literally saying that repentance followed by obedience is something an individual Christ follower and a church never quits doing.

Jesus is doing more than just calling these churches and us to intellectual assent, He’s calling us to action, a turning from the way we are living and, in repentance and obedience, living differently by the power of His Holy Spirit. It’s us as followers of Jesus paying attention to what Jesus is saying and acting on it immediately.

We said this last week, repentance isn’t just a one time event for the follower of Jesus. Repentance must be the ongoing posture of a church who is listening to the voice of Jesus and constantly responding to what He asks of them in obedience. Because repentance without obedience, without life transformation isn’t repentance; it’s deception. What separates a Christ follower and a church who listens to the voice of Jesus from a Christ follower and a church who just hears is the willingness to be corrected and follow that with obedience.

And let me just say that obedience to what Jesus asks us to do isn’t always going to be easy. In fact, most of the time, it’s going to be difficult. It’s going to be the opposite of what everybody around us thinks. It might bring persecution and criticism even from other Christians. But it’s worth it. It leads to life and it is the best way to live because it’s following Jesus the one who knows, ultimately, what’s best for us.

You see, when Jesus called five of the seven churches to repentance, He did so because He saw the path they were going down, even though it might have been comfortable, was leading them to ruin. They weren’t being persecuted, they weren’t being oppressed because they looked like the culture around them. And He knew if they did not change the direction they were going, their destination was destruction. Unlike two of the seven churches, who were faithful to what Jesus had called them to. They were experiencing persecution and oppression and to them Jesus says don’t give up, hold on because what’s coming is worth it.

And as we’ve walked through this series, I really think my perspective on what Jesus has shown me about my life and about our church has changed. Initially I went into this thinking which of the seven churches are we? What characteristics do I see from these churches in my own life? But what I’ve come to realize is those are the wrong questions. Because the truth is we see in ourselves some of the characteristics of all seven churches and we see in our church some of the struggles of all seven churches. I think the question we need to ask is when Jesus speaks to us individually and as a church, will we repent and obey?

Because the church who listens to the voice of Jesus responds with repentance and obedience.

Finally,...

3. The church who listens to the voice of Jesus perseveres with confidence, living in light of His eternal promises.

So, I think this all leads us to one final question, Why listen? Jesus says, “listen to what the Spirit says to the churches?” Why? Because of what Jesus promises.

And that’s the hope found in everyone of these letters. They all end with eternal promises from Jesus.

To Ephesus-it’s the right to eat from the tree of life int he paradise of God

To Smyrna-it’s the crown of life and salvation from eternal damnation

To Pergamum-it’s hidden manna and a new name

To Thyatira-it’s authority to reign and the morning star

To Sardis-it’s garments of white and their names in the book of life

To Philadelphia-it’s a pillar in the temple of God with His name forever

To Laodicea-it’s seat with Christ

And this is where the confidence is found for you and me and our church to persevere. No matter what happens, no matter what we face, no matter what the culture around us says or thinks. And these promises are for us as well. You see, just like the seven churches in Revelation 2-3 who were facing the real threat of poverty and imprisonment and opposition; who had false teaching, cultural pressure to compromise, and internal tolerance of sin pressing in on them, Jesus speaks to us like He spoke to them and He says listen to my voice, be obedient to what I command, and trust in Me because what I’ve promised you will come to pass.

And that’s what persevering with confidence in Jesus looks like. It’s not gritting our teeth and hoping it all works out in the end; it’s persevering with confidence knowing that what Jesus has promised us is eternally secure. We keep listening, keep repenting, keep obeying — not because our efforts guarantee us anything, but because Christ Himself has already promised the outcome. The overcomer doesn't overcome by sheer willpower; the overcomer is simply the one who keeps listening to and following the voice of Jesus all the way to the end knowing that Jesus’s promises are true and sure.

And this morning, that’s what most of us need to hear. Because we’re weary, we’re tired. We’ve been faithful, we’ve been serving, we’ve been praying, we’ve endured hardship. And this morning, as a follower of Jesus, here’s what you need to be reminded of, Jesus sees all of that. He has not abandoned us and He never will. So keep listening, keep trusting, keep obeying, and persevere with confidence because the church who listens to the voice of Jesus perseveres with confidence, living in light of His eternal promises.

Closing

"Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches." This invitation echoes across every generation. And today it comes to us. So let us ask ourselves three simple questions: Am I recognizing the voice of Jesus and receiving His Word? Am I responding with repentance and obedience? Am I persevering with confidence because my hope is anchored in Christ's eternal promises? May we be known as the church who hears—a people who recognize Christ's voice, receive His Word with humility, respond with repentance and obedience, and persevere with unwavering confidence because our eyes are fixed on His eternal promises.