Revelation 2_3 The 7 churches

REVELATION 2-3

As some of know only to well, if you ever have to moved to a new community and had to select a new church home, it can be really difficult it is to examine and evaluate a church and its ministry.

Imposing buildings may house dying or dead congregations, while modest structures might belong to a church on the march for the Lord. The church we think is “rich” may turn out to be poor in God’s sight (Rev. 3:17), while the “poor” church is actually rich (Rev. 2:9).

Only Christ Jesus, the head of the church, can accurately inspect each church and know its true condition, because He sees the internals, not only the externals (Rev. 2:23b).

In these special messages to the seven churches in Asia Minor, the Lord gave each assembly an “X ray” of its condition. But He intended for all the churches to read these messages and benefit from them.

I’ve called today's message Jesus speaks to the 7 (plus 1) churches.

The (plus 1) is obvious us – the green one at the bottom.

But the Lord was also speaking to individuals, and this is where you and I come in. “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.”

Churches are made up of individuals, and it is individuals who determine the spiritual life of the church. So, while reading these messages, we must apply them personally as we examine our own hearts.

Finally, we must keep in mind that John was a pastor at heart, seeking to encourage these churches during a difficult time of persecution. So as we look at these churches lets remember the goal is the urge them onto a deeper relationship with Jesus.

See MAP

Now there is a number of way to approach this. I’ve chosen to look at the pattern of the letters which is

Revel some about Jesus; Give praise; give Correction; Urge the churches on; and end with a promise.

Jesus revealed

Jesus is revealed in a number of ways and I want to notice something – Jesus is not described in the terms of a child or a man, but as God.

Ephesus – a major seaport and home tot the great temple of Artemis. Here Jesus is described as holding seven stars in His right hand and walking among the seven golden lampstands. Now, 1:20 tells us that the “stars” were the angels or messengers of the churches and the “lampstands” were the seven churches.

Smyrna – another large seaport, describes Jesus as the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. Christ is portrayed as the eternal One – which will keep coming up, and as the one who suffered death at the hands of His persecutors and then was resurrected from the grave (cf. 1:5). This part of Christ Jesus was especially relevant to the Christians at Smyrna who, like Christ in His death, were experiencing severe persecution.

Pergamum – a wealth inland city famous for its university and great library. Here John write of Jesus, anticipating the church being rebuked for their being tolerant of evil and immorality, as the One who has the sharp, double-edged sword. Now the sword was is symbolic of the Word of God’s twofold ability to separate believers from the world and to condemn the world for its sin. It was the sword of salvation as well as the sword of death.

Thyatira - a much smaller city located in an area noted for its abundant crops and the manufacture of purple dye. Here Jesus is introduced as the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like polished bronze. This description of Christ is similar to that in 1:13-15, but here He is called the Son of God rather than the Son of Man. The situation required reaffirmation of His deity and His righteous reaction to their sins.

Sardsis – an important commercial city located on an important trade route that ran east and west through the kingdom of Lydia. Important industries included jewellery, dye, and textiles, which had made the city wealthy. In addressing the message to the church Christ described Himself as the One who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, similar to the description in 1:4. Here Christ said He holds them, speaking of the Holy Spirit in relation to Himself (Isa. 11:2-5; cf. Rev. 5:6). As in 1:20 the seven stars, representing the pastors of the churches, were also in His hands (cf. 2:1).

Philadelphia - located in an area noted for its agricultural products and its earthquakes, which destroyed the city several times, most recently about A.D. 37. Christ described Himself as the One who is holy and true, who holds the key of David, and who is able to open or shut a door which no one else could open or shut. “The key of David” seems to refer to Isaiah 22:22, where the key of the house of David was given to Eliakim who then had access to all the wealth of the king. Christ earlier had been described as the One who holds “the keys of death and hades” (Rev. 1:18). The reference here, however, seems to be to spiritual treasures.

Laodicea was 35 years before this letter was written, destroyed by an earthquake, but it had the wealth and ability to rebuild. Its main industry was wool cloth.

In speaking to the church Christ introduced Himself as the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Ruler of God’s creation. The word “Amen,” meaning “so be it,” refers to the sovereignty of God which is behind human events which will become important shortly.

Singleton – located well here. What is it that we would be said about Jesus here is we were one of the seven churches. Originally I was going to leave it blank, but I’ve come up with ‘this is the message from Christ Jesus our Lord and Saviour – the one filled with mercy and justice. Something I believe we need to focus on as God’s people gathered in this place.

Praise

Every one loves to here praise and Jesus praises the churches – well almost all the churches.

Laodicea – the lukewarm church doesn’t appear to have much to recommend itself as Jesus doesn’t praise it.

Mind you Sardis – a dead church - doesn’t get the greatest of praise - ‘Some have resisted doing evil – but its better than nothing

For the other churches they are praised for:

hard working, enduring during tough times, remaining loyal to Jesus and not denying him. They resisted evil, tested what was being taught.

You get Philadelphia who though had little strength kept obeying God. I personally like Thyatria – improving in love, faith, ministry and endurance.

Now when it comes ot look at Singleton Baptist, I have the question what may Jesus praise us for...

Any suggestions?

In thinking about it and taking some of what was said to the 7 churches I came up with:

Patient – generally we are very patient as a church – willing to accept people and willing to accept things that may be tough to deal with.

Improving – I really believe we are improving as a church, both as a congregation but as individuals. I see people grappling in Godly ways with issues.

loyal to Jesus - because he is and will need to always remain the focus of this church. It is not about the pastors, or about a ministry of the church. It is about Jesus and what he wants and what he is calling us to do.

Resists evil – we recognise evil exists, that Satan and his forces seek to ruin places like these through his causing problems, seeking draw people apart, seeking to get us focused on anything but Jesus. And we resist that.

Correction

While we like the praise, we don’t often like being corrected – even if we are doing the wrong thing.

Jesus corrects his churches, except for two – Smyrna & Philadelphia. They apparently didn’t need correcting at this point in time.

For the other churches you have

Ephesus - But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! The Greek is You have lost your first love.

Jesus used the word agap?n, speaking of the deep kind of love that God has for people. Now this rebuke contrasts with what Paul wrote about the Ephesians around 30 years earlier, that he never stopped giving thanks for them because of their faith in Christ and their love (agap?n) for the saints (Eph. 1:15-16).

hat appears to have happened is that most of the Ephesian Christians were now second-generation believers, and though they had retained purity of doctrine and life and had maintained a high level of service, they were lacking in deep devotion to Christ Jesus.

I put that we are are in danger of this, as are many churches, that following a set of rules about how to be a Christian and how to serve are not enough. Christ wants our hearts as well as their hands and heads. - what’s the greatest commandment – Love God with ALL of your heart,

Now Pergamum & Thyatria had a similar problem – false teaching was allowed to go on unchallenged.

Balaam had been guilty of counselling King Balak to cause Israel to sin through intermarriage with heathen women and through idol-worship (cf. Num. 22-25; 31:15-16).

The Nicolaitans were a sect that taught freedom in Christ meant we can do anything we like – which led to self-indulgence.

Laodicea – the only non-praised church – was being lukewarm. They were dead or on fire – but cruising in their faith. They were rich enough to say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ Yet Jesus said how they really were - And you don’t realise that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Tink you have got it made – physical riches do not build spiritual riches.

No matter how much wealth you get, it won’t improve your standing before God – it may even be harmful to your spiritual health. Mind you, being spiritually rich may lead to physical riches but the way you treat that wealth will be different – instead of the wealth being the focus – the relationship is – firstly one’s relationship with God and then with others.

I believe this is another danger for us – that our reliance on our physical riches could harm our spiritual health. We need to time again do a spiritual audit of our hearts and minds to make sure we are focused on Jesus and not on other things.

Urging

Jesus now for each church urges them more. He calls them to raise the standard of how they follow him.

Pergamum gets it short and sweet – REPENT. Now repentance is a mixture of mind and heart. It is a desire to stop a way of behaviour and start again.

Ephesus and Sardis also get the repent card. Though they get a bit more detail. We have from Ephesus repent and get back to doing what you use to do – love God and other people.

Sardis has repent with remembering God’s word and then keep it. No good remembering and not doing anything about it.

Another theme is Hold Fast to what you have in Jesus. Thyatria & Philadelphia are urged to do this. To remember what we have and Jesus and to hang onto it as if one was hanging onto a

And it’s both of those themes that I believe God is urging us to take on board. To repent – not to go looking for things to repent for but to repent – for example of being to self-reliant and not relying of Jesus. I am sure you can think of others.

That we remind ourselves of what we have in Jesus and hanging on to it for dear life. And getting into God’s word is one way we can hang on to what we have in Jesus and to enrich our understanding of God.

Here’s the question – how much time do you spend in God’s word and in talking with him? The answer to that will may answer the question of what we might need to repent of.

Promise

The last thing is the promises Jesus makes.

There they are – READ them OUT.

Tree of Life – Genesis 3:22

Second death – Rev 20:15 -the lake of fire

Hidden Manna – may mean Jesus as the Bread of Life John 6:48-51

Scholars differ as to the meaning of the “white stone.” The important point is the stone’s inscription which gives the believer “a new name,” indicating acceptance by God.

Rule the Nations – I suspect has toe do with the 1,000 year reign of Jesus .

Dressed in white – symbol of righteousness

Book of Life – a book you want your name in - becuase if it isn’t then you end up in a lake of fire. cf. Rev 20:12-15

Pillars – symbolic of the permanent place in heaven for believers, referred to here as the temple of God

Sit with Jesus – share in his victory

The letters to the seven churches are a remarkably complete treatment of problems that face the church today. The recurring dangers of losing their first love (2:4), of being afraid of suffering (2:10), doctrinal defection (2:14-15), moral departure (2:20), spiritual deadness (3:1-2), not holding fast (v. 11), and lukewarmness (vv. 15-16) are just as prevalent today as they were in first-century churches. Because these letters come from Christ personally, they take on significance as God’s final word of exhortation to the church down through the centuries. The final appeal is to all individuals who will hear. We would do well to listen.