Church Beware Revelation 1:9-11
If we look through the year so far, we can see how we walked through the history of early Christendom. We started with the birth of Christ. We’ve looked at Jesus’ life as described by John. We examined his death on the cross and his resurrection three days later. We looked briefly in the Book of Acts, the book that describes the early church and its mission. And now staying with John, we’re going to look at the issues and warnings about those early churches.
The same John who wrote the Gospel of John is writing the Book of Revelation. It’s now about 50-75 years after Jesus and this apostle of is exiled on the Greek island of Patmos. Already Jesus is so grieved over the actions of his church that he sends them messages through John. Imagine, if those early churches were veering off course, what are our modern churches doing? I want us to look over what Jesus says here as a way to see where things may go off course, to find the things churches must be aware of.
The first church mentioned is the church at Ephesus. Revelation 2:2-3; “I know your deeds, your hard work, and your perseverance…You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name.” Christ commended this church for characteristics that served him well. But despite this, Christ rebuked this church for one important matter in their work; Revelation 2:4, “I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”
This church had backslid. They still believed in Jesus, the cross, and the resurrection. They were still doing good works but somewhere along the way they gave up their personal relationship with Jesus. In other words, they were doing good deeds in their own name. They promoted their work and not Jesus’ work. This can be common today. We can be so focused on getting people to notice us or our church, we promote ourselves instead of using our opportunities to promote Jesus.
Jude verse 21, “keep yourself in God’s love…” It would be nice to have our pews full, but as we work, it’s more important to promote someone’s relationship with Christ. It’s nice to hear people say, “You’re a nice church, you’re good people.” Compliments are nice, but they don’t do much for us if we forget Jesus is who we work for.
Next Jesus addresses the church at Smyrna. Revelation 2:9, “I know your afflictions and your poverty – yet you are rich.” This church suffered loss and persecution, and they were losing their faith. Jesus tells them that the things they suffer are allowed by him, but there is a reward coming. Revelation 2:10, “Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer…Be faithful…and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.”
Our church has gone through a tough couple of years. We’ve watched our membership wane. It’s easy to try and place the blame on someone’s shoulders or on COVID. Truth is, even though it may be hard to accept, what this church and fellowship has endured, was allowed to happen by Jesus. Biblically speaking, this church has been persecuted and slandered.
The warning to Smyrna is ours; to stand against Satan we must keep Christ alive in our church and in our hearts. We must rely on our faith no matter what is brought against us, for we are warriors for Christ and heaven is ours.
Next, we have the church at Pergamum. Revelation 2:13, “I know where you live – where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me.”
This church was surrounded by a sinful area, yet they stood in faith against it. Sounds good for them. But Jesus tells them in verses 14 through 16, “There are some among you who hold to the teachings of Balaam…Likewise you have those who hold to the teachings of the Nicolaitans. Repent…” The challenge this church faces is a challenge all modern churches may face. There are many false teachings in the world. And when faced with emptying pews, it can cause churches to compromise the teachings of the Bible, or ignore those things in the Bible that may cause discomfort in our community, those things that cause the people we are trying to reach to turn away.
It is true I believe scripture tells us to love each other and not to condemn each other. That said, I believe we should be talking about Christ and his teachings, but we should do so with gentleness and kindness, demonstrating the same attributes Jesus did with the woman at the well or the adulterous. Our motivation should be to introduce others to the love of Christ, not trying to force others into a life we think they should live. The world’s moral compass is forged in the Bible, honed by Christ, and demonstrated by all believers. And we demonstrate the love of God by our loving, by our caring, by our work for others, and by our devotion to Jesus and our praise of God no matter what we may be going through.
To the church in Thyatira Jesus says in verse 19-20, “I know your deeds, your love and faith…Nevertheless, I have this against you: you tolerate that woman Jezebel…By her teachings, she misleads my servants…”
The church should be open and welcoming places for people to come and learn about Christ. They should also follow the Biblical teachings of its leadership. But to be open and welcoming, there may be times when someone comes who has their own agenda. If one starts to contradict the leadership to others, saying they are wrong in their teaching without first approaching that leadership, it could cause a fracture in the fellowship. If one takes members aside and teaches them other than Biblical truth about salvation, such as ways to heaven other than accepting Jesus, they must be chastised and corrected. And if they do not cease, the leadership must expel them to protect the faith of the others.
Revelations chapter 3 starts with an examination of the Sardis church, verses 1 & 2, “…you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die…”
This church started off strong, sharing the Word. After a time, they became complacent, they grew tired of the push back they received, and in time they stopped reaching out to others for Jesus. This church forgot that the mission of every church of Christ is not just to lift those within its members, but to reach out to others in the name of Jesus to plant a seed of faith. We would fail in our mission if we did not work for God to expand his kingdom.
Next, we see the church at Philadelphia, a church that has endured troubles with patience; Revelation 3:8, “I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word…” This church may have been small, it had little power to stop the onslaught of Satan. But to those who stood true and bore the brunt of the assault, God gave blessings.
Satan is alive and well, working in the world. He has adapted from appearing as a serpent, to being well in tune with our modern technology. He is adept at using social media to draw people away from God. The church must be patient and find ways to use Satan’s tool against him and not just shrug our shoulders and say we are too few.
Finally, we come to the church at Laodicea. Revelation 3:15-16, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot…I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Jesus also says this church is lukewarm, and he means spiritually lukewarm. They are content with material wealth and unaware of their spiritual needs. What good is it to us or to God if we have a full church and money pouring into our bank account, if we are cool to Jesus and the kingdom. Jesus says of churches like these in verse 17, “…you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.” It’s not about our windows, it’s not about our tower, it’s 100% about Jesus.
Each of the seven churches in Revelation gives modern churches things to be alert for, things to avoid, things that come between the church and Jesus. These include losing our love for Christ, losing faith when faced with adversity, compromising and backing away from Biblical truth to avoid conflict, tolerating wrong teachings in our church, not working for Christ among others, losing patience and not standing up despite the seemingly over abundance of those opposing us, and being more concerned about how we appear than concerned about the work we are doing for Jesus. These issues were important enough for Jesus to address. They are important enough for us to be aware of, important enough for us to avoid.
God bless,
Amen.