The Letter to Laodicea

The last letter written in John’s Revelation was for the Church at Laodicea. This church had a problem that I believe most of us get into at some point in our faith journey. Laodicea was “lukewarm”, meaning that they had no passion for God, yet they still had faith. Jesus says to them, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.” (Revelation 3:15, NASB). Jesus is using cold to describe a dead faith, while hot means one that is alive. Jesus tells them towards the end of the letter, “I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.” (Revelation 3:19, NLT). Jesus and John really wanted to send this church the message that their indifference is not okay.

What does this mean for us today? DON’T BE LUKEWARM!!!!!! There I said it, post over.

I’m just kidding. Just saying that is easy, but how to we keep our passion for Christ. So many of us are fired up when we first meet Christ, but somewhere along the line the fire dies down a bit. I believe the biggest cause of this is our expectation when we enter into this Christian lifestyle. Many people think that life will be easy, but it’s not. Being a Christian is a life of hardship, and when we discover this we draw away from God instead of running closer to Him. The second reason I think this happens, actually comes from one of my cures for the problem. I think people also lose their fire when they realize that the Bible actually teaches things that are against the world’s view. It makes it hard for people because then you come to a decision; do I follow Christ, or the world? When we choose the world, our passion for Christ dies a little, and when we chose it enough, the light goes out entirely.

So open up your Bible and read it. That is the best way to hear God’s word, reading it! Also spend time in prayer. How can you expect to hear from God, unless you talk to Him? These two activities are essential in the life of a Christian. If you aren’t doing even one of these, we run the risk of being exactly like Laodicea. This is what help us light our fire again, and keep us from being cold or getting lukewarm. So friends, let’s pick up our Bibles and spend time in prayer everyday, for the rest of our lives!

Related articles

• The Letter to Ephesus
• The Letter to Smyrna
• The Letter to Pergamum
• The Letter to Thyatira
• Letter to Sardis
• The Letter to Philadelphia

The Letter to Philadelphia

 

The second to last letter written in John’s Revelation was for the Church at Philadelphia (not the one in Pennsylvania). This church is the first church that Jesus didn’t have an issue with. He congratulates them on remaining faithful and encourages them to press on. But what can we learn from this letter? The previous ones were easy, since Jesus had a lesson and warning to give them. But this church gets its statement right at the beginning of the letter. “I know all the things you do, and I have opened a door for you that no one can close.” (Revelation 3:8a, NLT).

Christ opens doors for us. He offers us opportunities to further the gospel along. This could as simple as us talking to a friend, or could be a dramatic as becoming a celebrity. The focal point is that we use these opportunities for Christ. But the part that I love, that I believe truly makes the point is “no one can close”. This says to me that if Christ wants you to do something for him, not only will he give you the opportunity, no one will be able to stop you. The enemy will try to stop you, and believe me he will, but Jesus tells us “I will make [Satan and his followers] come and bow down at your feet” (Revelation 3:9, NASB). This shows that we will overcome against them as well. Jesus says that no one will stop us, so continue on in his power.

Has Jesus given you an opportunity to shine the light on him? Are you doing it? The Church at Philadelphia was taking the light shown on them for their good deeds, and reflecting it towards Jesus. We should follow this example, because when Christ has a will, there is no other way. So follow him, and let everyone know that  it is all for His glory (Colossians 3:4). Take no credit for yourself, because we are only able to accomplish what we do by the power of Christ working through us (Colossians 3:17).

Related articles

• The Letter to Ephesus
• The Letter to Smyrna
• The Letter to Pergamum
• The Letter to Thyatira
• Letter to Sardis

The Letter to Sardis

The fifth letter written at the beginning of John’s Revelation, was given to the Church at Sardis. Sardis is a city located in between Thyatira (north) and Smyrna (south).  The church here had a significant problem with following through. Jesus says to them “nothing of God’s work has been completed” (Revelation 3:2, MSG). Christ even goes to the point of calling them “dead, stone dead” (Revelation 3:1, MSG). He is calling the church to come back to life and continue doing God’s work. He knows that they have the “can-do” spirit to get it done, but they have decided to stop working.

How many of us have this problem ourselves? I know that if I lose interest in a task, it may never get accomplished. But this doesn’t work when it’s God’s work we are doing. James writes in his letter, “So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.” (James:217, NLT). That’s what Christ was saying to the Church at Sardis, and it’s the same for us. We cannot simply say that we follow Jesus, and not do anything to progress the gospel (or even live it for that matter). Christ wants us to be alive in our faith, and we show that by doing things.

What can be done? Conveniently, Jesus himself told us how to live out the Gospel. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39, NASB). We must keep God as our focus throughout our lives, and love Him. Then we are to care for others, because this is what Christ taught us to do, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45, NASB).

So let’s come back to life, and resume the work God has given us to do!

Related Articles

• The Letter to Ephesus
• The Letter to Smyrna
• The Letter to Pergamum
• The Letter to Thyatira

The Letter to Thyatira

Today’s letter was written to the Church at Thyatira. It seems that this church had similar issues to Pergamum. They were doing great things for Christ, but they tolerated pagan/evil beliefs to enter the church. The difference between the two is that Thyatira seems to allow a leader within the church to teach people these evil beliefs while in Pergamum it was the “regular attender”. Jesus calls this person Jezebel (which is a reference an Israelite queen that influenced Israel to worship other gods, and persecuted the prophets of God) and says of her, “she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray…” (Revelation 2:20, NASB).

This is certainly a message to those of us in leadership in the Church, to be careful what we teach. Whatever we say or do must come from the Bible and be Christ-centered. The instant that this isn’t true is when we become like Jezebel and lead people astray. God isn’t happy about that. He wants His people to follow Him and not some made up god or some made up truth. Church leadership has stress over this because they have to make sure they have a message that speaks to everyone, and cannot be misunderstood.

But what if I’m not a leader? This message still applies to you. Where ever I am, and I have a Bible sitting next to me (or I’m reading it), people always seem to ask questions about it. I’m sure many of you have had a similar experience. We even hear people that talk about Christians, but their understanding of who we are is completely wrong; so you stand up for us and answer their questions. Or maybe you don’t respond, but wish someone would correct them. In these moments, we all have the opportunity to be a leader and bring people to Christ. No we may not see a conversion right there, but at least someone may start to understand. That’s why we have to study and understand the Bible. That way we can use it everyday to help others along.

My prayer for you today is that God opens your eyes to something new in Scripture. I also hope that you pray for your church leadership: pastors, worship leaders, lay leaders, other elders, deacons, committee groups, etc. They all need that prayer for encouragement. We must all be vigilant to be sure that we don’t lead people astray, and be unlike the church in Thyatira.

Related Articles

• The Letter to Ephesus
• The Letter to Smyrna
• The Letter to Pergamum

The Letter to Pergamum

 

The third letter written at the beginning of John’s Revelation was written to the Church at Pergamum. Pergamum was located north of Smyrna, still in what is present day Turkey.

We know that Pergamum was a city that was heavily pagan. Jesus says to them, “I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is;” (Revelation 2:13, NASB). While the church has apparently done a great job at continuing to proclaim Christ, despite their environment, yet Jesus still had a grievance with them. This church allowed “Christians” to still practice their non-Christian practices. “You tolerate some among you whose teaching is like that of Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to sin by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin.” (Revelation 2:14b, NLT). This church was allowing people to profess a faith, but then practice an entirely different way of living.

How does this apply to us today? I think of a video that has been circling around over the past week. We are to fear God above all others. This can even mean that we have to go against society. It’s when we say “Yes” to the culture around us, and our beliefs tell us “No”, we begin to have the same problem as the Church of Pergamum. We all can think of someone that we know who attends church, professes to be a Christian, and yet do nothing beyond Sunday morning worship. These people can even attempt to do Christian behaviors, but do it for the wrong reasons (i.e. donating to charity for the tax credit, caring for the poor so they look good, etc.).

But our faith is a lifestyle. It requires a change in us. In Acts 9, Saul was traveling down a road to hunt down and kill more Christians (he had already done this quite a bit). Then there was a flash of light and Jesus was standing in front of him saying, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” After that encounter, and the following encounter between him and Ananias in Damascus, Saul was a changed man and began professing the very faith he was trying to hunt down and kill. He even went to the extreme of a name change! (Saul = Paul).

When we have met Christ, we cannot continue in our old ways. That is the problem of Pergamum. They had accepted Christ, and made sure to proclaim him to all people. But they failed at allowing their faith to change their lives. Some of them had, but there were still others that knew of Christ, yet didn’t want him to change their lives. That’s what we can learn from our friends at Pergamum. Let Jesus into your heart today, and allow him to change you. I promise, it is only for the good, never for the bad.

Related articles

• The Letter to Ephesus
• The Letter to Smyrna

The Letter to Smyrna

Today’s message is quite short. Jesus is speaking to the Church in Smyrna. Smyrna is located in what is currently known as Turkey.

Jesus offers them encouragement through suffering about to come their way. Their biggest enemy was going to be the Jews. The is constantly a theme through the early days of the Gentile Church. Not that the Jews were against it, but Paul always speaks against Jewish practices in the life of a Gentile Christian. Jesus says to the Church, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life… He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.” (Revelation 2:10-11, NASB).

What does this mean to us today, you may be asking. Well, it seems to me to burst the bubble of the “Prosperity Gospel”. This is teaching that if you believe in Jesus, life is going to be easy-breezy. You won’t have any hardship or troubles. If you do, than you don’t believe in Jesus hard enough. This teaching is completely against the actual teaching of the gospel. Jesus says that we must pick up our cross daily and follow him (Luke 9:23). He goes on to discuss how suffering is apart of the game. All, but one, of the twelve apostles died a martyr’s death during the first century AD.

But Jesus offers us the same comfort he did to the Smyrnans (I’m not sure that’s what you’d call them, but it works for me). We must be faithful to Christ through the hard times. He doesn’t promise to lead us only through the good times; he’s also there in the bad.  If you are going through rough times, it’s even more important to keep your faith.

Reminds me of a hymn called God Will Take Care of You. Take a listen below

 

Related articles

• The Letter to Ephesus

The Letter to Ephesus

So I was really trying to figure out what to start writing about. I felt another series coming on, but didn’t know what to do, then God spoke to me. For the next few days, we will be reading a letter to one of the Churches found in Revelation 2-3. Don’t worry, this isn’t an “End of the World” series (people always seem to think that when you mention Revelation). We are seeking to find what God has to say for us today in his messages to the seven Churches.

The first letter sent out went to Ephesus. This is the same church that Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians to. This message, however, is coming several years after Paul’s writing. John writes these letters, under the prompting of Jesus/Holy Spirit, in order to address an issue found within the Church. For the Ephesians Jesus says, “But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove you lampstand out of its place — unless you repent.” (Revelation 2:4-5, NASB).  I find this statement from Jesus rather curious in light of the way Paul in his letter to them, “Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love.” (Ephesians 6:24 NASB). So how did this church leave its first love?

I believe that this Church got to busy being a Church that they forgot what brought them together in the first place, Jesus Christ. Jesus tells them that it is good that they test apostles to find out if they are real and that they had the evil deeds of the Nicolaitans. But all of this is irrelevant if Christ doesn’t remain in the central position.

I feel that many churches today get in this same “rut”. It’s easy to do. The biggest symptom and easiest way to tell if this is happening to you is when asked the question “Why do you do that?”, the response is “Cause we’ve always done it this way”. When the church becomes successful, or even just programming, we don’t want to make changes for fear of losing that something special. Well friends, I’ve got news for you. Christ is that something special and if he stays in the central location for us, we won’t lose him!

But don’t give up if you find yourself in the “cause we’ve always done it this way group”. The people that stand up for change need you to keep them focused as well. People who want to change have the tendency to change for changes-sake. But that isn’t helpful either. Christ didn’t come to abolish the old Law, he came to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). The Ten Commandments are still very important to us today. They are the Law of God. Jesus came to change the way is was being enforced.

So the message Jesus has for Ephesus and us, I believe, is that we cannot get stuck “doing” Church. We have to “be” the Church. We have to be sensitive to what Christ wants the Church to do, because He is the head of the church (Ephesians 5:23). Jesus will want us to do the same thing for a time, but then he may change suddenly. He often did that during his earthly ministry; just looked to the disciples and said “We’re moving on”.

What is God calling you to do in your own life, and in the life of the Church? Spend some time in prayer to figure this out, because it may be a time for a change.