Date:  July 13th, 2008

Speaker:  Stacey Ellertson

Title:  The Last Wrod on Church

Series:  Revelation

 

INTRODUCTION

Last week, Pastor Kevin began a serious on the book of Revelations. A book that in no uncertain terms can best be described as an exclamation point to the rest of the bible.

 

It begins by greeting each of the seven Churches with a tone of authority. A greeting that declares Jesus Christ is Lord. As Lord, the Church must pay attention to what will follow. It’s a declaration that challenges all churches to listen up! A message that says, “Listen to me, the bread of life; the Lord of all creation.”

 

Truly listening begins by being open to the good and the bad. In fact we know how important it is to Jesus that the churches hear what He has to say because he concludes every letter with, “Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

 

Listening to understand means being willing to be affirmed, corrected and motivated so our faith doesn’t become little more than a second rate religion. A faith motivated by self-interest, pious perfectionism or a legalism to be lorded over others.

 

Following this bold declaration, is a personal message to each of the individual churches in Asia Minor. A message that is just as valid for the churches of the present as well as the past. Over all it is a message of affirmation, correction and motivation.

 

Let’s listen together and try to understand the message each letter Jesus sent to these churches and in the big picture to this body of believers as well.

 

1. Ephesus – The Careless Church

 

“I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. I know you don’t tolerate evil people. You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not. You have discovered they are liars. You have patiently suffered for me without quitting. But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen from your first love! Turn back to me again and work as you did at first” (Rev. 2:2-5).

 

All you have to do is read the book of Ephesians you will hear the Apostle Paul speak of their love for Christ 20 times! Over the years they had lost touch with their first love, their devotion turned to duty and they became careless.

 

They were doing all the right things but for the wrong reasons. When we are no longer motivated by our love for Christ we end up simply going through the motions out of a sense of duty. There is no joy, just service. They focussed more on their doctrine and less on devotion. They were straight as an arrow but they were missing the bullseye.

This is how our relationship with Jesus begins and we want to keep it that way. The problem is we tend become more duty bound than devotion driven. How do we know when we are in danger of losing that kind of love?

 

We can ask yourself the following questions: 

A. Does your mind and mouth switch to auto-pilot during worship?

 

Do you think about what you are singing are you simply on Christian Cruise Control?

 

B. Is your last answered prayer a distant memory?

C. Do you feel guilty when you hear someone talk about what they got from their private devotional time w/God?

D. Do you read your bible because your supposed to or want to?

E. Do you find yourself critiquing and criticizing the service, rather than growing from it?

F. When you attend do you want everyone to leave you alone?

G. Do the smiling and happy Christians really get on your nerves?

H. Are you continually looking for ways to becoming less committed, rather than more committed?

 

If we can answer yes to one or more of theses questions, we may be in danger of losing our first love.

 

2. Smyrna – The Crushed Church

 

Located 35 miles North of Ephesus.

 

Here we have a church that had been literally brought to their knees due to constant persecution. They were extremely poor in a very rich city. Others were talking behind their backs, telling lies, and portraying themselves to be Godly people but in reality they were in Jesus words from the synagogue of Satan. Their only goal was to incite divisiveness while at the same time portraying themselves as righteous.

 

It’s also important to note that Smyrna like Philadelphia received no rebuke in their letter and this is important because even though there is no reference to Smyrna in the book of Acts, and no special book just about this Church Jesus pays special attention to it. Smyrna is highlighted most especially because Christ wants everyone to know that it was the trials and tribulations that kept them from impurity or compromise with evil.

 

Jesus says, “I know about your suffering and poverty – but you are rich! I know the slander of those opposing you” (Rev. 2:9). Poverty though was the least of their problems. The so called religious leaders at the time were spreading lies:

 

Communion was twisted into slanderous charges of cannibalism.

They were accuses of being given over to lust and immorality because of their deep love for each other.

They were accused of breaking up homes because those who previously practiced Judaism were making the hard choice to follow Christ.

They were being charged with political disobedience.

 

Jesus letter offers hope and affirmation encouraging them to be fearless and faithful so that they would know that no matter what, the opposition loses and they WIN!

 

3. Pergamum – The Compromising Church

 

This city was located about 65 miles North of Smyrna. Among its notable features was its beauty and wealth, its library of nearly two hundred thousand volumes, its famous sculpture, its temples to various gods, the three temples to the emperor cult, its great altar to Zeus, and its many palaces.

 

The church is divided by deceptive teaching. Some held firmly to following Christ and others held to the teachings and practices of the Balaamites and Nicolaitans that Christ hates. The primary issue here is the Christians willingness to compromise by allowing those who were not following Christ to continue worshiping with them. They were being corrupted by their attempt to be accepting and tolerant they opened the door for corruption and strife to enter.

 

Jesus says, “You tolerate some among you who are like Balamm . . . In the same way you have Nicolatians among you” (Rev. 2:15 & 17).

 

We live in a time and place today when it can be really easy to compromise our Christian values trying to live with one foot in the camp of our world and one in the camp of Christ.

 

4. Thyatira – The Corrupted Church

 

Again Christ confirms He intimately knows what is going on in His Church and Thyatira is no exception. It’s a loving, serving, faithful and growing church located in a major valley trade route. It was a city well known for its trade guilds and each of these guilds had its own guardian God and as a member you would be expected to attend all of its functions, and participate in activities that often includes offerings, feasts and immoral behaviors.

 

The Christians in Thyatira were torn between making a living which meant being part of the guilds and on the other hand staying faithful to Christ and his standards.

 

At the outset, Thyatira sounds like the perfect church. What could Jesus be angry about here? Why was it so important to introduce himself as the “Son of God, whose eyes are bright like flames of fire, whose feet are like polished bronze” (Rev. 2:18).

 

Of all the good things Thyatira has going for it, there is one glaring condemnation: “You are permitting that woman – that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet – lead my servants astray. She is encouraging them to worship idols, eat food offered to idols, and commit sexual sin” (Rev. 2:20). 

 

Jezebel called herself a prophetess and was leading the people astray. She was probably very charismatic, deceptive and manipulative but Jesus can see beyond her mask and wants the Christians to see it too.

 

A farmer once walked into a restaurant and asked the owner if he could use a million frog legs.Desirous of putting more frog legs on the menu more frequently, the owner asked the farmer where he could get so many. The farmer said, ‘My pond is overflowing with them. Their croaking is driving me up the wall and I’ve love to get rid of them.’ The owner invited the farmer to bring him as many as possible. A week later the farmer returned with an embarrassed look on his face and held up a pair of scrawny frog legs and said, ‘I was wrong about a million frog legs. These two frogs were making all the racket. I never knew two frogs could cause so much noise.”

 

There was just one person causing a lot of racket in Thiatira, but that’s all it takes. Like an apple with a worm in it. This church looked great on the outside, but inside it was rotten to the core.

 

It’s easy to look at other churches say, ‘God is really doing something there. Look at all the people going there on Sunday mornings. They are reaching out into the community and really making an impact. People are changing. But, God’s church must never forget you can’t judge a book by its cover.

 

Thyatira was a growing church – a thriving church actually, filled with love and faithfulness – but they were rotten inside because they were following wrong doctrine and led astray. They were not much more than a feel good club!

 

5. Sardis – The Crippled Church

 Sardis was a church with a great reputation for being alive but Jesus says it’s dead. Again, appearances can be deceiving. Sardis was a highly respected church  by its community and members. People admired what they thought was the spiritual life of the church; it’s activity. Sardis was a highly active church but activity does not necessarily mean life.

 

Church passion is not driven by programs or automatically alive because of its good works. Church life can only come from the Spirit of God. Sardis was ministerially active but spiritually dead. On the outside they professed to be Christians but pos-sessed no spiritual life. They were Christian in name but not in spirit.

 

Although Jesus describes Sardis as a dead church He does emphasize a flicker of hope by declaring, “Now wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is at the point of death. Your deeds are far from right in the sight of God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly and turn to me again” (Rev. 3:2-3).

 

6. Philadelphia – The Consistent Church

When it comes to church, Philadelphia proves BIG does not necessarily mean BELIEVING. The church in Philadelphia was not large in number, power or influence but they were significant to Christ who takes the time to address this small body of believers a powerful letter of acknowledgement and affirmation.

 

Perseverance  has its just reward. Philadelphia. A church surrounded by many difficulties was also surrounded by Godly opportunities. Opportunities of strength, , security, identity, protection, presence, victory, and promise; all from their Lord.

 

7. Laodicea – The Lukewarm Church

When I was a child, we would sometimes visit my grandparents farmto butcher chickens. Let me just say, it wasn’t the best time in my life, but one thing really amazed me.

 

I think we all know how chickens are butchered, so I won’t go into the graphic details. What I couldn’t figure out was why, after decapitating the chicken it continued to run around the farmyard like crazy. I heard somewhere that the reason for this is that, “they don’t know they’re dead yet!”

 

The church in Laodicea was just like a bunch chickens running around with their heads cut off. Why? Because they didn’t know they were dead yet!

 

Again, Jesus reminds Laodicea that he knows everything about them. He knows the things they are doing individually and as a church and what he has to say to them is sobering. The previous six churches all had something going for them, but not this one!

 

Jesus is literally turned off of by the churches complete lack of passion, commitment and joy. Instead they were a body of indifference, complacency or apathy. Perhaps because they had everything they needed and they had become a church that simply went through the motions. They were about as thrilling as drinking from a bottle of water that’s been sitting in a hot car all day long.

 

Conclusion

 

There are two key thoughts I hope you leave you with today.

 

First, the churches in Revelations are not some fancy place waiting for guests to arrive. We cannot focus on being a church that looks good. We must focus on being a church in love with Christ! We must focus on be a church that is real and a real church is messy just like life.

 

If you were to spontaneously come to our home, I can promise you that it would not be spotless. But it’s amazing how much work would go into cleaning our home for you, if we know you are coming. WE might even stress out about.

 

Churches are not show rooms, they are living rooms and the people living in them are sinners. You’ll find clothes lying about, mud on the carpet, handprints on the windows and juice stains  on the couch.

 

Second, and most important is that we Remember our first love! (Graphic – Divorce)

I’ve seen too many couples who have forgotten the reason why the got married; what they loved most about each other. If Jesus becomes an acquaintance we casually approach in good times and beg for help in the bad, we lose a lot and we run the risk of becoming careless, compromising, corrupted, crippled or cooled off.

  

I leave you today with an inspiring example of remembering our first love; a love that lasts forever! A love that binds us all together in Jesus Christ. A love we cannot afford to forget, neglect or reject.

 

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