The Letter to Your Church
Revelation
3:22
"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith to the churches."
This phrase occurs 7 times in
Revelation, once for every church addressed by
Jesus. And in every one of them, the word churches
was in the plural form. In other words, what Jesus
said to one of them applied to them all. We just
finished Laodicea who was lukewarm. God told them
to be zealous, this was not just meant for the
church at Laodicea, it had an application to them
all.
The letters to the seven
churches are a priceless treasure of information for
all Christians of all ages. We do not have to guess
or to speculate as to what Jesus expects from His
church. We have it right there in front of us. In
all of Revelation, the language used in the letters
to the churches is the least figurative and by far
the easiest to understand. Any babe in Christ can
pick up the Revelation and understand what "be
zealous" and "he that overcometh and keepeth
my words" means. It's easy to figure out what
Jesus is saying to these churches and this is
probably why they are somewhat overlooked today.
Most people pick up the Revelation and gloss right
over the first three chapters and jump straight into
the thick of all the imagery afterwards and
sometimes miss some of the most valuable information
in all of scripture.
The Gospel accounts,
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John reveal Jesus Christ.
The book of Acts teaches us how to get into Jesus
Christ. The general epistles teach us how to live
in Jesus Christ and Revelation teaches us how to die
in Jesus Christ. "He that overcometh" and is
"faithful unto death" is the one who dies in Jesus
Christ.
So with that said, what if
we take all the positive things Jesus said to all
seven of the churches and put them all together?
And then what if we took all the negative things
Jesus said to them and do likewise? What would a
church look like that had all of the good qualities
of all seven churches, rejecting all the bad
qualities and obeying all the exhortations at the
same time?
Praiseworthy Qualities
Condemned Qualities
Exhortations
Ephesus:
- Labored for His name's
sake
- Had patience
- Had borne their
burdens
- Exposed and refused to
tolerate false teachers
- Had endurance, did not
faint
- Remember from where
they fell
- Repent of wrongdoing
- Heed the words of
Christ through the Spirit
- Overcome
Smyrna:
- Good works
- Persevered against
intense persecution
- Persevered against
deep poverty
- Do not fear
- Be faithful unto death
- Overcome
- Heed the words of
Christ through the Spirit
Pergamos:
- Held fast to Jesus'
Name
- Did not deny the faith
of Jesus
- Tolerated false
teaching
- Allowed false teachers
to throw stumbling blocks
- Repent
- Heed the words of
Christ through the Spirit
- Overcome
Thyatira:
- They were commended
for their charity
- and service
- and faith
- and patience
- and works which were
increasing
- Tolerated false
prophets
- Tolerated fornication
and eating of meats sacrificed to idols
- Hold steadfast
- Overcome
- Keep (Obey) Jesus
words to the end
- Heed the words of
Christ through the Spirit
Sardis:
- Some had not defiled
their garments
- Spiritually dead
- Not vigilant
- Be watchful
- Strengthen what they
do have
- Overcome
- Heed the words of
Christ through the Spirit
Philadelphia:
- Good works
- They had opportunity
- They kept, (followed),
Jesus' word
- Patient
- Had not denied His
name
- Be steadfast
- Take advantage of
opportunity
- Overcome
- Heed the words of
Christ through the Spirit
Laodicea:
- Poor works
- Lukewarm service
- Think too highly of
themselves
- Wretched
- Poor
- Blind
- Miserable
- Naked
- Open their eyes and
see themselves for what they really are
- Be zealous
- Sacrifice themselves
in service
- Open the door of
opportunity and let Jesus in
- Overcome
- Heed the words of
Christ through the Spirit
Taking all in all and forming
a total picture of what we see, we get a mental
image of a church that first and foremost loves
Jesus Christ and has Him as its head, heeds His
word, is loving, patient, enduring, fearless,
watchful, faithful, busy, growing, steadfast, self
sacrificing, charitable and obedient to the will of
God. Intolerant of sin and false teaching, zealous
for and rich in good works, repentant of wrongdoing,
eager for opportunity, not thinking too highly of
themselves and faithful unto death.
These are the qualities we
must seek in our own congregations. If we lack any
of these, we need to heed the words of Christ
through the Spirit and diligently try to add them.
Some of these churches only had one or two things
that Jesus Condemned them for. The penalty He
warned them of was severe. Their fellowship with
Christ was at stake.
The application for us
today is that we need to recognize that we have
before us a picture of exactly what Jesus Christ
expects of His church. He died for it, He shed His
blood for it, he built it, He heads it and possesses
it, He loves it and rules it from heaven. It is up
to us to make sure it is what He would have it to
be. We know exactly what He expects and the
responsibility for that has been given to us through
the word of God, inspired by the Holy Spirit and
authoritative for us today.
We do not want Jesus Christ
standing on the outside of the door of fellowship
like He was with Laodicea. We do not want Him
knocking on the doors of our congregation from the
outside. We want Him on the inside, in fellowship
with us and the way to assure ourselves of this is
to be what He would have us to be.
"He that hath an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches"
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