One Church. Two Church. Good Church. Bad Church.Jesus loves the church! Revelation 1 gives us a glimpse of Jesus in all His majesty and glory. Revelation 2-3 give us a glimpse of the church - something not so glorious and at best, a work still in progress. In these two chapters Jesus writes directly to seven actual, specific churches. But since seven is the number of perfection or completeness, Jesus is speaking to all churches — in that time and ours.
A couple of these churches were hitting on cylinders! A few of these churches were a mixed bag of good and bad! And one church pretty much stank!
Each of these letters follow the same basic pattern.
* First of all, we get a snapshot of Jesus that comes directly out of the vision John had in Revelation 1. It's like God is reminding us, "The most important thing is not the church, it's Jesus!"
* Second, we get a confirmation about the reliability of the intelligence Jesus has on the church. Jesus begins each letter by saying, "I know..." That's a humbling thought... Jesus knows...EVERYTHING.
* This is followed by the ultimate performance review where Jesus commends the church for what's going good, and He "calls the church on the carpet" for where they're blowing it!
QUESTION: Some of us really prepare for our annual performance review, but do you ever think in terms of the ultimate performance review? If Jesus gave a2 a performance review, what would He say? If he gave you a personal performance review, what would He say?
* Fourth, Jesus makes the action step(s) the church needs to take crystal clear. He lets the church know what they need to do to get right and stay right, spiritually.
* Finally, each letter concludes with a promise the church can live on and the challenge: "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and what He is saying to the churches."
Kevin DeYoung and Ted Kluck conclude their excellent book, Why We Love The Church with these words:
“The church is not an incidental part of God’s plan. Jesus didn’t invite people to join an anti-religion, anti-doctrine, anti-institutional bandwagon of love, harmony and reintegration. To be sure, He showed people who to live. But He also called them to repent, called them to faith, called them out of the world, and called them into the church.
“[1 Corinthians 13:7] says, ‘Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.’ If we truly love the church we will bear with her in her failings, endure her struggles, believe her to be the beloved bride of Christ, and hope for her glorification. I still believe the church is the hope of the world — not because she gets it all right, but because she is a body with Christ for her Head.
“Don’t give up on the church. The New Testament knows nothing of churchless Christianity. The invisible church is for invisible Christians. The visible church is for you and me.
“So I guess this is my final advice: Find a good local church, get involved, become a member, and stay there for the long haul… Go to church this Sunday and worship there in spirit and truth, be patient with your leaders, rejoice when the gospel is faithfully proclaimed… While you are there, sing like you mean it, say hi to the teenager no one notices, the blue hairs and the nose-ringed, volunteer for the nursery once in a while. And yes, bring your fried chicken to the potluck like everyone else, invite a friend to church, take the new couple out for coffee, give in the offering, be thankful someone vacuumed the carpet, enjoy the Sundays that click for you, pray extra hard on the Sundays that don’t, and do not despise ‘the day of small things’ (Zechariah 4:10).”
THOUGHTS: The last paragraph by DeYoung and Kluck contain some excellent and very practical action steps. I encourage you to reach the prayerfully read the paragraph again, and establish your own action steps...
Going Deeper: Read Jesus' evaluation of each church in Revelation 2-3. Focus on one church each day, asking the Holy Spirit to speak to you as you reflect on Jesus' message to that church. What is Jesus saying to you? What in your life would Jesus compliment? What would He "call you on the carpet" for?
Music Suggestions: Slumber by NeedToBreathe; Awakening by Hillsong; 10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman
No comments:
Post a Comment