1. Jesus is intimately involved in His local church as our mediator
2. Jesus is intimately involved in His local church as our purity
3. Jesus is intimately involved in His local church as our judge
4. Jesus is intimately involved in His local church as our authority
I am as excited as I have been in a long time. This morning we’re starting a new series that has been weighing on me for several months. We finished our last book exposition back in February when we finished James and we’re not ready to start another complete book exposition quite yet. So we’re not going to go through the whole book of Revelation. Instead, we’re going to spend the next several weeks looking at the first three chapters. When most of us think of the book of Revelation, we always think of the end times. We think about all the symbolism and pictures of the Apocalypse. We think about Rapture and Tribulation and the Beast and the Millennium and all of those end-times things. Well, that’s not where we’re going. We’re staying out of the speculation about the future and staying in the here and now. In the first three chapters of Revelation, you will find seven letters to seven local churches in Asia. People have tried to do all different kinds of things with these letters, but here’s what they really are. They’re seven real letters to seven real churches that existed in the first century. While the Apostle John was in exile on the Island of Patmos, Jesus appeared to him in a vision. And in that vision, Jesus told John to write these letters. So he did. He wrote to the local church in Ephesus, the local church in Smyrna, the local church in Pergamos, the local church in Thyatira, the local church in Sardis, the local church in Philadelphia, and the local church in Laodicea. I want you to get that in your mind. This was not some kind of universal church. It was not different church ages. These were seven letters to seven local bodies of believers. Local bodies of believers just like we here at Brushfork Baptist Church are a local body of believers. Is the local church important to Jesus? Is Brushfork Baptist Church important to Jesus? That’s what we will discover each week as we move along in this series. Before we get into the individual letters to the individual churches, we’re going to spend the next couple of weeks seeing a broad picture of Jesus’ relationship to His local churches. And in that, we’re going to see how Jesus cares for us. Not just for us as individual Christians, but how He cares for us as a church. How He cares for us as His church. He cares for Brushfork Baptist Church by His intimate involvement with us. And He cares for Brushfork Baptist Church by His personal protection of us. And that takes us to our passage this morning.
REVELATION 1:13-15
One of last year’s best-selling Christian ministry books had a very interesting title. The book is called “They Like Jesus, But Not the Church.” Well, if that title was designed to grab attention, it certainly grabbed mine. Surely that was just a controversial title to sell books. Surely the book didn’t mean what the title said. It did. Here’s the premise of the book. In today’s world, people don’t have a problem accepting Jesus into their life. What they have a problem with is so-called “organized religion.” In other words, they have a problem with going to a local church. Well, is that OK? Is it OK to “accept” Jesus and not accept His church? Jesus didn’t think so. As a matter of fact, in our passage this morning, Jesus portrays Himself to John as walking in the midst of His churches. Sometimes the images in Revelation can get confusing. But there is no mistaking what Jesus is talking about here. Because He explains Himself on down in verse 20. In verse 20, He tells us that the seven candlesticks He’s talking about represent these seven churches He told John to write to. In other words, Jesus tells John to write a letter to seven local churches. And, by the way, let them know that I am constantly walking in their midst. Is that how we see Jesus this morning? Do we see Jesus walking in our midst as a church? Notice that Jesus didn’t say, “I’m walking in the midst of all these people who call themselves Christians who won’t have anything to do with my church.” He says, “I’m walking in the midst of My local churches.” My friend, Jesus is here with us this morning. Jesus is walking in our midst. Many times we sing the song, “Just a closer walk with Thee. Grant it Jesus is my plea. Daily walking close to thee.” Do you want to walk with Jesus? Then be in His local church. That’s where He’s walking. If you want to walk with Him, that’s where you have to walk too. As a matter of fact, I’m safe in saying, there is no walking with Jesus outside of the context of a local church. This morning, I want each of us to see our church the way Jesus does. I want each of us to value our church the way that Jesus does. I want us to walk with Jesus as He walks in our midst this morning. In order to do that, we’re going to look at four ways Jesus is intimately involved in Brushfork Baptist Church. The first way is that He is our mediator. Look at verse 13:
REVELATION 1:13
Jesus is intimately involved in Brushfork Baptist Church as our mediator. Look how Jesus identifies Himself here. He identifies Himself as the Son of man. While Jesus walked the earth, this was the title He used most often of Himself. He also used the title, Son of God. Now, how can Jesus be both the Son of God and the Son of man? Because He is both God and man. He is fully God and fully man. In Isaiah’s prophesy about the virgin birth of Jesus, he called Him Immanuel. Matthew quotes this prophesy when he wrote about the birth of Christ. And he went on to explain what Immanuel means. It means God with us. Jesus is God in the flesh—God incarnate. Fully God—fully man. As He appears to John in this glorious vision, He appears as God. But He refers to Himself as the Son of Man. It brings to mind the picture of Jesus as the Son of man prophesied in Daniel 7:13-14: “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” This is the Jesus that John saw. This is the Jesus that walks in the midst of His local churches. This is the Jesus that walks in the midst of Brushfork Baptist Church this morning. As God, Jesus is holy and pure and sinless. As man, Jesus was willing to take on our sins and die for us. We have a hard time understanding the picture John sees in verse 13. But he had no problem understanding it. When John saw Jesus in a robe down to His feet… when he saw a golden sash wrapped around Jesus… he knew exactly what it meant. Jesus was wearing the clothes of the high-priest that are described in Exodus 28. When John saw Jesus, he saw the great High-Priest of the churches walking in their midst. And as their great high-priest, Jesus was their mediator. Hebrews 2:17 says, speaking of Jesus as our mediator: “Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.” Jesus is the only mediator between God and man. He is the only one worthy to reconcile us to God. He is the only One who has made the final atoning sacrifice for our sins. And why did He do it? Why does Jesus take on the role of being the Son of man? Why is Jesus our mediator and High-Priest? Ephesians 5:26-27 tells us. In order, as Ephesians 5:26-27 says, “That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Folks, that’s not just talking about our personal salvation. That’s talking about us as a local church. Jesus died to do something for us as His bride that we could never do for ourselves. He died to bridge the gap between God’s holiness and purity and our sinfulness. And He did it to present us as a church to Himself as His beautiful, pure, spotless bride. Do you know what that means? It means He loves us like a groom loves his bride. He intimately walks with us and cares for us and woos us and courts us like a groom does his bride. Jesus is intimately involved in our church as our mediator. He is also intimately involved as our purity. Look with me at verse 14:
REVELATION 1:14
Jesus is intimately involved in Brushfork Baptist Church as our purity. Here’s a news flash for you. Did you know that there is no such thing as a perfect church? There never has been and there never will be. You would think that the churches that Paul planted would have been perfect, wouldn’t you? Or you would think that with James as the pastor, the church at Jerusalem would have been perfect. Or maybe the church at Ephesus. Paul planted it. Timothy pastored it. Church history tells us that John pastored it too. But in a few weeks, we’ll see that even they weren’t perfect. I’m sure you’ve heard it said that if you ever find a perfect church, please don’t mess it up by joining it. Because if you join it, it won’t be perfect anymore. So, if there has never been any such thing as a perfect church… and the whole purpose of local churches is for Jesus to “present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” If that’s the case, we’re in a mess. We are the imperfect bride of Christ. We have spots. We have wrinkles. We have blemishes. But Jesus still walks in our midst. How can that be? Once again, Jesus showed John a picture that he would have understood perfectly, but we have a hard time understanding. Once again, the picture goes back to Daniel’s vision of God in Daniel 7. Daniel 7:9 says, “I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.” The idea of brightness and whiteness and pure light is a continual picture of God’s purity throughout Scripture. In all of John’s writings, he loves to use these comparisons. John 1 speaks of Jesus in terms of light in verses 4-5: “In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” In John 8:12, John quotes Jesus as saying, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” Jesus refers to Himself as light at least four other times in John’s gospel. One of John’s clearest statements about God’s purity being shown as light is in his first epistle. In 1 John 1:5-7, he wrote, “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Jesus is in the light. Jesus is light. His head and hairs are white light. His eyes are flaming with the fire of pure light. Do you get the picture? Jesus is the essence of purity, holiness, righteousness. As God Himself, Jesus is everything we as fallen human beings can’t be in our flesh. Even though He took on our flesh, He did it without sin. And because He took on our flesh and didn’t sin, He is qualified to give us what we can never get on our own. He is qualified to light us up with His light. He is qualified to clothe us in His righteousness. The closest I can come to an illustration is this. The moon has no light of its own. It is a dead rock floating in space. Lifeless, cold and dark. So how can we see it if it makes no light of its own? We see it because of the light of the sun that it reflects. In the same way we have no righteousness of our own. Any attempt at making our own righteousness only results in the filthy rags of Isaiah 64:6. The only righteousness we can have is the righteousness of Christ that lives in us. He is our purity. And as a church, He walks among us as our purity. Here’s where we get into trouble. We get into trouble when we look around at each other for righteousness. When we look at the pastor for righteousness. When we look at the deacons for righteousness. Any righteousness you see from me isn’t mine. It belongs to Jesus. So, as a church, Jesus calls us to quit looking at the reflected light and look straight into the pure glory of His flaming eyes. He is our purity. Jesus is intimately involved in our church as our mediator. And He is intimately involved in our church as our purity. He is also intimately involved as our judge. Look in the first part of verse 15.
REVELATION 1:15a
Jesus is intimately involved in Brushfork Baptist Church as our judge. Because Jesus is pure and holy and righteous and we’re not… He clothes us in His righteousness. But even though He clothes us in His righteousness, He wants us to strive to be like Him. Jesus wants us to accurately reflect His light. That’s what the whole Christian life is about. It is about becoming more and more like Jesus every day. It’s about emptying ourselves of our sinful, fleshly, selfishness and being filled with His Spirit. Don’t get confused—we’re not becoming God and we never will. God is God and we’re not. Instead, as Romans 8:29 says, as the bride of Christ, we are being conformed to His image. Also, Romans 12:2 says that we are to no longer be conformed to this world. But instead, we are being transformed by the renewing of our mind—proving the good, acceptable and perfect will of God. When Jesus saves you, He brings you into His local church on earth. When He saved you, He brought you to Brushfork Baptist Church. He did that to grow you and change you and transform you. He did that to purify you and cleanse you and prepare you. He did that so that in the last day, He can present this church to Himself as His pure and spotless bride. Clothed in His righteousness, and mirroring the image of His holiness. But how in the world is that going to happen with the rag-tag bunch of fallen people who make up every local church? We’ve already said that we’re not perfect. We don’t have any righteousness of our own. How are we going to be transformed? How are we going to be changed? I like my selfishness. What will convince me to give up my selfishness so I can be filled with the Holy Spirit? And if I can’t figure out how to do it for me, how can we do that as a church? The same way that a two-year old figures out how to act like a human being and not a monster. If you’ve ever spent much time with a two-year old, you know what I’m talking about. Anybody that talks about the sweet innocence of children has never had a two-year old. And that’s a two-year old from a good home. Have you ever been around one from a bad home? What’s the difference? The difference is discipline. A child with no discipline is a monster. And so is a church. That’s why Jesus showed John this picture in verse 15. John knew about brass. He knew about the furnace. Brass or bronze was the metal of choice for weapons of destruction. And if it had been burned in a furnace, it was pure and tempered strong. Strong, hot, pure, and powerful. This is a picture of judgment. A picture of discipline. Scripture says in Hebrews 12:6-7, “For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” Jesus is our judge. Jesus is going to discipline us. If He quits disciplining us as a church, that means one of two things. It either means we’re perfect—which that isn’t going to happen. Or it means He’s put us off. Oh Lord, never stop disciplining us! Never stop until you are able to present us pure and spotless as your bride! Jesus walks in the midst of Brushfork Baptist Church with the glowing hot feet of discipline and judgment. How are we responding? When we see strife and sickness and futility amongst us, do we ever see it as chastening? Do we ever respond in humility and repentance? Do we ever respond by a renewed determination to be obedient? If Jesus is walking in our midst—and He says He is. He will chasten us to grow us up the right way. Will we respond with rebellion or with submission? Jesus is intimately involved in our church as our mediator, our purity and our judge. He is also intimately involved as our authority. Look at the last part of verse 15.
REVELATION 1:15b
Jesus is intimately involved in Brushfork Baptist Church as our authority. Last year, you allowed our family to go to Canaan Valley for the Shepherding the Shepherd conference. While we were there, Miranda and I snuck off to Blackwater Falls. It’s a whole lot more fun going down all those stairs that it is going back up. But when we got down there, the roar of the water going over the falls is almost deafening. John describes the voice of Jesus like that only in the plural. Imagine the sound of many Blackwater Falls. That would get your attention, wouldn’t it? Does the Word of God get your attention? Does the Word of God get our church’s attention? The Word of Jesus is supposed to permeate everything that is done in this house. As Jesus walks in our midst, He’s not silently strolling along with His hands behind His back. His Word is to be so prevalent in our midst that it is if we’re standing at the bottom of 1000 Blackwater Falls. It is to be so prevalent that you couldn’t get away from it if you had earplugs in. And guess what? If the voice of Jesus is that powerful in our midst, these walls couldn’t contain it. I’m not saying that we should be so noisy in here that a few houses on either side of us could hear. I’m saying that if Jesus’ Word is being proclaimed and received in here like it should be—it won’t stop at these walls. It will go out with us as we go out. Jesus walks in our midst as we are gathered here as a local church. But He is also in our midst as we scatter into the world. Is His Word going with you when you go? Does it spring forth from you as the sound of many waters? Or is it a slow trickle of a dying stream?
For too long we have only thought of our salvation as a personal thing. And in one sense it is. You are personally accountable to God for your sin. When you see your sin for what it is and turn from it and turn to Jesus in faith believing, He will personally save you. But He saves you for a purpose. He saves you into His body. He saves you to bring you into a local church. He brings you into a local church so He can walk in our midst. He walks in our midst so He can stand as the bridge between us and God as our mediator. He walks in our midst so He can clothe us in His righteousness as our purity. He walks in our midst so He can discipline and chasten us as our judge. And He walks in our midst so He can permeate us with His Word as our authority. Where are we as a church this morning? Do we see Jesus as our mediator? Do we see Him as our purity? Do we see Him as our judge? Do we see Him as our authority? I can tell you that if you treat church lightly, you don’t. Jesus places tremendous value on this church, His bride-to-be. He place so much value on Brushfork Baptist Church that He died for us. And He places so much value on Brushfork Baptist Church that He walks in our midst. What kind of value do you place on it? Enough to give your life to Jesus for the first time? Enough to rededicate your life to serving Jesus in His church? Enough to become a part of this local body by baptism or promise of a letter? Jesus values this church. Walk with Him in the midst of it today.
