HoHum:
Matt Proctor- Several years ago, two of my nephews accompanied their mom on a visit to a friend’s house. Ben was 8, Brian was 6. Their mother’s friend was a very neat lady- a place for everything and everything in its place. Though childless, she did have a few toys and handed Ben and Brian a bucket of Legos: “Here boys, you can play with these.”
What the first thing they did with that bucket? Like all red blooded American boys, they dumped it out. Their mother’s uptight friend immediately went into full obsessive compulsive mode. She dropped to her knees and started scooping the Lego pieces back into the bucket with these words: “No, no, no, boys. What I meant was, you can play with these one at a time.” What?
We might be able to play with dolls or Hot Wheels cars one at a time, but we can’t play with Legos one at a time! A Lego piece’s whole purpose is to be combined with other pieces. A Lego piece is created to be part of a group, something bigger than itself. A solitary Lego can never fulfill its destiny. Legos were made to be connected.
We don’t have to read far into the Bible to discover: human beings were made to be combined with other human beings. Call it Lego theology: human beings were made to be connected. We are hard wired for relationship. We simply cannot flourish alone. A Harvard study of 7,000 people found that the most isolated people were 3 times more likely to die than those with strong relationships. Reporting on the study, John Ortberg writes that “people who had bad health habits (such as smoking, poor eating habits, or alcohol use) but strong social ties lived significantly longer than people who had great health habits but were isolated. In other words, it is better to eat Twinkies with good friends than to eat broccoli alone.” What is true physically is also true spiritually: if we want to maintain a healthy, lifelong walk with Christ, we need community. To stay faithful we must stay connected. That’s why God gave us the church.
WBTU:
Unfortunately, too many in our culture want nothing to do with “organized religion.” They say they’re committed to Jesus, but they want nothing to do with the church. For some it is a Jesus and me approach. From this morning message, we might be burdened and filled with indignation or we are passionate about a certain thing. Much of our lives are devoted to this burden but when we talk with others about it but they are so passive. When we get together to see what can be done about this few come. Someone else might have a different passion and all they talk about is this one thing- it gets on our nerves. They ask us to get involved but we say no because it really is not that important. We have better things to do. This is why we need the church- everyone is different and has a different burden, passion. Some might have the same but to expect everyone to be totally on fire about a certain project or cause is unrealistic and can even be damaging when taken to an extreme.
Revelation 1 gives us a vision of Jesus and Revelation 4 and 5 give us a glimpse of the throne room of heaven. Love to go from Revelation 1 to Revelation 4 but that is not what the Holy Spirit did. Revelation 2 and 3 remind us that, while faith is certainly personal, it is never individual. Revelation 2, 3 remind us that Jesus is committed to the church.
Jesus didn’t begin the model prayer with, “My Father who art in heaven.” He taught us to pray “Our Father” because the Christian life is meant to be a life lived together. Jesus did not simply come to save people; He came to save a people. If we belong to Jesus, we also belong to everyone else who belongs to Jesus.
In Revelation 2 and 3, it is important to notice that Jesus does not address these letters to the capital “C” Church- lower case c. Why? Jesus addresses these to specific, local congregations, each one in a different city. These 7 churches are called lamp stands, each called to light their unique corner of the world. Each city is a particular kind of mission field, and each church is made of people who just happen to live in that city’s region, eat the local food, work in the local economy, know the local customs, and speak the local language. In other words, they are the missionaries to reach their community.
God’s global mission is always lived out locally. Let’s be honest: local “c” churches never live up to God’s grand and glorious idea called the capital “C” Church. Ortberg says, “We expect a disciplined army of committed men and women who courageously lay siege to the worldly powers; instead we find some people who are more concerned with getting rid of the crabgrass in their lawns. We expect a community of saints who are mature in the virtues of love and mercy, and find ourselves working on a church supper where there is more gossip than there are casseroles.” We can’t love someone for who we wish they could be; we must love them as they actually are, flaws and all. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said that true Christian community begins with disillusionment. We aren’t really loving our brothers and sisters until we are disappointment with them and choose to stick by them anyway. Only then do true relationships start.
That’s exactly what Jesus does for the churches in Revelation 2-3. He models an undying love for imperfect churches. He cares about these individual congregations- each particular group of people with their unique tastes and habits, customs and culture, quirks and faults. Jesus wants us to learn to love a local church too. And what will happen when we do?
Thesis: Jesus will give us the same 3 gifts he gave to the Asian churches in these letters: Affirmation, correction and promise.
For instances:
Affirmation
The persecuted churches of Asia Minor might have believed that Jesus had forgotten about them, but these letters are a tangible reminder: Jesus was paying attention to them. To Ephesus, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, Jesus says, “I know your deeds.” To the church at Smyrna he says: “I know your afflictions and your poverty--yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” Revelation 2:9, NIV. To the church at Pergamum Jesus says: “I know where you live--where Satan has his throne.” Revelation 2:13, NIV. To sum it up what does this mean? Jesus is saying, “I know your situation.” In a world that applauds those with money, political power, athletic prowess, and sex appeal, Jesus affirms the quiet, unnoticed, faithful lives of his people and celebrates these Christians as heaven’s heroes. When we come together as the church, we are reminded that Jesus cares deeply about us, and no matter what our culture thinks, he sees us as significant. In the church, we are given the affirming love of Christ. Stay connected to it.
Correction
To these churches (except for Smyrna and Philadelphia) Jesus gives a word of correction. “I have this against you”- do not mistake Jesus directness for hostility. Jesus’ words are tough love, but they are love nonetheless. He has not given up on them. Jesus specifically calls out 5 sinful patterns he sees developing. Do any of these sound familiar?
1. Lost passion-Revealtion 2:4-5
2. False teaching- In Pergamum and Thyatira, Christians faced enormous pressure to join the cultural ritual of idol worship. If did not worship the idol, then could lose a job. Pergamum- “You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols...” Revelation 2:14, NIV. Thyatira-“You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into ... the eating of food sacrificed to idols.” Revelation 2:20, NIV. When false teachers lowered God’s standards on idolatry, their words were welcome. “Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.” 1 John 5:21, NIV.
3. Sexual immorality. In Pergamum and Thyatira, sexual immorality has crept into the church. This remains one of Satan’s most effective strategies. Adultery, premarital sex, pornography.
4. Spiritual hypocrisy. ““To the angel of the church in Sardis write: ...I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die... Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent.” Revelation 3:1-3, NIV. Put on a good show but their faith is fake.
5. Materialism. Revelation 3:17-19. Jesus has no word of affirmation for this church- which is scary, because this congregation most resembles American churches. We too are wealthy, and it’s hard to trust God for our daily bread when our panty’s already full.
We all have blind spots- areas where we are not living up to God’s intention for our lives and of which we are unaware. If we are to avoid life's wrecks, we need someone to speak up, to lovingly confront us, to call us to be the person God made us to be. As a wise man once said, “We cannot becomes ourselves by ourselves.”
Promise
In each letter, Christ closes by describing a heavenly reward for the “one who overcomes.” These promises each picture a part of our new life in heaven. We will eat from the tree of life in paradise, wear the crown of life, remain untouched by the second death, receive a new name, be given the morning star, wear white robes, hear our name spoken by Jesus before the Father, gain a permanent place in the temple of God, and sit on Christ’s throne with him. Wow!
These churches needed those promises and so do we. As humans, we can survive 3 weeks without food, 3 days without water, 3 minutes without air, but we cannot survive 3 seconds without hope. Hope is the oxygen for the soul. During the Lord’s Supper, we gather at a table that looks forward to another Table- the wedding supper of the Lamb. We sing songs that promise, “Some glad morning when this life is o’er, I’ll fly away.” We read Scriptures that tell of ““an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you,” 1 Peter 1:4, NIV. The simple act of gathering on Sunday- Jesus’ resurrection day- reminds us of our approaching resurrection day, and as we remember, we gain strength to follow Christ for another week. In the church, we are given the promises of Christ that help us stay faithful. Stay connected.
