Jump Start # 3047

Revelation 1:11 “saying, ‘Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.’”

Our verse today are the words that are addressed to the church at Philadelphia. I find it interesting that there wasn’t seven separate letters written, one going to each church. Instead, there was one letter. Ephesus was first. As the letter was read, the brethren in Ephesus not only knew what the Lord thought about them, but they also know what the Lord said about the other congregations. They got to hear it before the others did. I think today we’d be extremely bothered by that. We’d throw the word “separate and “autonomous” into the conversation and demand that no one else has a right to know what was going on in our congregation. And, “separate and autonomous” may have become expressions for “isolation.” Everything that is done within a congregation is kept secret from all others. So Ephesus knew that Sardis was dead, even though they had a name. Ephesus knew that Sardis was dead before Sardis knew. And, everyone knew about the woman Jezebel who was tearing up the church in Thyatira. And, everyone knew that Laodicea was lukewarm. They all knew. And, this was God’s intention.

Here are a few lessons that come from this:

First, the Lord never asked Ephesus to get involved with Sardis. Each congregation had their own work to do and those that needed to change, had to change from within, not from without. The fear of getting involved with other places and even overseeing other congregations may have led some to swing a bit too far the other way. Ephesus knew about Sardis, but Sardis had to fix their own mess that they created.

Second, knowledge of what was going on in these other congregations was helpful. First, it would let them know that they weren’t the only place dealing with idolatry and compromise. In a recent class on these seven churches, having seen that to hold a job often meant acknowledging a patron idol and even going to the doctor often involved recognizing pagan gods, someone asked, “Why didn’t the Christians just move?” My answer was “Where?” The church in Rome dealt with eating meats to idols. Corinth, the same thing. Everywhere was saturated with idolatry. There was no escaping it. Realizing that other brethren in other places were also fighting these same battles could encourage and help you in your location. Second, hearing the Lord’s stern warnings about compromising and tolerating error would remind other places to be true to God’s word. The temptation to compromise was strong. How would you keep your job unless you participated in the idolatrous feasts? How would you help your sick child unless you followed the doctors orders to get medicine at a pagan temple and to pray to those gods for healing? But understanding that God wanted His people to be faithful, even in all of this, was a message they needed to hear. And, third, knowing congregations were pleasing the Lord, such as Philadelphia would be an encouragement that each of them could strive to do better and do more.

Third, building a network or organization larger than the individual congregation just isn’t supported in the Scriptures. It’s one thing to ask for advice from someone in another place, but to try to build a communication exchange where everyone everywhere shares things just isn’t a good idea. We must remember that these words to the seven churches were Heaven sent. It was not the idea of these brethren to do this. This was God’s idea. However, we do not see a system or organization beyond the local congregation to do the work God intended. Once one starts down that path, it’s hard to turn around. Who is going to run that organization and how is that organization going to be organized. And, immediately, one is outside the boundaries of the N.T. One is flying on their own and that is always, always a dangerous place to be.

Fourth, what these seven churches remind us is that we all experience similar things. It also reminds us that the Lord knows what is taking place, even though others don’t. They also remind us what is important to the Lord. Nowhere in these words to the seven churches do we find any idea about the size of the congregations, where they were meeting, who was preaching there, and if they had an eldership or not. Those things concern and consume us. What the Lord was interested in was whether or not these churches were staying faithful to God’s word. Sometimes we can major in the minors and forget what is most important. Having a paid off church building, a nice young preacher, clean bathrooms, trimmed shrubs, means nothing about the spiritual temperature within the group. Are they growing spiritually? Are they walking with the Lord?

A letter to seven churches…an interesting thought. One must wonder what the Lord would write to our congregations today?

Roger

Jump Start # 3023

Revelation 1:11 “saying, ‘Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

I started a Tuesday class on the Seven Churches in Revelation. Great turnout and great insights and encouragement. Love teaching these special kind of classes. When one comes to Revelation there are two different time periods or dates that people believe it was written. There is the early date, before A.D. 70. Then, there is the late date, around A.D. 96. There are all kinds of articles supporting both ideas. I hold to the late date, A.D. 96. There are several reasons I believe in the late date, but the easiest is Ephesus. I don’t think there was enough time for the church to get established, Paul to write Ephesians, around A.D. 60, meet with the elders in Acts 20, then write to Timothy, (1 & 2 Timothy) who was at Ephesus all before the year A.D. 70, and for the church to already have lost it’s first love. I could be wrong, but that’s how I see it.

So, using the late date of A.D. 96, more than 60 years passed between Acts 2 and Revelation 2. From the beginning of the church, Acts 2, we have two more generations by the time we reach Revelation 2. And, in those two other generations, we see Sardis was dead, Laodicea was lukewarm, Ephesus had become loveless, Pergamum was filled with false teaching. What a mess!

But isn’t there some lessons for us to see:

First, the commitment, conviction and passion of the first generation is often lost in the second and third generation. It was those first people who left idolatry. They had to make the hard choices of staying with what they grew up with or what they now knew was right. Second and third generations do not have to make that choice. It’s made for them. They grow up only knowing the Biblical way of doing things. And, in this, it is easy for second and third generation Christians to take things for granted.

Second, the battles and struggles of the first generation is often very different than the battles later generations face. For those first ones, it was external pressures from a world they were now leaving. Many faced ridicule and persecution because they were so radically different than the culture around them. For second and third generation Christians, the battles are often internal. The fighting takes place within the church as attitudes, opinions and power struggles manifest themselves. In many ways, they have taken their eyes off of the world and have focused only upon themselves.

Personally, I am a sixth generation Christian in my family. Some of the first in my family, back in the early 1800’s, were among the ones who established Biblical worship and a plea for New Testament authority in the county they lived in. They were not only pioneers in the land, but truly pioneers in the faith. And, here I am all these years later, preaching that same Gospel.

What can be done to prevent a generation that leads to a lukewarm or dead church?

First, each person must own their own faith and take responsibility for it. “We’ve always done it this way,” is never the right or proper answer to a question. Teach the Bible. Keep things fresh. Challenge thinking.

Second, evangelize. Invite. Share. Study. Talk. Build. Connect. When we turn our backs to the world, then our focus becomes internal. After a period of that, we become judgmental. Fault finding becomes the norm among many second and third generation Christians. We lose touch with the lost. We forget what it was like to be lost.

Third, realize just a generation away from the word and trouble shows up. It’s that way in Revelation. It’s that way in Judges, after Joshua’s generation died. They were faithful. The next generation did not know the way of the Lord. Why they didn’t know is something to think about. Were they not taught? Were they not interested? Some of the biggest messes in the church has not been created by outsiders but rather by brethren who ought to know better. Nothing replaces faithfulness to God’s word. That echoes through those letters to the churches of Asia.

Finally, the powerful thing about the letters to the seven churches in Revelation is that God is optimistic about their future. Dead Sardis. That’s not the end. God didn’t tell them to close up shop and forget about it. No, not at all. The call to repent fills the air. You can change. You can do better. You don’t have to be dead. The same goes for loveless Ephesus. You can change. Lukewarm Laodicea, you can change. And, that change begins, one by one.

So, if you feel you are walking through the motions, and your spiritual life is useless, make some course corrections and change. Get that passion back. Get excited about worship. Get engaged with God’s word. A dead church doesn’t have to remain dead. Life can resurrect once again through faith and hope in the Lord.

Sixty years had gone by…sure is something to think about.

Roger

Jump Start # 2100

Revelation 1:11 “saying, ‘Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

We reach yet another milestone with our Jump Start today, number 2100. This little venture started eight years ago and continues to grow and expand worldwide. Our readership is at an all time high and that continues to grow weekly. In a time in which many are no longer doing much reading, this little devotional has found a avenue that has become helpful and useful to many. God has blessed us, open doors for us and found a way to gift us with talent, means and a powerful team that believes in the good that comes out of these daily writings.

God has always believed in writing and reading. Our verse today is one of many that shows the value of what God believed in. His word, inspired, perfect and Heaven sent, remains the one book that all must read. His books is the one book that we must know.

Long ago, God sent inspired prophets and preachers to tell His message. Inspired by the Holy Spirit these early writers recorded what God wanted. Through time, God’s book, became the means which our faith is established and our hope is identified. When Moses came down from the mountain top, he held tablets of stone, written by the hand of God. He carried God’s book. And, through the ages God’s message was written, read and passed on. To the last book of the Bible, where our verse today comes from, John was shown a message. He wasn’t told to draw pictures. He wasn’t told to direct what he saw in a dramatic play. He was to write in a book what he saw. That book was to be circulated, read and understood.

Going to the local library once was a great adventure and experience. Checking out books was such a great summer time thrill. But today, most do not read. Newspapers are dying. National magazines have vanished. One statistic reported that 80% of Americans did not read one book last year. Some have shifted to electronic reading, which is still reading. However, there is a huge segment of society that no longer reads. Everything is videos. Videos move fast, are entertaining and allows a person to do other things while keeping an occasional eye on the screen. It’s hard to do other things while reading. A person might eat, but you can’t fold clothes, do house work, balance the checkbook, play with the kids while reading. Reading demands concentration. Reading involves contemplating. Reading engages the mind and enters the heart.

So, of all the avenues of communicating through the ages, God chose writing and reading. He wrote and we read. Our system of faith traces directly back to what God has written. We stand with assurance and confidence when we look into His book and find what He wants us to do. The power of God’s written word would take supreme place over miracles, spiritual gifts and other means of communicating. In these last days, Hebrews begins, God has spoken to us in His Son.

Here are some things we learn:

First, nothing beats reading the Bible, and that includes these Jump Starts. Studying what was said, and why it was said, and what it means becomes our primary goal and mission in our journey with God. This is not a walk in the dark. This is not something that we allow our feelings to lead us or guide us. This begins with His book and we always remain with His book.

Second, we must get our young folks to read. This is the role of parents. There are lots of books geared for children that begins this journey of reading. There are all kinds of daily Bible reading programs that allow the school age kids and us adults a plan to follow. Most of these plans take us through a book. Reading a verse here and there is not nearly as helpful as staying with a book and reading it through.

Third, we must know the Bible. What’s the Bible all about? There are so many people and so many stories in the Bible, one can miss what the message is all about. Find that message. Why did God give us the Bible? See the Bible as one complete message, rather than 66 individual books. Learn what the Bible is talking about. You do this by looking at places on a map. You do this by looking up words you do not understand. You do this by comparing one version to another. You do this by being a real student. Life long homework. Dig deep. Lower the nets. Don’t just look things up on Google. Do your own searching in the Bible. Think about what you would have done had you been there. Listen to what is being said. Apply. Think.

All of this takes time. Don’t be in a hurry with the Bible. Look at what people asked Jesus. Look at what He asked them. Look at their answers. Notice words that are repeated in a section. Notice references to other places in the Bible. And all through this process, your faith grows, your knowledge increases and your character changes. You can tell a person who has spent a lifetime with the Bible. It shows in their heart.

Fourth, we must realize that we cannot be wrong with the book and right with God. We worship, not the Bible, but the author of the Bible, God. However, God is so closely tied to His word, that one cannot walk righteously with God without following the Bible. This means obedience to the word is supreme. There is no getting around this. Those who frown at this love to throw out the prejudicial expression, “legalist.” No one wants to be known as a legalist. Those that use that word do not understand what it means. To ask, what is the difference between legalism and obedience, they see no difference. Their concept of faith is feelings that are spontaneous, fluid and ever changing. The church’s mission is evolving with culture, they believe. And this fanciful, form of disobedience has become the mission of many churches today. Standing in the old paths, as Jeremiah called for, seems quaint and sentimental to those who believe God still talks to them directly. They cannot prove this Biblically. They ignore plain Bible verses, yet, onward they go.

While modern culture looks to the future, the people of God look backward. Our eyes are upon this ancient book. We follow this book. We stay with this book. We treasure this book. We warn from this book. We find hope and assurance from this book. This book, His book, becomes the platform upon which we stand.

We must never get weary of God’s book. We must not sell out to the moderns who have little use for God’s book. We must not be deceived into believing it doesn’t matter what we do as long as we love the Lord. In a time when people have given up on books and reading in general, we won’t and we can’t.

Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.”

Roger

Jump Start # 581

Revelation 1:11 “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

The seven churches of Asia were the recipients of the powerful message called the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Chapters two and three addresses specific messages to each of these churches. There are many great and profound lessons to be found there. We want to look at some of those. This will not be a concentrated detailed examination of these passages, that’s not the purpose of our Jump Starts. There are things we can gather that will help Jump Start our faith.

One of the initial thoughts is what are we to make of these seven churches? Do they represent something? Some have thought that they illustrate either periods of church history or cycles that churches go through. Both thoughts make a person stuff more things into the passage than what is there. A person must remember what it would have been like to be a member at one of those seven churches and to have received this letter. They did not know about church history—it had not been developed yet. And the cycle theory leaves one depressed if it were true. Ephesus, the first, begins with losing their first love and Laodicea, the last, ends with making the Lord sick. If this is the cycle all churches go through, we might as well quit.

These were real historical places and real churches. We read about some of these churches in Acts. The times the book of Revelation was written was hard. It was hard being a Christian. The government of Rome was squeezing the church and trying to destroy it.

Revelation was written to these scared brethren. It was a message of hope, encouragement and victory. Overcome is one of the key words in this book.

Those who have studied the specifics written to these seven churches, chapters two and three, recognize some common patterns to all the letters. Jesus is identified in a glorious manner. The letters are addressed to the angel of the church. Good is praised. Things that are wrong are exposed and a plea to repent and return is made. An image of Heaven is revealed.

Two thoughts about what is written to these seven churches:

1. God knows what is going on. The expression, “I know,” is used each time when these churches are addressed. God knows. Sometimes God seems to know what the people do not know. Laodicea thought that they needed nothing. God knew better. Sardis had a great reputation. God knew that they were dead. This is something for us to think about. Sometimes a person may get discouraged because of what is going on at church. Things may be stale, or maybe some are being neglected and it’s easy to think, no one knows about these things. God does. He always does. He knows. This is why prayer is so powerful. This is why prayer can open doors and bring hope. We pray to a God who knows.

2. God is interested in faithfulness to Him. Faith has always been something that God has wanted. Sometimes we get our order out of order and spend so much time on things that really do not matter much to God. For instance, in this letter to the seven churches, you will not find God concerned about church buildings, budgets, parking lots, or the hiring of preachers. Those things sure seem to occupy so much attention these days. What God was interested in was the pure devotion and commitment to Him. We worry more about the roof on the church building than the faith of the folks sitting in the pews.  More money is spent on keeping the place up to date than it is in keeping the member’s faith alive.

This is not to say that the place we worship in ought to be neglected and look like a dump. Not at all. But it’s easy to think a fine building means a fine church. The two are not the same.  In a hundred years what will matter is not how new the carpet was in the church house, but how alive the faith was in the members. Strong faith leads to strong families and strong churches. It is our faith that will lead us to walk with the Lord, talk to our friends about Jesus and to overcome the worst of things that Satan might throw at us. Faith is the difference. Faith is what needs to be nurtured and grown. The faith of our young people will help them to make the best choices. The faith of our men will lead to more leaders. The faith of all of us will make an impact in the community.

So, one of the best things I can do for my marriage, my family, and the church I attend, is to get stronger in the Lord. Build my faith is the key. Faith comes through a connection to the word of God (Romans 10:17).  Know the book. Look carefully into the book. Think about it. Talk about it. Share it. Wear your Bible out. Underline verses. Circle words. Write notes in the margins. Get the big picture. See the message. God loves you. Jesus is the Lord. Walk by faith. Pray at all times. Seek the things above. Be engaged in good deeds. Be obedient. Become…become like Jesus!

God knows…God is interested in your faith—that’s what matters.

Roger