"Sin's Progress" December 22 Readings: Revelation 2-3

 

Reading the Bible Chronologically in 2024

This year, instead of reading from Genesis to Revelation, we will read the Bible as the story flows, as it happened and was written. There are several plans out there and I have worked to combine them into a plan that lets the Bible tell its own story "as it happened." Remember, the Bible is inspired, but not in the order the books appear in our Bibles.  The Old Testament is approximately 3/4 of the Bible, but we will give more emphasis to the New Testament, spending half the year in the Old Testament and half in the New. 

Bible Readings: Revelation 2-3

Background:  

This is a tough one for me! I preached a series of sermons on these two chapters - 12 messages! Now I have to write 1 devotional that encapsulates what I taught in 12 sermons of 30 (okay 40 to 45) minutes each. 

These 7 churches form an arch starting from Ephesus and appear in the order one might deliver the letters. John wrote them while exiled on Patmos, just southwest of Ephesus.  Efforts have been made through the years to see these letters as a prophetic history of the church but that stands on weak ground exegetically. They can be viewed as seven separate letters giving standards for churches, but there is also a definite progression in the churches that go bad. 

Two churches have nothing but good things said about them - Smyrna and Philadelphia. It is helpful to look at what Jesus commends about them. They are suffering churches, under the gun of intense persecution. The other five churches have a combination of good and bad. But from Ephesus to Laodicea, what is noticeable is that the good diminishes as the bad grows.

It is my theory that there is a progression in these churches. What happens in Ephesus if left unchecked causes the Pergamum problem which will lead to the Thyatira troubles. If not dealt with, that will cause the Sardis issue which will culminate in the Laodicean effect. Each builds on the other. Ephesus was a good church with a small but significant problem. Laodicea was a church with a huge problem and little good left in it. 

Daily Devotional: Sin's Progress

Did you love report card time? To be honest, I liked it more as a parent than as a child. I liked knowing how my kids were doing, and what progress they were making. How do we know how our church is doing? In the modern American church, we have our standard - numbers! How big is your budget and are you making it? How many people attend? Have you built any buildings? How many have you baptized? Budgets - buildings - baptisms. But is that how God measures our effectiveness?

Seven churches in Asia Minor received a report card from Jesus Christ himself. He appeared to the Apostle John and had him write down a word. "Here's what I think of your church." Two churches had nothing but good said about them - A+ - while five of the churches had grades ranging from B to F. These five churches show us something about how evil progresses in our lives and in a church.

The problem in Ephesus seemed so minor. They'd "left their first love." Jesus was no longer occupying first place and was no longer their highest passion. They were still a doctrinally sound, hard-working, persevering church - you'd love to be a member of First Baptist, Ephesus! But it was anything but minor to Jesus. Of course, he wants to be first in our lives, but he also knew that when we lose our love for him, it opens the door to so many other things.

Next, after A+ Smyrna, came Pergamum. They were another good church, but they had begun to tolerate the presence of false teachers and false practices. As soon as our love for Jesus wanes we find ourselves tolerating those things we'd have never tolerated when Christ was our primary passion. The teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans were finding a foothold. Things were worse in Thyatira, one step down the road. They were no longer just tolerating the false teachers, they'd become dominated by them. When we tolerate sin it tends to take over and take charge. So, the lies that were creeping in at Pergamum were dominating Thyatira and only a remnant of truth was left.

False teaching saps the power of God from a church and leaves it empty. That's what was happening at Sardis. They were pretending to be something they were not, more concerned with appearing to be alive than with actual spiritual life. Does that seem like our churches? We spend time polishing the outside of the apple not caring that inside is rotten and decayed! We must seek Jesus in repentance and rebuild the inside.

All of this ends at lukewarm Laodicea. What does this mean? Nearby Hierapolis had hot, mineral springs that had medicinal powers. Colossae, only a few miles away had cold, clean water to drink. But Laodicea had bad water. By the time water flowed from Hieropolis or Colosse it had lost its properties. This speaks of Christians who are neither effective in ministry or have a life-giving, refreshing ministry! In other words, when Jesus is kept outside the church (he's standing at the door of the church and knocking)  that church has no life-giving water - no healing hot water or refreshing cold water. Jesus wishes we were either hot or cold, but our lukewarm ineffectiveness - ministry done in the flesh without his power - is offensive to him.

We cannot afford to walk that walk. The good news is that no matter where we are in the process the solution is the same. Repent and return to a full passion for Christ. If we've wandered down the path of sin, the return might be more difficult, but the solution is the same. Repent and return.

The real solution is to daily keep the flame of passion for Jesus fanned high!

May our passion for you, Lord, burn brightly every day. May you never look at us or our church and say that we've left our first love, tolerated evil, that we are pretending to be alive, or that we are lukewarm and ineffective. 

 

Consider God's Word:

Which of these 7 churches is most like your life? Your church?
Using these "spiritual report cards" as guides, where are you in your walk and where is your church in its?