Unfortunately, due to an unplanned power outage in Kootingal this morning we were not able to record or livestream our sermon. Here is the message from this morning.
What He Has Seen – Revelation 2–3
Bible readings: Revelation 2:1–7; Revelation 2:8–11; Revelation 2:12–17; Revelation 2:18–29; Revelation 3:1–6; Revelation 3:7–13; Revelation 3:14–22
8am and 10am Sunday 27 October 2024
In our Growth Groups this week we asked the question, what’s something our church does really well? And…what’s something it does less well?
How would you answer that?!
Most people say we are good at welcoming, we love one another and are warm to one another. Something we do less well (at the moment) is live music, I know some of us said we’re not good at inviting people to church and we don’t get many at our prayer meetings. What are the things you like about church and the things you don’t like about church?
I’m sure there would be lots of opinions and personal tastes. But what would Jesus say about us? If Jesus walked in here right now and came up the front and stood here, what would he say about our church?
We might have opinions about our church but when Jesus speaks, it’s not another opinion, this is his church; he is the Lord of the church. So what does he say?
Today in Revelation 2–3 we are looking at what Jesus says about the church. The things he loves and hates about the church.
Jesus appears to John in a vision and tells him to write what he has seen, what is now and what will take place later (1:19). Revelation is apocalyptic writing full of pictures, and so we are about to get pictures that describe these churches. This is truth in pictures.
John,
To the seven churches in the province of Asia: (Revelation 1:4)
It’s a letter written to the seven churches in Asia. Most letters in the Bible are named after the people it’s written to; Revelation could be called Asians! That would be confusing because today we mean a very different area to when this was written in the first century. Today we would call this part of the world western Turkey. These are 7 real churches that John knows; this is what he has seen in the past (1:19).
Apocalyptic writing uses symbolism. The number 7 symbolises complete or whole. It’s not just to these 7 churches named but to all churches, the whole church.
For each of these churches Jesus says three things: what he loves about them, what he hates, and the hope he offers.
1. What Jesus loves: deeds and doctrine
Overall, Jesus loves their deeds and doctrine. Jesus loves what they do and what they think.
He loves their deeds, what they do. Look at Revelation 2:2 to the church in Ephesus:
I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance.
Similarly for the church in Thyatira, in verse 19: I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
And Philadelphia (chapter 3 verse 8): I know your deeds.
There are exceptions (like Sardis in chapter 3 verse 2, ‘I have found your deeds unfinished’) but overall the churches in Asia are working hard. Jesus loves this.
What about us? How are our deeds?
I think we are a hard-working church, we work hard. We love one another and care for one another. When people ask me what’s your church like, I tell people this is the most loving church I’ve ever been a part of. Let’s keep being a church known for our deeds and love. This church is the best kept secret in our Valley. Wouldn’t it be great if we were known everywhere in this Valley as a loving church!
When our Kids Club, Youth Group and Mobile Community Pantry families say that church is a loving church. When people move into our Valley, people say ‘I know a church – Kootingal Moonbi Anglican Church – that is a loving bunch of people, just like Jesus, go there!’
When people come to join us on a Sunday morning they go away saying, ‘I didn’t understand a word that guy at the front said – it’s all new to me – but I tell you they sure love each other and they loved me! That’s a place I can get help.’
What else does Jesus love in a church? He also loves what they think and teach, their doctrine.
Jesus likes churches that don’t tolerate false teaching. To the church in Ephesus (chapter 2 verse 2)
I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them false. (down to verse 6:) You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Or Pergamum, verse 13:
I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.
Or over to Philadelphia in chapter 3 verse 8:
I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
Jesus loves their doctrine. Overall, the churches in Asia are holding out false teaching and holding on to the teaching of Jesus. He loves what they do and what they think. What we do and think as Christians is important.
That’s how we grow in Christian maturity, which is God’s goal for us. We need to know the truth and live the truth if we want to grow more like Jesus and become the person you were always meant to be. You’ll remember we grow together by speaking the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). That’s why we are big on getting our Bible teaching right, here on Sundays and in our Growth Groups through the week. That’s why we encourage everyone to be involved in a Growth Group; it’s not just a great way to get to know people (and it is!) but it’s also a great place to ask questions and dig deeper into the Bible and apply it to your life. We want to be teaching the truth, so that we can be speaking the truth and growing to become like Jesus in every respect.
And I think we are a church that works hard at this. We care about the truth. I love hearing people wrestling with what the Bible teaches, having our ideas changed by the Bible, and asking questions. I love it on Sunday afternoons when I get a text message or email with a hard question or questioning something I’ve said. I love that because it means we are all listening to Jesus and making sure we have the truth right.
2. What Jesus hates: dead deeds and false teaching
But what does Jesus say he hates about these churches in Asia?
It’s the opposite of what he loves, when they don’t do and think the right things.
Sardis, chapter 3 verse 1:
I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
Sardis looks good on the outside but is dead on the inside. Like my passion fruit at the moment [show passionfruit]: they look great on the outside but on the inside there is no fruit. From the outside everyone says, ‘That’s a happening church, big growing church, great music, really active Facebook account,’ but it’s all a show.
Or false teaching (false thinking) in Pergamum, chapter 2 verse 14 to 16:
14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. 15 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
Balaam was a prophet in the Old Testament who tried to bring a curse on God’s people Israel (Numbers 22–25). God even used a donkey to tell him how foolish he was. Eventually, he led God’s people astray tempting them with beautiful foreign women. The men saw these women and went off with them and started worshipping their gods. They were led astray when they compromised with the world. If it could happen in the days of Balaam, and in the days of John, it can certainly happen in our day too. Jesus hates it when we are led astray by sexual immorality and idols, when we compromise with our world.
Similar, verse 15, he hates those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. We don’t who the Nicolaitans were. But their teaching was similar to that of Balaam, it slowly led people away from following the path of discipleship by compromising with the world.
The church in Thyatira is also tolerating false teaching. Verse 20:
Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.
Jezebel was the Queen of King Ahab in the Old Testament who led God’s people into unfaithfulness (1 Kings 16:29–33; 2 Kings 9:22). She was another outsider who led God’s people astray. Someone in Thyatira is being like Jezebel leading the people astray and they are committing adultery and idolatry, compromising with the world around them.
Jesus hates false teaching in his church.
But did you notice, that of the seven churches, Jesus threatens to close down two of these churches, not because of what they do or think, it’s because they have lost their love.
To Ephesus, in chapter 2 verse 4:
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
Come to Laodicea in chapter 3 verse 15.
15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
It’s not that they are doing or thinking the wrong things, it’s that they have lost their love.
Did you hear the Irish joke about Paddy who got a thermos? He took it to work and his mate Murphy said, ‘What’s that you’ve got Paddy?’ Paddy said, ‘It’s called a thermos, it keeps hot things hot and cold things cold.’ Murphy said, ‘What have you got in it then?’ Paddy said, ‘Two cups of coffee and an ice cream.’
Hot is good; cold is good; but when you mix them together you just get a lukewarm sludge. It’s disgusting, it’s only good for spitting out. Jesus hates a church that is lukewarm in love and will spit them out.
The church in Laodicea would say they are Christian and are going through the motions but Jesus is just a part of their life not Lord of their life. They’re not cold or hot for Jesus. That kind of Christianity makes him want to spit you out; it disgusts him. It disgusts him because Jesus is Lord of the church; he died and is now alive again; he is the ruler of the kings of the earth. You can’t serve the Lord of the universe a bit. It’s like saying, I’m a bit pregnant – you are or you are not. You can’t be a bit Christian. You are either a Christian who has handed over the rights of all of your life to Jesus, or you haven’t and so you are not a Christian.
Jesus said to be a Christian, this is what it takes:
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)
There’s no room for lukewarm in that, is there?!
As I said last week, this could happen to any of us. As we walk the path of discipleship, a life of godliness and holiness, wholehearted for Jesus, there will be a million things that tempt us away from the path: work, sports, family, life is so busy. Lukewarm is the danger for us all.
Jesus says that is the worst place to be. Be hot or be cold, don’t sit on the bench like cold tea, because I spit that stuff out.
3. Hope for the lukewarm and loveless
But there is still hope for all the churches. At the end of his words about each church he offers hope, whoever has ears let them hear what the Spirit says to the church.
To Laodicea, chapter 3 verse 20 that he threatens to spit out:
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
How does a church get its love back? How do individuals get their love back?
The worst thing we can do is think we do it ourselves. To think ‘I just need to pull my socks up or try harder or do more.’ It’s not what we do but it’s a gift from Jesus, only by grace. A cold cup of tea can’t warm itself up; it needs an external flame.
Jesus knocks at the door. All we have to do is open the door and let him into our life. We do that by hearing his voice and embracing his words.
Open the door to the one who has done every thing for you. Call out to him in prayer.
Let him in, to every room. Ask for help. It’s never too late. He will help you.
