letters of revelation

The Path to Revitalization

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Over the past several weeks, we have examined the declining churches in the book of Revelation. Jesus rebukes the churches with urgency and specificity. But He does not leave the churches without direction. He guides them away from decline and toward victory once again.

In other words, he provides a path to revitalization.

This path involves three primary steps:
1. Listen
2. Repent
3. Hold Fast 

First, the call to listen to Christ’s exhortation is loud and clear. Every letter to the churches includes the phrase, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” One cannot begin down the road to conquering and revitalization without hearing the Word of God. Listening as the Spirit of God speaks through his Word is vital. Next, a step that is not always primary should be considered. In both the letters to Ephesus and Sardis, Christ calls the churches to remember. For some churches in decline, looking back on their rich history of faithfulness to see how far they have fallen is incredibly helpful. Often Satan can encourage doubts of salvation during times of conviction, thus remembering can encourage a church as it sees God’s previous work among them.

The second primary step toward conquering is to repent of the sins that led to decline. All five churches that have experienced decline are called to repent. Recognizing sin is not enough. Churches must turn from that sin and toward Christ.

Once a church has genuinely repented, they have officially taken steps in faithfulness again. Now, they must continue in that faithfulness by holding fast. As discussed earlier, an essential part of conquering is persevering in faithfulness. In order for revitalization to have a lasting effect, churches must not only listen and repent, but also hold fast.

Death by Self-Reliance

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“So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” 

These are the words of Jesus to the church of Laodicea.

If you have sat through Sunday sermons for long, you have probably heard the warnings against being a lukewarm Christian. Too often, lukewarm is understood to be mediocrity in the Christian life. Preachers declare that to be hot is to be a passionate Christian, while being cold is to be an unbeliever.

But Revelation 3:14-22 does not seem to support that idea, for in this case, the text would apparently be implying that to be an unbeliever is better than being lukewarm. Instead, M.J.S. Rudwick points first to the contemporary situation in which the Laodiceans, despite being rich, could not obtain hot or cold water of which both have good uses, and as a result, the water supply for Laodicea was used as a symbol to represent their “uselessness” and “ineffective[ness]” for the Lord. Yet ineffectiveness seems to be a symptom rather than the root of the problem.

Instead, arrogance and self-reliance are at the core their decline. Apparently, they believe they are prosperous and “need nothing,” but Jesus asserts that they are actually “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” He calls them to come humbly and rely upon him for their riches. Thus it appears that Satan has sought to develop an attitude of pride and self-reliance in the church at Laodicea.

The pride that leads to this kind of self-reliance continues to be common among churches today, and when self-reliance is present, one will find a declining church or at least, soon-to-be declining.

Reliance upon programs, personalities, and promotionals is deadly for a church. 

Jesus calls us to be reliant upon him, guided by his Word, and powered by His Spirit. When we rely upon our own efforts to create growth, the opposite actually occurs. Sure, some initial growth in attendance may come, but spiritual depth and fruit of the spirit will slowly whither away.

Are you relying upon yourself? Or are you completely dependent upon the Lord? If we’re honest, we all have a bit of a self-reliant streak within us.

May we repent of self-reliance, and instead, draw upon the riches of His power and grace that we might be useful for His glory.

Death by Indifference

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Often churches begin to die because their passion is in all the wrong places: the color of the carpet, the style of music, or an obsession over specific sins. While their passion is misguided and harmful, at least they have passion.

Often, an even deadlier disease in churches is indifference. Apathy toward truly significant issues, such as doctrine, mission, community, and values, will deteriorate a church slowly over time. A poison just as deadly, yet often much quicker to work, is indifference to blatant, obstinate sin.

Thyatira, the third dying church in the book of Revelation, experienced this very problem. In Revelation 2:20, Jesus proclaims to Thyatira: “But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.” Thyatira is rebuked for both their toleration of and participation in sin. Sometimes Satan attacks by seeking to create a tolerant spirit toward sin. Instead of disciplining those in sin, the church at Thyatira had grown tolerant, and as a result, many began to take part in the sin as well. In order to conquer, this church must cast off toleration of sin.

While we certainly want to be careful to love everyone and forgive those who sin against us, apathetic tolerance of sin in people’s life within the church is one of the most unloving approaches we can take. We are told to call brothers and sisters back from sin stemming from compassion like Christ, who has called each of us out of the deadly effects of sin. Tolerating blatant, obstinate sin leads to division, apathy in mission, the tarnishing of God’s glory, and ultimately the death of churches.

Rather than indifference, may we develop a compassionate sorrow over sin in our churches and graciously pursue our church family when they wander from the truth.

Being Deaf to Christ’s Rebuke

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Five out of Seven churches in Asia Minor were in need of revitalization at the end of the first century. At least that’s the case concerning the seven churches that were addressed in the book of Revelation.

Five churches—Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, and Laodicea.

Each of these five were addressed in the same way and for the same reason: they needed to be revitalized.

Over the next few weeks, we will be considering what these letters teach us about church revitalization. We’ll start with a quick look at the construction of the letters and then consider the negative aspect of Jesus address. Later, we will look at the solutions that Jesus provides.

G.K. Beale represents the consensus opinion concerning the outline of the letters. He divides the letters into seven parts that are typical of each letter in the following order: “Command to write…, Christ’s self- description…, commendation of the church’s good works…, accusation because of some sin, exhortation to repent…, exhortation to discern the truth…, and promise to the conquerers.” (1) Each letter varies slightly, but this is the normal structure of the letters. We’ll sum it up with five parts: the self-revelation of Christ, his encouragement and promises to the churches, his rebukes and warnings, his exposure of the churches’ failure in battle, and his path to victory or revitalization.

The rebukes and the exposure of failure are surrounded by Jesus’ solutions. So we’ll start with the middle, negative aspects and in weeks to come work out from there to see how each aspects of the letter was specifically meant to provide new life to the dying churches. We start with the negative because we must grapple with the problem before we will have the motivation to pursue the solution.

First, Christ rebukes these five churches and proclaims a warning of the consequences involved in not responding positively. Each rebuke is based upon a sharp or extended decline in faithfulness. Christ follows his encouraging words to Ephesus, Pergamum, and Thyatira with the following phrase: “But I have this against you….” This phrase clearly sets apart the reason for rebuke.

Christ’s rebuke is no mere angry rant toward the churches. Instead, these rebukes are calls for revitalization. Christ does not long to see his bride wither away and die, thus as he points out in his words to Laodicea, he disciplines those he loves and calls them to life again. Nevertheless, this call for revitalization is followed by a warning for those who refuse to respond rightly. For instance, Christ promises to remove the lampstand of the church at Ephesus if they do not pursue repentance and faithfulness.

The consequences of being deaf to Christ’s rebuke is the death of your church.

Next, having their attention, Christ gets specific by exposing specific failures. Each church’s unique, present decline in faithfulness is influenced in powerful ways by Satan’s specific temptations. Considering each church and the area of decline into which Satan has sought to lead them will provide insight into the typical ways that churches experience a decline in faithfulness. We will consider these ways by focusing on each dying church over the next five weeks.