11/11/14- Philadelphia

To the angel in the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 10Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.

11I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. (Revelation 3) 

Thoughts: The Son of God had nothing bad to say about this first city of brotherly love.  They were weak in number and financially poor, but they were faithful.  God has placed before them an opportunity.  An open door is a symbol of hope.  If we keep our faith, God will keep us.  His advice to them is to hold onto what they have- to keep the faith- semper fi.  

Prayer:  Help me to keep my faith and to be strong for you.  

11/10/14- Sardis- Holding on when the church is Dead

1“To the angel^a of the church in Sardis write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits^b of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. 3Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

4Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. 6Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Revelation 3) 

Thoughts: The church in Sardis was dead.  They seemed alive on the outside, but their heart was gone.  They were like the Pharisees that Jesus called "White washed walls."  Such walls were rotten on the inside with a fresh coat of paint.  Some churches have great reputations but the reason for their being church is gone- they lack faith and a focus on Christ.
     The advice given to the Sardinians is to wake up and strengthen and to remember and repent.  The alarm clock is going off for the Dardinians.
       But there are some who have not polluted themselves with the deadness of the rest of the Sardinians.  They will be made pure.  The advice to them is to not go off and go to another church- like Smyrna.  They were not told to go out and found the second church of Sardis- made up of people who had not soiled their clothes.  For many people, they draw lines in the sand about when they would leave their church or divide from their congregations. We should quit drawing such lines.  The line is when we get kicked out for being faithful.  The faithful Sardinians, Thyatirans, and Philadelphians were all told to "hold on."  Holding on is not dividing or leaving.  It is being faithful where you are called as a remnant.  When a church seems dead- that does not mean to leave.  You may be the only light shining.  Be that light- be the remnant.  

Prayer: Help me to hold on to you, with faithfulness and grace.  

11/9/14- Remaining as the Remnant

18“To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:

These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 19I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.

20Nevertheless, 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. 21I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

24Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, 25except to hold on to what you have until I come.’

26To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— (Revelation 2)

Thoughts:  This is an important passage for the mainline (oldline) denominations in the West in our day.
"His eyes are like blazing fire"  God is not blind, or deaf.  God sees much more than we think and His eyes see deeply and purely.  Perhaps in our day it might be translated "The Son of God who sees more than any MRI or XRay.  God sees to the heart of things.
He commends the church for doing a lot and having love and service for others fueled out of a faith that endures.
The Son of God rebukes them for their toleration of sexual immorality and syncretism (symbolized by a common rebuke of giving into food sacrificed to pagan idols).  Jezebel was the nick name for this prophetess.  Even today some say "She's a real Jezebel."  The original Jezebel was a princess of Sidon/Tyre and wife of King Ahab.  She brought her Baal fertility worship with her.  Fertility worship involved temple prostitutes and sexual immorality.  Elijah at one point said he was the only one left of the prophets of the Lord and Jezebel was trying to kill him.  The rebuke of a "bed of suffering" may refer to sexually transmitted diseases. Perrhaps some were trying to hide their sexual immorality- but God reminds them that He searches hearts and minds- caring what they do "in private" with the souls and bodies He gives them.
     But what stands out even more than all the above is Jesus' advice to the remnant in Thyatira.  He does not suggest that they leave and go our and form the Second Church of Thyatira, or go to church in one of the sister cities not far away.  His advice is to hold on to what you have until I cojme.  It is too easy to leave because we disagree with the sexual immorality and even the spiritual death (of her children) so that we try to escape the sin of this life.  The advice to Elijah was not to leave and form a new nation either.  To divide and split goes against the command to love even when there is immorality or deadness.  The remnant is called to remain and to let the light of hope and faith not go out.  

Prayer: Lord, let me love the people around me, being faithful to you even if those around me are not.  

Thyatira today

11/8/14- Putting Politics in Perspective

12“To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:

These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 13I 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.

14Nevertheless, 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. 15Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. (Revelation 2) 

Thoughts: Pergamum had it out of perspective.  They thought politicians rule the world.  In the end, most of the message of the Book of Revelation is that politicians and worldly powers (emperors, kings, generals) are not the ones in control- but God is.
     Pergamum was where the Caesar Emperor Worship began.  John was writing secretly- while he was in exile by the Romans.  John boldly wrote of Pergamum that it was the place "where Satan had his throne."  Today you can see the ruins to the Temple of Trajan there.
      Pergamum did a good job resisting Emperor Worship but failed by syncretizing pagan practices with Christianity.  Balaam sought to entice the people of Israel with the pagan women.  This may not seem like such a big deal, except they were worshipers of Chemosh who required a child sacrifice.  The Nicolatans believed that you could do wrong because that makes God's grace look that much stronger and better.  But truthfully it abuses God's grace and neglects God's commands.  To obey is always better than sacrifice.  His call to them was to repent.  It is our call as well.  In a world gone sexually astray and askew, it is tempting to give into the practice of Balaam or the Nicolaitans.
     It is possible to resist one temptation while giving into another.  

Ben Sloan at Trajan Temple

11/7/14- True Riches

 9I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. (2:9- to Smyrna)

 17You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. (3:17,18 to Laodicea)

Thoughts: These verse in two different chapters of Revelation written to two different churches are reminders of what true riches are.  Smyrna was persecuted and probably had any wealth they had accumulated confiscated.  Persecuted people are usually not very wealthy- or at least not wealthy long.  Think of the Christians in northern Iraq forced to leave their homes and possessions behind to live out on a mountain without food or water.  They lost everything rather than simply converting to another faith.  Does faith matter?  To the Christians of Smyrna and northern Iraq it does.
     On the other hand is the Church of Laodicea.  Laodicea was rich physically but apathetic spiritually.  They seemed to  be content to be half Christian.  Many Christians want Christ only to make them more comfortable in life.  They are in the faith not for the glory of Christ, but for their own comfort.  The Laodiceans were described as luke warm- not hot or cold- and Christ said he would spew them out of his mouth.  The true gold is the gold of faith refined by persecution.  Jesus said we cannot love God and mammon (or the "stuff of this world").  We cannot have it both ways.  Our hearts need to want God above all else.  We should never trade spiritual wealth for physical wealth.  The greatest riches are those that could never be taken away.  The riches of Christ are so much great- not worth comparing to this world's riches.  What worldly wealth for a few years are worth comparing to eternal joy?  

Prayer:  Lord, may my heart seek your gold, more than the rust of this world.  

11/6/14- Revelation 2

4Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5Consider 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. 6But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. (Revelation 2)

The church of Ephesus was blessed at its founding.  Paul went there and stayed longer than anywhere else in Asia Minor.  When Paul was called to go to Jerusalem, the Ephesian elders met him and wept.  Timothy was one of the first bishops of Ephesus.  The Apostle John went to Ephesus and probably died there.  There is a house on top of the hill overlooking Ephesus that tradition says is the house of Mary the Mother of Jesus that John cared for in her latter days.
     Yet the second generation of Christians were Christians in practice but not in heart.  They had the tradition.  They believed in the change in their parents.  But they were missing the love.  So the advice was to reignite the spark of love in their hearts.  To do that they were to repent, remember the old ways, Kind of like going back to the old places that ignited the spark of love, they were called to think back to their first zeal of belief and re-oignite the spark.  We all need to do that.  We all need to consider if our love is what it used to be or what it needs to be.  Loving God is the first commandment, and the church dies out (the lampstand is extinguished) if we do not get that love back. 

Prayer: Lord, let your love flow in me and awake inside me. 

11/4/14- Fortieth Day of Forty Days of Fellowship in the Fall

11/4- Tuesday John 17:20-21 20“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

Bonhoeffer: “Jesus Christ alone is our unity.  ‘He is our peace.’ Through him alone do we have access to one another, joy in one another, and fellowship with one another.” 

Thoughts: This is Christ’s prayer for you and for me- the church today.  It is a prayer that we in the present and the future would be one.  Some downplay this by saying it is only a spiritual oneness.  Ultimately it is.  But it is also a visible oneness. The church is called to ideally be one both invisibly and as much as possible visibly.  The unity of the church is a great treasure- prayed for by our Lord.  So the things that divide us schism, pride, consumerism, and heresy are to be devalued and we are called to fulfill the prayer of Christ.  We are called to love one another in unity for love and unity of fellowship are eternal gifts of God.  One day we will truly be one in heaven.  But Christ prayed for this unity here.

Prayer; Lord, may we be one as you are one.  Give us grace to answer your prayer.