97. Messages to the Churches (Revelation 2:1-3:22).

by Wesley Blackburn

So, after hearing about John's initial vision, we now hear some messages from God to several different church communities of the day. Some of these messages contained high praise. Some contained points of rebuke; places where God wanted to see these communities do better. Nevertheless, I think that would have to be a great thing to hear from God himself with some advice for the church you are a part of. Definitely scary and humbling, but cool nonetheless. Reading these writings to churches, it made me wonder what God might write to Suncrest. What would God say about the things we are doing well? Poorly?

But through reading these letters, I noticed a couple of different things. First, I saw that a common theme was for many of these churches to just hold on. Several of these churches were undergoing some severe persecution from local Jewish groups that saw them as a threat, as well as some in the Roman government who saw Christian worship as strange, out of place, and a threat to the worship of their gods. And what does God say to these persecuted followers of him? Hold on. Keep at it. I think that today, in our moments of pain and difficulty, God is saying the same thing to us... hold on. Stay with it. Remain faithful.

I'm also just personally always haunted by God's words to the church in Laodecia in Revelation 3:14-19. God was hard on these people because they were so lukewarm in their response to him; they could simply care less. Based on the description, it seems like this church was filled with wealthy, well to do individuals who felt they didn't need anything from God. They felt pretty self-sufficient. And yet, they were the only church out of all the ones here in Revelation where God didn't say a single positive thing. God still loved and cared for them (see verse 19), but cared too much about them to let them continue in their ways.

I think that the church in Laodecia is scary to me because in a lot of ways I think a lot of American churches are in a similar situation. Has our excessive wealth (and believe me, compared to any other country on the planet, America's wealth is excessive no matter how little your assets are) made us complacent? Are we in danger of needing God's rebuke, just like the Laodecians? Definitely a question to keep thinking about as we continue on as part of God's church here in America.