Dear Church

We started last week looking at the book of Revelation. It's the last book in your New Testament if you're looking for it. If you didn't have an opportunity to see message number one in that series, I hope that you will go to thechapel.com and be able to take a look at that. It's very important for you to understand what's going on in chapter one because of what happens coming after that. If you don't - you can pull that up on the internet, on thechapel.com. You can pull it up on The Chapel app. If you've ever downloaded The Chapel app, you can do the same thing. And if you miss some things you can go back and take a look that way. There's also transcripts that they're posting of the messages so that you can go and see them that way, if you're looking for words or particular sentences that you missed or whatever, you can go back and see that.

But what we learned in chapter one in the book of Revelation is that we were awed by a vision of Jesus. This is what captured our hearts and captured our attentions in the very beginning chapter. And it's important that we remember that because that sets the stage for everything. The only way we're going to be able to see clearly, is when we clearly see a vision of Jesus. And that's what we have in chapter number one. We are also reminded that the structure of the letter or the book of Revelation was apocalyptic, in that it uses signs and symbols and the like. It was also prophetic, that we learned, because that means it's going to not only going to be corrective but also predictive. It's going to tell us some things that are going to occur. But it's also a letter. It's written to real people, at a real place, in real time.

In fact in chapter one, verse number ten it says this: John says, "On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: 'Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.'"

So these were real places, and you notice there were seven of them. There weren't twenty, there weren't five. There were seven. Now there's a reason for that. It's not because there were only seven churches in Asia Minor. We talked about that last week. You can read through the book of Acts and figure out there was a lot more churches than that, right? Hierapolis, Troas, Colassae, a bunch more. But there were seven that were chosen. In this context seven is an important number. It's an apocalyptic number. It has an idea of fullness or completion or perfection. So the idea here is that there are seven churches that have been selected that are representative of the whole. It's not that there's only seven churches, but seven churches are representative of the whole. That's important for us to understand.

John begins with the church at Ephesus. Now there's a reason for that. Probably first and foremost, because he had a connection to Ephesus very directly, John did. Pastored in that church for some time. But also because it's the closest church geographically to where he is when he's on Patmos, the island that's off the west coast of Turkey, modern day Turkey. So he is closest to there, and when you look at Ephesus, like if you're looking at a map, and you see Ephesus right here, then from Ephesus what you can do is you can go clockwise (is that clockwise your way? yeah) - clockwise around and you cover all seven of those churches that way almost in a circle. Why is that? Because it's a postal route. It's a very simple geographical ancient postal route where these were basically some of the major cities that were there and starting at Ephesus then moving all around, this letter could then travel to all of those places.

Now, what we understand as well is that there were some images that were used in chapter one to tell us a little bit about these churches. We didn't cover those last time but here's what it says in verses twelve and thirteen and then a portion of verse sixteen. It says, "I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. And in his right hand he held seven stars."

Now, we've immediately got some symbolism in this vision and what's interesting is in apocalyptic literature from time to time, if either (a) the Spirit of God is guiding like he is here in this context or (b) in some of the ancient apocalyptic literature, if the author is feeling generous, then what happens is that the actual text itself will interpret for you the signs and symbols. Doesn't always happen that way, but sometimes it does. And in this case, the text itself actually unpacks and uncovers what those symbols of lampstands and stars means.

Look in verse number twenty, chapter one. "The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand," (this is Jesus speaking), "and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches." So that' easy enough for us to figure out, right? The lampstands are the churches, o.k.? Simple, straight forward and then the stars are the angels of the churches. Not as straight forward.

In fact, you say, Jerry, what does that mean? Well it could mean a number of different things. The word angelos in the Greek language is translated a number of different ways. Most often when it's used in Revelation, it's translated as angel or heavenly being. And so could that mean that, kind of the intermediary or so to speak that you're writing this to get it to through a guardian angel of the church? Yeah, it's possible. It's not to the angel, right? Because it's to ultimately the people that make up the church. But could that be referencing some kind of guardian angel over the church? It's possible. Hebrews tells us that angels are ministering spirits sent by God to oversee those who know God, right? So, o.k., that's a possibility.

There's also the possibility that it means messenger because that's what the word actually means. Angelos can mean angel or messenger. Some have also translated as pastor/leader. In other words, whoever was the leader among equals in that particular church context was who was being addressed with the letter. Some have also argued that it means the prevailing spirit of that church because it's really a spirit that's being addressed, kind of the spirit of that church which is being addressed. It could be any of those things.

I'm not sure exactly what the case is but here's what we do know. That whoever that is, they are held in the hand of Jesus. That's what we do know. That they are held in the hand of Jesus, and we understand that ultimately the letter is not just for them, but it's for all. It's not just for the localized congregation. It is actually for all of the congregations that are going to be reading this. But there is specific content to each congregation.

Now, when you get to chapter two and chapter three, which is these messages to the churches - some of you say, well I call them letters to the churches. You're free to call them that but more technically there's one letter. Revelation. There are seven messages to specific churches within that one letter. And so what we know is that those messages have a similar pattern. Every single one of the seven messages to the churches has a similar pattern. If you are going to go back and read, because we won't read every word of chapter two and chapter three. We don't have that kind of time, and I've got more message than I've got time, just in case anybody didn't tell you that. So, it's just how it is, today. All right?

So, with all of those messages they have a same kind of structure. They have a same format. Some would argue that the format - there's scholars that would argue, that the format that's used - even though it's in a different context - is really a similar format as the Roman caesar. It was an imperial format that would be used to send messages to Roman colonies or outposts to describe a number of different things. That's a possibility, by the way, because of what Jesus is doing and what he has done in chapter one. He has revealed himself as the one who is the Ruler of the kings of the earth, who is the sovereign over everything and if in chapter two and chapter three what he's doing is he's giving messages to the churches in the form of kind of a king's edict where he's speaking to subjects - that might make good sense, given he has revealed himself as the Ruler of the kings of the earth. In other words, it's almost like in chapter one you've got Jesus saying, "There's a king and it's not caesar. It's me." And then when he sends these messages into the context of each of those churches they are reading them in that kind of way. So that's a possibility.

So, what's the structure look like? Well, it's a similar structure all the way through. It begins this way, that there is a statement to the angel of the church in such and such. And it's a sevenfold pattern that happens in all of these particular messages. Isn't that interesting. Seven churches - they all get seven messages and they are in a sevenfold pattern in each of those messages. Seven is a pretty important number in the scripture.

So, the first thing is they're addressed to the angel of the particular church. But then after that Jesus gives a self-description of who he is. Now what this is based on, is it's based on how he revealed himself in Revelation chapter one. And what he'll do is he'll take a piece of that and he will say, this is who the letter's coming from, and he'll take a very specific piece of that revelation, vision of who he was in chapter one, and he'll say this is who the letter is from, all right? The third thing that happens is there is a commendation. In other words the church is encouraged or commended for something that they do. All of the churches are, except Laodicea, and we'll see that in just a moment. After that there is a word of correction that Jesus gives for things that they have done - all except Smyrna and Philadelphia. They're not corrected on anything, but all of the other churches are. Then, Jesus issues a challenge. That challenge might be in the way of saying be faithful or it might be in the way of saying repent. It could be any of those things. Then, the sixth thing that we notice is that there is a promise to the "victorious". In other words, to the one who is victorious and then there's a promise. Whoever is victorious and then there's a promise.

And then we also see in every single one of these messages there is an invitation to listen to what the Spirit says. If you'll read each of these messages, when you do, at the very end - sometimes the order changes on six and seven by the way, but no matter - in the very end what you will see is this: Everyone who has an ear let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. By the way, that's plural. Churches. So it's not intended to just be addressed to one specific congregation even though there is specific information to a specific congregation. It's still something that is applicable to all of the churches, both then and now. So, this is how every single one of these messages sets up.

Now, I want us to actually see, when we begin to look at the actual messages themselves, again I'll read just a portion of each of them, I'm not going to read the whole thing. Here's what you'll find. Every one of them is grappling with something. And do you know the best way to figure out what they're grappling with? The best way to understand what it is they're working through, is to understand how Jesus revealed himself to them. So in other words, whatever Jesus said about himself in Revelation one that he's pulling into their message - that is going to be what gives you a framework for what it is he wants them to respond to. We'll see that here as we look through in each of these particular messages.

So in chapter two, verse number one, "the church at Ephesus, the angel, to the church at Ephesus write these words. These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands." So that's how he reveals himself to Ephesus. "I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. 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. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love that you had at first.""

So, here's what Jesus does. He reveals to them that he is the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, and walks among the golden lampstands. You remember that from chapter one. He's the one who's walking among them. And so, he reveals himself as the one walking among them but also acknowledges, listen to this, that he knows all the good things that they've done, but also knows that they've let other things replace their priority love for him. And by the way, those could even be good things. Because he's talking to Ephesus, and they've done a lot of good things, and he says I know you've done a lot of good things. But maybe you've let those good things become more important than your love for me. So, he reveals himself as the one who walks among them. He wants them to understand his presence among them because when you understand his presence you cannot help but love him.

Second one is to the church in Smyrna and it says this: "To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again." You see this is how Jesus is revealing himself to Smyrna. "I 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. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor's crown."

Isn't it interesting to the church that is going through suffering, and the church that is going through persecution, and the church that might face martyrdom, Jesus reveals himself as the one who's the First and the Last, who was dead and now isn't. He's trying to empower them. He's trying to give them courage. He's not correcting them on anything, because they are walking through and being faithful in what they are doing, but he reveals himself in such a way to give them great courage.

In verse number twelve to the church in Pergamum, "To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. I know where you live." Do you remember the sharp double-edged sword? Was he holding it in his right hand? It was in his mouth, right? Exactly. "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. 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. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth."

So here, Jesus is actually revealing himself as the one who judges justly. The sword of his mouth. He judges justly and he is going to deal with the lies that they have embraced. They have embraced some teaching and they have embraced some lies that he is going to deal with with the sword of his mouth.

And then in verse number eighteen. "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." Do you remember that description of Jesus in Revelation chapter one? It says: "I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. 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 that is sacrificed to idols."

Now, whether this lady's name was Jezebel or not, that's an Old Testament reference, right? To an evil lady that was married to King Ahab and persecuted Elijah. Now whether her name was Jezebel in this context or not, it could be symbolic that he's referring to a prophetic Jezebel, that's certainly a possibility, or her name's Jezebel and her parents made a really bad choice. And that's also possible. My inclination is that this is a symbolic name given to someone who is leading the people in this particular location astray. And Jesus reveals himself as the pure one. The one whose eyes are like blazing fire, and feet that have been burnished in bronze, that have come through everything and are pure. And the pure one actually sees everything, and he's not going to let them just wallow around in their sin.

And then in chapter three verse one, it says "To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds: you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you don't wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you."

So here, you have the Lord Jesus revealing himself as the one who holds the seven spirits and the seven stars in his hand. In other words, he's saying that the power of my Spirit sees your spirit and realizes that you can't hide behind the mask. I know you have a reputation of being alive, but you're actually dead and you need to understand that I know that.

And then in verse seven it says this in chapter three: "To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David."

Hold on a second. Does anybody remember Jesus revealing himself in chapter one as the holder of the key of David? Yeah, me neither. Some of you didn't know how to answer, right? You're just going is this a trick question? 'Cause you're going to make me publicly embarrassed at this point. No, it's not a trick question. He doesn't reveal himself that way but we'll come back to that in just a second.

Look at it again. He said, "I'm the one who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I 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."

You see, to the church in Philadelphia there is no correction. He's not just like in Smyrna, he's not making correction, he's actually revealing himself as the one who holds the key of David. Now, you say, I thought every one of these had a self description of Jesus that connected to how he revealed himself in the vision of chapter one. Well, it does. This one's just a little more indirect. All right? The rest of them are direct quotations, basically. This one's a little more indirect.

You see, you have to know the idea behind the holder of the key of David. And because you do I'm just going to refresh your memory. All right? Because I already know you know that we're going back to Isaiah when Hezekiah was the king, right? And Shebna was running the palace, you already know all these things. So Shebna was running the palace, who was kind of a priest of sorts, is the holder of the key of David. In other words, he can open doors that nobody else can open, and he can shut doors and close them and nobody can get through them. That's kind of his job. But he got a little bit self-absorbed, Shebna did, so what God said is I'm going to replace you. I'm going to replace you, and He's going to replace him with Eliakim. And here's what it says in Isaiah chapter 22. "I will depose you from your office, Shebna, and you will be ousted from your position. In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah." Listen to this - "I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him" - does that sound familiar? Yeah, you see that in chapter one. "And hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the people of Judah. I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open."

You see, here Jesus is revealing himself as the one who actually can open doors for us in terms of the mission he has called us to and whatever doors he open, nobody can shut them. And whatever doors he shuts, nobody can open them because he is the holder of the key, and he is wearing the new robe and the sash. It's almost a high priestly look that you have there.

And then in verse fourteen of chapter three, the church in Laodicea. It says "These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

So here they are in Laodicea, messing around in the middle, and Jesus reveals himself as the faithful and true witness. Do you know what the faithful and true witness did? He was faithful and true to his death. He did not compromise one iota. And he says to the church in Laodicea, here's you and it makes me want to spit you out of my mouth.

So, you've got all of these particular messages to the churches. I didn't read the entire message but you get the drift that Jesus revealed himself in a certain way. Now why is this important? Here's why. Because when we begin to see the nature of how Jesus revealed himself and the messages he's trying to say to these churches, what it helps us to do, ladies and gentlemen, is to understand what the marks of a victorious church actually are. You see, because every single one of these messages ends with a statement something like "to those who are victorious, here's my promise." To those who are victorious here's my promise. To those who are victorious. So the expectation of Jesus is that his church is victorious.

Now, what are the marks of a victorious church based on understanding all of these things together? Well, I think Ephesus teaches us that the first mark is the presence of God, the presence of Christ. Here's what I mean by that. They were in a place where they were doing wonderful works, but they were getting out of bounds and out of priority, because maybe they were in love with the things that they were doing more than they were in love with the person they were doing them for. And Jesus was basically saying I'm the one who walks around among you, among the golden lampstands. Have you missed me? You're doing all this stuff for me, but have you missed ME in the midst of this?

Sometimes it happens to us. I know people that I can describe this way because they love music, man. They're just like, man, I cannot wait to worship and they think worship equals music. And by the way, music is a part of worship, but it's not all of it. We're worshipping right now around the word. It's part of what we're doing right now. So what happens sometimes, there are people, listen to this, there are people that actually worship worship. Oh, I just can't wait to go, because I'm going to, yeah, I'm just, you know. And that's what - it's that, it's that high. And we lose sight of the God that we worship. We're more excited about the songs and how they make me feel rather than magnifying the glory of Christ with our hearts. This is a different thing altogether. I could use other illustrations but that's good enough. This can happen to any of us.

So he's saying to us, don't lose sense of the presence of God. Ladies and gentlemen, listen. I realize that I'm a pastor, and this is part of what we do, but I'll be honest with you. You could take everything that we do and chunk it, if we lose the presence of God. The one thing that we cannot lose, the one thing that we have to hold onto, the one thing that we can never let go of is that we have to know and adore the presence of the One who walks among us, the living One. We cannot miss that. That is a mark of a victorious church, when we are living in the abiding presence of Jesus. When we realize he's always around, and he's always with us, and we just drink in his presence, and we practice his presence in our lives. You see, when we practice his presence, his presence will change our practice. This is what happens in our hearts. We cannot lose the sense of the presence of Jesus who is walking among us.

There's a second mark, though, of a victorious church that I don't want you to miss and it's the one that, it's the one that we see in the second church called Smyrna. It's perseverance. You see, Smyrna was facing persecution and in dealing with this persecution, they were having to persevere through it and they're not corrected at all in this by Jesus. In fact. he's encouraging them because of their perseverance.

You see, in our day and age we also need to have those kinds of marks because we've become a very soft culture. It seems like anything that ever happens, we're never going to be able to deal with persecution. We can't even deal with being offended on social media. I don't like that post. And so we get all offended, we get all bent out of shape. What happens when persecution comes? When real things begin to happen in your world, huh? We've become so soft, and we feel like we just can't do it.

I just heard about or read about, whatever it was, in Seattle, in a public school, they have now canceled playing tag because they're concerned about the emotional health of the children. Wow! I played a lot of tag. Now, that could be an argument for what they're doing. I understand. You're going, yes, we're trying to avoid people turning out like you. But seriously! Well, some people might get tagged and some people might not and we're worried...ARGHHH....! We have to understand, listen ladies and gentlemen, that when we face persecution we've got to persevere but most of the time, because we have such an aversion in this culture to anything that makes us uncomfortable, to anything that might hurt our feelings, to anything that might offend our sensibilities, we tuck tail and run.

Jesus says to the church at Smyrna, you're going to have to persevere because this is going to get real up in here. It's going to get real and you're going to need to persevere, and whoever is victorious, I've got some promises for you. So, we can't miss that. That is a mark of a victorious church.

There's a third one, and it's truth. We learn this from Pergamum. See, Jesus revealed himself in such a way that he was saying I'm the one, I can see through all of the stuff that are lies, and you're embracing some lies in Pergamum.

By the way, we embrace them all the time in our culture. Sometimes intentionally, sometimes not intentionally, but we embrace the lie that maybe you have to look a certain way to be affirmed as a human being, or you're good looking if you're this and you're ugly if you're this and if your body type is this, and you can do these things and we just believe all of that stuff because we've been, we've had that foisted upon us. And Jesus needs to help us understand our identity, so that we can cut through the lies.

Maybe as well, we need to be able to cut through the lies and really the big lie is this: there are things other than Jesus that can satisfy your soul. And so, people find relationships because they're just like, oh, man, I just got to find a man or I got to find a woman. Now, what you need is Jesus and if he brings someone along, then that's wonderful, because even when they bring them along, they're not going to be the source of your soul satisfaction because only Jesus can do that. They're going to be a wonderful complement, and they're going to be somebody that hopefully together you can be used of God in a great way. But they're not your soul's satisfaction. Only Jesus is. There's only one who can satisfy the soul, and it's Jesus. And you can start trying to put stuff in there. You know, I'm going to keep clawing for success or I'm going to claw for power ,or I'm going to gain more money. None of these things are a substitute. They will not satisfy your soul. Or maybe it's recreation or hedonism and those kinds of things and it will not satisfy your soul.

And listen, I'm a fan of the Bills but if they win the Super Bowl, it still won't satisfy my soul. I'll be happy about it, but it will not satisfy my soul. And whether they win or whether they lose does not determine what my life looks like, because my love is for Christ and for what God is doing in the world, and ultimately ladies and gentlemen that's just a game, and it's recreation, and it's sport, and I enjoy it and I'm a fan and I'm cheering for them and I hope if Super Bowl's have to be won that they're the ones that do it. But, let's be honest here. It won't change anything for me the next day in my soul. Jesus alone can do these things.

But here's the thing, we buy lies that tell us that your soul can be satisfied other ways. So we've got to be people who are marked by truth, who are marked by the truth of who Jesus is.

Let me give you another one. Holiness. You see ultimately this is what the church at Thyatira teaches us, is it teaches us about holiness. You see Jesus reveals himself as the one whose eyes are like blazing fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. Whereas in Pergamum he had the double edged sword coming out of his mouth, now his eyes see everything and what he desires to see, ladies and gentlemen, are not people who are messing around on the edges, trying to experiment with sin, but instead are so consumed with the nature of who Jesus is, that we have the power and the victory not to sin. That we are free not to sin, instead of messing around with the flesh that wants to tempt us in a bunch of different directions and wallowing around in it.

Here's the good news - thank God, Jesus still loves us in the midst of our stuff and our wrong choices. We thank God for that. But he's not satisfied with just leaving you in that spot, because he's saying the church is to be used to help light the world. So he wants to see a sense in your life and in my life that we are separated from things that are sinful and we are separated to God who wants to use us in a great way. Holiness. We've lost sight of that.

Sometimes we've given such quarter to the world and everything the world wants to teach us, that we've lost sense of holiness. Now, I'm not talking about an external pharisaical, legalistic kind of holiness that says you've got to wear hemp gowns for the rest of your life. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about you need to be someone whose life is characterized and marked by the presence and power of Jesus and people can see it. They can see it. It's not just because you yell louder than everybody else. It's because they see the change in your life. They see the difference that Christ has made. We're marked by people who have been separated, who have been made holy by him. This is the heartbeat behind it.

Let me give you another one. Number next - five, I guess. Authenticity - this is what Sardis teaches us. Jesus reveals himself as the one who holds the seven spirits in his hand. In other words, that his Spirit sees to your spirit. And he says, maybe it's time to start taking the masks off. You see, you've got a reputation among other people that you're alive but you're really dead.

I know in a church the size of ours where we have thousands of people that listen and attend and are part of what we do on Sundays at multiple campuses. Here's what I know - that there are many of us who have learned behaviorally to condition ourselves to demonstrate to everyone that everything is on the up and up spiritually, when sometimes we are a chasm inside. Now, these aren't the things anybody wants to raise their hand and go, that's me, that's me. But it's true. All of us have that. All of us have to wrestle with that.

Here's the thing. Jesus knows and he says look, I want you to worry less about your reputation with everyone else, and be concerned with what I already see in you. I already know. You're worried about managing how people think about you, and you're not real concerned about the authenticity of your life before me. Jesus says, that's a mess and you need to repent, because he wants us marked by authenticity. I didn't say transparency. I said authenticity. That we're real, that we're genuine.

I'm not that interested in being transparent, to be honest with you. People say that to me. Jerry, I just want you to be transparent. I don't want to be transparent. I'm not so self-absorbed to think that you need to know every single thing about me, that you need to see into me and just know all about me, man. Here's all of me. Let me show you everything. I'm not that interested in that. Jesus knows all that. He knows what I'm doing, what I'm not doing. He knows all of those things. But I do want to be authentic. I do want to be authentic, because that's what he's called us to. That's who he's called us to be, to live authentic lives in Christ.

Number next. Sixth one. Mission. This is an actual mark of what it means to be a victorious church is that we live our lives on mission. You see, Jesus revealed himself as the one who holds the key of David. In other words, when he opens a door, nobody can shut it. When he closes a door, nobody can open it.

And when he opens a door, his expectation for you and I - he does no correction, by the way to this church at Philadelphia - his expectation for you and I is that we walk through it. That when he opens the door for us on his mission - maybe it's to be able to talk to that neighbor about Christ. Maybe it's to be able to serve them. Maybe it's about showing integrity in your work place. Maybe it's about your friends at school. Maybe it's in your relationships. Whatever it is - the doors that he is blowing open - it doesn't matter if people respond by shutting you down, he hasn't because he's blown the door open and he'll do with that what he wants to do with that. We have to be a people who live our lives on mission.

See, some of you are still searching for what your purpose in the world is, and when you get to know Jesus, you know that he has set you on a trajectory of having meaning and purpose and real understanding of why you're here. It is to demonstrate his glory in all the world and it's to reduce the darkness in the places that you go. You are there to reduce darkness. This is what he's called us to.

Let me give you the last one. Of Laodicea, I think a mark of a victorious church would be commitment. Jesus reveals himself as the faithful and true witness. In other words, he's saying I've been faithful even to my very death. Stop playing around where when you're with this crowd who love Jesus, you're the Jesus lover, and when you're with this crowd who doesn't, you don't even know his name. Knock off the hypocrisy. Be who you've been called to be. When I'm with my buddies, and we're doing football and we're having a party, I don't even know who Jesus is. But man, when I'm at church, you can hear his name ever be on my lips. Right? Take the mask off. This is what Jesus is reminding us because ultimately these are marks of what it means to be a victorious church.

Now, any sample of any seven churches anywhere needs to hear every one of these things. This isn't just about one church. This is about us needing to be able to wrestle with all of these things. You see, the reason I know that is, anybody who's got an ear let them hear what the spirit says to the churches plural. Not just to the one but to all.

That's why people who have read Revelation and have tried to put these churches as periods in the church age have made a mistake. That's poor exegesis in my mind, because this is not about looking and going o.k. Ephesus is about the early church, that's when the early church was going on. And then after that, it's this, and then after that, it's this and now, now we're all the way toward the end and now we're living in the time of Laodicea. I realize when you look over history that there is some correlation to some of those things, and there also is a bunch of dis-correlations to those things. It's not even a word - I just made it up. There's also a bunch of incongruency in all of those things as well. These aren't just about periods of church history, ladies and gentlemen. They are prophetic, corrective kinds of messages to the churches that we now as the church of Jesus can embrace it altogether and say, "What do I need to do to hear Jesus in this?"

Again, I got more message than I got time and I'm going to try and get there. I'm moving quick. I want to pull your attention back though to chapter one for a second, because I want you to see this picture and how important it is in what we're doing. Look back with me in verse number twelve and thirteen in chapter one. It's that vision that we were seeing, right? John says, "I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest."

So here's what you see. You see one like the Son of Man, referring to Jesus, who's walking around among the lampstands. You see, here's the picture. He's wearing a robe and a golden sash, and the idea there is that Jesus the great high priest is walking around among the lampstands or the churches. Now, the lampstand is important because when you begin to understand what the lampstand is, you start to see the picture a little bit better.

When you read in the B'rit Hadasha which is basically the Hebrew translation of the New Testament. The New Testament was written in Greek and so when you do the back translation of the New Testament into Hebrew it's called the B'rit Hadasha, and when you read the word lampstand in that, it is the word menorah. Now, the reason that's important is because that has a history in Jewish life and in Judaic thinking, and it has a history in terms of the scripture. We're introduced to this particular thing, a menorah, because it was an ornament that was actually put into the Tabernacle, when Moses built the Tabernacle. The same thing true of the Temple.

If you remember, you can go back to Exodus thirty seven and read about it if you want to, if you can remember, here's what it said. It was made of one golden piece. One piece of gold. Total. Solid. One piece of gold. There's this lampstand, right? One piece of gold. But there are three branches on each side. So as a result you would have one and three - which is three and three - seven - right? Seven lights that would be lit. It would be placed in the most holy place, in the holy place. And when it was placed in the holy place, it would give light, ultimately casting light on the glory of God. This was the idea. And when the priest would minister before the Lord.

It's a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, that Jesus says, uses a picture, calling the church a lampstand. The solid piece of gold is a reminder that this is God's own work, of which we are branched from it. There is a center light into which all of the other lights are pointing to make one direct light. We know that Jesus describes himself as the Light of the world. But he also describes his people as the light of the world. We are the light of the world, because he is the Light of the world and he calls us here lampstands. He also identifies himself with us because of this solid, one piece of gold. Jesus is almost saying to us, that the church is a part of who I am. It is my body. I am one with the church. I walk among it but I am one with it.

Now, in addition to that - I'm sorry I'm having to go fast because I got more to say - in addition to that, this picture of Jesus walking around in his robe and his sash among the lampstands is also helping us understand what the high priest did in the Temple. What the high priest would do, is the high priest would tend to the lampstands. So when the wicks needed trimming, they would be trimmed. Why? Because the flame was supposed to be lit at all times. If in fact, one needed extinguishing so that it could be re-lit, this was the job of what the priest was doing. So here's what you could say about the high priest: the high priest always knew the condition of the flame on the candlesticks. Always knew.

Is it any wonder that in every message you read, from the glorious vision of Jesus who is the one in a robe and in a sash who is walking among the golden lampstands, is it any wonder that in every single message to every single church, he uses this phrase: "I know". Every single one. and he says it usually multiple times. I know. I know what you've done. I know what you haven't done. I know your successes. I know your failures. I know your sins. I know your righteousness. I know everything. This is what he says.

By the way, the same one who walked among the golden lampstands then, walks among us now. Right here, right now. He is walking among us now, and he knows. The question is what are we going to do about it? What are we going to learn from it? He's walking among us. Wherever. He's just walking among us. I'm not him. He's walking among us.

Maybe like Ephesus, I wonder what he would say to us? Because he's got something to say to us today just as much as he had something to say then. I wonder what he would say to us? Like, Ephesus, maybe he would say, I know what you're doing and I am thrilled by it. Chapel, I love the fact that you're ministering to people in your region. I love the fact that you're ministering to people all over the world. I see what you're doing. And I thank God for it. But I want to remind you of something. Do not get so in love with what you're doing that you forget me. I am the priority. I'm the one who gives you the opportunity to do all that you're doing.

So maybe like Ephesus, he might say, some of us need to repent because we've lost sight of our first love. We've lost sight of our first love. Or maybe, like Smyrna, he might say be faithful in the midst of persecution. He might say be faithful in the context of persecution. Persevere. He's not correcting you for anything. But he's actually saying to you continue to be faithful. Regardless of what comes your way. The rest of the world can wilt away and it might run away but those who are truly mine, they will stand in the midst of persecution. And by the way, as we begin to continue to read this Revelation you're going to find out you're going to need that. You're going to need to know that.

 

Or, maybe he would say like he did to the church of Pergamum, you need to be people so committed to the truth that you're going to get rid of the lies that you have embraced. Maybe accidentally or maybe on purpose. You're going to get rid of those because he's serious about us not embracing the lie that they are other things that can satisfy us more than Jesus. And what he might say is we need to repent when we find that there are those things that cause us to believe a lie. And we need to embrace the truth.

Or maybe like Thyatira he'd say where's the holiness of your life? How come people that work with you think less of Jesus because they work with you? Where is our life that's been separated by God? Separated from sin. Separated to God. We've got to be a people who are different in what we do and how we do it. We can't just be a people who are going along to get along. We've got to be a people who embrace what it means to have a life that's completely and totally separated to God and all that that means.

Might Jesus also say to us, like he did the church in Sardis, how about knocking it off with the hypocrisy? How about you take the mask off? Stop trying to fool everybody. You might impress them but I already know. You can't play me. You can play all your friends. You can put on the mask. You can't play me. This is what I think Jesus is saying to us, and as a result he's saying repent. Change your mind. It's not going to work.

Or maybe like Philadelphia, maybe he'll smile and say great job. Every door that I open for you to be my witness, you're just walking through it. Way to go! Keep doing it!

Or, maybe like Laodicea he might say, you might fit into this world you live in because you've got a chameleon life. You're this way sometimes, you're this way sometimes - you can't make your mind up. Jesus, the one who is faithful to his very death, says I expect wholehearted commitment as a disciple of mine. That's what I expect.

So here's the thing. What's he saying to you? Because the one who walks among us in Revelation, is still walking among us, and he's got something to say to all of us. All of us. For some, he might be saying repent of whatever. For some he might be calling us to a level of faithfulness. For some he might be saying, hey, when those doors I open for you to be my faithful witness and you're not doing it, I want you to do that. But here's the thing. Even in the mess that you're in what you've got to understand is that he knows. He knows everything behind the mask. He knows everything you're covering up. He knows all of it. And guess what? He'll love you anyway. But his love will call you to repent. His love will call you to be someone who is authentic, who lives on mission. That's what his love will call you to do.

So, here's what I want you to do. If you would be gracious enough to give me just a couple of extra minutes - not many - just a couple. I want us to respond to what God's doing in our hearts. What I'm going to do in just a moment, just like I did in the first gathering, that's why we ran over a little bit in the first gathering, because God was getting busy with people. Because I want to give you in a moment an opportunity to respond and to do business with Jesus, because he's walking among us, and he knows. So, we just need to get honest with him.

And I'm going to open up this area down here, and if you need in just a moment to come and to kneel and to take a moment to pray, I want you to do that. And I'm going to pray over you. But I want you to do business with him. And if it fills up down here, just in the aisles is fine. East Worship Center, same thing. For those of you that can't get out, you can just kneel right where you are in your seat if you need to. So I want you to take an opportunity. Come on out. I want you to take an opportunity to file down here. If you want to do business with Jesus, and I'm going to take a moment once everybody's in place, I'm going to take a moment to pray over us in just a moment.

Don't know what it is you're actually working through or grappling with. If it's an obedience issue, or if it's something particular in your life that's trying to sidetrack you. I don't know what it is. I do know this. Jesus is still speaking. Jesus is still speaking to people.

For some of you, if you've never really surrendered your life to Christ I hope that when we dismiss in just a few moments, you'll come by the Fireside Room and speak to someone about what it means to know Jesus.

Just find your place. Fill in down here. And just fill the aisles in if you don't have room that's o.k. Some of us are here, down front. Some of us are kneeling in our seats. Some of us are wrestling in our hearts whether or not we really want to listen to what Jesus is saying to us. Let go of whatever it is that you've been hanging onto. He knows. Whatever lies you believe, renounce them. Confess them. Forsake them. And ask him for his power, his strength, and that you would have a new vision for who He is.

So Father, we thank you for the glorious vision of the majestic King, our Lord Jesus. We want to acknowledge, those of us that make up the body of Christ here at the Chapel, that we don't know everything. That you do. You know everything in our hearts - good, bad, right, wrong, failure, successes, what we've done, what we haven't. You know, pray we'd be a place where we'd be able to take the mask off and learn what it means to walk in humility and faithfulness and by your own power and be concerned more about what you think than about what we're trying to do to manage our own reputation. Father, for the things that may be besetting some of these folks in any of our hearts I pray you would give us the grace to repent, to change our mind and change our heart so it leads to a change of direction for us. But we need your grace to do that. So we ask for it.

Jesus, I pray that we would understand how precious your presence is to us. And that when we've chosen to live our lives in a way that doesn't reflect your own presence, I pray we'd confess and we would repent and we would ask your forgiveness and your filling and your strength to live in your presence. And Lord Jesus, I pray that you would give us a sense that you have called us a lampstand. That we are, because of you in us, lights to the world and that we exist to reduce the darkness in the world that we live in. God, would you give a fresh vision and sense to every person under the sound of my voice about how they can be people in just their circle of influence who help to reduce the darkness in their neighborhood, in their apartment complex, in their workplace, in their schools, in their communities, that you'd help us. Help us to have a vision and sense of that. And Lord, I pray that you would give us a renewed hope. That we would not wallow in failure, but would recognize that we've been made new. That we are sons and that we are daughters of the King, and that you love us and that you actually touch us on the shoulder and say to us do not be afraid. I want you to walk with me. I want you to serve me. I want you to be all that I've made you to be. So we humble ourselves before you. We love you. We call out to you for your grace and ask for you to just give us an overwhelming sense of your presence. That we might demonstrate your glory in the world. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Folks, as you're getting up, and as you're walking out, know that you're loved by me. But I can't love you near as much as Jesus does. Have a great week. God bless you. You're dismissed.