As Christians, we believe that the Bible is the
inspired word of God. We believe that it has timeless truths that are
just as valid today as they were when they were written. But at the same
time, as we said last week, each book of the Bible was written at a specific
time, and many of them were written for a specific audience. In the case
of the book of Revelation, that audience is seven churches in Asia.
Chapters two and three of the book of Revelation contain a
specific message from the Lord for each one of those churches. We did not
do all seven in our Bible reading for today just because it would’ve taken too
long. We heard two of them, the first and the last. But we’re going
to talk about all of them.
Most of the messages take the form of the first one, the
message to the church in Ephesus. The Lord tells the church, look, I know
you’re doing some good things. I know you’ve been trying. But I
have something against you. And you need to take care of it. You
need to repent of your sins before it’s too late. And if you do, you’ll
receive your reward.
The Lord tells the church in Ephesus “You have forsaken the
love you had at first.” It’s not that they’re doing such terrible things.
But they used to have love for God and love for others. They used
to do everything out of love, and now they’re not. They need to get back
to that love they had at first.
The Lord tells the church at Pergamum that they’re starting
to chase false teachings. The Lord tells the church at Thyatira they are
allowing a specific false prophet to spread false teachings. Both
churches need to get serious and be clear about what is and is not acceptable
for a follower of Jesus Christ.
The Lord tells the church in Sardis that they started well,
but now they’ve fallen asleep. They’re dead, and they need to wake up.
They need to remember what they’ve been given by the Lord and repent of
having stopped what they were doing.
The Lord tells the church in Laodicea this: “I know
your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that 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.”
Now, let’s think about all
those things. Doing good things but not out of love, allowing false
teachings to be spread, not being clear about what is and is not acceptable for
followers of Christ, needing to wake up and get back to doing what we’re called
to do, being lukewarm, neither hot nor cold--what kind of people do those
things describe?
To me, what those things
describe is people who would say they believe in God. People who would
say they believe in Jesus Christ. People who try to do good things and
live good lives. People who, if we knew them, we would say are good
people. We might even admire them and want to be more like them.
So, if that’s who those things
describe, what’s so wrong about that? Why is the Lord critical of that?
Why is the Lord so hard on people who you and I would think of as good
people?
The thing is, what those things
describe is people who just want to live a quiet, peaceful life. They’re
not going to do bad things, at least not intentionally. But they’re not
going to make any waves, either. They’re going to do good things, they’re
going to help people. They’re even going to go to church sometimes.
But they’re not going to talk about their faith. They’re not going
to do anything to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. They want to get
along. They want to fit in. They’ll keep their faith, but they’ll
keep it privately, so no one will get upset.
Now, I want to make a couple of
things clear. I am not standing here pointing fingers at anyone. If
I’m pointing fingers at anyone, I need to point them at myself. Because I
have done that many times. I still do it far too often. Because I
want to get along, too. I want to fit in, too. It’s a natural human
desire. I fight it sometimes, but far too often I give in to it. So
if it sounds like I’m being critical of anyone else, please understand that I
mean to be just as critical of myself.
And also understand why the
Lord said these things. The Lord did not make these criticisms just to be
hard on people. The Lord is not doing this out of anger. The Lord
does this out of love. Verse nineteen says, “Those whom I love I rebuke
and discipline.” God is not beating up on people just for the heck of it.
God is saying these things because God loves us.
But because God loves us, God
does not want us to settle. God knows God’s people can do better than
this. God knows that you and I can do better than this. God knows
that you and I need to do better than this. God knows that the world
needs you and I to do better than this.
Because here’s the thing.
There are a lot of things you and I talk about. We talk about the
number of people in our community who don’t go to church. We talk about
the decline of Christianity in the United States. We talk about how, if
the country is going to get back on the right track, we need to return to
Christian principles. I would guess that just about everyone here has
talked about those things and similar things at one time or another. And
I have, too.
So how is any of those things
going to be changed? Well, they won’t be changed by people who don’t want
to make waves. They won’t be changed by people who just want to get
along. They won’t be changed by people who just want to fit in. If
any of those things is going to be changed, they’re going to be changed by
people--people like you and me--who have the courage to stand up for what’s
right and what’s wrong. They’re going to be changed by people--people
like you and me--trusting God enough to be willing to take chances, to be
willing to risk people being upset with us or even being unpopular, in order to
stand up for Jesus Christ.
It’s not easy. In fact,
it gets harder all the time. When I was growing up in the small town of
Delmont, South Dakota, it was assumed that everyone you met was a Christian and
that everyone you met was part of a church. People might ask which church
you went to, but nobody asked whether you went to church. It was just
assumed that you did. And so it was much easier to talk about Christian
faith, because you figured the person you were talking to shared it.
That’s not the case now.
It has not been for some time. There are more people in this
community who don’t go to church than there are who do. They may
nominally be part of a church, but they don’t attend very often if ever.
We cannot just assume that everyone we meet is a Christian any more.
If we start talking about our Christian faith, the person we’re talking
with may not share it. In fact, the person we’re talking with may make
fun of our faith and make fun of us. That’s hard. None of us wants
to be made fun of. We want people to think well of us. And so, it’s
harder for us to talk about our faith. We tend to keep quiet about it, to
keep it to ourselves.
It’s understandable. And
I do it, too. But it needs to stop. It needs to stop for all of us,
including me. Because you and I are not called to keep quiet about our
faith. The next-to-last sentence of Jesus on earth recorded in the gospel
of Matthew is “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you.” Not “keep your faith to yourselves.”
But “Go and make disciples.”
That’s how we’re going to
change the world: by going and making disciples. It’s in the mission
statement of the United Methodist church: to make disciples of Jesus
Christ for the transformation of the world. If the world is going to
change--if our community is going to change--it’s going to change by the people
of God--you and me--going and making disciples of Jesus Christ.
And when we don’t want to do
it, when we’d rather not take chances, when we’re worried that we’ll be
rejected for doing this, we need to remember two things. One, we don’t do
it alone. God will be with us. I just quoted you the next-to-last
sentence of Jesus on earth. Here’s the last one: “And surely I am
with you always, to the very end of the age.” If we refuse to settle, if
we’re willing to take chances and make some waves, if we’re willing to go and
make disciples the way Jesus told us to, God will be with us. And when
God is with us, we know things will go the way their supposed to go.
Because with God, all things are possible.
And the other thing to remember
is that we’ll get our reward. Remember, there’s two of the seven churches
I haven’t mentioned yet. Here’s what the Lord said to the church in
Smyrna. “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...Be faithful...and I will give you life as your victor’s crown.”
And to the church in Philadelphia, the Lord said, “I know that you have
little strength, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my
name...Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you
from the hour of trial...Hold on to what you have. Those who are
victorious, I will make pillars in the temple of my God.”
The people of the seven
churches were all “good people”. We’d have probably liked them. God
loved them. That’s why God said the things God said to them--because God
loved them. God knew they could do better. God wanted them to do
better. God knew the world needed them to do better.
You and I need to not settle
for being “good people”. God loves us. God knows we can do better.
God wants us to do better. God knows the world needs us to do
better.
It’s not easy. But we can
do it. God will be with us. And if we do, if we are faithful to
God, if we go and make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the
world, we will receive our reward. And it will be awesome.
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