Appendix C
– The Seven Churches
[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
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The Bible
does not itemize everything that
Jezebel taught, but we know enough to
determine why Jezebel was successful
within a Christian church. Jezebel
promoted and endorsed ideas that
gratified the sensual passions of
carnal members. It is amazing what
ignorant people will do (or will not
do) when someone presuming to speak
for God defines right and wrong for
them! How unfortunate it is that
millions of Christians would rather
follow a charismatic pastor than
search the Scriptures for themselves.
As a recent example of this problem,
consider the Worldwide Church of God,
whose founder, Herbert W. Armstrong
died in the 1990’s. His
successor eventually informed the
church that several core doctrines of
the church were factually wrong.
Within a few weeks, most of the lay
members agreed and the church
imploded. Today, Armstrong’s
church has all but disappeared. How
could this happen? Here are two
questions to think about. Were the
members of the Worldwide Church of
God following a religious leader or
the changeless gospel of Jesus? Did
the Bible suddenly change when Mr.
Armstrong died?
Jezebel
skillfully merged contemporary pagan
practices with Christian ideals. This
made the commitment threshold for
Christian converts so low that pagans
could join the church at Thyatira
without having to renounce their
pagan ways! This is an area where
Christians have particular
vulnerability. In fact, many
Christians today teach that Jesus
will unconditionally accept any
person who believes in Him. This
claim is false because it is not
entirely true.[57] The
Bible does teach that Jesus will
accept any repentantsinner
who comes to Him seeking forgiveness,
but the key words are “repentant
sinner.” The devil believes
there is a God and he trembles, but
he has not stopped or repented of his
evil deeds.[58] Because
Jezebel lowered the threshold of what
it meant to be committed to Jesus,
members in the church of Thyatira
were not required to forsake their
sinful habits and ways. Thus, false
teachings and lower standards gave
the illusion that the church was
growing and prospering. Membership
swelled and the church was packed,
but the members of the church were
not growing in sanctification. In
fact, many of the members in Thyatira
were becoming more like the devil
instead of Jesus.
Jesus
condemned Jezebel for using “the
mysteries of religion”
(Satan’s dark secrets or
superstitions) to manipulate and
control an uninformed laity. The
“mysteries of religion” is
a catchall phrase that describes
meaningless rituals and traditions. I
call this phrase “religious
bamboozle.” Religious leaders
have used religious bamboozle for
millenniums to sway and control
laymen. Invariably, television
documentaries about primitive tribes
show a witch doctor conducting a
meaningless, but grossly expensive
ritual to invoke healing or the
blessings of some tribal god. Do not
laugh at the poor heathen; similar
traditions occur in Christianity
today. For varied reasons, many lay
people do not study their Bible to
understand God’s truth for
themselves. The result is that they
end up playing “follow the
expert.” Since religious
bamboozle does not make sense to
anyone, somehow this lack of
understanding makes the
“mysteries of religion”
(Satan’s dark secrets) special
and sacred. It is very sad. Religious
leaders maintain respect, authority,
and dominion over their subjects
using religious bamboozle and Jezebel
was no exception.
Jesus
Exposed Jezebel’s Nakedness
Jesus knew
Jezebel’s motives and the
results. He condemned her for: (a)
leading others to commit sexual
immorality; (b) leading others to eat
food sacrificed to idols; (c)
defending her actions with religious
bamboozle – Satan’s
“deep secrets,” and (d) her
defiant attitude concerning her sins.
Evidently, Jezebel was confronted
with her errors, but she refused to
repent and the religious leaders of
the church were not willing to throw
her out of the church. (Every time
someone is removed from church
membership, certain members become
angry and rebellious. The social
consequences surrounding church
discipline can be long lasting and
pervasive. For this reason, many
church leaders are reluctant to do
what is right in God’s sight.)
Jesus clearly expressed His position
on Jezebel’s actions and the
church’s tolerance. Because she
refused to repent and because church
leaders had not addressed
Jezebel’s evil behavior, Jesus
said that He would turn her bed of
pleasure into a “bed of
suffering.” Jesus also promised
to inflict great suffering on those
who followed her example. In fact,
Jesus promised to strike her children
dead. Whether the children mentioned
in verse 23 were biological offspring
or spiritual offspring, the Bible
does not say. In either case, Jesus
made His point radiantly clear: Death
to all Christians who participate in
sexual immorality.[59]
Don’t
Give Up!
Jesus closed
His remarks to the church at Thyatira
saying, “To him who
overcomes and does my will to the
end, I will give authority over the
nations – ‘He will rule
them with an iron scepter; he will
dash them to pieces like
pottery’ – just as I have
received authority from my Father. I
will also give him the morning star.
He who has an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit says to the
churches.”
Jesus
encouraged the church at Thyatira
with two wonderful promises for those
who have ears for what the Spirit
says. First, overcoming sin is
possible through repentance and the
indwelling power of the Holy Spirit.[60] People
who persevere and fight the fight of
faith will reign with Jesus! They
will share in His awesome authority
and at an appointed time, the
redeemed will sit in judgment on
those who harmed them.[61] Second,
Jesus says that every overcomer will
be given “the Morning
Star.” The Morning Star is Jesus
Himself.[62] Jesus
offers every repentant and faithful
sinner His perfect righteousness.[63] This is
a gift that is beyond measure because
His righteousness is the ticket to
eternal life! I cannot think of any
gift more wonderful than this.
Sardis
“To
the angel of the church in Sardis
write: These are the words of him who
holds the seven spirits of God [the
seven angels] and the
seven stars [in His
hand]. 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 not found your deeds complete
in the sight of my God. Remember,
therefore, what you have received and
heard; obey it, 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. Yet 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. He who overcomes will, like
them, be dressed in white. I will
never blot out his name from the book
of life, but will acknowledge his
name before my Father and his angels.
He who has an ear, let him hear what
the Spirit says to the
churches.”[64]
The church at
Sardis was known for its religious
zeal. Something was taking place at
the church all of the time. They met
together several times each week.
They prayed, worshiped, worked and
played together as one big family.
So, what could be wrong with that?
Jesus told them, “I
know your deeds; you have a
reputation of being alive, but you
are dead. Wake up!”[65] Jesus
said, “Remember,
therefore, what you have received and
heard; obey it, and repent.”[66] The
church at Sardis was on the wrong
track. An active church life is not a
substitute for spiritual growth. It
takes a trained eye and spiritual
discernment to distinguish between
the two. The devil was at work in
Sardis. The church was active and
busy, but it was dead spiritually
because it was not focused on the
Word. Instead, Sardis was focused on
“church life.”
Church life
is the social interaction that
involves a group of people having
similar religious views, whereas
spiritual life is the process of
maturing in God’s truth under
the firm, but loving discipline of
Christ. Church life is important and
what is sweeter than genuine
fellowship with like believers?
Unfortunately, the basis for church
life should not be the joy of
socializing fellowship, but a love
for the discovery of truth. There is
much to learn about Jesus and His
gospel. Many Christians think church
life is synonymous with spiritual
life, but attending church services
and listening to inspiring music and
preaching is no substitute for
personal study, meditation, and
prayer. Nothing can take the place of
actually doing your own homework!
Spiritual life requires time with God
and His Word and there is no
substitute for this. For many
people, worship is a social occasion
and they go to church to be
entertained with a good sermon and
being told what to believe. On the
other hand, walking with God and
obeying His Word at all costs is the
worship that God seeks. Jesus
said, “God is
spirit, and his worshipers must
worship in spirit and in truth.”[67] If
church life does not continually put
worshipers through the essential
truths of the Bible, and if church
life does not teach worshipers how to
study the Bible and ask questions,
and if church life does not produce
Christians who love the Lord with all
their heart, mind, and soul and their
neighbors as themselves, the result
will be a congregation that seems
active and alive, but in reality, is
spiritually dead! This was the
situation in Sardis.[68]
The Christian
Church has two objectives: Soul
winning (the preaching of
justification) and soul building (the
teaching of sanctification). The
carnal nature does not mind hearing
about justification (that is the free
part of the gospel), but it hates to
hear about sanctification (that is
the hard part of the gospel). Putting
Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount into
daily practice is the hardest thing
on Earth to do! Living by faith is
very difficult. When the doctrines of
justification and sanctification are
out of balance, church life becomes a
substitute for spiritual life.
Church
members at Sardis were sure of their
salvation. They accepted the gospel
of justification. They loved the
freedom in Christ which justification
offers. They were happy to hear that
Jesus had paid the price for their
salvation, but they were not maturing
spiritually, that is, they were not
becoming Christ-like. Jesus reminded
them of the necessity of
sanctification saying, “Remember,
therefore, what you have received and
heard; obey it, and repent.”
Thousands of
churches today have disconnected the
gospel of justification from the
power and necessity of
sanctification. Churches like Sardis
are everywhere! Many Christians
deceive themselves with self-assured
salvation even though they are
spiritually dead! On the other hand,
when the cart is put in front of the
horse, there is an equally serious
problem. When sanctification is
disconnected from the importance and
necessity for justification,
Christians enter a toxic and
destructive experience consisting of
legalism and self-righteousness. The
narrow road leading to Heaven has two
big ditches on each side and the
devil is constantly trying to push
Christians into the ditch of legalism
or the ditch of presumption. Both
ditches have the same result,
spiritual death. Jesus warned the
dead church at Sardis, “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.”
To
Him That Overcomes
There were
some faithful members in Sardis.
Jesus said, “Yet
you have a few people in Sardis who
have not soiled their clothes [soiled
by sinful deeds]. They will
walk with me, dressed in white, for
they are worthy. He who overcomes
will, like them, be dressed in white.
I will never blot out his name from
the book of life, but will
acknowledge his name before my Father
and his angels. He who has an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to
the churches.”
There is a
hidden message in these words and it
is different than what you might
think at first. The faithful people
in Sardis knew that church life was
no substitute for spiritual life.
Throughout history, people who have
had an intimate fellowship with God
understand the rigors and failures
involved with discipleship. Every
disciple of Jesus has to be corrected
and disciplined to grow. Jesus
described His disciples as people
having clothes that are unsoiled. In
other words, the faithful saints in
Sardis were examples of His life.
They were willing to
“go-be-do” as Jesus
directed and He promised that
overcomers will, like them, be
dressed in His flawless righteousness
someday.
The
Book of Life
Jesus also
gave a message to the church at
Sardis that is widely misunderstood.
He promised that He would never blot
out the names of the overcomers from
The Book of Life. Most Christians
interpret these words of Jesus in one
of two ways:
- Some
Christians believe that once
a person receives Christ as
Savior, his name is written
in The Book of Life at that
time. Therefore, he cannot be
lost because Jesus will not
blot out any name found in
The Book of Life. This means
that once a person is saved,
he is forever
“saved.”
- Other
Christians believe that a
person must overcome every
sin in order to be saved.
This implies that people who
give up or fail to achieve
perfection will be blotted
out of The Book of Life.
There are
several problems with both views.
The doctrine
of “once saved, always
saved” is disputed by the text
itself. Jesus says seven times in
Revelation 2 and 3 that
salvation belongs to overcomers. This
means there is a distinct
relationship between our behavior and
salvation. On the other side of the
coin, and equally important, Jesus
indicates that salvation is not based
on human perfection or human
righteousness. Even though some of
the saints in Sardis had not soiled
their garments, they still needed to
be dressed in the white garment (the
wedding garment) of Christ’s
righteousness.
The Bible
teaches that a person can live and
walk with God while having the
assurance of salvation and
then lose it by turning away from the
Lord and doing wicked things![69] Conversely,
the Bible teaches that a wicked
person can repent and be saved![78]Consider
Lucifer’s fall along with a
third of the angels. Also, consider
Adam and Eve’s fall. At one time
all of these beings were perfect, but
they turned away from righteousness
by committing sin. By sinning, they
fell under the penalty of God’s
law which demands death. On the other
hand, consider the numberless
multitude that will come out of the
Great Tribulation and be saved![71] In both
cases listed above, salvation is
dynamic, that is, salvation will be
granted to everyone who overcomes
whatever the Holy Spirit requires
them to overcome. This explains why
rejecting the Holy Spirit becomes
unpardonable.[72] When a
new challenge comes into our lives
that needs to be overcome, the Holy
Spirit provides the power to overcome
it. If we refuse to cooperate with
the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to
overcome because there is no power to
overcome and non-overcomers have no
place in Heaven.
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