A short time back, a friend posted a quote to social media noting the decidedly deteriorating state of today’s church with the speculation that were the Apostle Paul alive today, he’d be writing some letters. Having recently read the letters of Paul to the ancient churches, I concur with the above statement. Paul would most certainly be writing letters to today’s church. Lots of letters. Long letters. Detailed epistles full of encouragement, direction, reproof. He’d need multiple reams of paper, several pots of ink, and an entire package of unused quills. He’d surely be afflicted with carpal tunnel syndrome by the end of his writing. I believe he’d risk it. The dire straits of today’s church would compel him to do so. And he wouldn’t be the only one fiercely scribbling down letters. John would be right there with him.
Although not as copious or detailed as Paul’s epistles, the words John penned to the seven churches in Asia were no less potent. Exiled to Patmos for his unfaltering faith in Jesus Christ, none of us would have blamed him if he sat under a lone, remaining tree and prayed for death. Maybe he did. Maybe that is how he stilled his soul enough to hear the voice of God when He delivered the messages for those churches struggling to survive in a world of persecution, tribulation, and hate. (Revelation 1:9-11)
John was no stranger to those three words. He understood the social hatred of any teachings that promoted full surrender to God and absolute adherence to His laws. He’d walked the waters of tribulation and persecution at the hands of those who thought they could force his conformity to society’s desires for blanket approval of their evil ways. Even now, a citizen of a tiny island reserved for criminals, John understood the opposition and fear gripping the church of Smyrna. He had firsthand knowledge of the white-knuckled tenacity exhibited by the church in Philadelphia as they refused to deny their trembling faith. Indeed, in the face of mounting political and social pressure to renounce their beliefs, abandon their convictions, accept the desired conventions of their day, these two congregations squared their shoulders and refused to err from the laws and regulations of God.
And God saw them. He saw their faith, their struggle, their tears. He saw the ravenous fear constantly poised at the door, waiting to overtake them and demolish their faith. He noticed they never let it happen. Through threats and persecution, discrimination and hate, tribulation and poverty, and malicious slander, the people of these churches never once denied their God, rearranged His laws, or adjusted His teachings to their advantage. They were completely sold out to Him, dedicated to His ways, determined to obey His commands. Come hell or high water. Freedom or imprisonment. Life or death. Nothing mattered more than being in the right relationship with their God.
Their reward would be not of this world. Nothing earthly could possibly be a worthy reward for such absolute surrender. God had a better plan. Heavenly crowns. Eternal life. John was blessed to be able to write such words of encouragement and promise to people he knew to be struggling and fighting for spiritual survival in a world utterly barren of hope for the same. His letters to the five remaining churches would not resound with similar accolades. (Revelation 2:8-11; Revelation 3:7-13)
Hot tears would course down his face to land on the parchment, smearing the ink as he wrote to them. His heart broke at the words he was compelled to write. Although there were indeed things that deserved commendation, the fabric of their faith was fraying, the weave loosening. Things were going sour. Though many were commended for their patient endurance and steadfast faith, there were issues that needed addressed. Words fell from God’s lips to his ears to flow from the end of his quill onto the parchment in front of him. Somber words. Strong rebukes. Stalwart promises both for obedience and disobedience. Words that, in the suffocating darkness of night, surrounded by threatening sounds of island creatures, must surely have washed over John, breaking his heart and causing him to cry out for the safety of his Christian family so far away. Spiritual safety, for their souls were most certainly in peril.
Situated in the heart of wickedness and idolatry, the church at Pergamum had always been a prime target of evil. It surrounded them. Chipping away at their resolve with teachings that sounded good but held elements condoning sin. Sometimes it was difficult to see the difference. But they needed to be smart. Try the spirits. Test the doctrines. Measure them against what they knew to be true and throw out what proved false. So did Thyatira. Their tolerance of evil put them in a terrible position. A place where they could easily fall from grace and find themselves doomed for eternity. They needed to hear from John. They needed his call to repentance. They needed the words of God reminding them that He alone searches and knows the minds and hearts of all people and will give each according to their works, according to what they condone and accept, according to what they call good and what they deem evil. They needed the strident reminder to get back on track. They needed the urgent call to repentance and rededication. They needed to refocus their spiritual lens for the safety of their own souls. (Revelation 2:12-29; Isaiah 5:20)
Lackadaisical love and lukewarm commitment had overtaken the churches of Ephesus and Laodicea. They had lost their fervor. The love and excitement they once felt for following the things of God had lessened considerably. Their admirable work and patience and endurance had become rote. Their service was from loyal duty, not loving devotion. Some had been drawn aside by the bits and bobs of the world. Taking credit for their own success, they found it easy to rely on their own abilities, to pat their own backs in satisfaction, to blossom under the praise of others all the while forgetting that without the prevailing work of God in their hearts they were poor and weak and blind. Without Christ, they were nothing. The evil one saw his chance and monopolized it. He’d drawn them aside. Clouded their vision. Cooled their love. On a collision course with spiritual death, they desperately need this wake-up call. They wouldn’t survive without it. (Revelation 2:1-7; Revelation 3:14-22)
Tears must surely have accompanied the aching pain in his heart as John penned the words spoken by God to the congregation at Sardis. They followed a form of religion. Kept those around them convinced they were a living, thriving spiritual community. They did good works. Gave to the poor. Cared for the orphans. Housed the widows. If eternal life were counted by outward actions, they were shoo-ins for Heaven. But God doesn’t look on the outside. He’s not busy seeing what you do to gain attention and accolades, fame and fortune. He doesn’t care one iota about your building, your video screens, your membership drives or fundraisers. He cares about what’s inside. He cares about your motives. He cares about whether your actions and words match up with your innermost thoughts and feelings. For the church at Sardis, what God saw told a different story than what everyone else saw. They were dying. The little bit of good remaining needed a significant amount of spiritual resuscitation. It couldn’t be done by the handful of faithful alone. They’d never get to Heaven riding someone else’s coattails. They needed revival. They needed to repent. They needed to wake up and straighten up! (Revelation 3:1-6)
As heavy as John’s heart must have been as he meticulously folded the parchment of each letter, I find my heart just as heavy as I read his words to the churches then and see the obvious correlation to the churches now. You saw them too. They are too stark to miss. Love has grown cold. Fervor has waned. The duplicitous arguments of the world for the invasion of idols and false doctrines have caught the wavering church in a moment of weakness and drawn them off course to condone and accept attitudes and actions God despises. Once avid followers of God have now veered off course to chase down wealth and power, fame and fortune, accolades and acceptance. As the death rattle sounds in the constricting lungs of today’s churches, I find myself wondering what God would say to these first-world churches with their elaborate buildings, expensive electronics, intensive membership drives and abandoned morals. Churches who do all the right things but lack the power of God among them. Your church. My church. Most churches. (II Timothy 3:2)
In a moment of heartbreaking revelation, I find myself unable to shake the irrepressible belief that God’s letter to us would reach back to the Old Testament words of Jeremiah and could be summed up in common colloquialism to be verbalized like this, “Speak up, shepherds! Straighten up, saints!” Speak and obey the word of God. Only. Don’t enhance or edit. Don’t simply say what people want to hear. In honesty and truth, keep to the old paths. The paths that lead to eternal life. Don’t waver. Don’t be drawn aside by the fancy speeches and angry diatribes of the world. Keep. The. Faith! Hold fast in the face of persecution and tribulation and hate. Guide one another in the indisputable ways of God. Be leaders in a world that’s only interested in followers. Stand up. Step up. Speak up. (Jeremiah 3, 4:1-4, 14, 22; II Timothy 4:2; Jeremiah 6:16-17; Ephesians 4:15)
Surrounded as we are by a society hell-bent on making evil good and good evil, it has become imperative for us to solemnly take stock of our souls and determine where we stand before God. Our churches. Our small groups. Our Bible studies. Ourselves. We need to ask questions. Hard questions. Questions that make us honestly examine ourselves, our hearts, our motives. Questions asked with eternity in mind. Questions that will change our lives, our churches, our communities. Questions that bring revival, renewal, rededication. Questions whose answers would alter the ending verbiage if God were to speak the words to one of His people,“To the churches of America write…” (James 4:7; II Corinthians 13:5-10; Proverbs 4:23; Psalm 44:21)