Check out the seven letters recorded in Revelation 2 and 3

Each church, singular, not churches, that dwelt in the following cities of EPHESUS, SMYRNA, PERGAMOS, THYATIRA, SARDIS, PHILADELPHIA, AND LAODICEA received a note directly evaluating their city church from the Lord Jesus. Inside each of these ancient cities were church denominations [groups and divisions] which Christ valued like $1s, $5s, $10s, $20s, $50s, $100s and even counterfeit bills. Yes, Jesus gave Christian groups inside the city church different values, some were worth more to Him than others. Some were worthless. Some were repulsive to Jesus. Does it sound weird that the first-century church had the same problems we have in the 21st century?

Who is to be pleased with your local church? The guests? The church members? God? You? Leaders, it is time to get your priorities straight! Every Christian, you too! These seven churches answered straight to Jesus, and you do also!

First and foremost you must focus on Christ’s commands, not your human wisdom of what you think the culture around you is needing or wanting, or what your most powerful members like, what you think will work best in reaching people, and definitely not what you are comfortable with.

God made humanity, and His Word and wisdom are timeless. His mercy and grace are more than enough to change men, and His power to save sinners is unlimited. The Holy Spirit is not weak but more than able to convict sinners of every generation: GenX, Y or Z. Take note, these churches were not judged because they did not have master degrees in Greek culture, nor condemned for not seeing the intricacies and characteristics of generation next.

Look closely at the judgment Jesus renders on these seven ancient churches. It is time to completely transform your minds and get a brand new perspective based solely on what the Lord Jesus Christ, the boss of the international church demands.

First, you are not a spiritual social club! And you are certainly not a religious organization! Also, you are not a spiritual self-help association! Neither are you a gospel choir training center to enter contests for fun and trophies!

The Church at Ephesus is examined

“I see what you’ve done, your hard, hard work, your refusal to quit. I know you can’t stomach evil, that you weed out apostolic pretenders. 3 I know your persistence, your courage in my cause, that you never wear out.
4 “But you walked away from your first love—why? What’s going on with you, anyway? 5 Do you have any idea how far you’ve fallen? A Lucifer fall! “Turn back! Recover your dear early love. No time to waste, for I’m well on my way to removing your light from the golden circle.” [Rev 2:2-5 (MSG)]

Jesus told the first church in the Revelation text to, “repent and do the first works...” [Rev 2:5 (NKJV)] He means for the church “to ‘do the first works‘ — the works which flowed from thy first love. Not merely “feel thy first feelings,” but do works flowing from the same principle as formerly, ‘faith which worketh by love.'” [Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary]

How do you measure love? Wrong question! How does God measure love? Now that is the right question. 2 Corinthians 5:11-14 (NKJV) expands this idea. “Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences. For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you. For the LOVE OF CHRIST COMPELS US, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;”

You know the work God is after is driven by such genuine love that it forces you into crazy, mission-minded actions, it drives you to re-vision and to see yourself as a team member of Christian soldiers fighting the devil and rescuing the perishing. You must stop telling your leaders what you want, and submit to their leadership. You must volunteer to work for Jesus, as diligently as you would any job to earn money. And if you do not, He says, “‘I will come’ — Greek, ‘I am coming’ in special judgment on thee.” [Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary]

Christ demands that you, yes every one of us, join in and WORK hard with Him and for Him! Christ demands and approves of the church that does what it is supposed to be doing, WORK! I know that is not the mindset of Americans. Most only gather to worship, not work,  “because that is the paid staff’s job!” But, we all must do His work “I know your works, your labor, your patience… and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.” [Rev 2:2-3 (NKJV)]

Our Lord approved and clearly states this is what He wants from the local church. Can you honestly say that your church has this mindset and “work” is the mission and practice? The Lord Jesus says the church is His, He is the boss, and we are to be a team of people working for him. He commissioned His local churches, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.” [Matt 28:18-20 (NKJV)]

Only a deep love for God and for the world will drive a local church to see work as it’s primary function.

[bctt tweet=”Only a deep love for God and for the world will drive a local church to see work as it’s primary function.” username=”RandyMBell”]

But the city church of Ephesus was being distracted and divided by a false leader named Nicolas. His denomination (group) was like modern movements today, named after the founder or his ways. Lutherans are named after Martin Luther. The Methodists were founded by John Wesley. And this denomination was called the Nicolaitans but it was a real problem because they were “not a sect, but professing Christians who, like Balaam of old, tried to introduce into the Church a false freedom, that is, licentiousness;” [Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary].

This movement already forgot or ignored Christ’s Great Commission to make disciples, accept disciples, and teach the disciples the commands of Christ.

Today the Nicolaitans are still inside churches pushing FALSE GRACE!

So let’s make this clear, Dictionary.com defines licentiousness as an “adjective 1. sexually unrestrained; lascivious; libertine; lewd. 2. unrestrained by law or general morality; lawless; immoral. 3. going beyond customary or proper bounds or limits; disregarding rules.”

They proclaimed liberty from God’s laws and promoted lawlessness in the name of grace. Jude explained and warned that this false doctrine of grace would come led by “…persons who pervert the grace (the spiritual blessing and favor) of our God into lawlessness and wantonness and immorality,” [Jude 1:4 (AMP])

They were also battling other false preachers and Jesus praised them by saying, “…how you cannot tolerate wicked [men] and have tested and critically appraised those who call [themselves] apostles (special messengers of Christ) and yet are not, and have found them to be impostors and liars.” [Rev 2:2 (AMP)]

This church had a challenge: to go along with the loosening of marriage and other moral standards, like Nicolas and his followers, in a misguided attempt to keep relevant to the current culture, OR stand against immorality, adultery, couples living together outside of marriage, and rejecting the immoral Roman/Greek cultural standards of homosexuality. Sounds just like the USA today.

Who or what do you worry about, the strong feelings of the same Jesus who walked with sinners 2000 years ago, OR the sinners He called to repentance? “Yet you have this [in your favor and to your credit]: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans [what they are doing as corrupters of the people], which I Myself also detest.” [Rev 2:6 (AMP)]

Even with Jesus seeing all the Christians in Ephesus as one local church, He expected the leadership and members of the church to not sing “We Are One In The Spirit” but instead to not “tolerate wicked [men]” and Jesus approved that they “tested and critically appraised those who call [themselves] apostles (special messengers of Christ) and yet are not, and have found them to be impostors and liars.” [Rev 2:2 (AMP)]

He did not want them to find the lowest denominator and “work together” in harmony. He wanted them to divide! The Lord’s positive assessment was I “know that you cannot tolerate wicked people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles but are not apostles. You have discovered that they are liars.” [Rev 2:2 (GW)]

The words mean to not take up or bear with WORTHLESS (evil) people. Some were church planters [apostles] “who pervert the grace (the spiritual blessing and favor) of our God into lawlessness and wantonness and immorality…” [Jude 1:4 (AMP)] and were to be rejected and separate from them, not tolerated or accepted. The Lord wants you to quickly remove them from your fellowship and get back to His Kingdom work with greater love than you had when you got your first dream job… Don’t miss part 2…

“I can see your pain and poverty—constant pain, dire poverty—but I also see your wealth. And I hear the lie in the claims of those who pretend to be good Jews, who in fact belong to Satan’s crowd. 10 “Fear nothing in the things you’re about to suffer—but stay on guard! Fear nothing! The Devil is about to throw you in jail for a time of testing—ten days. It won’t last forever. Don’t quit, even if it costs you your life. Stay there believing. I have a Life-Crown sized and ready for you.” [Rev 2:9-10 (MSG)]

They suffered under the hands of people who hated them, mainly  those who “…say they are Jews, and are not — Jews by national descent, but not spiritually of “the true circumcision.” The Jews blaspheme Christ as “the hanged one.” As elsewhere, so at Smyrna, they bitterly opposed Christianity; and at POLYCARP’S martyrdom they joined the heathens in clamoring for his being cast to the lions; and when there was an obstacle to this, for his being burnt alive; and with their own hands they carried logs for the pile.” [Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary] They oppressed them financially, socially, and physically in an attempt to shut them up from proclaiming the Good News of Jesus. All through the Book of Acts, the stories were the same as in this city.

Our Lord highly honors and rewards churches for such dedication. He praised this church for endurance and in spite of their heavy losses, and He poured out powerful grace upon them, plus mightily saved many through this spiritual battle. In our time, we get obsessed on how much money we have to spend on buildings, programs, and many other expenses. Did you notice that this church could do none of these things and was still able to obey the great commission, with Christ’s blessing? Christ gave this church praise and no correction at all. They greatly pleased THE LORD and were extremely valuable to God!

But when we move to the next church things are very different. “And to the angel [messenger] of the church in Pergamos write,

‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.” [Rev 2:12-13 (NKJV)] There should be no confusion in your mind, the hard work of spreading the Good News and teaching disciples is similar to what a business demands of its workers hired to help make money. But God values people, not money, more than anything. The eternal stakes are immeasurable. He is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” [2 Peter 3:9 (NKJV)]

Focus saints, no excuses! Look at each other and ask, are we exhausting ourselves in efforts to love our community to Jesus? In the last 90 days, what have you and your church members done to reach your city for Jesus? Do not tell me what your pastor did, but what have you done to help? Are you volunteering and sacrificing your time to help reach the lost? Each and every evaluation we have read so far repeatedly starts with whether the church is doing the work. And what is extraordinary to us is the most valued church to Christ is the church that will not give up its focus on working, no matter the cost or casualties inflicted by Satan and His attacks through the people of the world.

This church was in a city of such cultural and anti-Christian sentiment that it was obviously the seat of Satan. They killed Antipas for his faith in Jesus. But, they would not quit, even when the church was not popular, they worked to win souls.

But, unlike the Ephesian church, the worthless teachings of Nicolas were accepted here. Perhaps they hoped for peace with the hostile culture, but when they did this, the Lord became hostile with the church. They joined the denomination of Nicolas and corrupted the people. They were being defeated from within by compromising with Nicolas instead of hating corruption. The whole church was ordered to “Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” [Rev 2:16-17 (NKJV)]

“The meaning here is, that he would come against them in judgment, or to punish them. ‘And will fight against them.’ Against the Nicolaitanes. He would come against the church for tolerating them, but his opposition would be principally directed against the Nicolaitanes themselves. The church would excite his displeasure by retaining them in its bosom, but it was in its power to save them from destruction. If the church would repent, or if it would separate itself from the evil, then the Saviour would not come against them. If this were not done, they would feel the vengeance of his sword.” [Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament]

Take note: Jesus threatened them with severe judgment! No local church then or now is exempt from the Lord’s judgment, beware, my friend, your church will answer to God. You cannot dismiss yourself from this judgment unless you repent. He will not accept your excuses. DO NOT TOLERATE IMMORALITY!

The next city is Thyatira, and this church is very productive.

The Lord states, “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first.” [Rev 2:19 (NKJV)] Notice here we find the Lord’s five point score card. He was excited that this church reaches out to the community, serves each other through true fellowship, and ministers to the needy. And they did not lose their love like Ephesus, but instead grew in greater and greater outreach. This church seemed to be the most blessed and productive church evaluated by Jesus.

But this was not enough in the Lord’s evaluation because this church was attacked by the enemy in a different way. False preachers flooded the church with supposed prophecies and revelations from the Spirit. “Her spiritual counterpart at Thyatira lured God’s ‘servants’ by pretended utterances of inspiration to the same libertinism, fornication, and eating of idol-meats, as the Balaamites and Nicolaitanes (Rev. 2:6, 14, 15). By a false spiritualism these seducers led their victims into the grossest carnality, as though things done in the flesh were outside the true man, and were, therefore, indifferent…The deeper the Church penetrated into heathenism, the more she herself became heathenish; this prepares us for the expressions ‘harlot’ and ‘Babylon,’ applied to her afterwards” [AUBERLEN].[Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary]

The church was deceived by these charismatic teachers and Christ judged them “because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce…” [Rev 2:20 (NKJV)]. Many would falsely say this church was okay because their works were greater after they accepted the charismatic experience of this new denomination, but Christ is adamant the immoral sin that they practiced proved they were rejected and not moved by God’s Spirit.

The appearance of great success in the number of people joining them DID NOT GIVE THEM CHRIST’S approval because this attack would silently destroy His work and they would all end up in hell. This is no new doctrine, Jesus warned early in his discipleship training of the first apostles.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!‘ [Matt 7:15-23 (NKJV)]

Paul gives us further information warning us that the church would eventually be flooded with charismatic preachers to deceive the church, and carefully ruin the gospel with a twisted gospel. “…having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith;” [2 Tim 3:5-8 (NKJV)]

What he is saying is, just like the magicians that copied Moses’ miracles to deceive, “charismatic” preachers would use miracles to deceive the church and create a popular gospel that does not work. This new gospel would not convert sinners, make men new creations, nor change the moral character of their followers, but instead, only excite and fool them to think they were going to heaven. This church was already experiencing Paul’s prophetic warnings, people were living in immoral sin and convinced they were true Christians. They were not Christians, no matter how popular and large their group grew!

This is why The Lord is so strong in His rejection of this apparent megachurch. Sin and immorality are not tolerated by God. He condemns and judges anyone of  “‘them that commit adultery with her.’ Those who are seduced by her doctrines into this sin; either they who commit it with her literally, or who are led into the same kind of life.”

“‘Into great tribulation.’ Great suffering; disease of body or tortures of the soul. How often-how almost uniformly is this the case with those who thus live! Sooner or later, sorrow always comes upon the licentious; and God has evinced by some of his severest judgments, in forms of frightful disease, his displeasure at the violation of the laws of purity. There is no sin that produces a more withering and desicating effect upon the soul than that which is here referred to; none which is more certain to befollowed with sorrow.”

“Except they repent of their deeds. It is only by repentance that we can avoid the consequences of sin. The word repent here evidently includes both sorrow for the past, and abandonment of the evil course of life.” [Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament]

The result of this Satanic deception is so damaging that it corrupts the whole church like a candy coated drug given to helpless children. Paul explained this, “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” [2 Tim 4:3-4 (NKJV)]

Like a plague, this attack of the enemy is so powerful it would totally ruin the church if left unchecked. The problem is this error has not gone away, the church is still mixed with deceived religious people created by the false gospel stripped of repentance. This church was so broken, that only a minority in town were faithful.

“The rest of you Thyatirans, who have nothing to do with this outrage, who scorn this playing around with the Devil that gets paraded as profundity, be assured I’ll not make life any harder for you than it already is. 25 Hold on to the truth you have until I get there.” [Rev 2:24-25 (MSG)]

If you find yourself in a town like this, DO NOT GIVE UP, you are valuable to Christ!

“The inhabitants of Sardis bore an ill repute among the ancients for their voluptuous modes of life.” [ Notes on the New Testament Explanatory and Practical.] In other words, this rich, sin city of ancient times offered everyone a life “given to or spent in enjoyment of luxury, pleasure, or sensual gratifications” [Merriam-Webster] With this atmosphere around the Christians, it is not hard to understand why Jesus made it clear the church’s reputation of being a great church was false, because they were actually spiritually dead!

And looking at Paul’s writings makes it clear why they were spiritually dead. “But the widow who lives only for pleasure is spiritually dead even while she lives.” [1 Timothy 5:6 (NLT)] Instead of working for Christ, they spent their time and money on pleasure, and even, spiritual pleasure. They probably had the best church parties in the region! Their annual religious celebrations and festivals were extravagant and intended to glorify the Lord with all the trappings available. They were probably a very popular church and the community accepted and loved them. But like Korah, they created their own spiritual worship and were only spiritual zombies.

Sadly our Lord faced the same situation in Jerusalem while He walked the earth. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and every impurity. In the same way, on the outside, you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” [Matthew 23:27-28 (HCSB)] True grace and repentance were missing from their souls and the deep love of God was absent from their hearts. They were blinded by their culture and sold out to it.

God’s Word explains His spiritual worship and culture. “Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your spiritual worship.” [Romans 12:1 (HCSB]) The Lord has not changed his will, He looks at His churches and wants living disciples sacrificing their time, energy and money working for His namesake. What a contrast! Live in pleasure and you are really dead to Christ, even when you can’t be judged as a liar, thief, or cheat. But dying to yourself for him in sacrificial service means you are ALIVE! They had good intentions, but they never completed [the meaning of perfect] any of Christ’s commands or mission. Their default was another great Christian fellowship party, great worship gatherings, and banquets in honor of Jesus, but they could not see the great danger of eternal judgment that they and their city were really in.

“Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; keep it, and repent. But if you are not alert, I will come like a thief, and you have no idea at what hour I will come against you.” [Revelation 3:3 (HCSB)] They knew about the messy gospel and how Jesus led his disciples into the lives of tax collectors, prostitutes, widows, the poor and sick. They knew his story of healing, forgiving, feeding, restoring, and preaching repentance to a hard hearted world of rebels. But that is a lot of hard work and sacrifice. And as far as we know, only a handful actually followed Christ, while the rest I fear ignored the Lord’s call to repent. This church failed the Lord miserably.

Next, Jesus examined the sixth Church which was in Philadelphia.
Revelation 3:8 (HCSB) “I know your works. Because you have limited strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name, look, I have placed before you an open door that no one is able to close.”

Wow what an exciting word from the Lord. The scorecard explodes with high approval ratings causing rejoicing all the way in heaven! Even though they had a small amount of strength, meaning they were still humbly receiving His grace, they still kept working at reaching their community for Christ. Yes, they were of humble surroundings because they were farm folk in a small city that never really recovered from an earthquake in 37 AD. No wealthy contributors, just hard working people. And praise God, they did not cave into the temptations of their culture. Also, they did not give up when it seemed no one would hear the Good News of Jesus in their city.

But Jesus would use them for a huge spiritual blessing in their area. He promised, “…look, I have placed before you an open door that no one is able to close.” Revelation 3:8 (HCSB) Yes they were a very poor church with very little natural talent, no apostle Paul type preachers, and they definitely were not the church others would think God would use in a powerful way. Sure they were of little significance, considered a failure by the big city churches and probably small in numbers, but it did not matter, they stood their ground for Jesus and now they were His instruments for a major victory for His Kingdom.

Revelation 3:9 (HCSB) 9 Take note! I will make those from the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews and are not, but are lying—note this—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I have loved you.

In spite of severe persecution by the local Jews in political power, they would not deny the Lord. “When Christians were brought before heathen magistrates in times of persecution, they were required to renounce the name of Christ and to disown him in a public manner. It is possible that, amidst the persecutions that raged in the early times, the members of the church at Philadelphia had been summoned to such a trial, and they had stood the trial firmly.

It would seem from the following verse, that the efforts which had been made to induce them to renounce the name of Christ had been made by those who professed to be Jews, though they evinced the spirit of Satan. If so, then the attempt was probably to convince them that Jesus was not the Christ. This attempt would be made in all places where there were Jews.” – Notes on the New Testament Explanatory and Practical.

As the Lord protected and released convicting power in Jerusalem at the beginning of the church, Christ promised the same mighty blessings for this little church. While the Jews persecuted the first Christians, God’s Holy Spirit was poured out and thousands were converted, even the priests. And their promise was not just victory in their present need but also continued supernatural protection in the future. This little church was valuable to God and so can any church today with enduring obedience and faith in His Word.