DAY 346

TWO UNATTRACTIVE CHOICES

Hosea 9, 10 & 11 and Revelation 3

Yesterday I introduced the idea that God was dictating a letter…and St. John must be feverishly writing. Taken in total the letters to these seven churches describe the challenge of the Church in the World—in many ways the world offers the Church a choice of evils:

Seduction or Persecution

Be not confused, at the end of the day the Church is at odds with the values of the ruler of this world. John 12:31, 2 Corinthians 4:4 and Ephesians 2:2 speak to Satan’s influence in the world. It is not that he has complete control, no God is sovereign, but the Evil One does have strong influence. As such, he will always be seeking to destroy the Body of Christ, the Church.

Seven letters—why seven? In Judaism the number seven is important. In Hebrew the word translated as seven indicates “fullness” or “completeness.” Might these seven letters, when taken in total, represent a sort of complete summary of the challenges Christ’s Body will face?

That is the approach I will take when looking at chapters 2 and 3. We will start with the 4 churches from yesterday and then add the remaining 3. Each letter opens with a statement about Jesus. Each letter is in one way a repetition of what we have already read, and in another way each letter opens a new facet of the challenge/choice between Seduction or Persecution.

EPHESUS: ⁴But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.

You might read this first part of chapter 2 and wonder what exactly is wrong. They are doing the right things, and they have the right teaching (in fact they put out false teachers). So what is wrong? Perhaps the easiest way to summarize the situation is as follows: their hands are doing God’s work, their heads are fully engaged, but their hearts have fallen away. Ephesus in its day might be compared to New York City in ours. Lots going on…lots of choices…lots of “come on, it’s OK, don’t be so uptight.” It does not appear that the Christians in Ephesus have fallen away from the Lord, but (and it is a big one) but their hearts have grown apart from Christ’s…and in that condition their fall is not far away. The point…tend your heart…keep your love for God rich.

SMYRNA: ⁹"'I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer.

If Ephesus faced seduction, Sardis was facing persecution, and persecution from a hostile Jewish community. We must realize that this is not anti-Semitism. The early Christian movement was a sect of Judaism, and so any attack from this quarter would lead others, the Romans for example, to follow suit. The point is simple, persecution is coming—suffering is certain—but (and it is another big one) but suffering is limited and God is supreme.

PERGAMUM: ¹⁴But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.

If Ephesus is NYC, the Pergamum is Washington, DC. Pergamum was the capital of the Roman Province for awhile and is thought to have been the place where the first state sponsored worship of the Emperor took place—which may be the reference to the “I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is.” If true than that comment is less a criticism of them and more an acknowledgment of how hard it is to live where they live. We see that they have “held fast” and apparently even had a martyr (Antipas). So what is the issue? False teachers! While Smyrna would be squeezed from the outside, Pergamum was in jeopardy from within. Some view the reference to Balaam as a reference to compromise…compromise was ultimately Israel’s downfall in the Old Testament. Regardless of exactly what Balaam represents the point is the churches, even strong ones, must guard themselves from within—while Ephesus’ heart was compromised, Pergamum’s head was in jeopardy.

THYATIRA: ²⁰But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 

A small but powerful poison can destroy anything strong. In the Old Testament Jezebel was Ahab’s wife and she poisoned him and the country. It was not a direct attack on the faith, it was “new enlightened teaching” or “deep things of Satan” as we read today. There is a narrow path between excessive tolerance and intolerance, and it has everything to do, not with legalism, but with keeping our hearts and hands and heads focused on Christ Jesus. When people are focused on Christ they are less about demanding their right to certain behaviors, and more about how to serve others. Today our churches in the West are full of this poison…the poison of people demanding their rights, each with their own Jezebel’s to lead them. And look, no one wants to be mean-spirited, so we listen, we try not to sound judgmental, or come off as the morality police, but the issue is that if what they are proposing is wrong (and I said “if”) then if it is wrong, we are on the path of seduction…being seduced to compromise.

SARDIS: ¹…you have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

Everything looks good on the outside; all the other churches think Sardis is super! God does not. Keeping up appearances is not only done by people, it is done by businesses, organizations, and churches. When it finally comes apart, the collapse is loud and catastrophic. You have read of church/church leader “falls from grace”—they appear suddenly, but they begin long before. The point: stop trying to keep up your appearances, get on your knees and get back to God. Trust me, I am a priest/pastor—the pressure to keep it all going, to have it all together, is a very real pressure. Every week someone asks me, “So how many people were in church on Sunday” as if this is the ultimate measure of how meaningful my ministry is—they never ask how many people we fed, or prayed for, or helped…and before I throw any more stones…even if they don’t ask that “looking good” question, I ask myself—looking good is a trap—it is one of the seductions we must avoid—and it is everywhere in the church—pray for your pastor.

PHILADELPHIA: ¹¹…Hold fast what you have…

Hold fast…it is that simple…even if you do not have much power…there is the challenge. When we are threatened, do we turn to human power and human solutions, or do we get on our knees. Our answer is all too often the wrong one.

LAODICEA: ¹⁵Would that you were either cold or hot…because you are luke warm I spit you out of my mouth.

Finally we come to a rather self-explanatory situation…people just going through the motions…ever felt like you were doing that…ever felt like you were “coldly mouthing the words.”

Tomorrow as you are turning to Scene Two, I will try circle back and sum this up a bit, but I imagine you have the drift of this—there are a few things we, the Body of Christ, must guard ourselves from.