Matt Nelson - August 8, 2021
Warnings to the Church
Warnings to the Church 8.8.21 Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 29, 3:6, 13, 22 Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. When the church comes into conflict with the culture around them they can respond in two ways: They can endure opposition faithfully They can accommodate to the culture Church in Ephesus Revelation 2:2-5 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. 4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. 5 Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. Doctrine, theology, and orthodox beliefs are important, but it’s only important insomuch as it fuels our love for Jesus and love for others. To Ephesus - To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Church in Smyrna Revelation 2:9-11 I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.10 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 for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. To Smyrna: The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death. Church in Pergamum Revelation 2:13-16 I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives. 14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. 15 Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. To Pergamum: To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it. Church in Thyatira Revelation 2:19-20 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. 20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. To Thyatira: To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations Church in Sardis Revelation 3::1-3 I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. The Christian life is cruciform life where at numerous points in our journey we will be required to pick up our cross and carry it. To Sardis: 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. 5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. Church in Philadelphia Revelation 3:8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. To Philadelphia: I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. Church in Laodicea Revelation 3:15-17 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Lukewarm, in the book of Revelation, means so prosperous and supposedly self-sufficient as to be completely out of fellowship with Jesus. To Laodicea: To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.