Revelation 2:1-5 – Which Are We? – Bible study

Revelation 2:1-5 What Church Are We? The book of Revelation is mostly a prophetical book about things which are still future to us, but not all of it. Jesus gave us the outline of the book in \#Rev 1:19\. There, the Lord told John to write about the things "which he had seen, the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter." If we apply that outline to the book John wrote, we come up with the following: \#Rev 1:1-18\ were the things that John had seen. \#Rev 1:19-3:22\ are the things that were. \#Rev 4:1-22:19\ are the things that will be. While almost 2,000 years have passed since John penned this book, we are still in the time period of the things that are. The things that will be do not begin until Revelation 4, when John is carried to heaven. "The things that are" are contained in the two chapters John wrote describing, rebuking, and encouraging the seven churches. That makes some sense as we call this time period we are in the "church age." There are two ways to look at these two chapters and I believe both are correct. 1. These seven churches mark seven periods in the church age, Each age is given in chronological order and each age will take on the predominant characteristics of church John as described it. (If you want to know what church age we are in now, it is the last one, Laodicea and I will mention something about it in a few minutes.) 2. These seven churches reveal seven of the predominate types of churches that will exist at any given time. That is, on any given day of the church, you could drive up to a church and find a resemblance there to one of these seven churches. Tonight, I want to look at each one of these seven churches, briefly, by that last view. Which one of these seven churches is most like our church? I. \#Rev 2:1-5\ Are we the Church of Ephesus? A. Notice if you would the good things that Jesus had to say about this church. 1. \#2\ Jesus spoke of their works and the labor they had given to those works. They were good works. 2. Jesus also mentioned their patience. They must have had a lot of it. 3. Jesus spoke of their intolerance to evil. They had very little of that. 4. Jesus commended their intolerance for false apostles. 5. \#3\ Jesus said they had not fainted. They had stayed with the stuff. B. All of this was good and worthy of praise, but then Jesus mentioned their fault. 1. I say "fault," singular, for there was only one. Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 2. They had left their first love, Jesus. 3. They had lost their heart, their emotional bond with Jesus. C. There is an important lesson here. 1. Spiritual activity without a heart of love is nothing more than ritualand God does not like ritual. 2. That might seem strange considering the Old Testament is filled it, but all of those regular sacrifices and worship days were not for Gods pleasure but for mans education. 3. Believe it or not, the Old Testament law was given to teach man what would NOT work, and the repeated failure of the Jews to keep a vibrant relationship with God through rituals without a heart commitment proved that that spiritual rituals wont work for us. 4. We need to have a heart relationship with our God. 5. How important is that we keep our love for Jesus? Rev 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. a. We must either get things right with God or He will take away our candlestick. b. That means Jesus will remove the church all together. c. I do not take it that Jesus would literally come put a "No Longer In Business" sign on the door. d. In fact, I am not sure that the church would be closed at all. e. It would just cease to be a church. f. It might be a food kitchen, a dispensary for medical aid, a shelter for the homeless, or today it might become a Star Bucks, but it will not be a church because if Jesus is not loved, He wont be there! II. \#Rev 2:9-11\ Are we a Church of Smyrna? A. I can definitively answer that question. 1. No, we are not. 2. Why? Because this church is a persecuted church. 3. We are not suffering and we have not been cast into prison so we not this church. B. However, let me point out that the Lord does not have a single rebuke for the church at Smyrna. 1. There are a total of seven churches in these two chapters. 2. Of the seven, only two have no rebukes at all, Smyrna and Philadelphia. 3. Three have some good and some bad. (Ephesus, Pergamos, and Thyatira) 4. One had more bad to say about it than good. (Sardis) 5. One had only bad things written about it with no good (Laodicea). III. \#Rev 2:12-15\ Are we the church of Pergamos? A. Good things are said about this church as well. 1. \#13\ They live in a difficult time and place. a. They live "where Satans seat is." b. That means Satan lives where that church meets. c. Satan for all of his power is really a coward. d. He does not stay where he is not wanted. e. That means someone wanted the devil very muchI am not saying the church did, but those in the place where the church was did. (1) I am not so sure that does not describe Green Pond Baptist Church. (2) This has been one tough neighborhood. (3) For all the sorrow that exists, most people seem they would rather have the devil than God. 2. But even in that difficult place, Pergamos had held the line. a. "thou holdest fast my name." They stood with Jesus. b. They had not "denied my faith," even though some, such as Antipas, had given his life to make that stand. B. \#14-15\ But they had allowed those with false doctrines to infiltrate their fellowship. 1. \#14\ They had let some Balaams into the church. a. Who was Balaam? b. He was an Old Testament prophet who for money and possession, sold his office. c. He quit serving God so that he could reap a little actually a lotof financial reward. d. I dont know that he ever actually quit his ministry. (1) I just know he quit standing with God. (2) Sadly, ministers can still be in the ministry, but not standing for God anymore. (3) One of the reasons is the same as Balaams. They would rather have money than God. 2. \#15\ They had also let the Nicolaitans into their fellowship. a. I am not going to take the time to talk about what that might be except to say in both of these cases, the church had done the same thing. b. They had let those outside of the church come inside the church and bring their false teachings with them. c. In both \#14-15\, the charge is that they allowed those carrying false DOCTRINE to come inside. d. Friend, a church that loses pure doctrine soon becomes the enemy of Christ! Rev 2:16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. IV. \#Rev 2:18-20\ Are we the Church of Thyatira? A. This church still had its good works. Rev 2:19 I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first. 1. What a great declaration of God-honoring works! 2. And their last works were even better than their first works. B. But they had a major downfall. They had allowed Jezebel into the fellowship. 1. Jezebel was a very wicked, evil queen of Israel. a. Jezebel would never just sit on a pew quietly. b. Nor would she be content to do evil in the background of a church. 2. No. Jezebel had to be the leader and would do whatever she had to do to lead. 3. Not only so, but she was wicked through and through. 4. This church did not just have people with bad doctrine. 5. They had bad leaders who were taking them down an evil road. C. We have those kinds of "churches" in abundance out there today. 1. Churches with pastors that do not believe the Bible is inspired. 2. Churches with pastors that do not believe in Jesus as the Savior. 3. Churches with gay leaders, liberal leaders, social leaders. D. These churches are going to find out what it means to go against God. Rev 2:23 And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. V. \#Rev 3:1\ Are we the Church of Sardis? A. The church of Sardis is the dead church. 1. Sardis still had some good works but spiritually, they were dead. 2. God left vague the exact nature and composition of a dead church. 3. Sardis could have been the embodiment of all the bad characteristics already mentioned and been a dead church. a. Sardis might have been any one of the previously rebuked church and died because of it. (1) They might have left off loving Jesus and died. (2) They might have allowed false doctrine and died. (3) They might have allowed false leaders and died. b. Or Sardis might done all of the things that Jesus had rebuked the church for and died. (i.e. Sardis might have left off loving Jesus AND Sardis might have allowed false doctrine to come inside AND Sardis might have allowed evil Jezebels to lead the church AND DIED AS A RESULT. c. But Sardis could have been the opposite of those characteristics and still managed to die. (1) Some in the church might have still have loved Jesus and the church died. (a) \#Rev 3:4\ indicates that was the case. (b) The verse: Rev 3:4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. (2) They might have kept correct doctrine and still died. (3) They might have kept good leaders and still died. 4. The Bible does not tell us. It just tells us that it was the dead church. B. If a church is dead spiritually, that means the majority in the fellowship would be lost. 1. Jesus told us in \#3:4\ that not everyone was dead so there were a few who knew Jesus. Just not many. 2. Personally, I see this as a progressive problem. a. First the church stops loving Jesus. b. Then they start allowing false doctrines to come inside. c. Then they get bad leaders. d. Suddenly, there are more lost people in the church house than saved and you have a dead church. VI. \#Rev 3:7-10\ Are we the Church of Philadelphia? A. These is the second church for which Jesus has no rebuke at all. 1. Philadelphia means "brotherly love." It was a church that loved the brethren. 2. \#Rev 3:8\ God says "I know thy works." Jesus does not elaborate on them but they must be very good works. 3. \#Rev 3:10\ Jesus said "thou hast kept the word of my patience." I take it that means that had obeyed Gods Word with patience no matter what it cost them. B. \#Rev 3:7-8\ Because of these things, "God had opened doors that no man could close and closed doors that no man could open." 1. God had given to this church great opportunities. 2. Such opportunities come to those who follow God without hesitation and compromise. VII. \#Rev 3:14-16\ Are we the Church of the Laodiceans? A. Laodicea is the lukewarm church. 1. Lukewarm means that it is never completely carnal but never completely right with God either. 2. It is always in the middle. 3. You might think that God would prefer a people to be lukewarm instead of cold, dead, into sin; but that is not correct. Luke 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 4. God would rather we be most any other type of church than a Laodicean church. B. This has been the church of this age, but to be honest, in my lifetime, I have seen a resurgence of the Churches of Thyatira (evil leaders) and Sardis (dead). C. May God help the Green Pond Baptist Church.