Book of Revelation: Letters to the Churches- contd.( Rev:chapter.3)

Well, in my earler posting, I wrote about what Apostle John was commissioned in his vision to write to the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum and Thyatira, which were in Turkey at that time. In this posting, we are going to learn what Christ asked John to write to the churches in Sardis, Philadelphia and Laudicea. Though all these churches were in existence at that time, what is said to them is applicable to the body of churches even in this twenty-first century. How? Because we do display some of strength and weakness these churches had both as the body of the churches as well as individually. That's why it's crucial we need to give great attention to what the Spirit of God is saying to these churches that we too could repent and retreat to our first love of loving the Lord with our soul, heart and mind and become the true followers of Christ Jesus.

To the Church in Sardis, Christ introduces Himself as the One who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. Even though the church is seemed to be alive and reputed in people's eyes, Christ seems to find them fully dead spiritually. His call to them, " Wake Up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die. Remember, what you've received and heard. Obey it and repent!" That's a strong command.
Warnig: If they don't wake up, they'll face God's judgement earlier than they expected. They were told that He'll come as a thief in an unexpected time.
Rewards Promised: To those who had remained alive and faithful( a few among them,) they'll be worthy to walk with the Lord dressed in white.(white reflects righteous and untarnished.) And their names will never be blotted out from the Book of life. The Lord will acknowledge them before His Father and His angels.

Question? How do I see myself spiritually- super spiritual and judgemental, lukewarm or dead?
                 How do others view me outwardly? Active and serving widely in ministies or passive and serving quietly whenever needed.
                How does God see me inwardly? Dead/ alive?
               Whose view should matter the most to me? God's, mine or others?
               Can I count myself among the few whose name will never be blotted out of the Book of life?
              If not, what should I do to be alive and be worthy to be dressed in white and walk with the Lord? Confess, repent ,rejoice and be faithful to the Lord. Simple, but important steps to take. If the journey becomes tough and challenging, you can always rely on the Lord's strength to keep you alive and keep you moving forward.

To the Church of Philadelphia, Christ introduces Himself as the One who is holy and true and who holds the key of David.
Although the Lord sees the church having little strength, He commends them for being obedient to His word , not denying His name and for their endurance during hard times. They were asked to hold onto their faith so that no one could take away their crowns.
Rewards Promised: They will be kept away from the hour of oncoming trial that's going to come.   upon the whole earth. To those who overcomes, he'll be made a  pillar in the temple of God and the Lord will write on him the name of God, the name of the city of God-the new Jerusalem and also His new name.
Question: Would I be found faithful and obedient to the Lord as this church?
                 Have I ever denied the Lord to avoid skeptism, scrutiny or humiliation?
                 Have I ever grieved the Lord knowingly by my choices and actions?
                If so, how do I rectify my faults? Simple- Go before the One who is of unconditional love and uncountable forgiving capability. Bathe His feet with your tears and surrender your weakness and wrongs and ask His guidance and strength for your journey ahead.

To the Church of Laodicea, Christ introduces Himself as Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation.
The Lord finds them lukewarm in their devotion. He could have preferred them to be either hot or cold and not to be in between. Such lukewarm condition of the church makes it so distasteful to the Lord that He says that He wants to spit it out of His mouth. Being boastful of its wealth, the church has become overblown in its thinking and complacent in its attitude towards God. However, In God's eyes, they look wretched, poor, blind and naked. What a sad situation to be in, inspite of their wealtlh and status in the world.
Yet, God refuses to give up on them. He wants to refine and heal them and make them walk righteously dressed in white with Him. His voice is heard as echoeing as below:
" Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me."  Rev 3:20

Rewards Promised: To him who overcomes, the Lord will give the right to sit with Him on His throne just as He overcame and sat down with His Father on His throne. What a glorious sitting that could be and what an amazing blessing in store for us, if we are to overcome and stand firm till our last breath!
Question:  How does my spiritual barometer read?-Cold, hot or luke warm? If my passion for Christ has dwindled with time, I need to wake up and rekindle it with spending more time in His presence and less time in being busy with things that are eternally not worthy.

Instead of being a Christian for namesake and attending church for ritual sake, I need to be a true witness for Christ spreading His love and grace wherever I am. To attain such a faith walk, I need to seek God's guidance and strength on a daily basis. Instead of being happy and satisfied with having a ticket to heaven, we need to first learn to live the life on earth with gratitude and God's prospective without giving into complains and grumblings.

Christ has promised us peace and joy amidst any calamity in life and such an abundant life can be attained only when we have an intimate relationship with the Lord. I pray that you and I develop such a devotion and obedience towards  the Lord that we get to sit beside Him on the throne one day in heaven as He had promised in this chapter.

Book of Revelation- Letters to the churches (Rev. chapter:2)

In the past two weeks, I tried to share what I learned at our Bible study on the first chapter of the Book of Revelation. This week, we delved into the 2nd and 3rd chapter of the book, where Apostle John, who was commissioned to write what He saw in a vision, was clearly directed to what to write in a letter to each of the seven churches in Turkey.

Even though, John was asked to write to those practically existing churches in Turkey at that time, it could well apply to churches at large throughout the age, including the ones in our time and within our communities.

It was Christ, who introduced Himself to John in the vision as "I am the First and the Last" commissioned John to write these letters. Interestingly, in the salution of each letter, Christ introduce Himself by a different name. Written to the attention of the leader of the church, each letter has the components of salution, commendation and /or cendemnation, exhortation and the promise of rewards to those who overcome.

To the church of Ephesus, Christ introduces Himself as the One who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walk among the seven golden lampstands. He commends the church for its hard work, perseverence, resisting sin, discerning false prophets among the believers and enduring patiently without quitting on its faith. Yet, there was one flaw- a big one, maybe a giant one in the Lords eyes for He says, "Yet, I hold this against you; You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen. Repent and do the things you did at first." Ooops! That's a mega one.

We would have stood in awe before such a church which was working hard, growing larger, living with no scandals, outsteading trouble makers and false teachers and persevering in good faith. We would have ranked them top in the chart. But the Lord's eyes which could see through the depth of the hearts found them error in one vital thing. They had lost their initial passion for the Lord in a big way. In their busyness of working hard to build up the church, they have slided in their devotion. Such a decline in devotion wasn't a small matter in Christ's mind. The rest of the good deeds put together couldn't suffice this missing part.  Even though the church had been functional and doing great to onlookers eyes, it had become somewhat robotic spiritually.

Warning given-If the church doesn't repent, it will be rooted out from its place.

Reward promised: To him, who overcomes, the right to eat from the Tree of Life in the paradise  of God.

Question: Have I slided back in my love towards God?
                Have I become too busy working and serving the Lord that I've no time to spend time  with
                Him alone?
               Time to think, confess and get back to the Lord with love and devotion. Toiling for God without much devotion towards Him bring no joy to Him or to me.

To the church of Smyrna, Christ introduces Himself as the First and the Last, who died and came to life again.
He commends them for being rich spiritually despite their poverty and affliction in the world.
He warns them of the persecution they're going to face for His sake for a short time, but He encourages them to be strong and not be fearful even to the point of death.

Reward promised: Crown of life; They wouldn't be hurt by the second death.

Question: Am I spiritually rich as the church of Smyrna, which was well pleasing to Christ's eyes.
                Is the church I attend helps me to become spiritually rich in their teaching and in  fellowship?
               Am I willing to be faithful unto my last breath or would I give into fear of opposition, humiliation or persecution and give up on my faith?
              Do I consider the blessing of being Christ's follower slightly and for granted or am I so thankful and grateful for that?

To the Church of Pergamum, Christ introduces Himself as the One who has the sharp, double -edged sword.
He commends them for being faithful and true to His name inspite of living in an ungodly place where Satan and his ways have become norm and accepted. The church found favor in tth sight of the Lord, for not renouncing their faith inspite of seeing  strong witness like Antipas being putting to death in their city.

Warning: Yet, there were some who profess to be Christ followers in the church, but who hold onto the teaching of some who tolerates sexual immorality and idol worship practices. Such pollution in the church was grievous to the Lord. Unless they repent, they would be fought with the truth of the Word and put to shame.

Reward promised: To him who overcometh, hidden manna  and a white stone with a new name would be given. Only the one who receives the stone will know the name written on the stone.

Question:  Am I in anyway polluting or compromising the truth of God?
                 Am I following the world's or  Christ's way?
                Do my action speak louder than my words to convey that I'm a follower of Christ?
                Do I become judgemental and look down on everyone who don't agree with me or do I act in love as Jesus did?

To the church in  Thyatira, Christ introduces Himself as the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and feet are like burnished bronze in the vision.
Commendation: The church is commended for its deeds, love, faith, service and perseverence. Also, they were commended for doing more than what they did at first.

Warning: Yet, there was something Christ wasn't pleased with- the tolerance towards a prophetess who misleads His servants by her teaching. Her acts to inco-operate sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols into the church were abnoxious in God's sight. Time was given for repentence. If not, she as well as her future generation will undergo terrible suffering.
To those who do not give into the prophetess' teaching, they were told to hold onto the truth till He comes.

Rewards Promised:  To him who overcomes, he'll be given autority over the nations. He will be given the morning star-The Light.

Question: Am I giving into false teaching or easily swayed by the teaching of so many on television and airways, who call themselves Christian leaders, but their lives and motives are far away from Christ's?
Do I know the scripture enough to discern what is true and what is false?
Do I seek God's guidance for discernment?
Do I pray for my church and the churches in general so that they'll be protected from the lies and misleading of the evil one?
Or am the one quick  to point my fingers in judgement rather than leaving the judgement to God and praying for clarity and the backslided ?
                                       (Contd. with the next 3 churches in my next posting.)