Letters to the Seven Churches I | Hail to the Victor

I need thee, oh I need thee, even as a band we get off key.

And so that is definitely times that we need that as well.

We're going to continue our sermon series with one of the most ridiculous sermons,

our bumper videos we've ever done, but I applaud Mike in that it's, yeah,

when I saw it the first time I was in awe.

And it brings up really the chaos that is the book of Revelation,

but here we're going to hit the next two weeks, this week and next week,

is going to feel and sound very similar to a lot of the New Testament,

because these, John kind of gets a little bit, or he gets into letter writing to

churches, much like Paul did for two-thirds of the New Testament.

And we call that the epistles, but this is still apocalyptic in nature,

though he's writing to specific churches.

And the churches really quick that he's writing to, there's a,

it's all in modern day Turkey.

So if you've ever been there, it's a gorgeous part of the country.

This is the western kind of border of, or western coast.

You see where all of those churches are.

Four of those seven have been kind of uncovered, and they've been,

archaeologists have gone through.

You can go to the town of Ephesus, and it's almost, again, I wasn't there,

none of us were there, but I mean, they have buildings, they have the library,

they have their amphitheater, which was, in 2005 I was able to go.

It's unbelievable.

This thing is, I think, 200 rows up down, so it's top, it's kind of like the big

house at Michigan, where it's kind of the street level is almost the top,

and then it all goes under, kind of underground.

And what's amazing, and we tested this in 2005, we had two people sit and just have

a regular conversation in the very center at the bottom, and when you're up on the

top, you could hear it like you were standing next to them.

So even in the first century, that kind of architecture was being done and

crafted in a beautiful way, but the letters that John is writing are to these

churches, can you go back quick to the map, and you'll see they're all relatively

close together.

And so as far as distance-wise, if Pergamos or Pergamum over to the north

down to Laodicea, that's roughly from Chicago to Nashville, kind of right around

there, so it's not all that spread out.

And you see there was the Roman Road, again, this picture doesn't tell it, but

the Roman Road kind of came through all of that, and these are where the churches

were planted, where they started, bigger churches.

But as we're going to see today, for the first half, churches that have lost their

way, churches that have kept their way, and what John has to say to them, but I

want to start with asking a question.

How many of you, when you were in school, passed notes to each other?

Right?

I think if you're sub-25, you're like, what are you talking about?

Passing notes, handwriting, what in the world?

Cursive, what is that?

But I remember, I was, you know, how many of you were kind of the carrier pigeon,

that the notes never were technically for you, but you had to bring them to other

people?

I thank God I'm not the only one.

Okay, now, Mrs. Rinkema, did you ever read the notes that were passed, just so

you kind of get the intel?

A little bit, yeah, that's called gossip, but understand that, you know, that you

wanted to know what that information was, because it could be a good note, it could

be a bad note.

I'm not going to lie, I may or may not have broken up or have been broken up with

via note.

How many want to own that with me today?

Cowards!

You are all cowards, I am not the only one.

But, you know, where, yeah, all of a sudden it's like, oh dear, so and so, I like

someone else, please don't contact me again.

Now, that sounds more like a restraining order.

It never went like that, but it all, you never knew.

And how many of you still to this day, when you get letter in the mail, like, you

get kind of excited?

Yeah, absolutely.

Now, the same thing happened in the first century.

Letters were the main way of communication.

It was either word of mouth passed down or by letters.

We know Paul was big on writing letters.

We know at the end of the New Testament, before Revelation, we see 1st, 2nd, and

3rd John, where he wrote letters.

And John's letters today, as we're going to see, bring about and contain really his

vision from Christ to these letters.

So these letters were different when it comes to what Paul was doing because Paul

was writing about his visits, things that he saw, issues he heard.

You think about, you know, 1st and 2nd Corinthians.

Now, scholars believe there was a letter that preempted 1st Corinthians, though we

don't have it, but the way Paul wrote, he was writing in response to things in the

first letter.

So unless he's just super prophetic, it was someone had already contacted him and

he's writing in response.

That's where these letters are different.

This letter, and again, I'm just going to call it out, there is a buzzing and we have

been trying to figure out what it is.

Don't let it kind of distract you too much.

We think it has something to do with the hearing loop for those that were hearing

aids and were working on it, but it has nothing to do with John's letter to these

churches because they didn't have that back then.

But understand that in these letters, these letters contain Christ's message to

these churches or lampstands as we learned last week that each of these churches had

a lampstand, that the lampstand was the fire of the gospel, the fire and

excitement of Jesus going forth and lighting the darkness, light to their path

of how the churches grew.

I'd like to think that Munster Church has a lampstand that we are trying to shine.

We don't always do it the right way, but we try to shine it.

We try to shine light in dark places.

But one of, I said in the beginning of service, this is the end.

This is the callback.

This is the final episode of the final season of life, and not all these churches

are going to have their lampstand stay lit.

Now, as a pastor, that binds me because my hope and I think the hope of any pastor

that a lampstand of your church is not going to get snuffed out.

Meaning the Lord is not going to just end it being a church, but we're going to see

that today.

And first is the Church of Ephesus, the letter of Ephesus.

And one of the things we're going to hear in these churches, we're going to hear

Christ's authority at work, judging, and restoring.

So keep that in mind.

We're going to work through these letters.

We're going to hear words of judgment.

And this is different than just your regular church kind of gossip judgment

stuff, or did you see what they wore?

Did you see this?

You know, all of these things, which again, churches are known for,

unfortunately, this is different.

This is not grumbling in the churches.

This isn't what Paul was talking about to Timothy when he's like, hey,

I know you're young and people are going to take you seriously, but keep going.

This isn't that.

This is Christ's judgment on these churches and Christ's restoration of these

churches.

So the first seven verses of chapter two, the letter to the church in Ephesus,

to the angel of the church in Ephesus write, the words of him who holds the

seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.

I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot

bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves

apostles and are not, and found them to be false.

I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name's sake, and you

have not grown weary.

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

Remember, therefore, from where you have fallen.

Repent and do the works you did at first.

If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place unless

you repent.

Yet this you have.

You hate the words of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

To the one who conquers, I will grant to eat from the tree of life, which is in

the paradise of God now.

Who am I going to pick on today?

Let's go with Kyle.

You are one of the elders of the church of Ephesus, and you're getting this

letter.

How are you taking it?

We're going to share you and Tony.

So Tony's right in front of you.

You guys are elders, you're getting this letter.

How are you reading it?

Scared?

Sure.

Yeah.

Silence would have been a good answer too.

Yeah.

But Tony, take it seriously.

There is some heavy language here.

Right?

This goes way beyond, hey, so and so in seventh grade, check the box, yes or no,

if you like me.

I never did that.

But go to the second slide, April.

That is the second slide.

Yeah, okay.

This is basically them calling out something massive.

I'm going to liken it, and it's going to get awkward, and I apologize kind of.

Maybe you know someone in your life, or maybe someone has said this to you, that

maybe if you're married and you talk about your spouse, and you're sitting with

someone, and they look at you and say, I thought you loved your spouse.

Because of the things maybe you were talking about or recounting or what have

you.

Maybe even if it's in a fun gesture, not gesture, like a fun sarcastic way, this

is, there's some good things here that he throws in at the end, but this I have

against you.

You have lost your first love.

The letter starts by giving Christ's kind of evident authority over all of these

things, right?

He starts with a little preamble about the lampstands, and he starts with a

kind of, like, I commend you.

You did good in some things.

The Ephesian church is commended for its hard work.

It's patient endurance.

It's intolerance of false apostles.

This should show us the importance of doctrinal fidelity and keeping to the

commitment of the Scriptures.

That's what we can pull away from this.

But then comes a rebuke.

You've abandoned the love that you had at first.

They were diligent, but loveless, reminding us that orthodoxy without love

falls short of a true Christian faith.

That out of our love for God, we need to walk out a sense of love that we have

for Christ and we have for our neighbor.

They have forgotten that.

They became in love with doctrine.

They became in love with calling out false doctrine or false theology in other

people, other groups of people.

And again, that's not a bad thing, but a love of doctrine without receiving that

love of Christ can be very pharisaic.

Because if we love doctrine and we try by the letter of the law to judge the

world around us, you probably should judge yourself first, just saying.

But understand that when we become doctrinalists solely, that we can lose

our way.

And here's a key Scripture, for all have fallen short.

While we were still sinners, Christ died.

It wasn't you were accepted when you became perfect.

When you became an elder or a deacon, that is when you felt salvation.

No, none of that.

And Ephesus was one of the largest churches in that season.

And what happened, my guess is, and this is, you know, for growing churches can be

a temptation that as we grow, what is the mentality?

We can't lose.

We're growing leaps and bounds.

But what happens if someone leaves?

What does that say about us?

Or, wow, I really thought our sanctuary was fuller last week.

Like, what's going on?

And we get so worried about numbers that we forget that it's never really been

about the numbers here.

It's been about the mission of Christ.

That when we fall in love with orthodoxy solely, we forget what it means to live

as a true believer.

We're not going to be a pastor, we are to call out sin, we are called to correct

and rebuke.

It says that, that the Bible is used for that.

Yes, the Bible is used for that.

That if you're going to go at it with your own, whatever it is, that's hypocrisy.

That we need to draw everything back to this.

This is the infallible word of doctrine and life.

This is where life and faith intersect.

And that's what we do on Sunday mornings, though hopefully it all flows out of this.

But it's an understanding that if we don't recognize the grace given to us, how in the

world are we going to extend that grace to others?

And we tend to not.

So this letter has not only a commemoration, but also the rebuke and a call to repentance.

Some of the themes you're going to see, repent, repent, repent.

But then there's also a promise to the overcomer.

We're going to see this in each letter.

It's all formed very similarly.

To those who conquer, our promise access to the tree of life.

So what do we do?

We keep persevering where we heard that word before.

We heard that in the canons of Dort.

The perseverance of the saints, or held by God as we went through Lent this past year.

And God is carrying us through all of these things.

And here's the rub.

When we start thinking we made it because of us, we've missed it.

It's reliance on Christ.

So what is our application from this first letter?

My question, are we maintaining both doctrinal purity and love in our walk with Christ?

And what does it mean to remember, repent, and return in our daily lives?

So now we go a little bit a ways from Ephesus to the letter of Smyrna.

So the letter, starting with verse 8, and to the angel of the church of Smyrna write,

the words of the first and the last who died and came to life.

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.

Do not fear what you are about to suffer.

Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and

for ten days you will have tribulation.

Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.

Okay.

So now we have our Smyrna, right?

We have our elders and our leaders there.

Let's pick on this side.

Okay.

So let's go with Hope Arzma, right?

You're receiving that letter and then Daniel Walters behind you.

You guys are receiving that letter together.

You get this letter.

What are you thinking?

What's kind of being evoked by the language here?

For you to talk amongst yourselves.

I think she's deferring to you.

Fear.

Why fear?

What does that mean?

What does tribulation mean?

For some of us we go, tribulation means I didn't get my reservation at Rosebud.

Not tribulation.

Okay.

Because tribulation is pretty clear what could happen.

And what is that?

Someone say it.

It's in there.

Don't whisper it.

Say it aloud.

Death.

Pretty sure that's the worst tribulation, right?

That one day you're here, next day you're not.

Why?

Because someone killed you.

So if you're the church in Smyrna and you're reading this, I don't know, there's a part

of me that's like, did Ephesus get this letter?

Did Philadelphia get this letter?

Like what's wrong with us?

But there's something about tribulation.

The devil himself is going to be all up in your business for the next 10 days.

What are you doing if you're an elder or a leader in this church?

Be honest.

I'm, well freaking out, absolutely.

What?

Pray.

Oh, what a good, well you're a good believer, Joel.

Yeah.

I'm hiding.

I am hiding, right?

I mean you guys have heard the, what is it, the early bird gets the worm, right?

The second mouse gets the cheese, right?

I'm not a runner but if I'm being chased I will run.

I only have to run faster than one person.

So I'm going, alright, I'm looking through all of my, I'm looking through my pictorial

directory of Smyrna going, alright, I can outlast that person, I can outlast that person,

alright, God's going to get them.

I'm going to look to save myself.

But that's not what is happening.

The call to endurance and faithfulness in persecution.

And the way John writes it is so beautiful.

The words of the first and the last who died and came to life.

This is a reflection of Christ's sovereignty, not only over history but over the victory

of death.

This is putting your faith where the rubber meets the road.

I trust in God, my Savior, the one who will never ever fade.

We just sang it.

Do we believe it gun to our head?

Do we believe it when our faith is on trial?

Do we believe it if you go back and look at how a lot of these first century Christians

were killed?

You think about other countries even in the last 20 years, how believers are persecuted

and as we learned last week, martyred for the faith.

Be honest, I don't know the last time I thought about will I be martyred for the faith today.

I'm a pastor.

I'm probably one of the first to go.

But understand, do we even think about that in northwest Indiana, southwest Chicago, the

United States?

Do we think about the fact that we are going to be persecuted to the point of martyrdom?

Or is it persecution in gossip or what's written about you or kind of what people think about

your church or they think about your walk or they think about where you send your kids

to school or where all of these things.

Is that the persecution we're expecting?

That is nothing compared to what Smyrna is going to be expecting and what they're going

to be anticipating.

But unlike the seven churches, Smyrna received no rebuke.

Did you catch that?

They were commended for their faithfulness in the face of suffering.

Now if you're reading it, you're like, man, yeah, we've had it rough.

It's been a hard season, but Christ, John, we're getting this letter from you.

Everything's going to be great.

No, it's doubled down.

It's going to get worse.

But it's a recommendation and a declaration of their patience, of their suffering, and

they're encouraged.

Christ urges them to remain faithful unto death and promises them the crown of life.

Time out.

People that have been believers in this room, let's say over 10 years, okay, if you're less

than nine, it's not that you're less of a person.

I'm just using it for an example.

You've been in church 10 plus years of your life.

You understand all the things.

You made profession of faith, was baptized, maybe you came out of a Baptist tradition

where you were baptized every week.

I don't know.

It doesn't matter.

But understand that you have this understanding, this salvation you live in.

I am a believer.

I'm a Christian.

I walk in faith.

I listen to Christian radio on Sundays.

In the next 10 days, there's a good chance your life's going to be put to death because

of your faith.

How gusto is our faith then?

I use this, and people still bring it up, I think I use this year one or two of my six

years here so far, that if you knew, and I'm going to take spouses and children out of

it, but you knew that one of your best friends or one of your closest friends, you knew that

1130 today, probably when this sermon is over, at 1130 today, you knew that so-and-so was

going to be killed by getting hit by a bus on the corner of Calumet and Ridge.

Do you take their place?

I asked that question years ago, it plagues me still to this day, and I know it plagues

you because you bring it up to me.

That's not what's happening here.

This isn't someone else in Smyrna.

This is you.

This is the faithful.

You've been patient.

You've endured.

You've persevered all this time.

There's a good chance you're not making it out in the next 10 days because of your faith,

and I'm going to give you a crown of life.

The hard question today is how many of you would still be believers come day 11?

Because that's really what is being asked.

Is your commitment to Christ that strong, that viable, that let's go, even with the

spear or the sword at your neck?

See how these letters aren't really the same as Paul's?

There's something final about this.

Now what's the promise?

The overcomer will not be hurt by the second death, signifying eternal security for those

in Christ.

This is a recognition of Christ's victory over death that guarantees eternal life for

believers.

So what do we do?

What do we take from this hard, short letter?

How do we respond when our faith is tested by trials?

How does Christ's victory over death encourage us to remain faithful in times of suffering?

Well friends, it's not going to get better.

Let's go to Pergamum.

The letter to Pergamum writes this, and to the angel of the church of Pergamum write,

the words of him who has a sharp two-edged sword, I know where you dwell, where Satan's

throne is, yet you hold fast my name and you did not deny my faith, even in the days of

Antipas, my faithful witness, who was killed among you where Satan dwells.

But I have a few things against you.

You have some there who hold to 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 morality.

You also have some who hold to the teachings of the Nicolaitans.

Therefore repent.

If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a

white stone with a name written on the stone, or with a new name written on the stone that

no one knows except the one who receives it.

Whew, alright.

Let's go with the husband and wife team, alright?

Let's just make it weird.

And let's go up to the balcony.

Nope, let's go right here because I have them.

Vandenbergs, right?

You guys are the church in Pergamum.

You're getting this letter.

How are you taking that letter?

Not well.

Why not well, Nance?

What?

It's frightening.

We were just told twice, Satan dwells with us.

That's not hyperbole.

That's not like, psych.

No, this is, the devil himself is working in and through you.

Yet they hold fast.

They rebuke.

See how they kind of almost build on each other?

So they are holding fast.

They're rebuking the false doctrine, the false teachers.

But Christ's double-edged sword out of his mouth, remember that from last week?

Jesus is coming a different way.

Not coming as a baby.

Not coming on the full of a donkey in the gates of Jerusalem.

Coming with a sword out of his mouth, fire out of his eyes.

They were rebuked for tolerating false teachings.

Specifically, Balaam and the Nicolaitans.

I'm telling you, if you're here and you're a Nicolaitan, you better change.

Because you can't read this and go, no, I'm secure as a Nicolaitan.

Another rhyme for another time.

This reflects the emphasis of doctrinal purity and the rejection of heresy.

But here's the thing.

We're all heretics.

When we say we love the Lord, we say that we're a Christian and we walk in darkness.

John's also known for saying in his letter in 1 John, if you have a foot in the light

and a foot in the dark, the dark doesn't know you.

Is that what it says?

No, the light doesn't know you.

We're all hypocrites when it comes to that.

So we should find ourselves a little bit in the church of Pergamum.

Christ calls them to repent or face the judgment of his sword.

The warning against tolerating false teaching resonates with us or should and help us understand

the process of church discipline to maintain the purity of the church.

If there is yeast in the dough, take it out.

There's a process for that.

There's a process of understanding that you can't have a believer and some other religion

and work them together.

It doesn't work.

You can't, we just go by the book, it doesn't work.

There's an understanding that will fall in on itself but to the overcomer, the one that

can maintain that purity.

Christ promises hidden manna and a white stone.

The white stone signifies acceptance and vindication, the hidden manna, spiritual nourishment.

That maybe the way you're walking or the people around you, maybe they're a hindrance on your

faith.

And you go, well, you know, just one day, one day I'm gonna save that group of people.

I was told once by my mom a long time ago, it's a lot easier for a whole group of people

to pulse one person down than have one person lift a whole group of people up and I think

that's what's going on here.

It's a reminder that in the end times we have to check our soul.

It's fine to double check and confirm faith in your neighbor, in your coworker, in your

family member, but here it's about what do you believe?

How are you walking it out?

So what is the application and the takeaway from Pergamum?

In what ways are we tempted to tolerate false beliefs or practices?

How can we guard against false teaching while remaining gracious and loving?

And then finally, Thyatira.

We never really hear about this church except for hear that this understanding of Thyatira

is so interesting to me.

And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, the words of the son of God who has

eyes like the flame of fire and whose feet are like burnish bronze, I know your works,

your love and faith and servant and patient, service and patient endurance, that in your

latter works exceeded the first, but 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, to eat food sacrificed to idols.

I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.

Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed and those who commit adultery with her, I will

throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works and I will strike her children

dead and all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart and I will

give to each of you according to your works.

But the rest of you Thyatira who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some

call the deep things of Satan, to you I say I do not lay on you any other burden.

Only hold fast to what you have until I come.

The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority

over the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron as the earth pots are broken

in pieces even as I myself have received authority from my Father, I will give him the morning

star.

He who has ears let him hear to what the Spirit says to the churches.

Can you go to slide two of that?

Again they are commended for their love, their faith, their servant, their patient endurance.

Unlike Ephesus their love has grown stronger where Ephesus they forgot their first love.

However this positive commendation is overshadowed by a significant failure.

They are rebuked for tolerating the false prophetess Jezebel who promotes idolatry and

immorality.

This is a stern warning against allowing corrupt influences to infiltrate the church.

And the thing here, I know your works, go to the next slide.

Sorry it was the third one I think.

I totally missed it.

Where he says I will search your mind and your heart.

Here is where I think we find a lot of ourselves today.

We like to hide.

We like to live good lives, we like to do good things.

We like to say nice things, we like to love on people, serve people, all of those things.

But we hold these little secret sins, idolatries, immoralities in some chamber in our heart

that we think the creator of our heart doesn't see.

How?

Why?

Because in the end everything in the dark will be brought to the light.

John says that too in 1 John.

So these words are coming to be, these words are actually happening and it is a call to

repent.

This call of repentance emphasizes God's patience.

This is going to make some of you mad.

God's patience has limits.

An unrepentant sin will not go unpunished.

Wow, I am 92% okay.

What a lie to think that 8% isn't going to harm you.

That's an A even in honors classes.

But not in the eyes of God.

Because at 8% you are showing people who you really are.

The idolater, right?

Maybe you are the gossip, maybe you are the liar, maybe you are the murderer, maybe you

are the whatever.

Maybe you are the idolater, the one that worships false idols.

Maybe that is the immoral side of you.

Maybe it is that secret sin that you only do when everyone else is asleep.

Maybe it is that secret sin that you only keep when you really hate that person or whatever

it is.

Here, this letter should help all of us.

You can't hide.

How in the world are we going to play hide and seek with someone that is omnipotent?

Omnipresent.

So what do we take from this?

How do we balance love with holiness in our lives?

And what steps do we need to take to remove any areas of compromise in our hearts?

Oh, I only talk that way when I am at the job.

Oh, no, I only, you know, when I am not by church people, that is when I do that.

Friends, that doesn't make it right.

Compromise is still compromise whether people see it or not.

So I would love to say, hey, we made it through those letters.

Nope.

Next week we have a whole new set of them.

I am going to ask that you come back.

Don't get so scared away.

But what can, in the next week, what can we do?

What can we pull?

How can we apply some of these things?

And we are going to put these application questions out on our social media as middle

of the week just to kind of remind us.

What are our takeaways?

First, renew your first love.

Examine your heart.

Are you maintaining the love you had at first for Christ?

Repent where necessary and rekindle that passion.

Second, stand firm in persecution.

In moments of suffering or trials, remind yourself of Christ's promise to those who

remain faithful.

Let his resurrection victory encourage you.

Third, guard against false teaching.

Repent to doctrinal purity by staying rooted in scripture.

Test everything against God's word.

And don't compromise the truth for convenience.

And fourth, pursue holiness.

Christ calls us to reject any compromise with, or to reject any form of compromise with sin.

Seek both love and holiness and remove anything that detracts from a pure relationship with

Christ.

And to that I say, to be continued.

Let's pray.