Every once in awhile I like to go to the back of the Bible and read the letters to the 7 churches found in the first few chapters of John’s Revelation. I like to insert my own town name in the place of the name of the original church names and see how it hits me. It is also interesting to me that the names of the churches were simply: “the church in cityname.”
Anyway, this letter in Chapter 3 seemed to jump out at me most recently:
“To the angel of the church in ______ write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. 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 not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. 4 Yet you have a few people in _______ who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
My Mom replied to this post by sending me some notes written by my father Del Birkey, on the 7 letters to the churches. These comments are included in his book The House Church Book (see http://www.thehousechurchbook.com):
Since the “seven house churches of Asia Minor” were actual assemblies as portrayed in Revelation 2 and 3, they serve as representatives of any and all other churches everywhere and anytime in the church’s history. The glorified Lord appears walking in their midst both to bless and/or to correct error and corporate sin. The specific diagnosis of each local assembly forms a telling revelation of the essential state of churches everywhere.
To any and every church today the glorified Lord surely continues to walk among us with his omniscient diagnosis, from the tiniest house church to the most mammoth mega-church. And surely his blessings and his warnings are unwavering, to the extent that he might even now “remove our lampstand!”
The seven letters speak to our contemporary beginning of an uncertain postmodern age, with its passion for debunking deep essentials of evangelical and orthodox Christianity. And more than ever they speak to our overwhelming need of renewal in revival and in reformation. But that will begin with another Great Awakening by the Holy Spirit.
The crux of each of the seven letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor is:
To Ephesus the Lord cries, “You’re a lackluster and cooling-off assembly. So remember and repent, and act like you did at the first!” We know this well-known house church became infested with heresy near the end.
To Thyatira he persuades, “Hold on, but get discernment, and stop tolerating Jezebel the false prophet.
To Smyrna the Lord encourages, “Endure under fire to the end, even unto death.”
To Pergamum he says, “You’re tolerant and cool, but you lack real conviction.”
To Sardis the Lord evaluates, “As First Church in your town you’re well known. But in fact you’re nearly dead!”
To Philadelphia the Lord promises, “Listen! Opportunity is knocking!” Don’t delay.
To Laodicea Jesus simply testifies, “Your mediocrity really makes me sick!”