Laodicea
The church in Laodicea was wealthy, growing, and doing all of the things they were supposed to be doing, but Jesus said that their faith was nauseating, causing Him to want to vomit them out of His mouth. Their faith was lukewarm. They didn’t think that they needed Jesus. They weren’t zealous for Jesus. They didn’t pursue Jesus. It’s far too easy to see the Gospel as a nice add-on to make us a little more awesome than we already are, but Jesus’ message is that we are poor, blind, and needy. We need Jesus desperately. On our best days and our worst days, we need Jesus and He stands ready to love us and provide for us with Himself.
Laodicea
“Would that you were either cold or hot!” Jesus’ words to the church in Laodicea cut at our attempts to act out the Christian faith without a zeal for Christ. Jesus—who is and always has been the true and faithful witness—rejects that kind of “Christianity” and the “Christians” that practice it. We must examine our hearts to see if we have that zeal for Jesus or if we are living for our own morality or prosperity. Am I trying to live self-sufficiently without Jesus? Am I trying to live for merely my own prosperity? Do the things that I seek success in really matter? Am I lukewarm?
Philadelphia
Jesus’ letter to the church in Philadelphia encouraged a small, weak community in their city to see His love for them. Today, this letter speaks to us, too. It cuts through our mirages to show us what life in Christ’s Kingdom really looks like. It’s a life where our strength is in our weakness. It’s a life that may not be easy, but will see us changed. It’s a life of faithful dependence on Christ. It may not be an easy life that makes the church in Philadelphia or Columbus powerful and prominent, but it’s a life where the reward is Jesus.
Philadelphia
The church in Philadelphia wasn’t all that impressive. They weren’t very big. They weren’t the most popular. They were weak. But Jesus loves them. They were strong in their weakness because of Him. They needed only to hold fast to Him. Do we believe that? Do we believe that the church is a place to be broken and weak—a place to fall apart? Do we believe that Jesus — knowing our works, our weakness, our sins — not only can, but wants to work in and through us?
Sardis
The church in Sardis was known for being alive, but Jesus had found their works incomplete. They were doing what seemed to be all of the right things, but they weren’t awake. They had forgotten the Gospel that they had received and heard before and their affections had drifted from Christ, as we are so prone to ourselves. How can we wake up? How can we as a church and community remember and remind each other of the Gospel we have received?
Thyatira
The people of the church at Thyatira had fallen into believing that their feelings and desires determined what was good for them and what they could and should do, especially when it came to sexuality and sexual sin. The letter they receive is from a Jesus who sees their sinful actions and sinful thoughts and loves them too much to leave them with the death and destruction that they bring. For us today, we are tempted with similar sins and offered the same grace of repentance from Christ. The question that we have to ask ourselves, though, is are we willing to take it? Are we willing to put ourselves in a community that cares enough about us to push us to repentance? Are we willing to look to Jesus to see that He actually cares about both our holiness and our joy?
Thyatira
Some at the church at Thyatira had been led away into sexual immorality by the lies of a false teacher. Someone had come into the church and tried to say that you can be a Christian and still give yourself to sinful sexual desires and to the will and whims of the culture around them. Jesus says in this letter that there are consequences. These things only lead to deeper sin, pain, and death. But He doesn’t leave them to bear His wrath. Jesus gives the gracious call to repent and go back to Him, their true source of joy.
Pergamum
Pergamum was a city full of idols. You could worship the god said to rule over other gods, the goddess of knowledge and wisdom, the god of pleasure and entertainment, or the god of health and wellness. This was the context of the church at Pergamum that Jesus wrote to. Unlike Ephesus, this church hadn’t responded to the heresy and idolatry around it with hatred, but acceptance. Jesus’ call is to preach the Gospel against their heresy and sin, speaking truth in love. In our day, we still worship the same idols and believe the same lies (though maybe not by the same names) and we, too, live in a context of immense plurality and “tolerance.” What is Jesus’ call to us? How do we respond today to the pluralism and “tolerance” our culture calls us to uphold?
Smyrna
The second church Jesus addresses in Revelation is at Smyrna. In this letter, Jesus offers comfort and assurance to the church through the suffering and affliction they are going to encounter. Their hope and comfort is inheriting the crown of life that Jesus has promised to those who are faithful. This hope is secure because it is offered by the eternally existent God who knows His purpose and that he’ll carry it out.
Smyrna
The second church Jesus addresses in Revelation is at Smyrna. In this letter, Jesus offers comfort and assurance to the church through the suffering and affliction they are going to encounter. Their hope and comfort is inheriting the crown of life that Jesus has promised to those who are faithful. This hope is secure because it is offered by the eternally existent God who knows His purpose and that he’ll carry it out.