April 5 Don't Rock the boat

April 5

   Don’t Rock The Boat

Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;

but that it should be holy and without blemish.

The fourth church mentioned in Revelation chapter 2 is the church at Thyatira. As you read the 11 verses concerning this church you notice that the first verse contains a powerful description of Christ and the second verse lumps their good points together. The rest of the verses are condemnation and warning to this church.

They were almost the opposite of the great church in Ephesus “The 1^st Stone Hearted Orthodox Church”.  Ephesus hated the deeds of those who held false doctrine, but they had lost their first love.  

The Church at Thyatira was long on love and short on doctrinal purity.

Re 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.

This was a hard working church filled with love. While praised for these good things they were condemned for lack of discernment. Sort of like a youth minister who gave his teens potato chips and coke for communion, but far more serious a fault.

Re 2:20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

The scriptures are pretty clear about women teachers.

1Ti 2:12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to

usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.

If you do not agree with this verse or think there is something else in the Bible that makes this verse null and void, please do not yell at me. I am the messenger. Go yell at Timothy, or better yet explain to God why this verse is wrong!

Thyatira had a woman teacher, who claimed to be a prophetess. I think that means she got special messages from God and told her followers what God said to her. Somewhat like Mary Baker Glover Patterson Eddy and Christian Science. (Apparently she knew more about healing than she did men!)

It seems that Christ did not care for her and gave her the title of Jezabel, in reference to a the Jezabel of 1 Kings 16 and 2 Kings 19. Now there was a bad woman. She killed prophets, murdered a guy for his vineyard, promoted Baal worship and had Ahab the King under her thumb.

It seems this lady…ooops…woman of Thyatira was just as bad.

The Romans had Venus, the Greeks Aphrodite, and the middle east of biblical times had the Babylonian Ishtar and the Phoenician/Syrian Ashtoreth.  The names aren’t important. They all were goddesses of fertility. Now if you are going to worship an idol of fertility what do you think happened at those temples? Does temple prostitute give you a clue?  Christ had some things against this church. That was one of them “…to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. “ 

There was a lady in this church that was violating several Bible restrictions i.e. Woman teacher, false prophetess, claiming new revelations from God, violating commandments against idol worship, fornication and who knows what else she was doing. But that was not Christ’s reason for having a few things against that church. Oh, he wasn’t happy with her but the verse clearly points to what really concerned Christ about this church.

Re 2:20 Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee,

because thou sufferest that woman…

They were putting up with her. What kind of people let such evil continue in church without standing up and denouncing it?  Where was the pastor, the deacons, the mature Christians?  Oh they were there and Christ addresses them later and explains he won’t require any more from them as long as they don’t get caught up in the evil doctrine in that church. Christ may have realized the church was too far gone for the faithful to correct the situation, or understood they were not capable of doing so.

Unfortunately the same thing is happening in our churches today. The culture of the world seeps in and no one takes the Sword of the Word and drives it out. It is like boiling a frog. It happens so slowly no one objects until it is too late. What specifically am I referring to?

I am writing this a couple days before Easter. Have you ever wondered why businesses connect Easter with rabbits and eggs? It’s not a new thing. Fertility cults did that for centuries.  Some churches even give out Easter baskets. Is that to remember the resurrection?

What about contemporary services in churches?  That term has always bothered me because no one explains what the service is contemporary with?  I checked Mr. Webster and he said contemporary means things happen at the same time. Like George Washington and John Adams were contemporaries. So my question about contemporary services is what are they contemporary with. I know that means they have lively music, even rock bands, and a less formal style of worship, so I guess that means contemporary church services are contemporary with the world . No wonder they are so popular.

OK so you don’t agree with either example I have just given.

I will skip over the churches today that express great love and acceptance for Sodomites. (Homosexuals) and are silent about unmarried people cohabiting. (Oh dear now I am rocking the boat!)  

But can you deny that our churches today tolerate much that is outside of Scripture and in some cases unscriptural. That is the point of our devotion today. Just as Thyatira put up with a false prophet woman who seduced people to follow her deeper spiritual paganism, our churches also tolerate things that should not be.

One final reminder. Christ was not so unhappy with her as he was with those who tolerated her presence in the church. Let us exam what we tolerate. How often have we kept silent when we should have spoken. How much has the philosophy of the world system tarnished our obedience to the Word of God and weakened our churches.  As you meditate on that consider the standard you should use. The church without spot, or wrinkle, or blemish.

Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;

but that it should be holy and without blemish.

 

April 4 We Have Liberty.

April 4

We Have Liberty

Re 2:14 But I have a few things against thee

It was a beautiful spring morning as you enjoyed the singing birds and warmth of the sun and walked to the mail box. Besides the normal bills and junk mail was a special looking envelope. Puzzled what it was you opened it to find the following letter.

“I have a sword, and I have a few things against thee. I know where you live and if you don’t obey what I tell you to do, I will come to you, and bring my sword with me!”  

That kind of message would be shocking to get, especially if you had no idea what you had done to get someone that upset with you. But that was the letter that arrived in the church mailbox of the “United Church of Open Arms” in Pergamos. At the hastily called deacons meeting that night the letter was read and discussed. It gave details of what they had done that was creating the problem. A couple of men understood exactly what the problem was and had been speaking out against it for years, but the majority of the men just scratched their heads and tried to understand.

“Let’s read this one line at a time and try to understand it” brother Balaamous suggested. 

“Good Idea” responded pastor Nicalomous. And so they began to read it one line at a time.

Re 2:12 ¶ And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

That was an easy one. They were familiar with those scriptures.

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful,

 and sharper than any two edged sword,

Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:  

The next line was pretty complimentary. They all smiled as pastor Nicolamous read. Christ said he knew their works and that they lived in a town that was the seat of Satan. He knew they had not denied His name or faith in Him, even when Antipas was martyred.

“That was a really tough time of persecution.” Merculous said.

Alexandrous responded “Yes, and remember when Antipas refused to offer incense to Caesar and was killed. The church meeting we had after that was the point where our church started going downhill!”

“What do you mean downhill?” It was pastor Nicolamous “Within a year after Antipas was killed our church attendance had doubled and..”

“Yes” Alexandrous broke in” And almost all of the new members were from the 1^st Church of Balaam. The rest came here when the old Nicolaitan church was falling down. They have brought some questionable practices into our church!”

“There you go again!” It was Merculous, one of the Nicolaitans. “You think rules and regulations solve everything, but what about love? Don’t you have enough love to overlook other peoples faults? They all can’t be perfect like you are!”

“Yeah, well I don’t offer incense to Caesar, like you do!”

“OK Mr. know it all. Who is going to provide for my family if the Romans kill me? Everyone knows I love Jesus so that little pinch of incense is meaningless.”

“Men, please,” Pastor tried to get control of the meeting. But it was the same old heated argument and there was no stopping it.  

The letter continued unread. The next lines would have shown them why Christ had somewhat against them.

Rev 2:14….because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. 

What was the error of Balaam? The story of Balaam is in Numbers 22-25, but the error of Balaam is revealed when Moses is angry.

Nu 31:15 And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? 16 Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.

 Since Balaam could not curse Israel, he advised the Moabites to corrupt Israel by sending women to allure the men of Israel. The men willingly went to pagan feasts, the women had sex with them and showed them how to worship pagan gods. In simple words the error of Balaam is adopting (marrying) worldly and ungodly practices by Christians. 

Rev 2:15 So hast thou also them that hold the

doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.

No one knows who the Nocolaitans were or what they believed. The word meaning is related to a heretic named Nicolaus and the Greek is associated with the idea of “Victory over the people” 

It sounds like the church at Pergamos had allowed people to join who were compromisers with worldly ideas and were winning the church over to their way of thinking. Probably they found a way to offer incense to Caesar and still think they maintained a Christian lifestyle.

Now the question before us is how do we keep the world out of our churches? What does that mean anyway? We are in the world but should not be of the world. Fifty years ago fundamental churches condemned, card playing, movies, dancing, drinking, smoking, premarital sex, cussing, and a long list of other things. I even knew a lady who would not drink pop from a can because someone might see her and think she was drinking a can of beer. “Have no appearance of evil” was her by word.

     But seriously, what does the modern church teach about separation from the world. The church at Pergamos had people who did whatever was convenient and probably excused it by claiming Christian liberty. Our churches are filled with compromising Christians, and condoning pastors.  The study of these churches in Revelation is hard. It requires us to look at ourselves and ask “Am I separate from the world?” I don’t think living the Amish life style is what is meant. I think it is more a heart attitude, that sees the error of the world system, the failure of riches for happiness, and the foolishness of fame. Our Christian liberty must be balanced with our Christian responsibilities. (See Galations chap 5 & 6.)

OK enough for now. But it is a question we need to think about. What is there in our lives and our church standards that we exclude because it is ungodly, worldly, or immoral? Anything? Nothing?        

Our meditation for today is the following verse.

 

Eph 6:13 ….that ye may be able to withstand

in the evil day, and having done all, to stand

April 3 Smyrna- Poor but Rich

April 3

Poor but Rich

Re 2:8  And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write…

Re 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich)..

The church at Smyrna knew suffering. But they continued to work for Christ in the face of horrendous obstacles. The early centuries of the church produced uncounted martyrs. When Christ addresses this church the focus is on their ability to withstand what was coming. They had endured, but greater tribulation would be their lot.

 Rome controlled everything from England to Egypt and much of the middle east. This vast area was divided into “states” which were then governed by people appointed by the Roman emperor. When Rome ordered Christian’s to offer to the Roman gods, the local politicians responded with varying degrees of compliance. Some in France and England obeyed by burning a few churches. In other places Christians were denied employment, could not buy or sell to merchants, had their property confiscated, their churches burned, were hunted down and killed in the worst possible ways. Will Durant in “Caesar and Christ” describes several ways Roman soldiers killed people. Whipped until the flesh was torn, then they used sea shells to scrape pieces of meat off and feed them to the dogs, during which they poured salt and vinegar on the victim.

The early centuries of the church saw periods of persecution and times of peace. The emperors of Rome tried ten times to exterminate all Christians, with Diocletian being the last around 300 A.D. It was also the greatest time of persecution.   

 

The Church at Smyrna suffered greatly during the years of persecution, which would not end until about 313 AD. That was about the time that Constantine made Christianity the State religion. In Durant’s book he has an interesting comment on pg 652 “Caesar and Christ had met in the arena, and Christ had won.“ Tertullian said “The Blood of the Martyrs’ is the seed of the church” 

Christ did not have any condemnation for the Church in Smyrna.

Smyrna was a large and prosperous city, one of the great medical schools was here, as well as great wealth from the sale of myrrh, a bitter spice. The main street was thirty feet wide with so many public baths it was hard to choose one.  But the Christian church was poor. They had lost many of their saints to Roman persecution. Even their Bishop, Polycarp, was arrested and hauled to the massive amphitheater. The people of Smyrna had insisted that the local official, Philip, enforce the law. So to appease them he had eleven Christians slain before them. The blood thirsty crowd demanded that the head of the Christian church in Smyrna, Bishop Polycarp, be killed as well. He was asked three times to take an oath to the gods, and deny Christ. His only request was he not be tied to the post when they burned him. He just stood there but a strong wind blew the flames away from him until an executioner was ordered to kill him with a sword. He exhibited what Christ had told this church.

Re 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer:

Such suffering and sacrifice is almost beyond our comprehension. We marvel at their courage to faithfully endure all for Christ. We question if we would have that much strength and the answer is yes. People who go through difficult times are given grace for that time. But you only receive “dying grace” when you are dying.

This devotional study has not been easy to write. It is probably as hard to read. Where is the uplifting message, the verse of scripture for us to meditate on for the day? 

Re 2:9 I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich)

No matter our situation, Christ knows what we have endured. He knows what kind of work we have done for him, even if no one else does. He knows your tribulation, because he lived it as well. He was also poor but knows what riches we have. Being a Christian is the richest way to live day by day. Lots of rich people are miserable. So are lots of poor people. It is not money but relationships that make us rich. Knowing Christ is the richest relationship of all. That is the primary verse for us to meditate on today.

     A second verse is also needed for us today.

Re 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer:

Notice the verse says to not fear things that may make us suffer. There is some suffering building in the world today for those who name the name of Christ. Our world has accepted homosexuality (sodomy) as a normal loving way to live. People who play sports and admit they are sodomites are treated as courageous loving people. The Bible condemns sodomy as evil. If you speak up and say anything negative against a sodomite, like homosexuality is a sin, you can be arrested for “hate speech”. If two fornicating men ask your bakery to make them a wedding cake, the courts have ruled you have to bake it or give up your business. Our schools no longer have Christmas and Easter breaks. Now they are winter and spring breaks. The ten commandments may not be posted in public buildings. Students cannot mention Jesus in graduation prayers. A church cannot engage in political speech, or promote a candidate. Don’t even think about spanking your kids or you will be subject to child abuse laws.

None of these restrictions existed 50 years ago.  Slowly but surely our society is becoming antagonistic toward Christianity. It is wrapped in words like tolerance, diversity, love, acceptance. Those who disagree are zealots, bigots, religious nuts, unloving, and intolerant. I wish this had been a happy, butterflies and rainbows kind of study but it is not. As Christians there are some serious questions that face us. Fortunately the bright spot in all this is Christ and the assurance we have in him.

Let us end this somewhat somber study with the words of a man who lived during a time when people were regularly executed for heresy. Yet he stood against the establishment and penned these words.

A mighty fortress is our God, A bulwark never failing;

Our helper he, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing;

And ends with  

Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;

The body they may kill; God’s truth abideth still; His kingdom is forever.

Martin Luther 

    

April 2 They are us

April 02

They Are Us

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment

must begin at the house of God:

Buried within the humor of comic strips we sometimes find gems of social and ethical truth. One of my favorites was pogo who had searched the swamps and declared “We have met the enemy and they are us!”  Unfortunately that is especially true in too many churches that claim to be “Christ centered, bible believing, new testament churches.”

There are six or seven churches that could claim that description in the small Michigan town I live near. Three of them have the word Baptist in their name. All of these churches may actually believe the same things, but their practices vary enough to make them incompatible. How can that be? Is one right and all the rest are wrong? I don’t think so. I am sure they all have some fine qualities. But I fear they may all be like the list of churches we find in Revelation, Chapters two and three. 

If you were going away for a couple days and leaving the kids with Gramma you would be sure to give them some positive instruction. “I want you kids to be nice. Remember your manners. Say please and thank you. I don’t want to hear any of you were bad when I get back.”

But that is not the case in Revelation. It seems a little odd that the last instructions to churches would be negative. “I have somewhat against thee…” is repeated to seven different churches. There must be a good reason and it might be instructive for us to look at them. Today let’s look at the first church of the seven  

All seven of the churches were in the western end of what is now Turkey. They were in a region controlled by the Roman government and known as Asia. Ephesus was one of the more important cities and the church at Ephasis is the first we will consider.

Re 2:2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy

patience, and how thou canst not bear them which

are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they

are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:

3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my

name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

Wow!  Sounds like a really good church to me. They worked for the Lord. They labored, they had patience, didn’t tolerate evil people, and could expose preachers who were liars. They could handle burdens with patience. They labored in the name of Christ, and they didn’t faint from their labors for Him. What more could you want?

I have somewhat against thee,

because thou hast left thy first love.

But isn’t the fruit of the Spirit work, labor, expose liars, bear burdens, and not faint?  No, it is not.

Ga 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love,

joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,

goodness, faith, 23 Meekness, temperance

Did you notice that the list does not include doing stuff for the Lord?  If you have these qualities in your life you will work for the Lord without a list of what you should do.  

The list starts with love. Corinthians 13 tells us that we can give our goods to the poor and our body to be burned and it amounts to nothing more than a tinkling cymbal if we have no charity. Please do not let translations steal the word charity and replace it with love. The word charity has many meanings, only one of which is love.

1Co 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and

have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.

But this church was busy for the lord. They were so faithful that a church council was held in Ephesus in 431 AD which condemned certain beliefs of the time. They were still exposing false teachers! Why isn’t that enough to make a great church? Because Christ had met people like this church before.

Lu 10:41 …Martha, Martha, thou art careful and 

 troubled about many things: 42 But one thing

is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part,

which shall not be taken away from her.

Martha was busy doing for Christ, while Mary desired to be near Christ and learn to be more like Him. Maybe Martha was too busy fixing a great meal and her fabulous Olive pie!

I have known some churches that were so busy doing things for the church they had no time to greet people. I actually attended a church for over a year and never had anyone except the assigned greeter say hello. They were so busy with the bus ministry, choir, children’s church, testing the sound system, tuning the recording equipment, preparing for baptisms, and who knows what else, they had no time for worship.

I have known pastors who were busy with a full schedule but did not love the people.

What do we need to do if we have “lost our first love”, if we do not have the exhilarating love for Christ we once had. Christ told the church at Ephesus to do three things. First to remember. Stop and recall those first days of being a Christian. Remember how you loved to read the Bible, were anxious to join others in worship, and were excited with each new thing you learned about Him. Remember how it was?

Secondly, admit your love has cooled and repent. Repent means to change directions. What are the things you really look forward to? A favorite TV program, Some special restaurant, fishing, finishing a good book?  Are your feelings for Christ greater than any or all of these?  Now none of those things is wrong. But losing your first love is.  

And lastly he told them to do the first things. Go back to being excited like you were when you first believed. How can you do that? Stop being so busy doing things for Him and start spending time with Him. Read, pray, meditate. Regain a closer walk with Christ.

This is a lesson we all need to be reminded of from time to time. 

Mt 22:37  … Thou shalt love the Lord thy God

with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with

all thy mind.  39 And the second is like unto it,

Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.