1 The 7 Lampstands: The Letters to the 7 Churches (Week 2 of the sermon series What Does Revelation Really Reveal?

) by Joshua L.F. Bower Delivered June 23, 2013 First Presbyterian Church, Whiteville, NC We need friends. In this life, if were going to survive it and maybe even thrive in it, we need friends. I love the song With a little help from my friends by the Beatlesand the Joe Cocker version also rocks. What would you do if I sang outta tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me? James Taylors Youve Got a Friend is just as good. You just call out my name, and you know wherever I am Ill come runnin. We need friends who will stick with us when our lives are outta tune, friends we can call even if we havent talked with them in years and theyll be there for us. We need friends who can laugh with us when were laughing and cry with us when were crying, friends who can carry on a great conversation with us or just sit with us without anybody feeling like they have to talk. We need friends who dont bail on us when were not perfect or acting exactly how they want us to. We need friends who know us as we are, and love us anyway. To have even one friend like that is about the best gift you can expect to get in life. In these 7 letters John wrote to the churches in the Roman province of Asia, Jesus proves that hes this kind of friend. Theres an intimacy to these letters you dont find hardly anywhere else in the Bible. Theyre extremely personal. Jesus knows these people: he knows what good theyve done and what good theyre trying to do. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance, he tells the Christians in Ephesus. To poor Christians struggling with poverty and persecution in Smyrna he says, I know your afflictions and povertyyet you are richyou will not be hurt at all by the second death. To the small church in Philadelphia, a city whose temple pillars had been torn down by earthquakes he says, The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. It wasnt easy to be a Christian back then. It seems that the Jewish people were slandering these young churches and maybe even trying to get the Roman authorities to check them out. And with that rejection came the constant cultural pressure to join in worshiping the Roman emperor or the pagan gods and goddesses, and the very real consequences for being seen as unpatriotic. And Jesus, to these Christians, and to

2 all Christians through all time who face persecution and hardship and cultural pressure just by claiming Jesus as Lordand thats all of us to one extent or anotherJesus is the friend we need. Its like he said in Matthew 11:29Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Or the hymn we sang a couple weeks ago: Can we find a friend so faithful, Who will all our sorrows share? We are never alone. Jesus shares our suffering and leads us through it. In this life, to survive and maybe even thrive, we need that kind of friend, and Jesus is it! Butand this is a big butthats not the only kind of friend we need. We need a friend who loves us enough to tell us when we have spinach in our teeth. You know what I mean, right? You get home after a party or something and youve been with friends and you look in the mirror and you see that big ole piece of spinach or broccoli or something RIGHT THERE between your front teeth. How long was it there? Why did nobody tell you about it? Everybody had to notice. And so all night long you were smiling and laughing and yuckin it up and everybody you were with could focus on 1 thing and 1 thing only: that food. And on a more serious than thatwe need friends who will rip the keys out of our hand and hide em if thats what it takes to keep us from driving when weve made bad decisions at a party. We need friends who will sit us down and tell usin lovethat we have a problem and theyre scared were killing ourselves. We need friends who will demand that we pull over when were falling asleep at the wheel. Well, in these letters John wrote, Jesus proves hes that kind of friend, too. Because Jesus knows and still loves these churches, he gives it to em straight. In the same intimate, personal way that he gives encouragement, he gives rebuke, because he loves these churches so much that hes willing to risk them being angry with him to save their life. This is a side of Jesus that we dont like to work with much, but its for real and its every bit as important as the Jesus that makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And yes, John delivered these words of Jesus to 7 specific churches in a specific time, but its meant for every church everywhere. The number 7 in Revelation means perfection or completeness. So these 7 churches are meant to represent every church for all time. And if youre not sure if thats true or not, check out the things Jesus calls the churches on the carpet for. As you hear these, ask yourself if you know of any churches,

3 or Christians, who fit these descriptions. If youre really fearless, ask where Jesus might be talking about you or this church. Jesus called the churches out for, in order: (1) Being so concerned with being righthaving good doctrine and correct biblical beliefs and figuring out whos got wrong beliefsthat you forget to love other people, especially the poor and other Christians. (2) Loving the culture more than you love Jesus. Making your faith something that has to fit in with whats popular or en vogue in the world. Also, putting love for the country they lived in ahead of their love for Christ. Generally, this adds up to living your life in such a way that, if somebody didnt already know you were a Christian, theres no way theyd ever find out. (3) Taking on the outside cultures beliefs about sexuality. Specifically: thinking that as long as you believe the right things in your mind and heart about Godyoure free to do whatever you want with the rest of your body. Or, the belief that faith in Christ actually makes you free to explore your sexuality with whoever and as many people as we because Jesus rejects rules and teaches grace and lovethat we should follow our heart and our feelings. (4) Having a great reputation in town for loving Jesus and living for him, for loving your neighbor as yourselfbut outside of the church building your faith doesnt actually affect what you do all that much and you dont treat anybody any better than a non-Christian would. And finally, (5) Being so concerned with money, dedicating yourself so completely to building and keeping wealth and financial security, that no matter how many crosses you wear, no matter how many Sundays you spend in church, you and everybody else knows that when it comes right down to it, the thing closest to your heart, the thing that means the most to you, it isnt Jesusits your back account. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churchesto Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Laodicea, and as much as I hate to admit it: Whitevilleand every place Ive ever called home, because I dont know about you, but Jesus coulda been talkin about me a few times in there! Jesus said to the church in Laodicea: Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. Teresa of Avila was a Christian mystic in Spain in the 1500s. Once, when she was praying, she complained to Jesus about all that she was suffering. He is said to have replied, This is how I treat my friends. And she prayed back at him: Then you shouldnt be surprised that you have so few of them! It can feel that way to hear the

4 words of Christ in scriptures like these. It can feel that way when one of our dear friends who loves us like crazy tells us the ugly truth about ourselves: its embarrassing, humiliating, and it makes us angry. But, when we have the time to really reflect on it (and sometimes its years later), most of the time its exactly what we needed to hear. Those churches needed to hear what Jesus had to say through John. Their lives depended on it. We need to hear it, too. Our lives depend on it as much as theirs did. Its time to stop acting like we have a choice between either being right or being lovingto be Christian is to value both equally, probably even valuing showing love to others a little higher than always being 100% correct. Its time to stop being intimidated by a culture that might not like all we have to say, but that can be convinced of the truth through what we do; its time to live in such a way that even if people had no idea we were Christians they would know it by the way we lived, loving others as much as we love ourselves. Its time to look to God first and the culture a distant second to learn how to use the gift of our God-given sexuality. Its time to stop worrying about our reputation around town and start letting God direct all our actions and how we treat those outside the church every second of every day. And its time to stop worshiping the god of obsession with money and buying all kinds of stuff and start letting God take center stage in our lives. These are not always easy things to hear; theyre even harder to do with any consistency. But our friend Jesus has told us the truth, and so now were called to live into that truth in the power of the Holy Spirit. And we can do that with confidence, because we know that we do have a friend in Jesusa friend who wont run away when we sing out of tune, will be there whenever we call, knows us and still loves us, and loves us enough to comfort us when were hurting and tell us the hard truths when were falling asleep at the wheel. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Amen.