Considering the circumstances they were facing, Jesus’ words to the seven churches in Asia in Revelation 2-3 are surprisingly brief. They obviously deal with the most vital issues facing those communities.
But sometimes it can also be instructive to think about what isn’t said. Is there something omitted that we thought would be there? I can think of three things many people are probably surprised not to find in Jesus’ words to the seven churches.
1. Forget the church, I’m all about spirituality.
This is something we hear all the time (in one form or another) and is deeply embedded in Western culture. And to be fair about it, organized religion is an easy target. Whether you’re talking BC or AD, the number of atrocities that have been committed in the name of God would make a long list. And Jesus had His share of negative experiences with the religious establishment. His home church (synagogue) tried to put Him death in Luke 4. You can read about His expose of the religious leadership of His time in Matthew 23. Those same people plotted His death (John 11:45-53). In light of this, we might expect Jesus to endorse exactly such a point of view.
But He didn’t.
What we see instead is Jesus standing among the churches and claiming them as His. And it’s not a naïve ownership that He exercises. He sees them for all that they are: good, bad, and indifferent. He sees them as responsible for each other, so he doesn’t address them as isolated individuals but as a community. I’m convinced that He also sees them for what they can become and understands that they won’t be able to reach that by themselves. They’ll need the strength that can come only through community. The answer to humanity’s problems is not building walls but bridges.
“There’s nothing you could ever do to disappoint Me. “
There are some who are out of sorts that Jesus didn’t say something in accordance with their (mis)understanding of grace. They seem to think God doesn’t have any expectations for His children other than to forgive them for whateverthey do, whenever they do it, no matter why they did it.
But instead of saying something like “I love you and just want you to know that there’s nothing you could ever do to disappoint Me,” He says things like, “I will spit you out of My mouth” (3:16), and “If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place” (2:5). This Jesus takes right living seriously and expects His followers to do so as well.
I love you and would never allow you to suffer any kind of pain or hardship.
There are plenty of people who are okay with a cross for Jesus—just not for themselves. They want nothing to do with the holy hardship that comes from following Christ. They’re in it for health, wealth and prosperity. Anything more is not what they signed up for. Instead, Jesus spoke of suffering and being faithful “even to the point of death” (2:10), and of a disciple named Antipas being put to death (2:13).
So where does this leave us?
I suppose it would be easy to read Revelation 2 & 3 and say, “Wow—this doesn’t sound like the kind of thing I want to get involved in.” And many have done just that. In Jesus’ time there were some, who after they heard some hard teaching from Jesus, decided to leave. John tells us that “From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him” (6:66).
When this happened, Jesus asked the Twelve if they would leave as well. Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (v. 68).
Following Jesus Christ is without qualification the greatest thing in the world. And nothing with Christ is better than everything without Him. But in this life, there is no love without suffering. So, the real question isn’t if we will suffer, it’s what we choose to suffer for.
Disciples are people who have chosen to suffer for the One who suffered, died, and lives for them.
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 