Jesus' Assessment
“This tells us something about the dangers of living in a wealthy culture or having a wealthy church. For those of us who pastor or lead in a church where people are middle class and above, we need to realize how money impacts our corporate capacity for self-delusion and listen more carefully to what Jesus says to us and about us. We have a far greater need to be clear about this because having all our needs met can fool us into believing we are blessed.” -Barnard and Quick
“Affluence has made us “lukewarm,” for we have become self-satisfied and interpret our trappings of “success” (big church, beautiful buildings, huge budgets) as God’s blessings.” – Grant Osborne
One of the keys to understanding the letters to the 7 churches in Revelation 2 and 3 is getting the local context. When you dive deep into the history of these cities, you find there is an incredible connection between the city and the church in the city. Moreover, you discover that Jesus speaks to each church and cultural context in a way that makes it obvious He knows exactly what surrounds and is in each church. This is a powerful comfort to those who seek Jesus for leading, equipping, and encouraging growth in the church. Closer to home, it is a powerful comfort to me as a pastor. Especially as the Leadership Team and I are on this journey to discover God’s preferred future for Harvest Lane Alliance Church, it is of great help to know Jesus doesn’t hide from the church His assessment or His desires for them. Here is the reality presented again and again in the letters to the churches: “I know…” This knowledge as the Greek word here tells us, is the personal intimate kind. So, Jesus knows our church. He knows our past. He knows our present. He knows our future. He is glad to communicate to the church that listens and obeys. Praise God for such a wonderful, powerful assurance! Jesus is not in the business of leaving the church without direction, correction, or encouragement. Rather, He gives all of these to the church in clear easy to understand terms which are culturally relevant to them. Please pray with and for myself and our Leadership Team as we seek to first hear what Jesus is saying and to be obedient in what we hear. This is the Holy Spirit’s work and so we are dependent on God to speak.
In the application part of the message yesterday, I quoted Leonard Ravenhill as posted above. I do think that he gives an incredible insight here into how we discern where we are self-deluded into self-sufficiency. What matters have we not committed to pray as a church family? What endeavors are we going forward in without seeking to bathe them in prayer? What hasn’t been on our ‘prayer list’ recently? How can we repent zealously and begin again with God-dependency? Open our ears Lord, help us to listen. Open our hearts Lord, empower our obedience. Jesus, save us from ourselves and our prideful self-dependence.
“If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on and no one would know the difference. If the Holy Spirit had been withdrawn from the New Testament church, 95 percent of what they did would stop, and everybody would know the difference.” – A.W. Tozer