Who Are You And Who Are Your People?

Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. [Revelation 3.1]

Just to be sure we understand what is going on here... Jesus is telling John to write (what proves to be) a short letter to the respective angels of each of the seven churches. At the same time, Jesus is holding in His right hand seven stars which are the very angels of the seven churches to which these letters are to be written, while standing in the midst of seven lampstands which are the seven churches.

And, after the angel of each church is addressed, Jesus repeats:

Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. [Revelation 3.6]

It makes me feel quite dull when I read all this! What is going on?

It would seem there is a Kingdom "order" in the existence of the seven churches. The fact that there is an angel for each church and that John is to write to the angel of the church instead of the church itself must be significant. The angel of each church obviously represents the cumulative whole of that church and is addressed based on the majority cumulative works of that group even though contrasting minority works are recognized within the whole. 

While today's Church "of grace" agrees that works do not establish the Church, they must also understand that works undeniably maintain the Church as it fulfills God's will in the earth. The Church is indeed saved by grace, but will be judged by works subsequent to saving grace. 

The subject passage above reveals that the angel of the church of Sardis was "called out" for the very indiscretion of having the reputation of grace (being alive) while in fact, their works proved otherwise.

But still, why address the angel of each church instead of the church itself? To understand why is to understand the Body of Christ - one body with many parts: "if the feet run off a cliff, the whole body will suffer from the fall." The significance of this is overwhelming considering the things that go on in the Church today among the majority of its members! In light of this, every church member's actions affect every other church member. While this ideology is foreign to today's church society, it was very much established in the early church as recorded in the Book of Acts. 

It is of no surprise then, that if each gathering of believers is judged as a whole, and that whole is mostly indifferent and apathetic toward living like Jesus in the world today, then it is not remarkable that the power of God does not manifest in their midst (even if they do have one or two genuinely committed believers).

IF this is indeed what Jesus is attempting to get the church to understand (Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches), then a believer's choice of whom he assembles and associates with is critical! Likewise, it is each member's responsibility to help each and every other member do good works for the good of the whole. It is simply not sufficient to all sit around singing about grace while commiserating in sin! Grace bears good works and the overall health of the body is dependent upon the health of each body part! If a particular member is not bearing the fruit of good works, then it is the responsibility of all the other members to lovingly change that. Our own bodies teach us the principle that if our leg is wounded, our hand immediately goes to it!

Every believer must ask himself or herself this question: "Am I associating with other believers whose cumulative whole is doing the good works of Jesus as documented in the Gospels?" If not, then what?

I must say, what is said here does not bode well for Mega Church mentality. 

Who are you and who are your people?

Father, I want to hear and understand what Your Spirit is saying through Your Word!