The 7 Churches of Revelation

It’s a game with winners and losers, where if you want to win, you have to do exactly what you’re told, when you’re told, and if you don’t, you’re out! If you’re told to jump, you jump. If you’re told to close your eyes, you close them. If you’re told to stand on one leg and hop like a bunny while barking like a mad dog, well.... then you must that too.

Well that doesn’t sound very difficult, does it? Not at all. Until you realize there are many imposters who are trying to trick you into listening to their voice, instead of the one who are supposed to! For if you follow the wrong voice you will lose and be out of the game!

So how can you know the right ones from the wrong ones? The right commands are given with the name of a very special person While the wrong ones do not, and must not be ignored!

What game am I talking about? “Simon Says”

It’s not Johnny says, it’s not Billy says, it’s not Sally says, it’s “SIMON SAYS.” And if Simon says it, you do it, or you’re out! And if Simon doesn’t say it, and you do it - you’re out too! So in this game, you must learn to differentiate between Simon and all of the imposters, like Simone, Simeon, and TIMAN, who are trying to lead you astray! Ans so if we are going to win, we must ONLY follow the voice of Simon.

Church, have you ever thought about the fact that we are in a cosmic game of “Spiritual Simon Says?” We truly are. however, it’s not a game - it is in fact a cosmic battle for the souls of men and the glory of God. Which is waged between Christ and His church, and the kingdom of darkness. And to win this battle, we, being the church, must follow the voice of our leader, Jesus Christ - the Son of the Living God! For if we do, we will find success and rewards waiting for us.

Notice I said that the church is Christ’s church. And I said that because it’s HIS Church - for Christ is the one and only true head of the church. The head of the church isn’t the pope. The head of the church isn’t your pastor. The head of the church isn’t The deacons. And.. sometimes church members either forget this or don’t realize this, BUT the head of the church isn’t even you no matter how much you give or how long you’ve been coming! For the truth is, this is Christ’s church - He it’s head, and we are HIS body.

¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

Colossians 1:18 ESV

When it comes to your job, if you want to do well, you have to listen to your boss. And one of the most helpful things for knowing how well you’re doing that, is a performance review, or a job review. Because in a job review - if it’s accurate and honest - you will come to see how well your boss thinks you’re doing or not doing at your job. Which then gives you the opportunity to improve in the ways you fall short, instead your boss just suddenly firing you without you even having a clue that it was coming!

Now, I don’t know about you, but often times I wonder how we are doing as a church. Sometimes I wish Christ would just show up and give us an honest review at how we are doing when it comes to listening to His voice. Because I really do want our church to be a faithful church that pleases Christ! And I hope you do as well. And so sometimes I wish Christ would just show up and give us an honest performance review, so that we can know EXACTLY what it is we need to work on! Instead of having to wait for the day of judgment to find out.

But thankfully, and in the book Revelation (not the book of REVELATIONS) - there’s NO book of REVELATIONS... anymore than their’s an AWANAS, an ALDIS, or a COSTOS! It’s Revelation! And yes, that will definitely be on the exam! But in the book of Revelation, in chapters 2 and 3, we find 7 churches that Jesus sits down with, in order to give them an open and honest performance review! He tell their successes He tells them their failures! He warns them about what to do and what not to do AND, as a good boss, He tells them what the consequences will be if they fail to listen to His review and course correct their behavior. And He does this NOT JUST FOR THEM! But for all of the churches for the rest of time so that we can take his review and apply it to ourselves. Which is exactly what we plan on doing this morning.

Now, before just skydive into chapters 2 and 3, we get a little lay of the land here so we know what we are getting into. So let’s do that first.

In chapter one we find an enormous “SIMON SAYS” command attached to what Jesus is about to tell us Revelation 1:8 (ESV) 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” And then in verses 17 and 18 “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

The book of Revelation is primarily about future things that will come to pass, However, that’s not ALL OF IT. As it’s actually divided up into 3 parts: As one theologian put it:

The things which have been seen = The glorified Christ The things which are = Chapters 2-3 After these things = Chapters 4-22

And so it is these first 3 chapters that we find a message from Christ to 7 literal churches in John’s day. Which also provides application for our church, 2,000 years later.

Now, we aren’t going to unpack all of chapter one, but we need to deal with a couple of the symbols we find here in it before we get to the performance review part.

So first off, we find John speaking of 7 Golden Lamp stands and 7 stars. and what are those? Well, it’s not a big mystery, John himself tells us exactly what they are in verse 20.

²⁰ As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

Revelation 1:20 ESV

And just like that, we solved one of the mysteries of the book of Revelation! … Sometimes people sure do overcomplicate things when the answer right there in front of them.

Now, the 7 lampstands represent the seven churches. Which makes sense, right? because, like a lampstand, the church is to be a light in the darkness. And I’m you remember what Jesus told us back in Matthew 5.

¹⁴ “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

Matthew 5:14-15 ESV

Now notice something, Notice how John said that Christ was standing in the midst of these lampstands. Which is absolutely true! Christ doesn’t dwell outside of His church, He’s the head of the church and dwells within it, for it is His body.

And there’s some interesting fact about this For one, the lampstands are made of gold, which is the most precious and valuable of all metals. Which reminds us of how precious and valuable we are to God. How precious? So much precious to Him that He gave up EVERYTHING for us in order to die for us on a cross!

Another thing, Gold is a metal that shines brilliantly and is often a symbol of purity and holiness. Which is what we as a church ARE in Christ’s eyes. And remember, this is exactly how Christ views us, even in the midst of a performance review where we aren’t perfectly performing! And praise God for that! Because the reason that’s true, is because of the cross of Christ where our sins were paid for IN FULL! And because they were paid for in full And because our sins are washed away We can sit down for a performance review without fear of ever being condemned!

OK, let’s talk about the 7 stars in Jesus’ right hand. Verse 20 tells that they are the 7 angels of the 7 churches. Now I did just say that the book of Revelation is mostly pretty straightforward… Which is true, But, this part here is a little trixy because the Greek word for Angel is Angelos, which means either “messenger” or “angel,” depending upon the context. So, technically it is possible that each church has a guardian angel, and Jesus is writing them a physical letter from John to read… (buuuut, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, especially given the current context is TO CHURCHES. So… most scholars agree, the better way to translate this is t The 7 stars are the 7 angelos - not 7 angels, but 7 messengers of the 7 churches, which are in Jesus’s right hand.

OK, so now we just need to figure out who these 7 messengers are, and then we are all set. Now, as we said Christ is the HEAD of the church, who communicates to his church through His written Word - the Bible And within the church, who is the messenger who brings that written Word to the people? This one isn’t hard - it’s the shepherds, or the pastors, of the church. For the pastor is God’s angelos, His “messenger” to the church, as he is responsible to faithfully preach God’s Word to them.

And notice where these stars are in verse 20. Where are they? In Jesus’ right hand. Which is a very important detail about how Christ views the messengers, or the pastor’s of His church. For He holds them close to Himself, In His very right hand!

See, in the Bible, the right hand symbolizes of strength and control And the fact that these stars (or pastors) are in Jesus’ right hand shows us that not only are they very important to Him but... they are under His sovereign authority. And bringing this back to our study through Matthew 23, to oppose those whom Christ not only loves but also has sovereignly appointed, is not good idea.

Now, we shouldn’t need to say this - but sadly I’m afraid we do need to... But the fact that the pastors of a church are compared to stars in Jesus’s right hand, doesn’t mean they should start acting like Hollywood stars! it’s not a license for them to get an ego and start throwing their weight around. What’s it there’s for is to remind pastors who in the midst of all of the trouble and hardship how much Christ cares for them and how sovereign He is over whatever it is they are facing. And praise God for that, because that is a truth that pastors NEED to be reminded of! And a truth the church needs to be reminded of Which is why we find it in Revelation chapter 1.

So that’s it for symbols, so now we can continue our performance review with the 7 churches And s we said earlier, In the letter to seven churches, Jesus offers some of them praise, some of them rebuke along with praise, and one of them is given only a very serious rebuke and warning.

And so as we approach these churches, let’s ask ourselves, which church are we?

Which church are we?

1. Ephesus
2. Smyrna
3. Pergamum
4. Thyatira
5. Sardis
6. Philadelphia
7. Laodicea

The First church is the church of Ephesus.

¹ “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands. ² “ ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. ³ I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. ⁴ But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. ⁶ Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. ⁷ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.’

Revelation 2:1-7 ESV

The Church of Ephesus is the church that the book of Ephesians was written to: And to start, it looks pretty good! For in verse 2, we see Jesus commends them for being hard working, For hating what is evil, Because as Christians we are to love what God loves and hate what God hates, And Jesus commends them for rejecting false teachers, who were calling themselves apostles - which they weren’t.

However, in verse 4, Jesus rebukes them: And for what? For forgetting what Paul told them in Ephesians 4:15, when he told them to SPEAK THE TRUTH IN LOVE... Yes, they were busy with ministry! Yes, they were doctrinally sound, But… they didn’t have love. And as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13, without love, what are we? A noisy gong, or a clanging symbol. As Christians, our first love is Christ, and if we lose our first love for Christ, we will lose our love for others! And so the lesson for us then is to pause and examine ourselves to see if the joy of our salvation has diminished since we first believed, Which results in loveless religious obedience! and if it has, as Jesus says in verse 5, we MUST REPENT, lest Christ remove our lampstand! Which means, He might abandon this church and allow it die out.

The second church is the church of Smyrnia.

⁸ “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. ⁹ “ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰ Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. ¹¹ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’

Revelation 2:8-11 ESV

Smyrnia is the only church that receives only praise and no correction. and in verse 9, they are praised for not fearing death, and clinging to Christ in the face of tribulation and poverty And what a lesson that is for us, which lead us to ask ourselves: “Am I willing to give up life itself to follow Christ?” And ya know, that’s a easy question to answer when you’re living in America without the real threat of martyrdom. So maybe start smaller. Instead of starting with the question, am I willing to give up my life to follow & serve Christ, Maybe start with asking: “Am I willing to give up my time, my money, my resources, in order to follow & serve Christ?” And sadly, when we look at the current state of the American church, it’s often pulling teeth just to get Christians do attend the Sunday morning gathering, read their Bibles, or pray.

The Third church is The church of Pergamum.

¹² “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. ¹³ “ ‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. ¹⁴ But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. ¹⁵ So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ¹⁶ Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. ¹⁷ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’

Revelation 2:12-17 ESV

And this church was commended because they faced HEAVY persecution, as they lived int he area where Satan dwells. Now remember, Satan isn’t omnipresent like God is. He is confined to one place at at time. And at this time, he dwelt where the church of Pergamum dwelt, which results in cruel and barbaric persecution upon them! And yet, they held strong!

However, while they were commended for this, Jesus also rebuked them for tolerating false teaching - which the teachings of the Nicolatians and the teachings of Balaam, who caused stumbling blocks for others, AND practiced sexual immorality. And for this, Jesus warns them that if they will not repent he would soon come with the double-edged sword of His mouth, which means judgment. And so, in a culture that believes “doctrine divides, but love unites”, never forget that Jesus takes Doctrinal purity VERY, VERY seriously.

The Fourth church is the church of Thyatira.

¹⁸ “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. ¹⁹ “ ‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. ²⁰ But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. ²¹ I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. ²² Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, ²³ and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. ²⁴ But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. ²⁵ Only hold fast what you have until I come. ²⁶ The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, ²⁷ and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. ²⁸ And I will give him the morning star. ²⁹ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Revelation 2:18-29 ESV

Christ commends this church for their love, faith, service, patient endurance, and great works, However, He rebukes them for tolerating sexual sin and idolatry amongst the church. Like the Christians in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, who wrongly thought their tolerance of sin showed their love, Jesus warns that it actually shows their lack of love for Him! And is sin that God takes very seriously And my goodness, not only does our Culture need to hear this, but the American church needs to hear this lesson today! For the evangelical church is plagued by: adultery, Pornography, Music & Movies full of nudity, sex, and violence, Lust, Fornication, You name it - it’s there! In response to this, Jesus tells them that if they do not repent, He will “make those who commit adultery suffer intensely and will strike their children dead.” He’s not playing around here. For sexual sin and idolatry is a serious sin before God. And so if you’re caught up in it, REPENT and get HELP immediately!

The Fifth church is the church of Sardis.

¹ “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. ² Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. ³ Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. ⁴ Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. ⁵ The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. ⁶ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Revelation 3:1-6 ESV

While Jesus commends the few who had remained faithful, He quickly and clearly condemns the overall lifeless state of the church. He says: “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead!” Sure, this church had a good reputation, but they were spiritually lifeless. Though they looked good on the outside, they were dead on the inside! In other words, the church was filled with unsaved people who were merely going through the motions of religion. Which again, sounds an awful lot like what we find today in many churches. And in response to this, Jesus calls them to repent of their sin: “Wake up!” He says. “Strengthen what remains and is about to die” “Remember what you received and heard; obey it, and repent!” And then to the faithful few, Christ gives a promise of eternal life, telling them that He will never blot their name out of the book of life.

Sixth, is the church Philadelphia

⁷ “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. ⁸ “ ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. ⁹ Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie - behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. ¹⁰ Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. ¹¹ I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. ¹² The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. ¹³ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Revelation 3:7-13 ESV

The church of Philadelphia is given praise, with one negative point. Which is they are weak, with little power as verse 8 says. But still, Christ says to them: “I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” (Revelation 3:8). The church of Philadelphia was weak in some respects, yet they had remained faithful to Christ, the Lord and head of the church. And though they were weak, because they were faithful, Christ promised them an “open door” of blessing.

Finally, we find, to the church of Laodicea,

¹⁴ “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. ¹⁵ “ ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. ¹⁷ For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. ¹⁹ Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. ²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. ²¹ The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. ²² He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”

Revelation 3:14-22 ESV

Out of all of the 7 churches, this is absolutely the one we do not want to be at all, in any way, shape or form. For to this church, Christ has nothing to commend them for. In fact, He is repulsed by their “lukewarm” heart.

See, both hot and cold water are useful. Hot water can cleanse and purify; cold water can refresh and enliven. But lukewarm water is good for nothing - It is completely USELESS. And being like lukewarm water is useless, Jesus rebukes them for being USELESS instead of useful. In fact, their lukewarm state wasn;’t just irritating to Him, He says it is nauseating to Him… it sickened Him, w Which is why He said he was about to spew them out of his mouth.

And so those are the 7 churches of Revelation, Which are given a performance review by King Jesus, who is the head of the church. And so the question remains, how are we doing as a church? If Christ showed up this morning, and addressed this church, which is HIS CHURCH, Would He praise us or spew us out of His mouth for being lukewarm? Would He commend us, or condemn us?

To the church of Ephesus, iChrist warned them, saying: “You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you DO NOT repent, I will come to you and REMOVE your lampstand from its place.”

Church, if we lose at Simon Says, there ARE MASSIVE consequences! When Jesus says, “I will remove your lampstand from it’s place” do you realize what He’s saying?... The church is a lampstand, which is meant to shine brightly in the darkness. Jesus is saying, He’ll remove that lukewarm church and spew it out His mouth, thus causing that church’s gospel light to go out!

And sadly today we know this is exactly what happened to the church of Ephesus, which lies there in ruins, in a country that is in spiritual ruins.

Revelation 2:7 (ESV) 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

The church of Ephesus started strong, and even had book of the Bible written to them, but as history shows, they failed to do as Simon Says, and the consequences were very real.

As believers, our salvation is secure, so don’t misunderstand me here this morning. But IF we fail to follow Christ, who is the head of the church, there is MUCH at stake.

Have you left your first love? Have you fallen into sin and refused to get out of it? Are you living for Christ? If not, repent, and RETURN TO YOUR FIRST LOVE - Jesus Christ -and follow Him fully, for HE, IS, WORTHY! For He is “the Alpha and the Omega,” “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

This is the manuscript the sermon was preached from, so the recording may differ in places.