Write Me A Letter
How amazing is it to receive a letter from an old friend? I remember getting letters from friends who had moved across the country (I know, back in the Stone Ages) and it always filled my heart with excitement to get their fun notes and pictures.
The churches mentioned in Revelation all got letters from Jesus. How amazing is that?! Each letter contained elements of the format below: a praise, criticism, exhortation, and a reward. Let’s break that down:
The churches mentioned in Revelation all got letters from Jesus. How amazing is that?! Each letter contained elements of the format below: a praise, criticism, exhortation, and a reward. Let’s break that down:
Praise - what you are doing right
Criticism - what you are doing wrong
Exhortation - a strong earnest speech or piece of advice, to convince someone to do what is good and right
Reward - a promise from God when for those who repent and do what is good and right
Some biblical scholars believe that the letters are reflective of different ages of the Church. Others believe that elements can be seen in our modern churches. But we want to break these down today to look at ourselves. What elements may be reflected in our own hearts?
Letter No. 1: Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7)
Praise: hard work, perseverance
Criticism: they forgot their first love
Exhortation: repent and do what you did at first
Reward: they will eat from the Tree of Life
Letter No. 2: Smyrna (Revelation 2:8-11)
Praise: you are rich, faithful
Criticism: none
Exhortation: be faithful
Reward: they will not be hurt by the second death, they will have external life
Letter No. 3: Pergamum (Revelation 2:12-17)
Praise: faithful despite being in Satan’s area
Criticism: sexual immorality, eating food sacrificed to idols
Exhortation: repent or I will war against you with the sword of My mouth
Reward: white stone with a new name
Letter No. 4: Thyatira (Revelation 2:18-29)
Praise: their deeds and love and faith and perseverance
Criticism: idolatry and sexual immorality - pretty intense, partnering with Jezebel
Exhortation: hold onto to what you have until I come
Reward: the Morning Star (symbolizing Christ Himself)
Letter No. 5: Sardis (Revelation 3:1-6)
Praise: none
Criticism: you are dead
Exhortation: wake up from spiritual stupor
Reward: dressed in white and never be blotted from the Book of Life
Letter No. 6: Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7-13)
Praise: their deeds and faithfulness
Criticism: none
Exhortation: hold onto to what you have
Reward: they will become a pillar of the Temple
Letter No. 7: Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22)
Praise: None
Criticism: your are lukewarm
Exhortation: be earnest and repent
Reward: they will be seated with Christ
Some of these letters are pretty sobering. And I have to ask myself, if Jesus were to write me a letter, would there be anything to praise? Would there be criticism?
Matthew 16:13-20
When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Isn’t that interesting? Jesus asks two questions here, to reveal the heart of the matter. He asks what others are saying about Him and then He narrows it down and says, “But what do you say about Me?” He made it personal. He offered them a moment of decision and they had to decide if they were going to follow what everyone else was saying, or what He told them was true. What do they know to be true of Him?
God showed Peter who Jesus was, that He was indeed the Messiah. From Peter’s faith, he was given a promise:
Promise Matthew 16:18
And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
That Greek word for church is translated as Ekklasia, which is a “called-out assembly”. We are all a part of that ekklesia! God calls us out of darkness into His glorious light, and we each build a part of his Church. But we are also a church (lower case) or Temple. We house the Holy Spirit inside us.
What if God were to write a letter to Refuge City Church? What would it say? Think about that for a moment. It would be really cool to hear what God sees in this church. We do a lot in the community, in missions, and loving people nobody else wants until they become people that everybody wants.
We want to know our praise, right? But we also need to know the criticism, so we can know what to fix!
Don’t forget: you’re the church! You’re a part of an assembly. What is the letter that God would write to you? We are the church. We are the Temple. We can have beautiful buildings, but that’s not the Church. When we come together, we become one Church under God. The building can be destroyed but that doesn’t kill the Church, because we are “living stones” that make up the Church (1 Peter 2:4-5).
We can’t come into church and pick apart all the things we don’t like. We can’t assume it’s someone else’s fault. You have to fix yourself. This matters, because what you do affects your fellow “living stones”--whether you’re in this place or at home. All of the traumas, insecurities, jealousies…those things join with everyone else’s. Until you heal from those things. Healing takes time, but we all need to be actively seeking God’s presence in these areas of our lives.
We need to be aware of our attitudes and traumas, whatever it may be—to have healing so we can be in unity. Otherwise we’re just hurting each other.
What Would He Have to Say About You?
Ask the Lord today to write you a letter. What is your praise, criticism, exhortation and reward?
It’s up to each one of us how we respond, how we handle each circumstance. Will you respond in the love and victory of Jesus Christ? Or will you react in defensiveness and a victim mentality?
God’s not going to ask me about your life when I stand before God on Judgment Day. He’s going to lay my life open, and the blame game will not work. I am the church, and I answer to God only for my life, because I can’t change anyone else but me. We try to offer excuses for why we treated people the way we did, but God will ask, “How do you think they treated my Son? He went through the worst trauma there is and He did not defend himself. He was gracious, set boundaries and responded with love.” We have no excuses because we are held to the same standards that Jesus set as an example, and we do it through the power of His Holy Spirit.
Living Letters
Jesus set the precedence when He went to the cross and didn’t fight back. Here is what He did do:
Jesus chose not to retaliate
Jesus offered forgiveness and love
Jesus never judged with condemnation
We need to look and act more like Jesus wherever we are, not just in the church building! When each church–each person–becomes more like Christ, we reflect who He really is to a lost and dying world. Lord, search our hearts, create a clean spirit within us! Make us into living letters, with the Word and His love written on our hearts so we can display Him correctly to the lost. Let this always be our prayer!
