Equipping University

The one primary factor about which each pastor and church member should be concerned is not the size, wealth, or style of the church. Instead, each should be concerned about their church's health. There are certain aspects that determine whether a church is healthy or unhealthy. If these marks are present, the church is healthy. If these marks are absent, the church is unhealthy and will eventually die if they are not addressed.

Sadly, our country is filled with unhealthy churches. Even more sadly, this is nothing new. Not long after the ascension of Jesus Christ, we find that the first churches to exist were just as fouled up as ours are today. We even suffer through the same types of problems.

There is one other church that is so well known for its errors that it is now stereotypical of the unhealthy church. In fact, this church is in such bad shape that it threatened to make Christ sick! This church is the church in Laodicea. The words Christ spoke to the believers there are the words believers in America must hear today.

Jesus will preserve his church and will present his bride to his Father at the end of the age. Realistically speaking, it seems an impossibility that the church made it through the first two hundred years of its existence alive. However, there are Christians in every nation and Christ will redeem "a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" (Rev 7:9-10). God is not interested in the power of these individuals or their size when they gathered together on earth. Instead, God cares only about their faithfulness. We may never be important but we can all be faithful.

The words of Christ to the church in Sardis are the stuff of pastoral nightmares. No pastor or church member would ever want to hear the words delivered to the church in Sardis addressed to their own congregation. The letter suggests that the church in Sardis had slowly taken on the characteristics of its city, a group of people on the verge of death. Like the residents of Sardis, the Christians there were ignorant or deceived about the safety of their future existence as a church. They did not realize that the essence of a church is not found in its buildings, programs, past achievements, or reputation. Instead, the essence of a church is found only in its right fellowship with Christ as demonstrated through doctrinal orthodoxy and a holy life of loving service, continual repentance, and Spirit-filled obedience.

The situation in the church in Thyatira is almost identical to that in Pergamum. Certain teachers are making inroads within the congregation and teaching a false doctrine of accommodation with the culture and condoning spiritual adultery. We do not know all we wish we knew about this city. Our difficulty in interpreting this particular letter comes from the many references to daily life that are now obscure to us with the passing of time and lack of archaeological evidence. Yet, while Thyatira is the least known, least important, and least remarkable of all seven cities in Revelation, it receives the longest letter. Therefore, we see that even though the city was relatively unimportant, the same cannot be said for the church in that city. The words Christ directed to them still impact churches today.