Compromise is when we accommodate our Christian beliefs and practices to align with or at least harmonize with whatever the culture holds dear. It might seem harmless, but compromise is a cancer that threatens Christ’s church in 2023, just as it did the church at Pergamum.

The Church at Smyrna was in the midst of much suffering in their city, and they were trying to persevere as Christ followers. Jesus was very aware of the landscape of their world and lives, just as he is aware of our current trials and hardships in our cultural context. More trials are coming, but he commands us to be faithful.

The church at Ephesus was a good church-going people who diligently did things right, but in focusing on doing the "right things," they had become people who were not loving. Truth and sound doctrine are essential, but we need to speak and live the truth from a heart of love.

Revelation is a work of art, doing what only good art can do: activating our imagination; giving us an interpretive lens through which to see the moments of life so that you can respond correctly. Revelation is a book about practicing the way of Jesus in the now and not yet.

We live in the now and not yet, which means we are not immune from the problems of the old world. But we know that one day, the not yet will overwhelm the now and flood the earth with God’s love, justice, and goodness. In other words, our confidence in God’s ultimate future should give us the resources we need to respond differently to problems we face.

One of the interesting things about living in the now and not yet is that our lives often look, at least at a surface level, very similar to that of the people all around us who don’t follow Jesus. A perfect example of this is our relationships with one another, such as marriage. For Peter, the marriage relationship becomes a way to out-narrate the culture with the story of Jesus.

From your school to your job, from your HOA to the federal government, our world is full of people with different levels of authority over your life. If you are a follower of Christ, how should you respond to the various authorities in your life in light of your identity in Christ, especially those you disagree with?

In the biblical sense, the word holy means ‘set apart for a purpose,’ ‘unique,’ or ‘divine.’ God, of course, is holy. And because God is holy, those who belong to him are called to pursue holiness as a lifestyle. After all, if there is nothing different about us, then by implication, there must not be anything different about Jesus.

We live in a ‘now’ culture, which means we struggle with the words ‘not yet.’ But, as we will discover in the weeks ahead, ‘now’ and ‘not yet’ are not competing opposites. They are truths in tension. Followers of Jesus are, in fact, the people of the now and the not yet.

Organizations, including local churches, often labor over how to communicate their values and mission. When it comes to these important statements of identity and purpose, words matter because they provide the guiding principles of that church or organization. When you hear a good mission statement, it should inspire you to chase something, to see the world a certain way. Seven Marks is no different in this regard. Our mission statement is: practicing the way of Jesus together.