Today's post is lesson 15 from my Learn Your Bible series...
Now it’s time to get out of the car, and go inside. . .
Jesus teaches us how to judge a church from the inside. . .
(Yes, Jesus has even more to say about that.)
Can you image assembling at church one Lord’s Day and. . . Receiving a letter from Jesus himself? Can you imagine it being addressed to your church? Well, it happened to seven churches!
The book that today we call the Revelation is actually a letter or series of letters written to the seven churches of Asia. The main body of the book of Revelation (AKA the Apocalypse) is for all, but chapters 2 and 3 are seven “cover letters” to those seven churches.
These letters arrived in about 96 AD. The church had gone from it’s infancy to maturity. The Christians of these churches were much like us. They had not seen the events of the Bible. They were “told” of the resurrection. The Apostles, (with the exception of John) were long dead.
In a practical way, we could describe these letters as Jesus’ evaluation of these churches. We hear a lot today about “this” or “that” making no difference (all churches being acceptable).
Since Jesus dictated these letters, Himself! Let’s put the modern attitudes to the test.
Does it matter to Jesus whether your church follows the Word of God?
- Read Revelation 1:9-18 Where was John? ______________ Who appeared? ______________ What was John’s reaction? _____________________ What would your reaction be? _____________________________
- Read Revelation 2:1-7 Which church received this letter? ________________ Vs 2-3 Was this a working church? _____ Did they put teachers/teachings/practices to the test? _________ Did Jesus rebuke or compliment this? __________ Vs 4 What is Jesus’ complaint? ______________ _______________ Vs 5 What is the “threat?” ______________________________
__________ Application: Will Jesus just ignore a problem in a church? ______ What do you suppose it meant to the people there if Jesus withdrew his acceptance of them? ______________________ Vs 6 Today we run from the term hate. Can it be appropriate to hate? ________ Is it appropriate to name names? _______ Does Jesus speak in such abstract terms they would have considered Him “politically correct?” ________________ - Read Revelation 2:8-11 Which church received this letter? _____________ Is it possible on earth to operate in such a way that Jesus has no complaints? __________ What lay in store for them? ____________________ Did Jesus encourage them? _________ When Jesus “evaluated” them, did they pass? ____________
- Read Revelation 2:12-17 Vs 12-13 Which church received this letter? __________ What happened there? __________________ Vs 14 Does Jesus get upset over allowing false teaching in a church? _________ When he describes said teaching, what name does he use to characterize it? _________ What are the two key elements of this teaching given? _______ _________________________ Turn to I Corinthians 10:20-22 Does this scripture deal with Jesus’ complaint? _______ Did this church “knowingly” ignore scripture? ___________ Turn to I Corinthians 11:18-22 Do churches today ignore this scripture in the next chapter? ________ Read Revelation 2:15 closely. Are we supposed to note principles from scripture? _________ How large would the Bible be if it were simply lists of every detail of what to do or not to do? _____________ If our actions are “in the same way.” Should we be concerned? ________ This church is obviously ignoring I Corinthians 10:20-22… Would your church be wise to ignore I Corinthians 11:18-22? _________Revelation 2:16 Would you like to be in that congregation? _________
- Read Revelation 2:18-29 Which church received this letter? _______________ Vs 18-19 Was this church “more” or “less” than when it began? _____________ Vs 20 Should the church be “tolerant” of teaching such of this? ____________ What two fields of toleration are listed? ___________________ Which passage in I Corinthians deals with the eating sin described here? ___________ Vs 22 if you support this church, how does it affect you? ___________________ Vs 23 What does this mean for the children of this church? ______________________________
___________________ - Read Revelation 3:1-6 Which church received this letter? ____________ Vs 1 despite the name and the appearance is it possible for a church to be dead inside? _________ Vs 2 How is deadness to be determined? _______________________ Vs 3 What are they to do? ____________ ________________ Vs 4-6 Look closely at Vs 5 What is the implied threat? ______________________________
___ Can the church’s actions affect your eternity? ___________ - Read Revelation 3:7-13 Vs 7-8 Who opens and closes doors for churches? _______________ Vs 9 are there those who claim to follow God that in fact do not? ______ Vs 10 are they commended for their new and different ways to serve God? ___________ What are they commended for? ______________________________
__ Vs 11 What is possible for someone else to do? _____________ Can they do it against your will? __________________ What are you to do to resist? ________________ Vs 12 What should you strive to be? _____________________ - Read Revelation 3:14-22 What church received this letter? __________ Vs 14-16 What is the worst sin? ______________ __________ Is it fair to say this makes the Lord sick to his stomach? __________ Vs 17 Can a church become so wrapped up in wealth they miss the point? __________ Does this sound like a lot of churches today? _______ Would it be fair to say they put their trust in wealth? __________ Is Jesus a jealous God? ___________________ Vs 18-22 What does Jesus council them to do? __________________ John 7:24. "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." Application:
- Does Jesus evaluate churches? _________
- Should you use the same standards Jesus uses to evaluate churches? ______________
- Does it appear that one church is as good as another in the eyes of Jesus? ___________
- Read II Thessalonians 2:1-13 Does it appear that God expected there to be a departure from the truth? ________________ Sometimes the Bible is addressed to churches, sometimes individuals. What makes up a church? _________________ Vs 3 What must happen before the end? _______________________ People have constantly tried to figure out what specific point in history this is referring to. Let’s ignore that for this study and look at the principles that emerge. Is it important for you to identify and avoid apostasy? ______________ Vs 5 Did Paul warn of such things to his generation? ___________ Shouldn’t we do the same? ________ Vs 9 Is the grandiose display to be a part of the presentation of erroneous teaching? ____________________ (Compare Vs 9 to the teaching of Jesus in Matt 7:13-14 What is one of the earmarks of most false teaching? ______________ II Thessalonians 2:10 what is the fatal flaw of those who loose out? __________ _______________________ Vs 11 is there a sense in which God can be said to be behind this? ________ Vs 12 Why would God allow such a thing? ________________________
"We are not again commending ourselves to you but {are} giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have {an answer} for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart." II Corinthians 5:12.
Hi I am glad you stopped by our blog. These articles are from an emailing that we did several years ago. Today most of our work is on facebook
You can follow my personal page on Facebook by clicking on this link ...
You can follow the postings on the congregation's page by clicking on this link....
If you wish to worship with us....
Las Vegas church of Christ
709 Dora Celeste
Las Vegas, NM 87701
Our meeting times are
10am Sunday morning for Bible study.
11am Sunday morning for the worship service.
6pm Wednesday evening for Midweek Bible study.
If you wish to contact me...
yakipreacher@gmail.com
Be well
Jerry Blount
