What Kind of Church?

What do we know about the Lord's church? How do we know what He expects of us as a local group of His people? How can we know if we are a good church? What are the signs of a church going bad? How do we combat that great enemy of the church, indifference?

Most of our answers to these questions are found in the epistles, and in particular, those epistles (usually written by Paul) addressed to a specific local group (i.e. Ephesians, Philippians, the 2 letters to Thessalonica). These are good places to go to find out what the church should be like.

But what about the epistles of Jesus? In Revelation 2 and 3, Jesus has John write to seven churches, and in these letters, we find great insight into the church and its obligations to Christ.

First, we find that the church owes its allegiance to Jesus. He describes Himself as holding the seven stars (2:1; 3:1) and having power to remove any of the seven golden lampstands (2:1, 5). It is Jesus who watches over churches to be certain they are what they should be, and it is Jesus who will judge those churches.

Second, we learn the characteristics of churches which are going bad. In four churches (Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira and Sardis), we see what can go wrong in a church, and Jesus' remedy for righting a bad church. These letters are not filled with easy, pop culture platitudes; there is no "All you need is love." Rather, the most common instruction to these churches is, "Repent."

We also learn the characteristics of an indifferent church (Laodicea). We discover the need for them to repent as well, as we examine the arrogance it takes to develop such a weak, lukewarm attitude.

Certainly good churches do not go unnoticed by our Savior, and He commends two churches (Smyrna and Philadelphia) for refusing to give in to Satan's snares. These good churches are met with the promise of the crown of victory (2:10; 3:11).

It is not enough to merely read these letters, however. We must examine our own church. Are we a good church? Are we a church with much to commend, but which is going bad (as Ephesus was)? Are we so arrogant we have become indifferent?

The point is: What will we learn from these epistles of Jesus? We must find a way to make these epistles speak to us in ways that far too many fallen churches throughout the centuries have ignored.

Open your Bibles to these two important chapters in the book of Revelation. Join us as we devote this issue to determining what Jesus, in His own words, expects of His church. Join us as we look at the Lord's instructions about what to do with a church, whether it is right or wrong. Join us as we ask, "What kind of church are we?"