Feb 12 2017 How to be an Overcomer - The Churches in Revelation

Thank You for Your love and grace. You loved us and saved us and gave us a relationship with You. May Your love fill our hearts with a sense of appreciation and as a result, that our love would grow – for You and others and the world – that we would leave more like Jesus than when we came. That is the goal. In Jesus’ Name.

I mentioned last week – we are starting a series – Lent is only a couple weeks away – and we will be doing a precursor to Lent – spiritual transformation – and learning to overcome those things that we can feel enslaved to. We will be going through the 7 churches in the book of Revelation – and in each of those letters to the churches, there are things that John writes about – during Lent there is this sense of sorrow – and to each of the churches a thing they need to overcome in order to remain faithful to God. I’d like to give an overview starting today. I’m not going to go into who the antichrist is or anything like that. My perspective on Revelation may be slightly different from Yours – that may disappoint you – but I’m going to share my understanding of it.

Revelation 1: 1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place;

3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.

Revelation is probably one of the most popular books in the Bible – and probably the most misunderstood. Back when I became a Christian, back in the Seventies – there were so many movies and books about the book of Revelation – a Thief in the Night, A Distant Thunder – The Late Great Planet Earth – and then the Left Behind series – and they zeroed in on prophecy and predictions of what will happen in the end times. They zeroed in on the antichrist and the mark of the Beast.

During that time – a lot of people came to know Christ.

You might find this odd – but Chuck texts me every Sunday morning saying he is praying for me and our church (that’s not the odd part) – but this week he included a verse from the book of Revelation. I texted him back – and said – I’m starting a series on the Book of Revelation today! And he texted me back – I became a Christian as a result of the book of Revelation!

A lot of the predictions back then were WRONG. One friend thought Ronald Wilson Reagan was the antichrist because the number of letters in his names – 6-6-6. Unless he comes back from the dead, my friend was dead wrong.

Things that must “soon take place” – I think many of these things happened back then. Of course there are things that are yet to come. Nothing in the Bible is “predicted” – Vegas makes predictions. God makes PROMISES about what is going to happen – not PREDICTIONS. But what is discussed about the future is purposely veiled. I believe that God does not want us to read Revelation as a code we are trying to crack. John’s letter of Revelation was written to people in his day – those who had first-hand experience about what he was writing about and they understood what he was saying. They KNEW what it was about.

A great persecution and a time of suffering had begun for the churches at the time John wrote the book. There is an impending outbreak of persecution all around.

3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.

This book is written to comfort and strengthen those this was written to…

You will be blessed – given peace – comforted and encouraged. Blessed are the ones who HEED what is written. John’s concern is that they would remain faithful to the Lord in all that they are going through. There is tremendous pressure to conform to the power of evil in the world, and John is continually contrasting the kingdom of the world and of God. There is this beast and a harlot – and on the other hand – He talks about the Lamb. There are two kingdoms, completely opposed.

Revelation 1:4 John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood—

He goes back to comfort and hope.

He tells us whom he is writing to – in verse 11 – He tells them the names –

"Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."

They were the churches in those cities.

Today – it would be the Church in Cuyahoga Falls…

Revelation 1:9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

John was exiled to this island – that is what they did with criminals – kind of like what they did with Australia. John was viewed as a revolutionary against the empire because he proclaimed the gospel. Every action and word of John was a protest against the Empire.

A church history lesson: To say Jesus is Lord – in John’s day – for us, today – someone is identifying their belief system and maybe what place Jesus has in their lives. For the Christians in John’s time – when you said that – it was very subversive and in direct opposition to the Empire. In effect, you were saying, “Jesus is Lord, and Caesar is not” – in the Empire

It is lost that in 42 BC the Roman senate proclaimed Caesar to be a deity – and in 27 BC ‘son of God’ – so when the church declared that Jesus was the son of God – it was unpatriotic and an announcement against the State.

“since Providence, which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a savior (soter), both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance (epiphanein) … since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good news for the world that came by reason of him…”During the time of the apostles – Rome was a diverse Empire – much more than the US today. Rome was extraordinarily religiously tolerant. Incredible religious tolerance – except in one instance. As a result of these declarations of Caesar being a god or the son of God”

When Paul says – no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit – we don’t think that is a big deal – but in their day – you could be executed for saying it –

So the Empire started the Imperial Cult – a worship of the Emperor and the empire. We are always loyal to what we really worship. So if it is sporting events – if that is what we really worship – sporting events, our bank account – Jesus said you cannot serve two masters – you will love the one and hate the other. You cannot serve God and technology – or popularity or fame or things – you will love one and hate the other. In Rome, you can worship whatever you want – just as long as you also worshiped the Emperor. When they conquered a country – they would ask – what religions do you practice –and it was fine, as long as they worshiped the empire and the emperor.

This brings us back to Revelation.

The Emperor bestowed honor on the cities who most practiced the Imperial Religion.

Pergamum was a primary city – they held festivals and had the hugest temple built for Caesar in that day until Ephesus built a bigger one – like cities vying for the Olympics today.

If you demonstrated your loyalty to the empire – as a city – the city would be given money and power and influence!

Like today – but different – but the same! So everyone was forced to participate in Emperor Worship. There was a pressure on Christians to participate. So then we had Christians saying Jesus is Lord – and their neighbors and family members and friends and employers would say – you are so unpatriotic – an enemy of the government. And it was costing these Christians dearly when they rejected the worship of the empire.

Right around this time – Nero unleashed his persecution of the church.

“in the aftermath of the persecution of Nero (AD 68), churches closed their doors to outsiders – and by the end of the second century – they had closed – “The discipline of the secret” – ordering Christians to not talk about what happened behind closed doors. They had to go underground – and this is what is coming on for the people John is writing to. The concern is that they would remain faithful. Revelation is taking this spiritual realm (the realm of the dragon and the beast) – is not another dimension – but the spiritual things and the physical.

Revelation 13: And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.

There was no question for them – this was the Emperor. They knew.

5 and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, "BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.“

9 "Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits,

18 "The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth."

We ask – what is he talking about – trying to decipher the code.

On one side of the coin - Sitting on the Seven Hills of Rome

They took this spiritual world – the dragon coming out of the sea – and the mother of harlots – they are not as separated as we might think. They intermingle with one another.

Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavens.

Our struggles are against all of them – systemic and structural forces that come against God and the church. There are things in our political/Social/and economic systems that are at war against God’s people today. We can be blind to that – completely blind.

1 John 2: Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.

There are always beasts and antichrists. There are beasts now. There will be a final beast/final antichrist and final Babylon – but there are those that exist now.

John is shining a spotlight on the systems of the empire and revealing it for what it is.

“Pax Romana” – the Peace of Rome – “Augustus was the Savior of the world”

And John is saying – No, Rome is a hideous beast, a dragon, a harlot. BOOM! This is what it is really like! This is really what is going on in the world. Then he takes the same spotlight and shines it on the Christians in the churches and how they have conformed to the ways of the world. It seems tough – but he puts that light on it and says – you are following the beast here – you have conformed to the pressure here.

WE don’t have the outward pressure to prevent us from saying Jesus is Lord – but we have an enormous threat that comes by way of temptation. We have so many things in our world to tempt us –and it may be greater than at any other time in history. We are constantly bombarded – everywhere we go – with temptation – like, I would say – like never before.

If John were writing to us – he wouldn’t talk about this beast that is going to come and kill us, but would talk about the temptations that come through these devices we possess. Will you remain faithful under the pressure that is coming upon you? John would be saying to us – Overcome those!

What we would like to do – as we go through Lent – I would like us to do some deep soul work. This is a great time to do that. It is not easy. But these folks that John writes to did not have it easy. I would encourage us to allow God’s spotlight to shine in our hearts and reveal the darkness. Let it be seen. Let Him do the deep work that He wants to do. The most important thing to give God is not what we accomplish or accumulate or achieve – but the most important thing is the person we become. What we are formed into - that is what will matter to God. Who we become when the pressure is on – how we react and respond. Allow God to shine a spotlight into your heart.

If you wish – there are a few books – one small group studied this – Soul Keeping – by John Ortberg – it is simple, easy to read – and it gets into your heart.

Another one – Much more in-depth – The Renovation of the Heart – by Dallas Willard – by far the best book I have ever read on spiritual transformation and on parenting – even though it is not about parenting – it explains how people are formed – what makes us the way we are and how we can be transformed. It is really worth it.

A third one – really short – The Way of the Heart – by Henri Nouwen. If you would like – I would encourage you – especially if you are not a reader – Lent is not a time to give up chocolate – eat as much chocolate as you want – but read books! That may be more of a sacrifice for some of you!

We are going to learn how to overcome stuff and be transformed – I think that’s what God wants

Let’s pray