To the Church of ...

I have recently been looking at the seven churches in the second and third chapters of Revelation. I don't feel like writing a long and rigerous blog on the passage. I do have a couple of points I think are interesting.

• The churches are being examined by God


• To whom much is given, much is required: The churches under trial and persecution(smyrna and philadelphia) are encouraged to stay the course. Those who 'overcome' are given greater honors in heaven


• To whom much is given, much is required: The rich and self-sufficient churches(Sardis and Laodicea) are slapped around


• The rest of the churches have doctrinal problems, and are admonished to clean house

The letter to Sardis speaks to me personally. They have no recognized deeds, and are called dead and asleep. Those who do not wake up and who do not overcome are REMOVED from the book of life.

What I have drawn from this passage is that Christians are held accountable for their actions even after they are "saved." Furthermore, after you have accepted Jesus by Faith, we are called upon to DEMONSTRATE that faith through deeds. The extreme example is the Church of Sardis who had no deeds. The implication for that church was that if they did not wake up, they might be in for a big surprise at the day of Judgement.

All I know is that the Christian church in the United States is in pretty sorry shape. This is interesting because when you start looking at individual churches, it is difficult to pin down a problem. When you look at the church on a national level, you can see all sort of shit(or at least I do.) The fact remains that the Church is simply a collection of individuals. You cannot assign blame on the national level without assigning blame on yourself and the people you go to church with. I am not interested in assigning blame right now, I am more interested in finding constructive solutions. The action item for me is to daily commit to live with kingdom vision and kingdom purpose. I think the key for me is to focus on something positive, rather than on the negative.