Your Spiritual Journey
The 7 Churches of Asia Minor
The 7 Churches of Asia Minor
I have recently been reading Chapter 2 and 3 of Revelation regarding Jesus’ message thru John to the churches in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey). In those Chapters, Jesus speaks to John about 7 churches and what they were doing right and doing wrong. I find it interesting that roughly 50 years after the church was established, churches in the same general area had already diverged so markedly.
It’s interesting to me that Jesus has criticisms for 5 of the 7 churches—things that they needed to correct. That’s disturbing! I am sure there are books filled with commentary on these two chapters. These chapters are instructional to us as a church and as individuals as what we should do, and what we should not do.
A very brief synopsis of those churches follows:
Ephesus—Active in works, persevering in hardships, but have lost their first love.
Smyrna—Poor in worldly possessions but are rich in faith.
Pergamum—Retain faith in Jesus but have allowed false teachings.
Thyatira—Maintain love and increased in good works but tolerate false teachings.
Sardis—Have some deeds but are a dead and dying church.
Philadelphia—Praised as a loyal church in the face of evil influences.
Laodicea—Wealthy and as a result have become indifferent—neither hot nor cold.
There are many lessons we can take from these chapters. For one, it is very easy to let sin in our lives either as individuals or as a church, and it’s easy to be influenced by the morality of our culture. We must maintain both our doctrinal integrity and our passion for service—it isn’t an either/or, it’s both. We must persevere in hard and in good times—both present their own pitfalls. To be pleasing servants to Christ, we must maintain our love for him and the truth.
It’s easy to drift into situations that displease Jesus. We must remain vigilant in our faithfulness to him in good times and bad.
Rich
