It Is Written Script: 1251 What I Don t Like About My Church Page 1 What I Don t Like About My Church Program No. 1251 SPEAKER: JOHN BRADSHAW Thanks for joining me today on It Is Written. I m John Bradshaw and I am going to start today by telling you a little story that might even be true. A man is driving in heavy traffic. And he s not having a good morning on his way to work. He s getting worked up about what the other drivers are doing, and he starts shouting at the other motorists. He gets so mad he starts pounding his steering wheel and he shakes his fist when someone ducks quickly in front of him. He honks his horn, makes a scene, and then in his rear-view mirror he sees flashing lights. He s being pulled over. What in the world have I done wrong? he wonders. I haven t broken any laws. So the police officer comes you know what happens takes his license and heads back to his squad car while our man sits there brooding and stewing. What a terrible morning! I m late. All these people are driving like maniacs. I m going nowhere...and I get pulled over! He stews a while until the officer comes back and gives him his license back. The man says, Officer, what did I do wrong? I don t think I was breaking any laws! I wasn t driving dangerously! The police officer says, I saw the way you were acting back there shouting, and screaming, and shaking your fist, and honking on your horn... The man cuts in and says, Officer, you can t pull someone up for shouting or shaking their fist, can you? The officer says, That s not why I stopped you. I saw the sticker on the back of your car that says, God bless you, and the other one on the back of your car that says, Honk if you love Jesus. And then I saw your license place holder that says, Follow me to my church! The officer said, When I saw all that, I thought you must have stolen that car! I know, I know, but the story makes a point. Very often, God s people don t get it right. And that goes for church members, for pastors, church administrators and church school teachers. Sometimes church leaders make decisions nobody understands, and sometimes church folks just blow it. You ll get differences of opinion in church, personality clashes, hurt feelings... And the saints will sometimes respond by getting mad: I m not going to come to church anymore. I m not going to return my tithe or give offerings to the church anymore.
It Is Written Script: 1251 What I Don t Like About My Church Page 2 Some people choose to stay away from church altogether! I m never going back THERE! You know, people get upset with hypocrites in the church and they stay away. I ll tell you what I ve told many people. I ve often said I d rather go to church with hypocrites than go to hell with hyprocrites! Now you ll hear people say for a variety of reasons, I don t like my church. And I guess you can understand that to a point. But wait a minute! Just whose church is it anyway? And when you figure that out, ask yourself how Jesus feels, when He looks on, at HIS church. How does Jesus feel when He sees the way people act in church, the way they treat each other, the way they get mad with each other, refuse to speak to each other. You think there are things about your church that bug YOU? Jesus sees it ALL. He s there when parents go home from church and yell at their kids, He sees when people smile at the preacher and then criticize him all the way home in the car. He is acquainted with all the different kinds of church politics, He hears the gossip and He sees when God s people say one thing and do another. Jesus sees dishonesty; he sees the infidelity that sometimes goes on in church. You think YOU have problems with what goes on in church? How do you think JESUS feels?! Well, the Bible opens some of this up to our understanding. In the book of Revelation, Jesus comes straight out and says what He doesn t like about His church. You might be surprised with some of what He says. In Revelation chapters 2 and 3 you find the letters to the seven churches. Seven brief messages, one each to seven different churches. They were real churches that existed in John s day in the area known in the Bible as Asia Minor, but today we call that Turkey. The churches involved are Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. These were young congregations when John wrote to them. He wrote to them from the Island of Patmos, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea rather close to Turkey. And he was on the Island of Patmos as a prisoner, a prisoner for his faith. The Roman government had him pegged as a troublemaker and a disturber of the peace. Imprisoned for his faith, cut off from friends and associates, John still had strong faith in God and he was gifted by God with the revelation that ended up being the book of Revelation. John was writing at a time when the Christians of Asia were suffering terrible persecution, and these messages were designed to encourage these poor souls and inspire them with hope. And when you read the Book of Revelation you discover that this is the first of the many sevens in Revelation you ve got seven spirits, candlesticks, stars, seals, trumpets, plagues, thunders...
It Is Written Script: 1251 What I Don t Like About My Church Page 3 When the number seven is used throughout the Bible in a symbolic sense, it is generally understood to indicate completeness or perfection. And seeing as there were more than seven churches in Asia Minor (there was Colossae and Hierapolis and others), we conclude that Bible teachers have historically been correct in believing that each of those seven churches in early Revelation represents an era of church history. Now, the first church listed correlates with the experience of the early Christian church after Christ s death, while Laodicea, the last of the seven, relates to the church of the last days. Jesus has something to say to each church, and He doesn t hold back. In fact, He tells them exactly what He doesn t like about their situation. Let s look together. The first church is the church of Ephesus, and Jesus addresses Ephesus with a glowing introduction. Revelation 2:2, 3, he says: I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name s sake and have not become weary. But they had their problems. In the very next verse, Jesus says (Revelation 2:4): Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. To have lost your first love is a terrible thing. Sometimes it happens in relationships, marriages. It starts with flowers and text messages and handwritten notes, but then spirals downward into habit and routine. The nice little things that used to happen are history. Too often that happens with people and Jesus. They were always talking to Him, always wanting to know more about Him, always telling others how wonderful He was or is. They were in love. But love gave way to a familiarity that bred apathy. The fire went cold. Not good. But Jesus shows us a way out. Look at Revelation 2:5: Remember therefore from where you have fallen. Remembering where you were can spark a desire to get back there. It s just like in a marriage. Remember. You really had something you could have that again. And friend, if you really once had something with Jesus, He s wants you to have that again. Back to Revelation, chapter 2 (Revelation 2:5): Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works.
It Is Written Script: 1251 What I Don t Like About My Church Page 4 John tells the church at Ephesus, Think of what it used to be like. Remember where you used to be. Then repent. And then do the first works again. And if we don t? Let s read the entire verse, Revelation 2:5: Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent. The light will go out. But Jesus can help you get that first love back. He can heal a wounded relationship, especially if that relationship is with Him. The reward promised to the Ephesian church is that it would if faithful eat of the tree of life (v. 7), and that s promise is for us today. You see, even though these letters were written to actual churches long ago, we can see that they contain counsel, advice and hope for us. We will look at the remaining churches in just a moment. In the book of Revelation you will find the letters to the seven churches. A moment ago, we left off at the church at Ephesus. Next is Smyrna. Jesus doesn t have anything negative to say to the church at Smyrna. This time period here is when the church went through brutal persecution under the Roman Caesars. The 10 days mentioned in verse 10 of chapter 2 are said to refer to the 10 years of persecution under the Emperor Diocletian when thousands of people were martyred. But during that time of intense persecution, the church possessed an ardent love for Christ and His truth. History says that when the bishop of Carthage was sentenced to die, the Christians listening cried out, We will die with him! Christ doesn t rebuke these faithful ones who have been through so much, but He promises them in verse 10 that they will receive from Jesus a crown of life. You ll read in Revelation 2:8 that Jesus says: These things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. Imagine the encouragement that would be! Jesus says, You re going through misery, but you know what? I went through that too I died, but now I am alive. What an encouragement that had to be for the believers in Smyrna, many of whom were facing death. You know, Jesus doesn t always deliver you from the calamity facing you, but He promises you that if you re faithful in whatever comes your way, ultimately you re going to experience the greatest blessings imaginable. When you re going through a difficult time, you can know that Jesus is near. You don t have to feel it, just need to believe it. When the heat is turned up, Jesus is close by. And this is what John told the church at Smyrna.
It Is Written Script: 1251 What I Don t Like About My Church Page 5 But then there s Pergamos. Pergamos is in western Turkey about 20 miles from the Aegean Sea. It was a fabulous city in ancient times. It had a library with 200,000 volumes in it Mark Antony gave the library to Cleopatra. (She must have liked to read! Today I guess he d just give her a Kindle or a Nook.) There was a theater there that seated 10,000 people, and they say it had the steepest seating of any known theatre in the ancient world. Now, this is the church period when Christianity became popular under the Roman Emperor Constantine. And just what does Jesus say He doesn t like about His church? We ll look in Revelation 2:14: But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. So what was it with Balaam? His whole story is one that it would be good to take up at length if we had the time. Balaam was a prophet of God, one of God s people, and the Moabites wanted him to curse Israel to weaken Israel so that Israel could be overcome. According to 2 Peter 2:15, Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness. He was a covetous man, and when he was offered large sums to turn against God s people, it was too much for him to refuse. He refused once, but the second time he refused and then, he said to the men sent to him, Hang around, while I enquire further of the Lord. As though God was going to change his mind! Balaam was the one who had a conversation with a donkey, met with an angel and STILL carried on in his own evil way, because he wanted the money. Balaam speaks to those of us who are motivated by our own desires and not by God s desires. Balaam would have had no trouble knowing God s will if only God s will had been the same as HIS will, and sometimes some of God s people are like that. Some folks want their own way, and not God s way. That was Balaam s issue, and John writes to a church that was wrestling with that. And in that period when Christianity became popular because the state was smiling on it, things evidently got a little easy for believers. Not always the best thing. The overcomer in Pergamos is promised the hidden manna the forever spiritual food of the believer which promises eternal life and health the white stone of the high priest also, and the new name indicating a victorious experience and a changed character. Friend, thank God we can all have that. Now to the church of Thyatira in verse 20, Jesus says (Revelation 2:20): I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat things sacrificed to idols.
It Is Written Script: 1251 What I Don t Like About My Church Page 6 In the Bible, Jezebel was married to King Ahab and introduced all kinds of falsehoods into the midst of God s people. In fact, Jezebel managed to mix light with dark, truth with error, so that although Israel hadn t totally given up on God, they were worshipping both God and Baal. That s disastrous for a Christian church, to be mixing truth with error, light with dark, true worship with false worship. Disastrous! God is looking for people who will be faithful, radically committed to truth and right. And then God says to this church, I will give you power over all nations, that you will rule them. Interesting. Jesus says, There s a lot I don t like about my church, but I m telling you that I m going to give you everlasting life, because I m going to save you anyway, if you want to be saved! Now to Sardis (in Revelation 3:1, 2) Jesus says this: I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. What a thing for Jesus to say to His church. You re dead! Now that s a wake-up call! Dead people in the church. You think there s any of that today? Now, here s the good news. Remember the prodigal son? His father said, My son was dead, but now he s alive. The Gospel is the work of bringing the spiritually dead back to life. So Christ says to the church in Sardis, in Revelation 3:5: He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. I m glad the Lord is able to raise the dead. That means there s hope for all of us! Now the church in Philadelphia. It doesn t appear that Jesus reproves this church at all. He does say the church has little strength, but maybe that s a commendation, that they have strength at all. It is said that the time period represented here is the time after the Reformation has taken place. And if you study that history, you ll see that the church got stuck in a rut after the Reformation had brought it back to life. But then God makes another promise to a faltering body of believers: God s promise to his church is to be a pillar in the temple, and to have His new name. See, we receive the character of Christ, because we receive the gift of His life. Then Laodicea, which correlates with the church in the last years of Earth s history. Notice what God says in Revelation 3:15, 16:
It Is Written Script: 1251 What I Don t Like About My Church Page 7 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Lukewarm not cold or hot. The result is that God will spew many of these people out of His mouth. And if I can be agricultural for just a moment, spewing is not a voluntary action. It is involuntary. Which is to say, this isn t something God wants to do, or tries to do, but it is something He has to do. Something very curious here is that there is something in God s eyes that is worse than being against God, and that is being lukewarm. To be going through the motions as a Christian is more dangerous than being opposed to God. You see, if you re self-deceived, that is truly hazardous to your spiritual well-being. And clearly, it is entirely possible to be in that condition. I heard a few years ago about people living in a part of Rhode Island. They thought they had lived their whole life in RI, but when the map was re-examined, it was found that they had actually been living the entire time in Connecticut, even though they had a RI zip code, area code, address, the whole thing. All their lives they lived in a state different from the state they thought they were living in! You know that can happen to Christians, who think they re fine but they re not because they re self-deceived. Reading Revelation 3:17: Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked They are self-deceived. Man, is there any hope? Yes there is. Here is what the Bible says in Revelation 3:18-19: I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Gold tried in the fire. Someone said that s faith that works by love. White garments the righteousness of Jesus. And that eye salve? That s the Holy Spirit He can help us to see as He sees. And notice what God tells us to do. Be zealous, and repent. God calls us to have zeal for Him. You know what zeal is? Enthusiasm. Passion. Fervor. Ardor. Are you passionate for Christ? Because I ll tell you what, he s passionate about you. Are you fervent for Jesus? Are you ardent for God? God says that if we open up the door of our hearts to Jesus, He ll come in and then He will allow us to sit with Him on His throne.
It Is Written Script: 1251 What I Don t Like About My Church Page 8 Isn t it amazing? God tells us candidly exactly what He thinks is wrong with His church, what He doesn t like about his church and the things that look bad. A group that has left its first love, that is tied up in the same mess as Balaam was, that tolerates the foolishness of Jezebel, and whose works are not perfect before God. There are people claiming to be believers who really are not, and people who have deceived themselves into thinking they re okay when they re a total spiritual basket case. Is it any wonder there are people who say they don t like their church? What is Jesus saying? Jesus, who died for this church, only points out the foibles of it in an effort to spur it on to repentance. And through it all, Jesus is depicted as being in the midst of His church. He has the leaders in His hand, according to Revelation 1, and He stands with His people. So even if you re at the point where you re about to say, The church is just too bad, remember that it s Christ s church and He has all the help we need to be all that He can help us to be. And if you re dissatisfied with the Church, disillusioned with Christianity because of what you see in the church, these seven messages help us to see that Jesus is still with the church. No point trying to tear the church down when Jesus is trying to build it up. You don t have to be a genius to see the shortcomings of something, but seeing the way out of the mire takes some vision. If Jesus can list the weaknesses of the church and still see a future for it, then we can apply this on a personal basis. The church is made up of people, and if there s a future for a wayward church, there has to be a future for a wayward person. There has to be hope for a struggling soul. You know there s hope for a lost sheep. I hope you ll pardon this story I m about to tell you, but it s true and I think it makes the point. In the city of Suwa in Japan, city authorities found treasure in an unexpected place. In an effort to get rid of the city s sewage waste, they decided to incinerate it. They had been having someone take it away and paying for someone to do that. They decided they would burn it down into industrial waste. Now what do you think they found in the ashes? They found gold $200,000 worth a year. See, mineral waters flow through the town, and there s an industry in the area that uses gold to gold-plate things. So even though it is in the sewage in tiny amounts, it s there, and when they stuff is burned up, this gold remains and can be seen in the ashes of the waste! Sewage just sewage and there was valuable treasure in it! Before you decide that something is worthless, consider that God can find great worth where you d least expect it. That goes for His church, it goes for you, and thank God it goes for me. We are valuable in God s eyes His church is so valuable He considered it to be worth the cost of the life of His own Son. How valuable does that make you? Let s pray.
It Is Written Script: 1251 What I Don t Like About My Church Page 9 PRAYER Father in Heaven, thank you that even though Jesus is able to say, Here s what I don t like about My church, we can know that Jesus still values it and every circumstance and situation shows a way out or a way back. Thank you, Lord, that even if we are struggling, even if we are getting it wrong, there is a way out and there is a way back. Let us be encouraged that we ve always got hope in Jesus and thank you for that. In Jesus name, Amen. It Is Written Box O Thousand Oaks, CA 91359 USA Tel: (805) 433-0210 Fax: (805) 433-0218 www.itiswritten.com