Lord, we just thank You this morning. Lord, that precious reminder of Your heart: beholding Your beloved Son. Lord, we thank You for such a privilege, that we, because of the blood of the Lamb, can return unto You and behold Your Son.
Lord, as we continue this morning, it is our desire, just as we sang, that the church’s one foundation again is Your beloved Son. We would desire to see Him, Lord. Lord, through Thy Spirit, release Your life this morning. We would know the anointing—an anointing for speaking and an anointing for hearing—that this time, Lord, would really be very profitable.
Profitable for us, that we see You afresh in a new way; profitable for us, that it challenges our hearts and draws our hearts unto You in a new way; and profitable for Your sake, that You have a people who would desire to follow You, Lord, and to pursue the path that You have set before us.
Lord, we thank You again. So great a salvation, so great a calling that You have upon our lives; and we come and offer ourselves unto You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
If we could turn first to Matthew 16. Matthew 16, beginning in verse 15. My subtitle says, “Peter’s Confession of Christ.” I think we are familiar with these verses.
The Lord had asked, “Who do men say that I am?” Then He said to the disciples in verse 15:
“But who say ye that I am?”
And Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
And Jesus answered and said unto him, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father Who is in heaven.
And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
—Matthew 16:15-19
Noting a couple of things out of these Scriptures: first, Peter’s revelation of Christ was not through flesh and blood. It was through the Holy Spirit. It is in that Spirit that we come today, and it is in that Spirit that we live: that the God of revelation would continue to reveal His Son to us in a fuller and greater measure.
The Lord also speaks here of His church, and He gives us a tremendous promise. He says, “I will build My church.” What a hope and promise that is. We look around at times throughout the ages, and we can get into great despair. We look and see what is going on today, and it can cause us despair. But the Lord says, “I will build My church. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Let us look over in Matthew 18. Again, when the Lord is referring to the church, to me this is one of the most concise and precious definitions.
“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.”
—Matthew 18:20
Where two or three are gathered together in His name, there He is in the midst.
Let us turn over to the book of Acts, Acts 1:1. We know that the author of Acts is the same author as the Gospel of Luke.
He says in Acts 1:1:
“The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach.”
—Acts 1:1
There is one phrase there—actually, one word—and that word is began. When we look at the Gospel of Luke, it refers to all that Jesus began to do and teach. Now, as he writes Acts, the title The Acts of the Apostles is really a great misnomer. It is the acts of the church—the acts of Christ through His body on earth.
Luke is all that Jesus began to do and teach, and in this book we see all that Jesus continues to do and teach through His body.
Let us look at Acts 2:42, a precious description of how the early church functioned on a daily basis—the beautiful simplicity of the early church.
“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
—Acts 2:42
We will fellowship a little more about this verse later. One last passage I would like us to read is 2 Corinthians 11:3-4.
Paul, writing to the church in Corinth, says:
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve in his craftiness, your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity and the purity that is toward Christ.
For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if ye receive a different spirit, which ye did not receive, or a different gospel, which ye did not accept, ye do well to bear with him.”
—2 Corinthians 11:3-4
This morning, we want to continue this series related to church history. However, because there has been about a three-month pause, we want to go back and do a brief review. Also, we have finished three of the churches, and these next four are one group together. There is a different characteristic in these next four churches that we will be considering.
I do want to take one moment and thank the Lord for the prayers and support during these two or three months. I said I would not cry during this time, and I do not want to distract us this morning, but I thank the Lord for His faithfulness.
As we consider this matter of church history, the thing that has been upon our hearts is that we can see that our God is a God of purpose. It was not one work He did in the Old Testament, another work He did in the Gospels, another work He did in the book of Acts, and then another work after Acts. It is all one work, with one purpose in view.
God is about His purpose of preparing a bride for His beloved Son. That has been upon His heart. He loves His Son so much that He wants to have a beloved bride for His beloved Son—one that would be worthy, one that would reflect His Son’s own character and nature. In that, there would be such a oneness of heart that they could go on and be united together.
We see how this was represented when we go back to the beginning, even in Genesis. We see Adam and Eve. Eve was put to sleep—and, of course, Adam was put to sleep. It is always neat up here, because when you say something wrong, everybody looks up, and you say, “Oh, what did I say?” At least it means you are listening. It is still early, so we will get it right here.
As Adam was put to sleep, out of his side the Lord brought Eve. Adam saw, “This is bone of my bones.” This answers to me. This is my helpmate. We see here this beautiful picture of Christ and the church.
When Christ came upon this earth, He was put to sleep on a cross. We said Adam had painless surgery, but our Lord was in much travail upon that cross. Yet out of that travail, the church was a product of that travail.
It has been said that, in spiritual reality, the church was born when the Lord died upon the cross. Now, as far as the actual earthly history of the church, it was birthed in the book of Acts. But in spiritual reality, the church was born when Christ died upon the cross.
As we look upon the birth of the church in the book of Acts, what do we see there? There are a lot of books written nowadays, particularly during the Kennedy era, about “the best and the brightest,” and how they were going to change the world.
If we look at the 120 in the first couple of chapters of Acts, was that the best and the brightest the world had to offer? Was that the cream of the crop? It was just brothers and sisters—ordinary brothers and sisters—whom the Lord had called together.
They were all pretty independent. They had their own troubles. Some would have troubles with Peter; some would have troubles with John, depending upon their personalities. There were just 120 independent individuals there.
But then the Lord sent forth the Holy Spirit, and the church was birthed that day. In that birth, the 120 became one—totally beyond themselves. Flesh and blood did not do it. The church was birthed when the Holy Spirit was poured forth upon this earth.
Those 120 came forth as one body. In reality, they were one body, and they functioned in one accord. When the church was born, it was a healthy birth. It was beautiful; it was healthy. The brothers and sisters were loving one another. There was no deficiency there. It was a glorious time.
They were not considering themselves. They were sharing with one another. Those first few chapters of the book of Acts are a glory. It is a beautiful church.
I wish we could have a greater apprehension of the beauty of the birth of the church upon this earth—of what the Lord had in those first few chapters of the book of Acts. I wish the Holy Spirit could burn upon our hearts how beautiful that life was: that sharing with one another, that allowing the Lord’s life and Spirit to lead, guide, and direct.
If we could see that, I tell you, it could touch our hearts and enable us to see what the Lord has in mind in the lives that He is calling us to live.
We know that, as soon as we look at the book of Acts, some problems started entering in. But it is interesting that every time problems came in, they did not thwart the growth of the church; they actually enhanced the strength of the church.
When there were murmurings that certain ones were not being taken care of, when some felt they were being neglected while others were receiving food, the Lord used it to strengthen the church. It is beautiful. Sometimes we run from problems, but the Lord uses them to strengthen the church and cause us to see a greater measure of His life.
We have also said of the book of Acts that the book of Acts is without ending. It does not end when Paul was in Rome. The book of Acts continues on.
What the Lord has impressed upon my heart is that we could pick up where the book of Acts ends and look at church history for these last two thousand years, and learn the lessons.
One of the greatest sayings about history is that the one thing we learn from history is that we do not learn from history. But may we learn something, in a way that we do not repeat the same cycles and go through the same distresses that those before us have gone through.
May we really learn and allow the Holy Spirit to work within our lives in a way that He would have that bride made ready. As we look at this whole issue of church history, we have to keep in mind that it is one work and one purpose. There is one goal in mind: that the bride would be made ready for our Lord’s return.
The outline we have been using is the letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation. We know that the letters in Revelation were written while John was on the Isle of Patmos.
We see a beautiful picture there. John was on Patmos—not Paul. Three months away, and I am laying it out here. But I am glad, in one sense, that the Lord does not get hung up on us when we sometimes say things wrong. The Lord knows our hearts. He understands what we are trying to say.
Sometimes we can get hung up on technicalities, but the Lord loves us, understands us, and enables us to understand one another. Thank the Lord for that.
As we look at Revelation 2 and 3, we have said that there are three ways to look at these seven letters. First, they were letters written to actual churches during the first century—seven local assemblies that had problems, and these letters were addressed specifically to them.
They were not simply letters invented for our time. They were not purely prophetic history. They were actual letters to seven churches.
Second, we can look at these letters in terms of how they apply to us today. Each one says, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith.” There is a lesson in each of these letters for us to hear in our daily lives.
Third, we can look at these letters from the angle of prophetic history. Many have said that these seven letters represent the various centuries of church history.
John was writing toward the end of the first century. We first looked at the letter to the church in Ephesus, and we talked about that familiar verse concerning how they had left their first love.
Outwardly, they had many things going on, but inwardly they had left their first love. What we can see there is that God is looking at our hearts—the condition of our hearts.
I always go back to when Samuel went to find David. Samuel went into David’s house, saw the eldest son, and he looked great on the outside. Samuel said, “This is who the king should be.”
Is that not how we look at things so often? We look outwardly and say, “Boy, that looks good. That must be the Lord. Look at that—there is so much going on, so much growth, so many things happening. That must be the Lord.”
But what does the Lord look at? The Lord looks at the heart—the inner condition, the quality of our love for Him, and whether we are being drawn by that love. The church in Ephesus was called to repent, or to return to its first love.
We know from history that because of the coldness that had set within their hearts, the Lord allowed persecution to come upon the church during the second and third centuries. This is represented in the letter to the church in Smyrna.
Smyrna comes from a word meaning bitterness, and it is related to myrrh. Myrrh is an incense whose fragrance comes forth only when it is crushed. Out of the crushing of the myrrh comes forth the fragrance.
During this second and third century, many were put to death. The Lord allowed it. If we look at that lesson, we can see throughout church history that when persecution comes in—even in our day and time—there is a strengthening of the Lord’s testimony.
When persecution is withdrawn and a comfortable life is established, there can be a falling away, a losing of first love. The Lord can allow persecution to strengthen all of our hearts.
If we look at our condition here in Richmond, Virginia, or in the United States, we live a pretty comfortable life. Sometimes we think we have it tough, and individual situations can be tough. But if we look at the overall situation of what some people are going through, we have it pretty comfortable.
The freedom we have brings a challenge upon our hearts in this day and time: that we would be faithful, that we would not allow a falling back within our hearts, but that we would press on.
As we mentioned, the third letter, the church of Pergamum, speaks of the fourth through sixth centuries. This was when Constantine came in, and we see the enemy changing his tactic.
The enemy could not achieve his purpose through persecution, so he said, “I will come in and flatter the church. I will make the church acceptable.” There was this marriage between church and state. Constantine brought freedom of religion, but there was also this marriage of church and state.
From the fourth century onward, we start to see, for the first time, a separation between organized religion and true spiritual movements. Constantine gave much money to build great cathedrals. Salaries began to be paid to clergy. It was very acceptable for clergy to be in Constantine’s court, advising him.
But it was a drawing away from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. Thank the Lord that through those centuries, there were still those who held to that simplicity and purity and went on following the Lord. We start to see this divide.
Now we come today to consider these next four churches. We can draw a line here because the first three churches have a definite time period. But the next four churches—Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea—run parallel together.
Thyatira started in the sixth century. It is generally said that it began when Pope Gregory took over, and it continues forward. We have said that Thyatira represents the Roman Catholic system.
Let me make one thing perfectly clear. When we refer to Roman Catholic and Protestant, we are referring to systems. We are not referring to brothers and sisters or to individual people. We are talking about the overall systems that are in place.
Thyatira, beginning in the sixth century, is representative of the Roman Catholic system. It runs from the sixth century all the way until the Lord’s return, because it is still here today.
Sardis began in the sixteenth century, with the Reformation. In Sardis, we see a history of things being reformed and revived, new things being rediscovered and unearthed.
It is almost like the tide coming in. Justification by faith is recovered, then sanctification through John Wesley, and there is a progressiveness that comes in.
But at the same time, quite often those who did recovery work stopped short. They did not complete the works that the Lord had given them to complete. Then they would ebb back, another revival would come, and things would go forward again. There was this constant ebb and flow throughout this whole time.
Then, in the nineteenth century, we have the church of Philadelphia, the church of brotherly love. This is represented by the beginning of the Brethren movement in England.
In Philadelphia there are no condemnations. The Lord only commends them.
In the twentieth century, we have the church of Laodicea. Laodicea means the people’s opinions, the opinion of man.
In Laodicea, there are no commendations. There are only condemnations, which is a sad state of affairs for the century in which we live.
These four churches run parallel. I wanted to present an overview of them so that, when we consider them in detail, we can consider them from the point of view of this question: Which one are you in?
We might say, “Well, we have a choice.” But the question is: once you see the Lord, do you really have a choice? It may appear to be a question in which we can choose between four alternatives, but when we see the Lord, what choice do we really have?
Consider the perspective of the church. The Roman Catholic Church, by the word Catholic, has a universal perspective: one universal church with many local dioceses.
When we come to the Reformation church, or the Protestant system, we first see national churches. Luther was affiliated with Germany. The Reformed churches were closely related to Switzerland. Presbyterianism developed an alliance with Scotland. Then we know that the Church of England, the Anglican Church, broke away.
The joke in church-history books is that the Church of England is the only church that ever started with a divorce. When Henry VIII wanted a divorce, the pope would not permit it, so he started his own church. That is the foundation of the Church of England.
It is interesting that, if we look at the true church, the foundation is a marriage in view. That is what the Lord is looking for: a marriage. May He really show us this.
As we come down through the centuries, the Protestant system moves somewhat away from the national perspective and more into denominational lines. Denominations may be identified by following a man—Lutheran or Wesleyan—or by an order of government, such as Presbyterian or Congregational.
They can be identified by doctrine, such as Baptist, or by experience, such as Holiness, Pentecostal, Charismatic, or Methodist. We can find different things by which to denominate, or name, ourselves.
It continues on into this century. I get a lot of newsletters, and one I received was a house-church mailing list. Its basis was bringing together house groups around the nation.
You look at the book of Acts and see believers going from house to house. But here, within our society and our system, all of a sudden we are creating a denomination of house churches. The basis for fellowship becomes house church.
One phrase that has been invented through these systems is the phrase going to church. Buildings were created, and instead of the church gathering on Sunday—which is hopefully what we desire to do—we began asking, “Where do you go to church?”
Church was transformed from who it is—the two or three gathered in His name—to a building, to a place. As you trace history, especially from around the year 1000 onward, the phrase “going to church” appears more and more.
It is so convenient to say. Lance always talks about leaving his umbrella at church. When you really know who the church is, how do you leave your umbrella there? I can laugh and say this because I have said it too. I am guilty of saying, “going to church.”
But we need the Holy Spirit to work within our hearts to show us the truth, so that we do not count these things as something ordinary and common.
In this day, the call is to stand for what the Lord is really after: simplicity and purity. As we let one thing slip away after another, all of a sudden one thing comes in, then another thing comes in, and how far away have we gotten?
Most people, most groups, and most systems do not fall away in one giant step. It is a gradual process. That is why we need to have guarded hearts, to be on the lookout for that gradual process, returning daily and asking the Lord to search our hearts and show us whether we are in that simplicity and purity.
In Philadelphia, we see the recovery of that wonderful principle: “Where two or three are gathered in His name.” The basis for their gathering was that they were Christians, believers gathered in the name of Christ.
During the first twenty years or so of the Brethren movement, there was a beauty and a simplicity. We will see, as we study Philadelphia, that a split came in and they got away too. But the first twenty years were a beautiful time of really focusing upon the Lord.
As we come to Laodicea, we see that it is people’s opinions. The perspective of Laodicea in this time is seen in what we call ecumenicalism, the ecumenical movement.
To me, we move away from the Word of God and what God says, and suddenly we are occupied with what man says. We do not go back to the Word of God to see what has been accomplished; man looks at it outwardly and says, “We need to accomplish this.”
I receive newsletters about reconciliation movements, about how people need to be reconciled. But as I look at the Scriptures, at Calvary we were reconciled. We were reconciled to God, and all the barriers came down.
Obviously, if we sin against one another, we need to go and be reconciled. But for things we had nothing to do with, and things the Lord has already settled, we need to enter into the truth of it, express that truth, and go forward in a greater measure—not try to go back and do what the Lord has already done.
It does not matter whether we are speaking of Thyatira, Sardis, or Laodicea: there is always some Scripture used. It is partial truth that ends up being twisted around.
That is why I am looking forward to the summer conference and the theme, “The Whole Counsel of God.” We need to understand the whole counsel of God, not just the partial counsel of God that fits our needs, temperament, or yearnings. We should embrace the whole Word of God.
Quite frankly, when we read some places in the Word of God, it makes us uncomfortable because we see that we are not there. But does that make us stop? Does it make us murmur and complain? No. We offer ourselves to the Lord and ask Him to work it out further.
He is looking for hearts willing to allow His Son to be formed within us. Brothers and sisters, that is what He is after, and that is where we should be. We do not need to try to work things out ourselves.
Another matter within the ecumenical movement is the issue of unity—the foundation of trying to attain oneness. But brothers and sisters, when Christ died and when the Holy Spirit came, we were made one. We are one. We are not striving to become one; we are one.
On the day of Pentecost, when the church was birthed, those 120 individuals became one body. One of the things that occurs when we are saved is that, in addition to our sins being forgiven and our being able to stand individually before the Lord, we are also baptized into one body. We are one.
I was talking with a brother one time who was active in the ecumenical movement. His way of describing it was that we are all in Christ, and there are individual Christians in Christ: Christians who are Baptists, Presbyterians, Methodists, Assembly of God, Catholic, non-denominational, Lutherans, and so on.
He said that being in Christ is like being in a big ocean. To achieve unity, we pull our little individual boats together, tie up with one another, and then the world can see and know that we are one.
But that is man’s opinion. That is man’s way of doing it. What does the Lord say? One of the brothers responded, “Brother, I think I understand what you are saying, but I think what the Lord wants us to do is to get out of our boats and simply be in Christ.”
Put all the other stuff behind us. We are one. Get out of the other stuff and simply be Christians, gathering as Christians. Brothers and sisters, that is the call upon our lives in these days.
As we look at the whole perspective of authority, within the Catholic system there is no question who the authority is. The vicar of Christ resides upon this earth. If you are the vicar of Christ, you are the authority. One of the names of the pope is the vicar of Christ.
Within the last couple of centuries, the pope was declared infallible, so that everything he says is considered incapable of error. It denies their history, but that is what they have said.
If we look at the perspective of authority within the Protestant system, we are speaking in generalities, but generally there is a pastor mentality, a pastor system. One man, or even a plurality of pastors, represents the authority, and what they say goes.
But as we look at Philadelphia, who is the authority there? The authority is Christ. When we read the letter to Philadelphia, Christ uses the word My more than in any other letter: “You hold My name”; “You have not denied My word.” His presence is there. His authority is there.
And in Laodicea, who is the authority? The authority of man. The two most popular phrases are, “I think this,” or “My opinion is this.”
Quite frankly, nobody cares about your opinion in the church of God. I hope you understand what I am saying. We fellowship together and share our impressions of what we believe the Lord is leading, but as far as authority is concerned, it comes from the Lord. It is not based on my opinion.
It reminds me of the end of the book of Judges, where everybody did what was right in their own eyes. “I think”; “I can do this.” You can find a Scripture to support anything you want if you take it out of its proper place.
There is one little phrase in the New Testament: “Hear the church.” On that phrase, the Catholic Church has built an authority to speak all that it speaks. We need the Lord to birth within our hearts a freshness that challenges us as we consider these four churches: where are we, and what things within our hearts do we need to ask the Lord to deal with?
Now I want to return to Acts 2:42. This is not a test, a grading system, a schematic, or a scale. But consider how these various churches, as represented in these four letters, compare with the picture we have of the early church in the book of Acts.
Acts 2:42 speaks of the apostles’ teaching. First of all, what did the apostles teach? Or perhaps we should say, whom did the apostles teach?
If you read through the book of Acts, over and over it says they went and taught Jesus Christ. They preached Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Paul says, “I preach Christ.” Over and over again, the apostles’ teaching is not a teaching of themselves; it is the teaching of Jesus Christ.
It is presenting Christ and the full counsel of Christ. His whole heart and purpose are being proclaimed.
When we look at the Catholic system in Thyatira, what is its teaching? It is the teaching of the church. The church has a message. It is no longer the apostles’ teaching; it is the teaching of the church. That is why it is referred to as Jezebel. We will fellowship more about that in the coming weeks.
As we come to the Protestant system, what is its teaching? Quite often, the Scriptures are used, but each Protestant system, in addition to Scripture, also has a creed: “We believe this. We believe this. We believe this.”
The creeds can be good, but it almost becomes logos versus rhema. It becomes a formalized kind of word that gets away from the very life of Christ. As we get away from that life of Christ, man’s opinions and different preferences take over.
Brother T. Austin-Sparks wrote concerning John 17:
“The history of all divisions is the demonstration of one fact: that somewhere, somehow, the life and power of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has been thwarted by the asserting of the life which was condemned and executed representatively at the cross of Christ.”
The different life takes over. But Jesus prayed in John 17, and that prayer has been answered because His new life has been received by multitudes down through the centuries.
When we meet on the ground of Christ alone, closing our eyes to the extras or deficiencies in one another, the more or less than the fullness and aloneness of Christ, there is that in each which makes a spontaneous response to the other. Christ is ours, and we are Christ’s.
May we allow that Spirit of life in Christ Jesus to stay fresh within our hearts, and may that be our message and our teaching.
As we come down to Laodicea, it is almost as if there is another gospel—a social gospel at times. It gets away from the Word of God. It is a gospel that makes people comfortable because they are hearing what they want to hear.
One word that comes to mind over and over in Laodicea is comfortable. It speaks about being lukewarm. Lukewarm may not taste very good, but it is a comfortable temperature. You are not hot; you are not cold; you are comfortable.
In that comfort, everything is provided for you because you are the center. You think you have no need because you think you are rich. But you are just very comfortable.
Brothers and sisters, sometimes when we come into the Lord’s presence, when we hear the Word of God, when we read the Word of God, or when a message is given, we should not feel comfortable. The Word of God has to cut our hearts.
We are not called to feel comfortable. We are called to dwell in His presence and allow the Holy Spirit to work within us.
As we look at the breaking of bread, within the Catholic system there came a point in history where the cup was taken away from the laity. Only the priest could take the cup. The people could receive only the wafer.
It speaks of transubstantiation: instead of Christ being crucified once for all, every time they celebrate the mass, Christ is being recrucified, and the bread is regarded as His actual body.
As we look at Sardis and the breaking of bread, generally in the Protestant system it becomes members only. “Are you a member? You are welcome if you are a member.” Or there is a little litmus test: “Do you believe this?”
Toward the end of the history of the Brethren movement, which had been so open, there was a rope in the back of the room. Whoever could take of the Lord’s table could sit in front of the rope; if you could not take of the Lord’s table, you sat in the back.
But what does the Lord say in His church? Whose table is it? It is His table.
“Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
—Matthew 11:28
Because we are in Christ, He says, “Come and take. Remember Me. Remember Me.” The foundation for our breaking of bread together is the remembrance of Him.
It is interesting that 1 Corinthians says to take it in a worthy manner. I only bring that up to transition to Laodicea, because there the table, in one sense, has become common. It is open to all, without recognition of the reality of the table.
A brother was sharing with me one time. He said, “We just let everybody take at the table.” I asked, “How about unbelievers?” He said, “I just hope that as they take the table, the reality of it will hit them somehow, and through taking the table they will get saved.”
That is the Word of God or man’s opinion. We fall so far short when we try to make everybody comfortable. We do not want to offend anybody by saying that the table is for those who are Christians, so we make everybody feel comfortable and say whoever wants to take it can take it.
But what are the Lord’s criteria? It is for those who know Him. In that, He says, “Come.” All who belong to Him are welcome.
When we look at the whole matter of fellowship, within Sardis fellowship often ends up being within the group—the group to which you belong. It is almost as if there is a barrier. If you are inside, you have fellowship; if you are outside, you do not.
But I love the phrase in 1 John concerning fellowship:
“But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanseth us from all sin.”
—1 John 1:7
Our basis for fellowship with one another is Christ and walking in the light.
There is a reason I use that phrase. It helps us differentiate between the fellowship that occurs in Philadelphia and the fellowship that occurs in Laodicea.
In Philadelphia, all believers are encouraged to fellowship, walk in the light, and allow the light of God to shine upon them and examine them. In that light, we have fellowship. When sins are exposed, the blood cleanses us.
When we come to Laodicea, again in order to make everybody comfortable, we fellowship with everybody. It does not matter who they are, where they are, or what they are going through; we fellowship with everybody.
Now listen carefully, because I do not want to be misunderstood. Does the Word of God give us blanket liberty to fellowship with any believers we want to? It does not.
If you look through Romans, Corinthians, 2 Thessalonians, and Titus, it speaks of those who cause dissension, those who cause divisions, and those who have a bad reputation. It speaks of withdrawing from them and avoiding them.
That may sound very exclusive if misunderstood, and I am willing to undergo that accusation in order to make a point. We need to be led by the light of the Lord in the fellowship we have with one another.
The Word of God says that we are in His life to have fellowship with one another, but it also says—not just once, but numerous times—that where there are those who cause dissension and divisions, we should stay away from them. It uses words such as “avoid them.” It even says in Romans, “Mark them,” so that everybody will know and stay away.
I make that point simply to differentiate between the spirit of Philadelphia and the spirit of Laodicea. Laodicea, in order to remain comfortable, says, “We do not want to do that. That would make another person uncomfortable.”
But 1 Corinthians says not even to eat with certain ones, if they have certain reputations and conduct themselves in a certain manner. It is speaking of believers. We need to be wise in this day.
In this, we can see: are we operating on principles of Philadelphia, or are we operating in Laodicea? What is the Lord after in this day and time?
As we come to prayer, I want, for the sake of time, to focus on Philadelphia. In the spirit of Philadelphia, we have the priesthood of all believers. All are called in to pray.
Who do we pray to? We are not praying to Mary, to Mary the mother of God, the mother of the church, full of grace, and all of that. We are praying directly to our Father Who is in heaven.
We do not need to have a prayer book to tell us how to pray. You know, I enjoy books, and I have a few prayer books. They contain beautiful prayers. If you want to see some of the most gorgeous prayers in the world, get an older Church of England prayer book.
You will not find anything technically wrong with the prayers. It is just dead. There is no life to it. It is grouped by category: when you have this situation, this is what you pray; when you have that situation, that is what you pray.
But the Holy Spirit within us is interceding and desiring that we would come and enter in, actively functioning in that priesthood of all believers.
That is why, when we come on Wednesday night, we break into smaller groups, so that every brother and sister will have an opportunity to pray, so that all can enter in. That is our desire—not that we can have just a few of the more spiritual ones pray, not merely that one of the leaders would pray for us, but that we can all exercise that priesthood.
As we come to the end, I want to touch on a couple of things. If we look at these four churches in relation to the Word of God, in the Catholic system it is the Word of God plus the tradition of the fathers, which carries the same weight. We will fellowship more about that next week.
In Philadelphia, they are commended for keeping His Word. It is their center. Their commendation was that they kept the Word of God.
In Laodicea, you often hear the phrase, “The Word of God is really good, but we need something a little more relevant for today to handle these situations.” So it is the Word of God plus something else. Extra revelation can come in.
Now, as we ask the question, “Which one are we in?” you may say, “Well, that is a dumb question, because as we sit around this room today, we are not Catholics, we are not Protestants, and none of us are lukewarm. So who are we?”
You might ask, “What are you going through all this for? We know who we are.” Actually, if you quickly jump to the conclusion that you are in the church of Philadelphia, you are in more danger than some of the others.
That is where we desire to be. That is where we want to be. But when I say that, I am not saying this fellowship is the church of Philadelphia. This is an individual call to individual believers, and it is an issue of each one of our hearts before the Lord.
That individual call will work itself out with individuals responding in a corporate response, but it is an individual call to each one.
Actually, within this room, within our hearts, and even within our own individual hearts, there may be all four represented. What is the attitude of our heart? That is what the Lord is looking for—not outwardly what we gather as, but the inner condition of our hearts.
Are there certain ones who have a leaning one way or another? This is purely an impression—just my impression as I went through this. Take it for what it is worth. If you do not like it, it did not cost anything, so throw it out.
In Philadelphia, what is the origin of service? What is the origin of life? To me, the origin of life in Philadelphia is the Spirit.
What is the origin of life in the other systems? Again, this is very general. But if we study the Catholic Church, there is tremendous willpower associated with it. Over and over, you see people daily going through certain things, trying to achieve their salvation and improve themselves. So I would put the will there.
In Sardis, we see great doctrines developed, great creeds developed, and great theological thinking. So perhaps we could say that, in general, this is the mind.
I am a very mind-oriented person, so I have to be careful. My natural mind can take over very easily. Each one of us knows whether we have a strong will or a strong mind—the particular strength of our soul.
Wherever those strengths are, we will have a greater tendency to fall into these traps. We need to watch and be aware.
If this is the will, and this is the mind, then perhaps Laodicea is more driven by the emotion—the feeling good.
When we talk about the will, the mind, and the emotion as the source of life, what have we described? The soul—the soul of man.
What is the life we are living? We desire to live the life of the Spirit. May the Lord really help us in this day to live a life of the Spirit.
Obviously, as long as we are in these fleshly bodies, we are never going to be perfect. There is a teaching that says you can reach perfection upon this earth, and that is totally false.
But what is the desire of our heart? It is to lead a Spirit-filled life, led by the Holy Spirit.
Now let us take a personal test to finish up with. Everybody loves tests.
We have said that Thyatira has its own message. The Catholic system has a message; it does its own teaching. It speaks of Jezebel, the prophetess, as one who had a message.
Brothers and sisters, whenever we fall into the trap of having a message other than Christ, we are symptomatic of that system. Whenever we have a message other than the full counsel of Christ, there should be a red flag going off within our hearts.
The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ. We preach Christ and Him crucified. Whenever, within our individual lives or corporately, we have another message, the Spirit of God should capture us and cause us to repent, that we might preach nothing but Christ and Him crucified.
In Sardis, we said that it is known much by denominationalism. Denomination means to denominate, which means to name.
Where did you come to meet today? How many came to Richmond Christian Fellowship to worship the Lord? If you came to Richmond Christian Fellowship to worship the Lord, then you did not meet today.
Richmond Christian Fellowship is the name of a legal entity that holds property and funds. The church is without name. We are simply gathering here today as a group of brothers and sisters to gather around the presence of the Lord.
It is very comfortable to tell people, “I go to Richmond Christian Fellowship.” You want them to understand, and you do not want to sound like some fanatic. But if they ask, “Where do you meet?” we could say, “There is a group of believers over on Huguenot Road.”
You may feel uncomfortable saying that. Are you willing to feel uncomfortable, or do you say, “They would not understand anyway, so I will just say RCF”?
Then they say, “What denomination are you?” We say, “We are non-denominational.” But let me ask you this: do you know what the largest growing denomination in the United States is? Non-denominational.
It has its place in the Yellow Pages. It is comfortable now to say “non-denominational.” Twenty-five years ago, it was not as comfortable. Are we part of the non-denominational denomination?
Would the Lord search our hearts? Are we willing simply to say that we are a group of believers? Someone may say, “You are causing division.” But I like the way it was expressed: actually, we are gathering out of division. We come out of division to gather in unity and to stand for the oneness of the Lord in the city of Richmond.
We are believers gathered here. We are not saying we are all the believers. We are not saying we are the local church. We are not saying that if you do not come here, you are not with it.
We are simply saying this is open to whoever wants to come, whoever loves the Lord, simply to gather in the name of Christ. We desire that He would be exalted.
We do not have a name, but why do we not have a sign? What do you put on the sign? I had to get that in for Dad.
But that has to be an issue of the heart. If you meet here simply because we do not have a name, that is not why we are here. If you meet here just because we do not have a pastor, that is not it either. We are simply here for Christ.
Do not let all this other stuff hang us up. May we simply come unto Him and allow His Spirit to work within us.
As we look at these four churches in the times ahead, the reason I took this time today was to say that all four of these are in existence today.
In one way, we ask, “Which one are you in?” But if we really see the Lord—His heart, His purpose, His counsel—even though that question appears to give us a choice, do we really have a choice?
Do we have a choice? As the Lord says in Psalm 139:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart:
Try me, and know my thoughts:
And see if there be any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.”
—Psalm 139:23-24
May we always be willing to have our hearts searched. The wonderful thing is that, when we think about the love of God, if the Holy Spirit searches our hearts and we find that perhaps in some area we are lukewarm, the Lord simply says, “Repent.” He says, “I love you. Just repent unto Me and follow Me.”
Brothers and sisters, as we choose the way that the Lord has set before us, as illustrated in the church of Philadelphia, was Philadelphia known for its great power or great numbers? It says, “Thou hast a little power, and didst keep My word, and didst not deny My name.”
May we be those in this day and time who hold fast His Word. May the living Word of God be that by which we measure things. May we hold fast His precious name in all things.
He is the center and the focus. He is the Head. He is the foundation. He is the all in all. That is the desire of our hearts as we look through these other letters to the churches.
May we learn the lessons of history, that we would not repeat them or fall short in these days. The days in which we are living are short and intense. The only way we are going to make it through is by seeing the Lord.
In seeing the Lord, we see His heart. He says, “Behold My beloved Son.” The Father loves the Son so much that He has been working throughout this time to prepare a bride for His Son.
The bride is prepared by going the way of the cross. It is a denying of self, daily taking up the cross, and following the Lamb wherever He goes.
As we deny ourselves and desire to follow the Lord in a full measure, seeking to live by His grace in the simplicity and purity of Christ, the Lord’s heart will be satisfied.
May we be those who have an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the church in this day and time.
Lord, we do return unto You and really worship You, Lord, that You have not left us without Your Word. Lord, You know how easily we go astray, and You have even given us these lessons from history so that we can learn and not be destined to repeat them again.
Lord, we want to offer ourselves unto You. We want to give ourselves unto You, that You might really find within us, Lord, a people who would answer to Your heart.
As the psalmist said:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart:
Try me, and know my anxious thoughts:
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.”
—Psalm 139:23-24
Lord, we thank You that You lead us. We thank You that Your love draws us. May we be those who respond simply unto You and are satisfied with our Beloved. In Jesus’ name. Amen.