Joining Jesus – 30th April 2019

1. A letter from Heaven.
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.
Revelation 2:1-7
The new Testament contains a lot of letters written to churches and individuals. Most of these letters are separate books. However, in the book of Revelation there is a series of letters that form part of a much bigger book, each of these letters is directly from the Lord and deals with specific issues that were taking place in the churches that received them.
In Chapter 1, John writes:
On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: “Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.” Revelation 1: 10,11
John continues:
I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone like a son of man, dressed in a robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. The hair on his head was white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars….. Revelation 1:12-16
As a result of this vision, John did as instructed and wrote letters to the seven churches. The first letter is to the church at Ephesus and this letter begins with a reminder of who the message is from:
These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.
The letter is from the one whom John had seen in his vision and specifically, John writes, that He is the one who holds seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.
A true understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus must begin with a vision of who Jesus is and, in this letter to the church at Ephesus, Jesus reveals Himself as the one who is present in the churches. He is not an ‘absent God’ but is among us ‘walking among the seven golden lampstands’. His presence among us should be at the core of all that we are and do as his followers both individually and as churches.
It is a recognition of this ‘presence of Jesus ‘with’ and ‘among’ us that is critical if we are going to Join Him in His Mission because when we are aware of Him among us then we remember that it is HIS mission and not ours, or the churches mission. The reality is that the only mission that the church has is the mission of Jesus. Sometimes we forget this and begin to ask Jesus to join us in our mission rather than seek how we can join Him in His.
Recently I was in San Manuel, Arizona and a lady shared the following:
“I have been coming to this church for 62 years and for all that time I thought this was my church. I now realize that it is not ‘my’ church it belongs to Jesus and it is not a place where we meet but is us as people and me as a person. I want be part of His church and to spend my time now not ‘just coming to church’ but taking Jesus to the people that He came to seek and to save”
This week, I encourage you to spend some time reflecting on what was shared in San Manuel. Have you forgotten that Jesus is walking among us and that it is HIS church?