Relevant Bible Verses:-
1) Rev 2 & 3
2) Matt 16:16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
I am not surprised many Christians, even those older ones have very limited understand of church. It is difficult to know the church because Satan, the subtle enemy, is working very hard to blur the eyes of many Christians to see what the real church is. In the concept of many Christians, the church is a physical building, or a bungalow, or a cathedral with a high tower and a cross on it, where they congregate every Sunday to worship and listen to sermons. Sadly, they hardly know anything of the church as revealed in the Bible.
The church is essentially the Body of Christ, the fullness of Christ. It is the expression of Christ and through the Body of Christ, we could then see how God is realized by us and how He is actually expressed and manifested, both locally as well as universally.
Jesus is the anointed One (Matt 16:16). The anointed One in today’s term simply means the appointed One. So, God has appointed or anointed Christ to carry out His eternal purpose and economy on earth. Jesus is not only our Savior to save us, but also Christ as the appointed One to carry out God’s eternal plan. In order for Christ to carry our God’s eternal plan, He needs the church. In order to produce the church, there are two very important aspects Christ needs – redemptive aspect and imparting of life aspect (Read Sept 08 "Blood Is Thicker Than Water"). What I am saying here is that after redeeming the fallen created man through the cleansing blood of Christ, He had to impart life through the life-giving Spirit into the redeemed and regenerated ones. These redeemed and regenerated people become the living members (Eph 4:16) of the Body of Christ – Church. As the church, the Body is the means by which Christ carries out God’s eternal purpose and plan. Therefore without church, Christ cannot accomplish God’s eternal plan and purpose.
We shall now focus in details the danger of some churches not aligning their plan with God’s eternal purpose. The Bible has warned us not to be drifted away. We have to continue to fall “under the shadow of the wing” (Psalm 17:8). When we are within the shadow of the wing, we must be close to God.
In Revelation 2 & 3, we are being warned of the danger some churches had fallen out of God’s plan. There are seven different churches with different set of characters, which we can learn from. The seven churches in the province of Asia:-
1. The church in Ephesus - Has forsaken the first love. (Rev 2:1-7)
2. The church in Symrna - Under persecution and being hypocrite. (Rev 2:8-11)
3. The church in Pergamum - Has resorting to eating food offered to idols and by committing to sexual immorality. (Rev 2:12-17)
4. The church in Thyatira - Has resorted to apostasy. (Rev 2:18-29)
5. The church in Sardis - In reformation but has gone to “sleep” or dead. (Rev 3:1-6)
6. The church in Philadelphia - The Holy One, the true One, the One who has the key of David.....the One who kept the Word and have not denied His name...” (Rev 3:7-13)
7. The church in Laodicea - Has degraded, being lukewarmed. (Rev3:14-22)
As living members of the Body of Christ - Church, we must protect and continuously aligning ourselves in God's eternal plan. Avoid being ensnared in any of the enemy's traps as illustrated in Revelation, except the church in Philadelphia, the One who kept the Word and have not denied His name. For those who may have been classified as the church in Philadelphia, we must not be too proud but instead humbling ourselves before God of His Grace and Mercy.
