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The notes for chapters 2 and 3 focus on the letters to the seven churches.
Introduction:
1. Brief summary about each church:
a) Ephesus Church
- Strengths: hard work, perseverance, patience, and endurance, resistance against Nicolaitans
- Weaknesses: forsaken 1st love, fallen state, lack repentance
- Challenges: Nicolaitans as an outside resistance against the church
- Advantages: rich city
- Relevance: Loveless Church
b) Smyrna Church
- Strengths: faithfulness, and service
- Weaknesses: none
- Challenges: poverty, persecution from the synagogues of Satan
- Advantages: divine approval
- Relevance: Weary Church
c) Pergamum Church
- Strengths: faithfulness, endurance
- Weaknesses: heretical teachings of idolatry and sexual sins; heretical influences of Nicolaitans
- Challenges: false teachings in the church of Nicolaitans; they were in the same city where the throne of Satan was.
- Advantages: ???
- Relevance: Feel-Good Church
d) Thyatira Church
- Strengths: love, faithful, service, perseverance, progressive
- Weaknesses: Jezebel spirit (leadership issues), heretical teachings
- Challenges: division in the church
- Advantages: ???
- Relevance: World-Driven Church
e) Sardis Church
- Strengths: remnant
- Weaknesses: spiritually dead church, defiled garments, not faithful
- Challenges: ???
- Advantages: ???
- Relevance: Sleeping Church
f) Philadelphia Church
- Strengths: endurance (patience in suffering), faithful
- Weaknesses: none
- Challenges: outside persecution
- Advantages: divine protection
- Relevance: Enduring Church
g) Laodicea Church
- Strengths: none
- Weaknesses: lukewarm, spiritually poor, indifferent
- Challenges: wealth
- Advantages: wealth
- Relevance: Money Church
2. Jesus' Perspective. Jesus audits the success of a church different from how we would. The two churches that are the poorest and suffering the most are the ones he praises with high marks. But the others that have more status and riches he praise the least with low marks.
3. Why does Jesus allow his churches' to suffer? Jesus does not love it when he suffers. He cries with us in our sufferings. But he also rejoices when we are faithful to him in suffering. This is because God gets excited when we choose to be in relationship with him above anything else. Where nothing we will allow to hinder that relationship. It is out of this relationship that everything else comes that is fruitful, meaningful and lasting in life This is what we were created for to worship him. This is why we have the first commandment. This is shown most in our faithfulness during suffering.
4. What are the traits of a healthy church according to Jesus? If one of these traits are missing, Jesus is not happy. All traits must be demonstrated in his church for it to be the way he wants it to be.
- Sound Teaching of Scriptures
- Uncompromising Leadership and faith community (faithfulness/obedience)
- Endurance (patience) in suffering
- Sacrificial acts of service in and outside the church
- Unconditional love for God and people.
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