The passage teaches us five truths to embrace when we struggle with spiritual indifference or complacency. These truths encourage us to renew our love and devotion to Christ. We need to pursue spiritual devotion to God because an indifferent faith is a false faith. A complacent faith is not the mark of a true believer.
Revelation 3:7-13
The letter to the church in Sardis teaches us the dangers of spiritual indifference and compacency. Here is how we as believers can avoid spiritual apathy.
Jesus warns us to not tolerate false teaching and immorality in the church, in order that we might be found faithful until He comes again.
Revelation 4-5
In the midst of persecution, Christ calls Pergamum to be faithul, but He also commands them to repent of their compromise in life and doctrine.
Christ’s message to the Church of Smyrna teaches the believer today to remain faithful throughout suffering in difficulties. In this passage we find Christ encouraging His Church by reminding them of His sovereignty over life’s difficulties. As a result the believer is encouraged to know they will be triumphant and will become more like Christ, because all trials are under His sovereign control.
Christ’s message to the Ephesian church teaches believers today to maintain the priority of exemplifying Christian love. In this passage, we find Christ assessing the church’s strengths and weaknesses. As a result, He provides a call to repent lest He bring judgment. Heeding to His call brings life to the church and the success of the Gospel.
Revelation 2-3 provides Christ’s evaluation of seven real life churches from the 1st century. These churches share many commonalities of modern-day churches, including our own. While Revelation is a difficult book to study, we will consider four compelling reasons to study Revelation 2-3 over the course of the next seven weeks.