The Field

I. Introduction
 A. Ordination of new elders today
 B. Apology re: my neglect of the book of Revelation
 C. Unlike our study of 2Cor., we’re going to zoom out & look at a big piece of Scripture this morning.
 D. The title: The Field
  1. A number of images are used of the church in the NT: flock, body, temple, household
  2. “The Field” just refers to one more image of the church: the farmer’s field or garden
  3. We use this same image to refer to other callings, like the field of science, engineering, sociology.
  4. That’s the sense in which I’m using it this morning: the field where God has called these four new elders to labor, the field of ministry in Christ’s church.
 E. Revelation 1:9–18 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet 11 saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” 12 Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, 13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength. 17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”
  1. The setting: John was in the Spirit (in the prophetic Spirit)
  2. Hears a voice telling him to write down a vision in a book and send it to the 7 churches of Asia.
  3. When he turns around, he sees that the one speaking is the Lord Jesus, who is standing among seven golden lampstands.
  4. And while Jesus stands among seven lampstands, He is “clothed with a long robe and a golden sash.” I.e. He is dressed like a priest.
  5. This would have made any Jew think about the priest in the temple tending to the lampstand.
  6. You see, in the Holy Place of the OT temple there was a golden lampstand. And one of the jobs of the priest was to attend to the lampstand, to trim the wicks, to keep it filled with oil, to make sure it stayed lit. And now Jesus is the priest, tending to the lampstands like a gardener tends a garden.
  7. Two verses later, in v.20, we’re told that the seven lampstands symbolize the seven churches.
  8. So, this is a vision of Jesus tending the seven churches referred to in v.11.
  9. Priests had special tools with which to work on the lampstands. So, if Jesus is standing among the lampstands to work to maintain them, what tool does He use? The double-edged sword, which is His holy word. That’s why it’s coming out of His mouth.
  10. But he OT priest tended only one lampstand, not seven. What’s with the seven lampstands?
   a. In the OT, God had only one people: the Jews. But now in the NT, the salvation of God has been opened up to all nations.
   b. You see, the number “seven” is not here by accident. This is the favorite number of the book of Revelation, which has been influenced by the OT usage of the number. In the OT seven was used to denote fullness, thoroughness or completeness, originating from the creation story where six days of creation are followed by a 7th day of God’s rest. So, the 7 churches represent all churches.
   c. Each lampstand represents one church. But the seven lampstands represent all the churches.
  11. And each lampstand is made up of a number of branches (show picture). The branches apparently symbolize the people. (Exod.25:31-40)
  12. Pentecost (Acts 2:3): the Spirit resting on each person in the form of a tongue of fire, just like each branch of each lampstand is aflame.
 F. The vision, then, is Jesus the high priest tending to His churches. How does He do that?
II. Chapters 2-3
 A. That’s what chapters 2&3 are all about. In those chapters Jesus dictates a letter to each of the seven churches, affirming them, correcting them, challenging them, even warning them. This is the double-edged sword coming out of His mouth, His word. Through His word, He is tending to the churches, speaking to them to help them burn brightly, for, after all, they are the light of the world.
 B. And churches need a lot of work. Just like individual Christians, the seven churches written to here are definitely a mixed bag. The first and last churches are in such serious sin that Jesus threatens them that if they don’t repent and return to Him soon, He is going to remove their lampstand.
 C. There were a lot of good things happening in the churches which Christ commended them for:
  1. toil and patient endurance, not grown weary
  2. Not tolerating those who are evil
  3. tested false apostles and found them false, hate teachings God hates
  4. Enduring tribulation, poverty (but you are rich), the slander of unbelieving Jews
  5. hold fast my name and not deny the faith
  6. love and faith and service, keeping God’s word
  7. (Most of these are said to only one church, mind you.)
 D. But He also has a number of corrections:
  1. abandoned the love for Christ which they had at first
  2. Putting up with those who hold to false teaching, including the false prophetess  Jezebel, who is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols
  3. learned what some call the deep things of Satan,
  4. have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
  5. works not complete in the sight of my God
  6. you are neither cold nor hot. So, because you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 
 E. So, the lampstands are definitely in need of the high priests attention and repair.
  1. The One who cleansed the temple is still in that business. That’s what Rev.1-3 are about.
III. Now let’s take a quick rip to the end of Revelation. The last two chapters, 21 & 22, are the famous vision of the New Jerusalem descending from heaven.
 A. Revelation 21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” ...To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire & sulfur, which is the 2nd death.” 9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal...22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb...—and there will be no night there.
IV. So we see the beginning and the end of Revelation like two bookends.
 A. 2-3 The church as it is in the present // 21-22 The church as it will be on the last day
 B. 2-3 are where we are. 21-22 are where we are going.
V. Application
 A. We are here. This is the church in our present age. Wracked with problems/weaknesses. Some good things are happening, but there’s a lot messed up. And it’s been that way since the first century.
  1. So, what’s Jesus doing in all this? He’s working to affirm the good & repair the bad with His word.
  2. If a given church proves unfixable, then eventually it may be time to give up on it. Jesus removes their lampstand. And this has happened to many church through history.
  3. Jesus sometimes loses patience with a church but He never loses patience with the church.
  4. But the church will not always be where it is. In spite of its present troubles and failures, the church has a glorious destiny. One day it will be united, spotless, glorious, sinless and beautiful beyond imagination. That’s where this train is going. And that’s why I’m not getting off the train.
 B. These passages in Revelation help us to see what Jesus is doing in His churches today.
  1. Jesus isn’t just working on individual Christians. He is working on churches.
  2. (In fact, where is the place for miscellaneous Christians who are not a part of any lampstand?}
  3. “I know” is the first part of each letter. He doesn’t just know people; He knows churches. He knows what they’re going through, what they’re dealing with, where they’re succeeding/failing 
  4. And not only does He know churches —– but He has something to say to churches.
  5. Churches are not just earthly institutions which some people find helpful to their faith. Churches have a heavenly identity. They are known and talked about in the heavenly places. Jesus doesn’t just have a personal relationship with each of His people, He has a relationship with each of His churches. And He’s communicating to them, pleading with them, correcting them, affirming them.
 C. But how is Jesus speaking to His churches? Where, for instance,  is our message? Where is the letter from Jesus to Gainesville PCA, like there was one to Ephesus, and Smyrna and Thyatira?
  1. These seven letters aren’t only to one individual church. That’s clear. If they were, why such great effort to preserve them for posterity? These are for us too. And so is the letter to the Romans, and to the Corinthians and to the Galatians, and all the rest. (See Col.4:16.) He is speaking to us!
  2. And it’s our job to pay attention to His word, to humble ourselves and listen to what He is saying.
  3. There are important truths of the gospel which we need to applied to our lives, and important truths which need to be applied to our church.
  4. There are false ideas to be resisted, and false teachers who need to be rejected.
  5. There are glorious truths of the gospel which must be cherished and declared.
  6. There are truths the church must fight for and stand up for even if they are unpopular in society.
  7. There are truths the church must fight & stand up for even if they’re unpopular in some churches.
 D. And this is what the role of the elders is all about: the ministry of the word and prayer, helping Christians and the church-as-a-whole stay faithful in the face of great pressures, seeking to help each member burn brightly with the light of Christ.
  1. Imperfect men seeking to perfect the church? Yes. It sounds crazy, but that’s how Christ works.
  2. Of course, we must seek Christ’s work in us before we can expect Him to use us to work in others.
  3. So many things can go wrong. But it’s not by us, it’s only by Christ, only by Christ.