Only hold on to what you have until I come. To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— ‘He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery’— just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give him the morning star. He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Rev. 2:26-29)

Here is the promise to the faithful at Thyatira. They had already displayed endurance and good works. Jesus praised them for their love and faith but again a warning came because of their tolerance for someone in the church who was misleading the faithful. Jesus called the woman Jezebel which suggests that she was a ruthless manipulator of people who led believers into idolatry and immorality. She apparently taught these things under the guise of a deeper spirituality that she undoubtedly attributed to deep revelations from the Spirit but Jesus declared that her teachings were from Satan.

Sometimes the Achilles heal of faithful churches is that they tolerate people in their midst who create division, dissension, and lead others into sins that are framed as “freedom in Christ.” The church’s first call is to love others and to refrain from a self-righteous judgmentalism. Because of that it is often hard for church leaders to confront sin because they feel as if they are “judging.” As soon as the church begins to challenge a “member” about questionable actions, teachings, or life style the person who has been challenged often begins to quote verses about love, acceptance and judge not lest ye be judged. Too often church leaders back off as soon as those cards are played.

To be sure, the church needs to instruct those who are immature, encourage the discouraged, and have patience with the weak. But a time comes when repentance must be demanded. When the actions of the person are consistently hurtful to the church or to individual members of the church and the offender is clearly not acting out of ignorance but willfully, then church discipline is called for.

God is gracious towards sins of ignorance and even weakness but not toward willful and rebellious sin. Jesus calls on the church at Thyatira to continue to persevere and to do good works but to also step up and deal with the woman Jezebel who is leading others into sin and knows it. To be fully aligned with the Father means that we deal first with any unholiness in our own lives but that we also confront sin in others when it is willful and destructive. Jesus was quite gentle and understanding with the woman caught in adultery and the Samaritan woman at the well even though their lives were full of sin. Their sin came out of weakness and brokenness not arrogance and rebellion. However, the Pharisees and teachers of the law were another matter. Jesus responded to their arrogance and rebellion with confrontation and warnings. To be like Jesus, there will be times when we must do the same thing.

For those at Thyatira who responded to the command of Jesus and who remained faithful to the end, he promised great authority and rule over the nations. The same promise comes to us. We can understand the promise in two ways. Of course, we can look to the millennium and see that those who are faithful now will be given places of authority and rulership over nations during Christ’s thousand-year reign. But since we are already seated with Christ in the heavenly realms (See Eph.2:6) we can understand is promise in an additional way.

We are already ruling with Jesus and affecting nations and people through the authority we already carry and express in prayers, declarations, righteous works, justice and evangelism. Remember David’s prophetic words, “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession” (Ps 2:8). As we align ourselves with the Father now by continuing to do good, love others, live by faith and confront evil we assure ourselves a place of honor and authority in the millennium but also increase our authority even now as we rule with Christ in the present. Jesus promises authority – not just a little but enough to dash rebellious nations to pieces as with an iron scepter.

Not only that, but Jesus said he will give us the Morning Star. In Revelation 22:16, Jesus identifies himself as the Morning Star. As always, Jesus promises to give us more of himself, more of his presence, and more of his Spirit as we align ourselves with his will – not just now but eternally. When we sync our hearts with the heart of Jesus, we grow closer to Him. As he shines like the Morning Star we too will shine like stars in the heavens in the same way that the face of Moses carried the glory of God when he came off the mountain. Jesus will give us himself but also will impart glory to those who love him so that they too can impart his glory to others.   Nothing the world can offer can compare to being in his presence.

Over the past week or so we have been looking at the letters to the seven churches of Asia to get insights into some of the things that take us out of the will of God or that misalign us with his heart. For those who want to walk in the fullness of God’s Spirit for a lifetime, staying aligned with the Father is crucial because being out of step with the Lord restricts the flow of the Spirit.

One thing we need to notice is that each of the churches who received a rebuke were still serving God in some ways and were still lifting up the name of Jesus. But they were also participating in or tolerating certain things that generated a warning from heaven that discipline was in the pipeline – even to the extent of Jesus removing their lampstand which might be a reference to the Holy Spirit.

However, for those who responded to the warning and realigned themselves with the Father, there were numerous promises. Some of the promises were primarily for the life to come but many can be understood as promises for the here and now. I want to look at those promises over the next few days because they are part of our motivation for staying in step with the Spirit in every facet of our lives.

To the church in Ephesus, Jesus said, “To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. (Rev.2:7). The word overcomes is significant because later in Revelation we are told that the saints overcame the devil “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony” (Rev.12:11. The word translated “overcomes” is the word “nikao” in Greek. It does not mean to simply endure but it means to triumph over, to win, to defeat, or to overwhelm the enemy. The word communicates aggressive action on our part rather than a passive endurance. It calls to mind the words of Jesus that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church. Victory for the believer comes from being on the offensive rather than the defensive. It reminds us that many great promises stand on our ability and willingness to wield the power and authority of heaven (divine weapons – 2 Cor. 10:3-6). Even though the promise of the tree of life in the paradise of God seems to be related to our heavenly state, we must remember that we are already citizens of heaven and are now seated with Christ in spiritual realms.

The promise seems to be that for those who align themselves with heaven and who aggressively take on the enemy, two things will be theirs in both this life and the life to come. One is the energy and power that flows from heaven that fuels an eternal life and the other is rest and the presence of God which paradise has always symbolized. In the book of Genesis the tree of life stood in the midst of the garden and those who ate of it could live forever. In John’s writings (which include his gospel. his letters and the book of Revelation) eternal life is not about duration as much as it is quality. Eternal life is the kind of life experienced by those who live in close fellowship with the Father. Jesus showed us that life in its fullness and that life is also available to those who live for Jesus no. The power and provision of heaven was a constant in the life of Jesus.

But in the paradise of God there was also rest and the presence of the Father. In the midst of threats and an almost chaotic schedule Jesus often stole away and found rest and comfort in the presence of the Father. How often did he go away to a private place exhausted, spend the night in prayer, and come back energized – even walking on water?

As Jesus closed his memorandum to the church at Ephesus he called them to repentance or “realignment” and promised that those who stayed faithful and maintained their alignment with the heart of the Father could live on this earth with access to the power and provision of heaven along with the rest and renewal that comes from being in the very presence of God. Ultimately, I believe that Jesus is the tree of life. Those who eat of the tree can live forever and those who eat of the bread of life will also live forever (Jn.6:51). It is through a close walk with Jesus that all these promises are ours. As we partake of Jesus we partake of life, rest, and presence. We partake of Jesus by submitting all that we are and all that we have to him with nothing reserved for ourselves. Be blessed today.

To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his names from the book of life. (Rev.3:1-5)

In his letter to the seven churches in Asia, Jesus delivers a stern rebuke to the church at Sardis. Although this city was the home of pagan temples, a huge Jewish synagogue, and a city under Roman rule, no enemies are mentioned as they have been with the previous churches. The problem with Sardis was that it was living on reputation but in actuality it’s passion and vision for the kingdom of God had diminished to the point of being lifeless.

Sardis was, apparently, an outstanding church at one time. But the church had grown weary. It had stopped serving and evangelizing as it had done in the past. It was a group of believers who had slipped into early retirement. Perhaps they felt that they had done their part for the kingdom and now it was time for others to bear the burden of service and sacrifice. But Jesus declares that there is not retirement in the kingdom. Retirement comes when we are transferred to the home office – not before. The King determines when we retire. We don’t. To Jesus this church had simply decided to stop running the race and had stepped off the track.

They were like servants who had not completed the tasks their master had assigned but decided they had done enough. It’s one thing to miss an assignment God has given us. It is another thing to choose to no longer accept any assignments. Jesus declared that they were dead and called them to renewal and repentance. All was not lost but if they were to receive any reward they had to step back on the track and begin running the race one more.

Years ago I was a campus minister in a small town with a small college. Many churches in tiny rural towns in the area sent their kids to the college where I served and they attended the church that directed and supported the campus ministry there. On occasion I was asked to preach at some of the small churches that supported the ministry. I was invited to preach a Sunday evening service in a particular town where one of the students in our ministry had grown up. The service was to begin at 6:00. I arrived at 5:30. No one showed up to unlock the building until 6:05 and then others straggled in for the next fifteen minutes or so. The girl in our ministry, who was 19 or 20 years old, was the last one who had been baptized in that church when she was twelve. The night I preached I discovered that the baptistery was where the church stored their lawn mower, rakes, and garden hose along with a plethora of dead leaves and spiders. That was a dead church with no passion, no vision, and no fruit. They were an older group who had retired from the kingdom. I’m not saying that no one there loved Jesus; they had just quit bearing fruit in the kingdom. However, the church at Sardis once again suggests that fruit bearing is a genuine indicator of alignment with the heart of the Father.

One consideration for each of us who want to walk in the grace and the power of God is whether we are still passionately engaged in the work of the kingdom or if we have stepped onto the sidelines just waiting for the power to flow again before we get in the game?   Are we bearing fruit worthy of our calling and are we still running the race with diligence? Or have we become consumers in the kingdom allowing others to serve us rather than serving them? Are we partaking of other people’s fruit but not bearing any of our own? Do we glory in what we used to do for Jesus or are we asking Jesus to do more through us now than ever before? Jesus said, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (Jn.15:8).

Sometimes our greatest enemies lurk in the culture around us and populate the kingdom of darkness. But sometimes we are the enemy who has let our own passion grow cold and have stepped off the track while others run. Sometimes we have stopped taking assignments from God that were scheduled before the earth was created. If so we can repent, get back in the game, and begin once again to experience the power of God. Be blessed!!! Alignment includes fruitfulness.

In order for someone to find freedom in Christ, that individual must recognize and acknowledge the sin in his/her life.  Unrepented sin gives the enemy legal access to our lives because in those areas that we have roped off for ourselves and our flesh, we are in agreement with Satan.

To help people find their freedom in Christ we must learn how to help people deal with the sin that is usually so apparent to others but not always apparent to them.  In addition, we must do so in love.  In everything we do, we must follow the lead of the Savior of all men and the one who has shown us the heart of the Father.  As we look at the life and ministry of Jesus, however, we find two or three general responses to sin and at times they seem to be quite contradictory.

Most of us love the response of Jesus to the sins of the woman at the well (Jn.4:1-26) and the woman taken in adultery (Jn.8: 1-11).  In both of those settings Jesus encounters women whose lives have been marked with sin.  The Samaritan woman of John 4 seems to have had a reputation in her village that had gained her the status of outcast. She had lived with a number of husbands and was simply living with her latest lover.  According to John, Jesus was resting at the well about noon when the woman showed up to draw water.  Traditionally the women of the village would have come to the well in the cool of the morning and the evening rather than in the heat of the day.  Perhaps, she came at noon to avoid the other women of the village. The woman described in John 8 was a woman caught in the very act of adultery who doesn’t bother to argue her innocence even when her life is on the line.

In both cases the gentleness and mercy of Jesus is almost overwhelming. In both cases Jesus acknowledges the sin in the lives of each woman but almost in passing.  Instead he emphasizes the grace and forgiving nature of God.  He points them to a better life but in no way shames them or condemns them as they go on their way.  That is the Jesus most of us love and are comfortable with – the Jesus who says little about sin but just points people to the grace of God.

But in his gospel, John describes another moment when Jesus heals a man who had been lame for thirty-eight years.  This man had spent his days begging at the pool of Bethesda.  In a moment of compassion, Jesus saw the man and healed him.  It is such a quick moment that the man doesn’t even discover who has healed him.  But John tells us that later in the day, Jesus found the man in the temple area and privately warned him to “stop sinning or something worse may happen to you” (Jn.5:14).   In this case Jesus gives a private rebuke to a sinful man so that he might find eternal life and not lose the healing he had received for “the kindness of God calls us to repentance” (Rom.2:4).

Finally, we are all aware of the sharp confrontations Jesus had with the Pharisees. With these men he was not gentle nor did he give a private rebuke.  He scolded them in public and called them sons of Satan (Jn.8:44), a brood of vipers (Mt.12), blind guides (Mt.23) and  more.

So how do we reconcile these encounters if we are to do all things in love? If Jesus came to seek and to save the lost why is he gentle with some and scathing with others?  I believe that the common ground of each encounter was the redemptive motive of Jesus.  His goal for all three types of sinner was redemption and that goal was motivated by love.  Remember, we are called to love even those we don’t like.

To the women, Jesus took on a priestly role of dispensing hope, gentleness, grace and forgiveness. These women were quite aware of their sins and already carried their own burden of shame for the lives they had been leading.  Jesus had no need to convince them of their sinfulness. He needed to convince them that the great and holy God of Israel was willing to forgive and embrace them despite their sinful past.

That was the message they needed to hear. To the lame man Jesus seemed to take a middle ground of demonstrating God’s mercy but then confronting his sin in a personal way so not to humiliate the man. In a sense, this man needed to be reminded that God’s mercy was not released into his life so that he could continue to be the man that he was before he was healed. He needed to be reminded that the grace of God call us to a different life.    In that case, Christ took a position somewhere between priest and prophet and brought grace with a word of warning.

When facing the Pharisees who trusted in their own righteousness and who were blinded to their sins by a spiritual arrogance, Jesus came in the spirit of the prophets with a get-in-your face rebuke and a call to repentance.  Though it was harsh it was still an attempt to redeem these men.

So in helping men and women deal with their sins there are times to be very priestly, times to be very prophetic, and times to stand somewhere in between.  For many, it will be very apparent which approach to take in order to help them find freedom.  For others it will take a clear leading of the Spirit.  One approach will easily fit our temperament while the other will be very foreign to us but discernment and flexibility is key.   Jesus did not love some and hate others.  He simply knew which approach was most redemptive in the moment – not only to the one he was dealing with but to the ones who were watching.

However, we do it, we must help people discern and acknowledge their sin and their brokenness if they are to be healed and set free.  Think about what is most needed and the spirit in which it must be ministered the next time God puts someone in your life that needs the grace and the healing touch of Jesus and may the Lord bless you today.