April 7, 2025

April 7    Revelation 2
The letters to the 7 churches remind us that it is Jesus who is the ultimate head of the church.  Local congregations need to consider where they are in obedience to God and not simply by comparing to other churches.  Rather, we should evaluate how we are doing as a congregation based on Jesus' expectations for us.  Each congregation will be called to the same standards, but the issue is that each congregation is serving the LORD faithfully in some ways and likely has other areas where they are falling short.  This is seen in the letters to the 7 churches.
Ephesus was doctrinally strong and did not tolerate false teachers.  However, they struggled with loving others.  Perhaps the challenge of having to face false teachings and deal with these problems made it challenging to love one another.  They had the right doctrine but lacked in love.
Smyrna was facing persecution and were suffering for their faithfulness.  There is not a real challenge or change that need to be made like we see in the writings to the other churches.  Rather, they were being encouraged to keep their faith and stand strong in the face of the persecution that is coming their way.  
Pergamum was holding strong in the face of persecution as well. They were remaining faithful to the name of Jesus.  However, there have been doctrinal compromises, and they are allowing false teachers to gain influence.  They need to keep their faith and trust in Jesus while being discerning to make sure they are staying true to the right teachings.
Thyatira demonstrate love, faithfulness, and service.  However, they are struggling with false teaching and compromising to tolerate certain aspects of immorality being practiced in their midst.  Their love and action of serving were good, but their doctrine was beginning to struggle.  In a way they were the opposite of the struggle of Ephesus.
When we look at this list of letters, they were all churches, and they all were dealing with different issues.  Some things were problems from within that were created by allowing wrong ideas to hang around.  Some of the issues were coming externally as they faced pressure from the world to compromise.  It makes me wonder if Jesus was writing letters to our churches today what he would say to us. If you remember in reading through the New Testament how frequently there were warnings against false teaching in the writings.