Sermon Transcript: August 17, 2025
We are continuing with our series on Revelation and Resistance, and we have been in the book of Revelation for four weeks now. And I just ran across this week a great quote, which I thought, “Gosh, I wish I’d had this since the first week.” So you’ll hear it a lot. It’s from Eugene Peterson, who says, “Revelation is not about prediction, but perception.”
So, we’ve been talking about what this book is and what kind of literature it is. And, you know, what do we make of all these images of beasts and dragons and, you know, all this kind of bizarre talk, frankly? And so often, people read it as prediction—that these are things that are going to happen in the future, and somehow Revelation is the key to understanding them.
And Eugene Peterson and others—and I would include myself in this—say, “No, no. That’s a misunderstanding. This is about perception.” This is—they’re talking about their current circumstances, these first-century Jewish people who were following Jesus and running up continually against the empire and its forces of power as domination over others, and revealing a different way—God’s way—that we can live together.
But in order to do that, we have to resist the powers of the empire. And last week, even the faithful were anticipating what to come and save them—to open the seven scrolls. They were looking around for a lion, remember that? Okay? So they were looking for a lion, but what did they find instead?
A lamb.
Thank you! So, we talked about the difference between lion power and lamb power—lamb power, right? Lion power is domination over others, and lamb power is this idea of vulnerability. And we typically look for those lion powers in our world, and Revelation says, “No, no—to follow Jesus, we have to understand the power of the lamb.”
So today—overall—the entire book is written to the seven churches of Asia. The portion that we’re reading today comes from the letters to those individual churches. So there’s the larger narrative that’s going on, and kind of as an interlude, there’s this section of Revelation that is the letters to specific churches.
We’re not going to read all seven of them today. (You’re welcome.) We’re going to read excerpts from four of them—four different churches.
Two things I want to just note. As you listen to this, the text mentions the Nicolaitans, and these are people—it just very briefly mentions them—but it’s really helpful to know that these were people who claimed to follow Jesus but didn’t agree that to do so was to resist the Roman Empire. They thought, “You know, we can all just get along. We shouldn’t disobey what Rome is telling us to do. After all, their gods aren’t really real, so what’s the harm in just kind of pretending and going along so we don’t get in trouble? Isn’t that a better way?”
So those were the Nicolaitans, and they’re spoken of in this passage. Hint: not favorably.
The second thing I just want to talk about is—it does use the word “Jews,” and it especially problematically links it to the “synagogue of Satan.” And what I am going to do in this reading is translate “Jews” to “the faithful,” because that’s really what the author means. They’re all Jews. Some of them are followers of Jesus, some of them are not. This is not at the point in history where Christians and Jews are separate groups.
But the followers of Jesus are a subgroup of the larger Jewish movement. And there’s a lot of conflict there, but it’s the conflict that’s between people who know each other. It’s the conflict between communities that are disagreeing internally, and very different from now, where, obviously, Jewish and Christian communities are separate communities.
To help us not fall into a problematic understanding, I’m just going to translate that word for us.
Revelation 2:1–7 & 3:1–22
“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands:
“I know your works, your toil and your endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring and bearing up for the sake of my name and that you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember, then, from where you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this is to your credit: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars:
“I know your works; you have a name of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard; obey it and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. Yet you have still a few persons in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes; they will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not erase your name from the book of life; I will confess your name before my Father and before his angels. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These are the words of the Holy One, the True One,
who has the key of David,
who opens and no one will shut,
who shuts and no one opens:
“I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door that no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not but are lying—I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. Because you have kept my word of endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. I am coming soon; hold fast to what you have, so that no one takes away your crown. If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the origin of God’s creation:
“I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, and white robes to clothe yourself and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen, and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you, and you with me. To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”
For the Word of God in scripture,
For the Word of God among us,
For the Word of God within us,
Thanks be to God.
***
There was a post on social media this week—I’m not sure of the origin of it, who the author was—so if you know, let me know. But several of my friends posted it, and it simply read:
“What if winning meant everyone eats, everyone learns, and no one is left behind? That’s the kind of world worth fighting for.”
When I saw that post, I thought, That’s a really good summary of the book of Revelation.
The book of Revelation begins and ends with this vision of the world as God intends it to be: a world where people are treated fairly, a world where love and justice are evident, a world where we all dine together at God’s banquet table, and where there is enough for all. But Revelation also describes the world as it is—a world that is far from that vision. And it describes the beastly powers that are invested in the world as it is. It rightly warns us that these beasts are not going to simply concede their power.
And that is where we Christians come into the picture. It is our job to resist the powers of the empire and work for the kingdom of God here and now, on earth as it is in heaven.
And with our reading today, we see this teaching in context. We see the rubber hit the road. There are seven letters to seven churches in Asia Minor. We read excerpts from four of them.
Professor Greg Carey helps us to understand better the context of the day. He writes, “We should imagine the Asian churches as small clusters of Jesus believers who made their way into these dynamic, multicultural, and religiously observant cities. Imagine dozens or a few hundred Christians in cities with tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of inhabitants. It’s that situation—small minority communities inhabiting major cities and surrounded by sites of worship dedicated to deities of the Roman world—that shapes the letters to the churches.”
The letters all follow a similar format, but each speaks directly to the circumstances of that particular community. Some communities are offered blessings. Others are offered a warning. Some are judged faithful. Others are told that they are asleep or lukewarm.
But what strikes me about these letters is that the outward circumstances of these communities do not necessarily match up to the way the community is being judged.
For example, the church in Philadelphia is judged positively despite lacking resources. “You have little power, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”
Conversely, the church in Laodicea seems to be wealthy but lacking spiritually: “You say, I am rich and I have prospered and I need nothing. But you do not realize that you are wretched and pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”
This points us to a major theme of Revelation: the life that God invites us to—the life that God invites us to live—the life that God wants for us and dreams for us—does not match up with the way that the empire defines and measures success.
The empire’s markers of success are: wealth, power, status, resources, dominion. You notice that they’re all transactional markers? Every deal has a winner and a loser. And in order for me to win, you have to lose.
To the empire, the church in Laodicea, with its wealth, is successful. And the poor Philadelphians, lacking resources, are not.
But the gospel suggests a different way of defining and measuring success—more relationally. The markers of success are not how much we can gather for ourselves, but how much we can share with our neighbors. Not how much power we have, but how we use the power that we have to benefit others. Not how big our congregation is, but how big we have allowed our hearts to be stretched by the love of God.
Now, these ways are not always in conflict. But Revelation warns us that more often than not, they are.
Professor Carey gives examples. Any Christian who wanted to do business or advance in society would be confronted with this tension on a regular basis: “Do I participate in this party, this banquet, this meeting, this festival—or do I withdraw out of my devotion to Jesus?”
He continues: “Christians throughout the ages have faced this tension between loyalty to Christ and getting along with the broader culture. And more to the point, we are masters of self-deception, convincing ourselves that the convenient thing—the self-serving thing—is in line with our faith, is in line with our Christian values.”
That’s what the Nicolaitans were trying to get away with, right? And Revelation does not respond favorably.
My friend Christian Boyd writes, “The greatest illusion of modern society is that freedom is purely individualistic, when in reality, our freedom is deeply interconnected with the well-being of everyone.”
We can’t just ask, “What is good for me?” because what’s good for me might not be good for others, or good for the whole.
There are two antidotes for this disease of self-deception, and they are offered to us by Revelation. One is community, and the other is listening to the Spirit.
Community immediately puts us in relationship with others. In Psychology Today, Samantha Stein writes:
“Experiencing a sense of belonging is vital for our psychological well-being. Being a part of a healthy community can help us feel connected to others, as well as feel that we’re a part of something that’s larger than ourselves.”
But there are other benefits as well, such as having our views and opinions challenged by the life experiences and wisdom of others. And the truth of the matter is that we’re much more likely to accept critical feedback from those that we already know and trust rather than other sources.
Being a part of community reminds us continually that we’re not Lone Rangers, and that my needs, while valuable and important, are only part of a larger network of needs of the others around me.
The other side of the coin from listening to each other is listening to God—or, as John says, “What the Spirit is saying.”
First, notice how that verb is active and present. It’s not, “Listen to what the Spirit has said,” but “What the Spirit is saying now.”
Yes, originally to those seven churches but also to us, here and now. The Spirit is still speaking.
And the question is: Are we actively listening? Or are we just listening to our own echoes?
Again, let me be clear: this is not something that is certain. There’s little room for certainty in this endeavor. It is by nature filled with doubt and uncertainty.
As Anne Lamott writes at the end of the quote on your bulletin cover: “Faith includes our doubts. Faith includes noticing the mess.”
That’s what these letters are about noticing the mess. Not sweeping it under the rug, but saying, Yeah, there are some things that we have to work on here.
But this voice does not come to us as a loudspeaker but a mere whisper. It takes faith, and it takes imagination, and discernment on our part.
But again, we’re not in it alone. We listen not to what God is saying just to me, but what God is saying to us. What do we collectively hear?
And even then, we hold that answer with humility, willing to be wrong. Can you imagine such a thing? Willing to admit that you might be wrong? I know, it’s crazy.
But willing to learn, and grow, and change course if we hear a new word from the Spirit.
Let me just quickly give you an example from right here in our own midst. We’re about to undergo the second major renovation in the past 10 years. Yeah. We finally have a potential start date, by the way: September 22nd. Our second major renovation in the past 10 years. Why?
Is it our own vanity? Do we want to beautify our church building? Do we want to show others how successful and vibrant we are? That we have enough wealth and clout to do such a thing in an age of the decline of organized religion?
Now, if we’re noticing the mess, if we’re being really, really honest—we can’t rule out any of those motivations, right? That’s just human nature.
But I can tell you—and so, I bet, can anyone who has been in leadership over the past 10 years can attest—that the discussion has always begun with the question: What is the Spirit saying to us now?
How is God calling us in this time and place?
And after much prayer, and discussion, and discernment, and debate—we believe we clearly heard the Spirit saying to us: “You need to widen your welcome.” Your space needs to reflect the welcome and hospitality of Jesus Christ to the best of your ability.
And so we took a hard look at our space and ourselves and asked the hard question: What is blocking us from widening our welcome?
And more recently, we’ve heard the Spirit expand on that invitation to “Come and See.” To continue to dive deeper into this relationship and into the welcome that God offers—and ask: What more does welcome require of us?
So in addition to our building renovations, we’ve expanded and diversified ministries and outreach. We’ve become an Earth Care congregation, a MoreLight church, a Matthew 25 community as well. You hear me say it every Sunday.
We’ve become more active in our local community through BUILD and school partnerships.
Have we accurately heard what the Spirit is saying to us?
Have we been lukewarm?
Have we been asleep?
Or are we being faithful?
That’s not for us to know for sure. But it is ours to keep that question ever in front of us, and to try our best. Forgiving ourselves when we fall short, and giving glory to God when we get a glimpse of the kingdom peeking through from behind the curtain.
But the thing about that question is that it’s still in the present tense. And so it’s always and ever before us. And I think of that question threefold:
- What is God saying to me now?
- How is the Spirit alive and at work in the community around us? Where is God in our neighborhood and in our cities?
- What is the Spirit saying to our church now?
Those three questions. I invite all of you to consider them. And I will forewarn you, we are going to come back to them this fall:
- What is God saying to me?
- Where is God already at work in our community and city?
- What is the Spirit saying to our church now?
Because my friends, the tension is real. You know it as well as I do. We live it every day. And the choices are not always easy or clear. And so above all else, we need to listen. We need to listen to each other, and we need to listen to what the Spirit is saying to us.
Amen.
