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| The Book of Life has its basis in Roman Civic Culture |
Jesus’ letters to the Seven Churches are found in the book
of Revelation chapters 1-3. They begin
with a blessing (1:3) that is not included in any other book of the Bible: if
you read this book aloud and heed the warnings you hear, you will be blessed by
the Lord. The original recipients of
these letters were pastors of local congregations and therefore the Lord Jesus
was expressing his desire that these be read and pondered by the congregations
as they gathered together. Today’s
Christian tends to struggle with regularly attending church meetings or to even
see any special purpose for the assembly of the saints. But the Lord wants all of us gathered because
there are things he wants to say to us exclusively as a congregation not just
as individuals. If we absent ourselves
from church gatherings, we miss a real blessing. One of the repeated phrases in the letters is
“I know your works”. The Lord is keenly
aware of the health of all of his churches.
He knows our contributions and our compromises even better than we do. There are many people within and without the
church who make all sorts of assessments about the state of the church in
America today. But quite frankly, the
only voice of commendation or criticism that really matters is that of the Lord
Jesus Himself. He is the head and we as
believers are his body. As we go through
these letters, let’s attune our minds to what the Lord of the church is telling
us and move in that direction that we might receive the blessing he has
promised.
Your fellow traveler in the Journey,
Chris
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