Today’s reading is Acts 21:1-22:30.

“When the seven days were almost completed, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, ‘Men of Israel, help! This is the man who is teaching everyone everywhere against the people and the law and this place. Moreover, he even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place!’” (Acts 21:27-28).

None of this was true. The crowds believed it, no doubt. But it simply wasn’t true. The fact is, no matter how I live, some folks will attribute the wrongs motives, the wrong attitudes, even the wrong actions to me. But who had the problem here. Was it Paul? No. It was the crowd. This was not an issue between Paul and the crowds, this was an issue between the crowds and God.

Here’s the kicker for me. My job today is to do the next right thing. My job today is to do what is right because it is right in order to glorify God. It is not my job to manage everyone else’s thoughts and feelings about me (don’t misunderstand, when i’m doing what is right because it is right in order to glorify God, I’m not walking all over other people and their feelings). The truth is, if I am doing what is wrong but have put off a persona that makes everyone think great things about me, it doesn’t change that I did wrong. In the same way, if I’m doing what is right, but someone else thinks wrong of me, that is their problem. I don’t have to go around fixing everyone’s views of me. I simply need to do what is right.

What a great example from Paul.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

PS. What struck you in today’s reading?

Today’s reading is Revelation 1:1-2:29.

I’m going to branch out a bit and cover some things in Monday’s reading as well. Regrettably, the way the reading schedule falls it divides up the letters to the seven churches of Asia and today I simply have some questions and thoughts about those seven churches.

First, I can’t help but notice the contrast between the church in Ephesus and the church in Pergamum. The Ephesians hated the work of the Nicolaitans. The Pergamumites, Pergamumonians, whatever, allowed those who held to the teaching of the Nicolaitans to be members of the congregation. I wonder if the the Christians at Ephesus ever talked about the Christians at Pergamum. Of course, they might not talk about them directly, but in hushed undertones. They might talk about them in veiled allusions. They might talk about how pitiful the church at Pergamum was. After all, Ephesus must have committed, godly, faithful members. They were enduring patiently and bearing up for Jesus’ name’s sake. They most definitely had distinctive preaching and strong leaders who would not allow error to creep its way in. They even tested men who claimed to be apostles. They wouldn’t put up with false apostles.

I can easily see how the Ephesian church would look at Pergamum and see them as a weak and flailing congregation. Surely no one should be a member of that pathetic church when they could be part of a strong congregation like Ephesus. And yet, Ephesus had a problem. They had left their first love. They weren’t actually as great as they thought. In fact, they weren’t really any better than Pergamum. They had different problems, but they had problems nonetheless. Both were in danger of discipline from God. What both needed to do instead of looking out at other churches, was work on their own internal problems, correcting them.

What I learn from this is that I shouldn’t sit on my high horse about how much better my congregation is than other congregations. Maybe we aren’t the dead church or the lukewarm church or the left its first love church or the in fellowship with error church (then again, maybe we are). But we have our problems. We need to look inside and work on us.

Now to the questions. I don’t know how often I get asked by people, “When should I leave a church?” Perhaps you have been asked the same question. Surely if something is being taught or being practiced that is a sin, we should go. That seems like a no-brainer. And yet, I can’t help but notice both Thyatire and Sardis. Thyatira was in fellowship with Jezebel. That can’t be good. She was a false prophet. She was seducing Christians to practice sexual immorality and eat things offered to idols. I assume that means they were doing this in a way to serve idols. Surely I should leave any church that is in fellowship with a false prophet seducing Christians to commit sexual immorality. And yet, what did Jesus say to those who didn’t hold her teaching? “I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come.” What’s up with that?

Then there is Sardis. This is a dead church. They have a reputation for life, but they are deader than a coffin nail. Their works were incomplete and they were about to die. However, there were a few who had not soiled their garments. What did Jesus say to them? Did he advise them to leave and find a church like Smyrna or Philadelphia? Actually, he didn’t say anything to them other than that they would walk with him in white for they were worthy. What’s up with that?

So, here’s my question. Are we asking the wrong question when we ask when we should leave? Maybe the right question is how do we stay and help strengthen the church we’re in. What do you think?

***Question: What do you do to help strengthen the church you are in?

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC

In Revelation 2:1-7, Jesus reveals to John His message for the church at Ephesus. This congregation had been doing some great things. They had endured patiently. They could not endure those who were evil. They stood up to those who claimed apostleship but were false. They had not grown weary. 

Amazingly, however Jesus still had something against them. They had left the love they had at first. I believe this hearkens back to Jeremiah 2:2-3 or, at least, makes the same point. There, God spoke of the love of the newly married. That early devotion in which the partners will simply follow the object of their love wherever they go. Ephesus had left that kind of love. 

They were doing some right things, but they were not doing them for the right reasons. That was dangerous because they were simply heeding some rules without devotion to the rule-giver. Without that love and devotion, they were a hop, skip and jump away from changing the rules to fit their desires.

What was Jesus’ prescription to fix their problem? We might think that He would talk to them about their feelings. “Go back to the feelings you had at first,” we expect Him to say. “If you work on those feelings, then the right works will come.” That, however, is not Jesus answer. Instead, He said, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.”

Clearly, for all the good they were doing, their lack of love had caused them to stop doing something. Jesus’ prescription for their spiritual illness was to restart the works they did at first. He doesn’t just command them to recapture their early feelings. He tells them to reinstate their early works. You see, we cannot feel our way into right actions. However, we can act our way into the right feelings. Jesus’ point was if they just started doing the right things they had been doing at first, then those feelings that had accompanied those works would come back.

The take away for me today is that I shouldn’t wait until I feel like doing the right thing. I need to just do the next right thing. As I take that step, the feelings will follow. It will be an upward cycle and spiral of righteousness in the grace of Jesus Christ.

So, what is the next right thing you should do in your relationship with your spouse? What is the next right thing you should do in your relationship with your co-workers? …with your friends? …in your congregation? …in your relationship with God? Even if you don’t feel like it, just do it. The feelings will come.

Keep the faith and keep reading,

ELC