Core Values for the Church in the Messages of Christ to the Seven Churches in Revelation 2-3
If there
is a place in scripture that gives us concentrated exposition of what we may
take as the “core values” for Christ’s church, it is the Risen Lord’s messages
to the seven churches in Asia Minor at the end of the 1st century
A.D. in Revelation 2-3.
In these
seven messages (the number “seven” being the number of completeness) Christ
addresses the whole church of that time and today with a profile of its core
values. These are the dynamics that by
their presence or absence make or unmake communities as viable expressions of
the church (see the “City” and “Core Values” columns in the chart below). So it behooves us to pay careful attention to
what Christ says to them/us!
Further,
it seems possible to correlate the well-known “Seven Deadly Sins” to these core
values as their antitheses without too much of a stretch (see the “Deadly Sin”
column). With all this is place we can
go on and suggest a set of practices that might form a curriculum for a truly
missional ecclesial life.
I hope
to flesh this our more in future posts.
City
|
Core Value
|
Deadly
Sin
|
Practice(s)
|
Ephesus
|
Love
|
Sloth
(unwilling to attend to God)
|
Prayer,
disciplines (Love)
|
Smyrna
|
Suffering
|
Anger
(unwilling to be patient)
|
Remember
the future (Hope)
|
Pergamum
|
Truth-telling
|
Lust
(unwilling to be satisfied with
God’s truth, the “Eve [and Adam] Sindrome”])
|
Scripture-soaked (Faith)We will be spiritually safe in our use of the Bible if we follow a simple rule: Read it with a submissive attitude. Read with a readiness to surrender all you are – all your plans, opinions, possessions, positions. Study as intelligently as possible, with all available means, but never study merely to find the truth and especially not just to prove something wrong. Subordinate your desire to find the truth to your desire to do it, to act it out! (Todd Hunter) |
Thyatira
|
Holiness
|
Gluttony
(unwilling to be satisfied with
God)
|
Experience
the life of the triune God (the Father)
|
Sardis
|
Authenticity
|
Envy
(unwilling to be content)
|
Experience
the life of the triune God (the Spirit)
|
Philadelphia
|
Servanthood
|
Greed
(unwilling to be content with
God’s vocation for us)
|
Experience
the life of the triune God (the Son)
|
Laodicea
|
Worship
|
Pride
(“I”-dolatry par excellence)
|
Worship
|
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