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We hardly come to the end of the Scriptures before we encounter a sobering review of the state of the church (Rev. 2-3). In the first of seven overviews the Holy Spirit concluded that one church was simply going through the motions, filled with many powerful dynamics, maybe even admired by outsiders, yet falling short of what the Holy Spirit was looking for (Rev. 2:1-7). Seven different times the exact words of our text appear in just two chapters! Now why do you think the Holy Spirit keeps repeating this appeal? Could it be that He was having a hard time getting an audience for His voice in the church? A generation had not yet passed but what arguably the seven most dynamic and well-established churches of the day were suffering a severe case of Holy Spirit hearing loss.
It is a sign of what the ear of the church has become attuned to that the greatest pressure a pastor feels today is the pressure to draw a crowd. I hardly ever go home after service asking my wife, “What do you think the Holy Spirit was up to today?” But not a Sunday goes by that we don’t have an exchange that goes something like this, “I missed so and so in church today. I wonder what’s going on with them?” Now it is the shepherd’s nature to keep track of the sheep. But the enemy loves to prey upon our insecurities by drawing our attention away from the larger mission of the Spirit each week, that of teaching and nurturing of the church. Instead I focus my attention on matters of secondary importance. What we are hearing has made us more concerned with the size of the sheepfold than with its spiritual health.
Rev. 3:22 – He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (NKJV).
Rev. 3:22 – He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (NKJV).
That having an ear to hear the Spirit’s voice could not be taken for granted is obvious from our reading. Space will not allow for a detailed overview of the Spirit’s evaluation of these seven churches. They range from sexual immorality to doctrinal impurity, from smugness to cold-hearted indifference, from apathy to outright tolerance of open sin. If the Spirit were evaluating the church today and writing reviews on her would He be pleading with us about remaining relevant to a dying and dysfunctional culture? The irony of the pressure that is being put on the church to remain relevant to this generation is that the best way to accomplish such a goal is to develop an ear to hear what the Holy Spirit wants to say to the church. Obsession with critical analysis of the church often written by unregenerate men is causing believers to lose confidence in the power of the Gospel to transform lives.
If we expect the
Holy Spirit to do something different among us than what the average Christian experiences, then we’re going to have to be different.
The church is the spiritual machinery of the
-Pastor Dick Stark
Hearing Loss