Well, we used to attend that church, but they kept compromising the faith to keep happy some of the members who were into New Age teachings.”

“Those folks in that church have sure had a hard time of things. They stick to God’s Word and they’ve really had to pay a price for it!”

“That congregation has a great reputation... but you’ve got to wonder how committed they really are any more.”

Sound familiar? Compromise, sin, oppression, and false teaching prey on churches everywhere these days. Our Lord Jesus knows all about what is happening in our congregations, even as He knows the personal struggles that we each faces in our lives. In the second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation Jesus briefly examines these problems in the church and gives His own remedy.

The western part of present-day Turkey was the land that the Greeks called ‘Asia,’ from an ancient Akkadian word meaning to ‘raise up,’ likely because they saw the sun ‘raised up’ over that coastline. This area was home to seven Christian churches at the time when John was inspired by Jesus to write the book of Revelation. The seven letters that John includes in his book were intended not only for those seven congregations, but also for all churches everywhere throughout time that they may prayerfully consider and apply the letter’s contents to their own situation. Jesus tells John that the seven lampstands are the seven churches of Asia. Jesus raised them up to shine forth the Gospel of Christ’s salvation. But these lampstands also illumine the spiritual problems that Christians have always faced in their own congregations.

The fact that there were seven churches shouldn’t be overlooked, for ever since the Lord God created the heavens and the earth and rested on the seventh day, the number seven is used throughout Scripture to indicate a complete and holy number.

But if Jesus has addressed letters to seven churches, it is interesting that he only mentions six sins. Ephesus had left her first love of Jesus. Smyrna was an impoverished congregation struggling with fear as they looked at the obstacles set against them (remember how Peter sank into the water when he got his eyes off Jesus and started worrying about his situation). Some at Pergamum were holding on to false teachings which were being popularized at that time. At Thyatira a false prophetess was leading members into immoral living. Sardis was a church with a good reputation, but it was dead in the faith. Laodicea had adopted a tasteless and bland religion, which Jesus was about to spit out like bad food. Only the church in Philadelphia was commended for persevering against great odds without forsaking the truth at that time. As serious as the sins which plague the Church down through the ages are, make no mistake about it, our Lord Jesus keeps and preserves His Bride.

No matter what trouble, sin, and fear we may find ourselves dealing with in our congregations (and personal lives) today, the fact is that Jesus has a remedy for such problems and He promises to keep His little flock to the end. Jesus tells each of the seven churches (and us too!) that where they have turned away from Him they are to turn back to Him in repentance and cling to Jesus no matter what the cost might be.

Jesus surely loved the seven churches of Asia and called on them to believe on Him. He surely loves our present congregations, too. Jesus wants us to abide steadfastly in His truth revealed in the Bible and dispensed through His blessed Sacraments, as He said, “Hold fast what you have till I come” (Revelations 2:25).

Sooner or later each congregation will have its troubles (after all, every single member is a sinner on this side of heaven!) and may find itself to have wandered from Jesus, as did the congregations in Asia. Do not be ashamed to turn back to Jesus, repenting of the sin and clinging to Him who alone is able to keep and save us! Jesus said, “Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:10-11).

James Dale Wilson is the pastor of Resurrection Lutheran Church in North Bend, Oregon.