Jesus' Report Card

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Becoming a Church that Pleases Jesus (Jesus’ Report Card of the Church) Revelation 2-3

Introduction Jesus has amazing plans and expectations for His church. The people of God have incredible potential made available by the death and resurrection of Jesus, the truth of God’s Word, and the power of His Spirit. He has designed us to advance His kingdom on the earth and has prophesied that the gates of hell will not be able to stop us! (Matthew 16:18-19) We want to be this kind of church! We want to walk in all that Jesus has made available for us. We want to be a pleasure to our Lord and serve Him effectively.

Introduction In the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Revelation, we are blessed to witness Jesus’ evaluation of the New Testament church. Basically, Jesus gives the church a report card, declaring many things that they are doing well and correcting some things that need to be changed. For the next several weeks, we will be reading Jesus’ words about the church - His Bride that He loves. This will be a great opportunity to encourage ourselves to continue in the things He commended and repent of the things that He corrected. In doing so, we will become a church that pleases Him and serves Him effectively.

Revelation 2:18-29

1. I Know Your Service •

To be a “Christ-ian" is to be like Jesus. To be like Jesus is to be a servant. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45

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In our culture of busyness, the pursuit of pleasure, and self-centeredness; it can be easy to lose sight of who we truly are as Christians - servants to our Lord Jesus.

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Our life is no longer our own, we are bought with a price. (1 Corinthians 6:20) We agreed to deny ourselves, die to our own will and desires, and follow Jesus in humble and joyful service. (Matthew 16:24)

1. I Know Your Service •

Jesus warned his followers to be cautious about becoming like the pharisees of His day. The pharisees had a lot of intellectual knowledge of God, they kept the religious traditions and followed the rules; but they no longer loved and served God or the people God had given them to oversee.

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Have we become like the pharisees? Are we more concerned about looking good and righteous before others than we are about actually loving and serving people? Are we more concerned about our religious traditions (good worship, dynamic sermons, feeling good about ourselves) than we are about getting messy in the hurting lives of people around us?

1. I Know Your Service •

The word service is not a flashy one. It literally means a menial attendance as a servant or waiter of tables. It is meeting people where they are, genuinely loving them, and providing help by the Holy Spirit’s wisdom and power.

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Service is most often inconvenient, and rarely fun. But it does look like Jesus and it leads people to know the love of God. When they are in their darkest moments, the light of God’s love gives them hope.

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How about you? How is your service? When is the last time you took time to serve someone with no agenda receiving nothing in return and no hidden motive?

2. I Know Your Perseverance • This word that is translated “perseverance” comes from a Greek word that means, “cheerful or hopeful endurance, consistency, patient waiting.” (Strong’s) • Perseverance describes a follower of Jesus who has forever decided that he or she will be joyfully faithful to God despite whatever comes in their earthly lives. • Perseverance is so incredibly attractive because it gives others hope and teaches them that joy and peace are not dependent on abundance and a problem free life. Joy and peace are found in a consistent genuine relationship with the God of peace despite the difficult and terrifying storms of this world.

2. I Know Your Perseverance • Perseverance is also a consistent patient pursuit of God as the first love of our lives. • “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.” 2 Chronicles 16:9 • “The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, and who seek God.” Psalm 14:2 • If our purpose is to love God with all our hearts, it is very easy to be misled and distracted in our world. Where are those who persevere in their hunger for God?

3. I Know Your Maturity • “I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.” Revelation 2:19 • Let’s read Ephesians 4:11-16 together. • The design of God is that His people are saved from hell and united with Him through the blood of Jesus. But it doesn’t stop there! This passage tells us that God’s plan for each of us is to grow up, mature, and the reach the “whole measure of the fullness of Christ.” • Salvation is not the end, but only the beginning! We are to be growing daily in our journey to become like Jesus.

3. I Know Your Maturity • If your life is a timeline and you look at the span of time since you surrendered your life to God until today; are you different now than you were then? • Do you have a deeper love for God? Are you walking in more freedom from sin? Do you obey more truths in the Bible? Is your faith stronger? Has the fruit of the Spirit replaced your flesh weaknesses? Do you have more peace in hardship? Do you have more control over your tongue? Do you have a daily fellowship with the Spirit? • These are all markers of spiritual maturity according to the Bible. Using these evaluation tools, we are able to discern if we are genuinely maturing spiritually.

3. I Know Your Maturity • Jesus was continually teaching lessons and parables about being good stewards of what God has given us. God has given each one of us time, the truth of Scripture, an invitation to know Him personally, and the command to obey and grow up in Christ. • What have we done with these amazing gifts? How are we stewarding our lives? What will be the outcome on the day of reckoning? A warehouse full or eternal treasures for God’s kingdom? Or a pile of ashes that represent a life spent on things that have no eternal value? Will we hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant”? Or will we hear, “You wicked, lazy servant!”? (Matthew 25:23,26)

How Do I Mature in Christ? • Read the Bible. Daily consistent ingesting of God’s Word of Life with the teaching assistance of the Holy Spirit will rapidly increase spiritual maturity. Read it everyday. • Obey what you read. God doesn’t judge us for what we don’t know. But He is very concerned that we obey what He has already taught us. Read long enough to receive a command, then walk in obedience to that command. • Fellowship with the Spirit. He is the presence of God on the earth today. He teaches all things and empowers us to obey. • Join a small group and get a mentor. Jesus’ design for spiritual growth is disciple making. Submit yourself to a Bible believing small group and a disciple maker/mentor.