DISCRIMINATION WITHIN THE CHURCH

The Discrimination Within the Church

"He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches."

This is a call to the members of the church to examine them­selves and learn the lessons of this letter and follow them. There are several lessons:

Lukewarmness is a Contradiction of Professed Faith

The people who are really hindering the work of Christ are those who pretend to love Christ, who are evangelical but not evangelistic, who theorize about the atonement but never stretch a hand to save the lost.

Christ loathes the unimpassioned regularity of men who profess to believe the facts of the faith and who do not yield themselves to the great claims lying within those truths.

Lukewarmness is the worst form of blasphemy. Lukewarmness is insolent indifference to Christ, and to Him it is calculated cruelty.

There is the Teaching of the Actual Exclusion of Christ

Christ excluded Himself from heaven to save men. Christ was excluded from His nation by blindness. Christ was excluded from His world by forces of evil. Christ is now excluded from His own church.

There is the Picture of the Tenderness and Patience of  Christ

Though the condition of the church is loathesome, yet Christ is so tender in His affection and so patient in longsuffering, He will make one last effort to save before He judges.

The Only Cure for Lukewarmness is the Readmission of the Excluded Christ

Everything needed for a poor, blind, naked church is in Christ. He will offer it to a whole congregation or to individual members who will hear His voice and open the door.

The Deterioration in the Order of the Churches

Deterioration Marked in the Condition of the Churches

People remark how unfaithful Israel was throughout the OT.

Ephesus: There is the loss of first love.

• Smyrna: There is endurance without love.
• Pergamos: There is mixture with the world.
• Thyatira: There is moral and spiritual corruption.
• Sardis: There is impurity and deadness.
• Philadelphia: There is a Satanic movement within.
• Laodicea: There is compromise and exclusion of Christ.

 Deterioration Marked Increasing Promises to the Overcomer

• Ephesus: The right to the tree of life (2:7).
• Smyrna: Escape from the second death (2:11).
• Pergamos: Hidden manna, white stone, new name (2:17).
• Thyatira: Power over the nations (2:26-27).
• Sardis: White raiment and confession of name (3:5).
• Philadelphia: Pillar and the name of Christ (3:12).
• Laodicea: Privilege to sit with Christ in His throne (3:21).

Deterioration Indicated by the Increasing Imminence of  Christ's Coming

• Ephesus: "I will come to thee, and will remove thy candlestick" (2:5).
• Smyrna: "I will give thee a crown of life" (2:10).
• Pergamos: "Else I will come unto thee quickly" (2:16).
• Thyatira: "Hold fast till I come" (2:25).
• Sardis: "I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee" (3:3).
• Philadelphia: "Behold, I come quickly" (3:11).
• Laodicea: "Behold, I stand at the door and knock" (3:20).