More on the "Seven Churches"

Justin Taylor offered this article on his blog.

Do You Care What Christ Thinks of the Church?

Sam Storms's latest book is To the One Who Conquers: 50 Daily Meditations on the Seven Letters of Revelation 2-3. I'm halfway through the book, reading it devotionally, and have appreciated it very much--especially because Storms models for me the way to meditate on God's instruction day and night.

Here was one section in particular I found helpful (pp. 30-31), commenting on Jesus walking among the seven lampstands (Rev. 2:1):

He is present in and among his people. He guards and protects and preserves the church. He is never, ever absent! No service is conducted at which he fails to show up. No meal is served for which he does not sit down. No sermon is preached that he does not evaluate. No sin is committed of which is he unaware. No individual enters an auditorium of whom he fails to take notice. No tear is shed that escapes his eye. No pain is felt that his heart does not share. No decision is made that he does not judge. No song is sung that he does not hear.

How dare we build our programs and prepare our messages and hire our staffs and discipline our members as if he were distant or unaware of every thought, impulse, word, or decision! How dare we cast a vision or write a doctrinal statement or organize a worship service as if the Lord whose church it is were indifferent to it all!

Do you care “What Christ thinks of the Church”? Or are you more attuned to the latest trend in worship, the most innovative strategy for growth, the most “relevant” way in which to engage the surrounding culture? Yes, Jesus cares deeply about worship. Of course he wants the church to grow. And he longs to see the culture redeemed for his own glory. All the more reason to pray that God might quicken us to read and heed the “words” of Christ to the church in Ephesus, then, and to the church now, whatever its name, denomination, or size. It obviously matters to him. Ought it not to us as well?"