2015-10-15

The Qualities of Good Believers from the Seven Churches of Revelation

Many people think that we are living in the End-Times and Jesus Christ is coming soon. How should we live in this time? What does occupy till He come means? Why not let us find out in the letters to the seven end times churches of the Revelation? Jesus' letters to the seven churches of the Book of Revelation commended the good behaviour and rebuked the bad behaviour of the believers then. By collecting the commendations and reversing the rebukes we can come out a list of the quality behaviours of believers. There are seven of them. Read to find out more.
What kind of behavior should a believer have? People can only see your external behavior and not your internal intentions. Hence, as good testimony for Christ, we must be careful of our behavior. We can follow the ten commandments as a guide. Ten commandments are the reflection of God's attributes. Believers should exhibit behavior that exceeds ten commandments. How can that be possible? Through the Holy Spirit in Christ producing the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit attributes like love, joy, patience, kindness, etc are proactive positive behavior whereas the ten commandments are the prohibitive negatively stated behaviors. (Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.)  We can also find a practical list of good behavior and attributes in the study of the seven churches in Revelation 2-3. A consolidated list is shown in the mind-map below:

In the above mind-map. we consolidated the good behavior and bad behavior together from the seven churches. By just reversing the bad behavior, we can change that to be good. The letter to the Thyatira church contains an also complete list of good behaviors, and hence we can use it as the starting framework to add-in from the others. So after the consolidation, we can find seven attributes for good behavior as described below.

The Seven Qualities

1. Your Love for Jesus
The most important thing in a believer's life is Jesus. Without Jesus, there is no gospel and no Christianity. Every believer must start here. If we get this wrong, all the rest will be wrong. Hence, the very first rebuke to the Ephesus Church is their loss of the first love for Jesus. They have put doctrines to be above Jesus. What about us? Is Jesus the most important thing in our life? How can you tell? Check your relationship or fellowship with Him. How much time do you spend with Jesus? Are you aware of His presence in your daily work routines? The challenging, busy, and increasing evilness in the world has made many people cold in their hearts. They have become indifferent. That was the greatest problem with the Laodicean church. They were lukewarm, neither cold nor hot which means indifference --- I don't care. They care more about their material wealth than a relationship with Jesus. They got all the priorities mixed up. Jesus invited them for fellowship with Him. What about you? Is your fellowship sweet and desirable? Is that the first thing you seek in the morning and last thing you say goodnight to? Be appreciative of the life and relationship we have.

2. Your Faith 
Our faith is best seen under the test. Are we willing to die for the cause that we believe in? But before we go into such depth, can we answer a simpler one. When people ask you about your belief, are you shy to admit you are a Christian? What is stopping you from doing that? Is it because you feel you are not good enough to admit it so as not to bring shame to Jesus? If so, please know that Jesus died for us when we were yet sinners. Jesus did not wait for us to be good to receive and die for us. Relationship with Jesus is about being authentic and frank with Him. He understands and will help you out. The next thing is to get your life in order with Him help and then you will not be shy to confess Jesus as your Lord. Actually admitting first will bring the empowerment to you to live out the good testimony. Take this small step first. I am a believer in Jesus and His gospel.

3. Your Service 
When we love someone, it is only natural that we serve him/her. The Ephesians were praised for their hard work especially in getting the right doctrines and filtering out the false ones. They are very critical and sensitive to false teachings. Service is not about doing what pleases you or what you think is good for the one you love. It is asking them what they love first and then we do what they love. That was precisely what the Philadelphians did --- they obeyed Jesus' message. Prayer is not about you but about finding out what God wants you to do. Of course, taking good care of you is God's promise to you and so can come to Him for your needs. But can you go beyond that and see the world from His point of view.

4. How You Have Endured. 
Suffering for our faith is a sure thing. Being good will attract attention and attacks from the evil ones. Your goodness is embarrassing their badness. But what is the meaning of endurance? One aspect is suffering for Christ without getting weary --- so as to complain, give up or deny and rebel against Christ. Another is to forgone materialistic and comfort lives --- being poor materially but rich in the eyes of God. People may question you about your foolishness to give up your career, money, and time for Christ. They don't see the values of spiritual and eternal things. They live for this life only but you know better otherwise.

5. Doing More Than Before. 
Life is about change and about growing up. While we may be satisfied with what we have and achieved, we continue to go for more because there is no limit to knowing and experiencing Jesus and His love. But we need to be careful. Having more activities does not mean more life! It is about doing the right activities at the right time and effort. Have a balanced life with time for rest and reflections, with family and with Jesus. We may need to review our activities and get rid of those that are not in the will of God and start some that are. We need to prune the tree for more fruits by getting rid of energy-wasting non-fruitful efforts and channeling them to the right ones. We don't want to get into the state of us doing a lot of work and yet God says it is incomplete!

6. Reject False Teachings
The mind-map above shows quite a list of false teachings of Jezebel, Nicolaitans, and Balaam. It serves as a good warning for us in today's world as well, such as the prosperity-only gospels, the ultra-grace with grace as the license to sin, licentious living, and the more evil kind of demonic worship of all forms. False teaching misleads and binds their believers. Discover the truth in and of Jesus and be set free.

7 Get Rid Of Evil
A sin is a sin according to the Word of God even though man may legalize it or give it some fanciful names or hide behind seemingly good intentions (e.g. I am not a busybody but just concern). The love for Jesus should be reflected in our purity and the same hatred for evil and sins as Jesus. May the Word and Holy Spirit reveal to us the true state of life.... making sure we are not pitiful, blind, and naked as the Laodiceans. Let us not tolerate seemingly little evil or sin in our life or in our midst. We can love people but hate their sins.


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