Introducing "The One"

Reality television can be brutally honest.

Have you watched "Kitchen Nightmares" on the Fox network? I know, it's one of the thousands of reality television shows out there. But this really is a remarkable show. That chef, Gordon Ramsey, doesn't mess around! He's brilliant. He's immensely gifted as a chef and restaurateur. He knows food, he knows people, and he knows business. It's impressive.

But when it comes to restaurants and their management, he's as tough as nails. He's brutally honest. He doesn't sugarcoat anything! He cuts right down to business.

The show always begins with him walking into some pathetic, struggling restaurant that is on the verge of bankruptcy. Of course, the owners are excited at the thought of Gordon coming. But then Gordon sends them away and begins ordering off their menu. The food is always terrible. Gordon is like, "What is this slop? Is this fresh? How old is this meatloaf? Is this reheated? Was this cooked in a microwave? I wouldn't even feed this to my dog!"

And then Gordon begins snooping around the kitchen and the freezer, and starts talking to employees. The kitchens are filthy. He finds dead rats and cockroaches scurrying around, and he starts piling up cartons of food that have been rotting. Everything is laid bare. But this is just the tip of the iceberg. The real problem isn't just the food, it's the people! It's attitudes, personalities, pride and arrogance, broken relationships, a loss of passion and focus, and stubbornness.

Over time, these restaurants have lost their way. But instead of looking inwardly, they begin looking externally and blaming their clientele, the economy, the neighborhood, the local food critic, and the past. Gordon's job is to come alongside them and give them a wake-up call. He's dead serious about restaurants serving their very finest.

When it concerns Christ's Church, the Bible is brutally honest.

When we tune into Revelation 1-3 we find a different kind of reality show. This show concerns Christ and his Church and could easily be called "Church Nightmares". Because there in Revelation 1:4-5 is the Godhead in all his power and majesty speaking to the seven churches of Asia Minor. There's the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is introduced as, "him who is, and who was, and who is to come." The Holy Spirit is introduced as the, "seven spirits before his throne." Jesus Christ the Son is introduced as the, "faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth."

Could you imagine God showing up one Sunday here at our church, unexpected and unannounced? The kitchen would be the least of our worries. I mean, what would the Christ see? What would he say about our lives, our church, our witness, our love, our faith, and our obedience? What would he commend? Where would he admonish us or rebuke us?

At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what our assessment of ourselves as a church may be. What does the Father see? What does the Son see? What would God's Spirit reveal? It is at once an exciting and dreadful thing that God would reveal his thoughts to his church. His ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts.

Over the next seven weeks, we're going to consider what Christ thinks of the seven different churches located within the province of Asia Minor. These aren't fictional churches. These were real churches with real struggles, living in really hostile times. These are churches that were being compromised. Some were compromised by satanic activity, cultural seduction, a spirit of tolerance, and hardships. Others were being compromised by apostasy, idolatry, materialism, suffering, false teaching, sexual immorality, and persecutions.

Each of the seven churches of Revelation was missing something vibrant in their relationship with Christ.

But the biggest struggle these churches faced came from within. Each church was missing something vibrant in their relationship with Christ. This missing element was leading to their demise. And whole point of Revelation was to reveal these missing elements. It was to help these churches come to terms with what was lacking in their walk with Christ.


I cannot underscore enough how these seven churches are representative of churches in every age. There is no perfect church. There are only churches being sanctified, churches being made perfect, and churches being made holy. Notice an important truth in Revelation 1:4. Christ Jesus is coming to bring grace and peace to the seven churches in Asia Minor. That is God's motive! Revelation 1:4 (NIV) says, "Grace and peace to you from the one who is, who was, and who is to come."

God isn't vested in the destruction or demise of his Church! He's vested in redeeming his Church, sanctifying his Church, perfecting his Church, and showering grace and peace on his Church, so that he can more fully use his Church as his chosen instrument of redemption and hope in the world. Christ wants the light of his Church to shine brilliantly for his glory. That is his intent. It's restorative, not punitive.

John 3:17 says that God did not send his Son to condemn the world, but to save the world through him!

I believe that Christ is dead serious about perfecting his Church and that he has something to reveal to us this summer. I believe that what Christ would say to Lakeside, and to you, is every bit as timely as what he is about to say to the churches at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, or Laodicea. I believe God wants to shake Lakeside this summer and awaken us. But here is the thing. Are we ready for Christ to reveal it to us?

Who is this Jesus Christ who is the head of his Church?

Before any of the seven churches could hear what Christ would reveal, they had to get serious about who Christ is. Before they could read the letters written to them in Revelation 2-3 they had to grapple with Christ's identity in Revelation 1. The same is true for us. We have to get serious about who Christ is before we can get serious about anything he would say to us.

I am asking you to be brutally honest with yourself, as I am trying to be with myself. Do you consider God Almighty, Jesus Christ the Son, and Spirit of the Living God someone to be reckoned with? This is our problem. We've trivialized any thought of God. We quickly forget who Christ is, and what Christ intends for us, and how deadly serious Christ is about matters of redemption. Christ takes his Church far more seriously than we'll ever take ourselves. Who is Christ Jesus? Why should we care about him? Why should we sit up and take notice of him?

Jesus Christ became a martyr for the sake of his Church.

In Revelation 1:5 (NIV) Jesus Christ is described as, "... the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth..." In your Bible, cross out that word "witness" and write the word "martyr" because that is the Greek word. Christ died for our sins, as a martyr. He was faithful to his cause, even unto death, and a horrible death on a cross. That's what martyrs do. They willingly die for a cause.

Christ died for the cause of redemption. That's why I said he is deadly serious about the redemptive mission of his Church. We are his chosen instrument. We are his witnesses, his martyrs. Our purpose is to proclaim his redemption to the ends of the earth. As Christians, we have a purpose worth dying for.

When Christ died, he was raised to eternal life. Before Christ, other men (like Lazarus) had been raised back to this life. But on the third day Christ was raised by the power of the Holy Spirit and ascended to right hand of God in heaven, where he rules over all the kings of the earth.

Jesus is the ruler over all the kings of the earth.

If the President of the United States walked into this room with all his secret service agents and his entourage, you'd tremble. I guarantee you that even if you hated the President of the United States, you'd tremble. If you were called into his Oval office, you would absolutely take him seriously. It would be hard for you to imagine that he was just another man like you or me.

Revelation 1:5 says Jesus is the ruler of all the kings of the earth. He is the Son of the living God who is, who was, and who is to come. If you don't take Christ seriously, understand there is no other greater than Christ.

There is more. Revelation 1:5-6 (NIV) continues, "To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father-- to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen."

Christ loves us, has freed us, and has made us.

Take note of these three ideas. Christ loves us, has freed us, and has made us.

First, there isn't anyone who loves you more than Christ Jesus. His love is perfect. We spend our lives looking for love, but it Christ's love that first found us. John 3:16 (NIV) says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Second, Christ freed us from our sins by his blood. It's impossible to ignore the debt that is mounting at all levels of society. I just read that people are going wild with credit cards to survive these economic times. Consumer debt is accumulating at record levels. Add up those credit cards, car loans, student loans, and mortgage and the average individual (not household) is nearly $44,000 in debt. In addition, the State of Illinois has amassed nearly $10,000 in debt per Illinois citizen. The Federal Government has amassed nearly $50,000 per citizen. If you are single, you're in hock for over $100,000. If you are married, you're in hock for over $200,000. If you have a small family, you're in hock for nearly a half million! Our debt to God is even greater, but he has paid our debt and set us free from sin.

Third, Christ has made us to be a kingdom and to be priests. Christ is our King. We are a people under Christ's authority who exist to extend Christ's authority to the ends of the earth. Christ is also our great high priest. Yet, he has made us a kingdom of priests so that we would pray and intercede, and we'd labor to reconcile all the world to God in Christ. This is our sacred calling!

Revelation 1:7-9 (NIV) says, "Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. 'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, 'who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.' "

Revelation 1:9-20 (NIV) says, "I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord's Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said: 'Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.' "

"I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and among the lampstands was someone 'like a son of man,' dressed in a white robe reaching down to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and out of his mouth came a sharp double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: 'Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. The mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.' "

Are we ready to hear what Christ may have to say to his Church? Are we ready to reckon ourselves to God in Christ?