By Don Bunting
May 6, 2018
What makes a church faithful? Are there criteria to meet? Are there specific actions or teachings that must be in place? At what point does error threaten a church’s relationship with the Lord?
Jesus’ letters to the seven churches of Asia, found in Revelation 2-3, provide a partial but helpful answer to these questions. In these passages, Jesus encouraged, rebuked, and instructed churches to maintain or restore their faithfulness and take hold of the promised reward. In some cases, Jesus states that they were in danger of losing that reward!
It is useful to consider the variety of issues on which this judgment rests. Faithfulness does not rest on any single area of rightness, but rather on a comprehensive faithfulness to the Lord’s standard, which includes teaching the true gospel, defending it against false teachers, and living lives reflective of our love and zeal for God.