06.12 | He Knows our Craft
Revelation 2
‘To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: ‘The words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands.“‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.”’’
Revelation 2:1-2
Leonardo Da Vinci didn’t sign his paintings.
This wasn’t uncharacteristic of the time. But in some cases it has made the identification of Da Vinci’s work challenging.
Maybe the most famous example of this is the Salvador Mundi, a painting originally thought to be a copy of a lost Da Vinci original. It had hung above the stairwell in the home of a man named Basil Clovis Hendry, becoming tattered and worn. When Hendry died in 2004, the painting was valued at $750 as a part of his estate. It was sold and sent to New York, where a restoration process slowly began. As this process continued, and the painting passed under the eyes of multiple experts of the Italian Renaissance, they began to notice specific details.
The textures are exactly as Da Vinci painted textures.
The light is exactly how Da Vinci painted light.
The anatomy is exactly how Da Vinci painted anatomy.
The blending of colours is exactly how Da Vinci blended colours.
Even down to minor inconsistencies in perspective, the painting so perfectly aligned with Da Vinci’s work, that art critics came to a firm conclusion:
They had found Da Vinci’s original. They knew his work.
On 15th November 2017, the painting was sold for $450.3million. It was, and still is, the most expensive painting ever sold.
Today we read through the first four of the letters Jesus dictates to the seven churches of Asia Minor. Tomorrow we will read the next three. And, as Jesus speaks to these seven churches, there is a phrase that He keeps using:
I know your works.
The Greek word for ‘works’ is the word ergon. It is the word used to describe your professional output, that which you have made, or your craft. I know your works means that He, like a refined art critic, is familiar with the craft of those seven churches. He knows the characteristics of their craft. He is familiar with what they do and how they do it, and it is this knowledge—this seeing of what they produce—that roots His words to each of them.
I find this to be both inspiring, and weighty.
It is inspiring, because it asks the question of our communities: What is our craft? What do we build? Is our workmanship specific, clear, and of good quality in the things of the Kingdom? Were Jesus to write such a letter to our communities in our cities in this moment, for what craftsmanship would we be known in heaven? Would it be our depth of community, or our deep teaching, or our gifts of musicality or our radical inclusion of a broken world? What work of our hands would He perceive in our acts in our communities, our impact upon the lost and broken, our touching of the pain of the cities and world in which we live?
I know your works.
And it is weighty, for each of our communities that form His Church are under the eye of the Master Craftsman, who has clear and specific hungers and hopes for each of our communities. He is gentle and humble, healing and kind, and yet we are also confronted in these words by the Master who is visionary and clear, and who will contest hypocrisy and compromise and corruption of truth. These words remind us that our churches are not our own, but belong to Jesus, and it is only His assessment of our work that truly matters.
Be inspired, my friends, and let us hold the weight of this. The Lord of all love and all life is zealous for His house. He is for us, and He is with us, and He is deeply attentive to all that we do.
For truly, He knows our works.
Reflect:
Which word of Jesus to these churches challenges me personally today?
Pray:
Lord Jesus,
The Church is Yours;
Refine our hearts to always remember this.
Clear from our thoughts and ways
The fears of man—
The corrupting desires of performance and platform,
And every instinct to imitate the world
Rather than to manifest heaven.
And Lord Jesus,
When I am tempted to view ‘the church’
As something ‘over there’—to be criticised and corrected,
Draw me back to the recollection
That I am of this Church, your body,
And thus, Lord,
What I can bring is a part of the works of this community.
And so Lord,
Grant me patience, love, vision and truth,
That the works of this community
May please Your heart.
In Your Name,
King Jesus,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
Hosea 11-14 | Proverbs 29:23-27