08.12 | The Leader Sees
Revelation 3
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Revelation 3:22
A great leader can see both the many, and the one.
They can see the many, for leadership requires holding and establishing and directing a community in the vision and values that are common to all. Leadership is the art of drawing others together, to move in unity and community towards a shared cause. You cannot do this without seeing the bigger picture. The leader learns the art of seeing the whole.
And they see the one, for leadership requires a unique and specific approach with unique and real people—understanding and adapting to the needs and abilities and hurts and hopes of each of their people, knowing when to release an emerging leader for fresh energy in the community, when to encourage with a hand on the shoulder, when to call out of a comfort zone, or when to speak words of rest to the exhausted.
As Jesus speaks to these three churches today, we see Him holding together the cosmic vision—of a Kingdom that has been won but is being contested for upon the earth, before His final coming—with words that are unique and timely and specific to each individual church community.
And the words He uses to these specific churches resonate with churches across the ages.
Sardis. Sardis looks alive. It looks vibrant. It looks healthy and flourishing and successful. And yet their external vivacity is superficial, for behind the performance and show lies death. Sardis is the superficial church, the shiny church, the church that presents perfection while masking an undercurrent of spiritual death and interpersonal wounding. I wonder in Sardis about those few names, those few people, who have maintained their purity. They are a fringe, a small group, a remnant. Sometimes in communities like Sardis we find such people—faithful in genuine holiness, humility and love, holding firm to the true things received, marginal and yet meaningful. To such a church, Jesus says this: Wake up. Return to the realities that are true. Become aware of and wise to your own shallow roots and superficial ways, for the heart of God is for something vastly more substantial for you.
Philadelphia. The believers in Philadelphia feel weak and discouraged, small and insignificant. They are not known for power. They are not known for great success. They are not known for being a church of might and scale and impact. And yet, to such a church as this, Jesus speaks an affirmation on what they do have: patient endurance. They have kept going. They have held their faith. They have stood firm. How often do we only recognise value if it looks like the glamour of scale and power? Yet Jesus speaks a corrective word to this humble community in Philadelphia, to remind them of the extraordinary value of simply keeping going. For herein is the truer power, herein is substantial value, herein are the accolades of the King. To such a church as this, worry less over your metrics, and continue in the substance of the simplicity of endurance. He sees, He knows, and He affirms.
Laodicea. Laodicea was a wealthy town, with a wealthy church. As is the way of humans, they view their wealth as a divine affirmation of their impressive religiosity. Their material comfort has led to spiritual banality, exchanging the radical call of repentance and faith and holiness and generosity for a diluted Christianity, famous in heaven for nothing but it’s tepid nominality. To such a church as this Jesus says, see your true condition. See your spiritual poverty. Learn the art of humble repentance, for you only enter the Kingdom upon your knees. Jesus knocks at the door of the wealthy and the comfortable, inviting them to the higher way of purity, power, and faith that boils with heavenly heat.
For our Leader sees both the many, and the one.
And He has vision for you, me, and our churches today.
Reflect:
Which of these three corrections are most relevant to my church today? What would such changes require of me?
Pray:
Lord Jesus,
Speak to our church,
That we may be purified
In the beauty of your Ways.
When our eyes are drawn to superficial things,
Seeing the emblems of worldly status
As tokens of our success,
We invite Your words,
And Your holy fire—
To reveal us and to renew us,
Purging us of the superficialities of this age,
And restoring us in the
Vibrant, steadfast, humble, and holy way
Of the church that is aflame
And of which you may boast
Before the Father of all.
Lord Jesus, in Your Name,
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
Joel 1:1-2:17 | Psalm 140