"Revelation, Rest, Return, Repentance, Renewal" - Pastor Aaron Solomon-Mills
The night before I asked my wife to marry me, I went to get the engagement ring out of layaway at the mall and I had to carry it around with me for a nerve-wracking day at work. I rode the train with the ring through the rough neighborhoods of Chicago. I walked through the city with it - checking my pocket obsessively. On the train again, I held the box so tightly that my hand was cramped by the time I popped the question.
Jesus says that He holds the seven stars in His right hand. These stars represent the bishops of the churches. But more fully, they represent the ministry of the churches.
I want you to know - those of you who pray for your church - those of you who minister to children - those of you who preach, teach - and those who hear… God in His holiness holds your prayers, your commitment, your ministry in the palm of his hand. His Hand establishes the work of your hand. The lampstands represent the churches themselves, and Jesus is walking among His church, always looking to raise up brighter stars and better servants. His presence is here reminding us to pray, to be authentic and to rest in the truth that our lives and our ministry are in His hand and that the Light of the world is still walking amongst our churches.
These words were written to a church once known for its love (Eph 1:15), but now being told by Jesus that they had lost their first love and were faced with the grave possibility of not being a church anymore (Rev 2:5). Jesus offers them another path. He extends it to us too in this Lenten season of pause and social distance for our churches … the opportunity to repent and to return to the works we did at first. Have we been foolish churches with what we’ve been given? Christ has died for that sin - repent and come to Him! Have we made Him too small in our eyes - and our own efforts too high and lofty? Christ has died for that sin - repent and come to Him! Have we treated other believers and lost people like junk? Have we gone about the Lord’s work in our flesh?
In all of these things, all of us have sinned. And yet God still says - Here is my Spirit. Here is clarity into my Word. As surely as I hold your ministry in my hand (& more firmly than I held my wife’s engagement ring years ago) I will work renewal in you, I will make you a usable body of believers, and I will keep you for a greater union - Christ the bridegroom and His renewed bride, the Church.
HOW TO PRAY:
Pray that our churches in Bellflower would be rooted and established in love for God, for one another and for the lost.
Pray for Christian leaders in our community – pastors, elders, deacons and servants – that they would continue the work of the ministry - enduring this season of solitude and pandemic with confidence and a heart for church renewal.
Revelation 2:1-5 “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary. Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.”
About the Author: Pastor Aaron has served as Ministry Coordinator at First Christian Reformed Church of Bellflower for almost 4 years. Aaron and his wife Michelle have 6 children and a fierce 5 lb Chihuahua named Jedi.