Lampstands Have Different Stars

Scripture: The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches. Revelation 1:20

Observation: After the initial greetings, John describes the arrival and appears of Jesus to him. Jesus, the Son of Man, is bright and glowing a powerful, speaking of a message he has for the church to be delivered in the form of a letter to seven churches in modern day Turkey. Along with himself, John sees seven lampstands and seven stars held by Jesus, and without prompting Jesus explains these items. The lampstands are the churches, and the stars are angels - or messengers - of those churches.

The metaphor of "lampstand" for a church was established by Jesus himself. He told the disciples that the word of God was like a candle or lamp, and when it was lit you were to place it on a lampstand in order to give light to the entire house ... in other words, once one knows the truth of God's love, we are to share it broadly with everyone instead of keeping it to ourselves.

The metaphor of the stars is new. In this vision, Jesus seems to be teaching that every church has a message, given to it by Jesus, passed through an angel or spirit, that is unique and special and entrusted to that church. This meaning is reinforced through specific instructions about to come for each of the seven churches, as Jesus will tell them where their messages of gone astray and how to correct their mission, and each of the churches is in fact unique in their mission and message.

In this, Jesus is saying ... every church has a unique purpose and perspective on the gospel message based on their circumstance; and Jesus gives to each church their message by sending a spirit upon that church.

Application: I was just speaking this week to a person who attends a different church, who said her church did not do the kind of outreach my church does. I told her that her church was known for strong programs, and that every church had different purposes, which is how we mutually brought the Gospel to our town, and that it was important that different churches did different things to provide the full love of God to everyone.

Our lampstand has a star of outreach and evangelism. Sometimes this is true to a fault ... for example, we struggle with caring for broken believers who need spiritual care as we simply don't have such programs. Just last night, I found myself irritated by a team member who was struggling personally, as it was impacting our ability to focus on our outreach event. That isn't Christlike, I know, however it is consistent with our 'star' of outreach.

I am sure Jesus expects all churches to deliver on the message he gives them, and then also to grow and expand their message to include all elements of his Gospel. I am also sure that most churches struggle to do all things well. Maybe a great church cannot take on everything - a lampstand cannot have its own seven stars - and we are to do our one thing well and perhaps try to grow our strengths into one or two or three other areas. I hope we, and all churches, receive well our first mission from Jesus, and serve him well.

Prayer: Lord, may I and my church serve you well during this season. May our star shine from our lampstand as you intend. And may it be for your glory alone. Amen.