He is here and he is not silent.

Pete Alwinson:
He is here, and he’s not silent. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
This is Key Life. We’re here to let you know that because of what Jesus has done, God will never be angry at you again. Steve invited our friend Pete Alwinson to do the teaching this week. Pete is a former pastor, founder of ForgeTruth.com and the author of Like Father Like Son.

Pete Alwinson:
Thank you Matthew, and good morning, Key Life. I’m Pete Alwinson, one of the voices of Key Life and I’m excited to be with you this week. We’re going to be talking about the graced church, the graced church this week. And in all probability, you’re going to be surprised that we’re going to be talking from the book of Revelation chapters 1 through 3. You know, a few years ago, Steve taught a class in seminary called Grace in the Church. And sometimes we in the church don’t act very gracious toward each other. And there’s reasons for that. Partly it’s because life and the world is so tough. And sometimes we’re not very gracious in the church because we have too small a view of Jesus. Well, Revelation is going to remedy that. All right, before we jump in, it’s Monday. And before we look into God’s word, let’s talk to him. Let’s pray. Father, thank you for your goodness. Thank you for your mercy. Thank you that we get to come into your presence so freely because of who Jesus is and for what Jesus has done. We thank you, Lord, for your grace, your mercy, your power, your bigness. Lord, we need all of who you are every day of our life. We thank you for yesterday and worship and we thank you for your people, for our pastors, for the staff of our churches, for elders and deacons and brothers and sisters, Lord, you know that we need them in our lives. So Lord, we pray that you would be with us right now and be with your church worldwide. Help us as your church to hold on to your love and grace, energize us, revitalize us because of your grace and by your grace. And now, we pray for the one who teaches that you’d forgive him his sins and use one who is finite to communicate your infinite truth. For we pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen. All right. Well, we get to talk about the church and I don’t know how you feel about the church. It might not be the most popular topic around Christians these days. So many say the church numbers are down. And since COVID, that’s true. The numbers went down, but I think there’s been a lot of reshuffling. A lot of people are not in the same church they used to be in. And thankfully, I think numbers are back up by and large. But a lot of people are critical of the church, and pastors quite frankly are finding it more and more difficult to pastor. Sixty percent of all pastors say they’d like to quit. But Jesus says some different things about the church. He said.

I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

And it’s fascinating that the last book of the Bible, Revelation, has a unique set of letters to the seven churches. As a matter of fact, the Book of Revelation is written to these seven churches and all of us as the church by application. And so, your church might be illustrated here as we take a look at the seven letters here and these seven churches, because your church is really a microcosm of the church. Bottom line, what we have to remember is the church is a group of graced people. We are a graced people. And when you think of the church, the old categories of the church are still important to keep in mind. We speak of the church universal, which are all believers of all time who’ve put their faith in Christ. We speak of the church militant, those that are on the planet today advancing the kingdom of God. And the church triumphant, those who’ve gone before us who are in heaven. So, the church is a graced group of people, we’ve been brought together into the family. Let’s check out Revelation 1: verses 1 through 3 as he starts the Book of Revelation and just before the letters, says this.

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

God is the Great communicator, and so Revelation really is a book written to his people of all times. There’s a reader, a hearer, and a keeper that’s mentioned in this introduction, because not everybody out in the congregation would have had their own copy of the Book of Revelation. So, there would have been a reader who got to read John’s letter, this message to the people and create this imaginative picturing in minds of God’s people. So, as we read Revelation, as we think about it as a book, we have to have a sanctified Spirit led imagination to catch the images in what’s being said. But really, it’s not only those who read, but those who hear and keep, because Revelation is a book that’s written not just for the church way down in the future, but is for all of the churches until Jesus Christ comes back again. Revelation is a book from the resurrection of Christ to the second coming of Christ. And we are the blessed people of God. And Revelation 1:4 through 7 calls us the church, the ecclesia, the called out ones. Think about it, the church of Jesus Christ is just like the Israel in the Old Testament. God chose Israel not because they were wonderful people, but because they were the ones he placed his affection on. And we’re just like that. We are graced, grace is receiving what you don’t deserve when there’s every bit of evidence that you deserve the opposite. And so, what we see here is that we’re graced because we’ve been called out in the world to follow Jesus Christ. We are graced because by faith in Christ, we have the righteousness of Christ put on us. We’re not good because we’ve done things to deserve it, we’re good because Christ’s righteousness has been placed on us. And then we’re loved and then we’re freed from sins condemnation and sins control. He’s coming again and ultimately he’s going to restore all things. And so, we are a graced people, it’s amazing. But sometimes the church in the early days was so small that they didn’t feel like they were the graced people. They were a persecuted people. And sometimes we feel the same way today. And so, here’s my question, how does the church of Jesus Christ today that sometimes feels like they’re the minority that we are the one everybody’s cracking on in American society and poking fun at,. How do we as the church have a big view that we are the graced people? Well, it starts by having a big picture of Jesus. So, in chapter one in Revelation John writes this.

I turned to see the voice who was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man.

This is Jesus, but a picture from Daniel chapter 7.

Like one who is a son of man, clothed with a long robe and a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars and from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

Here’s the challenge, as we start thinking about the church and who we are and who we are to be in the world, oftentimes we feel very small. We don’t feel very blessed or graced or very powerful. And part of that reasoning is because we don’t have a big enough picture of our resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation was written in 95, 96 A.D. about 60 years after the resurrection of Jesus. And already many, many Christians have lost this idea of how big Jesus is. And so, we’re the graced Church, but to remember that we’re the graced Church, we have to have a phenomenally big picture of Jesus. And this description of Jesus in Revelation chapter 1 fits the bill perfectly. Go back to this view of Jesus. Go back and meditate on who He is. I had a professor in Bible college who used to always say, how big is your God? And boy, that comment always brought me back to say, well, I tend to make God small, but in reality, God is big. Our Savior is resurrected from the dead and He stands and holds the lampstands of the church in His hands. Here’s the truth. Your Lord Jesus Christ wants you to view Him as the colossal, glorious King that He is. If you and I focus on King Jesus as he is and really see how big he is and that he’s dealing with us, we’ll see how graced we are. When you have a big Jesus, then grace makes sense. You take it to heart. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thanks Pete. That was our good friend Pete Alwinson setting the table for us in this week long series we’re calling The Graced Church. Tomorrow we’ll continue our look at Revelation and the seven letters to seven churches, do join us for that. Well, you know this, but those letters to churches remind us of something important, we all fall short of God’s standards. We even fail at our own expectations. We’re called to radical obedience, but why do we struggle so much? Why do we feel guilty? Well, Steve has spoken about this in a powerful message called When Being Bad Isn’t Bad Enough. We’d love to send you that full sermon on CD for free. Just call us right now at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also drop an e-mail to [email protected] to ask for that CD. To mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the U.S. and Canada. Just ask for the free CD called When Being Bad Isn’t Bad enough. And finally, would you be interested in helping Key Life through your financial support. Giving as easy, you could charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. Just text that to 28950. And of course, as always, if you can’t give right now, or maybe God’s just not telling you to do that, no worries, but please do pray for us, would you? Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.