Remember, therefore, the place from which you have fallen. Repent and do the first works, but if not, I will come to you and remove your lamp from its place, if you do not repent. Rev. 2:5.
In 1995 I led a group of students from Andrews University on a tour of Turkey, the modern-day nation that includes the locations of Revelation's seven churches. Our local tour guide, Murat, was a secular Turk of Muslim background who had taken an interest in the Christian heritage of his country.
One day road signs reported that we were nearing the city of Konya, in a section of central Turkey where Paul had worked during his first and second missionary journeys. Murat told us that Konya was a city of more than 500,000, but only three or four of them were Christians, and Murat knew them all personally. When he also told us that Konya was the Turkish name for the ancient city of Iconium, I realized that this city had been the site of a flourishing Christian community founded by Paul (Acts 13:51-14:6). We then learned that the whole area of the seven churches of Revelation shared a common condition. Ephesus is now Kusadasi, Philadelphia is Alashehir, and Christians are nowhere to be found.
When John wrote his book, Christianity was strongly established in central and western Asia Minor. In fact, many scholars believe Christians were more numerous in first-century Asia Minor that anywhere else in the world. But through the centuries these churches gradually declined, until Islam virtually eradicated them. The regions where the early church was once strongest (including Syria and North Africa) are now overwhelmingly Islamic. As Jesus warns in our text above, lampstands can be removed from their place.
Yet it was not Islam that destroyed the church. In North Africa doctrinal and ethnic controversies weakened Christianity. Christians in the Middle East failed to engage the local culture, leaving the way open for Muhammad's more contextualized faith. During the middle Ages the European church leadership sought to revitalize Christianity in the Middle East. But they misunderstood the gospel and chose a method (the Crusades) that made things even worse. It was the church that destroyed Christianity in the eastern Mediterranean.
Such history should be a warning to us. Where the gospel once flourished (including Europe, North America, and Australia), it is now in decline. Yet regions that hardly knew the gospel two centuries ago (Africa and Asia) are rapidly becoming the center of the faith. You and I dare not take our role in God's plan for granted. If we abandon our mission, the Lord will raise up others to fulfill it. Lampstands can be removed from their place.
Lord, rekindle the clarity of my mission today. Keep my lamp trimmed and burning.
In 1995 I led a group of students from Andrews University on a tour of Turkey, the modern-day nation that includes the locations of Revelation's seven churches. Our local tour guide, Murat, was a secular Turk of Muslim background who had taken an interest in the Christian heritage of his country.
One day road signs reported that we were nearing the city of Konya, in a section of central Turkey where Paul had worked during his first and second missionary journeys. Murat told us that Konya was a city of more than 500,000, but only three or four of them were Christians, and Murat knew them all personally. When he also told us that Konya was the Turkish name for the ancient city of Iconium, I realized that this city had been the site of a flourishing Christian community founded by Paul (Acts 13:51-14:6). We then learned that the whole area of the seven churches of Revelation shared a common condition. Ephesus is now Kusadasi, Philadelphia is Alashehir, and Christians are nowhere to be found.
When John wrote his book, Christianity was strongly established in central and western Asia Minor. In fact, many scholars believe Christians were more numerous in first-century Asia Minor that anywhere else in the world. But through the centuries these churches gradually declined, until Islam virtually eradicated them. The regions where the early church was once strongest (including Syria and North Africa) are now overwhelmingly Islamic. As Jesus warns in our text above, lampstands can be removed from their place.
Yet it was not Islam that destroyed the church. In North Africa doctrinal and ethnic controversies weakened Christianity. Christians in the Middle East failed to engage the local culture, leaving the way open for Muhammad's more contextualized faith. During the middle Ages the European church leadership sought to revitalize Christianity in the Middle East. But they misunderstood the gospel and chose a method (the Crusades) that made things even worse. It was the church that destroyed Christianity in the eastern Mediterranean.
Such history should be a warning to us. Where the gospel once flourished (including Europe, North America, and Australia), it is now in decline. Yet regions that hardly knew the gospel two centuries ago (Africa and Asia) are rapidly becoming the center of the faith. You and I dare not take our role in God's plan for granted. If we abandon our mission, the Lord will raise up others to fulfill it. Lampstands can be removed from their place.
Lord, rekindle the clarity of my mission today. Keep my lamp trimmed and burning.
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