Healthy, Growing Churches (5)

“Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.”  Revelation 2.20

Exposition of the Apocalypse 2.20, Homily 2
Caesarius of Arles (470-543)
“He is speaking to the leaders of the churches who fail to impose the severity of ecclesiastical discipline upon the extravagant and the fornicator and those who do whatever other kind of evil. It is possible that this also refers to heretics. ‘Who calls herself a prophetess,’ that is, a Christian, for many heresies flatter themselves with this name.”

It has become unfashionable in many churches not to say too much about sin. Let the Lord work as He will, you know? Our job is to emphasize grace, love, and a non-judgmental attitude. This is where the church in Thyatira had come, and Jesus warned them to repent. A bird dog that deliberately bypasses fowl on the ground is said to “blink.” When churches blink at sin, and church leaders fail to employ church discipline as the Lord commands, they incur a kind of sin-blindness, so that sin ceases to be an issue in the church. But when sin ceases to be an issue, so does holiness. And when holiness is no longer a primary concern of the local church (2 Cor. 7.1), we are acting like children, rather than mature believers in Christ. Healthy, growing churches discern the presence of sin, and deal with it in love, as Jesus did, by calling sinners to repentance (Rev. 2.22) and holding fast to sound doctrine and holy living (vv. 24-26).

What is the state of the practice of church discipline within your congregation?

T. M. Moore

How goes the work of shepherding?
Pastor, where are you in your walk with and work for the Lord? Are you growing? Covering all the bases? Working fruitfully toward the Kingdom of God? Shepherding God’s flock? Our Pastoral Hope Initiative can help you establish a framework and baseline for steady, fruitful growth. Using a variety of assessment tools, together with the book Fan into Flame, this 14-week protocol will give you a thorough look at the state of your ministry. Men, if you think you might want to work through this with me, watch this brief video, then, if you’re interested, let me hear from you at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Quotations from Church Fathers are from the Ancient Christian Commentary Series, published by InterVarsity Press.