Churches With Troubles
Marty Kessler | July 17th, 2014

Do you realize that the New Testament is filled with them?

The church at Ephesus had “fallen” by having left their first love, and as a result, were in danger of losing their place in God’s kingdom, Revelation 2:1-7.

The brethren at Pergamum allowed false teachers to influence some of their flock to take part in idolatry and immorality and so did the church in Thyatira, Revelation 2:12-29. Jesus even threatened to make war against them!

Sardis was so bad they were said to be dead (Revelation 3:1-6) and those at Laodicea risked being “spit out” because of their lukewarm attitude and behavior, Revelation 3:14-22.

Have you read the 1st letter to the church at Corinth? Worldly mindedness, lust, arrogance, strife, thoughtlessness, and even incest were just some of the problems addressed in this letter.

Paul called the Galatian churches “foolish” (3:1) and risked being cursed because they had forsaken the gospel to go back to the law.

Almost the entire letter of James is a castigation of Christians for being unfairly judgmental, failing to follow their faith with actions, being undisciplined in their speech, too immature to be teachers and cheaters of those they employed to work for them.

I find it interesting, however, that in none of these situations did Jesus or his apostles or any New Testament writer encourage the faithful brethren in these congregations to leave in order to find a “better” church.

What are we to make of that?

I’m not saying that there will are no situations where faithful Christians should part ways with brethren who embrace sinful behaviors. I’m just wondering if Jesus wouldn’t rather see His people committing themselves to a congregation in spite of its imperfections than see us being ready to leave at the drop of the proverbial hat.

If anyone is an example of complete, unmitigated commitment, it is our Lord Jesus.