What Christ Thinks of the Church

John Stott

Description

Christ’s letters to the seven churches still resonate today. Like those ancient churches, most churches today lie somewhere on the continuum between flourishing and withering, between faithfulness and faithlessness, between comfort and persecution. Using seven key themes, John Stott illustrates the timeless relevance of Christ’s exhortations and warnings to the universal church, while pointing to Christ, the Lamb turned Shepherd, who knows the unique opportunities and challenges that face each church. This is a helpful guide for preachers looking to feed their flock with this often visited passage from John’s vision of the apocalypse.

Informations

• Publié par: Langham Creative Projects
• Date de parution: 30 novembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781783687039
• Langue: English

Extrait

The church today needs to hear Christ’s message anew. What Christ Thinks of the Church embodies Uncle John Stott’s deep theological reflections and clear pastoral preaching. He is making it possible for us to hear once again in our own time “what the Spirit says to the churches,” calling us to both preserve and spread the truth of the gospel. In teasing-out the messages to the seven churches in ancient Asia Minor, we have in our hands a living word for today, calling us to a “love for Christ and willingness to suffer for him, truth of doctrine and holiness of life, inward reality and evangelistic outreach, with an uncompromising wholeheartedness in everything.” These should characterize the church of Christ in every generation – they are timeless in their application for all.
Chukwuemeka Egbo
Associate Director – Africa, Langham Preaching
The validity of the Christian faith turns for many today on whether the church lives its identity. The gap between what Christians say and do tempts many to believe that the gospel we proclaim is empty. For at least these reasons, John Stott’s What Christ Thinks of the Church could not be more timely. This careful and provocative book is a catalyst for lament and repentance while also a source of inspiration and hope.
Mark Labberton
President, Fuller Theological Seminary,
Pasadena, California, USA
The present church and all individuals, groups and movements must go back to the original intent and design of the builder of the church. We all have set benchmarks, standards and perspectives on how the church should move and look like based on human lens and approval. Thank God for this book that allows us to see clearly how the Lord Jesus Christ wants his church to be built and to grow, which pleases him as head of the church.
This book is a must-read for all people who are involved in serving the body of Christ.
Bishop Noel A. Pantoja
National Director, Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches
President, Philippine Relief and Development Services
In a day and age when pastors and ministry leaders are often preoccupied with pragmatic concerns relating to church life, this new edition of John Stott’s What Christ Thinks of the Church is a welcome reminder of what is critical to the foundational health of the church. In a masterful exposition of Christ’s messages to the seven churches in Revelation 1–3, the author effectively draws readers to look at the church through the penetrating gaze of the Lord of the church. Using seven key themes, he illustrates the timeless relevance of Christ’s exhortations and warnings to the universal church in a masterful blend of sound scholarship, lucid analysis, devotional passion and his characteristic engaging style. What makes this work a “must-read” for every true churchman is the cherished glimpse it offers into a modern-day church father’s heart – his sincere devotion to Christ and deep love for Christ’s church and mission.

Ivan Satyavrata
Senior Pastor, The Assembly of God Church,
Kolkata, India
What Christ Thinks of the Church is a vision reinterpreted, a message redelivered. Stott offers the reassuring evidence of God’s persistent pursuit of his church and of Christ’s relentless determination to communicate with his people at every time and place. Through his detailed commentary on the unique circumstances of each of the seven churches, Stott brilliantly shines the examining eye of Christ upon each and every local congregation in the global body of Christ. And yet, while the book does highlight the seven marks that Christ desires in his church universal, “love for Christ and willingness to suffer for him, truth of doctrine and holiness of life, inward reality and evangelistic outreach, with an uncompromising wholeheartedness in everything,” Stott winsomely points to Christ, the Lamb turned Shepherd, who knows the unique opportunities and challenges that face each church. Upon reading this book you will see the church, and you will most certainly see Christ.
Anne E. Zaki
Assistant Professor of Preaching and Practical Theology,
Evangelical Theological Seminary, Cairo, Egypt

What Christ Thinks of the Church
Preaching from Revelation 1 to 3
John Stott

Revised Text © 2019 John Stott’s Literary Executors
Published 2019 by Langham Preaching Resources
An imprint of Langham Publishing
www.langhampublishing.org
Original Text ©1957, 1990, 2003 John R. W. Stott
Originally published in English by Lutterworth Press, UK
This edition is published by permission of John Stott’s Literary Executors
Langham Publishing and its imprints are a ministry of Langham Partnership
Langham Partnership
PO Box 296, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA3 9WZ, UK
www.langham.org
ISBNs:
978-1-78368-702-2 Print
978-1-78368-703-9 ePub
978-1-78368-704-6 Mobi
978-1-78368-705-3 PDF
John R. W. Stott has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the Author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or the Copyright Licensing Agency.
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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, Anglicised, NIV®. Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version ® (ESV ® ), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN: 978-1-78368-702-2
Cover & Book Design: projectluz.com
Langham Partnership actively supports theological dialogue and an author’s right to publish but does not necessarily endorse the views and opinions set forth here or in works referenced within this publication, nor can we guarantee technical and grammatical correctness. Langham Partnership does not accept any responsibility or liability to persons or property as a consequence of the reading, use or interpretation of its published content.

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Contents

Cover


Foreword


Editor’s Preface to Revised Edition


Preface


Introduction


A Revelation to the Church


A Revelation of Jesus Christ


A Revelation through John


The Letter to Ephesus Love


Ephesus


A Commendation


A Complaint


A Concluding Command


The Letter to Smyrna Suffering


Smyrna


The Sufferings They Endured for Christ


The Comforts They Received from Christ


The Letter to Pergamum Truth


Christ’s Concern for the Truth


Christ’s Recognition of the Source of Error


Christ’s Resolve that Truth Shall Triumph over Error


The Letter to Thyatira Holiness


Christ’s Statement to the Whole Church


Christ’s Warning to the Jezebel Party


Christ’s Advice to the Rest


Christ’s Promise to the Victorious


The Letter to Sardis Reality


Sardis


The Rebuke Christ Gives


The Remedy Christ Proposes


The Reward Christ Promises


The Letter to Philadelphia Opportunity


Philadelphia


The Church and the Open Door


Christ and the Key of David


The Victor as a Pillar in God’s Temple


The Letter to Laodicea Wholeheartedness


The Diagnosis Christ Makes


The Advice Christ Gives


The Prospect Christ Offers


C onclusion


About Langham Partnership

Endnotes
Foreword
The church today is growing in various places, but in many areas it is plagued by problems, both local and international. Some of these problems are so severe that they threaten to bring divisions in the fellowship. The result of this is that a church tends to look inwards to defend its own position, or outwards only insofar as it is watching to see what “the others” will do.
Into this situation Stott’s book, What Christ Thinks of the Church , comes as a breath of fresh air, and a much needed gentle but very firm reminder that what counts, and what will count in eternity, is not what we think of ourselves, or even what other people may think of us, but rather what Christ thinks of us and what Christ thinks of his church. Christ’s is the only judgement that matters, and if the church is to gain Christ’s approval, we must be clear about the guidelines, the expectations and the standards required. The let