Transcript

Thyatira-The Corrupt Church

Revelation 2:18-29
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Pastor Randy Smith

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When most people think of the book of Revelation, they think on the end time judgment that will fall upon all those who refused to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. From the time of its composition, Christians (especially persecuted Christians) have been encouraged and strengthened by the contents of this inspired book. All evil will receive it's just penalty and believers (beat up and rejected by the world) will be with their Savior, protected and honored in a place where "[God] will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away" (Rev. 21:4).

However, what many people fail to realize is that before the Lord judges the world, He first must judge His church. Sometimes this is significant punishment (as we will see today) on those unbelievers within the church who are damaging His flock. Other times it is firm, but loving discipline on those who are truly His, but living an unrepentant life.

As we study the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 we have to conclude that the Lord takes the work and lifestyles of those in His church very seriously. He calls us His lampstands (Rev. 1:12, 13, 20: 2:1), and He expects us to burn brightly in holy witness for His name.

As we pulled out of the parking lot last week, I commented to my wife that last week's message was another heavy sermon. And it probably didn't help that I hit you with this stuff for six minutes short of an hour! But as I thought through my comments, I'm not sure how I could have been any lighter and still remained faithful to the text. It's not that I received any complaints, but if I did, based upon the passage, it was not that I was too light, but rather that I was too easy! In verse 16, Jesus said to His church in Pergamum, "Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth." How do you soften that?

So in this church culture of acceptance, maybe we need to accept the Lord's words at face value. In this church culture of love, maybe we need to understand the holy love of God. And in this church culture of compromise, maybe we need to stand with the Lord and not with the world. Maybe honest sermons on Revelation 2 and 3 is what this church culture today needs to hear!

Our study of the fourth church, the church in Thyatira, will be no exception. Much of the instruction to them mirrors our Lord's words to the church in Pergamum. Like Pergamum, they struggled with compromise and were found with an even greater level of corruption. One author commented, "The longest and most difficult of the seven letters is addressed to the least known, least important and least remarkable of the cities" (C.J. Hemer, A Study to the Letters of the Seven Churches of Asia). Before we break for the Lord's Table, let's see what the Lord desires to teach us from this passage.

1. The City (verse 18)

Let's first start this message with a look at the city (our first point).

Seleucus I (358 BC - 281 BC), after serving under Alexander the Great, founded Thyatira as a military outpost for Greece. About a hundred years later, Thyatira fell to the Romans and was under Roman rule during the time this letter in Revelation was delivered in the first century AD. As we have been learning, Thyatira also was committed to emperor worship which brought either significant persecution or significant compromise. Persecution when the church stood faithful and refused to bow to anyone other than Jesus or compromise when the church went with the flow of the culture.

What I'd also like to mention is that the city was noted for its thriving business. Bronze-smiths, tanners, potters, bakers, slave-dealers, woolworkers, linen-workers, leather-workers and dyers (to color garments) are just some of the trades that are revealed by archeological inscriptions. As a matter of fact, the only other time Thyatira is mentioned in the Bible is Acts 16 when it speaks of a woman who came to the Lord named Lydia who is identified as "a seller of purple fabrics" (Ac. 16:14).

It's important to note that dominating all these businesses were the trade guilds. You formed a tight union with those in your trade. And the trade guilds were committed to all the local religious observances. Simply put, if you had a business you had to be a part of your trade guild, and all trade guilds were committed to sacrificing to their patron deities. Refuse to participate and, well, you don't sell while you are viewed as an outsider and a trader. And if you don't sell, you don't eat.

2. The Christ (verse 18)

As always (our second point), Jesus introduces Himself immediately and borrows a description of Himself that He used earlier in chapter 1 (1:14-15). In verse 18 we see Christ use a three-fold description of Himself customized for the situation those in Thyatira were experiencing. Look there with me.

First, He calls Himself "The Son of God." The principle deity in Thyatira was Apollo Tyrimnaeus. Both he and the divine emperor himself were viewed as the sons of Zeus (sons of god) by the townspeople. Yet to these folks, Jesus makes it clear that He is the true Son of God.

Second, Jesus says He is the One "who has eyes like a flame of fire." This clearly refers to our Lord's ability to not only see all things, but to see all things from a divine perspective with laser penetration. No one is going to fool Him regardless of their manipulation, justification or rationalization.

And third we read that "His feet are like burnished bronze." What we will see as we study Revelation are many allusions to the Old Testament. Maybe not direct quotations, but the allusions are all over the place. This is another example. "FeetÉlike burnished bronze" harkens us back to Daniel 10 where we see this used in the description of God (Dan. 10:6). "FeetÉlike burnished bronze" conveys the idea of strength and splendor. It also harkens back to the furnace (see Rev. 1:15) where the three faithful Hebrews were thrown because they too refused to compromise their faith - a good connection for the church in Thyatira. Also a good connection because who delivered them in the furnace? Daniel 3 tells us it was a fourth man whom King Nebuchadnezzar identified as one "like a son of the gods!" (Dan. 3:25). Remember Jesus earlier was described as the Son of God and in the same way he will help this church, perhaps not physically, but always spiritually when under persecution to stand firm in their faith.

"If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up" (Dan. 3:17-18).

3. The Commendation (verse 19)

As we move to the third point we see, as always before, our Lord's commendation. Before He points out the wrong, He tells them what they are doing well. In verse 19 we read Him say, "I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first."

It appears this church was in many areas doing very well. They had the inner traits of love and faith which inspired them in the outer disciplines of service and perseverance. As a matter of fact, Jesus says there's even been improvement (in direct contrast to the church in Ephesus - remember they went from good to bad). However, Jesus says this church showed their "deeds of late" even "greater than [their deeds] at first."

Let's pause for a minute and examine how we as a church are doing in this area. Interestingly, when Jesus rebukes these churches, often it is not the whole church that's doing poorly. It's "some" as we saw last week in 2:14. And we need to ask ourselves that question as well.

What we learn is that Jesus looks at our church as whole. Are there some here that are not (staying with the words in 2:19) committed to those two mentioned disciplines of "service" and "perseverance"? Are there some here who are doing absolutely nothing to serve despite the clear opportunities and pleas to get involved? Do we have people in this church failing to persevere because they are making compromise after compromise with their money and their time in the Word and prayer and their stifled growth and their church involvement and their fellowship with believers and their personal holiness and their witness for Christ to the lost? We have a problem when people can profess Jesus Christ as Lord and outright disobey Him whether intentionally or unwittingly through their personal choices.

No one has arrived, but our Lord expects repentance. He expects obedience. He expects growth. And when it is not there, how can we read Revelation chapters 2 and 3 and not conclude the Lord is extremely dissatisfied with you individually and all of us because we simply sit back and tolerate it.

You see when people are not doing what they need to be doing along the lines of service and perseverance - verse 19 (talking to all professing believers - includes young people) we have a problem. But according to verse 19, we have a bigger problem because according to verse 19 a lack of service and perseverance is a result of a lack of "love" (no love will result in no service) and a lack of "faith" (no faith will result in no perseverance). And without love and faith, we aren't believers and collectively we aren't a church.

On the positive side, last week we mentioned the need for several workers. I'm pleased to announce that after one week Bridgefest clean-up we have 13 servants. The membership class has about 25 committed. We have 4 new volunteers on the landscaping crew with another 6 reaffirming their commitment. Our new community assistance ministry saw 40 sign-up and the 45 registered to participate in boardwalk evangelism. Praise God!

4. The Condemnation (verse 20)

We are running out of time so let's move on - we'll speed things up a bit. The fourth point, the condemnation. There was a significant problem at this church. Look with me at verse 20. "But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols."

So we can see the problem here is false teaching which is leading people in the church astray, and it is compounded because the church is doing nothing to stop it. The text says they "tolerate the woman Jezebel."

So like the teaching of Balaam last week, we have another allusion to the Old Testament. Who was Jezebel? She is the personification for wickedness. You don't want to name your daughter after her! She was a literal person in the Bible. She was King Ahab's wife and lived in Israel some 800 years before Revelation was written. She hated Israel's good prophets (especially Elijah) and sought to bring pagan worship into the covenant community (especially the worship of the false god, Baal - see 1 Ki. 21:25-26).

Most likely this was a literal woman in Thyatira who is here compared to Jezebel. The text says she was self-appointed. The text says she called herself a "prophetess" - obviously she claimed to speak directly from God. And her teaching obviously was in the spirit of the literal Jezebel. This false teacher led people in the church astray which was resulting in participation with pagan gods seen through their, verse 20, "immorality" and "the [eating] of things sacrificed to idols."

Again like last week, the teaching was probably along the lines of, "It's okay to sacrifice to the gods so long as you really don't mean it." Again, this came about because of the strong pressure for the Christians to participate in their trade guilds. Bottom line, her teaching was causing significant compromise and was dimming the church's witness as a lampstand to the community.

5. The Consequences (verse 21-25)

Now we come the consequences in verses 21-23-our fifth point. As you can see in verse 21, the Lord is very patient. The ax wasn't lowered after the first offense. How, we are not told, but we do read Jesus saying (in verse 21), "I gave her time to repent." The infraction was pointed out and yet the people just simply refused to change their ways. In our Lord's words (in verse 21), "And she does not want to repent of her immorality."

Therefore, verse 22, "Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds." The consequences involve sickness, something not always, but in this case directly related to their unrepentant sin. It's no different that Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 reminding people that they had better approach the Lord's Table as a believer with a heart of repentance. Some in Corinth obviously did not heed his warning like Jezebel. He says, "For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number [dead] (1 Cor. 11:30).

Verse 23, "And I will kill her children [those who follow the false teaching of Jezebel] with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds." Point - no motive is hidden from the Lord's eyes. Remember, He is the One with "eyes like a flame of fire" (Rev. 2:18)! And the Lord will either punish or reward according to our deeds.

This week I asked Pastors Craig and Barry the question. If the Lord threatened the church and followed through on His threats with such harsh judgment, why are there so many bad churches today that seem to go unscathed while their churches grow in attendance and their pastors grow in influence?

If my observation is correct, I believe there are only four options. One is that there is no God and the words in the Bible are false. Two is that the Lord threatens but does not follow through. Three is that the Lord has "eased up" (so to speak) since the first century. Our fourth (my thoughts) is that the Lord has simply given dead and compromising churches over in the spirit of Romans 1.

Instead of the direct wrath given to the church, the wrath spoken of here in Revelation to these churches, the wrath that wakes people up and causes them to repent, has our Lord now brought about the wrath of abandonment? Are the dead and carnal and unbiblical churches left to do business and draw in thousands just an indication that that the Lord has given us what we wanted? Is it in line with end time prophecy when He says He "will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false" (2 Thes. 2:11).

You know when Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead in the early church (Ac. 5:5, 10), it was a sign of God's mercy to that church. It was a clear indication that they had better repent. Remember how the church responded after seeing that? Acts 5 tells us that "great fear came over the whole church" (Ac. 5:11). Could you imagine if churchgoers were being vaporized on the spot after they refused to heed the Lord's warnings and repent? No service and bam! Robbing God on your offerings and zap! Refusing to turn from the immorality and poof! You'd bet there'd be some immediate changes! Yet the wrath of abandonment soothes us to continue in our ungodly ways thinking we are fine. We mistake the absence of punishment for the Lord's tolerance.

Yet there were some in Thyatira that were faithful. And to them Jesus says, verses 24 and 25, "But I say to you, the rest who are in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not known the deep things of Satan, as they call them - I place no other burden on you. Nevertheless what you have, hold fast until I come."

The false teachers might have called their teaching "the deep things of God." Jesus calls it what it really was, "the deep things of Satan." It was the truth of God maligned by Satan, "the father of lies" (Jn. 8:44), spouted out through the mouths of these false teachers.

Yet some were not deceived. Some were staying true to the Lord's teaching as handed down from the Apostles. To these folks, refusing to compromise and thus suffering for their faith, the passage says our gracious and gentle Savior (verse 24) places upon them no other burden (cf. Mt. 11:29-30). To them He says to simply keep doing what they are doing, standing strong and holding fast to their faith one day at a time until His return.

6. The Contribution (verse 26-29)

And lastly, the contribution. As always, the reward promised to those who prove themselves to be overcomers.

Beginning in verse 26, "He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father." Using language from Psalm 2, those who remain faithful until the end will rule with Christ.

Verse 28, "And I will give him the morning star." Obviously something to do with a reward of honor. My best thoughts - the morning star is the planet Venus. Venus was a symbol of sovereignty in the ancient world, especially in Rome. Roman rulers claimed they descended from the goddess Venus and thus built temples dedicated to the star. Yet Christ is the true sovereign of the world. He is the morning star (2 Pet. 2:19). In 22:16 of Revelation He says, "I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." Interestingly there is a prophecy of the Messiah in Numbers 24:17 in the story about Balaam which says, "A star shall come forth from Jacob."

Verse 29, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

Can we spiritually hear our Shepherd through this passage? How do we need to apply it to ourselves?