Theme: Being a Community, Reaching the Community Theme: Praises, Problems, Prescriptions, Promises: Revelation 2:18-29 Aim: The importance of intolerance towards evil in the church. Intro: Tolerance is defined as a putting up w/, conditionally; fair, objective & permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, beliefs, origins, etc., differ from one s own; freedom from bigotry. Sympathy or indulgence for beliefs or practices differing from or conflicting w/one s own; allowance, acceptance; allowing other people to say & do as they like, even if you do not agree or approve. In today s world, tolerance has been considered by many the highest virtue. And intolerance will not be tolerated! Of course, in a very general sense, tolerance is good & we must be tolerant of those around us. We can disagree w/others beliefs & lifestyles, recognizing they have a right to believe & live as they choose, as long as that doesn t cross into another s personal rights/space. We must love others enough to tell them the good news of the gospel & urge them to believe & enter relationship w/god by faith in Christ, but we must love them & act in love toward them no matter what. However, there are things we must not tolerate, such as evil. But tho we must take a stand against evil in the world, we can t always change the world & therefore often have to put up w/evil in the world, & love even those who practice evil. But we cannot tolerate evil in the church. Having said that, our aim must always be God s glory & honor & the restoration of those who fall; but we cannot tolerate evil in the church. The reason we must not tolerate evil in the church is that God is not tolerant. God is not tolerant of any evil! One can live as he wants & believe what he wants, & disagree w/god, but the consequence is judgment. Tolerance of evil spelled trouble for the church in Thyatira & the Lord of the Church would not tolerate it. Theme: Being a community, reaching the community. Been looking at Jesus letters to the 7 churches in Asia Minor. Having considered His message to the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna & Pergamum, we now come to Thyatira Revelation 2:18-29 [READ]. 1
Note location on the map. The word Thyatira means odor of affliction nice home town name, huh? According to Strong s it was a colony of Macedonian Greeks, situated on the river Lycus; its inhabitants gained their living by traffic {trade} & the art of dyeing in purple. We read in Acts 16 of Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods. She was the 1 st convert in Philippi. Thyatira was an insignificant town in many respects, but according to commentator John Barclay, From the inscriptions which have been found in the neighborhood it is clear that Thyatira possessed more trade guilds than any other town of its size in Asia. 5 P s I) The Person of Jesus how He described Himself to this church The Son of God. This is a partial departure from how Jesus has described Himself to the other churches. John did not describe the Lord Jesus as the Son of God when He saw Him in chap.1. Rather, he wrote of Him as One like a son of man, in other words, He looked like a man, tho majestic in appearance. Here, Jesus wants the believers in Thyatira to understand that He is the Son of God Deity, the 2 nd Person of the Trinity, no mere man, tho fully man (& fully God). We need to recognize Him as such also. He is our God & still our Savior. As the Son of God He speaks w/all authority. He further identifies Himself as having eyes like a flame of fire, in other words burning thru whatever He sets His gaze upon, burning thru any façade. He is the One who sees/knows. Nothing is hidden from His sight. And His feet are like burnished bronze fine brass, beautiful to look at, but I think the significance of this is that He will not be moved. He is standing fast on behalf of His Church, yes, but also against any evil w/in the church. II) Praises from the Lord of the Church. Jesus mentioned several praiseworthy qualities of the church in Thyatira: Love, which He commands of all who believe/follow Him. Love is the mark of the Christian/the Church. They ll know we are Christians by our love They evidently loved one another well, & loved those of the community w/the love of Christ. Faith they believed God & embraced Christ as Savior/Lord. They held fast their faith in the face of opposition. They 2
were known for their faith. Service they served God & one another & perhaps the community. They gave of themselves in ministry to one another & others in need. Patient endurance they kept on keeping on following Jesus, whether they were tolerated by the community or not; in spite of opposition or trial. They didn t give up. Exceeding latter works in other words, they didn t grow weary in well doing. As they continued to follow Christ, they didn t slow down in doing works of service, giving witness to Christ, acting in love toward one another or the community. They did more as time went along. But not just more, they did better, in a better way, as maturing believers will do. Wow! This seems like the perfect church. They seem to have it all together. Would Jesus praise us for the same qualities? They were being the church they should have been. Or so it would seem; but III) Problems exposed by the Light I have this against you You tolerate evil. Jesus didn t say that specifically, but that s what He was getting at. This woman He named Jezebel was influencing some in the church. Don t know if that was her real name, but she deserved the title. Call someone a Judas & they/others know what you mean traitor/ betrayer. Jezebel of old was the wife of King Ahab, of Israel. Read about her in I Kings 16-21. She was (Strong s) an impious & cruel queen who protected idolatry & persecuted the prophets (even having them put to death). Also according to Strong s this woman in Thyatira, whose name may not have actually been Jezebel (tho at least a symbolic name for her), pretended to be a prophetess, [but was] addicted to antinomianism [anti-law], [&] claimed Christian liberty to eat things sacrificed to idols, to the extent of idolatry, worshiping other so-called gods. And she led some of the people in the Thyatiran church astray, seducing them to follow her lead in practicing sexual immorality & idolatry. Jesus said, I gave her time to repent, but she refused. So, I will throw her onto a sickbed & those who commit adultery w/her (literally or figuratively) I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, & I will strike her children dead. Strong 3
sentiment, but not just rhetoric. Jesus was not just addressing the church in Thyatira, but all the churches by what He was saying & would do, so they will know that I am He who searches mind & heart & will give to each according to your works. Jesus sees & knows what is in our hearts. What are we tolerating that Jesus will not tolerate? We have confronted evil w/in the church in times past some would say too harshly, others would say not enough. But we must not tolerate evil. If you see evil in the church, that God calls evil, expose it. Let s deal w/it together. And, we must be vigilant that there is no evil in our own lives which leads others astray or influences them away from following Jesus. Let s examine ourselves, because it s more than just about us. What in our lives hinders the work of God in our midst? IV) Prescription for Correction. Jesus didn t say it, but it s obvious that He called the church in Thyatira to repentance, & He calls us to repentance if we have immorality in our lives & are leading others astray. And He also said, in a very real way, that they/we should not hold to the teaching of Jezebel - antinomianism or idolatry; we should not learn the deep things of Satan we should be ignorant of evil & wise as to godliness. We should not imitate evil nor use our freedom in Christ as a cover-up for evil. Jesus said, I don t lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come hold fast to faith & faithfulness; hold fast to trust in God; hold fast to what is right & good in God s sight. V) Promises to take hold of The one who conquers (by faith) & keeps My works until the end (being about His business, living out our faith until He comes again, doing works He did, works He commanded, deeds in keeping w/his character love, service, righteousness), to him I will give authority over the nations (they/we will reign w/christ in His kingdom, or as some would say, in the millennial age), & he will rule them w/a rod of iron (severe & rigorous rule, but also caring, ministering & counseling, pointing to Jesus that word rule literally means shepherd ). Jesus had spoken of the apostles judging w/him the tribes of Israel. We shall judge w/him the nations of the world. In other 4
words, those who hold fast to Him are on the winning team, even if for a while it seems the opposite. Jesus gives His authority to those who are His, who hold fast to Him. Then Jesus made this wonderful promise: I will give him the morning star. Morning star is a common reference to the planet Venus appearing in the east before sunrise. It is usually bright & big. In Revelation 22:16, Jesus said, I am the root & the descendant of David, the bright morning star. In other words, Jesus is saying He will give the overcomer Himself! He is the hidden manna promised to the overcomers of Pergamum. And He is the bright morning star, lighting the way. He is the One we adore & follow. He will be ours for eternity! If we re going to be a true community of faith & reach the community around us, then what must be characteristic of us is love & faith & service & patient endurance & exceeding works to the end. We must hate evil & stand against it in the world, yes, but more so in the church that the world may see the beauty of Jesus & consistently pure Christlikeness in us, that the world may see that Jesus indeed makes a real difference in the lives of those who are His own. 5