The Church of Tolerance: Message to the Church at Thyatira

Let’s open by reading our theme verse together.

Revelation 3:6 CSB

6 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.

So far, we have looked at three of the seven messages to the seven historical churches Jesus addressed in Revelation.

We looked at the message to the church at Ephesus. This was a church who left their first love. The message we received from Jesus through this church is to repent and change your motivation from one of duty to one of love for Jesus Christ.

We looked at the message to the church at Smyrna. Nothing negative was said to this church. The message we received from Jesus through this church is to be faithful and not be afraid.

We looked at the message to the church at Pergamum. This was a church of compromise. The message we received from Jesus through this church is to repent and stop compromising the truth of God’s Word.

Let’s read the message to the fourth church Jesus spoke to in the book of Revelation.

Revelation 2:18–29 CSB

18 “Write to the angel of the church in Thyatira: Thus says the Son of God, the one whose eyes are like a fiery flame and whose feet are like fine bronze: 19 I know your works—your love, faithfulness, service, and endurance. I know that your last works are greater than the first. 20 But I have this against you: You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat meat sacrificed to idols. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 Look, I will throw her into a sickbed and those who commit adultery with her into great affliction. Unless they repent of her works, 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who examines minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you according to your works. 24 I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who haven’t known “the so-called secrets of Satan”—as they say—I am not putting any other burden on you. 25 Only hold on to what you have until I come. 26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works to the end: I will give him authority over the nations— 27 and he will rule them with an iron scepter; he will shatter them like pottery— 28 just as I have received this from my Father. I will also give him the morning star. 29 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.

Thyatira was not a particularly important city. Interestingly, the longest message to a church is said to the tiniest city.

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Thyatira was a center of manufacturing. Clothing, pottery, and brass were well-known trades in the city. Lydia, who Paul met at Philippi, was from Thyatira. If you remember, she was a “seller of purple”. She would have been in the manufacturing and distribution of clothes which were dyed purple. Purple was a color of luxury. Thyatira was a city controlled by trade guilds. A trade guild was kind of like the first unions. They were groups of tradesmen who bonded together to control prices and services. If you wanted something done, you would have to do what the trade guild wanted you to do.

These guilds made it hard for people to do business if you did not belong to one of them. They put Christians in a difficult position because of the expectation to participate in the pagan festivals. Each guild had its own patron god or goddess with feasts and festivals, normally involving sexual liberation.

Notice how Jesus began his address to the church at Thyatira. He is described as the Son of God who has eyes like fiery flame and feet like bronze. It reminds us of the description of Jesus in Revelation chapter one. Why does Jesus begin his speech to Thyatira in this manner? He is reminding them of an important fact, something we need to remember. Jesus sees us for who we really are.

1. The penetrating eyes of Christ see us for who we really are.

There is no fooling Jesus. You can pretend around other people. You can create an online persona. You can build yourself up to be something you are not. Jesus knows who you really are inside. There is no fooling Jesus. He knows what you really think. He knows your motives and your desires.

For the faithful, the idea that Jesus knows who we really are is encouraging. He sees what you are doing. He sees your love, faithfulness, service, and endurance. What you are doing might go unnoticed by man, but Jesus sees all. Nothing escapes him.

For the wicked, this idea should be extremely troubling. Jesus knows the real you. You may be fooling everyone around you, but Jesus knows what is really in your heart.

Jesus reminded the church that he knew their works. He knew of their love, their faithfulness, service, and endurance. He said that their most recent works were greater than their first. They were doing well. They were increasing in godly works. There were people in this church who were doing the right things with the right motives. They were faithful, but the church had a problem. Jesus had already determined it was time to deal with the problem. The key word is in verse twenty.

Revelation 2:20 CSB

20 But I have this against you: You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat meat sacrificed to idols.

“You tolerate.” If Pergamum was a church of compromise; this was the church of tolerance. Tolerance is a step beyond compromise. Compromise seeks to reconcile two opposing ideas. Compromise seeks to meet in the middle and make everyone happy. Most of the time compromise makes everyone unhappy. Tolerance is different. Compromise leads to tolerance. Tolerance allows something to exist which should not exist.

At Thyatira, they were tolerating a Jezebel who was deceiving followers of Jesus into thinking it was okay to participate in the pagan festivals and in sexual immorality. Apparently, she was teaching Christians that it was okay to join a trade guild and participate in the feasts. It was okay to have sexual relations with whoever you wanted. This character’s name is likely symbolic because it reminds us of the character Jezebel in the Old Testament. Jezebel encouraged the children of Israel to add Baal worship to their worship of Yahweh. Likewise, this person was encouraging God’s children to be sexually free and to participate in idolatry. She was teaching that idol worship wasn’t a problem because they aren’t real gods anyway. She was teaching that God didn’t care about who you have sex with.

This is so important because of the dangers of following false teachers. Who are you listening to? Are they following the Word of God? Do you know God’s Word well enough to be able to tell if the person is following God or leading you astray? False teachers are telling us that God doesn’t care who you love. Love is love. False teachers tell us there are many ways to God. False teacher are encouraging our young people to just follow their hearts. We allow these false teachers to have a voice in the church and in our homes. This is not just unwise. It is damning.

Here is a principle and it is important, especially in our culture of so-called tolerance. We must never tolerate what God calls sin.

2. Do not tolerate what God calls sin.

This is going to be a little raw, but it is the truth from God’s Word. Many Christians and churches have become tolerant of many things that God detests. We need to ask ourselves, “Have I become tolerant in my life of something God calls sin?” Think about things which are moving like wildfire through the church and Christians today. We have become tolerant of divorce. The divorce rate of Christian couples, where both husband and wife profess to be Christians, is the same as unbelievers. This should not be so. God doesn’t like divorce. We must remember the word of the Lord in Malachi 2:16.

Malachi 2:16 CSB

16 “If he hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord God of Israel, “he covers his garment with injustice,” says the Lord of Armies. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously.

The reality is divorce happens because marriage involves a man and a woman who are sinful. Divorce should not be something we get used to happening. It is painful and we should seek reconciliation and forgiveness whenever possible.

Because this is such a sensitive issue, I am aware of the reality that some of you may have experienced a divorce. For some of you, you did everything you knew to do to save your marriage but it still ended. What is done is done and you can’t change the past. What you can say is from this day forward I am going to be different. If you are in Christ, know that God forgives you, loves you, and desires to give you a future and a hope in him. You are not a second-class Christian. You are a child of God, a child of the King.

Having said this, I also want you to understand that God hates abuse. No one should think the expectation is for a person to remain in a dangerous situation. One of the things we are seeing during this pandemic is a rise in abusive situations. Let me say as straightforward as I can. If you are in a situation where abuse is taking place, please seek a safe space. Don’t stay in an abusive relationship or marriage.

We have become tolerant of sexual abuse in the church. Churches dismiss pastors and staff for sexual sins but let them go to other churches to prey on a new unsuspecting flock. Baptist churches hide behind church autonomy to protect themselves from having to address the matter. The hope is that it will just go away. It doesn’t just go away. People are hurt. Lives are damaged because we have tolerated sin. Again, we should look to reconcile and forgive, but we should not tolerate repeat sexual predators in our midst. The Bible graphically talks about what should be done in cases of sexual perversions, but for the sake of the mixed audience, I will not read those sections. All the parents can breathe a sigh of relief.

We have become tolerant of gossip. We hide our gossip in prayer requests or on social media. We justify ourselves by saying we are just pointing something out. The reality is, we like flapping our gums. We like talking about people. We forget the harm that gossip does to the unity of the church.

Ephesians 4:29 CSB

29 No foul language should come from your mouth, but only what is good for building up someone in need, so that it gives grace to those who hear.

We have become tolerant of abortion because it is the law of the land. We think that we can’t do anything about it anyway. We have become tolerant of substance abuse. We have become tolerant of so many thing we should not tolerate. If you think there is “nothing you can do about it”, I would encourage you to get on your knees before God. These things break God’s heart and they should break our hearts as well. Prayer is the most powerful tool we have against the evils present in this world. Ask God for direction and he will give you a course of action only you can accomplish.

You see, tolerance is the broad path that leads to destruction.

Tolerance is the broad path that leads to destruction.

Matthew 7:13–14 CSB

13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. 14 How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.

The narrow gate is the gate of truth that leads to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The truth is not tolerant. It is simply the truth. Jesus was not tolerant. He spoke about hypocrisy in Matthew 23, selfishness in Luke 9, sin in John 8. He told the woman caught in adultery to “Go and sin no more.” He forgave her but told her what the expectation was for her. She was not to continue in her sin. Do not tolerate what God calls sin.

In the warning to the church at Thyatira, the false teacher was given time to change, but she would not. Her refusal to repent would bring punish upon her and all her followers. Sickness and disease would be used to punish her. Her followers were going to be given time to repent, but if they didn’t, they would suffer her fate.

The message to the church at Thyatira does not end with this condemnation of the false teacher. Jesus has a word of hope and encouragement for the faithful.

Revelation 2:24–28 CSB

24 I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who haven’t known “the so-called secrets of Satan”—as they say—I am not putting any other burden on you. 25 Only hold on to what you have until I come. 26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works to the end: I will give him authority over the nations— 27 and he will rule them with an iron scepter; he will shatter them like pottery— 28 just as I have received this from my Father. I will also give him the morning star.

Jesus wanted them to know something important. This is the first mention of Christ’s return in the book of Revelation. He wanted them to remain faithful. Keep on going on the righteous narrow path because eternal morning is about to dawn, and they would reign with Jesus.

3. Eternal morning is about to dawn and the faithful will reign with Jesus.

In some passages of Scripture, the Morning Star is Jesus. He is called the Bright and Morning Star. In this case, the morning star indicates something different. In this case, the morning star reminds us that daybreak is coming. The long dark suffering on earth is about to end. Eternal morning is about to dawn. When the eternal morning dawns; Jesus, the Morning Star will come to gather his faithful ones home where they will rule and reign with him.

2 Timothy 2:11–13 CSB

11 This saying is trustworthy: For if we died with him, we will also live with him; 12 if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he will also deny us; 13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.

The faithful with reign with Jesus. I wish I had time to develop this fully but read the end game. Read Revelation 20. The day of Jesus’ return is coming soon. Let us not grow weary in well doing. Let us stay faithful to the calling to which we are called by Jesus Christ. Let us not tolerate what God does not tolerate. Let us be ready to present ourselves to God as workmen who do not need to be ashamed. When things are at their darkest and coldest, remember the morning star. Remember Jesus has risen, and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Father God reveal to us the reality of our situation. Let us see ourselves as you see us. If there is something we are tolerating that we should not tolerate, point it out to us so that we can deal with it properly. Give us strength to remain faithful in these evil days. Protect us from harm as your precious children. Jesus, you wear the victor’s crown because you have overcome and conquered death. May you be glorified now and forever, Amen.

With our heads bowed and eyes closed, what have you grown tolerant of in your life? Is there some sin in your life that has become a pet you can’t control? You thought you were mastering your sin, but in reality, it is mastering you. Someone once said, “sin will take you farther than you wanted to go and cost you more than you wanted to pay.” Don’t tolerate sin in your life. Confess it and repent of it.

1 John 1:9 CSB

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Claim the promise of God and confess and repent of your sin.

Perhaps you are listening to this message and you feel something heavy on your heart and life. It has become apparent to you that you are not in a relationship with God. Let me tell you about who God is and the problem that we have. Our problem is our sin nature. We sin. We rebel against God’s ways. We do wrong things. Our sin separates us from God. This is amazing. God loved the world and he didn’t want us to remain dead in our sins. Sin leads to death. God doesn’t want anyone to die because he wants to be with us. The good news is that Jesus, who is God, came to earth and took on flesh. The Bible says that Jesus’ name would be Emmanuel, meaning God with us. Jesus who is perfect in every way become the sacrifice for the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus died in our place and rose from the grave to prove that everything he claimed is true. The Bible says that anyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The Lord is Jesus. Anyone who calls on Jesus’ name will be saved. You will be forgiven of your sins and you will be transformed.

I believe there are people here today who need Jesus. You can’t work your way to him. You can’t be religious enough for him. You receive the free gift of eternal life through the grace of Jesus Christ. You call on his name and when you do, he will hear your prayer, forgive your sin, and make you clean. Your old life will be gone and your new life will begin. Your sins will be washed away, and you will be cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Come to Jesus this morning. Don’t resist the call of the Holy Spirit.

Pray with me, “Heavenly Father, forgive me for my sins, make me new. I ask Jesus to be my Savior and to be the Lord of my life, first in every way. My life is not my own, I give it to you. Thank you for new life. In Jesus’ name, I pray.”

If you prayed that prayer and you want to talk more about what it means to be a follower of Jesus, this is what I want you to do. My email address is on the screen:

[e-mail]

Write to me. Let me know of your decision to follow Jesus. You can also text the number at the bottom of the screen and we will get back in touch with you. If you have a prayer request or other need, we want to hear from you and support you in the love of Christ.

Pray.