The Corrupted Church

We are continuing our tour of the churches in Asia Minor and today we make the next stop. Now we move away from the coast and to the smallest town in our seven city tour: Thyatira.

Thyatira is a city located about 40-45 miles southwest of Pergamum. The city was located in what is now known as Akhisar. This was also the hometown of Lydia, the seller of purple fabrics Paul met in Philippi and converted to Christianity as a result of his preaching. This letter is the longest letter to the smallest city, so let’s see what the Lord has to say to the church in Thyatira:

Revelation 2:18–29 NASB95

“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this: ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. ‘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. ‘I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. ‘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. ‘And I will kill her children 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. ‘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. ‘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; and I will give him the morning star. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

[Insert Slide]

I’m noticing a progression here as I study these churches and I want you to see something.

First, we have the Ephesian church who stood firm on doctrinal purity, but wasn’t very loving. Second, we have the church in Smyrna, who was strong on doctrinal purity and maintained their first love, but were encouraged to stand firm through the persecution that was about to come. Then we have the church in Pergamum who has kept the faith in the face of martyrdom, but they have allowed false teaching to enter in and the church has not purged it. Today we have the church in Thyatira, who is doing a lot of good things, but the false doctrines that have infiltrated the community of faith have warped their conduct and the Lord is fed up with sinful behavior.

Because Christ is concerned with the purity of his church, hold fast to what is good and reject what is evil.

The good news is that this church was doing a lot of the right things. Look at verse 19. The Lord knows the deeds of the church, their love, their faith, their service, and their perseverance. In fact, their deeds of late are greater than at first. This is a church that has grown in all the right areas and it would seem that their capacity for ministry in Thyatira has grown tremendously. God has blessed the ministry of this church.

But there is significant bad news. The church has tolerated the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and has led the Lord’s people into eating meat sacrificed to idols and sexually immoral conduct. While the name Jezebel is used, I don’t think there is a woman named Jezebel being called out by Christ here, but I do believe this speaks to a woman in the church of Thyatira who was leading people astray. This is a woman who is acting in the spirit of Jezebel, who was a queen of Israel when the kingdom was headed toward its downfall.

Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab, who was the most wicked king of Israel after the nation split in two. She led the king into worshipping the false god Baal. Baal was recognized as the storm god and bringer of rain. He was also considered a fertility god and credited with sustaining the fertility of crops, animals, and people. Offerings made to this god consisted of animal sacrifices, self mutilation, and often public sexual acts all for the purpose of Baal’s blessing on crop growth as well as animal and human reproduction. Christ uses the name Jezebel as a metaphor for how this woman in the church is leading believers into similar practices. In this case, eating meat sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality.

Now in this day and age, it is almost unheard of to sacrifice animals as part of religious observance, so this is not an issue we face today. This was a major issue in the time period in which this letter is written. Since the culture surrounding the church was heavily involved in idol worship, animal sacrifices were done regularly. The meat involved in those sacrifices was used in meals at festivals and gatherings. Consuming meat sacrificed to idols was prohibited for a Christian in Thyatira, because in so doing, it was participation in the worship of that false god.

Thyatira was home to many trade guilds. If you as a Christian wanted to be part of a trade guild, it required participation in guild banquets. In these banquets, all meat and wine served was sacrificed to a particular god. Everybody in attendance was expected to participate. It began with eating meat sacrificed to idols .

The second problem was that of sexually immoral behavior. Other parts of the festivities at these banquets included things like orgies and sexual encounters with people other than your spouse. As we encounter scripture, there is a clear sexual ethic for those who follow Christ. Sex is the height of expression of love between one man and one woman in the context of marriage for a lifetime. Anything outside of that violates God’s standard for sex. It is meant as a beautiful celebration of God’s design and the church in Thyatira was violating God’s purpose and God’s design over and over again.

The church was pressured into adopting these behaviors and were threatened if they did not. In this case, there were many who had adopted the practice of worship to false gods which included these immoral practices. While we do not face the exact same issues as the church in Thyatira, what we do face is not far off.

We must resist pressure to accept and celebrate alternative lifestyles that violate the teachings of Scripture.

Every day you and I face the pressure of embracing alternative lifestyles as normal, healthy, and just as legitimate of an expression of love as any heterosexual monogamous marital relationship. After all, love is love and how can you stand in the way of that when God is such a loving God, right? I understand where this is coming from, but it fails to meet the biblical standard of God’s sexual ethics.

There is pressure for us to conduct same-sex weddings, there is pressure for us to ordain homosexual clergy. Just this year, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran denomination in the country, elected its first transgender bishop. The children in our society are pushed to discover their sexual identity by the time they are in middle school. We believe that the Bible is the final authority on all matters of faith and practice and we have affirmed that the Bible teaches there is only one form of healthy and legitimate sexual expression, that there are only two genders as God has created them, and that marriage is a covenental union between a biological male and a biological female for a lifetime. To compromise on this issue would be detrimental to the church and it is sad to see so many churches embracing these false teachings.

I told you about a guy named Brandan Robertson who wrote a book called The Gospel of Inclusion. It is his argument for the full inclusion of the LGBT+ community into the full life of the church. I want to read you the description of this book:

“One of the most fiercely debated topics in modern Christianity centers on the inclusion of sexual and gender minorities into the full life of the church. Dozens of scholars have stepped forward, seeking to make a compelling case for LGBT+ inclusion based on their contextualized reading of the six traditional passages that refer to homosexuality in Scripture. But these arguments alone fall short of providing a comprehensive framework for radical inclusion of LGBT+ people. In The Gospel of Inclusion, pastor and public theologian Brandan Robertson offers a compelling assessment of the biblical texts, cultural context, and modern social movements to suggest that the entire thrust of the Christian gospel calls the church towards the deconstruction of all oppressive systems and structures and towards the creation of a world that celebrates the full spectrum of human diversity as a reflection of God's creative intention.”

This is false teaching and Brandan Robertson is a false teacher. Now I want you to hear me on this. Anyone who is a member of the LGBT+ community is welcome to come participate in a worship service. How else might they hear the life-saving, transformative gospel of Jesus Christ? True love for an individual is when we lovingly go to him or her, acknowledging where they currently are, but show them where God wants them to be. To truly love another person is to help them understand that God has created them to be with him but sin has separated them from God. The only way to be reconciled to God is to turn from that sin and embrace the salvation God offers through the work of Jesus on the cross.

Jesus says in verse 21 that he gave time for this woman to repent but she has not. Therefore, chastisement will come. He says that she will be thrown on a sickbed as well as her followers. Their children will be killed with pestilence and the churches will know that he is the one who searches the minds and hearts and will give each according to his deeds.

There are a few things we learn about Jesus from this passage:

Jesus is passionate about the purity of his church.

There is an end to his patience and when he comes, he will deal with false teachers and false prophets.

He sees those who have done right.

Hold fast and celebrate the things you have done right.

I look at First Baptist Church Three Rivers and I do not see an adoption of unbiblical sexual ethics. The false teaching we see in Thyatira is not prevalent here. What I do see is people who have been faithful to the Lord and to each other for a lifetime.

I was talking to Lura in the office this week about the sermon and I asked her how long her and Ray have been married. She said 53 years. Wow. Whenever people hear that a couple has been married for that long, they can’t believe it! Do you know why? Because it is so uncommon! Lura was talking to an insurance agent recently and they got to talking about the length of an average marriage in America. Do you know what the average is? 7 years. If you have been married to the same person for longer than seven years, congratulations! You beat the national average! The church should be the standard for what biblical marriage and sexual fidelity looks like. Let’s celebrate that which we are doing well.

He who overcomes will be given authority over the nations, who will rule with a rod of iron as the vessels of the potter are broken into pieces. Jesus has also received authority from his Father, and I will give him the morning star, which is himself. The Bible teaches that the followers of Jesus will rule with Christ upon his return and that he himself is the morning star. Just like every letter before this, there is a reminder of the future hope of those who follow Christ. We will be with him for eternity. We will get to eat from the tree of life, we will not face eternal separation from Christ. Rather, we will be declared innocent, leading to co-ruling with Christ himself in his kingdom.

APPLICATION

Are there any areas in your life where you have compromised on God’s Word in order to go along to get along?

On a scale of one to ten, rank how you are doing in love, faith, service, and patience?

How can you celebrate the good that is taking place in the church this week?