Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Introduction
Jesus desires a pure church.
The church's one foundation
is Jesus Christ her Lord;
she is his new creation
by water and the word:
from heaven he came and sought her
to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her
and for her life he died.
Titus 2:14 “14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”
The Lord Jesus wants a church made up of individuals who are growing in grace, and desiring holiness and obedience.
The church at Thyatira was purchased by Christ and was called to be holy even though it lived in a place where this was very difficult.
Thyatira was a city well known for its commerce.
It has many trade guilds.
One in particular was the guild for bronze armor.
If you wanted to work in the trade you had to be part of the guild.
Often the guilds were linked to a patron deity, a pagan god.
This meant they would hold feasts, sacrifices, rituals in honour to the patron deity.
This was a problem for Christians.
If you were not part of the guilt you couldn’t make a living in that trade, but if you were you had to participate in pagan practices.
As it is in each of the letters after Jesus addresses the church he then gives a description of Himself.
The description he gives is taken from description in Chapter 1.
In v.18
He refers to himself as The Son of God.
This was probably intended to be a contrast with the local guild deity Apollo Tyrimnaeus who was called a son of the pagan god Zeus.
He would have been a familiar name to all in Thyatira.
Perhaps Jesus is making the point he is the Eternal Son of the Living God.
He is the one who holds all authority, no a ficitonal deity like Apollo.
Jesus also refers to himself as he who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass
This description is probably intended to communicate his omniscience.
He sees everything, and he knows the thoughts and the intents of the heart.
There is nothing hid from his sight.
He will judge the secrets of men.
The feet like fine brass is probably a reference of his the fact that he will swiftly judge evil and trample down his enemies, in other words a picture of his justice.
This description is supposed to communicated the holiness and perfect justice of Jesus.
He sees everything and he will swiftly judge sin.
This is important as we shall see in a moment here was a church that probably thought Jesus didn’t see their sin and that it wasn’t a big deal any how.
The message in this letter is very similar to the one which went before.
But if we were to sum it up it would be- Jesus desires a pure church.
Here we have a letter from the Lord Jesus to a church that has lost its way.
We see what he says in order to call it back to purity.
Three points;
Jesus commends good works, Jesus calls out sin, Jesus encourages the faithful.
I. Jesus commends good works v.18-19
a) They are working out their salvation
In calling the church at Thyatira back to purity he encourages and commends them for the good that they have.
We see the tender care of Jesus by the fact that he begins with good things to say.
v.19 “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience...”
The Lord Jesus commends them for their good works and for their display of the fruits of the Spirit.
They must have been involved in meeting the practical needs of those in the church and those outside of the church.
Jesus says I know your works, love, service.
They were obviously serving others.
It seemed they were doing these things not out of duty but because their hearts had been changed by the Holy Spirit.
God’s Spirit was working in them and producing the fruit of the Spirit.
Here Jesus mentions three.
Love, faith, patience
Love for each other, the lost and the LORD.
Faith in Jesus Christ and trust in God’s promises
Patience in times of suffering and persecution.
Their patience probably refers to how some of them responded to the economic suffering they would have faced by not being willing to participate in the idolatry of the different guilds in the city.
b) They are growing in grace
Not only were they displaying God’s grace in their lives but they were also growing in grace.
They were progressing in their Christian life.
v.19b “and as for your works, the last are more than the first”
Rather than going backwards many of them seemed to be going forwards.
They were growing as Christians.
There is a clear contrast with the church at Ephesus.
They were said to have left their first love.
Their last works were not as good as their first works, they were going backwards.
Where as Jesus could say to the church at Thyatira that their last works were greater than their first.
Application-
These are encouraging words from the Lord Jesus.
We can imagine the joy the church felt to hear the Lord commend them for these things.
In these things we can Take Thyatira as an example to follow.
Let us like them be displaying the fruits of the Spirit in our lives.
Could it be said of us that Jesus knows our work, love, service?
Could Jesus say to us you have the fruits of the Spirit on display in your life?
I see your love for others and your love for me.
Your faith, your patience in suffering.
Are we growing in grace?
Are we becoming stronger Christians.
Are we growing in our sanctification?
Dying more and more to sin and living more and more to Jesus?
How might we do this?
Daily Bible reading, spending time in the word of God is one way we grow as Christians.
Spending time in prayer every day.
Being obedient, repenting of all sin, allowing the Holy Spirit to control our lives in every part.
It seems that many in Thyatira were doing this.
But yet as difficult as it is to understand beside these good things they had a serious problem.
Jesus calls his church to purity by commending their good works, next Jesus calls out their sin.
II.
Jesus calls out sin v.20-23
a) They are tolerating a false teacher
After having encouragement the Lord says things to them that must have caused them shame.
v.20 “Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols”
The Lord Jesus has something against them; They were allowing a false teacher to teach false doctrine and lead Christians astray.
Jesus uses a singular pronoun here which shows he is referring to the church in its entirety.
The church is allowing this to happen.
They are all culpable.
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