Thyatira

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I'm sure many of us have heard of All Souls, Langham Place, the church in London which gave the world the Christianity Explored course, but not many of us will be quite so familiar with Christ Church, Little Heath. I'm sure that lots of us are familiar with St. Andrew the Great in Cambridge, but probably very few of us will have heard of All Saints, Little Shelford. The church in Thyatira falls into that category of smaller churches caught in the shadows of their larger, more famous neighbours. John, as you will remember, is writing down messages given to him by Jesus for seven young churches (churches that in a way represent all Christian churches throughout time). Of the seven Thyatira was the least well-known, least significant, least important church, and yet she is the church to which Jesus says the most.

So if you've got your Bible to hand, now would be a good time to turn back to Revelation Ch.2, p.1029 in the church Bibles. Chapter 2, verse 18, John is told to write "… to the angel of the church in Thyatira." Other than it being a less important city than its more famous neighbours what do we know about Thyatira? Well like Pergamum, it was city of craftsmen and merchants, with a reputation as being a good working class town where trade guilds stood at the centre of its religious and social life. And in many ways these were a very real problem for Christians. Membership of such a guild came with anti-Christian obligations and expectations. But to refuse to join one, meant serious financial implications for their livelihoods. It was a very real dilemma for them and as we shall see, that woman Jezebel (v.20) thought she had the answer. So this is the basic situation for the church into which Christ speaks.

Verse 18 continues, "The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze." Jesus is reminding his readers who he is and what he is like. He is the Son of God and comes with all the authority, awe and majesty of the Living God himself. His feet are like burnished bronze (imagery that wouldn't have been lost on a Thyatiran metalworker) he is strong, powerful and mighty and he sees – his eyes see everything! His eyes are like a flame of fire: he sees through the pretence, the façade, that Sunday face, he sees the heart. As v.23 says he is the one who searches mind and heart. We acknowledge it in our liturgy "Almighty God, to whom all hearts are open, all desires known…." Because he sees. And my question at the outset - are you ready for the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the one with the searching eyes and the powerful feet, are you ready to accept his diagnosis and his commands?

1. What Christ Commends

Verse 19,

I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.

In many ways Thyatira is a model church – there is much that is good. Jesus mentions four things. They are loving: warm welcome, people are aware of other people on their own, they talk to each other, know each other's names, are committed to each other and look out for one another. They are faithful: no doubt faithful in church and home group attendance, faithful in prayer and faithful to each other. They're also serving: using their gifts, caring for needs, all playing their part… and they are also persevering – they are keeping going. And these believers in Thyatira were doing all this and more - because their 'latter works' were exceeding their first works. This was a growing church, this church wasn't flat lining, and it wasn't in decline. In many ways they are a contrast to Ephesus. If you can remember back a few weeks, Jonathan Redfearn was showing us how there the church had the doctrine, but not the love. It was backsliding. But the church in Thyatira understood that the authentic Christian life is a life of growth of moving forward. Ephesus had abandoned her love, Thyatira was exceeding the works that she had done at first! What about us? Corporately things look good, we're on the front foot as we plan to grow and go multi-site. But individually – how are you doing? Are we taking responsibility to grow in faith and love, in knowledge and holiness?

Given such a great start to the letter what comes next is very sad. Christ's flaming eyes can actually see beneath the surface. The implication is: "I know what a great church you are on the surface – but I can see what many of you can't see, or perhaps won't see, because you are too feeble or too weak. Because in fact, in your healthy body a malignant cancer is beginning to grow." And so my second point…

2. What Christ Condemns: The toleration of false teaching from within

Verse 20,

But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practise sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

So yes the church is loving, faithful, serving and enduring but holiness is not mentioned as one of her attributes. And now we see why – because Jesus can see the moral compromise. And I think Jesus analysis reveals three distinct groups in Thyatira. We could call them the good, the bad and the ugly. The good? – they're the faithful who are praised in v.19. The bad? – those, in this case Jezebel and company, who actively engage in evil. The ugly? – those seduced, scared and made ugly by the false teaching of the bad, i.e. those who tolerate that evil. So, yes Jesus is talking to the church corporately at first, but then his eyes penetrate further and his rebuke appears to be directed towards this 'ugly' group (if we can call them that!) – the ones who are tolerating sin. Now in many ways the presenting issues and sins of the church in Thyatira are similar to what we looked at last time in the church of Pergamum – immorality and idol worship. But there the warning was more focused on addressing false teaching from outside (Ian looked at this recently remember as we try and resist pressure from the state and pressure from the culture), here Christ more sharply and painfully focuses on the threat to his church from within. One commentator puts it like this:

Against beleaguered Christians like those at Pergamum, Satan uses the pressures of the world to 'squeeze' them 'into its own mould' (Rom 12:2); but where the church is noted for its growth and vigour (v.19), he knows that he can do more damage not by pressure without but by poison within.Michael Wilcock, The Message of Revelation, BST

Our focus tonight needs to be, primarily, within these four walls and our within our own hearts. Because in Thyatira Christ condemns the toleration of false teaching from within. Let's read on.

I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. (vv21-23)

Its serious stuff this folks. Very serious. But you may well be thinking: "This is all well and good for Thyatira, but I'm not aware of any false teachers here at JPC. There's no-one here teaching us to sleep around or eat dodgy food!" And I hope and pray that's right – but it may not always be the case. I'm sure it wasn't always the case in Thyatira, so let's dig beneath the surface in order to understand what Christ is saying to us today…

In all likelihood there was a literal person in Thyatira who was leading people astray – although it is unlikely that she would have been called Jezebel. The name is a nickname, and for those who know their Old Testament it is a name that should send a chill down the spine. This was the woman who, as we read earlier in our OT reading, corrupted the kingdom of Israel when she married King Ahab and led the people into idolatry and sin. She was deceptive, idolatrous, domineering, scheming and vicious. And Jesus refers to the woman in Thyatira by the same name as she is doing exactly the same thing as her OT counterpart. As Ahab's Jezebel led the nation astray, so Thyatira's Jezebel was leading the church astray. We can't be sure exactly what she was teaching, but we know the disastrous effect it had on the church. (v.20 sexual immorality and food sacrificed to idols). Maybe her teaching went something like this: "You know it's not easy being a Christian. The world is so hostile. There are those trade guilds and everything. Maybe it would help if we were a bit more like them 'out there', you know, not quite so weird. At least then they'd listen to us and more people would hear about Jesus! We need to be all things to all people – that's what Paul used to say! This piece of meat – don't worry about it – it's just animal flesh! This trip to the cultic brothel – it's just female flesh after all!" Jesus' response? Some of the most severe words of judgement in all seven letters: "I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead." He will judge – Jezebel and her children will die, because they are unrepentant.

But the focus is not primarily on the 'bad group' here. No, Jesus' focus is on the 'ugly group' - those in the church who tolerate false teaching. We're not told why they do. One assumes that they had a poor conscience or were incredibly weak or of course they may have been ignorant about it. Maybe some of these acts were being done in private, behind closed doors. But Jesus knew then. And Jesus knows now.

Thyatira's Jezebel is long gone! But her style of false teaching is alive and well under a variety of names. We see it, perhaps more easily, in the wider church.

False teachers promoting different gospels and encouraging God's people to compromise. There's the prosperity gospel promising health and wealth, which Jesus hasn't! There's the therapeutic gospel, which majors on the right to feel good about ourselves and displaces Christ from his number one position in our lives – yep it's easy to see in the wider church! We see it, sadly very evidently, within our own denomination. Teaching, that denies its biblical roots, and is seducing Christians into immorality and compromise, especially surrounding core doctrinal issues and sexual ethics. But how well do we see Jezebel's teaching in our own church?

Well, I think the warning for us is that whilst there may not be an overt Jezebel type figure leading us all astray, there is, sadly, the capacity in each one of us to either act like her, or be seduced by her. What do I mean? Well I'm talking about the part of us that allows sin a way in – that tries to justify it in the name of relevance, influence or just simply "it isn't that big a deal." I remember a mate from church advising me when I started dating this rather fantastic good looking girl. He said to me: "you know what Jon, if you do end up sleeping with her - it's not that big a deal." In his defence, I think he was trying to make an argument for God's grace. 

But bless him he cheapened God's grace for me that day, he unwittingly played to my selfish desires, and the fact that someone in the church thought it was okay if I slept with my girlfriend, then maybe it really was… It was so unhelpful. What I needed was someone to tell me that it IS a big deal to God. Not someone to encourage me down a road to sin! How many of us think that we're giving good advice, when really we're encouraging compromise? I heard a couple of weeks ago about a woman trying to support her friend whose husband had just been made redundant from a well-paid job and therefore facing the possibility of a radically different lifestyle. The woman said something along the lines of: "Don't worry I'm sure God has a better job lined up for your husband." Which sadly is just a subtle version of the prosperity gospel – because what that friend said she really needed to hear was that there may not be a better job, but that whatever happened God was in control and working out all things for the good of those who love him.

JPC we cannot underestimate sin from within. What always starts out as seemingly insignificant "Its ok, I know what I'm doing" or is offered as an attempt at good advice to make each other feel better so often ends up in carnage, heartache and unfaithfulness. I've lost count of the number of men and women I've known who've shipwrecked their faith through sexual compromise, either because the god of "being in a relationship" has been more important to them than the being a relationship with the living God, or because living for the moment has been more important than living for eternity. Praise God that he doesn't always leave us to our own devices. I have also seen him act in great and wonderful mercy to restore those who have fallen. But in those cases, nearly always someone has stood up and refused to see their mates continue to compromise. Someone has had the courage to stand up to Jezebel's teaching…. and God, as in v.22, has provided a way out through repentance.

Of course, it's not always that obvious is it? False teaching can be so subtle, so deceitful. So how do we know whether we are being taken in? How can we spot it? Well, I think we get a hint of it in v.23 where Jesus promises to deal with each of us according to our works. The things we do, the actions we take, are a pretty good indication of whether or not we are following good teaching or tolerating bad teaching. We look for at our fruit. We simply look at the evidence before us. I'm not just talking about an odd day here and there, none of us have arrived at this thing we call glory yet – but I'm talking about an emerging pattern of bad fruit. I was looking at Galatians again this week and there Paul rather helpfully gives us a whole checklist. And so if you see any of these things in me, your mates, in this church – Jesus message to us is don't tolerate it. Address it.

If you see sexual immorality, impurity or sensuality - address it. If you witness idolatry, sorcery, enmity or strife -address it. If you see jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions or envy – don't pass on by. If you see drunkenness, orgies - and such like…do not tolerate such things. And if you have been seduced into such things, then repent.

Maybe tonight you need to remember that Christ is not a servant to be used, but a Master to be obeyed. Maybe you have been fooling around with the toys of sin, taking them out of the cupboard every now and again, tolerating them, playing with them and then putting them back out of sight. Jesus says that's not good enough – you need to take them out and burn them. Un-repented compromise will be punished by God.

So Christ condemns the toleration of false teaching from within. My third and last point,

3. What Christ Commands: Hold fast

But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, …I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come.

Three things to grasp here. One: Jesus is coming. Two: so hold fast to what you have, till he gets here! And Three: there's no extra burden. Holding fast is a difficult position to maintain It's far easier to keep the peace by holding our tongues than it is to stand our ground and confront wicked compromise isn't it? That's why Jesus gracefully placed no further burden on them. They are to "Hold fast". In other words, hold on, keep on persevering, keep on plodding on faithfully! Hold on to what you have already, the teaching that you have already received - and that, for us, is what is written in this book.

Maybe some of us here tonight are on the brink of giving in. Maybe it's getting unbearable to listen to those other voices urging you to compromise. Maybe you are toying with the idea acting on some of Jezebel's false teaching – after all 'it's only flesh and who would know?' Maybe you have been in some sort of physical pain or financial hardship for so long now and those repeated whispers that real Christians are healthy and wealthy, are making you think you've got it all wrong. Wherever you are at, would you hear the words of him who searches both heart and mind tonight "Hold fast," He's promised that he's coming soon – just a little while and he'll be here!

And along with this encouragement to persevere, Jesus offers two powerful promises:

The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.

Which is great picture language that draws on Psalm 2 to say that the faithful get to reign with Jesus. But not only that, v.28 "And I will give him the morning star." Which, if we were to fast forward to the end of Revelation, we would see is another way of saying that Jesus will give us himself. (Rev 22:16 Jesus describes himself as the bright morning star!) To those who endure Christ promises to give himself! What more motivation could there be, than to share the rule of eternity with God himself?!

And so when all is said and done the lesson from Thyatira is this. She had the love, but had also listened to false teaching and lost her holiness. And love without holiness, descends into immorality. Love without holiness, descends into sin. So hold fast JPC. Learn to discern right teaching. Do not tolerate any modern day Jezebel and you will receive Christ!

Suggested further reading:
Revelation Commentary by Paul Barnett
The Hole in our Holiness by Kevin de Young

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