Church of the Nazarene – Harrisonburg
The Seven Churches of Revelation
Church in Thyatira
Today we continue our teaching series called “The Seven Churches of Revelation”
Over the next several weeks we will seek to understand the importance and relevance of this text in our lives today. Just like the rest of our Bible, we believe that Revelation is valuable and integral to our faith- It’s there for a reason.
Through this study we want to hear and understand the warnings and instructions to these churches. As we do that, we also want to discern how we can learn from these warnings in our lives and through our local church.
Our desire is to renew and refine our vision of life and what the church should be. Our series is specifically focused on Jesus’ words to the 7 Churches in Asia minor
Today we continue with the Church in Thyatira, found in Revelation 2:18-29
What do we know about Thyatira?
-It was a commercial center in the Roman Empire.
-It was most well-known for its many trade guilds: these associations of artisans, makers of bronze, leather, wool and linen. In today’s world we would call them the unions.
-Unlike today’s unions, these guilds were religious – tightly connected to the pagan religion of the day. So if you wanted opportunities to work or do business, you could renounce Christ and follow paganism, or risk losing your living.
Revelation 2:18-25
“To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds. Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
Jesus begins by commending the church. The four “L’s” of Thyatira
1. A laboring church…”I know your deeds…”
2. A loving church… “…your love…”
3. A loyal church… “…your faith…”
4. A longsuffering church… “your service and perseverance…”
-While much is right with the church at Thyatira, Jesus has significant problems with them. Specifically, the problem is what they ‘tolerate’.
-The church tolerates sin, specifically sexual sin. They tolerate idolatry, placing something else, anything else, before the Lord.
-Jesus declares that He is the ultimate judge.
As you read these words, words of judgement, words of suffering, you might be asking…
‘Where is the hope?’
Jesus ends this specific letter pointing to hope. There is victory in Christ. It is an invitation to find hope in Him alone.
The obvious application of this text is to ask ourselves:
Where am I compromising?
What sin is present in my life?
What am I tolerating?
But there is a deeper issue present here than just our actions.
Revelation 2:26-28
To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’—just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give that one the morning star.
Revelation 22:17
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
The Psalmist models an ‘inside-out’ transformation. It begins first in our hearts.
The root of the problem for the church in Thyatira is the same problem we face: we are called to be holy. A holiness begins from within.
Psalms 139:23-24
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
-Holiness is the perfect love of God poured out into our hearts and through our hearts.
-We don’t achieve holiness, but instead we receive it.
-If you pursue holiness you will never find it. But if you pursue Jesus you will find holiness every time.
“If you think you can walk in holiness without keeping up perpetual fellowship with Christ, you have made a great mistake. If you would be holy, you must live close to Jesus.”
-Charles Spurgeon
“Purity is too deep down for me to get to naturally; but when the Holy Spirit comes in, He brings into the center of my life the very Spirit that was manifested in the life of Jesus Christ; the Holy Spirit, who is unsullied purity.”
-Oswald Chambers
Bottom Line:
God wants all of us
SCRIPTURE FOR FURTHER STUDY/REFLECTION:
-Acts 15:20
-Acts 16:13-14
-2 Kings 9:33-36
-Song of Songs 2:15-17
-Psalm 2:9
Revelation 2:18-29 (The Message)
18 Write this to Thyatira, to the Angel of the church. God’s Son, eyes pouring fire-blaze, standing on feet of furnace-fired bronze, says this:
19 “I see everything you’re doing for me. Impressive! The love and the faith, the service and persistence. Yes, very impressive! You get better at it every day.
20-23 “But why do you let that Jezebel who calls herself a prophet mislead my dear servants into Cross-denying, self-indulging religion? I gave her a chance to change her ways, but she has no intention of giving up a career in the god-business. I’m about to lay her low, along with her partners, as they play their sex-and-religion games. The bastard offspring of their idol-whoring I’ll kill. Then every church will know that appearances don’t impress me. I x-ray every motive and make sure you get what’s coming to you.
24-25 “The rest of you Thyatirans, who have nothing to do with this outrage, who scorn this playing around with the Devil that gets paraded as profundity, be assured I’ll not make life any harder for you than it already is. Hold on to the truth you have until I get there.
26-28 “Here’s the reward I have for every conqueror, everyone who keeps at it, refusing to give up: You’ll rule the nations, your Shepherd-King rule as firm as an iron staff, their resistance fragile as clay pots. This was the gift my Father gave me; I pass it along to you—and with it, the Morning Star!
29 “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.”
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