184; 7 Churches; Thyatira; More Tolerant than God
Notes
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Intro
Intro
Open your Bibles to .
Should I bring my Bible?
This was scheduled to be the Mother’s Day text?
Re-intro series
Make sure to maintain a they-we
This is his church - his bride
Stop the bus at Thyatira (show map)
Small town - Clermont
Oddly the longest letter. We may think, we’re not CCV...
We don’t know much about Thyatira
They had a temple to Apollos - the son of God?
They were ran by guilds (the lollipop guild)
Wool dying - we are introduced to Lydia
Bronze smelting
Towns would be broken up into districts according to the guilds.
Social life centered around the guild at the Temple.
Food sacrificed to idols
Sex
What happens when a bronze smelter became a Christian? Incredible pressure. The pressure in Thyatira wasn’t physical persecution. It was much more deadly - they got hit in the wallet. Have you ever heard the old saying - when in Rome?
What will Jesus say to the small church in Thyatira? Remember, as we look at what Jesus says to Thyatira, what would he say to SCCC?
Text
Text
18 “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.
Rev
Jesus introduces himself
Son of God - not Apollos (only time SoG title used in Rev)
eyes are like a raging fire - He sees everything
Feel like burnished bronze - Daniel
THIS IS SOMEONE TO LISTEN TO!!!
Keep it up
Keep it up
19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
Jesus says, “I know.”
Them
I know your deeds (works of persevering witness to the outside world.) What are those deeds?
love (agape)
faith (living in the midst of pagans)
service (deaconing)
Jesus knows about their perseverance.
You are doing more now than you did when you first started.
They were growing in their good deeds!
What an awesome thing to hear from the Lord.
Us
We have to always be reminded that Jesus knows.
When you’re struggling as you try to be a Christian in a difficult environment. He knows
When you’re a student...
But - and its a big but
Cut it out
Cut it out
20 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. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 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. 23 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.
They tolerated heresy
They tolerated heresy
Looking at them
Jesus singles out an individual
You tolerate this woman! Code name: Jezabel
Describe Jezabel - set up her own agenda (Baal) and persecuted YHWH’s prophets.
Prophetess?
In Greek, the sentence is emphatic - she misleads my servants! Someone is misleading those whom Jesus loves and he’s not about to stand by and watch it happen.
Jesus said this would happen in and
What is the problem? Pornea and participating in idol worship
Jezabel is seen here as a satanic force (this is the only place in Rev where a person wields this terrible power). She claims to speak for God but she is really speaking for Satan.
The church let this happen! Either, they don’t have the understanding or the guts to address the problem. Jesus literally says that he has a grudge against all of them because they are tolerating it!
Looking at Us
Make no mistake about it; the church isn’t a showcase of saints; it’s a hospital for the sin-sick. That being said, we cannot have ongoing sin issues that are left unaddressed—particularly in the area of doctrine and morality.
Guard the truth
Restoration motto (In essentials unity, in, in non-essentials liberty, in all things love)
The Bible
The Trinity
Deity of Jesus
All people are made in the image of God
Grace through Faith
Indwelling of the HS
One universal church
Biblical morality
We don’t follow the ever-changing winds culture; our morality is set.
God’s standard of morality must be ours.
Dignity of life
Sexual ethic
Capernaum
A Word about Repentance
A Word about Repentance
Looking at them
Notice with each of the churches, Jesus has spoken about what will happen but with Jezebel, her opportunity to repent is gone.
Don’t miss the wordplay. She’s been teaching that it’s okay to jump into different beds. She will now be thrown onto a sickbed.
Her opportunity to repent has passed. What a terrifying reality!
Jesus offers a choice to the rest of the church. Repent or you’ll walk the same path she’s about to walk. It’s her way or Jesus’ way.
Anyone who followers her is now put on notice.
Looking at Us
Rev 2:24-25
The ability to repent isn’t a...
Rev 2:
24 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, 25 except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
If you have a choice to make, do it today.
The Lord’s judgments aren’t hasty but they are certain.
Thyatira and SCCC are given a choice.
The Incredible Offer of Jesus
The Incredible Offer of Jesus
24 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, 25 except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
26 To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—27 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. 28 I will also give that one the morning star. 29 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Notice Jesus calls sexual immorality and improper teaching in the church, the deep things of Satan. These are more than agree/disagree issues.
To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end.. what does this mean?
Maintaining our Christian witness in society
right doctrine - right morality.
In the church, in our homes, in our workplaces.
Look at the incredible reward Jesus offers for those who choose him over the world
He quotes . It’s a Psalm about Jesus’ incredible authority to destroy evil and rule the world at the end of time. Jesus says, “I’ll share my authority and rule with you.”
Harry and Megan.
Even more incredible. I’ll give you Morning star. What’s that mean?
16 “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”
Jesus promises to give himself.
It all comes down to a choice - Jesus or the world. As for me and my house.
escalation
Ephesus - used to love me
Smyrna - no problem
Pergamum - You’re dating around
Thyatira - you’re Sleeping around
Sardis - our relationship is dead