Sermon Tone Analysis
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Intro
Opening Story/Question/Illustration: Today, we celebrate Mother’s Day.
For some of us it is a day of celebration.
We will eat dinner with our mothers or at least call our mothers.
Americans love mothers day.
They Spend (Insert here) on Mother’s day cards and gifts.
The stores are all a buzz with Mother’s day sales.
For others of us it is a sad day.
It’s a day that we remember the mother who is not with us.
Some of us have wonderful mothers and we have a wonderful relationship with her.
Others of us have relationships filled with regret, pain, fighting, and sadness.
The truth is, unless there was some mutual adoption at an older age, none of us in this room chose our mother.
We didn’t get a say in the matter.
We live with the hand we’ve been dealt - Whether good or bad.
This Morning I want to talk about a mother that we can choose.
I want to talk in a sense about a spiritual “mother.”
Introduction to the text: The book of Revelation is a mysterious book.
It is a book full of symbolism and mystery.
It is a book that probably has more opinions on interpretation than perhaps any other book in the Bible.
Sometimes, I think we miss the forest because of the trees.
We can get so busy with the book trying to decipher the beast in chapter 13 or who Gog and Magog are that we miss the point of the book entirely.
The Book of Revelation is a Prophecy
But it is also a letter written to a group of 7 Churches in the area now known as Turkey.
It was written by John and it was a prophetic word of encouragement and rebuke to this group of Churches.
It was written as a reminder that, in spite of what they were going through, Jesus was still in control.
It was written to a group of Churches that, much like us, often struggled with the temptation to give in to the culture.
It is a prophetic warning that these churches had a choice to make - Follow Jesus faithfully or face judgment.
It is in this letter that is full of symbolism, prophecy, and mystery that we are introduced to four women.
This is what I want to talk about today.
Of these four women, two of them the text talks about their child or their children and the other two we can sort of assume their children.
These aren’t necessarily literally children - but the text is, in a sense asking us a question - Which women will you choose?
Who will be your mother?
Transition to Points: So, let’s get started as we look at the four women of Revelation
Points
Jezebel
The first woman on our list is Jezebel
Jesus here addresses the Church at Thyatira.
This city was located in Modern day Turkey.
It was established as a military outpost.
The city was full of Trade Guilds (like unions)
In order to be a part of your chosen profession, you would need to join a trade guild.
The problem with this is that it each of the trade guilds had their own patron god or godess.
If you were to be a member of the trade guild it was expected that you would participate in worship to the guild’s god or goddess.
The church here is apparently doing well.
They love others
They trust God and are full of faith.
They have served those around them
They are growing and constantly improving in all these things!
This a church that, on the surface you would want to attend.
But there is a dark side to this church.
As great as their strengths were, their weaknesses are even worse.
They had relaxed their hold on the truth.
They had been tolerating false teaching or heresy within their midst.
Jesus says if they do not change he’s going to come and judge them.
This is where we get introduced to our first woman - Jezebel
Jezebel has led people away from the truth through false teachings
Apparently this congregation has allowed a false teacher, whom Jesus refers to as “Jezebel” to teach within their congregation.
They have been unwilling to take a stand against her or her teaching.
This woman’s name wasn’t really Jezebel -It was Jesus’ insult towards this woman who was teaching false doctrines.
In the Old Testament, Jezebel was the Phoenician wife of Ahab who programmatically led the northern kingdom into Baal worship and sorcery (; ; ).
In other words, the Jezebel of the OT led the people of God away from God to worship false gods - and apparently this woman was doing the same thing in the church at Thyatira.
We aren’t fully sure what exactly she was teaching, but our guess is that she was teaching that it was ok to participate in the trade guild and their festivals to their gods and goddesses.
Think about it - If you want to feed your family you have to work.
If you wanted to work in your craft or trade, you would have to participate in a trade guild.
If you want to participate in the trade guild, you would have to participate in the worship of a false god.
Your choice: Compromise your faith or stay faithful to Jesus.
This lady here was apparently teaching that Jesus was ok with your compromise.
Illustration: Growing up there was always a kid or two in my class that would get into a lot of trouble.
I remember several times kids getting in trouble a lot and their mom would come to the teacher and defend everything they had done.
The kid could do no wrong.
The mother thought little Suzy or Little Billy was perfect.
They never really steered them in the right direction and as a result, many of those kids grew up and went the wrong direction.
Part of the job of a good mother or father is to point their kids in the right direction.
To point them towards the truth.
This was the job of a Good teacher of God’s word - to point people towards to the truth.
But Jezebel here failed in her job.
We live in a world where truth has become relative.
Everyone is encouraged to “have their own truth.”
I understand the idea of perspectives - But at the end of the day there is still truth.
There are still things that are right and wrong.
Jesus’ call - don’t compromise.
Jezebel thinks she is a prophet, but she’s really a deceiver from Satan
Jezebel is seen as a satanic force (this is the only place in the book a person wields this terrible power) claiming the Spirit’s authority (as a prophetess) but leading many of God’s “slaves” astray into heresy.
Jesus states that, “I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to turn from her immorality.”
Evidently, someone had warned “Jezebel” before.
Jesus ends by saying he is going to inflict suffering on this woman and her followers.
I know at this point your probably thinking “What a great mother’s day sermon.”
Hold on, it gets better.
To sum it up - Jezebel has led people away from the truth through false teachings
The Great Prostitute
Here, we come to our second woman - The Great Prostitute
The language here, as I’m sure you guessed is symbolic.
There’s a lot of speculation and opinions about who this woman is - But, in my opinion, the woman represents Rome and it’s empire - AND all Empire’s and systems which set themsevles up against God.
We are told in vs. 18 that she is “The great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.”
We are told in vs. 9 that the woman is seated on seven heads or seven mountains.
Rome is famously known as the “city that sits on 7 hills.”
She is also referred to here as “Babylon the great”
What exactly is she guilty of?
The next few chapters spell out much of that, but we won’t take time to read all of it.
The Prostitute - Babylon the Great - Has led people away from the truth through false promises
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