Intro: Studying the Letters to the Churches / today come to the letter written to the Church at Thyatira
A) The Church in Thyatira was quite a bit Different from the Church in
Ephesus
B)
Ephesus problem
was a Shriveled up Love – but in Thyatira we will see
that their Love was growing / the People worked
hard
1)
They
were Faithful & Patient - BUT BENEATH THE HEALTHY SURFACE WAS A CESSPOOL
Read
v.18-29
A) Thyatira
was a SMALL town about 40 miles South-East from Pergamos
It was famous for the manufacturing
of a purple dye.
LONGEST letter
C) There is ONE other
mention of Thyatira in the New Testament
Acts 16:14 Paul was in Philippi preaching
by the River
1)
And
a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, From Thyatira came to
hear him – She accepted Christ
D)It is Possible that the Gospel was first brought to
Thyatira by Lydia
E) The city was also known for its Trade Guilds
or associations of wool,
wood, leather,
bronze,
1)
The
Practices of these Guilds played into the Church of Thyatira’s Problem
19 "I
know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your
works, the last are more than the first.
B) A proper Motivation…Love - They weren’t guilty of mere religious
activity.
(In fact *Only church to be commended for Love!!!*)
B)
An effective Ministry…Service!
1)
TRUE
service grows out of love/ SERVICE literally means MINISTRY
C) The Church was a Church
that served from the Heart
1) It WAS NOT the MECHANICAL carrying out of some Christian duty
that
Jesus Noticed – But Genuine service motivated by Love
They had A right Message…Faith!
/ A tough Mentality - Patience!
A) Just as service grows out of love, PATIENCE grows out of faith
B)The ability to CONTINUE in
the face of adversity can ONLY come from FAITH
in Jesus
So here was a church that had many
people that loved God and served his people. They had faith in his word, and
they persevered.
A)
They
helped many, and they kept it up. As others then got involved, the church grew.
B) And the deeds, or the works, of the church were far more when this letter was written than when it first
began.
1)
If
you and I had been there at Thyatira, we would have been greatly impressed by
this church.
A)
It
was a busy, bustling, active church with some wonderful people in it who
obviously manifested love and faith, concern and care for others.
Pause & note
point of Application for us – Despite the fact that they were commended for so
many wonderful things
A) Jesus couldn’t just over look their Problem - & this one area of
Problem had the potential to Destroy them
B)
Lesson here for us / as together as we might
be – Jesus wants to deal w/ those areas where we are not
1)
Because He Loves us so
much & wants to Conform us / Mold us & shape us into His own image /
Make us more like Him!!!
A)
AND
WE SHOULD DESIRE NOTHING LESS !!!!!
1)
That mentality that
says – I am happy w/ where I am at
Spiritually – I want to stay right here – don’t want to get to radical you Know /
A)
THAT IS SO
STUPID - Like God has this Great Feast that He has Prepared w/ all this
great stuff – we want to nibble on some corn
1)
Or when we would have
the Opportunity to eat at a Black Angus or better yet – Ruth Criss – steak melts in your mouth
A)
We say I’ll settle for a MacDonalds Cheese Burger –
Guys we should Desire nothing less than
the very best that God has for us
A) This is
also a good Reminder against the Mentality of some people who think that they
will be saved by their works
B)
SCALE
MENTALITY – As long as the good out weighs the bad
1)
Didn’t cut it for
Thyatira & it won’t cut it for You
A)
ONLY THRU FAITH IN
JESUS / Grace through faith / that not of
works lest any one should boast
1) No boasting in Heaven – Look at me !!! All be in AWE OF HIM !!!
So Within the church in Thyatira
there were many who loved God and served His people
A.) Many who had faith in the
Lord and His Word - and who persevered
B)Attractive
place / The Lord said you are doing more than you did at first
C.) But something was dreadfully
wrong DEEP WITH IN !/ Jesus said a little leaven can
ruin the whole lump of bread!
So in v.20 - He addresses
Thyatira’s PROBLEM
19
"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.
A)
that
woman Jezebel- Can be translated
"THY woman" or "thy
WIFE"
B) It is possible that "JEZEBEL" was
actually the wife of the pastor of the church in Thyatira.
C)In any case, there was this woman who called
herself a Prophetess & held
a Position of Influence & Authority w/ in the Fellowship
And
Because of her Influence the Church at Thyatira was Floundering A) Because
she persuaded the people to eat food
that was sacrificed to
idols & to commit sexual immorality
B) Her Influence upon the Church was Reminiscent of one
of the most ungodly
women in Israel’s History
1)
Jezebel the wife of
King Ahab –
A)
n fact most
commentators agree that this woman in Thyatira’s name wasn’t really Jezebel /
Be Like calling your kid JUDAS
1)
But that Jesus was
using the name – Symbolically of her sin & how it was comparable to that
of Queen Jezebel
The Old testament Jezebel
read about in 1,2 Kings
A)
She was the daughter of
Ethbaal, the king of Sidon/ The Sidonians
worshipped Ba-al
B)She
married king Ahab of Israel & through her Influence Ahab & Israel were
Led into the Worship of Baal
1Kgs. 16: 33 And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of
Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.
Bb)Wow.
!! What was it that Jezebel introduced to Ahab and led Ahab into
that brought forth-such anger from the
Lord?
B) Jezebel had Prostitutes that were carrying on their
Idolatry & Sexual Immorality right in the Temple of God !!
C) In 1 Kings
18:19, it speaks of the ‘Prophets of the Groves’, 400 of them.
D) And then in 2 Kings 23:6, during Josiah’s reforms, it
say’s that he brought out the grove from the House of the Lord
1)
and burned it at the
brook Kidron and stamped it to small powder.
1)
So this, grove and,
these high places were places where
people would
So The nature of the
apostasy that Jezebel introduced into Israel was nothing less than the most
DEPRAVED sex worship, w/ prostitutes
in the Temple of God!!
She was also responsible for the murder of a man named
Naboth in order to gain his vineyard...
for her husband
A)
And she killed many of the prophets of God / Elijah thought only one left
PHIIIIPS Spend the first
part of the day putting on her Warpaint
/and the 2nd part of the day going on the war path
Jezebel was the EPITIMY of the CORRUPTION of God's people, of
immorality and idolatry
A)
She was so evil that Elijah prophesied that the Lord would put a SUDDEN end to her life & she would be
eaten by dogs/ Which she was
A)
By likening this lady
to the Jezebel of the O.T., Jesus was IDENTIFYING the seriousness of her sin & activities in that church
1) Here is what was going on in the Church of Thyatira
In order to make a living in Thyatira a citizen of the city was required to join a union or trade guild
A.) The membership of these
guilds was composed largely of pagans
B.) Each guild had it’s own god
associated w/ it! The guilds met frequently for a
common meal
1.) this meal time was also in
part a religious ceremony! Probably took place in heathen temple
C.) At these meetings there would be sexual immorality that would take place in
worship to the god & meat they would eat
was meat sacrificed to idols
D.) The problem these Christians
in Thyatira faced was they had to belong to a union in order to make a living /
yet belonging to such a union meant
1.) they were pressured ; maybe
even required to participate in immoral sexual practices and idol worship!
The great British Bible scholar William Barclay. He says,
These
guilds met frequently, and they met for a common meal. Such a meal was, at
least in part, a religious ceremony. It would probably meet in a heathen
temple, and it would certainly begin with a libation to the gods, and the meal
itself would largely consist of meat offered to idols. The official position of
the church meant that a Christian could not attend such a meal.
So these Christians had to make a
decision: a decision that came down to a raw choice: between
A.) Remaining faithful to God
and simply physical survival for themselves and their families
B)Now this is where
this self proclaimed prophetess Jezebel enters the
picture she was a who somehow held power
1)
she
was teaching that it was all right for those in the church to join the unions
and submit to these immoral practices
A) She taught that because their physical survival was at stake
God would overlook their sin!
try to excuse or
justify unethical or immoral business practices
1)
Business is
business - have to play the game! Have to make a living
if Christian principals get in the way
they need to go!
Through her counsel and teaching
Jezebel was leading the church into immorality and idol worship!
A) They NEVER QUESTIONED her claims and her teaching
Now this is
interesting to me! In v.19 Jesus commends them for their love - but in v.20
rebukes them for tolerating Jezebel
A) Here We see a CONTRAST
between EPHESUS and THYATIRA
Ephesus WOULD NOT tolerate evil
B) That fellowship TESTED
the teaching of false apostles and disproved them/
BUT, they were lacking in love
1) Thyatira was
abounding in love/
BUT, they tolerated evil
B) We can still see
these two extremes today / Those who are doctrinal
perfectionists but lack love
D) Then there are Those who
for the sake of love will tolerate any heresy/sin
Note:
TRUE Love doesn’t tolerate sin!
A)
There
are those who want to over look the sins & heresies of others for the sake of Love & Unity – but you can never do
that at expense of truth
B)
Being loving does not mean that I tolerate, wink at, or look the other way at
sin and rebellion
1Jn.3:18 My little children, let us
not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
C.) To love in deed and truth doesn’t mean I tolerate it
when someone is living in sin - but I confront them
1)
question really is do I Love someone enough to confront them
1Ths. 5:21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from
every form of evil
2Tim. 1:13 13 Hold fast the pattern of sound words which
you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.
D) Can’t have Love &
Unity at the Absence of Truth – Jesus rebuke to the Church is for allowing the
sin of this woman to continue
A)
Now this might be for some of you a bit uncomfortable & Sobering
because
1) Thyatira
represents that Period in Church History when the Roman
Catholic Church
came into being
B) Following
that time of Influence under the reign of Constantine when the
Church became married to the World –
1)
The Catholic Church came into/ & what took place &
in the 1000yrs from 600 A.D. to 1500 A.D. – Been
called the Dark ages
For that reason I want to give a little
bit of a Disclaimer –
A)
Because what we are addressing here primarily are the Bad things
that
happened in the Catholic Church
B) In much the same way in our next study we will be
looking at the Bad things that Happened in the Protestant Church
1)
And in Studying the
gospels we talked about some of the Bad things going on in the Circle of the
Jews
A)
It is the bad things –
but we will also be looking at the good things w/ in the Catholic Church &
there are Many
1)
That is what Jesus did
w/ Thyatira – before addressing the areas of Problem He commended them
A)
It is important to
Praise the good / but it is equally as important to give a Prescription for the
Bad
1)
So that we can Purge
ourselves of anything that is not right
The Problem’s in the Catholic Church
& how they compare to Thyatira
A)
The Jezebel of Thyatira
claimed to speak as a prophet/ She claimed to be the VOICE OF GOD...
B) So
too The Roman Catholic Church claims to speak WITHOUT
ERROR
To be the Voice of God in matters of
truth
1)
It's teaching are to be
received without questions/ The Church
actually
claims to be Infallible
C) By claiming to be INFALLIBLE the Catholic
Church claims to be the ONLY doctrinally
pure church
D)What
is sad is that The average Catholic knows NOTHING about the
Bible / They are taught to hear "mother Church"
1)
They only know what the
church teaches/ Much of what it teaches
is
Wrong
For Instance
A) Mary is elevated to a point of being the Mother of God – although the scriptures refer to her as Highly favored among women not above Lk 1:28
B) Also some Catholic circles today – Mary has been
elevated to the point of being a called a Co- redeemer
1) Church in Italy or Germany – double sided Cross
C)
Thus The
CHRISTIANITY of the Roman Empire from
Constantine forward and especially
600-1500 A.D.
1)
WAS NOT the CHRISTIANITY of the early Church It was the PAGANISM
of Rome under the veneer of Christianity
A)
Introduction of statues and figures which was a carry over from PAGAN religions, NOT Biblical practice
1)
Elevation of special
people as “ Saints”
– When the Bible calls all believers saints
This was the time when the Bishop of Rome
called the Pope came into universal acceptance,
A)
And began to exercise
dominion over even emperors and kings.
B) On one occasion, one of the German emperors was summoned to Rome and had to stand barefoot in the snow for several hours before the pope would receive him. When he came in, he had to come crawling on his hands and knees.
This was the time when hierarchy was
widely established in the church as the system of government instead of the
simple servant-leadership that we read of in the New Testament.
The name Thyatira = Continual Sacrifice –
which also sheds light on it’s Place in Church history
A) Because
according to the Catholic Doctrine of Transubstantiation that is exactly how a
Catholic approaches Communion
B) That during communion the Elements are transformed into the Literal Physical Body of Christ
C) that is why the
Priest ensures that all of the cup is Drunk & all of the bread is eaten –
1)
since those elements
represent the literal Body of Christ / they cannot be poured down the drain
& thrown out
A)
They think that the
Continual sacrifice of Christ is what really brings grace, or salvation,
c) which is in direct contrast to what Christ
declared from the Cross that IT IS FINISHED
- Price paid … work done
B)
The idea of having to
come to God through some Mediator be it a Priest or the Mother Mary was also a
Carry over from that period of Pergamos
1)
Doctrine of the Nicolatians
– Another Mediator instead of Christ
1Tim.
2: 5 For
there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to
be testified in due time, One God & Mediator
A)
Also during
this Era that – the idea of Indulgences was introduced
1)
If you were going to
Party on Sat. night you could Buy an indulgence from the Priest so that you
could be pre-forgiven
A)
Also the
Doctrine of Purgatory – which stated
that you could speed up the process of the purging of a loved ones soul by
buying Candles & lighting them on his behalf
NOT CAHLOLIC BASHING
A)
Like Thyatira –
commended for a Lot of good things / great Humanitarian practices / tremendous
programs in helping the poor
B)
Hospitals - / Work of
the Nuns w/ orphans & unwed mothers – all wonderful things that the
Catholic Church has been Known for
1)
Many wonderful
spiritual Leaders – Like Francis of Assisi / Thomas Aquinas / & Thomas a’
Kempis to name a few
A)
There are many
wonderful people who really Love God in the Catholic Church - / as well as some
wonderful Churches
1)
Pastor at St. Francis –
yrs ago – but there is also a Lot of Darkness &
Corruption then as well as now
A)
And just as the Church
in Thyatira was called to deal w/ the sin of this woman /
1)
So too the Catholic
Church is being called to deal w/ the sin of it’s Leadership that has drifted
very far from Biblical Christianity
Notice Jesus rebuke is directed at
Jezebel and those who embraced her false teachings –
A) (
represents the Leadership of the Church & those that support it’s false
teachings )
v.21
21
"And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she
did not repent.
22
"Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit
adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.
23
"I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall
know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each
one of you according to your works.
A)
First we see our Lord’s
patience He gave her time to repent –
1)
Purpose of His rebuke
is Purification
A)
His desire is not to
Punish us / but He will in hopes of bringing forth the Purification he so
desires from our Lives
1)
Jezebel is Implicated /
those who commit adultery w/ her / also speaks of Spiritual unfaithfulness
A)
And her children –
those following her teachings / her disciples
1)
Cast on a Sick bed –
Spiritually Ill – not well – not right w/ God
A)
Great tribulation – For
Thyatira – great suffering / For the RCC today – Great tribulation time
But notice what Jesus says to the Rest –
24 "Now to you I say, and to the rest in
Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths
of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden.
25 "But hold fast what you have till I
come.
A) This
reference to His coming is the First in the Book of Rev. – gives us insight
into the reality that this Church will be in Existence / last days
A)
All
4 of the remaining Churches or the
periods they represent will be in Existence
- in the last days
26
"And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I
will give power over the nations;
27
'He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces
like the potter's vessels'; as I also have received from My Father;
28
"and I will
give him the morning star.
A) Ruling in Kingdom
Morning star – This is a beautiful symbol
A)
. I do not know how
many of you have ever seen the morning star, but you have to get up while it is
still dark to do so. Planet Venus / 2/3 am
B)
In the book of Malachi, the closing book of
the Old Testament, there is a great prediction by the prophet that the "Sun of Righteousness will arise with healing in his
wings" {Mal 4:2 KJV},
C)
Mal.’s Prophecy was
Predicting that the Lord Jesus will
return in power and great glory.
1)
He will be like the sun
appearing in the darkness of this world's night.
A)
But before the sun
rises, the morning star appears. In Revelation
22:16, Jesus says of himself: "I am the bright and morning star."
B)
So what he is saying
here is that there will be an appearing of himself for his own before he comes
in power and glory, visible to the world.
C)
In other words it is a
promise of the rapture of the church, the first such promise in the book of
Revelation.
But I want to close tonight with asking the question, What constitutes overcoming?
I think we need to be very careful to not throw overcoming into a works trip.
A) To think that he that overcomes has worked himself or herself into a place of victory.
In John’s first epistle in Chapter 5 verses 4 and 5 it says this,
4 For whatever is
born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the
world; our faith.
5 Who is he who
overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
A) We see from this that overcoming the world is wrapped up in the fact that number one you’re the offspring of God.
1) You’ve been born again and God has implanted His Holy Spirit and a new principle of life into you.
A) It has nothing to do with your works. You only have works because God has worked it into you.
And number two it has to do with faith.
Who is he who
overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
A)
It’s not a matter of am
I struggling and striving but am I trusting the Lord.
1)
Am I resting in Christ
and in His finished work in my life.
That’s the person that’s an overcomer.
A)
And to that person Jesus says and I will give
to him the morning star.
C)
You know to him who overcomes, you know what the prize is? It’s
Christ.
You get Jesus forever.