The Tolerant, Deceived, and Wordly Church: The Church at Thyatira
The Tolerant, Deceived, and Worldly Church: The Church at Thyatira
Key Bible Verses
Revelation 2:18-29
Digging Deeper
Jesus said both positive and negative things about the church at Thyatira. On the positive side, Jesus listed their faithful actions, including love, faith, service, patient endurance, and greater works.
On the negative side, Jesus said that the Church at Thyatira had compromised their faith. They had let a self-proclaimed [false] prophet influence some in this church to immorality and idolatry. For whatever reason, the Church at Thyatira tolerated this false prophet.
J.C. Ryle wrote that the Gospel message must remain strong and true. “We have no right to expect anything but the pure Gospel of Christ, unmixed and unadulterated, the same Gospel that was taught by the Apostles, to do good to the souls of men. I believe that to maintain this pure truth in the Church, men should be ready to make any sacrifice, to hazard peace, to risk dissension, and run the chance of division. They should no more tolerate false doctrine than they would tolerate sin.”
Here are a few verses from the Bible about compromise.
Romans 12:1-3: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
Deuteronomy 5:32: “Be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left.”
Psalm 119:3: “Joyful are those who do not compromise with evil, and they walk only in His paths.”
Jesus knows what is happening in the Church at Thyatira and calls this church to remain faithful until He comes. In the same way today, Jesus has the power to search out our deepest thoughts and intentions. Let us remain faithful to the Gospel and not be deceived, not tolerate sin, or allow false doctrines.
What Not To Miss
Revelation is a revelatory letter meant to inflame and rekindle revolutionary living.
Main Point:
Revolutionary living rejects friendship with the world to remain faithful to the King.
Revolutionary living renounces that which Jesus rejects.
Revolutionary living requires faithfulness to the word of God rather than friendliness to the ways of the world.
The four things Jesus reveals to the Church at Thyatira.
1. Where the church is faithful. (Revelation 2:19)
Deeds, love, faith, service, perseverance, and doing more than they did at first.
2. How the church is failing. (Revelation 2:20)
What does tolerate mean?
Something continues without any confrontation.
Something persists without any pushback.
Something runs without any resistance.
Something is ongoing without any objection.
There are some things we should tolerate and some things we are called not to tolerate.
Thyatira was not to tolerate Jezebel in their midst, who taught that it is perfectly acceptable to be both in and of the world.
The Church leaders are aware but have not done anything about it.
We are to be in the world, living as lights of Christ, but we are not to be of the world.
How does this apply to us today? Where does the spirit of Jezebel influence Christians to meet their needs by sinning against Jesus and staining their witness?
When Christians allow outside authorities and voices (or deceptive inside authorities and voices) to influence them to live outside the boundaries of Jesus by taking the reins of their own lives and meeting their own needs.
Jesus says that Jezebel has deceived and seduced some of His servants.
How do you know you have been deceived and seduced by Jezebel? How do you know you’ve become friends with Jezebel?
Principle:
Satan turns the lights off that God has turned on.
There were Christians in the Church at Thyatira who were being tempted and seduced to return to the dark, depraved, deceptive, and disastrous ways of the world.
The church leaders stood idly by, tolerating their people entertaining such deceptive teaching.
3. What Jesus will do to the unfaithful. (Revelation 2:21-23)
Jesus is merciful to the unfaithful.
He has given Jezebel time to repent, but she hasn’t.
Jesus is not willing any should perish but that all would repent.
Jesus’ mercy does run its course with Jezebel.
He is going to cast her on a bed of suffering.
Jesus cannot tolerate those who lead people—especially His people—astray.
Jesus will judge the Jezebels for their sin and their deception.
Jesus says there are consequences for committing adultery with Jezebel.
What he means by this is that they have followed Jezabel into her ways.
If those who have committed adultery with the world do not repent, the consequence is intense suffering.
What Jesus is saying here applies to a habitual, ongoing, adulterous relationship with the world. If you are His, you will repent and return to Him.
In summary, at some point, Jesus will judge believers for their adultery with the world.
Jesus seems to indicate that habitual adultery with the world will produce worldly children that He will strike dead.
I’m reasonably confident that the children from this adulterous relationship don’t refer to actual children. Although, after Jezebel was killed, the next step was to kill all who belonged to Ahab and her family.
Jezebel tempts and deceives God's people to worldliness, which leads people to commit adultery with the world.
Ignoring the call to repent and continuing the adulterous relationship reproduces spiritual children out of wedlock, and these worldly and dark humans will be struck by the judgment and wrath of Jesus.
Principle:
A deceived church is a generation or two from disappearing from a context.
4. Who the faithful are and what they will get. (Revelation 2:24, 28)
Jesus says to the ones who hold on to Him, who hold on to the Truth, and to the ones who are faithful [not perfect] to the end, Jesus will share with them His Authority.
Jesus will share with them His rule and reign.
Jesus will give them authority over the nations.
Jesus will share Himself.
Life Application
The Lord has the power to search out our deepest thoughts and intentions. This week, let us examine our hearts and minds with the help of the Holy Spirit to ensure we are not compromising our faith. Let us focus especially on any areas that have crept into our lives and where we might be going down a path of sin and disobedience.
Consider these questions:
What are you tolerant of that you shouldn’t be?
Have you become too friendly with the world?
Are you being deceived by a Jezebel? By a spirit of Jezebel?
Have you been unfaithful to Jesus in habitual worldly sin?
Do you need to repent?
Just as with the Church at Thyatira, let us repent of anything that is not right and root out all areas where we have accepted the world’s teachings instead of what the Bible teaches, so that we and our walk are pleasing to God.
Small Group Discussion Questions
How have you seen love, faithfulness, service, or perseverance demonstrated this past week?
What were the positive things that were said about the Church at Thyatira?
What were the negative things that were said about the Church at Thyatira?
What are the consequences of not repenting from their sin?
How does this message apply to the church today?
Daily Devotional Bible Passages
Day 1: Love-Romans 8:28; 1 John 4:18-20; Deuteronomy 7:9
Day 2: Faith-Hebrews 11:1; Proverbbs 3:5-6; Ephesians 2:8-9
Day 3: Service-Romans 12:10; 1 Peter 4:10-11; Galatians 5:13
Day 4: Endurance-2 Chronicles 15:7; Psalm 27:14; James 1:2-4
Day 5: Obedience-John 14:16; 2 Corinthians 10:5; 2 John 1:6
Prayer
As I pray today, thank You for guiding me on my faith journey. I pray that You bless me with the strength and endurance to serve You with all my heart, soul, and mind. I know I will face challenges and obstacles that could keep me from following You wholeheartedly, and I need wisdom to see false teachings and evil. Help me avoid these evil people and things. Lord, let me repent if I get involved with anything that is not from You and is evil. Help me improve as I love, demonstrate my faith, serve others, and endure patiently. Let me remember that true growth comes from Your divine guidance through the power of the Holy Spirit and not from my efforts. May I always strive to be a better disciple of Jesus, not only for my own growth but to bring glory to Your name.
