In this second half of our week we will consider what God has to say to the church in Thyatira. Some things are going to sound familiar!
Read Revelation 2: 18 - 29
This body of believers seems to be doing some good works. They are commended for their deeds, their love and faith, and their service. There even appears to have been some growth - maybe numerically, maybe spiritually. Jesus notes the fact that they are doing more than they had done at the first. We don't know how long this church has been in existence.
Then comes the sobering "BUT" ... this church is tolerating false teaching ... no one is standing up to this female person who seems to be a position of leadership in Thyatira. Bill Hybels speaks about church work requiring an incredible amount of nerve - that it is nerve intensive. This church has lost its nerve. Hybels continues by saying, "When you lose your nerve, leaders, you will lose your church." This woman needed to be stopped. Someone needed to stand up to her and refute the doctrinal compromise that she was promoting. Perhaps she was wealthy - perhaps she was influential in their society and culture - we don't know. What we do know is that she was given freedom to continue teaching and what she was teaching was misleading the saints gathered there.
In Thyatira at this time there were trade guilds similar to our unions. If you did not belong to the guild, you would not work - that simple. So what's the problem? History tells us that the socializing in these trade guilds utilized food that had been an offering to a foreigh god and the social events often turned to sexual activity as the wine flowed freely. Most scholars think that this woman, tagged Jezebel, was encouraging involvement in the guilds ... what harm does a little cooperation do? You want to work don't you? Evidently, from verse 21, her own lifestyle had taken on this compromise.
God tells the faithful leadership of this church, the devoted members of this church, to deal with this woman. Stand up to her. Stop her. If they would not ... then He would step in and deal with it.
Lessons for you and me from Thyatira ... 1. Do you see any compromise with the word of God in your own church? If so, muster the nerve to stand up! Talk to the leadership of your church. Explain your concerns - always with a spirit of love. 2. Oh, my friends ... compromise with righteousness is not OK! I don't care what our culture accepts. And so I do an inventory of myself ... am I compromising with the world? Am I choosing to hear what I want rather than what God states in His Word? (This requires that I am in His Word to be hearing it) Do I ever think that just a little compromise with worldliness in this area or that area will just make life a little simpler. Do I have the nerve to confront any compromise in my own spirit? This is nerve - intensive stuff!
However, I want to be an "overcomer" more than I want an easy life! Why? Listen to these ...
2 Peter 1:19 "And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts."
Revelation 22:16 "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."
Those who overcome the lure of compromise will be given the Morning Star!
No comments:
Post a Comment