Seven :: The Wrong Kind of Tolerance (Thyatira)

Scripture: Revelation 2:18-29 (The Church in Thyatira)

Jesus' letter to the Thyatiran Church is intriguing. It's the longest letter, but it's to the smallest church in the most insignificant city. Unlike the other churches, Jesus' focus isn't on what's happening in the culture and how it's affecting the church. His focus is actually on what's happening inside the church. There was a self-proclaimed prophetess in the church (referred to in this passage as "Jezebel") who had gained influence and was leading the people astray. Jesus rebuked them for having tolerating false teaching rather than protecting the church by exposing it. 

"Bad theology hurts people." -Ray Ortlund

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Transcript

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This is week four in our seven series as we look at Jesus' words to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. And we have journeyed through very different letters and Jesus's very different words to very different churches. We started out with the church at Ephesus, which was a church that had done a lot of great things and was doing a lot of great work, had gained a lot of influence and had done a lot of ministry, and yet Jesus rebuked them simply because they had a lack of love, a lack of love for Jesus, a lack of love for others. And honestly, just uh they had they had lost that initial revelation of seeing who Jesus is, what he's done, and how he loves them. And they began to minister out of a place of emptiness and dryness and performance and and and effort. The second one we talked about the church in Smyrna, and the church of Smyrna was a little bit different because Jesus just commended them. All he did was celebrate them. And it was interesting because they were they were poor and they were persecuted. They were not very effective, they weren't doing a whole lot of effective ministry. And a lot of people, maybe on the outside looking in, would say that they were unsuccessful, and yet Jesus celebrated them because of their faithfulness. Uh last week we talked about the church of Pergamum and the way that they had compromised to the cultural pressures that were around them and had allowed that to leak into the church. And today we are talking about the church in Thyatira. The Church of Thyatira, this letter is in the middle of Jesus' uh letters to these seven churches. It's the longest letter. And it's funny because it's written to perhaps the smallest church in the most insignificant city. And yet Jesus spends the most amount of time talking to this church. And one of the things you'll notice about this one that's a little bit different than the others is that Jesus' rebuke is really all focused on what's happening inside the church. At a lot of the other ones, it was all about what was happening outside the church and the way the cultural pressures were getting inside the church. And now he's saying you're being led astray by something that's happening inside the church, something you're allowing to happen inside the church. Every single week as we start, I always like to kind of lay the foundation by talking about the book of Revelation just a little bit, because this book can carry with it quite a reputation in the lives of a lot of people. Maybe you grew up and revelation was this was this big, audacious thing that was kind of constantly hanging over everything and always talked about. Maybe you grew up watching Left Behind movies and Kirk Cameron things and a small Baptist church that terrified you. Or maybe you you grew up and and revelation was never talked about or addressed at all. Or maybe you you're someone who, man, revelation really doesn't have any practical notes or any practical words, and it's all just this kind of apocalyptic kind of symbolism, but nothing of of anything that's that's really rooted in reality. Well, I always like to put this slide up to just kind of help us uh real quick. So first and foremost, the book of Revelation is a four-part revelation, meaning that it's it's passed down. So it starts out from God, it's given to Jesus. Jesus then gives it uh to the angel of each of these churches based on these books, saying that there's an there's an angel that is that is that is put in charge or put over to protect or look over each one of these churches. And then it's given to John, who then writes these letters to the church. And so the idea here is that John is exiled on the island of Patmos. He's this is a punishment that he's received for being faithful to Jesus. And he's probably had a hand in planting all of these churches that are in Asia Minor, Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. And and and and John is writing to each and every single one of these churches. More than likely, a representative from these churches, an elder perhaps, bishop, an overseer, had come, visited him, and John gave them the book of Revelation along with their personalized letter that that is encapsulated in Revelation 2 and 3. Uh, second, it's an extended letter to the churches, with chapters two and three being specific letters to specific churches. I always like to address this because there's a lot of people who think that the book of Revelation is some symbolism that's given to us in the 21st century, and and when and everything is is some symbolism that's reflected in what's happening modern day. When in actuality, it cannot mean for us what it did not mean for the people that it was written to. John wrote these letters to people in in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey. And so what he meant for them to receive is the same thing that we're meant to receive. These are letters written to actual people in actual churches. Thirdly, it's a prophecy, meaning that it they are meant to be received as words from God. These are revelations of God and his redemptive purposes throughout human history. And so throughout this book, John addresses all the ways that God has been guiding and directing all of human history towards his redemptive purposes. Next, it was it's a witness to Jesus and his authority, leading to suffering for those with allegiance to Jesus as Lord. So one of the key takeaways for the book of Revelation is that it's written to the persecuted church from a persecuted Christian. And so the whole point is for him to be writing to them to saying, hey, I understand what you're going through. Hold on. This is what God is doing. You're you're you're in this moment, here's what's happening around you, but I need you to zoom out and realize who Jesus is, what he's doing, and that if you trust him and if you obey him, it's all going to be okay. And then lastly, and most importantly, it's all about Jesus. Jesus is the main point of this entire book. His supremacy and the inevitability of his kingdom is central to the entire book. That's why it's meant to be comforting for the believer. Revelation is meant to be comforting, it's meant to be encouraging, it's meant to be, it's meant to stir you up and spur you on and give you hope, not meant to scare you or make you afraid. And as Jesus, and I'll throw the map up here just so you can kind of see. So, so Thyatira, right there, that you can see over to over to the left. We already did Ephesus, we went did Smyrna, then we went to Pergamum. Now we're just south at Thyatira. And John is writing these from over here on an island called Patmos, right off the coast over here. And so this kind of allows you to put yourself in first century there, to see what's happening, to see who it's coming from, to see how the letters are making their way around, and to kind of put yourself in the story a little bit. This is John, a seasoned saint who has planted churches towards the end of his life, who is writing to people at church in churches that he planted, who are scared and persecuted and hurting, who are trying, who are needing to be faithful. And he's giving them these letters to commend them and celebrate them for what they're doing well, and to rebuke them and encourage them towards faithfulness in areas and ways where they're not being faithful. And so this is the letter to Thyatera. John, John starts out writing on behalf of Jesus and says this, these are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walked. I'm sorry, this is these are the words of the Son of God whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. So this is this is Jesus talking about who he is. So first and foremost, he says, he says, This is these are the words of the Son of God. He's acknowledging that this isn't John writing, this isn't just an angel writing, these are words from Jesus to these Christians. Once again, put yourself in the story. Imagine you're you're the church at Thyatera, you're sitting in a room like this, the bishop shows up, he's received a letter from the Apostle John who planted this. You know the Apostle John. There's there's stories heard about him. He's he's a direct disciple from Jesus, and he's had a hand in planting this church. And you open this letter to read it to the gathered group of Christians, and it starts out and it says, This is from Jesus. This is from Jesus. And who is Jesus? Jesus is the one whose eyes are like blazing fire and his feet are like burnished bronze. Jesus is beautiful, Jesus is authoritative, Jesus is the Son of God, Jesus is the one who is over all things and over you. He's he's he's he's over all things at a minute level and he's over all things at a universal level. That Jesus is king and Jesus is in authority. And then he he says this. He talks about his feet being like burnished bronze. So fun fact about Thyatira is it was a is it is it was a place that was that was very industrial. In Acts, we meet someone named Lydia, and Lydia it says is from Thyatira, and she was someone who created and and and used purple goods. That's what she that's what it describes up. So maybe she was in fashion or or some other things, but there's a there's a bunch of different industrial kind of things that are happening in Thyatira. It's a place where and and bronze is kind of at the top of the list of what's going on there. Bronze and brass and and and and and metalworks are like one of the big things that are happening in Thyatira. So they would have really valued this. And John is saying, his feet are like the thing that you most value. His feet are like the thing that your entire economy system revolves around. His feet are like that. The lowest part of Jesus is like the thing that you most value. And his eyes are like blazing fire. He says, This is the one who is writing to you. And he starts out and he says, I know. I know, I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. We keep coming back to this every single week because Jesus says these same words in every single letter. He starts out and he says, I know you. I know you. And we come back to this every single time. That that being known by God and being known by Jesus can be two things, right? Being known by Jesus can be the most beautiful and comforting thing you've ever heard. Being known by the one who created you, being known by the one who loves you, being known by the one who knows what you're made for. He's crafted you and formed you, he knows what you've walked through. But it can also be a terrifying thing to be known by a holy God, right? That can both be comforting and beautiful to be known by God. For the church in Smyrna, it was a beautiful thing. It was a comforting thing. I know you. I know what you've endured, and I know how you've stayed faithful. And he just congratulates them and congratulates them and congratulates them. And in this church, he says, I know you. I know you. And he starts off with some really good things. He says, Man, I know your deeds. The Greek word here, erga, it literally means toil and labor, leading to activity and accomplishments. It's saying, He's saying, Man, I know how hard you work and I know what it's producing. That you work really, really, really hard. Think about the sweat of your brow, the things that you're doing on behalf of Jesus. He's saying, Man, you work really hard. He says, I know your your love. Your love. This is the one church out of all seven that gets commended by Jesus for their love. Why did why did Ephesus get rebuked? They got rebuked for what? Their love. He said almost the same thing to the church in Ephesus. He said, Man, you work really hard, you produce, you do a lot of great things, but you've lost your first love. To the church at Thyatera, he says, and I know your love. Your love. He's like, Man, yeah, you work really hard, but you love. You love people well. Have you ever been around people? Maybe you were raised by somebody who's like this who worked really, really hard, but they didn't have a whole lot of love. You know, that that doesn't necessarily lead to a great balance. But he's saying, No, you work really hard and you love really well. You work really hard and you love really well. And he and this is literally affection. He's like, man, people walk in and they just feel your affection. They feel that you love them, that you care about them. The next thing that he says is all of this is driven by your faith. That ultimately you have faith in Jesus, that this Jesus, the one that's writing to you right now, you have faith in him. You believe that he is who he says he is, you believe that he's done what he's claimed to do, you believe that he's in control the way that he claims to be in control. You believe that he's directing and guiding all of human history, you believe that he saves. And all of your love and all of your deeds is driven from this faith in Jesus. The apostle Paul to the church in Galatia, he says, he says, all that matters is faith, faith expressing itself through love. He says, that's what matters. He said, You man, you want, you want, you want to understand the goal of the Christian life. He said, I want you to have such a faith in Jesus that it expresses itself through your life in a way of love. In a way of love. And the next thing he says is service. The the picture here comes from the Greek word diakonos. The first time we see the word diakonos is is is in Acts when when when they appoint godly men to wait tables for widows who had been overlooked by the church. And it's this word, diakonos, the picture that they literally use is waiting tables. And so the picture here is that man, these people serve. There's no work that's beneath them. They're willing to do whatever it takes to serve people. It's the word that we get deacon from, which literally just means servants, servants of the church. The the picture here is literally volunteering, that they are volunteering their efforts to serve people, to serve the church, that they are sweating and they're not getting, they're not getting any material reward from it. They're just serving and serving and serving. Jesus says, Man, I love that. The next thing says perseverance. This idea is it's patience, it's steadfastness, it's endurance. He says, Man, you persevere, you do hard things and you keep you keep getting after it, you keep going. And then the last thing is he says, and man, you're doing more today than you were at the beginning. You're doing more today than you were at the beginning. He's saying, Man, a lot of people, the longer they go, the more tired they get and the less they do. He's saying, Man, the older you get, the more you grow, the more you do. It's like you're doing more. You just keep growing. You just keep getting after it. He says, I know this about you. Man, what a beautiful beautiful thing it is to be known by God and to hear things like this. Man, if you if you if you were sitting across from Jesus right now and he said, Hey, I know you. And he got into your life and he got into your heart, what would he say about you? Maybe, maybe you sit here and and you're maybe you have a rolladex of nothing but bad things. Jesus, pretty much all of these letters found something good to celebrate. You're probably doing a little bit better than you think you are. And then maybe you're here and you're going, Man, I'm crushing it. I promise you, there's something. There's something. Because we all fall short. And Jesus is saying, Man, I know you. I know what everybody sees, and I know what everybody knows. I also know the thing beneath the thing beneath the thing that nobody knows. I know the thing that you'll never share to anybody else. I know the motive that's driving everything that you do and why you do it. Yeah, you're doing a lot of great things. You're sweating, you're toiling, you're serving, you're doing a lot of great things, but man, the motive that's underneath that was driving everything under that, I know that. He's like, man, I know you. And so there's a there's a level in which for all of us, it should comfort us to know that the one who's laid his life down for us, who created us, who's loved us more than anyone, who's died for our sin, who raised from the dead, and has welcomed us to the love of the Father, he knows you. But also the one whose eyes are like fire and feet are like burning burnished bronze, he also knows you. He knows everything about us. And so after Jesus celebrates them, he says this phrase, but I have this against you. I have something against you. He says, You tolerate. You tolerate. That's how he starts out. He says, I have this against you, you tolerate. Think about all that Jesus has just said. He says, Man, I know your deeds, I know your love, your faith, I know your service and perseverance, and I know that you're doing even more now than you were in the beginning. But here's what I have against you. You tolerate. You tolerate something. You tolerate something that I don't tolerate. You make room for something that I don't make room for. You're allowing something that I don't want to allow in my church, in my bride. Thyatira is known as the tolerant church. Last week we talked about Pergamon being the compromise church. Thyatera is known as the tolerant church, the tolerant church. Now, tolerance can be a good thing. One definition of tolerance that I received from Cambridge says this that tolerance is the capacity to endure, respect, or permit opinions, behaviors, or practices that differ from or conf or conflict with one's own, even if one disagrees with or disapproves of them. It is a respectful, fair attitude toward diversity, acting as a crucial element in social harmony and coexistence. But there has to be a level in which we tolerate the differences of others in order to have a functioning society, correct? When we've seen, when we've seen societies that don't make room for or make space for other people, other faiths, other, other expressions, the the the the there's no social harmony. It literally can't function. That's one of the reasons that our government is created the way that it is. It's because they saw this, they noticed this, that when you force one religion on a group of people, or when you force certain things on a group of people, it just didn't function for social harmony and human flourishing. And so, and so they created, and so they they created a tolerant society where there was a level of freedom. There was a level of freedom, but there was still a consistent foundation. And so there is such a thing as a healthy tolerance that we are meant to tolerate for the sake of love, that everyone's created in God's image. Everyone has different experiences, different things that they're going through. Everybody's in a different space in their own spiritual journey. There are people who don't yet know Jesus, and their life is gonna look like they don't yet know Jesus. And we're meant to love them, embrace them, extend grace to them, share the gospel with them. But there's also gonna be, there's also gonna be ways in you that you long for people to tolerate the things in you, right? You can't have healthy friendships without tolerance. Because guess what? You're not bad in a thousand. I can tell you this: you're great. You're not bad in a thousand. There's things about you that we all tolerate, okay? There's things about me that you all tolerate. You're like, it's just it's just part of the package, okay? If we get him, we also got to get that, okay? And you all have that. Everybody in your life, maybe in they maybe in your head right now. Yeah, except for anyone you're married to. You're like, no, everything about them is amazing. But every every single one of us, there's something, right? There's something. And so we have to, there has to be a level of tolerance if you're gonna have human flourishing, if you're gonna have social harmony, if you're gonna have friendship harmony, if you're gonna have family harmony. But Jesus says that you've got you've got a bad kind of tolerance. This isn't a good kind of tolerance, this isn't a healthy kind of tolerance. He says you tolerate, he you tolerate that woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. Now, this term can carry a lot of weight when it's spoken, okay? And so I wanna, I wanna I wanna be clear. What what John is writing here, and what Jesus is ultimately pointing out, is he's not saying anything generally against women leading in the church. This isn't what he's talking about. He's saying there's a specific individual in your church who is operating like Jezebel, who is an actual historical woman. And he's saying that she is affecting this church in such a negative way. And it's because she claims to be a prophet, and you have people who are believing her and following her and submitting to her teaching, and it's leading people astray. That's what he's saying. He's saying you tolerate this woman who is a self-proclaimed prophetess who has gained influence within the church, and then she's misleading church members towards specifically sexual immorality and food sacrifice to idols. Now, this is important because this issue has been addressed over and over and over again. In Acts 15, there's literally something called the Council of Jerusalem or the Jerusalem Council. And they were talking about what are the things that we should command or call Greeks who become Christians to do? Because they were saying, look, a lot of Jews are starting to follow Jesus. Now, what lifestyle do we call Jews to do? And now, as Greeks follow Jesus and they don't have this Jewish heritage, what lifestyle do we call them to do? Because it's going to be different than what Jewish people embody. And so they literally say in Acts chapter 15, verses 28 and 29, James says, It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements. He says, These are the things we want you to abstain from. Everyone who follows Jesus, you are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Why? Because he's saying this food has been offered to foreign gods, to pagan gods. And so he's saying when you do this, you're you're compromising, you're giving the enemy access because you're you're receiving something that has already been tainted. And so he's saying, just abstain from that. And then also, man, guard your heart and guard your body. Walk out your sexuality in a way that's that's that's holy and not reflective to the culture around you. And and so this has been dealt with by the church over and over and over again with clarity to all the churches from the Jerusalem council. And so now you've got a woman who has who has worked her way into the church, has gained authority within the church, claims to be a prophet, and is now specifically saying something completely against what James says that the Holy Spirit has instructed for them. And it's something that they have required all the churches to do. And now she's leading them in a way to actually go against the two things that they said everyone should abstain from, saying, actually, you should compromise to the culture. It's okay if you do this. God actually doesn't care about your sexuality. God doesn't care what you do with your body, God doesn't care what you put in your body. And she begins to lead people astray. They call her Jezebel, they call her Jezebel. Similar to last week when they when they called the specific man in this church Balaam, that what we're seeing this week is they're they're referring to this to this woman as as Jezebel. And and you you can learn about Jezebel in first and second kings, but Jezebel essentially was married to Ahab, who was a king of Israel. And Jezebel was not an Israelite, she did not follow the God of Israel. And when she married Ahab, who happened to be a weak, self-pitying man who abdicated his authority, she brought all of the foreign gods into Israel with her. And so this country that God had saved and set apart for himself is now compromised to worship foreign gods. And she eventually got authority over King Ahab. And she began to wield this authority to lead people astray from the God of Yahweh. And she she exercised this authority for over 30 years to lead them further and further and further away from the Lord. And in spite of God's laws forbidding idolatry and worship of any God but Yahweh, when Jezebel came to Israel, she brought, she brought hundreds of priests who could lead the country in Baal worship. And she started a cult that tended to destroy manhood and drag womanhood into shame, meaning that they began to objectify their bodies in such a way and defile themselves in such a way that they didn't even look like what God created them to be. And then eventually she ordered the extermination of the prophets of God and set up altars to Baal. And there was one prophet by the name of Elijah who resisted her. And what Jesus is ultimately calling this church to say is amen, you have a tolerant spirit. And what you need is the spirit of Elijah. You have a tolerant spirit. You're letting yourself be led astray. You refuse to resist this, you refuse to call it out, you refuse to expose and oppose this. And you say, Man, we need Elijah's. We need Elijah's that are so dedicated to Yahweh, so dedicated to the Lord that they're willing to do whatever it takes to resist, to fight, even if it means standing alone. Say, man, we need a spirit of Elijah and a tolerant culture. So this tolerance that Jesus is talking about, this unhealthy tolerance. We talked about a healthy tolerance. What about this unhealthy tolerance? Well, there's really five kind of key things. Is one, he's talking about a desire to fit in with the culture around you. And ultimately, this is coming from a fear of man. That's what he's talking about. He's saying you fear people. Ultimately, you're afraid to call this out because you're afraid. That ultimately you would rather be led astray than have a hard conversation. You would rather be led astray than call someone out. You would rather be led astray than to stick up for what's right. And and culture here, I want you to personalize this a little bit. Culture doesn't just have to mean the 300 million people around us. Culture can also mean you and your specific culture that you surround yourself with. Let me ask you something. Do you change who you are in every room that you walk into? Are you someone different at work than you are at home, than you are at church, than you are when you hang out with this group of people or that group of people? Do you do you find yourself just shifting who you are? Even just subtly. All of a sudden you don't value what you value anymore. You're just a different person. And you begin to capitulate or conform to the culture around you. And ultimately you can you can come up with any excuse you want to. It's because you're afraid of people. There's two things that Jesus talks about in the gospels more than anything else: the love of money and the fear of man. The love of money and the fear of man. Why? Because there's no two things that can control a human heart, like greed and fear. And there's every single one of us that we feared people. And we've changed as a result of our fear. And you say, man, you you tolerate this thing ultimately because you're afraid. The second thing he says, he says, it's a failure to rightly define what you know to be sinful. And this is ultimately a passivity. That that there are things that you tolerate that you are passive about, things that you know that God doesn't, that God doesn't like, and ultimately is hurting people, right? There's things that we know that we are passive towards that are that are actually harming the people that we love or harming ourselves. And we can be passive about these things. And he says, he says, man, you have to be bold enough to rightly define what you know to be wrong. You have to be able to call it out and say what it is. The third thing is you you begin to forsake absolute truth for relativism. You just compromise. There's no absolute truth. Everything just begins to shift and change based on different things or different opinions. That's why I kind of asked that conversation starter, what's something crazy that you used to believe that you no longer believe anymore? You acknowledge that you used to believe some crazy stuff. And now you don't. Why? Because we're we're formed, we're shaped. Man, some of y'all, some of y'all believe some things. You know? Some some 10 years ago, you got around somebody who believes something, you're like, they are insane. And 10 years later, there you are. There you are. You believe the same thing. You believe the same thing. Maybe the earth really is flat. Like you believe some crazy stuff. You begin to forsake, forsake truth relativism, you shift and you change. Fourth, you begin to move close-handed issues into open-handed issues and unhealthy nuance. Not everything is nuanced. Not everything is nuanced. We try to, we try to we we try to resist certainty. And we actually, when anyone feels certain about anything, we resist it. We resist it because everything is nuanced. No, it's not. Everything is not nuanced. And we've made things nuanced that are not meant to be nuanced. And now, and now over the course of history, our culture has shifted and changed drastically. And we believe things now that our ancestors would think is absolutely insane. That we actually that we actually tolerate and think of. Five, failing to take a stand for what you know to be true. So earlier it was a refusal to call out what you know to be wrong, but also failure to take a stand for what you know to be true. This is ultimate cowardice. And once again, this is all of us. This is all of us. And he's saying that, man, this is this church. He's saying, man, you've got you've got this individual that is absolutely leading the church astray. And none of you will stand up. None of you will stand up, none of you will say anything. C.S. Lewis once said that an open mind in questions that are not ultimate is useful. Like, man, yeah, things that are secondary, have an open mind about. Think about it. But an open mind about ultimate foundations, either of theoretical or practical reason, is idiocy. If a man's mind is open on these things, let his mouth at least be shut. See, man, there are some things that are not open. They're not open for discussion. It's not meant to have an open mind. You're meant to be closed around. He's like, but things that are secondary, you need to be open-minded about. David Wells once said, he defined worldliness as that system of values in any given age, which has at its center our fallen human perspective, which displaces God and his truth from the world, and which makes sin look normal and righteousness seem strange. He says, this is worldliness. That which makes sin look normal and righteousness seem strange. It thus gives great plausibility to what is morally wrong, and for that reason, makes what is wrong seem normal. He's saying this is worldliness, making the things of God seem strange, and the things of evil seem normal. You know, there's things that we that we now believe that we that we didn't always believe. And things that used to seem strange now seem normal. In his book, Never Alone, Phil Mangianelli says that there are six truth claims of secularism. And I'll put them up on the screen, I'll just read through them really quickly. And I want you to notice the things that we now believe that come second nature. It's the water we swim in, the air that we breathe. And think about a hundred years ago, how different this would have been received. You need to be true to yourself. It's in every Disney movie that your kids watch, that I watch, we watch, you know. You are free to live however you want as long as it does no harm. Well, let me ask you something. Does your harm get to infringe upon my freedom or does my freedom get to infringe upon your harm? What happens when my freedom and your harm collide? Who wins? No one has the right to say what's right or wrong. There's no such thing as truth. Your truth is your truth. My truth is my truth. We don't get to do, we don't get to dictate truth for anyone. There's no absolute truth. Four, uncertainty is the ultimate expression of sincerity. Feels good when people are like, oh, I just, nothing's certain. But then how you feel, your emotions begin to take precedent over any any type of certainty. And we begin to resist anyone that speaks to us with any kind of certainty. Five, your experiences and emotions are the authorities of your reality. And then six, happiness is the goal and pain is the enemy. These things become the water that we swim in. Everything that I just read, some of us go like, oh yeah, like I think I believe a lot of that. And it's not because you necessarily try to. It's just how it's just how you've been formed and how you've been shaped. And yet, these are things that we now believe as second nature, that 100 years ago people would think is a little bit insane. You're very small in this grand scheme. You have an obligation to your neighbor. Your experiences and your authority don't get to don't get to be the authority for everyone else. Your society can't function that way. And now we place self at the center, and everyone else and everything around us suffers as a result. David Wells goes on to say, he says, we have just come out of a period within the evangelical world where worldliness was treated as a very trip trivial matter. And what he's saying here is that is that where we where the church gets lost is we begin to make secondary things center things. And we we begin to obsess over very trivial things and call them worldly. We obsess over whether it be whether it be the music that someone listens to, or the, or, or maybe the length of a dress or a skirt. And so many people were turned off by the church or turned off by religion because we we place trivial things at the center and obsessed over them as aspects of worldliness. When then you would go home and your parents' marriage are fallen apart, or someone's violent, or someone behind closed doors has terrible character, but they obsess over the type of pants that you wear, whether shirt's tucked in or not. And he said these things are trivial. He shares a story and he says, I actually remember the time when Mrs. Billy Graham came to England at the very beginning of Graham's Crusades, and the newspapers carried all kinds of articles about the fact that she was a Christian woman and she wore makeup. There were many Christian women in England in those olden days who did not wear makeup. They thought it was worldly, but it wasn't only makeup. There was a time when Christians didn't go to most movies. There were all kinds of worldly things that within fundamentalism in particular, people didn't do. The problem was that with this was that they identified really quite trivial things as worldly. He says, if you look at the New Testament, worldliness is not trivial at all. What you have, in fact, is a competing loyalty. Anybody who loves the world cannot be a friend of God. That is how profound is the choice that we are making. So the question is, where and in what ways have these antithetical, competing loyalties intruded into our souls unwittingly? He's saying, man, what Jesus is talking about here is not trivial small things. He's talking about your soul's loyalty. He's talking about your allegiance. He's saying, ultimately, you're showing that your allegiance is to the fear of man and not to the holiness of God. That your allegiance is to is to other people than it is to God Himself. He's saying, this is an issue of your heart. It's an issue of your allegiance. That's the reason he's calling it out. Not because, not because they gave a woman a microphone and she began teaching a message. That's not what he's calling out. What he's calling out is you're not pursuing truth and you're afraid. And because of your fear, you're being led astray and you're no longer reflecting me or imaging me. And so many people want to take this text and turn it into a trivial matter of who holds the microphone. And Jesus is saying, No, this is about the allegiance of your heart. It's about your loyalty, that you don't love me and you're afraid. And the reality is, and I want you to, I want you to know this, church, that people will try to make you feel stupid or bigoted for having convictions. You know this, right? If you have any convictions at all, that people will try to make you feel stupid for having those convictions. I I read the other day how things happen when it comes to creating this and how ultimately the world can kind of infringe upon the church and kind of close us off to being people of conviction. And he says phase one is cast anyone who holds to orthodoxy, traditional Christian belief, as a Pharisee, and anyone who is a revisionist, someone who shifts or changes the scripture or conviction based on their feelings or the culture as open-minded like Jesus. Phase two, make people's personal experience a lens through which we should reinterpret scripture. Key word reinterpret scripture. Start with anthropology, the human experience, and compassion as the foundation rather than truth. Phase three, use revelation from the Bible to undermine the teaching of the Bible. Example, God is loving. We know that. Scripture teaches us. It's a revelation from Scripture that God is love. Therefore, he would never mean something that are perceived to be unloving. That's undermining the teaching of the Bible. There's plenty of things that don't feel good that God allows because he loves us. But so we can't determine God's love by the foundation of our own emotions or our own feelings. And then phase four, we cast suspicion over historical biblical orthodoxy because of unbiblical orthopraxy of some. Meaning the way that that people have expressed their belief or hurt us in the church begins to undermine or overtake the fact that orthodoxy is truth. Once again, experience trumps truth. Ray Orton once said, and this is why this matters. This is why we're talking about this is why Jesus addresses it. Ray Orton said this bad theology hurts people. This is why this matters. Theology is the study of God. It's why when when I when I hold this microphone and I open up the Bible and I teach you, it's the reason that if I ever, if I ever do this with a casual spirit, without the fear of God, I should quit my job. Why? Because bad theology hurts people. And this is what you see happening in this church is someone is claiming to be a prophet, someone who is the mouthpiece of God, who is now standing in front of a group of people, leading them astray to pursue the things that God hates. And bad theology hurts people. So Jesus isn't doing this because he's bigoted or because he's mean. Jesus is doing this because he loves people and bad theology hurts people. And we see this all throughout the New Testament. In Galatians chapter 1, I read this with a group of guys the other night. Paul writes this, he says, I am astonished that you so quickly are deserting the one who calls you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all. He goes on to say, If if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one that we have preached to you, let them be under God's curse. Let them be under God's curse. Why? Because bad theology hurts people. And he goes on to say, if I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preach is not of human origin. He's like, I'm not some prophet standing on stage coming up with something, trying to get a trying to get clout or trying to get a crowd. He's saying, This is the revelation of God. I didn't receive this from any man. I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. This is the word of Christ. This is the word of God. He's saying, I don't fear man. And if someone comes to you and they preach something that's leading you astray from what God has revealed to you in his word, from who Jesus is and what he's done and what he says, let them be under a curse. Why? Because bad theology hurts people. Second Timothy, Paul is writing to Timothy before he's ultimately going to die. Paul's famous words in this chapter are going to be that he has finished the race and he has fought the good fight. But before that, he leaves Timothy with these words. In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead. Timothy, this is meant to be your motivation. You need to remember when you stand up there in front of these people and teach them anything, that Jesus will judge the living and the dead. And in view of his appearing in his kingdom, I give you this charge, Timothy. Preach the word. Preach the word. Be prepared in season and out of season. And then he says this correct, rebuke, and encourage. He's saying, man, when you preach the word, this is why you're meant to preach it. You're meant to correct bad thinking, wrong thinking, because bad theology hurts people. You're meant to rebuke when it's necessary. But you're also meant to encourage. Man, people are coming in church and they need to be corrected. They need to think rightly. Why? Because we've been attacked all week long by lies. And so when we we have an opportunity to get in the word of God, we're saying, man, God, help us think rightly about you and about ourselves and about life and about the world. But also, God, I'm I'm tired. I'm beat up. And He's saying, Man, encourage them. Encourage them. He says, Preach the word, man. Do it with great patience and careful instruction. And he says, For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. And they will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

unknown 34:58

St.

SPEAKER_01 34:59

Timothy, something's gonna happen. He says, Man, people are gonna gather themselves voices that say the things that they that they want to hear. And he's saying, You preach the word in season and out of season, correct, rebuke, encourage. And Jesus calls this woman out. Why? Because she's not doing this. And bad theology hurts bad people. But I want you to know this. You may hear this and you're going, man, this language sounds violent. It sounds so violent. And there's there's tons of symbolism in this passage. But ultimately, what you need to see is this. First and foremost, Jesus is patient. He's paying, I want you. You notice what he says. He says, He says, Man, I I have given her time to repent. Like, man, I've given her time. Like I've called her to repentance over and over and over again. I've I've allowed my word to be to be spoken over. There's there's there's been time. I'm trying to get her to repent. And then he says, This, but she is unwilling. She's unwilling, that this teacher is unwilling to repent. She's unwilling to turn back towards Christ and to preach the things of God. And what does he promise in each and every single one of these letters? He's saying, Man, if you continue to go down this path path, I love my bride and I love my people way too much to continue to give you authority and influence. I'm going to remove you. Why? Because I love people. The worst thing Jesus could do for you is for me to lead you astray and him continue to give influence. The worst thing he could do. For me to get up here, tell you things that aren't true about Jesus, aren't true about yourself, aren't true about life, aren't true about eternity, and then for him to continue to give me permission. That would not be a loving God. And so he's saying, He's saying, Man, I've given her time to repent. She refuses to. So now I got to do something about it because Jesus is just. He is patient and he is just. He will not tolerate what threatens his bride and his cancer to his body. That's what he refers to as his church over and over and over again. It's his bride. Men who are married. If something was threatening your bride, would you tolerate that threat? No. You are commissioned and equipped by God to not tolerate that threat. If there was cancer in your body that was being exposed, it's being exposed. Why? So that you can deal with it. You wouldn't tolerate that thing that is ultimately leading you towards death. And because Jesus is just and he loves you and he loves his church, he refuses to tolerate what threatens his bride and is a cancer to his body. And Jesus, when he talks about her children here, he's not talking about, he's talking about her disciples. He's saying that, man, her children are the people who are listening to what she's teaching and are following it and applying it. Those are her children. Exactly what Jesus said to his disciples, right? That that these are this is his family. These are his children. These are the children of the Father, right? Because we look like him, we believe him, we trust him, we follow him, and his children look like him. And so what he's saying is, is Jezebel, this woman prophetess, has led people and disciple people into such a way that she now has multiplied herself. And there are people who are believing the things and walking out these things and teaching these things. And he's saying, Man, I got to do something not just about her, but I gotta do something about her children, her disciples that are now doing something about that, are now spreading this. And so Jesus says, I'm going to deal with this. I'm going to deal with this. I have to protect my church. And then in verse 24, when Jesus commits himself to dealing with this, he speaks to everyone else. And he says, Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to those of you who have not followed her, to those of you who have not listened and been led astray. He says, Those who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets. Seems to be an aspect of the message that she was teaching. And he says, I'm not going to place any further burden on you except this. Hold on to what you have. Hold on to what you have. He's saying, Man, there are some of you, some of you in this church who's saying, Man, and you don't have a whole lot. And you're in this context where there's teaching and there's preaching that isn't faithful. And he's saying, Listen to me, those of you who know the truth, even if you don't have a lot of it, hold on to what you have. Remember, this is first century. They don't have this Bible in their hands. They're not holding this thing and carrying it out. They're not clicking on it on their phone. They're trusting the teachers who have been placed over them and have gained influence over them. And so they're saying, those of you who know that she is wrong, those of you who have not submitted, those of you who are not following the teaching that is leading you astray, those of you who know the word of God and know Jesus and you're holding fast, he's saying, hold on to what you have. Hold on to what you have. Even if it's not very much, hold on to what you have. And you believe and you obey to the very end. And he makes promises. He says, Man, if you do that, there's three things I'll give you. I'll give you authority over the nations. He's quoting Psalm chapter 2 here, and Jesus is saying, He has authority over all the nations. When Jesus comes back and he renews and redeems and restores all things, Jesus is going to be the king of the whole world. He's going to have authority over all nations. The nations are his inheritance, Psalm 2 says. And you know what Ephesians 1 says? That you are a co-heir with Christ. So if the nations are his inheritance, what's your inheritance? The nations. Why? Because you're a joint heir with him. And so when he receives from his father what he's meant to rule over, he's inviting you to rule over with him, that you will co-rule with him over all things like we were always meant to. The story of Genesis, when Jesus, when God creates all things and then he creates us in his image and gives us and gives us a commission to go and build culture, what is he inviting us to? He's inviting us to co-rule with him, which is why when we sin against him and we in our and the image of God in us is now tainted and broken, and we become people who spread chaos rather than the beauty of God's creativity. There was access that was cut off. But the whole work of redemption has been to redeem all things, to save us, to bring us back into fellowship so that he could redeem that mission again and co-rule with us. And so he's saying, Man, I want to be like it was always meant to be. I want you to rule with me. The second thing he says, you're gonna have victory over all enemies. That's what he's talking about when he talks about smashing the pots. Once again, he's quoting Psalm 2, 8 and 9. Colossians 2 says that in Christ, all the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form. Having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by way of the cross. And in 1 Corinthians 15, talking about the resurrection and talking about the end of all things, Paul says, the end will come when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed all dominion, authority, and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. And the last enemy to be destroyed is death, for he has put everything under his feet. He's saying, Man, if you trust in me, you hold fast to this till the end, and you're in me, all my enemies that I'm placing under my feet will be placed under your feet because you're in me, you're with me. So I will, so, so you will rule with me over all the nations, and every enemy will be placed under your feet because you're with me. And then the last thing is he says, and you'll receive the morning star. In Revelation chapter 22, 16, Jesus tells us who the morning star is. You know who it is? It's Jesus. He says, I am the bright morning star. He says, Man, when when when the kingdom when the kingdom rules and reigns, when I come back to renew and restore all things, he's like, You don't need a son, I will be your son. And he's saying, What's he saying? He's saying, You get me. You get me. Yeah, you get the nations. Yeah, you get enemies under your feet. You know your greatest prize possession.

unknown 42:28

You get me.

SPEAKER_01 42:29

You get Jesus. Why do you stay faithful? Why do you endure? Why do you believe truth when no one else believes it? Why do you stay faithful to Jesus when everyone's pressuring you not to? Why, why, why? Because you get him. You get him. The one who, the one who created you, the one who formed you, the one who fashioned you, the one who breathed his breath into you. The one who took all your sin and all your shame, all the worst things you've ever done, thought about doing, the things that no one knows about, the secrets that you have within you. He's taken all of it, he knows it all, he's seen it all, and he still came after you and pursued you and loved you. He put it on his back, carried it to a cross, nailed it, buried it in the ground, and left it there after he raised from the dead. He says he separated it from you as far as the east is from the west. You can't go and get your sin and shame when Jesus has dealt with it. He's saying, You get him. You get him. The bright morning star refers to the light reflecting off of planet Venus. Once again, he's writing to a great to a Greek context. He says, if you're up early at certain times of the year, you'll see this first bright light rising above the horizon, breaking through the darkness of night. And he says, How appropriate for Jesus to refer to himself as the light that signals the dawning of a new day. His life, his death, his resurrection, secure deliverance from the depths of darkness.

SPEAKER_00 43:45

That's good.

SPEAKER_01 43:47

And he's yours. He's yours. And NT Wright says that man, the people who are the people who receive the bright morning star, who become the people of the bright and morning star, we also begin. To operate as bright morning stars in our day and age. He writes this, he says, the Christian witness is meant to be a sign of the dawning of the new day. You and me, as a gathered community, the way that we do life together, the way that we love together, people are meant to walk in and see through a window the dawning of a new day. That's what it's going to be like when Jesus comes back and redeems and restores all things the way this family is. Saying Christian witness is meant to be a sign of the dawning of the new day, the day in which love, faith, service, and patience will have their fulfillment, in which idolatry and immorality will be seen as the snares and delusions they really are, and in which Jesus the Messiah will establish his glorious reign over the whole world.

SPEAKER_00 44:32

And you'll rule and reign with him. Not as servants, but as sons and daughters. Co-heirs. Man, we're gonna close.

SPEAKER_01 44:47

And you know, the whole the whole point of this text is once again, John's writing to this group of people. He's saying, Man, you've been you've been led astray. You've got these lies coming over you, someone's got an influence over you. And they're sitting there going, Man, what do you want me to do? I believe that Jesus is we says, I believe that he's coming back. I believe that he's gonna rule and reign. I believe that I'm gonna be with him, but here I am in this. John, what do you want me to do when I'm here in this? And man, you feel that in your life. You feel that. Today, here you are with the people of God. You're singing these songs and they're beautiful and they're great. And then you're gonna walk out of this and you're gonna be in the real world. You're gonna be sitting there and you're gonna be going, you'll be going, yeah, that felt really nice to be in there for a second, but what does this have to do with Monday? Because it's gonna be right back there again on Monday. And that's what John's writing to these people. He's saying, He's amen. You're you're still gonna have to endure this. This is still gonna be the reality of your everyday life. And you know what he says to them two things? He's saying, Amen. Hold tightly to the truth. That's what he's saying to them, hold tight. Hold on. Hold on, hold fast to what is true. Hold fast to it, hold on to it. And then the second thing he's saying, man, set your eyes on him. Set your eyes on him. Man, there's some of you here, you have not yet broken through from religion to a relationship with Jesus. That you, you, you received information. You like, you like the Bible teaching. You appreciate it as the values that you're gonna pass on to your kids. You want your kids to be good kids, and you like the values that we have in the church or in the Bible, and you appreciate it. And you're here and you like the things, you like this experience that you have. Maybe you've gained some community, and yet, and yet your your affections have not been stirred for the person of Jesus to the point that your eyes have been opened to realize that he truly existed, that he truly is God in the flesh, that came for you, not just for humanity. Tim Keller once said that the gospel has not has not been received until it's been personally applied. That that for you, he came for the whole world, he died for the whole world. No, no, he died for you. He died for you, he came for you, he loved you, he loves you. And when he returns, he's yes, he's coming back for his bride, he's coming back for all of us, he's coming back for you. You and he's saying, he's saying, I you will be mine and I will be yours. That you he sees you, his eyes, his affection is set towards you, and what he's calling you to do is to set your eyes on him and your affection towards him. And he's saying, Man, hold on, I'm coming for you. Man, there's some of you in this room today. I think, I think you just, you just need to, you just need to look at him and give your life to him. I'm so glad you're here. Please keep attending church. Can I tell you that the ache and the longing of my heart is that you would know Jesus as a as a savior and a friend, that you would know the Holy Spirit, that you would receive the Holy Spirit, that he would live and rule and reign and power in you, and that you would have an intimate relationship with God, that you would know God not just as creator, but as Father. That's what I long for you. And that's what he longs for you. There's gonna be all kinds of teaching, all kinds of junk that's gonna try to lead you astray. He said, Man, hold tightly to what is true. Set your eyes on Jesus, he's coming for you. Let's pray. Jesus, I'm so I'm so thankful that, man, it's because of your love, it's because of your affection, that you are willing to tell us the truth about us. You're willing to tell us the truth about us. And Jesus, that's the beauty of that's the beauty of what you're doing for the church in Thyatira is you're you're telling them the truth about them. Why? So that you can be close to them and pour your power on them. So that they can have more of you, not less of you. God, there's some of us in here that that the fear is that you're gonna expose things in us so that you can, so that you can point at it and run away. And know you expose things in us so that you can draw near and bring healing. And God, there's some of us that have not yet given you access to the deepest, to the deepest aches and longings of our hearts, because we're afraid of what you're gonna say or what you're gonna do when you get there. And the reality is, Jesus, that you love us. You already know everything about us, you see everything in us, and you love us. You don't shy away or run away. You draw near, you draw close. Why? So that you can heal, so that you can love, so that you can restore, so that you can forgive, so that you can redeem, so that you can transform, so that the greatest source of our pain and regret can become the greatest source of our power in ministry. Only you can do that, Jesus. And so, God, any of our friends here today who have yet to surrender to you, to respond to your affection, to respond to what you've done, not with not with church attendance, good behavior, good values, but with wholehearted surrender and devotion to you. As the one their hearts and their hearts are made for. Full surrender.

SPEAKER_00 50:09

Not to church, not to religion, to Jesus, the one who has died for us and rescued us. We love you, Jesus. It's in your name we pray, amen.

SPEAKER_01 50:25

Like I said at the beginning, we did all