Dover Assembly of God
We started last week on the church in Thyatira. This was a church that was being corrupted from the inside out.
Jesus first started by again commending them on all their deeds, love, faith, service, and perseverance.
All characteristics that we would love to have said about us, but as with most of the other churches, they had a problem.
They had a lady who was a leader in this church and was teaching them false doctrine and was being allowed to continue.
Revelation 2:20 NIV
If someone holds to the cardinal truths of the bible, but disagrees with some minor issues, (how the church is run, music, Holy Spirit, etc.) they are still brothers and sisters in the faith and we don’t break fellowship with them.
There are good churches that don’t believe exactly like we do. When they deny the basics of the faith, (deity of Christ, virgin birth, substitutionary death, the resurrection, the inerrancy of the bible) that’s when it is an issue.
And that is what is happening in this church.
Revelation 2:20 NIV
This church was tolerating the false teaching of this lady. They may not have all believed her but the church did nothing to stop her and she was gathering a following.
The church’s responsibility is to be the guardian of the sheep. We have to make sure that all we do is biblical and right.
Notice Jesus said they were believers. He called them “His servants." These were folks who loved God and wanted to do right, but we being lied to and miss-taught.
The church needed to take action. And they weren’t doing it. That’s why Jesus said I have this against you.
Not only are we to be proactive in doing all the right things for ministry, we also have to be reactive in some of the situations church may find itself in.
If we don’t RE-act, that’s the same as sinning itself. It’s the sin of omission.
Revelation 2:20 NIV
She was teaching them the heathen practices of that day.
If you read the Old Testament, you’ll see every time one of the kings would leave God, the first thing he would do is bring in the sexual practices of the neighboring countries and how they worshipped.
This is what differentiated God’s people from almost everyone else. They were to be totally different from everyone around them. They were to be the light to those other countries and show them something that they should desire.
During this time period, unbelievers or or those who worshiped false gods would offer sacrifices to their gods and then sit around the table eating the food that was sacrificed.
Last week we mentioned the “guilds” or unions that were heavy in the town. Each guild would have it’s own deity, rituals and festivals, so it appears what is happening here is that this lady was saying it was okay to belong to these guilds and to follow those worship patterns. Part of this pattern was to involve themselves in sexual immorality which would more than likely involve temple prostitutes and then offer sacrifices to these pagan gods and indulge in the feasts.
She was telling church people, that they could be Christian and also belong to these organizations and participate in their activities.
...which Paul addressed back in 1 Corinthians
1 Corinthians 10:27-28 NIV
They were using those activities as a part of their worship.
Revelation 2:21-22 NIV
God’s judgment is not because of her sin of false teaching.
As it is with every person, God is not directly going to judge your sins in your life.
He could have addressed the things she was doing and they were serious, but the one thing that will keep her out of heaven is the same thing that will keep us out is not our sins, but our unwillingness to repent of them.
God is long suffering with each of us. His desire is and has always been to give us ample time to repent.
2 Peter 3:9 NIV
This verse is actually talking about his promise of judgment. Jesus has given this lady several opportunities to repent.
As it is with us, God has given each of us and those we pray for on a consistent basis and the world at large a time to repent.
As we can look back on our lives, how many times did we hear the truth but refuse to accept it? Each time was God giving us a time to repent, but each time we didn’t was another time of us being unwilling to acknowledge the truth.
But now that we are believers, we can still fall into sin. And God gives us time as Christians to repent of those.
Remember Jesus calls them believers, so he is talking to Christians.
He walks among all the churches and judges the hearts and actions of each of us. And His desire is for us to feel His conviction and repent of things we know we shouldn’t be involved with.
Or maybe they are things that we think are ok, but God’s word says differently.
In either case, God is always calling us to repentance.
This series is geared to help us look at our lives and answer the question, “Am I ready?”
The main part of being ready is the willingness and ability to repent of things in our lives.
However, given time, if we do not repent and consistently refuse to, the Lord will start his correction process.
Revelation 2:22 NIV
God first starts with the leader. God will allow this suffering in the ultimate goal of restoration.
1 Corinthians 5:4-5 NIV
God’s desire is to always be reconciled. And he will do whatever it takes to bring us back.
But there are times when that doesn’t happen. So God allows the suffering to go full circle.
John is giving this church and every church in the area a “heads-up” about what is going to happen, so they are not surprised by it and will know why it is happening.
Revelation 2:23 NIV
But then since her “children” followed her, they also will suffer.
Remember what we said about teachers being judged harsher, but that it doesn’t let you off the hook?
The folks who followed her should have known better and should have called her on her teaching. They were not able to blame her and get away with it. They couldn’t say, “we didn’t know”
This was a warning to not only this church but to them all. When this judgment came about, everyone would understand that it was God doing it.
Jesus is very protective of His church and His people. It says that He searches our hearts and minds. Nothing is done in secret.
Again, remember the theme of these letters to the churches -- Preparation, self-examination.
God’s desire that we are ready for His return.
1 John 3:2-3 NLT
Revelation 2:23 NIV
God will make an example of this group.
Revelation 2:24-25 NIV
There was a contingent in the church who did not follow her in spite of the church leaders not correcting her. He was encouraging them to hold on to that. Don’t follow her, don’t get sucked into her teaching, as popular is it may seem to be.
There are and will probably be more teachings that draw us away from the holiness of God in a way to be more like the world.
We, like Thyatira must stick with the truth.
We need to know the difference between God’s desired morality in our lives and items that are not morality based.
What do I mean? God’s message will never change. The gospel and truth we preach today is the same as it was 2000 years ago. However the way in which we do it, has changed.
Just because we meet in a nice air conditioned or heated building does not make us any better or worse than those who met in thatched roofs in Jesus’ time.
The building we meet in is neither good nor bad. It is not morality based. Music on a page is neither good nor bad. (Words of a song are a different story). The key of D is neither good nor bad. It is not morality based. Notes strung together aren’t good or bad.
Whether I dress in a shirt and tie, or cut offs and a T shirt is not good or bad as defined by God.
All of these are personal choices.
It’s when we begin to accept what society says about what is sin and what isn’t sin that God cares about.
Is preaching in a T shirt a sin? No! Is stealing a sin, Yes!
Why the difference? Because it is a morality issue. I am sure there have been many changes in this church in the past 80+ years. Window treatments, paint choices, room assignments, carpeting, music styles, band, no band, what the pastor wears, etc.
However, I am confidant that the message has NOT changed. What I say today, is I am sure the same as was preached 80 years ago.
Revelation 2:24-25 NIV
God’s call for every church is “Hold on to what you have until I come”.
Hold to the teaching of the truth until I return.
Again Jesus is referencing His return. A desire for us to be aware that it may be any time.
The deep secrets are not really explained and commentators disagree on what they could be.
But how many of us have heard preachers and teachers tell us they found some code or clue or some deep truth that have never heard before?
88 reasons why Jesus will return in 1988? The 89
Bible code?
There is nothing new under the sun. Hold on to the basics of the faith. Don’t go chasing after new truths or “deep secrets”.
Revelation 2:26 NIV
Now Jesus tells us that we need to overcome the temptations that will come our way and continue to do God’s will to the end.
Matthew 24:12-13 NLT
The proof of authentic trust in Jesus is that we remain steadfast in our belief and continue to do God’s will till he returns or we die.
Revelation 2:27 NIV
Psalms 2:7-9 NIV
This is the father telling the son that he will rule the nations.
Romans 8:17 NIV
If we are faithful to the end, then we will share in Christ’s ruling of the nations.
Revelation 2:28 NIV
The star of the morning some believe is the sun rise. Signifying a new day or a new beginning.
Others equate it to the Resurrection.
Revelation 22:16 NIV
Again a reference to His return. If we overcome we will be ready for His return.
Revelation 2:29 NIV
Again, this letter was not just for this particular church, but every church in every generation. Calling each of us to examine our lives and if necessary, to repent of things we know are sin.
If not, we will not be ready for His return.