The Church at Thyatira – Hang On to the Things that Matter
Rev 2:18-29
Hold on to the Things that Matter
The Church at Thyatira, Rev 2:18-29
If you are joining us today for the first time, welcome. We have begun a journey through the book of Revelation and are currently looking at the letters to the seven churches in chapters 2 & 3. In chapter one we find Christ standing among His churches and in chapters 2 & 3 He has a message for each church. Today we are looking at the church of Thyatira.
Right now I want you to think about what it takes to win for a moment.
My guess is that every one of you here at one time or another in your life did something that you wanted to win at. It may be something as small as a game. I tend to be a competitive person and like to win at anything I do. When our daughters were young and I would play games with them sometimes I would let them win - that was hard for me to do!
But I learned that some things are more important to winning the game of Chutes or Pretty Pretty Princess. But there are things that do make a huge difference. John writes down the words He is given in the book of Revelation to encourage Christians everywhere, in many different situations, over many years. He wants us to win when it comes to eternal life.
As I studied the letter to the church I saw 5 things that stood out to me that are instructions that support the big picture message of the book of Revelation – that message being “We Win!” As we walk through Revelation 2:18-22 let’s discover those 5 things. I believe there are certain things that you need to hold on to in you want to win.
Don’t forget who is in Charge
18 "To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
Just a bit of background to this letter. This is the longest of the letters to the seven churches. Yet it is addressed to the least known, least important and least remarkable of the cities. But it still was an important church to Jesus. Let’s find out a little about the city where this church was – city of Thyatira. The place where the ancient city stood is now the site of the modern day of Akhisar and very few archeological digs have been done there.
The challenge or threat against Christians was not like Smyrna and Pergamon and Ephesus where the Roman government was persecuting the Christians. The threat was more of a social, cultural, and economic threat that came from the industry of the city. Thyatira was known as a city full of tradesmen and trade guilds or unions. It produced wool and linen, garments, pottery, metal working, leathercraft, the dying of cloth and many other trades. This is affirmed in Acts 16 where Thyatira is mentioned because a woman named Lydia, who was a seller of purple was from there. She became a Christian after hearing Paul share about Christ.
Thyatira was what we would call more of a “blue collar” town full of workers and tradesmen. My first ministry was in a town like that, Decatur, IL. It was a town of big industry companies like Staley, ADM, Caterpillar, and Firestone Tire. It was also a very strong union town. If someone tried to build something without using the local unions, you were literally taking your life into your own hands.
In Thyatira each guild union had its own particular god that they paid homage to, having festivals and feasts on a regular basis in the hopes of pleasing their god so that their industry would flourish. This became a problem for Christians who were to worship only one God and abstain from sexual immorality, which most of these pagan worship practices included. If the Christian quit the trade guild he lost his ability to buy and sell in the economic activity of his trade. That had implications for something later referred to in Revelation as the “mark of the beast”, 666.
It is to the people of the church that Jesus addresses. He is introduced with the same imagery that He is described with in Rev 1:14,15 – eyes of blazing fire and feet of burnished bronze. Those are images that depicts piercing authority and strength.
He is one that will not back down from the challenges being brought to His children, His church.
We still need to remember today that Jesus is the one in charge. His strength and authority have not diminished over time. He still is Lord over the church and looks down upon His church. Don’t ever lose sight of who He is. Hold on to the fact that He is still the one in charge.
Build on Your Strengths
19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
Jesus is pleased with some key things that has been happening at the church in Thyatira – they are putting their faith in action and growing in their faith. Look at the things He is pleased with: your deeds, love, faith, service, and perseverance. Then He says that they not only have those things but they are growing in them. That is key. It is the standard we all should set for ourselves.
Rather than talking about each one of those things I want us to think of how they are all intertwined together. They are living in a world that opposes much of what they stand for and believe, so what are those who are not Christians seeing when they observe them?
Who you are as a Christian is: Seen through your deeds; Which come from your love; That is an outgrowth of your faith; Which expresses itself in your service; that is offered for the long haul. None of this should be a check list to get brownie points with God, but rather, blend these things all together so that your life should be an expression of how others see Jesus. If we can keep these in balance and make them an expression of who we are, we are one step closer to winning.
Don’t Close Your Eyes to What is Going on Around You
20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
The Background of Jezebel:
1 Kings 16:30-32 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. (Baal was a pagan god of fertility and involved a lot of sexual immorality)
In 1 Kings 18 the prophet of Elijah had a confrontation with Ahab and all the prophets of Baal & Asherah – 950 in all. God proved Himself to all the false prophets by sending down fire from heaven at the word of Elijah. This was done on a moments notice in contrast to all the prophets of Baal & Asheroth who called for it all day from their gods and nothing happened. After the fireworks, all the prophets were put to death. This did not please Jezebel, especially since she was the one to get her husband the king, and a whole bunch of other Israelites to follow her gods. This was Jezebel’s reaction: 1 Kings 19:1-2 “19 Now Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. 2 So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah to say, "May the gods deal with me, be it ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I do not make your life like that of one of them."
What was Elijah’s reaction? - 1 Kings 19:3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. He stood up to the 950 prophets with no problem but did not dare to stand up against Jezebel. 1 Kings 21:25-26 gives a summary of Ahab and Jezebel: 25 (There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, urged on by Jezebel his wife. NIV
Have you ever heard of anyone today naming their daughter Jezebel? You probably will never find that name in those books that give you a list of baby names. Why not? Because that name came to represent all that was evil.
Jesus calls out that “woman Jezebel” in the church at Thyatira. She was doing in the church what the original Jezebel was doing in the OT – turning people away from God with her teaching. She claimed to be a prophetess – a teacher in the church. Jesus is basically says to the church at Thyatira that God’s judgement will be brought down on those who followed her teaching and her ways.
Does that mean that God is a God of hate and not of love? No. It is His love that gives everyone the offer of forgiveness and salvation. That is what it means when He says in vs. 21 “I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling.” God, as a holy and just God, cannot close His eyes to sin. He sees it and offers a way out of the consequences of sin. For me it is best summarized in the words in 2 Peter 3:8-12 “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. 11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
What is going on in the world today in the area of sexual immorality and other things breaks the heart of God and He wants all to come to repentance but someday God will bring judgement and His judgement is final. Jesus says to the church – don’t close you eyes to what is going on around you. Don’t say it is okay when it is not.
Hold on to what you have
24 Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you): 25 Only hold on to what you have until I come.
Jesus now addresses those in verse 19 that He commended earlier. To the ones who have not been sucked in by Jezebel He gives one thing for them to do: Hold on to what they have. What is that? Their deeds and their love and their faith and their service and their perseverance.
How do you “hold on”? Faithfulness in the Word - Faithfulness in Worship - Faithfulness in Prayer - Surrounding yourself by Godly people and advice - Feeding your mind on the things of God, not the things of the world.
Live to Claim His Promises
26 To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— 27 'He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery' - just as I have received authority from my Father. 28 I will also give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
To the overcomers, to the ones doing what God wants them to do He gives two interesting promises. First, He will give them Authority over the nations Does that mean we will each get our own little kingdom to rule over? Get a castle to live in? No. The imagery there simply means that we will reign with Christ. We will share in His Kingdom. Here is a passage where scripture interprets scripture: 2 Tim 2:10-12 10 So I am willing to endure anything if it will bring salvation and eternal glory in Christ Jesus to those God has chosen. 11 This is a trustworthy saying: If we die with him, we will also live with him. 12 If we endure hardship, we will reign with him. Those words from Paul go right along with the message of Revelation – if we endure, we will reign with Him.
The second thing promised is “the Morning star”. This is also one of those symbolic passages where I let scripture interpret scripture. The phrase “morning star” is used one other time in Revelation and its meaning is very clear. Rev 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." I believe Jesus is offering to the church at Thyatira and to us Himself. He is saying “I will be everything you need. I will be with you for eternity.”
Conclusion
Have you ever gone through those boxes in the attic or the garage where you stored all of that stuff that you just couldn’t let go. When doing that did you ever say to yourself, “Why did I hang on to that?”
I want you to stop this week and look at your life. I want you to take inventory and see if there are some things you have hung onto that probably aren’t all that important.
Hold on to the things that matter to Jesus.
Church at Thyatira Study Sheet
The Church at Thyatira – Hang On to the Things that Matter
Revelation 2:18-29
1. Don’t Forget _______ is in _________________
a. 18 "To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
b. This is the longest of the letters to the seven churches. It is addressed to the least known, least important and least remarkable of the cities.
c. The challenge or threat against Christians was not like Smyrna and Pergamon and Ephesus where the Roman government was persecuting the Christians.
d. The threat was more of a social, cultural, and economic threat that came from the industry of the city.
e. He is introduced with the same imagery that He is described with in Rev 1:14,15 – eyes of blazing fire and feet of burnished bronze.
i. Those are images that depicts piercing authority and strength.
ii. He is one that will not back down from the challenges being brought to His children, His church.
f. We still to remember today that Jesus is the one in charge. His strength and authority have not diminished over time. He still
2. Build on Your _______________________
a. 19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
b. Who you are as a Christian is
Seen through – your____________ -
Which come from – your ___________ -
That is an outgrowth of - your ____________ -
Which expresses itself in – your _______________ -
That is offered for – the ___________ ____________.
3. Don’t Close Your __________ to What is Going on Around _________
a. 20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
b. The background of Jezebel
1 Kings 16:30-32
1 Kings 18
1 Kings 19:1-2
iv. What was Elijah’s reaction? - 1 Kings 19:3
v. What kind of people were Ahab & Jezebel? 1 Kings 21:25-26
vi. Jesus is basically saying that God’s judgement will be brought down on those who followed her teaching and her ways.
vii. What is God’s love and patience like? 2 Peter 3:8-13
c. What is going on in the world today that breaks the heart of God?
d. Jesus says to the church – don’t close your eyes to what is going on around you.
e. What are some things that the world says is “OK” but go against the Bible.
f. Don’t say something is OK when it is not.
4. ___________ ____ to what you have
a. 24 Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you): 25 Only hold on to what you have until I come.
b. Jesus now addresses those in verse 19 that He commended earlier.
c. To the ones who have not been sucked in by Jezebel He gives one thing for them to do: Hang on to what they have. What do we need to do to “hang on” to what we have?
e. How do you “hold on”?
5. ____________ to Claim His ___________________
a. 26 To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— 27 'He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery' - just as I have received authority from my Father. 28 I will also give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
b. Authority over the nations – we will reign with Christ. - 2 Tim 2:10-12
c. Morning star – The gift of Jesus in our life - Rev 22:16