Dover Assembly of God
Recapping the last few weeks . . .
Church in Ephesus-Lost their first love-were doing things out of habit, not excitement or love.
Ask ourselves: are we doing Christianity mechanically or do we do it out of a relationship?
Church in Smyrna-This church was suffering intense persecution and was commended for their endurance.
He told them that the suffering would continue and to not be afraid of what is coming, stand tall, because they will be with Jesus in heaven.
Ask ourselves: we aren’t suffering now, but are we ready for it should it occur?
Church in Pergamum-This church was beginning to slowly bring the ways of the world and society into the church. Compromise!
There are things in society that the church can and should use. But he was talking about the morals of society were beginning to be excused and explained away.
They were compromising so as to keep their jobs, being able to buy food, and avoid being ostracized by the town.
Ask ourselves: am I letting the ways of the world lead me away from God. Do I let society’s way of thinking change what I think about what God has said? Am I compromising what I believe to keep myself safe?
All these letters are the last words to us as believers before we’re raptured.
Jesus wants us to be prepared for that day. By heeding what he is saying.
Today we are going to talk about the church in Thyatira.
This is the longest letter written. Second longest was to Laodicea.
Revelation 2:18-29 NIV
Remember how the NKJV had headings for each church?
We had the Loveless church, the persecuted church, the compromising church.
This heading is “The Corrupt Church”
Let’s first look briefly at the city.
Thyatira was a smaller city, not very prominent in the scheme of things. It was however, a big commerce city. Mostly blue collar workers that dealt with the production of various items such as wool, linen, leather, bronze etc.
With that type of environment, they would have had guilds (or we call them unions today). Each guild had its own patron deity, feasts and seasonal activities associated with that deity.
Similar to last week’s lesson, membership in one of these guilds was the way to gain employment and prominence in the town.
So they had the same struggle as did Pergamum.
Revelation 2:18 NIV
There were many times that Jesus referred to himself as the son of man.
That always referred to his human nature. He set aside his divine nature in order to live as a man.
He was, however fully God. He did not relinquish his divinity; he simply chose not to use it. He is reminding these folks that, lest they forget, not only is he man, he is fully God.
Sometimes we only think of Jesus as our brother, our friend, our savior, but we forget about His being totally God.
This is the only time in Revelation that the term Son of God is used.
John had to deliver a message of severe rebuke and judgment to the church, which is evidenced by the next part of the verse.
Revelation 2:18 NIV
His eyes signify seeing. He is able to see through anything that we may do.
Why blazing fire? To burn thru the excuses we have and the pretenses we set up to justify our actions. He is able to see through our lives and bring judgment upon any sin he may see.
Sometimes we fool ourselves into thinking that God doesn’t see absolutely everything we do.
Scary, huh?
Revelation 2:18 NIV
Burnished simply means that it is free from any contaminants. During his “walk” on earth, he was totally free from any sin.
When Jesus washed the disciples feet, Peter said wash all of me. Jesus said don’t have to, your already forgiven, but living and walking in the world will cause us to get dirty from everyday sin and from that we need cleansed.
Jesus never let the world contaminate him like that.
He wants them to understand that he has the authority and power to bring judgment on them.
He and only he has the right to say what is right and wrong.
He again is beginning the letter with the things they were doing right.
They didn’t seem to lose their first love like Ephesus, and they also had persecution like Smyrna and yet they continued to love and serve the Lord.
Notice the contrast.
Ephesus was good at judging false teachers and rebuked for not having love. This church was good at love but not at correcting and judging false teachers.
We need to have a balance of both of those.
Revelation 2:19 NIV
Revelation 2:19 NIV
These are simply that, the things they are doing in their service to the Lord.
They were not benchwarmers in God’s service. They were active in doing.
All ministry is as important as any other item.
He commended them for ALL participating in God’s work in this church.
He then says he knows their Love and Faith.
It is possible to DO things for God, but have no love while you do them or no faith to trust that God will use you in whatever situation you are in.
If we don’t have love for each other, then we have no evidence of our faith.
Revelation 2:19 NIV
1 John 4:20-21 NIV
Revelation 2:19 NIV
So we need have love when we do ministry.
Then the faith part: If we only seek to do the things that we think we can do in our own strength, when does our faith get used? If we only do ministry that we think we can do, then where is faith exercised?
It’s when we step out and do something we think we can’t do, or don’t want to do simply because there is a need or God specifically calls you, you then have faith that God will give you what you need to do the job.
This church was being commended for doing all 3. [Deeds, love and faith]
Ask ourselves: Do we do all these well?
Revelation 2:19 NIV
This word service is DIAKONIA in the Greek and it means ministry.
We get our word deacon, from it and it also is applied to these ministry offices: Apostle Prophets Church leaders
It is also used when talking about ministering in the gifts of the spirit.
And lastly it is also used or translated “relief” when Christians support the needy, give aid and support.
So this church was operating in Love and faith and service.
It was handling church affairs well and was allowing the Holy Spirit to minister in each of their services and ministries.
I’m thinking “Pentecostal” style worship and church.
Revelation 2:19 NIV
Perseverance is almost always used in connection with suffering.
It is possible and most likely that even in the most “Pentecostal” style churches, there will still be needs and hurts and suffering.
For a church to be truly balanced there will always be people who seem to be in the fire at times.
This church was faithful it seems in all areas and was yet enduring some suffering.
This is a normal church.
Matthew 25:21 NIV
They were a spiritually growing church and because of that, their areas of service were also growing.
A sign of spiritual growth both as a church and an individual, is am I increasing in my service.
That doesn’t mean we do everything personally.
Is my level of service increasing? And is it something more substantive than before.
Your first ministry probably won’t be teaching or preaching, but maybe it is something behind the scenes, prayer ministry, or communion prep. Then maybe you lead that ministry and have others begin to help.
Are you growing in your service?
Revelation 2:20 NIV
1 John 4:1-2 NIV
If you remember, the church in Pergamum was being influenced negatively from the world, the outside. This church was being negatively influenced from within.
Sometimes it's easier to see and judge the sin we see outside the church, but harder when it is from within--people we know and maybe even like.
You see that this was an influential woman in the church. In fact, she had given herself the title of prophetess. It wasn’t one that the church or the Lord gave her, she simply called herself that. She called herself a prophetess, but Jesus called her a Jezebel.
In the Old Testament, Jezebel was the wife of the king who tried to get Israel to worship Baal and tried to even make Baal their national God.
One of the more wicked women in the Old Testament, that God eventually had to take out. She was married to a weak king and she was the force behind that throne.
Either she called herself Jezebel or more likely, God called her that name to indicate what kind of person she was.
So everyone would know what she was really like. She wasn’t some misunderstood person, or really thought she was doing right, God said she is being deliberately wicked.
In calling herself a prophetess, she was putting her teachings on the same level as that of the Apostles or even Christ himself. That her teachings were above reproach or challenging.
We as believers are commanded to examine all that is taught and preached against God’s word, regardless of what title we have or are given.
She was allowing her “title” to be sufficient enough evidence that all she was teaching was true and didn’t need to be corrected. Nor was the church correcting her. They were not doing their God given job.
1 Corinthians 14:29-31 NIV
Acts 17:10-12 NIV
We are all responsible to judge the things that are taught here. If we allow some false teaching to occur, we will be judged for that.
False teaching is like a cancer. You cannot try to co-exist with it. It must be removed. In the Old Testament, God considered yeast to symbolize evil doctrine.
In the Old Testament whenever Israel had a feast or a Jewish holiday, they did not use yeast, in fact they had to take all the yeast out of the house. It couldn’t even be around.
Matthew 16:11-12 NIV
1 Corinthians 5:6-8 NIV
If I can leave you with one thing from today, it’s this:
You can be doing everything right. Service, deeds, perseverance but if you’re not careful and ready to face it, the enemy will eventually try to make his way into your life by telling you or teaching you things that sound gooD, but will eventually destroy your faith and relationship with Christ.
This church was being rebuked because they tolerated wrong teachings.
They may have been afraid of her because she was prominent, or liked by everyone. They didn’t want to face the repercussions that would probably happen if they took action.
Today, we have to be careful of what we listen to, what we watch, what we read.
Not everything on the air or in print is godly and true. Not every preacher, teacher is God’s man or woman.
The challenge this week is this: Examine everything you allow into your life as Christian teaching. Is it all true? Does is line up with God’s word?
Do you get a check in your spirit? In these last days, the enemy will throw everything at you that sounds good or that we want to hear, but we need to remember God’s word.
2 Timothy 4:3-4 NIV
It was happening in this church and it is happening in the world today and we need to be aware of it.