Sunday 10/25/26

Title: Examining our lives in their light – Part 3

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Examining our lives in their light – Part 3

This morning we will be examining the two churches of Thyatira and Sardis as a light by which to examine our own lives and church. 

4th letter – To the saints of Thyatira

Revelation 2:18-29, 

“(18) To the angel of the church in Thyatira write the following:

“This is the solemn pronouncement of the Son of God, the One Who has eyes like a fiery flame and Whose feet are like polished bronze: 

(19)  ‘I know your deeds: your love, faith, service, and steadfast endurance.

In fact, your more recent deeds are greater than your earlier ones. 

(20)  But I have this against you:

You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives My servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. 

(21)  I have given her time to repent, but she is not willing to repent of her sexual immorality. 

(22)  Look! I am throwing her onto a bed of violent illness, and those who commit adultery with her into terrible suffering, unless they repent of her deeds. 

(23)  Furthermore, I will strike her followers with a deadly disease, and then all the churches will know that I am the One Who searches minds and hearts.
I will repay each one of you what your deeds deserve. 

(24)  But to the rest of you in Thyatira, all who do not hold to this teaching (who have not learned the so-called “deep secrets of satan”), to you I say: 

I do not put any additional burden on you.  (25)  However, hold on to what you have until I come.  (26)  And to the one who conquers and who continues in My deeds until the end, I will give him authority over the nations –  (27)  he will rule them with an iron rod and like clay jars he will break them to pieces,  (28)  just as I have received the right to rule from My Father – and I will give him the morning star. 

(29)  The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

As in the other letters, Jesus’ introduction of Himself, is the key to understanding what is being said. He IS both the revealer and the revelation itself.

 Let’s read it…

 “‘The words of the Son of God, Who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.”  

Since we already covered this a few weeks ago I will simply offer a summary to remind you of the conclusions I came to regarding these references. 

• This is the ONLY letter where Jesus refers to Himself as the ‘Son of God’ which we concluded was because all that follows addresses issues of authority, jurisdiction and judgment. Jesus later identifies Himself as having received His Own authority from the Father. So this reference makes sense that it is about delegated authority over and regarding the churches.
• His eyes being like a flame of fire –  reveal eyes which are pure and penetrating, the  gaze of which can see, discern and evaluate.
• His feet being like burnished brass (or as John put it in the 1st chapter brass like “fired in a furnace”) indicates purity – the object being the feet speak to Jesus’ power and authority, His purity as well as the solid stability of His character and reign.

This is all supported by the final statement of being the one “…Who searches minds and hearts”

Now these are mere guesses, but I believe they have some basis in the real importance of their mention here regarding the person of Jesus. 

Once this introduction is completed, Jesus goes immediately into His purpose for writing.

“(19)  ‘I know your deeds: your love, faith, service, and steadfast endurance. In fact, your more recent deeds are greater than your earlier ones.” 

Those four words capture and encompass the entirety of the Christian walk, purpose and focus. 

They are quite literally the central points of nearly every letter to the churches throughout the New Testament. 

• Love for God and His children
• Relational trust in God which keeps us connected to our Vine and produce fruit unto His likeness
• Service, this is the spill over of the former two. Out of our love for God springs our love for our brethren. Out of these loves comes trust in God for those things which pleases His heart. And dear to God’s heart is serving others as was illustrated so well through Jesus’ washing of the disciples feet and His charge to them to do the same if they wish to excel in God’s Kingdom.
• Finally steadfast endurance – this is one of the major deciding differences between the first three hearts in the parable of the heart soils and the final good heart which produced fruit.

Jesus culminates this statement by saying, “In fact, your more recent deeds are greater than your earlier ones.” 

This shows a difference between these believers and those of Ephesus who had forsaken their first works of love.

But then He says,“…I have this against you:”

This letter is much like our last church – Pergamum, in that Jesus’ reprimand here is not to those committing the sin. Not directly anyway. His issue is with the faithful. 

Paying attention to the first two words here…

“You tolerate”

Who is Jesus addressing? The one being tolerated or the one doing the tolerating?

Who are they tolerating?

“…that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and by her teaching deceives My servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.”  

Now we determined through comparative study with similar issues addressed elsewhere in the New Testament that this woman was NOT part of the church which has a big impact on the understanding of Jesus’ rebuke.

For details on how we came to this conclusion read the article or listen to the message from a few weeks ago entitled, “To Thyatira, Stop tolerating the intolerable! ”.

Since then I have read a few commentaries and they all seem to agree that she was actually part of the church. I find that extraordinary, but perhaps not impossible. It just seems that if this woman was recognized as a prophetess and was teaching in the church, this rebuke would have read much stronger than it does.

The rebuke was about tolerating her influence and does not even address that a woman was teaching in their church.

Additionally, what she was teaching was idol worship and sexual promiscuity.

The very notion that she was a recognized and accepted prophetess and teacher IN THIS CHURCH seems unlikely in the extreme – especially in light of His praise of this church.

There is no rebuke like that of Paul to the church of Corinth that they were proud and that they should have mourned and have removed that person from among them. In the case of the man at Corinth, he was just living in sexual sin – THIS woman Jezebel was teaching it, promoting it as well as idol worship.

As such, we are proceeding under the assumption that she was in fact external to this assembly, since that seems to be the only option consistent with scripture as is therefore the most conservative.

Her sins were her own and Jesus addresses His dealings with her as well. God does not desire any to perish, but for all to come to the knowledge of the truth. This pagan woman referred to here as Jezebel, Jesus had already influenced towards repentance and she had willfully rejected it.

“(21) I have given her time to repent, but she is not willing to repent of her sexual immorality.”   

So the focus is not on her since her doom was already sealed which the passage is about to make clear. This was about her influence upon His servants – meaning real children of God who were part of the body of Christ in Thytira if not the local assembly there.

This woman was “teaching” which is to be taken in the sense of tutoring, directing, offering advice or influencing their thinking. 

In what way?

“she deceives My servants into sexual sin and idol worship” – 

Now, she probably was not encouraging outright worship of these idols, since the text mentions being misled and outright idol worship would constitute much more than being simply misleading. 

This was most likely her telling these people that because the idol represents nothing, there is no sin in increasing the pay by which you feed your family by “playing along” with the guilds worship of them and that would keep them in good standing as guild members.

Certain English translations do not render this correctly and again, the details are outlined in our previous message. In the end, the thought being communicated and which is far more in keeping with the flow of the text is that s Jezebel was the active agent who was deliberately leading them astray. 

This is why some translations say that she was “influencing and seducing My servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols”. 

What this means is that she was currently and continuously teaching and leading astray. Hers was a sustained, methodical, ongoing ministry of misdirection rather than a single act of trickery. 

This is important because this is also indicated in regard to the sin of these saints in following her. Theirs was not an immediate fall into sin, but a slow, progressive straying from the truth. 

Jesus said,
“(21) I have given her time to repent, but she is not willing to repent of her sexual immorality.”   

“(22)  Look! I am throwing her onto a bed of violent illness, and those who commit adultery with her into terrible suffering, unless they repent of her deeds.

(23)  Furthermore, I will strike her followers with a deadly disease, and then all the churches will know that I am the One Who searches minds and hearts.  

I will repay each one of you what your deeds deserve.”  

This judgment was going to be sudden, swift, decisive and powerful.

These verses present us with 3 distinct groups, each receiving a different judgment. 

It seems clear that the only ones able to repent at this point are those who have followed her deeds. Her opportunity has passed in much the same way as Pharaoh’s did when he dug his heels in through obstinance against God’s command. Furthermore, so had the chance of those who had joined themselves to her.

1. Jezebel herself (αὐτήν) — she WILL BE “cast into a sickbed” (klinēn) This is unavoidable.
2. Those committing adultery with her (τοὺς μοιχεύοντας μετʼ αὐτῆς) — WILL BE cast into great tribulation (thlipsin megalēn), “UNLESS they repent of HER works“. This is conditional. These are without a doubt those in the church of Thyatira who had been led astray, but who were not fully committed to her.
3. Her children (τὰ τέκνα αὐτῆς) — killed with death (apoktenō en thanatō). This is not the redundant phrase it appears to be. It is a poor English attempt to emphasis the gravity of the situation. Their death will be sudden and there is NO chance of avoiding it. It is as good as done! All of these people are in the world. Which is to say, whether they were ever born again or not, they have fully and completely joined themselves to her, her cause and teachings. The noun “her” autēs (genitive feminine singular) attached to teknaplaces these children in direct relational dependence on Jezebel. They belong to her. 
   1. A modern example of this is Katherine Krick who claims to be an apostle whose followers call her mother or momma. 

The purpose of the judgment of this Jezebel is because her activities have gone on long enough. Like the nation of the Amorites, this woman was given sufficient time to repent. NOW her judgement will serve two purposes. 

1. It will bring justice. 
2. It will be an emphatic lesson to all the churches which they will not miss and will most likely heed. They will know that Jesus does not just “know” but “searches minds and hearts and will repay each one of you what your deeds deserve.”  

Now Jesus turns His attention back toward His faithful. The sin these faithful saints were guilty of was the sin of “tolerating” her influence. This word “tolerate” describes allowing something to exist or continue in your sphere of awareness/influence

“(24) But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the “deep things of satan”, to you I say, 

This wording implies a direct connection with some form of Gnostic teaching. [For more on Gnostic teaching see: Docetism and Gnosticism in the New Testament]

“I do not lay on you any other burden.  (25)  Only hold fast what you have until I come. 

(26)  The one who conquers and who keeps My works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations,  (27)  and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I Myself have received authority from My Father.”

Do you now see the connection between Jesus’ introductory statements regarding His person and His reward to the faithful as well as His warning and judgements upon the unfaithful and demonic?

“(28)  And I will give him the morning star.  (29)  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” – Revelation 2:24-29  

The “morning star” is that star which breaches the horizon just before the sun. 

It appears before full day, announcing what is coming, bringing the first definitive light into darkness before the sun rises. 

In each passage that applies this to Christ Jesus, that astronomical function — the herald of dawn, the bringer of light before full day — is what is being invoked. 

In brief, the promised reward is Jesus Himself.

The unfaithful among them had already received their reward which was to belong to this Jezebel and with her – death.

So the four churches we’ve addressed point to our need to:

• Pursue the love of Christ above all, without failing to seek to know Him in clarity and clear, sound doctrine.
  • This is so that we might be a light to the world through our living out our love of our God and saviour.
• We are NOT to be pressured into fear of the enemy and his attacks.
  • Like Moses and Abraham – come to value eternal things, including your union with Christ enough that you find joy in the midst of persecution as well as confirmation of your future and great hope!
• Be careful to maintain the reverence for God. Do not grow slack in third diligence in honoring, obeying and serving Him,which includes seeking Him for who He is and for your brother. 
  • Gnostic deceptions cannot creep in when our focus is on Him in these ways. 
• Do not look to the culture, but look to Christ and to those among you who are His.
  • Remain faithful to both and address sin in your midst, so that Christ will not have to come and judge with the sword of His mouth.

5th Letter – To the saints of Sardis

Revelation 3:1-6,  

“(1) And to the angel of the church in Sardis write:

‘The words of Him Who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

“‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 

(2)  Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of My God. 

(3)  Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent.

If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. 

(4)  Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.

(5)  The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 

(6)  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” 

• 7 spirits / 7 stars
• Works are incomplete
• Reputation for being alive – but dead
• Need to wake up (slumbering)
• Strengthen what you have that is close to dying
• Remember, obey, repent
• Thief in the night (against you)
• Obey – walk in white -> worthy
• Disobey -> name blotted out and not confessed before Father and angels

Matthew 25:1-46, 

“(1) Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the Bridegroom.

(2)  Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.  (3)  For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,  (4)  but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.  

(5)  As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.  (6)  But at midnight there was a cry, 
‘Here is the Bridegroom! Come out to meet Him.’  

(7)  Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.  (8)  And the foolish said to the wise, 
‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’  

(9)  But the wise answered, saying, 
‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’  

(10)  And while they were going to buy, the Bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with Him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.  

(11)  Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 
‘Lord, lord, open to us.’  

(12)  But He answered, 
‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’  

(13)  Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.  

(14)  “For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.  

(15)  To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.  

(16)  He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more.  
(17)  So also he who had the two talents made two talents more.  
(18)  But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.  

(19)  Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.  (20)  And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, 
‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’  

(21)  His master said to him, 
‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’  

(22)  And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, 
‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’  

(23)  His master said to him, 
‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’  

24)  He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, 
‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed,  (25)  so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’  

(26)  But his master answered him, 
‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?  (27)  Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.  

(28)  So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.  (29)  For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.  

(30)  And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  

(31)  “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.  (32)  Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.  

(33)  And He will place the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.  

(34)  Then the King will say to those on His right, 
‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  
(35)  For I was hungry and you gave Me food, 
I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, 
I was a stranger and you welcomed Me,  
(36)  I was naked and you clothed Me, 
I was sick and you visited Me, 
I was in prison and you came to Me.’  

(37)  Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 
‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, 
or thirsty and give You drink?  
(38)  And when did we see You a stranger and welcome You, 
or naked and clothe You?  
(39)  And when did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’  

(40)  And the King will answer them, 
‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.’  

(41)  “Then He will say to those on His left, 
‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.  (42)  For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, 
I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink,  
(43)  I was a stranger and you did not welcome Me, 
naked and you did not clothe Me, 
sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’  

(44)  Then they also will answer, saying, 
‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’  

(45)  Then he will answer them, saying, 
‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’  

(46)  And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”  

Jesus goes on record as saying that what makes a church alive is their works of righteousness of which the believers in Sardis were tangibly bereft.  

If it had not been for the faithfulness of our Lord, they would have slipped off into spiritual death and never have noticed their final denial of Christ.

Both of these letters are sobering warnings against our involvement with this world and failing to address sin and safeguard against ungodly influence and teachings of the world around us. 

Many Christians have been tempted into deception by heeding the words of a flashy preacher or influential, self proclaimed prophet – thinking they were revealing something deeper than they were getting within the safety of their sheepfold. Paul himself said that though he was not eloquent and captivating in speech they had never heard the gospel ever taught as clearly and accurately as they had from him.

In the end the only litmus test for the child of God or the churches of the saints is Jesus Himself and the inward convicting guidance of the precious Holy Spirit.