Word of Salvation – May 28th 2023
The Living Lord and His Church at Thyatira
Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Revelation 2:18-29
Scripture Readings: Psalm 2; Revelation 2:18-29
Singing: Glorious things of you are spoken (BoW 490)
Theme: The church at Thyatira called to repent of tolerating evil teaching and to hold fast.
Introd: There’s a well-known story about the Greeks laying siege to the city of Troy for 10 years.
They were unable to take the city no matter what strategy they used.
So they built a large wooden horse… left it outside the city… then pretended to sail off.
That night the Trojans hauled the huge wooden horse into their city.
What they didn’t know was that hidden inside the horse were a few Greek soldiers.
During the night those soldiers crept out and opened the city gates.
The rest of the Greek forces had returned and now looted the city.
Because of that story we still speak today about a TROJAN HORSE.
The Trojan Horse is the secret enemy within the camp.
That’s a scheme satan has used successfully throughout history.
He has often infiltrated the church to try to destroy it from within.
That is what is so terrible about the false prophets of the Old Testament.
Or the false apostles that Paul opposed.
Servants of satan… masquerading as the people of God.
Maybe I could mention what I consider a modern example:
There was a time when the Mormons were much more open about who they were?
I recall them knocking on our door and saying something like this:
We’d like to tell you the good news that God has set up the church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day-saints and that Joseph Smith was his prophet.
Apparently Christian people soon realised this was no true Christian church.
And they politely but firmly shut the door.
So today these folk use the Trojan Horse approach.
They introduce themselves as elders and ask if they can pray for a blessing on your home.
You say, “Well, ah, it’s blessed already”.
They reply, “You really can’t have enough blessing can you?”
So you feel that all you can say is: “I suppose you’re right, you’d better come in.”
You have now fallen for the old Trojan Horse trick.
You now have two nice clean-cut guys sitting in your lounge.
Their sole purpose is not really to pray for a blessing on your home…
Nor to share fellowship in a common faith…!
Their one ambition is to get you into the Mormon church.
And that’s easier to do in your lounge room than standing on your front door-step.
A] A STRONG CHURCH PROGRESSING IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.
Why do I mention all this about the Trojan Horse?
Because it seems that this was the only way satan could succeed in the church of Thyatira.
In that church the only strategy that worked was as a secret agent within.
This church had so many good things going for it that satan couldn’t find any chinks in their armour.
Just think of some of the other strategies satan has used over the years.
Or some of the schemes he used in some of the other of the seven churches.
One scheme he often uses is to get Christians to let their love grow cold.
He gets believers to become complacent and stop working on their love relationships.
So there is a cooling down of love towards both God and fellow Christians.
Sometimes he even succeeds in removing all love so there is only hatred.
Times when people get so angry and bitter they can’t even worship together anymore.
That strategy of the enemy was working well in the church at Ephesus.
To that church Jesus said: ‘I have this against you, you have forsaken your first love.’
But notice that this wasn’t working for the enemy in Thyatira.
Verse 19: I know your love! Here’s a beaut, loving congregation.
Another scheme the devil often uses successfully is unbelief.
Sometimes a whole generation slips away because of it.
People who grew up in a church… went to Sunday School…
But they don’t believe a thing of it anymore.
The virgin birth? The resurrection? Jesus dying in our place?
Sorry! That doesn’t make sense… it defies logic.
So in an age of computers and space technology faith goes out the door.
But in Thyatira young people still made public professions of faith.
Jesus commends this church for its faith in Him and in His Word: I know your…. faith!
Often satan uses persecution – and such trials can make big inroads in the Christian church.
People count the cost and they say, “No thank you very much.”
Profess my faith in Jesus? You’re joking! It might cost me my neck.
That strategy of satan had not worked in Thyatira either.
Jesus commends them for their perseverance in hardship.
Satan has many different ways of undermining and attacking the church.
Another way is to create pride and division in the church.
A cliquishness that won’t permit us to worry about others.
We feel it below our dignity to help… especially those outside our own little group.
Stick to your own circle of friends… and do as little for others as you can.
But in Thyatira ‘service’ is mentioned as yet another strong point.
And then of course there’s the devil’s old stand-by weapon – busyness with our own affairs.
He loves to see us so busy with our sport… and the telly… and our hobbies.
Busy, busy, busy. Too busy to take on any job in the church.
Satan can kill a church with private busyness.
So busy with our house, our boat, our holidays – too busy for the church.
But that doesn’t seem to have been a problem in Thyatira either.
Jesus says: I know your deeds. Here was an active, involved Church.
Do you get the picture? What a church! Look at all the things this church at Thyatira has going for it:
I know your deeds… your love… and faith, your service… and perseverance.
In fact, this church was a church on the move. There is progress!
Jesus points out that there is evidence of growth in their Christian life.
Verse 19: You are now doing more than you did at first.
Or better put: Your latter deeds are greater than the former ones.
In Ephesus they are back-sliding. In Thyatira they are growing and moving ahead.
So whichever way we look at it, the enemy seems to have been blocked.
Jesus the risen, ascended Lord has so much to praise in Thyatira.
Good on you congregation – you’ve just got so much going for you.
B] THE ENEMY WITHIN EXPOSED AND REBUKED.
1. Satan couldn’t break the church of Thyatira in any of these ways.
But that didn’t mean that he gave up and left them alone. He never does.
No! When all else fails he tries the old Trojan Horse trick.
He got one of his agents to infiltrate the church secretly.
An enemy from within the ranks of the church.
In fact – an evil spirit so perverse that Jesus can only call it JEZEBEL.
Remember Queen Jezebel? She lived a thousand years before there was a church in Thyatira?
Ahab, Israel’s king, had married her as his beautiful bride.
But she had turned out to be a Trojan Horse too.
An enemy who had infiltrated the camp of Israel.
She had opened the gates of Israel’s cities to the Baal priests.
Jezebel: the devil’s own special agent, planted right in the palace of Israel.
But God raised up the fiery prophet Elijah to deal with her.
Now in Thyatira there comes a person in the spirit of Jezebel.
She passes herself off as one of God’s people.
More than that – as a special servant of God – a prophetess.
She claims to speak by the Spirit of Jesus.
But instead of siding with Jesus she sides with the enemy.
And just like Jezebel of old she leads God’s people into idolatry and immorality.
She opens the gates of the church to the powers of the enemy.
2. Maybe I need to provide some background: Thyatira was famous for its trades and craftsmanship.
In Acts 16 the convert, Lydia, is mentioned as coming from Thyatira.
And she was a seller of rich purple cloth. Thyatira was a city of merchants and craftsmen.
And so there flourished in Thyatira all kinds of trades guilds.
Craftsmen societies – the forerunners of our modern trade unions.
These guilds would hold regular monthly meetings that usually included a banquet…
a feast dedicated to a pagan god which was the patron of their trade.
and of course they would hire a “floor show” for the occasion
and it usually degenerated into blatant immorality.
The problem was that Christian trades people too needed to belong to the guilds.
Yet they knew that there was much that was contrary to Christian belief and practice.
But then this false teacher, this prophetess infiltrates the church.
And she teaches that Christians shouldn’t be too narrow-minded about these things.
After all what the body does can’t affect the soul.
What we do physically isn’t important – it’s what we do spiritually that counts.
Actually, this prophetess went even further…. vs.24 speaks of the ‘so-called deep things of satan’.
It seems this teacher said: You want to overcome satan, right? Of course you do!
Well, how can you overcome him if you don’t know how he works.
And if you want to know how he works you’ll just have to join in.
Get a bit of first-hand experience.
And if Christians argued that we’re meant to be different from the rest of the world.
She would say: How can you deal with the world if you don’t know what goes on in the world?
3. Today we still hear arguments that sound very similar.
Sometimes Christians have spoken out about a particularly blasphemous movie.
And a well meaning Christian will say: How can you criticise it if you haven’t seen it.
If you want to speak prophetically to our culture you need first-hand experience.
Of course this is nothing new – we already saw something of this in the church at Pergamum.
There too people were openly saying:
What’s the problem with a little compromise? As long as it keeps you your job and your clients.
What’s wrong with a little bit of innocent fun? As long as you keep going to church.
And now we meet the same thing in Thyatira.
But… there is this one big difference.
In Pergamum it was some in the congregation who were living like that.
In Thyatira someone in the church was actively teaching all this and more.
Someone pretending to have the Spirit of God… the spirit of prophecy… says:
Look folks, to be successful Christians you first of all have to know what life’s all about.
Don’t lead too sheltered a life… find out what is happening out there in the real world.
Today someone like that might teach:
Don’t let your kids grow up in little holy hot houses called Christian schools.
They need to find out what life is really all about.
Jezebel teaches:
It won’t hurt you to go to these guild meetings.
You should go – you’ll understand what makes people tick.
Learn the deep things of satan – that way you can overcome him.
And the big tragedy is that this Jezebel is allowed to continue teaching. Nobody deals with it.
From the angel of the church… from its leadership there is no rebuke.
The messenger, the pastor… does not remove this so-called prophetess.
Pergamum was the COMPROMISING church… they wanted Jesus AND the world.
Thyatira is the TOLERATING church… allowing the Trojan Horse to stay.
Tolerating the enemy who has infiltrated the church.
From the pulpit of Thyatira there was no word of God to denounce this heresy.
And from the elders there was no outcry to deal with this false prophet.
And from the members there was no call to deal with the scandal of it.
“I have this against you,” says Jesus, “that you tolerate this Jezebel”.
In fact many of the Lord’s servants are being led astray.
C] JUDGMENT AND ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE CHURCH.
1. It is again interesting to see how Jesus introduces Himself to this church.
In these letters each introduction is very relevant to the particular problem in that particular church.
Here Jesus is the Son of God whose eyes are like a flame of fire.
He who searches hearts and minds sees thru the deception of a Trojan Horse.
This wolf in sheep’s clothing… this Jezebel in an Elijah’s coat…
Jesus exposes her for what she is.
Jesus is also pictured as the One with feet of burnished bronze.
He will stamp out this cancerous growth in His church.
He will pulverise the Trojan Horse.
The judgment Jesus pronounces on this unrepentant Jezebel is very, very serious. (READ again Verses 22 & 23)
And we need to take note of that.
It’s tempting to think that a bit of false teaching isn’t all that bad.
And that sometimes we just have to compromise… and that that’s okay.
If we think that way then we must note the seriousness of Jesus’ warning.
The seriousness of this sin is shown in the severity of Jesus’ warning.
The judgment Jesus pronounces is not only serious, it is also quite specific.
Jesus will not only deal with this false teacher… but also with two classes of people.
First – it is also judgment on those who commit adultery with her.
By that Jesus means those who accept her teaching and who then live it out.
Second – it is also judgment on her children.
By that Jesus means those who take up her teaching and pass it on.
On all these there will be punishment – temporal and eternal.
They will be rewarded according to their deeds.
The reason for this judgment of Jesus is obvious.
We don’t have to sin in order to know what sin is all about.
You don’t have to experience the very depth of satanic evil to know God’s grace.
We don’t have to know about every sin by experience in order to deal with it.
Our ordinary daily lives are sinful enough to rejoice in the reality of forgiveness in Jesus.
God’s Word tells us enough about the nature of sin to be able to resist it and overcome it.
The way to overcome evil is not by learning all about it by first-hand experience.
Today the church must be on guard against a Trojan Horse of Satan.
We must be discerning and weigh every teaching by the Word of God.
We must not tolerate those who come claiming prophetic gifts
but who belong to cults that are not Christian and who preach a gospel that is no gospel.
Nor may we tolerate any teaching that calls for compromise
because the Christian life must be one of purity in doctrine but also one of purity in life-style.
2. Jesus concludes this letter with some wonderful words of encouragement.
In Thyatira there are many faithful believers who have not become involved with this Jezebel.
And the Lord Jesus puts no greater burden on these folk.
He simply encourages them to hang on to what they have.
Vs. 25: ‘Hold on to what you have.’
I guess that raises the question: What does Jesus mean by ‘Hold on to what you have’?
Does Jesus mean: All the good things you have?
All those things I complimented you on a little earlier?
I believe the answer is in verse 26.
The NIV speaks there about ‘doing his will’.
Other translations put it more accurately: “he who keeps MY DEEDS to the very end”. (NASB)
Thyatira was certainly commended for its own deeds. ‘I know your deeds…’
And holding the deeds promoted by this Jezebel has been clearly condemned.
But it is especially the deeds of Jesus that we are to hold on to.
This then is also the message of encouragement for us today.
Hold on to what you have. Don’t let any Trojan Horse sidetrack you from the gospel.
Keep a firm grip on the great deeds of Jesus… His doing, His dying and His victory.
Hang onto the good news of forgiveness thru His death and resurrection.
What we need in order to succeed as Christians is not experiences of the evil around us.
What we need to overcome satan is not some secret insights into the way he works.
What we need is simply the gospel of Jesus.
Because that gospel is that satan has already been overcome.
Hold on to what you have…!
Hold on to what you are confessing today… hold on to it until Jesus comes.
Because the victory is already His.
3. The last few verses beautifully picture the certainty of that victory.
We can’t do full justice now to verses 27-28. But let me close with one very important thing:
Verse 27 is a quotation from Psalm 2.
And Psalm 2 is a prophetic psalm about Jesus being given the victory over Satan.
Jesus will come and sit in Kingly judgment.
Jesus will rule the nations with a rod of iron.
And He will dash all opposition in pieces like shattered pottery.
And what that psalm says about Jesus, Jesus now says about us.
All those who overcome in the struggle…
who overcome by holding fast to the gospel of Jesus by faith
they will share in the authority of Jesus over the power of satan.
They will overcome evil in His might.
That is happening now… and it will happen in all its fullness on that day when Jesus comes.
On that day we will share the glory of Jesus the bright Morning Star.
He who has an ear – let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Amen