The Church at Thyatira: The Trouble with Tolerance

Revelation 2:18-29

Jezebel – Wife of Ahab/Queen of Israel

1 Kings 18 – killed God’s prophets; lead Israel to worship Baal (child sacrifice)

1Kings 19 – after Mount Carmel threatens the prophet Elijah.

1 Kings 21 – King Ahab wanted Naboth’s vineyard; Jezebel manipulates Ahab and murders Naboth

When a church tolerates sin…

  1. It trades eternal security for temporal security
  2. She has forgotten her jealous Husband
  3. It can STILL repent and reign with Christ

Well, good morning, Saylorville! Pastor Pat lovingly reminded me that, “Hey, listen. We don’t have any percussion today, so you have to be the percussion!” So, Lord willing, that will be the case.

Welcome back to our sermon series, The Unveiling of Jesus Christ, as we study through the Bible’s final book, the Book of Revelation. And if you have a copy of the Bible, you can find Revelation chapter 2 verse 18 as we dive in today.

And if you’ve been with us, you know that chapter 2 is mainly just a bunch of letters, letters written by the Lord, Jesus Christ, himself to seven churches. And if you’ve been with us the last couple weeks, you know that these churches were most likely real first century churches, churches that actually existed during John, when he wrote Revelation. However, as we’ll see today, they’re also models for us, models for the church today. And so today we’re on the fourth church, the church at Thyatira… the church at Thyatira.

But before that, I’ve got a question for you. It’s a very important question in 2024. Are you a tolerant person? The online dictionary defines “tolerance” as “willing to accept beliefs, feelings, habits or behaviors of another group, even if we disagree with them.” And of course, if I went around our culture today, most people would say, ‘Well, of course! Of course I’m a tolerant person!’ In fact, in 2024, there are few things worse than being considered an intolerant person, right?

I actually experienced this just a couple days ago, literally last Sunday. I was having dinner with a dear friend of mine, a former coworker, and this guy, I’ve been trying to lead to Christ for years! — and he is smart. He’s brilliant! — asked all these big questions. We were talking about Leviticus! We were talking about the Canaanites! — and of course, I was just, you know, feeding him Truth! It was a great conversation! It was really enjoyable! But as I was talking near the end, I noticed a table off to the right of us, and they must have overheard what we were talking about, because they were just dragging Christianity through the mud! They were just lambasting it! “What a bunch of ignorant people! — just believing in myths! I can’t believe anyone would believe that! It’s just so intolerant.”

In our post-Truth world, the world we live in, where all views are considered equal, you could say that tolerance in 2024 is the only virtue, and therefore intolerance is the only vice. But our question for today is not what the world says, but what does the Word say? Does God, the Creator of all things, want his church to be absolutely tolerant?

I’ve titled this message, The Church at Thyatira: The Trouble with Tolerance. Yikes! I can literally feel myself being canceled right now! (audience laughs) But I’m convinced that the message to the Church of Thyatira is essential for the Church today, and for all who would call themselves Christians.

So if you would, why don’t we jump in… Revelation chapter 2 verse 18.

Revelation 2:18-29 (ESV)

18 And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze. (Talking about Jesus. Jesus says,)

19 “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.

20 But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, (The word tolerate there in the Greek literally means “you submit. You don’t send her away”) who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.

22 Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works,

23 and I will strike her children dead. (That word “children,” it could be her literal children, but it also could just be all who follow her teachings) And all the churches will know that I (Jesus) am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.

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, 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.

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.’

So now we jump into the church at Thyatira. And like most churches in our series so far, it starts off really well, right? If you look at verse 19, this church was actually, it’s the very first church that the Lord Jesus Christ says was a loving church. This is the exact opposite of the church at Ephesus. These people are doing well in loving people. They’re an active church. You noticed in the text, it says, ‘Their later works were actually better than the first.’ This church is almost the exact opposite of Ephesus. They’re actually doing very, very well… from the outside, but as you see in the very beginning, they have trouble with the Son of God. If you look at verse 18 where the Lord Jesus introduces himself. He actually says almost the exact same thing in chapter 1 verse 18.

[Revelation 1:17b-18,““Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.“]

But the difference is this time he calls himselfthe Son of God!” Jesus is, he’s honing in on this idea that I am God incarnate and what does he bring? He brings eyes that look of fire! This is the idea that the Lord Jesus Christ can look straight into the hearts and the minds as he says of his church. He has feats of brandished bronze which are for stamping out judgment.

So even though this church is doing quite well, they’re in trouble. Why? To the shock of our culture today, they’re in trouble because of tolerance. And what are they tolerating? They’re tolerating this woman, Jezebel.

Probably not her real name. Back then, most people didn’t call their daughters “Jezebel,” and there’s a reason for that! Jesus in this passage, he’s probably doing name association, right? If you’re a student of the Old Testament, you would know that Jezebel is one of the worst villains in the Bible! She is a great enemy of God’s people! Jezebel was the wife and queen of King Ahab, of the Kingdom of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, and she did all kinds of terrible things to God’s people. In first Kings chapter 18, it says that she killed prophets of God. Literally the prophets had to go into hiding ’cause she was killing them! In first Kings chapter 19, the prophet Elijah, remember Mount Carmel and the fire from heaven? After that happened, she threatens to kill him! — And he has to run into hiding. But probably one of the worst things in first Kings chapter 21, Ahab, who’s being manipulated by Jezebel. He wants Naboth, he wants his vineyard, he wants this plot of land owned by this guy named Naboth. And Ahab, he’s too chicken to take it. So Jezebel basically manipulates him and she has a plot and she kills Naboth in cold blood.

Why focus on Jezebel here? Why call this prophetess Jezebel? —’Cause the Old Testament Jezebel, through sexual seduction and manipulation, she turned Ahab and all of Israel against God!

And what is this prophetess in Thyatira doing? — The exact same thing! But notice the problem that the Lord Jesus has. It’s not even necessarily Jezebel herself. The problem is that this church, these leaders of this church are tolerating her. They’re not sending her away. Listen. It’s no accident that the first church that’s commended for love is also the church that’s being challenged for being too tolerant.

You see, this is dangerous ground for even us today, right? If you walked up to Thyatira in the first century, they might have big old signs like on the white… you know, the Baptist signpost that says, ‘Come as you are! ‘ ‘All are welcome!’ ‘Grace covers it all!’ Those are all true statements. We do welcome people into Saylorville Church, and we do want you to come as you are, and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ does cover the sins of sinners. Those statements are not incorrect. Those statements are incomplete. This loving church in Thyatira in the name of love, they were tolerating false teaching, sexual immorality and blatant sin! — And the Lord Jesus Christ wants to make one thing clear. The Son of God is serious about sin in His church and in your life. And there’s no surprise here, right? If you’re familiar with Jesus’ teachings in Matthew chapter 18, he actually gives his church a process to deal with people that are in unconfessed, unrepentant sin. Remember that, right? He says, ‘First of all, you need to go. If your brother’s sinning, you need to go to them and confront them. If they don’t repent, take someone else with you. If they don’t repent again, take it in front of the church. And if they still don’t repent, treat them like a Gentile or a tax collector. Send them away.’ Contrary to tolerating sin in his church, Jesus actually gives us a process to weed it out! We call this “church discipline.” And this is an act that Saylorville Church practices. And though our tolerance obsessed culture might hate it, it’s good, it’s biblical, and it’s expected of the church. It was given to us by Jesus! It’s meant to keep the church pure. Peter said that the church is to be holy, set apart, as God is holy, but sadly, with the rise of absolute tolerance in our society, church discipline’s kind of fallen out of favor.

According to a 2018 Lifeway study, watch this, only 16% of Protestant churches actually practice church discipline, which means that 84%, most of them are like Thyatira! And you know this, right? They’re opening the doors to all kinds of perversion, unbiblical doctrine, whatever the culture wants to give to the church, ‘I’ll take it! come as you are!’ You could say that most churches in our society today are in bed with Jezebel.

Why is this so dangerous? What danger does this pose? The letter tells us! There’s two great warnings to the Church of Thyatira, but one great encouragement, as well. First and foremost, when the Church, when the Church of Jesus Christ, tolerates sin, it trades eternal security with Christ for temporal security, security right now. Thyatira, actually, if you notice, it has the longest letter of all the seven churches, and yet, Thyatira was the smallest church. And it’s not the first time that this church was mentioned. It actually was mentioned in the Book of Acts, chapter 16, verse 14.

[Acts 16:14, “One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.”]

There’s a woman named “Lydia,” and she actually comes to faith in Christ through the Apostle Paul’s preaching at Philippi. And the Book of Acts says that she was “from Thyatira.” And it actually says what her job was. It says that she was “a seller of purple goods.” But you can just imagine that she basically sold like clothing, like linens. Think of like ancient togas, okay? She would die of them and then sell them.

This totally checks out. According to the archaeological record, Thyatira was a town full of trade guilds. Thyatira though it was small, it was a mercantile town, right? And there were all kinds of guilds. There were dyers, people that dyed clothes. There were weavers, masons, tanners. They’re basically like the unions today, right? Workers would work for these trade guilds, and they’d be able to maybe make a better profit or they’d be able to have more access to resources. You could say that the economic health of a Christian in Thyatira was linked to these trade guilds. Now, why does that matter? Well, there’s a catch. If you wanted to be a member of one of these trade guilds, you would have to worship the patron god of the guild. You would have to sacrifice food to that guild’s idol, and in some cases maybe even have sexual intimacy with one of the prostitutes in the guild. So the Christians at Thyatira have a choice. ‘Are we gonna stand firm in Jesus Christ and not bow the knee to these patron gods? — ‘Cause if we do that, we’re gonna face economic challenges. We might not be able to feed our family! — Or are we gonna compromise? — Or are we just gonna open up the gates, right? I’m gonna bow at the foot of this idol, but at least my family will be safe. At least they’ll be comfortable. At least my life will be easy.’

I became a Christian in college. I went to the University of Northern Iowa, (Go Panthers!) And when I (no one really cares about the Panthers!) but when I was at UNI, I had an awesome professor! — And he was my Study to the Intro of History professor… Brilliant guy! And whenever I wrote papers for his class, I’d go and I’d talk to him. He’d give me all these pointers. We always had really cool conversations! And we met probably three or four times, and one of the last times he asked me, “Hey, what plans you got after we meet today?” — And I had just become a Christian, so I kind of sheepishly say, “I’m going to church,” you know? — And his entire demeanor changed. He looked at me and said, “Colton, you’ve gotta… what are you doing? You’ve got to give up that silly Christianity thing.” Right? “You’ve gotta stop believing in that myth. It’s gonna hold you back.” His actual words.

The world screams that at you, does it not? You want to know what I think this prophet in Thyatira was teaching, one of the things she was teaching? ‘Christians in Thyatira, are you worried about providing for your family? Do you want to be part of these trade guilds? It’s fine! God doesn’t expect you to give anything up. It’s totally fine, right? You can have Christ and the world. Grace covers it all!’ That’s not incorrect, but it’s incomplete. The Lord Jesus said in

Mark 8:35-36

35 “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.

36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?”

Every church… and you! — have a choice. Are you gonna hold on to your eternal security in King Jesus, or the temporal security of this world? Around Saylorville we often say “More people…. [More like Jesus] Good! We’ve still got it! What happens if you take out the second part? What if our mantra was just ‘More people?’ That’s what most churches do! ‘Come as you are! Live in sin! It’s totally fine!’ — And what happens to these churches? They have huge congregations. They have tons of screen time on TikTok and YouTube and all the social media. They even have record deals. They’re just flowing with money, —and they’re not mocked! The world looks at these churches and says, ‘That church, they’re doing something right.’ ‘That church, they’ve got it figured out.’ — And a little leaven leavens the whole lump. And the Son of God looks at those churches with fire in his eyes and brandished bronze on his feet to stomp out judgment!

But then you add the second part; “More people… More Like Jesus.” See, that makes all the difference! Yes, come as you are, please! —But please don’t stay that way! The way you are… the way I am, is messed up! We’re cursed by sin! If I could come into this church and no one expects me to change and I don’t need to change, I’m fine the way I am. I don’t need Jesus!

You might see in Revelation 2:25 in the back there, it says that those who who were supposed to hold away from this prophetess, Jesus says, “Hold fast.” The idea there is holding onto a rope. You ever been tubing? It’s like that, right? You’re just holding on for dear life! Listen, you can’t hold on to eternal security and the security of this world. You have to let go of one. What do you need to let go of? How are you compromising? The fiery eyes of the Creator of all things pierces your very soul! He knows and he’s watching.

I’m convinced today after reading this text many times. We’re always talking about a revival in the Christian church in America, right? We want the church to be strong! We want the church to have an influence! You wanna know, I think, what revival would look like? — not greater numbers, not amazing programs, not incredible music, not this overwhelming emotion… purity. The church would look different than the world… and it would be powerful in the world!

Next up, a church that tolerates sin has forgotten her jealous husband. — And yes, in this case, I’m talking about God! Notice the language throughout the entire letter. Verse 20 and 21, what’s this prophetess doing? She’s doing sexual immorality. It literally says she’s seducing them! And then if you go to verse 22,

[Revelation 2:22, “Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works…”]

when it’s talking about these people that followed her, Jesus literally says, they’re committing adultery against ME! The Lord Jesus is equating following this prophetess with adultery! He’s jealous for his Church. Now, some of you are like, ‘Wait a minute… What? God’s jealous? Okay, I get jealous, but God gets jealous? Yes, God’s a jealous God. He told us as much. If you go to the 10 commandments in Exodus chapter 20, he talks about, don’t worship other gods.

[Exodus 20:3, ““You shall have no other gods before me.”]

And then he says this,

Exodus 20:5, “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God…”

God and the Lord Jesus Christ are jealous! Now again, it seems weird to us. Often we think that jealousy and envy are the same thing, but they’re not. If you’re an envious person, if you are struggling with envy, it means you want something that’s not yours. But if you’re jealous for something, it means you want something that rightfully is yours! Right? And what right does the Lord Jesus Christ have to his Church? He has the right of a husband. Ephesians chapter five, here’s what it says. This is Paul talking,

Ephesians 5:25-27

25 “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church (Christ is the husband of the church) and gave himself up for her (on the cross. Now watch this. Notice the purity)

26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”

If jealousy means desiring what is rightfully yours, then how right is it for the church to stay loyal to King Jesus who gave himself for her, who shed his blood on the cross for the church for you? — if you know him.

The Son of God comes to Thyatira with fire in his eyes and wrath! Why? — Because this prophetess is seducing the one he loves… And no one seems to care! Augustine perhaps said it best. He said,

“The soul commits adultery when it rejects you, seeking without you what it cannot find pure and untainted until it comes back to you.” Augustine

Rachel and I’ve been married for six years. We exchanged the vows in sickness or health, in wealth or poverty. If I just went off and started, you know, messing around with a bunch of other women, and Rachel wasn’t angry, I mean, she doesn’t love me, right? Jealousy and love are, they’re rooted together. Make no mistake! Sin is spiritual adultery, and a church that tolerates sin is playing the harlot!

And how bad has it gotten in Thyatira? Notice verse 24, if you turn over to 24,

[Revelation 2:24, “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, I do not lay on you any other burden.”]

… it says that those who were following this prophetess, they were diving into “the deep things of Satan.” In Smyrna, there was a “synagogue of Satan.” In Pergamum, there was “a throne of Satan.” — But in Thyatira, they’re in it! They’re deep in the waters. You want to know what I think the prophet… another one of the prophet’s messages was the church? I think she looked at these Christians in Thyatira and she said, ‘Listen, listen! You are so gifted in grace, you’re so covered in grace that you can dance with the devil! The grace will cover it!’ See, we do this today too. I’ve done this today. You’re working all the time. You can’t stop working. You’re working non-stop. Gotta get more money. Gotta get more wealth. Gotta get more possessions. You’ve just pushed aside your family, pushed aside your church… but at least you’re tithing. You’re hanging out of the opposite sex and you’re starting to get really close, you’re starting to really almost maybe have emotions, but ‘listen, listen, listen… I’m just counseling my brother or sister in Christ.’ You’re going to a party, right? You’re going somewhere where sin is just all over the place. ‘I’m going to witness. I don’t want any part of that. I’m just going to witness.’ That might be true. Or maybe you have a friend that’s living in sin and you know it, but you’re not going to say anything because ‘Jesus loves them, right? It’s fine!’

Remember Jezebel from the Old Testament? Jezebel had a terrible death, and the one who who brought about justice to her was a guiding King Jehu, and it says that when he rode into this town where Jezebel is, it actually says this in 2 Kings chapter 9. Pay attention to what this Jezebel does in the Old Testament. It says,

2 Kings 9:30, “When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it. And she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out of the window.

Why would she do that? — To seduce him!

Listen, the enemy of your soul, Satan, he rarely just gives you evil. The enemy of your soul will adorn sin in the makeup of truth. He is clever! Sin is spiritual adultery. And Christ, because He loves His church, will not stand for His bride to be unfaithful! Listen, you can’t have an open relationship with God and the world. Contrary to our culture today, when I tolerate someone that’s in sin, I’m not loving them. I’m helping them cheat on their maker. How’s your marriage? Not your actual marriage. Are you faithful to the love of your soul? Notice verse 22, if you go to verse 22, it says,

Revelation 2:22, “Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works…

That word “tribulation” in the Greek, it literally means “pressure,” like a wine press, spitting out all the grapes. Maybe as this message, maybe you feel some pressure. Maybe the red hot fiery eyes of Christ are looking straight through your heart! You’re cheating, and you know it! Friends, I have Good News! — Because, listen… a church that tolerates sin… and you!… can still repent and reign with Christ!

Now listen throughout this entire letter, right? Jezebel, this prophetess, even her, the Lord Jesus Christ in his mercy, gave her time to repent! That’s amazing, right? These people that were following her, he gives them time to repent! He is a merciful, loving God. Listen, Christ is a jealous husband, but he’s still a husband, One who loves his bride.

All right, have you been an unfaithful bride? Have you been dancing with the devil? That’s true of all of us! When I look at my vows to my lovely wife, Rachel, I fall short ’cause I’m a sinner! When I look at my commitment to the Lord of glory, I definitely fall short! In fact, the scriptures say, “We’ve all sinned. We all fall short.” [Romans 3:23] Listen, the key is what you do with your sin. Don’t tolerate it! Repent of it! Heed Christ’s call to the church of Thyatira. Return to your husband!

Of course, you can only return to Christ, the Husband of the church if you know him. Do you know him? See, everyone’s unfaithful to God, every single person. We’ve all sinned, but not everyone’s the Bride of Christ. In order for you to be the Bride of Christ, you have to accept your need for Christ. You have to accept that you’re a sinner, that left on your own, you’re separated from God and those fiery eyes of wrath are upon you. But then accept that Christ, God Himself, because He loves you, came to earth, God incarnate, and died on that cross. He paid the penalty that you owe, and then accept that He rose from the grave three days later and that through faith, He’ll raise you too, as His bride. First John 1 verse 9 through 10 says,

1 John 1:9-10

9 If we confess our sins, he (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

Listen, I know this has been a lot. It’s heavy, but the moment you repent, no matter how many times, no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, the moment you repent those fiery eyes of judgment… they become tender eyes of love. Christ, the King loves his bride and someday he’ll reign with her. Notice verse 26, right? If you go to verse 26, this is actually a call back to Psalm 2 and it says

Revelation 2:26, “The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations…

… that the church will rule the nations with Christ! We’re going to get to that later on in this sermon series.

But listen, being the Bride of Christ is hard. There’s many Jezebel’s in your life and in mine. But this promise to Thyatira, friends, it should give you great hope. Because listen, if you’re following Christ, you may have to give up money. You might have to give up your comfort. But you’ll have a mansion someday. If you follow Christ, you may lose some friends, but you have a friend in the King of Kings. If you follow Christ, you might lose your reputation, but you will reign. The church doesn’t tolerate sin in this world because it looks forward to ruling the world to come. And notice the end of it all, verse 28,

Revelation 2:28, “And I will give him the morning star.

Some day the church will receive the morning star, that bright star at the dawn of every morning, that small blip of light before the start of a new day. What is that? In Revelation chapter 22, one of the last lines of the entire Bible, the Lord Jesus says this,

Revelation 22:16, “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

Church… Bride, what’s the first thing that you’ll see? — when you wake up in the new earth when you stand in perfection? Jesus Christ, your Savior, your Husband, your King. Let’s pray.

Bright morning star, Lord Jesus, Lord your church comes to you, Lord, if we’re honest, an unfaithful bride. This has been a hard message Lord, for me! When I examine my own heart, But Lord, even though we’re unfaithful day by day, Lord you are faithful. You can’t deny yourself. You love your bride. The Lord Jesus, you are a jealous husband. I pray for all the souls in this room Lord. I pray for my fellow brothers and sisters, the Bride! Lord may they admit their adultery. May they admit, Lord, that they haven’t been faithful, and may they repent. May they return back to their loving Husband. And Lord I pray for those who don’t know you who are still lost who are still wandering in and sin and brokenness. Lord Jesus, you took the cross that you might win your Bride. I pray they might let go of all the things they’re holding onto and hold fast to you. Thank you for your love and for being the lover of our souls. In your precious name. Amen. [Music]

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