Sermon Tone Analysis

February 17,2012

By John Barnett

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As we open to Revelation 2:18-29, we come to the letter to the Church at Thyatira.

That term Thyatira is usually a bit foreign to us outside of this chapter.

To get our bearings we could also say, we are opening to the geographic area that received more of the books (epistles) of the New Testament than any other geographic area of the ancient world.

Have you ever thought about where these letters we hold were first sent?

God Sent More New Testament

Letters Here than Anywhere Else

Here’s the lineup if you haven’t stopped to do the math.

• Revelation [1] opens with Christ’s epistles to the Seven Churches addressed to people living in Roman Asia, which is this western area of modern Turkey.

• Peter’s epistles [2-3] were to the northern part of this same geographic area.

• Paul’s letters [4-6] to the Galatians, Ephesians, and Colossians were to churches in the central highlands of this same area, as well as his letters to Timothy [7-8] sent to the same western area as Christ's epistles.

• John’s three epistles [9-11] were to individuals and churches in this same area.

• Finally, most likely James [12] was also written to this area.

All told there were 12 of the books of the New Testament specifically addressed to this area.

Nowhere else comes even close to this number.

The believers in the seven church area, were surrounded by God’s Word written to them.

In the time of the Apostle John, this area was incredibly Roman.

There are more Greek temples in Turkey than in Greece, and there are more Roman cities in Turkey than there are in all of Italy.

This was the epicenter of Roman life in the first and second centuries.

Now step back and remember, this is the fourth church of seven, named Thyatira.

This is the central letter of the seven, it is the longest, and it is very pointedly exposing sins that had crept into this church.

The saints in Thyatira had a serious sin infection sweeping their body—listen to what Christ said as we stand to hear Him speak:

Revelation 2:18-29 (NKJV) /“And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: 19 “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first.

20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.

21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.

22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.

23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts.

And I will give to each one of you according to your works.

24 “Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden.

25 But hold fast what you have till I come.

26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—27 ‘ He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—as I also have received 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.”’/

This church, called from darkness to light at salvation, saved from the power of Satan and transformed into saints of God was slipping.

The Lord on His inspection trip had seen something ominous.

The believers at Thyatira were tolerating sinful teachers and teachings, and had allowed the infectious diseases of false doctrine, and sinful conduct, to permeate Christ's Body the Church.

Jesus calls them to repent, to have a change of mind that would lead to a change in behavior.

This letter is a challenge from Christ for His children of faith to do what is needed on a daily basis: repent of listening to false teachers and their false teachings, and start listening to Him instead.

*Daily Choices: Serve Christ or Not*

Thyatira was being seduced by the false teacher Jezebel; and true believers in that church were called upon by Christ to resist all such evil teaching and lifestyles.

Christ's message for them and to us today is: Stay pure; live for Me.

Every day we face this choice: serve Christ or the world.

The letters in Revelation

have a timely application for our lives.

They each emphasize why and how we must obey our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.

Ephesus (2:1–7): Remember that Jesus is jealous of your love, so lay hold of your first love for Christ.

Smyrna (2:8–11): Hope in Jesus through life until the end and trust Christ through your suffering.

Pergamos (2:12–17): Rest in the security that comes from clinging only to Jesus; and conform to Christ, not the world.

Thyatira (2:18–29): Fear the chastening love of Jesus so He will not have to discipline sin in the church.

As it was in Thyatira, so it is in your life today.

Daily you have opportunities to

either please God or please self.

But for a devoted believer, there is only one right choice: honor the holiness of Jesus by purposing in your heart to respond in obedience to Him regardless of the cost.

*PART ONE: MEET THE ASSEMBLY LIVING IN HARD TIMES v. 18A*

We now look at the longest of the seven letters Christ wrote to His church.

We will consider today the least known of all the churches.

In fact, the only thing we know is the first Christian named, from this city called Thyatira.

Take a moment with me to look there, it is in Acts 16:14-15, where we meet Paul’s first European convert, who was a merchant from Thyatira named Lydia.

This is the account of Paul’s second journey, as he stops in Philippi, he leads a seeking woman to Jesus (v.

14) a “seller of purple (scarlet) fabrics.

Acts 16:14-15 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us.

She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God.

The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.

15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.”

So she persuaded us.

That is where the Scriptural account ends.

It could be she moved back to Thyatira and became part of the nucleus of that church, or most likely, she immediately shared Christ with her relatives and close friends and they possibly were the start of this church.

However the Lord worked, a church started in Lydia’s home town that we read about in Revelation 2.

As we have considered already, each church is not only a local church, it also portrays the ongoing struggles that the church has gone through over the centuries.

As Ephesus portrayed the apostolic church and Smyrna the church persecuted AD 60-313, and Pergamum the church wed to Rome 300-600.

So Thyatira is the church of the dark ages from AD 600-1500 from the first Pope Gregory the Great to the Reformation.

Lesson #1: As in Thyatira, then so in your life today, it is a choice each day: To follow either Christ or the world.

It was compromise and prosperity or Christ and poverty.

No one can serve two masters Christ said.

*PART TWO: MEET THE AUTHOR OF EACH LETTER TO EACH CHURCH—JESUS CHRIST THE JUDGE v. 18B*

JESUS IS GOD THE SON: “Son of God” this is not the Revelation 1:13 “Son of man”, this is the Risen and glorifies Lord Jesus Christ, as the fullness of divine power, why?

Believe they were compromising--tolerating evil!

JESUS IS ALL SEEING, ALL KNOWING ALWAYS PRESENT: “Who has eyes like flames of fire” - v. 23 Wow - penetrating and discerning, seeing and assessing.

Jeremiah 17:10 I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.

Hebrews 4:13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

*JESUS IS THE JUDGE OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE: “His feet burnished bronze.”

Bronze always picture of judgment.*

John 5:22-29 /“For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, 23 “that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father.

He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

24 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

25 “Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.

26 “For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, 27 “and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man.

28 “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 “and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."/

So the author is the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ with fullness of divine power searching eyes/heart- knower, meeting out judgment.

Lesson #2: Jesus Christ knows our heart perfectly well today and is ready to judge us in any way that is necessary to keep us pleasing to Him in our daily lives!

*The Mindset of Worldliness Experienced in Thyatira*

The saints in Thyatira needed to stop their friendship with the world that led them to be displeasing to God.

You may ask, in what way was the mindset of worldliness felt or seen in Thyatira?

To answer that, we need to go back for a brief history lesson.

Let me describe daily life in this 1st Century Roman city, named here in Revelation.

Thyatira was renowned for manufacturing and industry.

Most workers in Thyatira were members of guilds that operated much like our labor unions of today.

The guilds encouraged their members by setting prices for their labor, and for the prices of the goods they sold.

That meant that all of the various trades: potters, dyers, tanners, bakers, metal workers, textile makers, bronze smiths, slave-dealers, leather-workers, and the rest had their guilds in this town.