Thyatira: The Corrupt Church Series

# Introduction

As we begin this morning, before we listen to what Jesus says to Thyatira, let’s take just a few minutes and review where we have been.

We started our study by stepping into Revelation chapter 1.

Jesus revealed Himself to His church.

We saw Him walking among the lampstands. We saw Him holding the stars in His hand. We were reminded that the church is not the light — the church is the lampstand. Jesus is the light.

Revelation 1:3 gave us the pattern — what we must do with these letters to the churches: Read. Hear. Heed.

We then saw what Jesus had to say to the church in Ephesus.

Ephesus was hardworking. Discerned. Doctrinally sound. Resistant to false teaching. They were busy for Jesus — but no longer burning for Jesus.

Jesus called them to renewal with three simple words: Remember our first love. Repent of our ways. Do what we did at the beginning.

Next, we saw in Smyrna a church that was suffering. Jesus told them that He knew that they were being persecuted and pressured from every side. Yet, through His power, they were not crushed. Jesus did not tell them how to escape suffering. He taught them how to endure: Remember the Victor. Stand Firm. Trust the Promise.

Last week, we saw the church in Pergamum. They lived where Satan’s throne was. Evil surrounded them, and slowly that evil began to creep inside the church. They had not denied the name of Jesus. They had remained faithful in confession. But they were tolerating false teaching. They were allowing compromise to take root. Pergamum teaches us that faithfulness can begin to erode not through rejection of Christ, but through quiet accommodation.

This morning, we turn our ears toward the church in Thyatira.

Before we dive into the letter from Jesus to the church, let’s take a look at the historical information and where the prophecy of Thyatira fits in the global history of the church.

Video Ill.: Thyatira — The Apostate Church by Lineage Journey

18 “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:

These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing || more than you did at first.

20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to || repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts || and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.

24 Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, 25 except to hold on to what you have || until I come.’

26 To the one who is victorious and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations— 27 that one ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’—just as I have received authority from my Father. 28 I will also give || that one the morning star. 29 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (Revelation 2, NIV)

There are some churches that struggle because they are under pressure from the outside.

And there are some churches that struggle because something has begun to shift on the inside.

Thyatira was not a persecuted church like Smyrna.

There was no mention of prison.

No threat of martyrdom.

In fact, if you visited Thyatira on a Sunday morning, you likely would have been impressed.

You would have found people serving. You would have found love. You would have found faith. You would have found perseverance. You would have found growth.

This was not a cold church. This was not an apathetic church. This was not a declining church. This was a church that looked alive.

And yet Jesus speaks some of the strongest words in all seven letters to this congregation.

Why?

Because corruption from within is more dangerous than persecution from without.

It is possible for a church to be busy and compromised at the same time.

It is possible for a church to be growing and drifting at the same time.