Scripture: Revelation 2:18-29; Ecclesiastes 10:1; Song of Solomon 2:15
Theme: Tolerance – How Much?
Title: The Fly in the Ointment
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Simplicity. Keeping things simple, plain and straightforward. Keeping things honest, down-to-earth, and uncomplicated.
I like things like that. I like things that are uncomplicated. It is easier for all of us to be able to understand things when they are clear and straightforward.
I like the song that we heard this morning – “Tis the Gift to be Simple”. It comes to us from a group of people called the Shakers. Their official name was not so simple – The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing.
They were called Shakers because they would dance and sing and when they were filled with the Spirit, they would at times shake. Plus, they would shake away their sins as they would dance, sing and pray.
The Shaker movement is almost gone now. At its highest there were 18 communities that spanned across the United States with almost 4,000 people committed to living the simple life. Today, there is only one community left and it is down to 3 living members although there is always an open invitation for anyone to join their community. It is called the Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village and is near a place called Poland, Maine.
The Shakers left behind a unique legacy of simple furniture, clear architecture and music that takes a person straight to God. They focused on a simple life; simple faith, simple rules, simple prayers and simple songs.
For many years that was the Church of Thyatira.
It was a simple church. They knew their identity. They knew their faith. They knew their mission. They went about their lives in a simple and straightforward manner.
It wasn’t just the way they did Church, it was the way their town lived. Thyatira was a blue-collar town. It was a manufacturing town.
There were wool workers. There were bakers. There were those who worked in the purple dye industry. There were those who made pottery. There were those who worked with bronze.
Everyone knew their craft and for most of the families, life was rather simple. Your great-grandfather worked in the purple dye business and so did your grandfather and your father and that is where you will work. Ancient labor unions were formed and did their best to keep everything simple and working and in order.
If you look at how Jesus describes this Church, it is rather simple and straightforward.
I. They were a Growing and Maturing Church
They knew how to make things and they knew how to live the Christian Life. They excelled in growing a church and making a difference in their community.
Jesus tells us that they were doing some amazing things:
+They were active. +They were loving.
+They were being faithful. +They were patient.
+They were serving. +They were constantly growing.
That was just who they were as a town and as a church.
If you have ever been a part of a blue-collar town then you know what I mean.
Factory life, manufacturing life requires a certain level of simplicity. It thrives on people having a great work ethic. It thrives on people being faithful, patient and wanting to see growth.
Thyatira was not a large town. In fact, it was the smallest of the 7 towns that John writes about in the book of Revelation.
But that was also a plus. It was large enough to offer a good living but not so large that it forgot family and friends. It was just the right size to raise a family and live a good simple life.
I think most of us here this morning would have liked this church. It was an appealing Church. It was a Church that was growing, that held on to its faith, that loved and served others and that was patient.
But then as we read something happened that brought about a lot of chaos and confusion.
II. There was a fly in the ointment.
In the book of Ecclesiastes 10:1 we read about how some dead flies can ruin the making of perfume – “there is a fly in the ointment”.
In Song of Solomon chapter 2:15 we read where the little foxes can spoil the vineyard.
And in Jesus’ Parable of the Four Soils (Matthew 13:1-9), we read how the presence of a few weeds can choke the life out of some valuable plants. Plants that need room to grow and mature.
Something had come into the Church of Thyatira that was a threat to its very existence.
Jesus calls this thing – this spirit or this group of people or even this person – we don’t know exactly if it was a group of people or an individual, but we do know that whatever it was, it had the same characteristics and personality of the woman named Jezebel in the Old Testament.
You may remember her. She was the daughter of the king of Tyre and the wife of King Ahab and a great thorn in the side of the Prophet Elijah.
She made it her life mission to replace the worship and presence of the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY with the worship and presence of the Canaanite god Baal, the Storm God. It was the god of her people and she wanted Baal to be the god of Israel.
Baal was also fertility god. People believed that if you worshipped Baal correctly then you would be able to have a family and have a good harvest. Included in the worship Baal was the ability to participate in temple prostitution, human trafficking, child sacrifice, cutting and witchcraft.
That was in the Old Testament.
So, what was happening in Thyatira?
Remember, we said that Thyatira was a blue-collar town with a lot of different trades. Each trade would have what we would call a union or guild.
Every so often those trade unions would get together and have a large celebration. Those celebrations would include thanking and praising the local gods and goddesses along with having a fair share of drinking, carousing and promiscuity.
You paid your dues. You did your work and every now and then you were invited to attend a service to honor the gods and goddesses and as a plus there would be plenty of drinking and promiscuity. Each of the unions would have a group of men and women available for your pleasure.
That is just how it was. Not too different than some of the office parties that happen in many parts of our country today. People get together to have a great time; spouses are often excluded and after having too much to drink people tend to let down their guard and bad things happen.
The Church of Thyatira knew that after they had come to Christ that such behavior was no longer permitted. You were no longer supposed to bow down to the pagan gods and goddesses, and you were to keep yourself pure and holy.
As the Apostle Paul told another Church – the Church of Thessalonica –
“Rejoice always, prayer without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Holy Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-22
The Apostle John already had written similar words:
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions – is not from the Father but is from the world.” –1 John 2:15-16
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.” – 1 John 4:1
The issue was rather simple.
A certain person or group of people or this spirit of Jezebel had come into the Church and was proclaiming that:
+You could put your Christianity off to the side and actively participate in whatever was happening in your company’s parties and worship services.
I remember years ago when we were serving a church in a blue-collar town that I was given the opportunity to share in a community service. I shared a message about living up to the name of Jesus.
One of the men after the service thanked me for my message but wanted me to know that there were certain things that he had to do in his business to make a living. I later found out that in his case it was a business that sold food and other items along with having a magazine rack.
Nothing bad about any of that. A person should be able to sell food and household products and people like all kinds of magazines – Good Housekeeping, Better Homes and Garden, Southern Living, Field and Stream etc… But then I discovered that he provided the largest selection of Adult Magazines in that area. Those were the ones that he said that he had to sell to make a living.
I didn’t agree with him all those years ago and I still don’t agree with him today.
Neither did Jesus when it came to this Church.
Being a part of a union was no big deal.
Having to go to union or company celebrations was no big deal.
What was a big deal was participating in the evil that went along with those celebrations.
It happens all over our nation today. Some people get together after work, they have a company party or celebration and suddenly things start getting out of hand.
We must understand that when that happens, it’s time to go home. It’s time to remove yourself from the situation. It’s time to let the Holy Spirit guide you out of certain conversations, situations, and circumstances.
That was what was happening, and it appears that there were some in the Church that wanted to stamp their approval of such things.
There was this attitude that it would be okay to side with the current trends of culture and the world over against the spiritual disciplines of the Church.
On top of that there was this new thought coming into the Church from the Gnostics who believed that what was done in the body had no bearing on the soul. You could commit a sin in your body but still be pure in your soul. The physical was one thing and the soul was another.
That is not what Jesus taught. What we do in the body does affect the soul and what we do in the soul affects the body.
There was a fly in the spiritual ointment in the Church of Thyatira.
There was the presence of little foxes in the Church’s vineyard.
There were some weeds that were being allowed to grow in the Church’s Spiritual Garden.
III. The Church’s Future was in the Balance.
It was decision time for the Church of Thyatira.
They were a very loving church and were very patient and tolerant. A little to patient and a little to tolerant.
In some ways this church was the opposite of their sister church Ephesus. Ephesus was quick to stomp out anything that had to do with evil but at the same time they didn’t always do it with a loving heart.
Thyatira wanted there to just be so much love, patience, and tolerance that they made the mistake of not being disciplined enough. They were too tolerant when it came to sin being a part of their Church and personal lives.
The words that Jesus spoke were words that let the Church know that enough was enough. Their patience and their tolerance were not stopping this Jezebel person or spirit from hurting the Church and its future.
If they didn’t stop this problem, then Jesus would stop her.
Jesus loved his church too much to let it be retaken by evil.
Today, we live in a time where the motto of the day is to be loving, kind, patient and tolerant.
Those are not bad things.
However, we can’t be so loving that we just put up with sin.
We can’t be so tolerant that we just allow permit any type of behavior or sin to exist in the Church or in our lives.
We can’t be so kind that we don’t stand up for anything.
I know, it’s not an easy task.
That is why we need the leadership and guidance of the Holy Spirit every day.
That is why we need to not just read our Bibles but allow our Bibles to be our guidebooks.
That is why we need to test the spirits and make sure that we are not allowing in some flies that will ultimate make what should smell good smell like rotten dead flies.
That is why we need to make sure that we don’t allow the little foxes and the weeds to destroy what Christ has built over the last 2,000 years.
Thankfully, the Church of Thyatira obeyed and survived.
It continued to be loving, hard working and patient. But it also stepped up to the plate and realized that must at times say a well said NO to sin. It had to allow the Holy Spirit to give them a voice to stand up to evil and sin.
There are times we must be like the Prophet Nathan was to King David after he had molested Bathsheba and killed her husband. David had thought he had gotten away with his sin. He thought that he could continue to live without any consequences.
But God will not forever tolerate sin. He is patient and He is kind. But as this passage teaches us there is a point where God says enough is enough.
Today, let’s learn from this Church of Thyatira. Let’s learn that good churches, great churches are those who are kind, loving, patient, hardworking, faithful and trying always to be better tomorrow than they are today.
And at the same time let us listen to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, let’s test the spirits and what the Holy Spirit says is Sin is Sin. Plain and simple. What the Bible says is Sin is Sin. Plain and simple.
Yes, we are to be loving but we can never accept sin as a part of our righteousness and holiness. We can never tolerate sin to the point where it becomes accepted in our lives or in the Church.
We must always remember what the Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:9:
“But you are not like that (the world), for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light”.
This is the Word of God for the People of God.
Prayer – Invitation – Holy Communion – Blessing
