Thyatira: The Tolerant Church Series

A. Revelation 2:18 (READ)

1. I am going to be FRANK with you, the letter to the church of Thyatira is the most CHALLENGING

of all to PREACH. It just doesn’t sound very “JESUSEE”. (You know what I’m talking about it?)

a. If you thought Christ’s words to Pergamum: the compromising church were HARSH, get your

SECURITY BLANKET ready because He doesn’t mix any words in His message to this church.

b. Christ is ANGRY with the TOLERANCE of WICKEDNESS that He sees HAPPENING in the church of Thyatira, and He wants it STOPPED or ELSE.

2. Notice in this VERSE how Christ describes Himself.

a. First, He refers to Himself as “The Son of God.”

COMMENT:

This is the only place in the entire book of Revelation that Christ is called “The Son of God”. John referred to Him as “the son of man” (Revelation 1:13), which speaks of His HUMANITY—

how Jesus left HEAVEN, came to EARTH and became one of US.

But here He tells the church of Thyatira that He is “THE SON OF GOD”, which speaks of His DEITY. This is not a MESSAGE from a mere MAN that has no POWER behind it, this is GOD addressing the WICKEDNESS and the TOLERANCE that is going on in that CHURCH.

b. Second, Christ says He has “eyes like blazing fire and feet like burnished bronze”, which speaks

of Christ as ALL SEEING and ALL POWERFUL. (In the Old Testament the description of “feet like bronze or brass” referred to God’s righteous judgement against His enemies.)

B. BACKGROUND OF THE CITY: The city of Thyatira was located 37 miles southeast of Pergamum. Today the city of Akhisar, Turkey sets on the location of Thyatira, but some of the ANCIENT RUINS of

the city still STAND.

1. Unlike the other CULTURAL CITIES of Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamum that DEPENDED a lot on

COASTAL TRADE and TOURISM, Thyatira was a TRADE CITY (Industrial City).

a. It was a LABOR TOWN—they BUILT stuff there.

COMMENT:

Of the seven CITIES of Asia Minor listed in Revelation, Thyatira was the SMALLEST. It wasn’t PRETTY. It was a PASSTHROUGH town sandwiched between Smyrna and Pergamum. No

one HONEYMOONED there, or went there to VACATION or SIGHTSEE.

b. There were no ARCHITECTURAL MARVELS, or magnificent TEMPLES built for EMPEROR or PAGAN WORSHIP.

2. Thyatira was known for its TRADE GUILDS (sort of like UNIONS today).

a. However, each GUILD had its own god, and a SHRINE erected to that god that they sacrificed to.

b. To be a MEMBER of the GUILD (so that you could practice your TRADE and support your family) you had to WORSHIP that god with sacrificial offerings and participation in pagan feasts

that included eating of meats offered to idols, excessive drinking and sexual immorality.

c. This, of course, left Christians in a very difficult position—either they become MEMBERS of a GUILD and participate in its IDOLATROUS and IMMORAL practices, or their family STARVES.

3. “Lydia, the seller of purple cloth who Paul baptized in a river outside of Philippi, was from Thyatira”- Acts 16:14-15. (Undoubtedly, the manufacturing of expensive FABRIC was one of the TRADE GUILDS in that city).

MESSAGE:

I. THE COMMENDATION OF CHRIST- Revelation 2:19 (READ)

A. WOW! This is how every CHURCH wants to be DESCRIBED.

1. If you were MOVING to a new TOWN and wanted to find a CHURCH to ATTEND, this would be

the kind of CHURCH you’d be LOOKING FOR.

ILLUSTRATION:

YELP would give it 5-stars. The REVIEWS would be glowing: “The people are LOVING group. They are full of FAITH. They love to SERVE their community and PERSEVERE under pressure. They are DOING MORE than when they first started—they’re growing.”

COMMENT:

This is the CHURCH that we want to PART OF. We want Garfield Christian Church to be all these things.

2. Jesus KNOWS this CHURCH is placed in a very DIFFICULT town, and whose MEMBERS are

under constant PRESSURE to join TRADE GUILDS and participate in their IDOL WORSHIP.

a. He COMMENDS them for remaining STRONG in their LOVE and FAITH and SERVICE and PERSEVERANCE, and are actually PROGRESSING and DOING MORE than when

they first started out.

b. Do you recall the COUNSEL that Jesus had for the Ephesian church: “Remember the height

from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first”- Revelation 2:5a.

COMMENT:

The Christians at Thyatira are not only “DOING the things they did at FIRST, they are

DOING MORE.”

B. In a lot of ways the church of Thyatira was the most EFFECTIVE of all the CHURCHES we studied

so FAR.

1. Christ is genuinely pleased with the GROWTH and PROGRESSION that He sees in this church.

COMMENT:

Undoubtedly, that’s what Christ would like to see in every CHURCH.