Revelation 2:18-29
There
are some people that the more you know them the more impressed by them you
become. And there are some people the more you know them the less impressed by
them you become. That is the way with the church at Thyatira. If all we knew of
Thyatira was what is recorded in verse 19 we might conclude that she was a
pretty amazing Church. But the introduction of Christ in verse 18 is very
intimidating and as we read verse 19 we are expecting the other shoe to fall
and when it does it is not a pretty picture.
The
address begins, “I know your deeds.” These deeds are defined in four categories:
love, faith, service, and perseverance. It is noted that the church is growing
in these four categories. So, what could be the problem? Simply this, all these
are or can be externals; they can be faked. The church had a huge problem,
which the Lord defines as “tolerance”. Don’t miss this point! The overarching and supreme problem in this
church was tolerance. This tolerance was toward an influential woman who was
teaching wrong ideas. It is important to note that she was not teaching
immorality or participation in meals conducted in association with idol
sacrifice. She was teaching and leading people astray and the natural, inevitable
result was that the people would, on their own choice, engage in immoral behavior.
As
a disciple we must be extremely discriminating in the teachers we listen to. A
great many teachers have propagated and distorted the faith. They do not
overtly teach evil, but they lay a philosophical foundation for evil practices.
These acts of immorality may be, but are not limited to, sexual behaviors. Just
because a teacher has a platform or a program is no certainty they are teaching
the truth. In fact, popularity in a sinful world needs to be a warning sign.
Every disciple needs to be a student and scholar of scripture before being a
devotee of a teacher.
The
consequences are serious in the extreme. The Lord’s response is fierce. “I will
kill….” all those who buy into this doctrine. The fierce Lord with flaming eyes
and burning feet is ready to kill. Because a teacher or teaching appeals to us
is no measure of the validity; in fact, because of our fallen nature this
appeal may in reality spell our doom. By our very fallen nature we want to
believe those things that appeal to us, that make us feel good about ourselves
and our lives. That is a tendency the
enemy will exploit and use to deceive us.
We must be aware of how we feel about things, but care not to trust our
feelings.
But
escape is possible. To those who are misguided the Lord offers the word of
repentance. To those who have resisted the siren song the Lord offers the
challenge to hold fast. In the promise there is an important undertone. The
false teachers are popular and the faithful are not, but in the life to come
the faithful are elevated to rule with and in the company of our Lord. As
disciples we choose our future. That
choice is to be made with the greatest care testing every teacher by the Word
of God, not how we feel about his or her message.
Questions
to ponder
What
is an occasion in which you became more impressed with a person the more you
knew about them? Can you give an
opposite example?
Jesus
said, “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for in the
same way their fathers used to treat the false prophets.” What motivates the world to speak well of
false teachers? What motivates false
teachers to try to garner the praise of the world?
Just
because a church is doing a lot of good highly visible things as described in v
19 doesn’t mean that they are faithful.
As disciples how can we develop the discernment to see beyond any
façade?
