Jesus has harsh words for churches who tolerate sin.
Revelation 2:18-29 (NIV)
CONTEXT: In this opening section of Revelation, we read the text of letters that were sent to seven first-century churches by our ascended Lord & Savior. These letters both commend the churches for their faithfulness, and hold them accountable for their failings.
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.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 29: The Marks of the True Church
The true church can be recognized
if it has the following marks:
The church engages in the pure preaching
of the gospel;
it makes use of the pure administration of the sacraments
as Christ instituted them;
it practices church discipline
for correcting faults.
As for the false church,
it assigns more authority to itself and its ordinances
than to the Word of God;
it does not want to subject itself
to the yoke of Christ;
it does not administer the sacraments
as Christ commanded in his Word;
it rather adds to them or subtracts from them
as it pleases;
it bases itself on men,
more than on Jesus Christ;
it persecutes those
who live holy lives according to the Word of God
and who rebuke it for its faults, greed, and idolatry.
These two churches
are easy to recognize
and thus to distinguish
from each other.
Summary
The letter to the church in Thyatira begins with commendation. This was an active congregation, whose deeds, service and perseverance were noticed by the Lord. He also notes that this service was increasing and how it was a reflection of their love and faith. Maybe you often wonder if anyone notices the good things you do, especially on behalf of the church, so be reminded here that Jesus notices and rejoices in what you do for Him!
But all their hard work was overshadowed by a major problem: they tolerated sin; specifically a woman named Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. If you learned your Old Testament Bible stories, you immediately recognize that name as the wicked queen who led her hapless husband and the whole kingdom of Israel into sin. She's the very personification of evil.
It's hard tell in this text whether the name Jezebel is symbolic, or if there actually was a woman in the Thyatiran church actively deceiving people, but the pattern described is all too real, following the pattern illustrated in Romans 1 in which our primary sin - suppressing the truth - inevitably leads sooner or later to base sexual immorality and idolatry.
But Jesus has no toleration for such deception. He does have patience, however, and He gave her time to repent. Yet His patience is limited, and after her unwillingness to repent, He brings suffering and punishment, not only for her, but for those who commit adultery with her - both physically and spiritually - unless they repent of their ways.
Jesus deals harshly, not just with those who actively deceive His church, but also with those who merely tolerate it.
Dig Deeper
Notice how these letters in Revelation 2-3 are addressed. It's not to the minister in Thyatira, or even to the elders there, these letters are written to the church - the ekklesia, which means 'assembly.' In these letters Jesus holds the entire congregations accountable for both their faithfulness and failings.
Certainly pastors and elders have a higher duty and responsibility for their churches, but all of us, whether an ordained officebearer or not, have an obligation to keep watch over our churches and hold them accountable. This is one of the many reasons each of you need to be reading the Bible each day and digging into doctrine, so you can recognize it, or the lack of it, in your own church context.
When you see your church faithfully doing the work the Lord called it to, be like Jesus in these letters and praise it, encouraging those who make it happen. But when and where you see your church straying or tolerating sin, be like Jesus by patiently and properly calling those involved to repentance.
Being a member of a church is not an easy task, but the reward for those who are victorious and do God's will to the end is well worth it.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that both you and those God has gathered you with in your local congregation will have the strength, wisdom and will to never tolerate sin, especially in the church;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: 2 John
