Sermon Tite: The Corrupt Church
Sermon Text: Revelation 2:18-29
Sermon Purpose: To call the hearer to separate themselves from the corrupt lifestyle of the world in the church.
Sermon Proposition: There are 5 exhortations for the corrupt church.
18 "And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: 19 "I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. 20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22 Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. 23 I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. 24 "Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. 25 But hold fast what you have till I come. 26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations- 27 'He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’- as I also have received from My Father; 28 and I will give him the morning star. 29 "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."' Revelation 2:18-29 (NKJV)
THE CHURCH
The Church in Thyatira
As in the case with the churches at Smyrna and Pergamum, the Bible does not record the founding of the church at Thyatira. According to Acts 16:14, "A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God," was converted under Paul's ministry at Philippi. Verse 15 records that members of her household also came to saving faith in Christ and were baptized. It is possible that Lydia and her household participated in starting the church at Thyatira. More likely, the church there was founded as an outreach of Paul's ministry at Ephesus (Acts 19:10).
THE CITY
Thyatira
From Pergamum, northernmost of the seven cities, the Roman road curved east and then southeast to Thyatira, approximately forty miles away. Thyatira was located in a long north-south valley connecting the valleys of the Caicus and Hermus rivers. Unlike Smyrna or Pergamum, Thyatira was built in relatively flat country and lacked an acropolis. Its lack of natural fortifications would play a significant role in its history.
Thyatira was founded by one of Alexander the Great's successors, Seleucus, as a military outpost guarding the north-south road. It later changed hands, and came under the rule of Lysimachus, who ruled Pergamum. Thyatira was the gateway to Pergamum, and the task of the defenders at Thyatira was to delay an attacker and thus buy time for Pergamum. Unfortunately, since Thyatira had no natural defenses, the garrison there could not hope to hold out for long. Thus, the city was repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt; the scanty references to it in ancient literature usually describe its conquest by an invading army.
Finally, about 190 B.C., Thyatira was conquered and annexed by the Romans and enjoyed the Roman peace. The city then became a flourishing commercial center. Its location on the main north-south road, formerly a liability, now became an asset. That road became even more important in Roman times, as it connected Pergamum with Laodicea, Smyrna, and the interior regions of the province of Asia. It also served as the Roman post road. At the time the book of Revelation was written, Thyatira was just entering its period of greatest prosperity.
Thyatira was noted for its numerous guilds (roughly the equivalent of today's labor unions). Thyatira's main industry was the production of wool and dyed goods (especially purple goods, dyed with purple dye extracted from the madder root), but inscriptions also mention guilds for linen workers, makers of outer garments, dyers, leather workers, tanners, potters, bakers, slave dealers, and bronze smiths (William Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia [Albany, Oreg.: AGES Software; reprint of the 1904 edition], 260). Lydia probably represented her guild in Philippi (Acts 16:14), showing that Thyatira's market extended across the Aegean Sea to mainland Greece.
Unlike Pergamum or Smyrna, Thyatira was not an important religious center. The primary god worshiped by the Thyatirans was the Greek sun god, Apollo. Nor does there appear to have been a sizable Jewish population. The pressure faced by the Christians in Thyatira came from the guilds. To hold a job or run a business, it was necessary to be a member of a guild. Each guild had its patron deity, in whose honor feasts were held -- completed with meat sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality. Christians faced the dilemma of attending those feasts or possibly losing their livelihood. How some in the Thyatira church were handling the situation caused the Lord Jesus Christ great concern.
Information taken from "The MacArthur New Testament Commentary: Revelation 1-11, Moody Press/Chicago, 1999.