Lessons from Thyatira - The Church of Compromised Loyalty: Part 1 - Revelation 2: 18-29

2:38One of the things I've learned in my journey through life is that the workplace can have a corrupting influence on people. In fact, that's where we're going to spend the majority of our lives, at least good hours of our lives. We're going to be in. The workplace. It's really here that I have witnessed marriages get compromised, loyalty to spouses, loyalty to Christ, ethics, all this really comes into play in the workplace. It brings about a whole different kind of temptation that challenges our loyalty to Christ than other areas of our life.

3:36Well, this is somewhat of what's happening in Diatira. I remember one specific instance where I experienced this firsthand. I could give you many instances, and I know I've shared this story with many of you before, so if you've already heard this, you'll hear it again. But many years ago, right as I was beginning the company, my engineering company, there was this period of time where I had to mortgage out every piece, shred of value that I had in my home. I had to raise as much money as I could, had to sink my life savings, our life savings.

4:31And everything that had any kind of work was really put into making this company go forward. I had to hire professionals. Professionals have to have professional wages, they have to have cutting-edge benefits, enticing benefits, all that. So everything I had went into this company. And really, largely, this was built upon some of the promises of one key client. And so we were in this state and in one of the states, a big project, lots of money involved in the projects, this project, and there was also a lot of political support from people in the government, including the governor. So it was a high-profile type project, and I was there.

5:31And in this work situation, we had a lot of stuff that had to get accomplished. We had this large team of individuals, and we hit a major milestone on one particular day down there that really opened up the project for success. Well, afterwards, they wanted to celebrate. And so one of my key clients. And somebody decided they would let's all go out to dinner. And they ended up choosing a place, an unholy establishment. It often happens in the workforce. And it was an unholy establishment. And so I didn't know where we were going and drove over there. And lo and behold, we get out at this unholy establishment that none of us had any business being at.

6:37And the whole entourage was heading into the place. And I sat there in my car with somebody else that worked for my company. And I said, you know what? I don't intend to go in there. Well, people could, they knew I was a believer, and they looked at me in this parking lot, everybody around, and the client comes over to my window, says, You coming in? I said, No, I'm not coming in. But I felt a pressure, and there was an encouragement to go in.

7:28And there is, it continued. Desire for me to go in. What do you think I did? I'll tell you in a moment. But I can assure you, there is that kind of a pressure. And the question I was asking myself at that moment: how far does my loyalty to Nancy extend? After all, this is one of the, if this, we lose this, if I publicly humiliate this client, we lose it all. We lose it all. And after all, in being devoted to my wife and to take care of my kids, I don't need to jeopardize that.

8:27How far does my loyalty to Nancy extend? Perhaps even the greater question: how far does my loyalty to Christ extend? Does it extend into the workplace? Are there situations where little compromises are justified? It's a pressure that's real. Many of you who are in the workplace or in the classroom getting ready for the, know exactly. What I'm talking about. The workplace, in the workplace, your loyalty to Christ will be tested. Well, there's a similar situation going on in Thyratira. In fact, I've labeled this church the church of compromised loyalty, the church of compromised loyalty.

9:26We looked at Ephesians already, the church, the letter to the church at Ephesus, called that church the church of loveless orthodoxy. We looked at the church at Smyrna, called that the church of living martyrs. I looked at the last church we looked at was the church at Pergamum, which was the church of endangered loyalty, endangered loyalty. Their loyalty was being threatened. Here at Thyratira, we have the church of compromised loyalty. It has been compromised. I'll tell you a little bit about Thyratira, and we'll just do a little more today than introduce this place called Thyratira and the church at Thyratira, and point out a few things that Christ liked about this church. We'll get into what he doesn't like next time.

10:25Years ago, I had a friend from Poland, a roommate. I didn't know very much about Poland until I had a roommate from Poland. And one of the things he told me about Poland is that it was a country on the way, a country on the way. What does that mean? Well, what he was saying is it's placed in the middle of Europe or at a position where, whenever there was a war, whether it was the Germans running over Poland or the Russians running back over Poland, Poland always seemed to be on the way and got trampled and devastated in the process.

11:04That's one reason why I think they've got a military these days. It was a country on the way and seemed to always get run over. Well, the same is true as Thyratira. Its history is so interconnected with its geography. It was located in a flat plain interior in Asia Minor, so we've started doing our cycle from Ephesus to Smyrna, or maybe do it like from Ephesus to Smyrna to Pergamum, the most northmost city, and then back down to Thyotira.

11:44But it was located in this plain, connecting two very important valleys of the Catius and the Hermas rivers. And so, what this town did in this plain. This city, it served as an outpost, a military outpost. It was a poor military outpost, but a very necessary one. It served as the protector, really, to Pergamum, capital. And what happened is Seleucus, Nicator, the successor of Alexander the Great, used this city as a defensive outpost, named it after his daughter Tyra, Taia, sorry, and it guarded the way into Pergamum. So his kingdom really went all the way from Asia Minor now, all the way down to the Himalayas. And really, this city became that outpost that guarded Pergamum. It was a city on the way. In fact, right after, whenever you read about Thyratira in history, it's usually saying, and Thyratira was conquered. And it was conquered. And it was important because any advancement, any military advancement had to go through Thyratira, had to take down the outpost, and because of its strategic location, it had to be defended to the very end. And so what this meant is that it was completely devastated every time a military force came through the plain.

13:30And then it was so important to the conquering forces that they had to rebuild it to protect their own interests. So that was the city of Thyratira. It was a city on the way. Even after the first century, it has continued to be that. A city on the way, the many different fights between Christians and Muslims through the centuries and post-beyond that it has been a city that has been conquered, destroyed, completely destroyed, and rebuilt many times. But something happened in 190 BC. Rome defeated and annexed Thyratira, and that made it part of this province of Asia. And so all this changes during the peace that was ushered into the area during the Roman rule. And so what became the geographical disadvantages of this city became a commercial advantage. It's easy to access.

14:45It's accessible from many different parts. So in time of peace, it became a great center of commercialism and commerism. And certainly this was the situation. When John wrote, this is what was going on in Thyratira at the time. But what happens is now you've got this city that has all this commercial potential, so then a lot of commercialism and commerism makes its way into this area, and there is a rise of these trade guilds. Trade guilds. We don't really use that word as much anymore, but what is a trade guild? Well, it's a promoter of a trade. It's an organization, an industrial society that seeks to advance a certain kind of industry.

15:48Might think of them as trade unions. They could be as highly organized as trade unions, or they could have been more loosely connected. But there's a whole bunch of inscriptions found in Thyratira that talk about these trade guilds, these trade, these societies. They were, in fact, they had more trade guilds, trade schools, if you will, than anywhere else in any other city. This became a real place of several industries. You can find inscriptions that speak about wool workers, linen workers.

16:39In fact, one inscription, I probably shouldn't tell you this. It makes the sermon a little bit rated, PG. But it's too late. I'm on my way through it. But you know what a Fuller is? Fuller is a professional launderer. Well, these trade guilds, they actually learned that you could take old urine, get the ammonia from it, and make clothes really, really white. We use bleach. How many of you know that you can use ammonia to get clothes white? Yes, they do. They still use it today very much. And if your clothes can't handle bleach, well, this was all the kind of industry that was developed there. Industry. They would make outer garments. There was whole clothes, leather workers, tanners, potters, bakers, slave dealers. Big slave trade in here. Now, think about how this affects the city. You've got slave traders, and guess what slaves need to know how to do?

17:54They need to know, they need to be trained. And so they're trained in. Laundering, leather, and bronze. They had bronzesmiths there. They had all kinds of stuff that was there. But one of the things that Thyratira was most known for was the dyeing of purple cloth. That was an industry leader in the color purple, purple dyes, and dying clothes with purple. Even Homer in his Iliad references the purple industry at Thyratira. There's a couple theories about where the dye was made, not that it's really important to anything other than just an interesting fact. Some thought that it came from seashells, others thought that it came from the roots of plants. It was probably from the roots. Thyratira was inland, had a good agricultural industry there.

19:03But regardless, it was a leading leader in the selling of purple, buying, selling, making, manufacturing, promoting commercial. We just read a little while ago in Acts chapter 16 that the first convert on the European continent was a woman named Lydia from Thyratira, who was a seller of purple. And so she was probably living in Philippi as a representative of this purple dying industry. So these trade guilds, very important. I'm going to play into what's happening in this letter. Something else you need to know about Thyratira is its religious background. The city had a patron God who really was before, which really got syncretized with Apollo. And Apollo was considered one of the sons of God, sons of Zeus. And when the emperor would become God incarnate, this is what they were talking about, Apollo incarnate. And so both the emperor and Apollo were considered sons of God.

20:35But the significance wasn't so the significance of the city was related to these trade guilds, because each of these trade industries had a guardian God, a God that would have to be worshipped. And so most of the worship that took place in Thyratira was not so much Worship of Apollo or Zeus, even though they had temples had a temple to Artemis. It was really to the numerous gods of these trade guilds, these patron saints of these trade guilds. I'm sorry, did I use the word patron saint? I got about 500 years ahead of myself. I'm sorry. Before they were patron saints, they were pagan deities.

21:26And so it was only through the syncretism of a corrupt church that these pagan deities become patron saints. This is why we do not pray to saints. We have one mediator between God and man, and that is Jesus Christ. So you have these deities, each one being part of this industry. So think about this. Pressure to advance your industry was strong. It was very strong in Thyratyra to advance your industry, to be part of your trade guild, to do your part, to advance your industry.

22:14And if you didn't, well, you would not have a job. We can understand this because it's still this way today. It's very important that you advance your industry. Your industry, not just advance your own interests, but the interests of your whole industry. I was a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Texas Society of Professional Engineers. I was a member of these things, and the societies themselves have a function that is to protect the industry of the whole, to promote the industry, to lobby for laws that advance the industry, to weed out malpractice within the industry, to give the industry a good reputation, a good name, so that the industry itself could be promoted, and therefore everybody who is part of the profession benefit when the whole industry is advanced. They themselves are advanced as well.

23:27We see this today. We understand industries, we understand unions, we understand this because many of us are part of them. So being disbarred is not a good thing, is it? Having your license revoked or your degree rescinded or anything else that would forbid you from practicing your profession could bring severe economic hardship upon you or upon your family. So, in Thyratira, think about that. We understand that it's important to advance your profession for the sake of your profession. Otherwise, your profession must disown you.

24:19Well, in Thyratira, the advancing of your trade inevitably involved attending these trade festivals, eating food that had been sacrificed to the custodial God, and then partake in all the activities, often very immoral, afterwards. And so that's what these guild festivals or these trade festivals were about. And at the end of these feasts, these festivals, immoral activities would begin. And if a Christian was to exit such activities, at that time, a person would open themselves up to ridicule and even being cut off from the inner circle or even the acceptable circle, and could very well cost them their jobs. And so to undermine the industry by not partaking in the trade festivals was unacceptable to the industry leaders and their Thugs.

25:33So, the main issue, I say all this just to kind of sharpen your minds to what specifically culturally is happening in Thyratira. The main issue is not emperor worship like it was at Pergamum. That was a persecution that was coming down from the state at a high level. But the main issue at Thyratira was a persecution on a much more personal level that involved peers, co-workers, supervisors, industry leaders. It really, your profession. Don't let the team down. Don't let your profession, your friends, your co-workers, your supervisors, don't let them down.

26:28And so, the question again becomes: to what extent can Christians go in the workplace, in participating in their profession, and still be loyal to Christ? Well, Jesus gives a very definitive answer in this letter. And so, we'll begin walking our way through this. In this letter, Folllows the general pattern. First, Jesus will characterize or describe himself. Second, he will compliment the church for their strengths. Then he will chastise them or he voices his concerns over their weaknesses. And then he commands them and exhorts them to respond to their situation. And then he communicates and grants a vision of victory for all the churches. So look at verse 18. And look at the characteristics of Christ here.

27:34Verse 18, and the angel of the church at Thyratira, and to the angel of the church in Thyratira, write, the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and his feet are like burnished bronze, says this, or he is saying this. Write this. And he gives several characteristics. Three, Son. Notice the Son of God. This is who Jesus refers to himself. Tell them that the Son of God is saying this. It's interesting. This is the only time he uses this title in the whole book of Revelation. It's right here, the Son of God. He's already in chapter 1 has referred to himself as the Son of Man, Son of Man among the lamps.

28:30He is the Son of Man. And when he uses this title, he's talking about Son of Man, and this is speaking about his supremacy as man over man. He's the Son of Man. He is the Supreme. As man, he is the supreme man over man. When he uses the expression, phrase, the Son of God, he speaks of his authority over man as God. He is authority over man, not just as man. He has that. He is God's first man, head, but he also has authority. He is also the Son of God, and he has authority over man as God. And this contrasts with all the guardian deities. Think about all the deities. Think about Apollo, who is considered to be the Son of God. Well, Jesus is saying here, the Son of God, the true Son of God, the one with authority is saying this.

29:37The one who is above all these non-gods, these human imaginations. The Son of God is saying this. Second, characteristic, who has eyes like a flame of fire. The one having, literally, the one having. Having eyes, flame of fire. And his eyes, we've already looked at this in chapter 1. When we first see him, he talks about his eyes and his feet. These eyes speak of an innocence, an undefiled innocence, an incorruptible purity, speak of penetrating insight and probing search. Eyes that are searching, eyes that are pure, eyes that are holy, eyes that look for purity and impurity. Hebrews 4:13 says this, and there is no creature hidden from his sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of him with whom we have to do. This is Christ. He sees us, he sees us thoroughly. His eyes penetrate. He knows us. He sees us. And what is his standard? What is he looking for? He is looking for righteousness. He wants perfection in his people. Matthew 5, 48, Jesus says, Therefore you are to be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect, and he is the one that is charged with bringing that. About through his work, his ministry, and the work of the Spirit of God in union with his Father, Son, Spirit. But look at also his feet. His feet.

31:50The one who is the Son of God is saying this. The one who has eyes like a flame of fire is saying this. And his feet are like burnished bronze. The one with feet as that of burning bronze, burnished bronze. In fact, there was a trade guild in Thyratira that made polished brass helmets for the Romans, for the Roman armies. They're very familiar with this picture of glowing metal as we saw in chapter 1. But it speaks of a purity, a moral purity, which he demands among his people. He walks among the lampstands, and he demands a moral purity, and his eyes search with his penetrating insight. He searched the minds and hearts of his people. And his feet, his feet, what a feet. Feet involve purity, and the feet also depict movement.

33:01He always leads those who follow him to holiness. There's purity in his movement, and there's movement to purify. In fact, you're going to see these feet again when he's trampling out evil. It's a purity, it's movement. He moves to that which he sees for the purpose of trampling out evil. So you think about all this for just a moment. There were those in Thyratira who felt Christ's standards were too extreme. Ever met anybody in our world today? Christ, lighten up! Christ's standards need to yield. We need to bring the Bible into this 21st century. I mean, it's way antiquated. Its morality needs to be updated. It needs to be compromised with today's standards. We hear that all the time. In fact, that's the mode.

34:12And so many church leaders and churches and entire denominations are buying into it: hook, line, cork, sinker, the whole thing. No, Christ's standards do not need to yield. He wants purity in his people. He knows what's good. He knows what's right. He knows what's best. So when you put it all together, this is a bit of a frightening image. Now, kids, think with me for just a moment. Let's suppose your parents leave and they leave a babysitter in charge. Maybe your older brother, maybe an older sister, or maybe they bring in somebody, and you start acting up and they get your dad on the phone. And your dad says, put Junior on the phone. And you pick up the phone, and it's your dad talking. And suppose your dad says something like this, Junior, I have my phone in my hand. I have my belt in my other hand, and I am going to be home soon.

35:31How would that make you feel? Like trouble's coming, right? Would you rather your dad say something like, son or daughter, I have a box of donuts and a bunch of presents, and I'm going to be home soon. What would you rather have? Probably the donuts. But it paints two very different images. And so, right away, you get, this is a bit of a dreadful picture. The one who, it's a picture of judgment. The Son of God, the one with all authority, is coming, the one who has penetrating insight, and he is coming with his feet, he's movement to purify. There is judgment. This is a frightening picture.

36:26But before he chastises them, he compliments them for what they were doing well, for what they were doing well. And you know what? I'm going to not even get there today, but I am going to swing back around to this question: How far is my loyalty to Christ expected in my profession? Well, in Thyratira, it was considered an economic suicide to reject the norms of your profession. And so, all of us have to answer this question.

37:31Should I accept and adopt the contemporary standards of the workplace, or does Christ expect something different from me? Am I still a Christian when I leave this room? Am I still devoted to Christ when I leave the assembly? Let me ask you a simpler question. Am I still married to my wife and devoted to my wife when I go on a business trip? The answer is pretty simple. Does my loyalty to my wife extend to the worksplace?

38:25It most certainly does. Going back to this moment, and I can remember the moment when there's my client, I'm in front of a whole bunch of people, and it's a bit of a public scene. It is a public scene. They want to know which direction I will go. Will I embarrass, potentially embarrass my client and lose everything that I have put into this? Company right before it even gets started. Well, I told him, No, I'm not going into the unholy establishment. I'm going to go back to the hotel and do some work.

39:20And I thought that was probably the end of the whole shebang. Well, that was quick. And I mean, I thought that was the whole end of my company. And I got back to the hotel, and later on, he caught up with me and he said, Why didn't you go with us? And I said, I didn't want to go home and tell my wife that's where I went. He goes, Oh, you don't tell your wife that. No, you don't tell your wife that. You tell her you just went and had a good sandwich.

40:00But later, I think the Lord used that to build a trust that endured. Let me tell you something about the filet mignon of your life. What's a fillet mignon? It's supposed to be the choicest part of the cut of a cow. The meat, the filet mignon. I started running some numbers. Let's suppose you enter into the workforce at age 22. You get done with school, whatever it takes to get you there, and then you enter into full-time work. That's 40 hours a week. And let's suppose you retire at age 62. Well, that's 40 hours a week for 40 years. You're talking upwards of 80,000 hours of your life. And I will say this about that: it's the choice hours. In other words, you do your sleeping at home, you do your eating at home, your workplace is your filet mignon. That's to be your best hours, the best time, and you devote yourself and your mind and your heart to your work. That's what you trade your life for. People pay you money because, well, they need you to trade your life for the production. And so that's what we trade our lives for. It's the choice hours. And so the question: am I still a Christian when I leave the church? Absolutely, and probably most importantly, in the workplace. It's among your trade guilds. It's among your professions that Christ is to be exalted. And oftentimes, it's by what you don't say, it's by what you don't laugh at, it's where you don't go that gives you away. It's who you don't bow.

41:56What are you going to do with this? Your workplace hours? Exalt Christ there. This is what was happening in Thyratira. And maybe I can give you a little advice just about the working world. Be sure you pick an industry that you can honor Christ in. Second, pick a place in that industry. Just because there's an industry that could honor Christ doesn't necessarily mean that everything in that industry honors Christ. And some industries as a whole make it very difficult to honor Christ, but there still may be some segments within that industry that you can honor Christ. But pick a place in that industry that you want God to be able to bless without creating all kinds of collateral damage to humanity. Pick an employer.

42:56Don't be afraid to put Christian on your resume. People say, don't do that. Purpose to lose your job if necessary. It's not about your job, it's about exalting Christ, being devoted to Christ in every aspect of your being, and especially where you spend the majority of your life. I think these are some of the lessons that come out of Thyratira. This was the pressure that they were feeling. Feeling. And there is this woman that we're going to meet next time named Jezebel that was convincing the church it's okay to worship the other gods or to syncretize, blend this together, compromise, do whatever your industry needs. That's what good employers do, and know that you can be a Christian in the process.

43:56God knows how to protect you. God knows how to move you on to another place. Be devoted to Christ. Be devoted to Christ. That's going to be his message to this letter or to this church. And we'll have to stop there and pick it up next time with what he likes. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the truth. We thank you for this church. We thank you for what you're saying to us through this church and through their ministry and through their struggles and through their compromise and all this, Father. I thank you that you have used this as a tool to instruct us, this church in history, that we may be able to learn from them and hear what you are saying to your church here at Emmanuel today. Help us to be devoted to you. Help us to be devoted husbands, wives, and students, and workers, and co-workers, and supervisors, and bosses. And company owners, help us to be faithful in all of these things. Let there be the tone of devotion to Christ rise up through all of this. So, Father, thank you for the time you've given us. May you be exalted as we leave this place. May our devotion to you not stop at the threshold of this building.

45:25But may your great name be exalted everywhere we go because your name is great and worthy to be exalted. In Jesus' name, amen.