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. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first. Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 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. 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. 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). (Rev. 2:18-24)
As we continue to consider our own personal alignment with the heart and the will of the Father we want to look at the words of Jesus to the church in Thyatira. Thyatira was a small city but because of it’s location was still a center of trade and commerce. In the city, trade unions controlled all skilled jobs. In order to work in that city you had to be a member of the union. That in itself was not a problem, but each of those unions was dedicated to a pagan god and when they met all the members were expected to participate in worship, eat food that had been dedicated to that god, and participate in any religious activities of the pagan temple. Nearly all those activities involved drunkenness and sexual immorality. As a result, it was difficult to work in Thyatira, provide for your family, and be faithful to Jesus.
The letter begins with a sobering description of Jesus as one having blazing eyes and feet of bronze. This is a picture of a righteous judge who can see through any pretense and who will deal out judgment and even harsh discipline if needed. Within the church was a woman who had all the qualities of Queen Jezebel from the Old Testament. She must have been domineering, manipulative, ruthless, and seductive. She presented herself as a prophetess and so she gave Satanic counsel in the name of the Lord.
Apparently, she encouraged the believers to practice situation ethics and to “go along to get along.” Her argument was that a man had to provide for his family. To provide he must work. To work he must be part of a guild. To be part of a guild he must participate in their idolatry and immorality. To participate was acceptable, even for a believer, because it was the only way he could provide for his family.
This kind of reasoning was another form of compromise and a lack of faith in the God who will provide for those who serve him faithfully. Even today, some believers compromise their faith in order to maintain or move ahead in their career but somehow excuse it as “needful” because they “must provide for their family.” Sometimes it takes the form of entertaining clients with liquor and women or going to clubs. Sometimes it is participating in unethical business practices. At other times it is working so many hours a week that there is no time for God or spiritual family. And at other times it is just trying to fit in by participating in the gossip, the sexual humor, and the “one too many drinks” at happy hour every Friday so that their witness is compromised. Some of us are very different when we are with non-Christians on the golf course, the basketball court, or in the deer blind than we are at church in an effort to “fit in” and be one of the guys. The problem is that we were not called into the kingdom to fit in with the world. We are to be different – not self-righteous or judgmental – but distinctive. If non-believers don’t experience a distinct difference with us, then there is no witness.
We all live with the temptation to compartmentalize our lives by being Christian when we are with Christians and being worldly when we are with the world. But Jesus makes it very clear that he must be Lord over every part of our life all the time and not just when it is convenient. The Righteous Judge who did not compromise his mission finds no valid reasons to compromise the faith. The sad thing is that although there was evidence of love, faith, service, and perseverance in the church the people still allowed this “prophetess” to lead them into idolatry and immorality because it seemed pragmatic and kept them from having to face the potential for suffering and sacrifice.
In the letters to the churches of Asia we have read so far, each church had been doing praiseworthy things for the kingdom of God but had certain practices in their lives that were unacceptable to the righteous judge. Sometimes we think that doing good on the one hand buys us a wink from God about the unrepented sin in our life on the other hand. But that intentional, unrepented misalignment will cost us eventually. For the power of God to flow through us we must reserve nothing for ourselves and trust God in every part of our lives – even with our livelihood. The promise of great reward stands for those who entrust everything to him. That is alignment.
