The Church in Thyatira: Sexual Immorality
Today’s passage: Revelation 2:18–29
Focus verse: “By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.” (Revelation 2:20)
We hear of the city of Thyatira once in the book of Acts. It’s the home of Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth, who hears Paul’s message about Jesus and is baptized, along with the members of her family. She then invites Paul and his entourage to her home.
This is the only time the Bible records any work done in the city of Thyatira, but we know from Revelation that there’s a church there. We can easily see Lydia as being key in its formation.
Jesus speaks well of this church, affirming their deeds, their love, their faith, their service, and their perseverance. And he notes that they’re doing more now than they once did.
This confirms their spiritual growth. This is encouraging to see and provides a notable example for us to follow today.
Yet Jesus has one thing against them. They tolerate the false teaching of a self-proclaimed prophet, a woman named Jezebel.
She misleads her followers to indulge in sexual immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols, which implies involvement in offering the sacrifices.
Does this duo of complaints—sexual immorality and eating idol-sacrificed meat—sound familiar? It’s a repeated set of issues that we just saw at the church in Pergamum, who followed the false teachings of Balaam.
We, like these churches, must watch out for false teachers, specifically those who advocate ungodly sexual practices and worship that is contrary to what the Bible teaches.
Though Jesus has given Jezebel time to repent from her immoral teaching, she’s refused to accept his offer and persists in leading people astray.
The time for her punishment has come, along with all those who follow her. Unless they repent, they will suffer intensely along with her. In this way, all the churches will know of God’s power and punishment for those who persist in misbehaving.
Only part of the church in Thyatira, however, has fallen prey to Jezebel’s ungodly leadership. The rest have rejected her wayward instruction and Satanic teaching.
To them, Jesus simply urges them to hold on to what they have until he returns.
Questions:
- Are we (and our church) known for our deeds? Love? Faith? Service? Perseverance?
- Which of these five areas should we personally give more attention to?
- How can we encourage our church family to grow in one of these five items?
- Have we accepted any ungodly sexual practices in our lives or the church we attend?
- Is our worship rightly focused on the one true God?
[Discover more about what the Bible says about sexual immorality in Mark 7:21–22, Acts 15:20, Jude 1:7, and Revelation 9:21.]
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Read more in Peter’s devotional Bible study, A New Heaven and a New Earth: 40 Practical Insights from John’s Book of Revelation.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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