A Growing Church Needs to Stay Faithful (Revelation 2:18-29)

Hi, I'm Pastor Creighton, and thank you for tuning into Newsong Churches Podcast.

We're a biblically faithful, gospel-centered Anglican church in Port Perry, Ontario, proclaiming the true and life-giving word of Jesus as we love and serve our neighbors.

You can learn more about us at newsongportperry.ca.

May God bless you today through his life-giving word.

The first reading is from the book of Revelation, chapter 2, verses 18 to 29.

Revelation 2:18–29

And to the angel of the church in Thyatira, write the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

I know your works, your love and faith and service, and the patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.

But I have this against you that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.

I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality.

Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her, I will throw into great tribulation unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead.

And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.

But to the rest of you in Sciaterium, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.

Only hold fast what you have until I come.

The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.

And I will give him the morning star.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

The word of the Lord.

Only hold fast to what you have until I come.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, it's only an act of your generosity by which we receive your word, which you scatter generously.

We pray, Lord, that by grace we would receive your word.

That we would not be unfruitful, but we would bear fruit in keeping with righteousness.

And Lord, that our yield would be a hundredfold, sixty, thirty, whatever, Lord, you intend for it to be.

Would we be faithful?

Would we be fruitful?

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be always pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our Redeemer.

Amen.

Please be seated.

So we are journeying through these early chapters of the book of Revelation.

John is in exile for his faith in Christ on the island of Patmos, and he is receiving a heavenly vision from the Lord Jesus Himself, who's dictating these letters to be distributed to real churches in this Roman province of Asia Minor.

These seven churches are representative of the church for all time, going out further and further as the gospel spreads abroad.

What Jesus has to say to these churches is what Jesus has to say to his church.

And as we gather, as his church, new song, our question is, what does Jesus have to say to us?

We've seen a pattern start to emerge with these letters, right?

We're starting to see a pattern of affirmation and commendation, and then warning, and then promise, right?

This is Jesus' word to his church.

He knows his church.

He stands with his church.

And where two or three are gathered in his name, there he is among us.

Jesus loves us too much to leave us without his word.

And so to the church in Thyatira, Jesus has instruction for a growing church.

At least that's how we can characterize Theatira, I think.

This is Jesus' instruction for a growing church.

And here's three things Jesus has to say to this growing church.

A growing church increases in virtue.

A growing church refuses spiritual compromise.

And a growing church keeps the goal in mind.

A growing church increases in virtue, refuses spiritual compromise, and keeps the goal in mind.

The bottom line is this a growing church needs to stay faithful to reign with Christ.

So, Nu Song, we talk a lot about growth, don't we?

Rightly so, and I hope in the right way.

And if we ourselves want to be growing Christians, which is what the parable of the sower, I think, is all about, then we need to consider very carefully what Jesus has to say to a growing church, to know that we're growing in the right direction and in the right way.

So let's open up our order of service to Revelation chapter 2, or open up the Bibles in your chairs, in the chair in front of you, to page 966, and let's discover what Jesus has to say to a growing church.

Revelation 2 · chapter mention

Like new song.

So verse 18, John is uh acknowledging that this is a word that comes from Jesus.

He's acknowledging the authority that Jesus has, these fiery eyes that see through deception, these bronze feet that walk, march with authority.

And now Jesus has this word for the church.

He says, verse 19, I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.

So Jesus commends this church in Thyatira for two things.

Number one, for their works, right?

For all of the problems that this church has, which we'll talk to about shortly.

Jesus knows this church puts its Christianity into practice in at least four ways.

Number one, by their love.

By this, everyone will know that you are my disciples, Jesus says to his disciples in John 13, if you love one another.

Love is at the heart of the Christian life, isn't it?

Willing the good of the others sacrificially is the very heart of the gospel, isn't it?

And therefore, it must be at the heart of the Christian life, beginning with our love for our brothers and sisters in Christ here in the church.

Number two, Jesus commends them for their faith.

Hebrews 11 tells us that without faith it's impossible to please God.

Faith is not a blind leap, it's not wishful thinking, but it's a confident trust in God's capability and character.

Even in the most difficult circumstances, such as those being faced by the Christians in Theatira, Christians can rest in the assurance that God works all things for the good.

Number three, Jesus commends them for their service.

Whoever would be great among you must be your servant.

So says Jesus in Mark 10.

Love and faith are not merely good ideas, are they?

Just intellectual ideas to play around with.

They are realities that the church is called to put into practice.

And those who have been served by Christ know that we are moved to serve others for his sake.

And here's number four, Jesus commends them for their patient endurance, that is, their perseverance or their steadfastness.

James writes in his epistle, Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood to the test, he will receive the crown of life.

So if Revelation has one central message, we could sum it up as this don't give up.

Don't give up.

The pressures and persecutions of this world might tempt Christians to compromise or to quit, but Jesus has already won the victory through his cross and through his resurrection, and soon it will be fully realized when he comes again in glory.

So don't give up.

Endure, church.

These are the four virtues that characterize the church in Theatira.

For these four things, Jesus pats them on the back and says, Adaboy, you're doing what you need to be doing.

But these virtues are not static, they are growing.

And this is why we see that the church in Theatira is a growing church.

Jesus says in the second half of verse 19, your latter works exceed the first.

So their love, faith, service, and perseverance are greater now than when the church first began.

This is a growing church.

Even for all of the opposition that they face, they continue to grow.

It's a church that's growing spiritually, and a church whose growth can be measured, if not in increasing attendance numbers, in Christ-like character, which might be all the more important.

So here's a confession.

When pastors meet and talk to one another, one of the first questions often asked is this So how big is your church?

Is that fair to say, Rob?

This is not necessarily a bad question, and I don't mean to be too hard on pastors or folks who've asked that question.

Because it is helpful to gain a sense of the ministry context, etc.

But we must be careful not to assume that numerical growth is the only growth that matters in the life of the church.

Jesus commends Theatira not for its size, but for its increasing maturity.

And I suspect that church growth should be aimed at spiritual maturity first, and increased attendance will be a side effect of growth in virtue.

Often, however, isn't it the case that the church usually can confuse the two?

So one commentator writes this Jesus gives one of his most glowing commendations of the seven letters to this church and Theatera.

Why?

Why does Jesus give one of his most glowing commendations?

He says, because they were growing and maturing in discipleship.

That's what he earns them this commendation.

A growing church matures first and foremost in virtue, in its Christ-like character.

So a church that's growing in the way that Christ commends, number one, demonstrates their Christianity through works of love, faith, service, and endurance, which, number two, grow over time as Christians mature.

See, the Christian faith is something we put into practice, isn't it?

It's not simply a noun, it's a verb.

And growing churches are made up of Christians who put their faith into practice as they mature in Christian virtue.

So how do we grow in virtue?

If we want to grow spiritually, if we want to be Christians who grow spiritually, where do we begin?

I love these four virtues that Jesus identifies in Theotera.

I don't think any church, any healthy church can do without any one of them.

I don't think healthy Christians can do without any one of them.

And we might look at these four things and be honest about ourselves and say, you know, I think I've got my strengths, I think I've got my weaknesses, right?

I don't, you don't have to ask me twice if I can serve at something.

If I'm there, I'm there to serve.

But boy, I can really struggle to love someone I have a hard time with.

If we identify those things that we struggle with and we prayerfully commit ourselves to practice that virtue, what we find is as that virtue grows, as we ask for God's help to increase that virtue within us, here's the thing we find.

We find that the other virtues have a way of growing with it.

Because virtues don't grow alone.

They don't grow in little compartments, they grow together.

Thomas Aquinas has a great analogy.

He talks about virtues like fingers on a hand.

They're all in proportion.

And if we play the piano, we're playing the piano with all fingers working in coordination and in unison, right?

This is the way the virtues work.

They work together.

And as one is strengthened, all of them are strengthened.

So if we know that we struggle, or if we know that we have room to grow, then we can pray for opportunities to put virtue into practice.

And here's the thing about that prayer is that God will answer it.

If we pray for something like, God, increase in me love, he will probably put people in your life who are difficult to love.

And maybe that's part of being in the church together.

Because we will drive each other crazy sometimes.

But we will also increase virtue in one another as we grow in friendship, as we grow in discipleship.

We need one another, brothers and sisters, and we can rely on one another as brothers and sisters for accountability, for strength, for encouragement as we do this together.

Virtues increase together, both in the individual Christian's life, but also in the life of a congregation.

And this is what we want to do, isn't it?

We want to put Christ's character on display for one another and for the community who needs to know the Lord Jesus.

So a growing church matures in virtue.

That's number one.

Here's the second thing Jesus has to say to a growing church.

A growing church refuses spiritual compromise.

So the problem in Theatira wasn't growth, it was spiritual compromise.

Like Smyrna, Theotira is a church that's under pressure.

The city was dominated by trade guilds that were closely tied to the local pagan religions, and membership in these guilds often required participation in festivals involving idol worship and sexual immorality.

So for Christians trying to earn a living, put bread on the table, the temptation in Theatra was to compromise, to keep the faith private and simply go along with what culture expects of them.

And Jesus wants this church to be clear on two things in order to stay faithful to the gospel.

Number one, spiritual compromise is spiritual adultery.

Jesus says this.

In other words, to practice idol worship.

So who's Jezebel?

Here's the thing about Revelation.

Revelation assumes we as readers have gone to Sunday school and that we know our Old Testament.

So if we see an image or get a name drop and we go, what's that about?

The first place we should turn is to the Old Testament, because that's probably gonna unlock the intended meaning in the passage we're looking at.

In 1 Kings 16 to 21, Queen Jezebel led Israel into Baal worship through false teaching, idolatry, and by sponsoring temple prostitution.

Here, Jesus uses her name for a self-appointed prophetess in Thyatira who was persuading Christians that they could follow Christ while participating in pagan worship.

It's not either or, it can be both and.

That might be fair to say.

One commentator writes of Jezebel in 1 Kings that Jezebel's public argument was that one could worship Baal right alongside Yahweh, the true God.

But she knew better.

She knew that different religious systems, at least those so fundamentally different as Baal worship and Yahweh worship, cannot exist side by side without compromising one or both.

Notice how Jesus describes her work.

She is seducing my servants.

That language is very deliberate, isn't it?

Throughout Scripture, God's covenant with his people is pictured as a marriage.

Spiritual compromise, therefore, is more than just bowing before a lifeless idol, it is giving to another what exclusively belongs to God alone.

It is, in that sense, a spiritual adultery.

That's the first thing Jesus wants this church to understand.

Here's the second spiritual adultery will be judged.

Jesus says this.

Notice Christ's heart.

His desire is for what?

Her repentance, not condemnation.

As he says in Luke chapter 5, I've not come to call the righteous, that is the self-righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Luke 5 · chapter mention

So is Jesus' heart towards even this prophetess.

But this prophetess and her children, that is, her followers, refuse the call to repent.

They reject Christ's mercy and they persist in this spiritual adultery.

Unless they repent, Christ will answer their rebellion with his righteous judgment.

Behold, Jesus says, I will throw her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her, I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works.

Those who say to God, Thy will be done, and those to whom God says in the end, Thy will be done.

I will give to each of you according to your works.

This is a sobering warning, isn't it?

And Jesus needs his church to take it to heart, lest we settle for anything less than the truth of the gospel.

A growing church refuses spiritual compromise.

It happens when the church accommodates teaching and practice that conflict with the gospel of Jesus, right?

Such a compromise can start out small at first, but it's a form of unfaithfulness, a form of adultery towards God, which results not in spiritual growth, but in Christ's judgment.

So what's the application here?

Well, Jesus says it three times in this passage, doesn't he?

Repent.

Repent.

Turn around.

Do a 180.

The direction you're going is not good.

Come back.

See, the promise of God's forgiveness for the repenting sinner is one of the gospel's greatest assurances, isn't it?

No matter how far we've strayed, Christ is ready to receive the sinner who turns to him.

He calls the sinner to himself.

His heart goes out to the sinner.

For he desires not the death of a sinner, but that he turn from his wickedness and live.

Friends, this is why we confess our sins every Sunday as a church, isn't it?

Not because it's like we're sinners and we're doing this pretend thing, it's because if we are honest enough about our hearts, we are prone to wander, and Lord, we feel it, prone to leave the God we love.

And we as a church need to come back to that gospel every time we gather.

And when we say these words together, we are giving expression to our need for His grace and our desire to turn back to Him and not settle for lesser loves that don't supply what they promise.

And for those who struggle with sin in particular areas of life, there is always pastoral provision for private confession.

But in whatever form it takes, we as Christians make a practice of constantly turning back to Jesus, who alone supplies what he promises.

So that's what we're called to do.

We're called to repent.

But let's ask another question: what does faithfulness look like?

Even more than repentance, what does it look like to walk faithfully with Christ?

We're talking about the imagery of a marriage covenant, aren't we?

And I think that gives us a very clear image of what faithfulness to Christ looks like.

Here's a couple of lines from the marriage service.

I'm getting uh brushing up on the marriage service lately as, you know, a wedding might be coming up.

There's a couple of great lines.

Um is a statement of intent, right?

And the question is, will you, the bride and groom, forsake all others?

I mean, right there is what faithfulness looks like, isn't it?

Do I have loves that compete with Jesus?

And if they compete with Jesus, am I willing to forsake them for his sake?

Doesn't mean that Christians don't have other loves, by the way.

It doesn't mean we don't love our family, love our community, love our job, whatever that is, of course we have those loves, but do those loves compete for first place?

Right?

We forsake all other loves to put Jesus in first place.

And then the vows, of course, that a husband and wife take, we have and hold one another, right?

Do I cling to Jesus?

Do I wrap my arms around him by faith?

Do I delight myself in Jesus as the one who has and holds me?

Because that's the source of our assurance, isn't it?

A growing church refuses spiritual compromise and clings to Jesus.

Here's the third thing Jesus has to say.

A growing church keeps the goal in mind.

There's a goal to the Christian life.

Let's keep it in mind.

Jesus addresses those within the church in Theatira who have refused spiritual compromise and remain faithful to the gospel.

But to the rest of you in Theatira, verse 24, who do not hold to this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay onto you any other burden.

Only hold fast to what you have until I come.

Now for a church under pressure to compromise, what's the goal of holding fast?

Jesus promises two gifts of eternal significance.

Gift number one, reigning with Christ.

Verse 26 the one who conquers or perseveres, the one who endures and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father.

Did you catch it?

To reign over a realm, a reign over a kingdom means that you've been given rightful authority to exercise power.

And just like in verse 27, Jesus says in Matthew 28 to his disciples, that there is no other, no greater authority, I should say, rather than what he himself has received from the Father.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

There is no one who can compete with Jesus on Jesus' terms.

But here we discover the difference between the heart of Christ and the heart of a despot, or the heart of a tyrant.

A despot consolidates all power for himself and exercises it to impose upon and oppress others.

But the heart of Christ our King, who has all authority in heaven and earth, delights to share his authority and to exercise it together with us, his subjects.

The Apostle Paul says to Timothy, if we Christians endure, we also will reign with him.

So think about your picture of heaven for a minute.

What do you picture?

I always picture something out of Bugs Bunny, you know?

Lots of clouds, lots of harp music, right?

A never-ending church service.

Maybe that's appealing.

Maybe it's just better than the alternative.

But does that track with what we see here?

Think about it.

Jesus is saying that you and I will spend eternity exercising God-given authority justly for the good of one another and for all of creation, all to the glory of God.

We will reign with Christ.

That's gift number one.

I will give authority over the nations.

Here's gift number two.

If gift number one is reigning with Christ, gift number two is this: reigning with Christ.

Let me tell you the difference.

Verse 28, I will give him, the one who perseveres, the one who endures, the morning star.

So the morning star is the most visible star at the darkest time of night, say 2 or 3 a.m.

Maybe some of you have stayed up and seen the morning star.

I'm always in bed by 9.30.

But the morning star signals that the night is nearly over and that the dawn is just about to begin.

It's a symbol of hope, isn't it?

No matter how dark things seem, the darkness will soon be overwhelmed and transformed by the light.

And in case there's any question about who this morning star is, as Jesus concludes the letter to Revelation, he says in chapter 22, I am the bright morning star.

So to those who persevere, who refuse compromise and stay faithful to the gospel, he promises not only that we will reign, but he promises us a gift which cannot be surpassed.

He promises us the morning star.

He promises us himself, a gift which we receive by faith.

Jesus is the only one through whom we were created, the one to whom we are united by the Holy Spirit, and the only one which satisfies the deepest longings of our hearts.

And for all eternity we will reign with Him.

The Church Reformer Martin Luther understood that there's no greater gift we could ask for.

He writes this: he says, faith not only justifies, it unites the soul with Christ as a bride is united with her bridegroom.

Think about that.

Think about what it means for a bride to be united with her bridegroom on her wedding day.

There is no greater joy, no greater delight that can be had.

So too, church, will we delight ourselves in our Lord Jesus, that great bridegroom.

See, a growing church keeps the goal in mind.

We are pilgrims on our way to the celestial city.

And we press on, knowing that when we arrive, Christ will have no less than two gifts in store for us.

We will reign with him, and we will reign with him.

So hold fast.

Don't let go of the truth that you have received, church.

It can be tempting because the world puts pressure on us, doesn't it?

And we know that pressure for ourselves, many of us do.

But Jesus says, I do not lay on you any other burden than this.

Hold fast.

Now, when we understand the gospel, when we understand the good news of Jesus, we come to see that this burden is not a heavy burden.

It is a light and easy and joyful burden.

Why is that?

Matthew 11, Jesus says, He gives us an invitation, doesn't he?

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, learn from me, for I'm gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest.

There it is again for your soul.

For my yoke is easy, my burden is light.

See, all other religions offer some version of eternal rewards for some version of bearing the difficult burden of holding fast, right?

Only the gospel of Jesus can be considered an easy burden.

Why is that?

Because it's through the cross of Christ, the resurrection of Christ, the ascension of Christ, and his coming again that Jesus accomplishes for us what we cannot accomplish ourselves.

And we rest not on our striving to hold fast, we rest in what he has done for us.

We rest in the fact that the one who has conquered sin and death holds us fast.

We have only to hold on to him.

So, dear church, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

What does the Spirit say?

What does Jesus say to his church?

A growing church needs to stay faithful to reign with Christ.

A growing church increases in virtue.

We will see Christ-like character growing within us as individual Christians, within our church family.

A growing church refuses spiritual compromise.

It will stay true to the good news of Jesus.

And a growing church always keeps the goal in mind.

We will delight ourselves forever in reigning with Christ.

We grow because we want others to get in on this.

And we grow ourselves because we want in on it, don't we?

This is the gift Jesus offers us today.

We can receive it by faith.

We can turn to him again and we can ask him for the grace to cause us to grow.

Grow and increase thirty-fold, sixty-fold, a hundredfold to his glory.

Amen.

If you live in the area, we hope that you'll come and worship with us in person on Sunday at 10 a.m.

If you'd like to learn more about Newsong Church, we'd love to connect with you.

Please find our contact information at newsongportperry.ca and reach out to us.

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Go in peace to love and serve the Lord.