Why is there so much darkness outside?
Within the church, people are asking the question, "Why is there so much darkness outside?" Do we not all share this sense that society is growing increasingly corrupt?
There is a continual effort to suppress the truth of Christ. I was reading how a group is suing the city of New York to have an iron cross removed from a memorial at Ground Zero. The cross, which once protruded out of the World Trade Center devastation, has been a symbol of hope and encouragement for thousands. But now it must go.
If we use Romans 1 as a photometer to measure the intensity of light, we can sense the shift that is occurring. We are certainly not a grateful society that gives thanks to God and glorifies God. Instead, we are a desperate society that never has enough, that forfeits its future for instant gratification, and that gains selfishly at the expense of others. Dishonesty is increasing. Corruption. Immorality. Murder. Violence. People are filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. Public figures openly slander God's holy name. You turn on the television, and the top show is MTV's "Jersey Shore" This is a show filled with insolence, gossip, envy, and strife.
Did you read about the mob violence earlier this year in Peoria? Or the mob violence that took place this past week at the Wisconsin State fair? People were being pulled out of their cars and off motorcycles, and attacked as they walked. Just what is going on?
Today, people are given over to their sinful desires, to sexual immorality, and to the degrading of their own bodies. It's fashionable for men and women to exchange natural relations for unnatural relations, to become inflamed in lust for one another, and for men to commit indecent acts with other men. So our question is, "Why is the darkness increasing outside of the Church?" That's the question we would ask, but this isn't Christ's question.
What is the Church's response to the problems of the world?
I am challenged by what Leonard Sweet writes in his book Aqua Church. "Light illuminates the darkness. If there's darkness, the blame should be attached where it belongs; not to the world that is dark, but to the church which is failing to provide the light."
Or consider what the late theologian, John Stott wrote. "You know what your own country is like. I'm a visitor, and I wouldn't presume to speak about America. But I know what Great Britain is like. I know something about the growing dishonesty, corruption, immorality, violence, pornography, the diminishing respect for human life, and the increase in abortion. Whose fault is it? Let me put it like this: if the house is dark at night, there is no sense in blaming the house. That's what happens when the sun goes down. The question to ask is, "Where is the light?" If society becomes corrupt like a dark night, there's no sense in blaming society. That's what happens when fallen human society is left to itself and human evil is unrestrained and unchecked. The question to ask is "Where is the church?" [John Stott, "Christians: Salt and Light", Preaching Today, Tape No. 109. PreachingToday.com – Where Is the Church?]
I think this is Christ's question as well. Not where is society, but rather where is the Church?
Christ introduces himself to the church at Thyatira.
In Revelation 2 we come to the church at Thyatira. Look how Christ introduces himself to the church there. Revelation 2:18 (NIV) says, "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."
Both images are equally perplexing! Christ's eyes are like blazing fire. His feet are like burnished bronze. We need to talk about both of these images, but first, what does Christ see when he looks at his Church?
Positively, Christ sees his church at Thyatira doing extraordinarily things. In Revelation 2:19 (NIV) Christ says, "I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first."
What a tremendous commendation for a church! They were doing good deeds. I'm sure they were feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, binding up the broken, healing the sick, and visiting those in prison. They were filled with love and great faith. I'm sure they were trusting God to provide, to work miracles, and intervene in their circumstances. They were persevering in service. No task was too dirty or too hard. They weren't easily discouraged in serving God. And they were the raising the bar. They were loving God and loving people at a capacity far beyond where they first started, years earlier.
Despite Thyatira's good deeds, Christ is blazing against them.
But despite all these good things, Christ's eyes are blazing with white hot intensity. Could you imagine being the recipient of such a glare? When I was a child, I used to dread my father's glare. If I was at church and started acting up, one stern glare was all it took to snap me back in line. Imagine the dread you'd feel, standing in the presence of your Lord Jesus Christ, his eyes blazing like fire, penetrating to the core of your being.
Despite all the good, this church had a fatal flaw. Revelation 2:20-21 (NIV) says, "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."
Let's talk for a moment about tolerance. Notice, Jesus alludes to Jezebel. In the Old Testament, Jezebel was the wife of King Ahab. And who was King Ahab? Ahab was king over all Israel who married a Canaanite woman named Jezebel.
1 Kings 16:30-33 (NIV) says, "Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. He set an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him."
Jezebel would go on to persecute the prophets of God and would lead Israel astray, seducing Israel into sin, just as she had king Ahab.
The church at Thyatira was tolerant of sexual immorality.
The church at Thyatira is in a perilous circumstance. On the one hand, the Church exists to call people out of darkness into Christ's marvelous light. But on the other hand, the Church is called to exude Christ's holy character. The Church must be in the world, without becoming of the world. This is the tension of ministry.
Yet here is a woman within the church at Thyatira who has the character of Ahab's wife, Jezebel. And this woman is leading the church astray. She is seducing the men of the church to commit acts of sexual immorality. She's been given plenty of time to repent, but she's unwilling. Not only is the church tolerating her presence and allowing her to remain, but the church was grossly underestimating her evil influence and the danger she was posing spiritually. Instead of blazing with holiness, the church's light was being snuffed out!
Here is the reality. The church at Thyatira is the American Church. The American Church is just as tolerant and just as morally confused as the church at Thyatira. I want you to think about the sexual attitudes prevalent in the church today.
What sexual attitudes are prevalent in the Church today?
What is our attitude toward modesty? There are men in churches who encourage their wives to dress immodestly, and who allow their daughters to dress immodestly. With few exceptions, Christian women dress just as scantily clad as the ungodly.
What is our attitude about lusting? What about watching R-Rated movies with explicit content, or viewing pornography? In our churches, married men and women flirt and troll for attention just as readily as those outside the church. According to statistics, single men and women in the church are just as promiscuous, fornicate just as much, and couples commit adultery just as much as those outside Christ. For the first time in the history of the Church, that I am aware of, churches are ordaining practicing homosexuals. And churches are more than happy to marry them too. And consider how the Catholic Church has tolerated pedophilia among her priests, often turning a blind eye to the danger.
Ultimately, the Church becomes what it tolerates! And herein lies the challenge. We exist to call people out of darkness, toward purity, toward righteousness, toward holiness, and toward Christ-likeness. We have to be vigilant to ensure that is happening-- that we're not becoming a morally compromised church in a morally confused culture.
In Revelation 2:20-21 Christ is clarifying the threat posed by a particular woman. She has the character of Jezebel. She's been given ample time to repent. She is seducing men into sin. She's not sincere. Do we see what Christ sees?
What is at stake when it comes to sexual purity?
You may wonder what is at stake when it comes to the sexual purity, and the very holiness of Christ's Church. At the beginning of our letter, Christ was introduced as one whose, "eyes were like blazing fire" and whose, "feet were like burnished bronze." The first image calls to mind Christ's holiness. The second image calls to mind Christ's judgment against sin. Christ stands firmly, and is ready to trample enemies of God under his feet.
Revelation 2:21-25 (NIV) says, "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): Only hold on to what you have until I come."
Not everyone at Thyatira had been seduced into sexual immorality, but those who had been seduced were in grave danger of coming under God's judgment.
Revelation 2:26-29 (NIV) continues, "To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations-- 'He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery'-- just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
To those who overcome, Christ promises victory over the darkness. And he promises salvation for all of us who overcome.
Let me finish with a word from the apostle Paul regarding our personal holiness and the sanctity of the Church.
Ephesians 5:1-14 (NIV) says, "Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.
For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person- such a man is an idolater- has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord.
Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: 'Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.' "