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Revelation 2:12-29
12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.
13 “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith1 even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. 15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’
18 “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.
19 “‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. 20 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. 21 I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. 22 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, 23 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. 24 But to the rest of you in Thyatira, 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. 25 Only hold fast what you have until I come. 26 The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, 27 and he will rule2 them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. 28 And I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Well, good morning. Good morning. Oh, this can be rough. Let's try it again. Good morning.
Speaker 1:Good morning. Alright. There we go. Thank you. My name is Dwight Castle.
Speaker 1:I'm one of the pastors here at the church, the pastor over missions, and I'm really excited to be here with you today to open up God's word. And I'll go and warn you, as the Lord would have it, yesterday, I pretty much lost my voice. So we're gonna see how long I last here, and I might pick one of you to finish out. But today, we will be continuing in our summer sermon series on the 7 letters to the 7 churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3. We've already looked at the first two of those churches, the letters to Ephesus and to Smyrna.
Speaker 1:And today, we will be looking at the next two, letters to the churches of Pergamum and Thyatira. And you can go ahead and open your bible or look in your worship guide. Revelation chapter 2 verses 12 through 29. Join me and I'll read this for us. And to the angel of the church in Pergamum, write the words of him who has the sharp 2 edged sword.
Speaker 1:I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name. And you did not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was killed among you where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.
Speaker 1:So also, you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore, repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna and I will give him a white stone with a new name written on the stone that no one knows, except the one who receives it.
Speaker 1: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 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 sick bed, And those who commit adultery with her, I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works.
Speaker 1: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 Thyatira, 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.
Speaker 1: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. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
Speaker 1:Pray with me. Lord, we need you right now to come and to speak to us. We acknowledge that we have no power on our own to hear and to understand these words today. They're dead apart from your spirit bringing life and power to those words. We need you to come and speak.
Speaker 1:Lord, give me clear words today. And I pray that you will open up all of our hearts and our minds to hear what you have. Lord, as you have spoken to these 2 churches in these letters, we ask now that you speak to us. In your name. Amen.
Speaker 1:So when I was in college, I spent the bulk of one of my summers, in Turkey, working with the International Mission Board. So, Turkey is the area formerly known as Asia Minor, which is actually right where these letters were written to. The churches in that particular region of Asia. And, interestingly enough, while I was there, I actually had the opportunity to travel to Pergamum, which has been a pretty cool reference point for me as I've been preparing the sermon. I can actually visualize some of the structures that are alluded to in this text.
Speaker 1:It's almost as if I can sit there and see the people of Pergamum receiving this letter. And actually, looked back through all the pictures in preparation for this. I thought about putting some of them up on the screen, so that you could also visualize it. But I didn't want you to be distracted by the college Dwight Afro that I had or, potentially, the handlebar mustache. But ask me later if you still want to see him.
Speaker 1:During my time in Turkey, though, I was faced with some particularly interesting cultural and even religious situations and questions that caused me to pause and consider how I should continue. I was in a foreign place with a very different set of norms and values. And I wanted to experience that place, that new culture. And I wanted to blend in to a degree, so that I wasn't that foreigner standing out like a sore thumb. I wanted to fully respect and appreciate and understand where I was, but I kept finding myself clashing with that culture around me.
Speaker 1:And this ranged from simple things to complex things. So, for example, being a very picky person at that point in life about what I ate and drank, I had to decide if I was going to expand my horizons or stay in my little comfort zone. So I didn't drink tea. Every single place that you go in Turkey, you drink tea all day long. Every person that you meet, every interaction that you have, even when you go to the public marketplace and you're haggling and bartering over the prices of goods, part of that process is having tea with them.
Speaker 1:So, every day, at least a dozen times, I had to decide, am I going to do this or not? And in the end, I decided that I was going to drink tea until I liked it. Which actually worked, believe it or not. I decided I wasn't going to be that person who made everyone else feel awkward and was out of place. The examples continued, but they got a little bit more complex.
Speaker 1:Should I go into the mosque to see what it was like in there? And if I did go in, how much should I comply with the atmosphere of worship that was going on? Should I go to the local hangout spot with my new Turkish friends, the hookah bar? And even though I was going to use just the flavored pipe and not put any nicotine or drugs in it, there are a lot of people around me who are doing things differently. Would I confuse them?
Speaker 1:Would I confuse the idea of what the Christian faith is, if I were to do these things? And every day, I found myself in these really difficult situations that required me to define how I, as a foreigner in a strange place, should culturally interact with those around me in a way that represented my faith well. Around 2000 years earlier, in pretty much the exact same spot, the Christians in these two churches were facing the same questions, with similarly complex issues at hand. Only we see that, today, in this text, Jesus says that they had not handled these questions well. They've compromised.
Speaker 1:They have blown it. And they'd fallen into patterns of multiple types of sin, which really, in essence, revealed the idolatry of their hearts. Jesus has many positive and encouraging things to say about these 2 churches, but he also has strong rebukes for that how they had so easily fallen prey to this sin. And we're gonna see today that sin is when we're looking for satisfaction and pleasure in other places than God himself. This is the type of sin that we're dealing with today.
Speaker 1:So let's dig in together. And I want to remind you, as we're looking at these letters, that these are particular words of Jesus to particular churches. However, they're intended to be distributed to lots of other churches around that area and also can be applied to us. So these words are for us today. Another note to remember about Revelation as a whole, is that God is speaking to a people who are suffering from a limited perspective into their situation around them.
Speaker 1:They can't see what is really happening. So God, in a sense, pulls back the curtain and he says, I'm going to give you a heavenly perspective of what is really happening. And today, we get to benefit from seeing that heavenly perspective. So we have ahead of us this daunting task to try to wade through not one symbolic, enigmatic, confusing piece of apocalyptic and prophetic literature, but 2. Which is why we've decided to allow twice the time of a normal sermon for you guys today.
Speaker 1:Just kidding. We wouldn't do that. Don't worry. We would not do that. But we do have our work cut out for us today And we've decided to combine these two letters because they have a lot of similarities.
Speaker 1:Even though there's some pretty contrasting contextual differences between these two churches, what Jesus says to them is very similar. And the best way for us to do this, is to just walk through each letter in sections, as the text presents itself. Now, I don't know if you've realized this up to this point, but every letter has an almost identical layout, comprised of about 5 to 6 sections. So the first thing that each letter begins with is a highlighted trait or aspect of the risen Jesus. And this is drawn from the picture that John presents in chapter 1, verses 13 through 18.
Speaker 1:After this view of Jesus, Jesus says to each of his churches, I know. He knows something about them, which is usually a word of praise or affirmation. Then, Jesus offers a rebuke to them, highlighting one particular area of sin. This is typically followed by some type of instruction or a call to repentance. And finally, Jesus offers a reward to the one who conquers.
Speaker 1:Each letter also includes this line, He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Now, this line is repeated throughout, as a call, as a warning, and it applies to us today too. Will we hear? Will we listen to what God's spirit says to us today? So we're going to try to walk through these sections for each church and there's going to be a lot of back and forth.
Speaker 1:We're going to start out by looking at this highlighted view of Jesus for the church in Pergamum. Then we're gonna hop over and look at the highlighted view of Jesus for Thyatira. And there's gonna be a lot of back and forth, so stick with me. But we're hoping that you'll be able to see a good picture of what's going on in each of those churches. Now, as I mentioned, each of the letters begins with the description of Jesus, the risen resurrected Jesus.
Speaker 1:Now, this is immediately important for us. This is not something to gloss over. Before Jesus gives any instructions, good or bad, before he talks to the churches anymore, he says, see me. See me in all my power and in all of my glory and all of my splendor and let it affect you. Nothing that comes after will be brought into clarity, unless you see Jesus as first and foremost above everything.
Speaker 1:So let's look at verse 12 together and see what this picture of Jesus is to the church at Pergamum. Verse 12, And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write the words of him who has the sharp 2 edged sword. So the image that is highlighted here of Jesus is the sharp 2 edged sword proceeding from his mouth. Now, this is a little bit of an odd picture for us. But throughout scripture, the image of the sword, especially when it's wielded by God, is one of judgment.
Speaker 1:This is a sobering and heavy thought for anyone who's reading this. Jesus is, in essence, introducing himself in this letter by saying, Hey guys, I'm the one who bears the sword. He's letting them know that he does not take sin lightly. He doesn't overlook it. So in addition, there is another contextual factor about Pergamum that will really bring this image of the sword into light.
Speaker 1:So we're going to understand a little more about what the city is like. Now, Pergamum was a large, influential, important city in the area. It's actually where the government for that Asian province, the Roman government, where it was ceded. And so, we saw a few weeks ago, to help us understand that Ephesus was this kind of thriving center of culture, much akin to New York City. So if Ephesus is like New York City, Pergamum is like Washington, DC.
Speaker 1:It's where the government was. Jesus is reminding that church and he's saying, look at who's speaking to you. I am the one who bears the sword. I, not Rome, have all power and authority, and you need to heed me. So now, let's switch gears.
Speaker 1:Let's see what Jesus how he shows himself to the church in Thyatira. Let's look at verse 18. 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. So that term, the son of God, it's very familiar to us, but it's actually uncommon in Revelation. It's the only use of that term, the son of God, in the whole book of Revelation.
Speaker 1:That's very important. And again, to understand why, we need to know a little bit more about Thyatira. So in contrast to Pergamum, Thyatira is a small, unimportant city. It's actually the smallest and least important of any of the letters that are written to churches here in Revelation. Something that was important within their culture is that it was a place where many trades, were taking place.
Speaker 1:Trades of of metal trades, particularly, copper and bronze. And so all of these trades had powerful trade guilds that were kind of similar to a union of today. These trade guilds were vital cultural and social influences, kind of like a country club, but more importance for your professional standing. They each had a patron deity who was associated with them. The most important false god that they had was Apollo, the son of Zeus, who is commonly referred to as the son of God.
Speaker 1:So Jesus is saying here out the gate, I am the true son of God. And yes, I know you see Apollo, who represents the sun, as this fiery being. But I am the one with eyes of fire, and I will pierce through your idolatry and see you as you are. In addition, these were metal workers. So they saw the significance of Jesus having bronze feet, feet that could crush his enemies underfoot.
Speaker 1:He's saying, pay attention. And they're getting it. So what does Jesus say to these 2 churches? Let's look at verse 13. I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is, yet you hold fast my name.
Speaker 1:And you did not deny my faith, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who is killed among you where Satan dwells. Jesus begins here with praiseworthy words, words of validation and encouragement. He says, I know where you dwell. It's where Satan's throne is. He is saying, I understand that you are in a place of incredible spiritual and physical oppression.
Speaker 1:It's even said that Satan himself dwells there. I understand. He praises their commitment in light of that oppression they're facing, and says that they are standing, kind of, against the odds for his name. This is a great compliment. And I think it's important to note that Jesus starts here.
Speaker 1:This is more than just a compliment sandwich, if you will, where you have to kind of say something nice before you can say something mean to somebody. Jesus is actually telling them, I can relate to being in a difficult place and I want to praise you for that. I see your struggle. And I want this to sink in for us. No matter where you are, no matter what you are going through in life, no matter how overwhelming your scenario, Jesus is saying to you, I know.
Speaker 1:He knows about that thing that's weighing on your mind day in and day out. He knows about your fear about the future. He knows about your heart wrenching loneliness. He knows about that guilt. He knows about your lingering doubts.
Speaker 1:Friend, Jesus knows and he cares. 2nd Corinthians Chapter 1 reminds us of this when it says that Jesus has walked through afflictions and he comforts us as we walk through afflictions. How reassuring this must have been for that church at Pergamum. I could just imagine the sigh of relief they have, when they realized they weren't alone and all their struggle had not been in vain and neither is yours. So Jesus had very encouraging things to say to Pergamum, at first.
Speaker 1:Let's see how he begins with Thyatira. Look at verse 19 with me. I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. So, Jesus here begins with praise with them as well. They're a strong church.
Speaker 1:The evidence of their faith in Christ, he just listed. I mean, love, faith, service, patient endurance, continuing growth. What more could you ask for? So my wife and I, we have 3 boys that we care for, and I've been convicted recently that I should be praying more for them, and particularly for their future, for the men of God that I want them to become. And I've realized, as I've started praying more for them, that my prayers are actually remarkably similar to the words that Jesus just said to the church at Thyatira.
Speaker 1:I pray that they will be men of love for God and for his people. That they would be have deep faith rooted in the gospel. That they would live lives of service to others. That they would patiently endure all of the really difficult things that come our way in life. That they would be growing and progressing and knowing Jesus more.
Speaker 1:So if I heard these words from God said about my boys, I would say, yes. They nailed it. Both of the churches that Jesus is talking to, so far, seem to have nailed it as well. But we realize that they're missing something. They were slipping into sin and this sin was spreading like poison from within.
Speaker 1:So let's look at the nature of Jesus's rebuke to them now. Let's read verses 1415. But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also, you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitians.
Speaker 1:Here we begin to see the breakdown for these churches. Let's try to decrypt what is really going on here because there's a lot of confusing language. So who's this Balaam and what's going on with him? Now, I don't know if you're like me, but I was like, isn't he the one that a donkey talked to? And yes is the answer.
Speaker 1:But there's a lot more going on in that situation, and it's not good. So here's a little refresher. You can read more in Numbers 20 2, if you want to read more about this. But there's this pagan prophet named Balaam, and he's summoned by a pagan king of Moab, Balak. And basically, Balaam is found guilty of intentionally putting a stumbling block before God's bride, his people, so that they would cease to be faithful to him.
Speaker 1:He sets a trap by getting the women of Moab to seduce the men of Israel to pagan feasts and rituals, where they will surely fall into sin of idolatry and sexual immorality. Now, the Nicolaitians, not a lot of is known about them. But basically, what we do know is that, in a similar way, they are leading God's people to follow false teaching. So that's Pergamum. Let's jump over to see what the nature is of the rebuke to Thyatira, because it's very similar.
Speaker 1:In verse 20, the Lord also speaks symbolically in another Old Testament figure, Jezebel. Now, Jezebel is not the real name, in all likelihood, of this person at the church in Thyatira who is causing problems. But again, a symbol, a reference from someone in the Old Testament stories, the Queen of King Ahab. And she's a pagan queen who led Israel into spiritual prostitution through the worship of idols. So here, Jesus is telling both of these 2 churches that some of their members have become susceptible to the same issues again.
Speaker 1:And on top of that, there are people among them who are actually advocating for and teaching this as the way of God. And there are Christians who are falling into sins of sexual immorality and idol related worship. Jesus calls out this false teaching. He says, no more of it. I'm not gonna tolerate it, and you shouldn't tolerate it either.
Speaker 1:So, here we are. Both these churches started really good and now it's going downhill for them. What happened? How did they get here? It appears that these Christians, who were otherwise living lives of devotion and obedience to Christ, were somehow being swayed and influenced by the culture around them.
Speaker 1:Guys, this is a sobering thought for us in the world that we live in today. These 2 churches had it together and yet they were really missing it, because they were being blinded to their sin by culture. And it's interesting to note that this is actually the exact opposite of the condemnation to Ephesus. Ephesus had a robust theology, but they didn't have the works to match it. And it's reversed here.
Speaker 1:The issue that faced these churches is the same issue at the heart of it that we are facing today. The sinful human heart is so prone to look around us to the things of this world to satisfy us, rather than looking to Jesus for satisfaction alone. Now, this is nothing new. This is not that profound. But it's a simple truth that we need to be reminded of every day.
Speaker 1:And so, I'm actually gonna repeat that. The sinful human heart is prone to look around us for the things of this world to satisfy us, rather than looking to Jesus alone to satisfy. And we're really willing and pretty good at justifying ourselves and making accommodation for sin in our lives, all the while distorting God's law. On top of that, culture is all too ready to aid and abet us in these sinful desires. Listen.
Speaker 1:It will not be hard to find others in this culture who can agree with and encourage our sinful desires. What will be hard is to stand against the dominant cultural voices that say that sin is not a big deal. Evermore will our culture continue to be opposed to the truths of scripture. This is just the facts and we have to own that. For the Christians in Pergamum, perhaps, they feared the inevitable persecution that would come if they stood against the government.
Speaker 1:What if they were labeled as closed minded or bigoted or old fashioned nuts or weird? So they began to accommodate sin. And then, they compromised. And then, they embraced it until they were justifying it. For the Christians in Thyatira, perhaps this influence from the trade guilds was what did that in them in.
Speaker 1:I mean, it was almost impossible in that culture to not attend these trade guild feasts. At which point, they would sacrifice foods to pagan gods, eat the food, and sexual immorality was rampant. So maybe, they went thinking, I'll make a difference in that circle. And then, they got sucked in. Just as I was trying in the summer, when I was in Turkey, to find that difficult balance between my faith and the culture, maybe these Christians were too.
Speaker 1:But they were blowing it. They were giving in. And Jesus speaks to them and says that Christians must live in a different way. We cannot become products of the prevailing moral and social winds of society. But we must stand apart.
Speaker 1:Romans 12 tells us this. Romans 12:2, it says, not to be conformed to the world, but we have to be transformed by God's renewing within us. The issue of sexual sin that is addressed in these two letters, is a particularly prominent way that the enemy always uses to draw Christians into sin. It's one area where culture tends to speak so loudly and so persuasively that the clarity of scripture is often completely neglected or mishandled. But Jesus wants his churches to hear that his piercing, fiery eyes see.
Speaker 1:They even see beyond our actions. His eyes see into our heart and our mind. And he says that what you do, even when no one else is looking, it matters. And it matters because you are not your own. You are bought with a price.
Speaker 1:So honor God with your body. The culture in Paul's time said, food for the body and the body for food. But Paul counters that your body is actually the Lord's. Well, then some Christians would respond to him and say, all things are lawful. And Paul says, but not all things are beneficial.
Speaker 1:And our modern culture says, obey your urges, be true to yourself. Jesus says, deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me. Friends, hear me. The Christian ethic, the way of Jesus is counter cultural. 2nd Timothy chapter 4 says that there's going to come a time when people are just going to gather people around them, who say things that tickle their ears, that just justify the sin that we really want to do.
Speaker 1:And this is the way that the churches at Pergamum and Thyatira had gone. But here's what I want us to hear today. At its root, these churches were dealing with idolatry. They were looking at something other than Jesus to satisfy them and to care for them. They didn't believe that Jesus could or that he would do those things for them.
Speaker 1:And even though for them, it was wrapped up in all kinds of contextual and cultural issues that seemed really confusing to them at the time, functionally, they were saying, Jesus, I don't believe that you're enough for me. I don't really believe that you're gonna satisfy me or take care of me. Jesus doesn't mince words with them. His instruction is simple and clear. Repent.
Speaker 1:You are sinning and I see you. And I'm coming to you with the sword. I will not allow my people to continue in sin. And friends, your heart, my heart, we're just like them. We look to a 1000000 other places in this world for satisfaction and acceptance and security.
Speaker 1:Jesus, you can just feel it in this letter. He's pleading with these churches the same way that I would probably plead with my boys, if I saw this happening with them. He's pleading and he's saying, you have so much going for you. You have so many good things. Don't let this one thing bring you down and render you ineffective for my kingdom.
Speaker 1:But we too make accommodations and compromises for the sin in our lives. We say, Jesus, I don't think you're enough. We might not say it out loud with our words, but functionally, we fall into the same trap. The ways in which we want to listen to culture then give us the license to say, what we want is okay, instead of, Jesus, what will you have for me? Even in the midst of Jesus' condemnation, he still offers a call to repentance.
Speaker 1:And isn't this beautiful? This is the gospel. Even to this woman, Jezebel, he offers multiple times a chance for repentance. And he doesn't simply call them away from these fleeting empty pleasures of the world. He calls them to something that is so much more beautiful than anything they could seek elsewhere.
Speaker 1:He calls them to himself. And he says, I will reward you. If you repent and you last until the end living for me, I will give you good things. So he offers each church 2 rewards. So that's 4 rewards.
Speaker 1:If we did a little math here, every one of those rewards has a minimum of 7 interpretations I could go over with you guys. So I'm not gonna do all 28. Don't worry. At the risk of oversimplification, let me just go through the 4 of those. For Pergamum, Jesus says, I'm gonna give you Manna.
Speaker 1:And he says, I'm gonna give you a white stone with a secret name written on it. The manna is a symbol for the eternal food of Jesus that will satisfy us at that wedding feast to come. He says, if you forsake all of the pleasures and your sexual appetite in that food sacrificed to idols, I will satisfy you with true manna in heaven when you are with me. And the stone, this is a reference to 2 cultural things that would be going on at that time. 1, when someone is acquitted in a court of law and found innocent, they're given a white stone as a sign.
Speaker 1:Additionally, as a token to get into a wedding feast or some event, they'd be given a white stone. So Jesus is again saying to Pergamum, I say you're innocent when you are found in me and when you repent, when you believe the gospel, and you will dine with me. You will be satisfied in me, I will give you entrance into this amazing wedding feast, where you will find true satisfaction. For Thyatira, he gives 2 rewards. The first is giving authority over the nations.
Speaker 1:This is when every tribe, tongue, and language will come and will worship Jesus. And Jesus is saying, we will rule with him. That's an amazing thought. The second thing is the Morning Star. In Revelation chapter 22, Jesus is called the Morning Star.
Speaker 1:He's saying, I will give you myself. The heart of these two letters tells us that we can only find true satisfaction in Jesus himself. He's pleading with the churches. He's begging. He's saying, don't look to those empty things of the world.
Speaker 1:They will never satisfy you. Repent and come to me and I will give you pleasures that you will never be able to imagine. And I think we need to hear this call of Jesus today. We need to ask ourselves a few questions. Are we listening to the spirit?
Speaker 1:That call that's going out, he who has an ear, hear what the spirit is saying. Are we listening to the spirit? Are we listening to the Christian community around us? Our friends, our brothers and sisters. Do we live in a way that someone around us can call out blind spots in our lives?
Speaker 1:Do we ask each other, what might be areas of sin in my life where I'm compromising? And 3rd, are you still wrestling? Are you still fighting with what that balance looks like? Or if it's too easy, maybe have you given in? Have you accommodated to the point where everything's natural, but maybe it's not good?
Speaker 1:In light of these truths, we're gonna take some time together and we're gonna pray that God's spirit will reveal to us the areas of our life where we look for satisfaction in other places and in other things than himself. And we're gonna pray that God's spirit will show us how rewarding it is to come to him, instead of those things that we will have a vision of Jesus before us. So at Redeemer, we often do time of group prayer. I know this is a little bit practically difficult or awkward, if you don't know the people around you or with the pews, But it's something we're committed to and we see it as important. Scripture says, to confess to each other, to encourage and exhort each other.
Speaker 1:So right now, if you'll break up in groups of people around you, maybe around 8 or so, and just take a few moments and we're gonna pray that God will help us to know our functional idols in our lives, and that we will see him as so much more glorious and the reward will be so great. So take time right now and pray with those around you.