Faithful to Your Call- Thyatira 7-22-07 II Samuel 23:9-10; Rev. 2:18-29- {longest letter of the seven in Revelation]
T. Moffat Burriss, father of Francis, Moffat Jr., John Hay in our church, has a great book called, “Strike and Hold.” In that book he recounts many battles of World War II with the 82nd Airborne. One battle that specifically stands out is Operation Market Garden, in which he was ordered with his platoon to take a bridge at an impossible position. The motto for the 504th regiment was “strike and hold” and some units were told to “Hold the bridge at all costs.” That is a tough order. It was given at the Battle of the Bulge to American soldiers far outnumbered—the Americans held. What does that have to do with Revelation?
I think John was writing to a few people who were outnumbered, and who felt they were about to be overwhelmed with evil. They faced overwhelming odds. But they were not told to retreat, or withdraw, or to fall back to another position. Instead they were told to “hold fast to what you have until I come.”
We live in a time in which people- good people are retreating everywhere instead of holding their ground, standing up for what is right, and deciding it is more important to be faithful than to be comfortable. Whenever there is a retreat in a battle, many leave just because everyone else is leaving. Whenever the church is faced with compromise, unbelief, doubt, and a lot of unbiblical doctrines, many retreat because everyone else is doing it as well.
During the Reformation, the church was splitting left and right, and some were leaving the Reformed/Presbyterian Church to form their own denominations, and there was a real danger that each individual church become its own denomination. These were wicked times, much like our own. But God had not forsaken the church. When the Roman Catholic Church excommunicated Luther and tried to kill John Calvin – they in effect started the Lutheran and Reformed/Presbyterian churches, and a great revival of faith took place. The revival revolved around people reading the Bible for the very first time in their own language. The revival revolved around people not just letting the church and its so-called “experts” (which had fallen into evil times) tell them what to do- but they read God’s Word itself. I believe if the church is to have any hope today, we need to get back to lay people reading, understanding, and obeying the Word of God.
Calvin was faced with people who didn’t just want to reform the church, they wanted to make the perfect church. Calvin rightly pointed out that there was no such thing as the perfect church on this side of heaven. Calvin said that there are people in the church who are real followers and people who are not. Billy Graham used to emphasize this a lot. He said [paraphrase], going to church doesn’t make you a Christian any more than walking into a garage makes you a mechanic. That is what this passage to Thyatira says as well. There are even people who claim to be believers in Thyatira who purposefully and proudly practiced sexual immorality—these were the Jezebels, the followers of the way of Balaam. But our passage also says in verse 23- “I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve.” You can fool people into thinking you are a believer and follower of Christ. I, as a minister, have been fooled. We are saved not by our vows, but by grace through faith.
John Calvin said a true church is found not in the dedication of its believers, or the amount of money it raises, or the size of its buildings, or the number of its programs, or the good or bad or quiet social pronouncements. A true church, Calvin said is marked by the right preaching of the Word of God, and the right administration of the sacraments. Thyatira had real problems. It had problems with semi-idolatry and adultery. Yet what was the advice given to the believers in Thyatira? It is the advice given to us who really believe in the church today—that is found in verse 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; only hold fast to what you have until I come.” Hold fast- that means get a grip that won’t let go. Hold onto the faith and the church like you would hold onto a rope that is supporting you over a cliff. Hold onto the faith and the church like you would hold onto an arm support when the car is running off the road. Hold onto the faith and the church like you would the hand of your loved one in a tornado. Hold on. Hold fast until he comes. Hold the ground.
John Calvin gave three reasons to stay in the church. They are all biblical reasons. The trick when facing sin is not to go on your emotions and let them control your response, but let God and His Word control your response. They were the parable, the poor people, and the prophets.
Calvin first argued from the parables. There are three parables that talk of the church as a mixed bag of people. There is the parable of the fish in a net, the parable of the wheat and the tares, and the threshing floor parable containing wheat and chaff (Matt. 13:47,24; 3:12). You know if you throw out a net, you’ll catch some fish that are good and some that are bad. Some you have to throw back, and some you keep. Jesus, who hung around the Sea of Galilee, knew that- his top three guys were fishermen. Right now we are in the sea and perhaps the net together. But one day, and the parable says at the end of time- God will separate us the good from the bad. If you come to church, and you see a sinner in the seat next to you—don’t be surprised. I see some husbands elbowing their wives back. We are not here because we are perfect. The church is not a museum for perfect saints, but a hospital for people who want to be healed. I challenge any church to tell me honestly they have the perfect doctrine and the perfect people. There are good fish and bad fish. There are wheat and chaff in each church. Calvin said, “If our Lord declares that the church is to labor under this evil, encumbered with a mixture of wicked men even till the day of a judgment, it is vain to seek for a church free from every spot (Institutes IV.i.13).
The [Poor People] early church, including many of these churches listed in the Book of Revelation, was very wicked- not only in life but in doctrine as well. Corinth had terrible things going on, as did Galatia, but Paul calls them churches of Christ (I Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:2). Jesus said there will be wolves among the sheep. I would like to see one place in the New Testament where we are commanded to leave our church and go out and form another church or denomination. Instead of splitting, I see commands to love, to forebear, to work for purity, to hold fast to what you have until he comes. Never, ever does the Bible say to split the church when this or that happens. Never, ever does the scripture say that we should leave one church for another when we do not get the votes on something we think is important, even biblical.
The third argument of Calvin against splitting the church is because of the prophets in the Old Testament. Think about Isaiah, Jeremiah, Joel, Habakkuk who certainly rebuked the people of God for their evil. There was great evil indeed. It was so evil in the time of Elijah that he told God he couldn’t find anyone left who really believed anymore. God didn’t say, “Okay, go out and I’ll form a nation under you.” Instead, God said there are 10,000 who haven’t bowed the knee to Ba’al- quit whimpering and go about and do God’s work. Appoint Elisha, appoint Jehu, and appoint people to do the work. By the way, our nominating committee is looking for some godly people who are willing to do the work. I believe we have a great, important work to be done here in this church at this hour. We need saints who are willing to leave their distractions behind to do the work of God here—right here where we are. What if Elijah went to these people and they said, “I can’t do it.” God needs people who have ears to hear His call and will respond for His glory. Calvin said, even though the church in Jerusalem was compared to Sodom and Gomorrah…”nevertheless, the prophets neither raised themselves new churches, not built new altars for sacrifices…but lifted up pure hands to him even in the congregation of the impious” (IV.i.18). Never were any of these prophets told to form a new nation- but to witness to what they had. I find it quite ironic that the very people who split the church over the Bible are unbiblical in their splitting of the church! It is unbiblical to cause dissension in the church. I grieve for those who have left trying to find a perfect flock or greener pastures.
A lot of what I said today is from a paper by Dr. Edwin H. Rian, a minister who left the Presbyterian Church in 1936 because it wouldn’t adhere to the fundamentalism of the day. He was president of Westminster Seminary, which was formed as a rival Presbyterian seminary because the non-fundamentalists took control of Princeton Seminary. He came back to the church because he recognized that he should not let any minister, any thinker, or even any church proclamation drive him away from his Lord’s church.
King David of the Old Testament had three mighty men. The second most powerful hero of the kingdom was a man named Eleazar. He challenged the Philistines, and they attacked and all the people of God ran away but him. It says that he stood his ground until his hand froze to his sword. Then the people of God returned around him. The Bible says we have a spiritual sword- it is the Word of God- the Bible. Hold onto it. Do not let go. Hold your ground until He comes.
One of the things promised to those who overcome and hold on to what you have- is the “morning star.” Jesus Christ is called in the book of Revelation “The Bright and morning star” (22:16). So hold on- He is coming, and with him we will overcome evil with good to make this world a better place.