Being strong
This week's Bible awesomeness is a fiery tidbit from Revelation 2:18-29:
I was reading the first few chapters of Revelation last week during a time of prayer. These verses stood out to me. They're one of a series of "praise sandwiches" Jesus is handing out to various early churches, but this one was more interesting because of the rough hand of order Jesus threatens to use on the church, and the statement of grace he gives along with it to those he doesn't have to discipline.
We forget sometimes that Jesus is a supernatural holy being; That he glows like fire with his supernatural awesomeness. Jesus knows all of our deeds, hidden and public. He knows our thoughts, which sounds creepy, but really isn't. He is eternal, all-powerful, and perfectly righteous. Even in the context of his deep love for us, he has likes and dislikes, things that bring him joy, and things that bring him anger.
Most of the churches he talks to have pretty common problems. There's good old sexual immorality (not "sexual immortality" like some people read it.) There's always our old friend idolatry. And most of the time, there's something the Nicolatians were doing, which modern scholars think was a form of Antinomianism - the belief that there is no such thing as sin, just personal convictions. (Thanks wikipedia!) Jesus is enticing these churches with his rewards, but at the same time warning them about the age-old stuff that will get them in trouble.
The church at Thyatira got one of the harshest sounding rebukes of them all. He talks about taking this woman Jezebel and casting her on a bed of suffering, and striking her children dead. That's not the "buddy Jesus" we hear about in church! That's "hickory switch" Jesus, the disciplinarian. From the position of Jezebel, it probably sounded really harsh. But for those who shared God's grief at what she was doing to her followers, it probably seemed too gentle.
Jezebel was the worst of the worst. She not only committed many sins, but she taught others to sin. Surely this was a women deserving of punishment. Her "deep secret teachings" led many astray. Jesus spells things out for her, but gives her a chance for mercy, or at least mercy to those who were taken in by her deception. There is always hope, but you should never take grace for granted. If hope, mercy, clemency, etc are being offered, take them. They may not get offered again until after a season of suffering. Jezebel decided to see who would blink first.
So in the middle of his praise sandwich, Jesus is taking care of business. But at the end, two very cool things happen. First is his exhortation to the people who didn't get taken in by Jezebel's heretical teachings. With most of the churches, Jesus has some task he needs the people to take up in order to correct what was wrong with their church. For these people, all he says is for them to hold onto the faith they have. Basically, he just tells them to stay strong. That's like the ultimate compliment: "Keep doing what you're doing."
The last bit is what got me. He says that for those who are victorious until the end, who do what God wants them to do, he will give them authority over all people. If everything is already decided, if just believing in God is enough, then what's this victory? It's staying strong, despite the temptations of the world around us. It's not falling for sweet words of heresy, whispers to compromise, shortcuts to hell, substandard bricks in our foundation. Even with the grace of God, the abundant, super-patient grace God has for us, our decisions still matter. Our choices can make a difference, even when they're just a choice not to make a bad choice. Failure doesn't mark us for hell, but it does cost something.
Think about that authority Jesus offers to those who remain victorious to the end. Imagine it was a prize for just one person. Imagine God advertising on TV that anyone who worked with Him to stay victorious, and did it up until they died, that that person would get chosen to wield his authority. It would be a better prize than the lottery. We'd be praying and fasting, studying the Bible like it was about to get taken away, thinking about every move we make. But because it's a promise made in a very old book, to a group of people, not to one person, we basically ignore it. But our Christianity really is that serious!
We sometimes fall victim to "learned helplessness," I think. Learned helplessness is the phenomenon where people fail a few times at a certain task, or see it as so overwhelming, that eventually they don't try at all, even if they could succeed. Because we are not perfect, and will never get a perfect score on life, we sometimes give up on trying to be pleasing to God. We can't buy our salvation with our works or our beliefs. It's too expensive. It costs the life of a God. But that doesn't mean that we serve a lobotomized Jesus, who feels neither joy nor sorrow at our actions. Part of what he asks for, time and time again, is for us to stay strong, and to work with him, not against him.
“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. I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. 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. 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, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
To those who are victorious and do my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—they ‘will rule them with an iron scepter and will dash them to pieces like pottery’—just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give them the morning star. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
I was reading the first few chapters of Revelation last week during a time of prayer. These verses stood out to me. They're one of a series of "praise sandwiches" Jesus is handing out to various early churches, but this one was more interesting because of the rough hand of order Jesus threatens to use on the church, and the statement of grace he gives along with it to those he doesn't have to discipline.
We forget sometimes that Jesus is a supernatural holy being; That he glows like fire with his supernatural awesomeness. Jesus knows all of our deeds, hidden and public. He knows our thoughts, which sounds creepy, but really isn't. He is eternal, all-powerful, and perfectly righteous. Even in the context of his deep love for us, he has likes and dislikes, things that bring him joy, and things that bring him anger.
Most of the churches he talks to have pretty common problems. There's good old sexual immorality (not "sexual immortality" like some people read it.) There's always our old friend idolatry. And most of the time, there's something the Nicolatians were doing, which modern scholars think was a form of Antinomianism - the belief that there is no such thing as sin, just personal convictions. (Thanks wikipedia!) Jesus is enticing these churches with his rewards, but at the same time warning them about the age-old stuff that will get them in trouble.
The church at Thyatira got one of the harshest sounding rebukes of them all. He talks about taking this woman Jezebel and casting her on a bed of suffering, and striking her children dead. That's not the "buddy Jesus" we hear about in church! That's "hickory switch" Jesus, the disciplinarian. From the position of Jezebel, it probably sounded really harsh. But for those who shared God's grief at what she was doing to her followers, it probably seemed too gentle.
Jezebel was the worst of the worst. She not only committed many sins, but she taught others to sin. Surely this was a women deserving of punishment. Her "deep secret teachings" led many astray. Jesus spells things out for her, but gives her a chance for mercy, or at least mercy to those who were taken in by her deception. There is always hope, but you should never take grace for granted. If hope, mercy, clemency, etc are being offered, take them. They may not get offered again until after a season of suffering. Jezebel decided to see who would blink first.
So in the middle of his praise sandwich, Jesus is taking care of business. But at the end, two very cool things happen. First is his exhortation to the people who didn't get taken in by Jezebel's heretical teachings. With most of the churches, Jesus has some task he needs the people to take up in order to correct what was wrong with their church. For these people, all he says is for them to hold onto the faith they have. Basically, he just tells them to stay strong. That's like the ultimate compliment: "Keep doing what you're doing."
The last bit is what got me. He says that for those who are victorious until the end, who do what God wants them to do, he will give them authority over all people. If everything is already decided, if just believing in God is enough, then what's this victory? It's staying strong, despite the temptations of the world around us. It's not falling for sweet words of heresy, whispers to compromise, shortcuts to hell, substandard bricks in our foundation. Even with the grace of God, the abundant, super-patient grace God has for us, our decisions still matter. Our choices can make a difference, even when they're just a choice not to make a bad choice. Failure doesn't mark us for hell, but it does cost something.
Think about that authority Jesus offers to those who remain victorious to the end. Imagine it was a prize for just one person. Imagine God advertising on TV that anyone who worked with Him to stay victorious, and did it up until they died, that that person would get chosen to wield his authority. It would be a better prize than the lottery. We'd be praying and fasting, studying the Bible like it was about to get taken away, thinking about every move we make. But because it's a promise made in a very old book, to a group of people, not to one person, we basically ignore it. But our Christianity really is that serious!
We sometimes fall victim to "learned helplessness," I think. Learned helplessness is the phenomenon where people fail a few times at a certain task, or see it as so overwhelming, that eventually they don't try at all, even if they could succeed. Because we are not perfect, and will never get a perfect score on life, we sometimes give up on trying to be pleasing to God. We can't buy our salvation with our works or our beliefs. It's too expensive. It costs the life of a God. But that doesn't mean that we serve a lobotomized Jesus, who feels neither joy nor sorrow at our actions. Part of what he asks for, time and time again, is for us to stay strong, and to work with him, not against him.
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