United Church of God
Sermon Transcript — March 29, 2008
The city of Troy may not be familiar to you. The city of Troy sat on a hill overlooking the hallow spot, an area of narrow water, that today we generally refer to as the Dardanelles, a section that is generally considered to separate Europe from Asia and near today, of course, Constantinople.
A conflict had arisen between Troy and the Greeks because Paris, a prince of Troy believed to be the most handsome man alive, had at the urging of the goddesses kidnapped the wife of a Greek king's brother and taken her back to Troy. Of course the Greek royal was quite offended and gathered his armies with the intend of pursuing Paris and his wife and rescuing her, though he was not sure whether she went under duress or whether she went willingly. After years of siege laid to Troy, the Greek front was not successful in taking the city and in the end they sailed away, apparently having given up the cause.
Of course, they left behind a small gift on the shore. The gift on the shore was evidently a gift to the goddess Athena, whom the citizens of Troy also worshipped, and it was a beautifully done statue of wood — carved, designed, and it looked like a gigantic horse and it was left there as they sailed away. So the men of Troy rejoicing over their victory in enduring these nine years of siege went out with great excitement and pulled the horse inside the city walls where they parked it. Can you park a horse? You know they parked it; they tied it to the hitching rail maybe, outside of —where else? — The temple of Athena. At midnight forty valiant Greek soldiers, warriors who had volunteered for the task, opened the secret door and poured out of the horse, opened the gates of the city to the army and quickly took the city of Troy. The story was popularized by the poet Virgil in one of his epic poems that has been called the Aeneid, written shortly before the time of Christ.
Of course the story has been used for generations. I remember it from my childhood. I think at about the fourth grade, reading it in my history book and for many, many years I took it to be actual history. And in fact, there is some debate today whether it is or whether it isn't, but the story has been used for generations to teach a lesson about vigilance.
It says that what looks innocent enough, may contain deadly enemies. It shows that no matter how high the walls you have around you may be — that it is possible to be destroyed by the enemy from within x. We've turned this story into an idiom in our language. An idiom, I think we all understand, is simply a short phrase that evokes a lot more meaning than the phrase itself says; and so when we talk about something being a Trojan horse, we of course are referring to something that is a deception or an attempt to get inside the defenses, or somehow to spring up inside and create a problem. We simply call a situation like that a "Trojan Horse". That's come to mean anything that sneaks inside your defenses and takes you by surprise.
Most of us are familiar with the concept and the expression I am fairly sure, although some of the younger ones among us might not be. In fact among the younger set they are much more likely to understand a Trojan Horse in computer terms because in computer terms a Trojan Horse is a program in which a malicious or harmful code is contained inside an apparently harmless program, that once it is put into your system, begins to do it's dirty work and take control of your computer. It can for example create a virus that can be widely distributed and destroy lots of data and perhaps even destroy the operating system of the computer. I think we understand then, I hope we understand at least in general from either the ancient perspective, or the modern perspective, the term Trojan Horse.
I have titled this sermon, thanks to the unwavering memo that comes on Thursday from Mr. Larry Griffith that says: I need your title, I have titled this sermon: Six Trojan Horses.
What do Trojan horses have to do with Christians? What's the lesson for the Church of God? Could you and I be pulling a Trojan horse inside the walls? We are here today because we have the hope of salvation through Jesus Christ. We are examining ourselves in this period of time in preparation for the Passover. We hope to be able to recognize our shortcomings in order to ask for forgiveness for our sins and learn to overcome them in the context of the education that God gives us through the Passover and the Holy Days. The Passover as a remembrance, as we heard described a week or two ago, of the death of Jesus Christ on behalf of all of us, to pay for our sins, and the days of Unleavened Bread of course, to picture coming out of sin or putting sin out of our lives, as it were.
The Church today stands in a pivotal point in its history. All elements appear to be in place to make possible, indeed to make likely, the end of this age. Circumstances, situations, politics, economy, military capacity, attitudes in the world today indicate that we are indeed living in the end of the age. Now in fairness I thought that since the day I walked in the door in the Church of God in 1963. And that is O.K. I am glad I did. I am surely glad that I didn't say in 1963 or maybe '64 or '65 or certainly '72 or '73 when all of a sudden things look different, I am sure glad I didn't say Ah well, I've probably got 30 to 40 years left, because had I done that I probably would have made some many more terrible mistakes than I have made in the present context. Because had I believed, and had you believed, that the end of the age indeed is way off, the way we approach life, the way we look at our responsibility as Christians, would no doubt have changed fairly dramatically.
We live in a critical time for mankind and indeed for us, for the Church, as an institution. So as we examine ourselves individually as we move towards the Passover season, we're in effect examining the Church. Each of us of course is a part of that church. Without turning to the scriptures in Ephesians and other places — they will simply remind us that the Church is made up of all of us, fitly framed and joined together by that which every joint supplies and that each of us has a part to play. We each have a roll. And so we examine ourselves as not only an individual intent upon having a part in God's Kingdom but we examine ourselves as a component of the Church. We examine ourselves as a component of the body of Christ in terms of: how well is the body doing? People put an awful lot of time and effort into physical exercise today: Bodybuilding or at least some kind of daily or regular exercise program, fitness program, to keep the body healthy and that is a good thing to do to a point — a balance in that of course.
What about Christ's body? How does Christ's body look? We can recognize, generally speaking, a body that is, what we might call an attractive body, male or female, around us. That doesn't always mean it is healthy, does it?
One of the famous commercials here these last few years - I have forgotten now which brand it was; I think it was Lipitor — had the commercial running on television on a regular basis where the fellow was sort of walking around the pool primping and he looked to be in his fifties. I think they finally did say he was 53 or 56 or something. He was in good shape; a nice looking fellow; built well; walking around the pool and they were giving all of these statistics about it; all the measurements and the weight and the diet and all of these things and then, of course, the punch line was: cholesterol 286 or something like that. The cholesterol was inside and the point was, you could look at the surface and you could look at the normal things you might look at and think: Whoa, this guy is in really good shape. But he wasn't in really good shape because his body was gathering the plaque in the arteries from the cholesterol which, if I may say, amounts to a Trojan horse.
We are Christ's body and to that end I propose that we look at the examination of the body, the examination of the Church, given to the Church by Christ Himself. That examination covers the history and the future of the Church over a 2000 year period and we are nearing the end of that period. So let's take a brief look at that.
You probably know exactly by now where I am going and that's to the book of Revelation to look at the letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation.
People love to talk about the seven churches in the book of Revelation. We love to talk about the letters to the seven churches and that is good. That is a good thing to study; it is a good thing to talk about; it is a good thing to review on a regular basis. I am taking a bit of a different approach to this perhaps today than we normally do but I hope it will be of value to us individually and collectively as we move toward the Passover and the Days of Unleavened Bread.
We begin in Revelation 2:1. Now if you're holding one of the New King James Bibles, which I happen to be and I wish I weren't because my thumb is still quite sore and it is very hard to turn the pages but I am trying to get used to preaching out of it, it has now labeled each of these churches with a descriptor and each of the churches has a heading above it describing the church briefly. I'll leave those for now - maybe come back to them later.
Revelation 2:1 "To the angel of the church of Ephesus..." and of course we know the angel is the messenger.
It may be a spiritual messenger in this case; it may be the physical messenger who is particularly assigned to work with that church group. And we also have learnt and studied and known for a generation or two that these descriptions of these churches are based upon the seven churches along the mail route in Asia Minor — that is pretty common knowledge to most of us — that these were cities along a mail route and they are addressed in the order of that route and they contain churches which are no doubt being addressed in their present context but also are being addressed in the context of the church for all times. In other words we recognize these as a historical progression of the Church down through the 2000 years but we also recognize that these churches each contain characteristics which likely will find their way into portions of every era of the Church.
So we look at this today not just as a list historically of the ages of the Church, nor do we look at it just as the description of various attitudes that might show up in the Church at any given time, but we look at it as both. It is a combination of the two to the best of our understanding. And so in writing to the church in Ephesus — Christ giving this to the apostle John — addresses each of these churches in turn and He begins with the Ephesus era of the church. We would put it: The apostolic era.
Revelation 2:1 "To the angel or the messenger of the church of Ephesus write, 'These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands:
And as we go through here we find numerous references to Christ's character and Christ's roll as Head of the Church: as Messiah, as King, as Creator, described in different ways in different contexts. So this is Christ speaking to the Church.
Verse 2 - "I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil.
I would like to have that evaluation. We often talk about hearing: Well done, good and faithful servant, but I would love to hear Christ — I would actually even love to hear somebody in the Church say it to me. Don't run up and do that!
Verse 2 - "I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. I'd say: "Whoa, I'm glad you noticed. You see this is an evaluation of their approach and their attitude and their character as Christians. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;
Now, you remember that Paul told the Corinthians: I'm not a whit behind your chief apostles or your chiefest apostles. So there were people in various times masquerading as, or taking the roll of apostles. The apostle John of course, in about the same time of this revelation, was prohibited from even coming into the Church. He said: I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who love to have the preeminence among them wouldn't receive me, even though John had been the personal friend of Jesus Christ.
Verse 3 - and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name's sake and have not become weary.
This is a very positive evaluation. If I am being examined in this situation, by now I am feeling pretty good.
I have been by the way, through evaluations like this, both in spokesman club, ambassador club and on the job, where the positives and the compliments and the praise are sufficient that you begin to think: this is good! Until your memory says: We have a formula for these evaluations and it says: Tell the guy the good things first then lower the boom. No, we didn't say it that way. Tell the guy the good things first then tell him what the problems are. So the longer you tell me the good things the more I am going to a little bit anticipate what is coming next. And here it comes: Now this is very positive - let's not miss that. Christ is being very positive in the attitude and the approach and the labor and the patience, He says, of the Church. It is a very positive evaluation not to be removed or undermined by the criticism that is about to come, but neither is the criticism nor the judgment going to be overlooked.
Verse 4 - Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.
Interesting, especially in the context of what we have just read about all of the things that they did. He says: "you have left your first love". Now I have heard lots of sermons and sermonettes about first love and we kind of have lots of theories about that. I won't try to define some of these things today - those are other subjects. Some people consider first love that flush of enthusiasm and excitement you have when you first learn the truth and begin to attend the church and you get excited about everything and it is your whole life; as it of course should be and too often we do leave that, as he puts it here: We stray away. There are other elements of first love, no doubt.
Verse 5 - Remember therefore from where you have fallen; so, leaving their first love is sufficient enough to cost Christ to say: Remember you have taken a step backwards. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, So even in the context of this very positive evaluation Christ is saying: You aren't where you were. You have begun to deteriorate; you have begun to relax perhaps; you have begun to get absorbed in the world around you. Whatever the circumstances may be that caused them to leave their first love — He doesn't exactly specify until a moment later he says a couple of things.
Verse 5 — ... I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place - unless you repent. And that again is the beautiful part of Christ's evaluations. When Christ tells you where you are wrong He also says: Repent! And if you repent, guess what? I will forgive you. And you are back in good graces, as we say.
Verse 6 - but this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Verse 7 - " He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God."'
Now again you not only see different descriptors of Jesus Christ in His roll but you see different descriptions of the reward — Not that they are necessarily exclusive or separate from every other reward but that they are different explanations and different descriptions of the reward that Christians are promised. In this case He says: I will give you to eat from the tree of life. Well, He means, of course, ultimate spirit life, though we are today able to eat from the tree of life in the sense of the knowledge and the Spirit of God which comes to us when we are called and when we are converted.
So, He says: You are doing very well except you have left your first love. What do you see here? I tell you what I see: I see a strong city; I see some pretty high walls; I see a church doing very well; but I see within those walls a Trojan horse. Within those walls there is a Trojan horse called: You have left your first love. What is He saying? If you don't repent I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand. But you have the opportunity to repent. So in this case the Trojan horse of having left first love has to be dealt with; has to be seen and understood; has to be removed from the city or the city is in danger of being overcome by that enemy. So much so that Christ says: I will take your lampstand and remove it. I won't be identified with you unless you change. Now, this is to the Church but notice what it says in verse 7.
Verse 7 - "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." So you have an ear or I have an ear - we are supposed to hear what the Spirit says to the churches; all seven of them. We are supposed to be able to apply that in some way to how we think and how we draw conclusions and how we judge and how we repent and how we perform. That is what it says to me. Hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Let yourself be attuned to the judgment, to the criticism, to the praise, to the compliments, but recognize that there is something missing here. It needs to be taken care of and we find this as we go through the seven churches.
He moves on to Smyrna.
Verse 8 - "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, 'These things say the First and the Last, who was dead, and came to life:
So here we have a different description of Christ's roll.
Verse 9 - "I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich); and I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
Verse 10 - Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Verse 11 - He who has an ear, let him hear ....
Interesting. Did you see any Trojan horses in that one? Did you see any Trojan horse there? Christ was pretty positive. In fact He said: You're just getting beat up here; you are being persecuted; you are being tried; you're being tested; the devil is on your case and you are doing great and He didn't judge them wanting in the directions of all. Does that mean there is not a Trojan horse there? Again, just using the expression - I hope you understand it.
Verse 10 - Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. They apparently were doing very well and were strong enough and Christian enough that they were attracting the attention of the adversary at a very high level and Satan the Devil was trying to defeat them. But Christ cautioned them a little bit about a possible Trojan horse. Do not fear. Don't let fear overcome your faith. Don't let fear of persecution lead you in to compromise so that you can assuage the critics or the persecutors. I will take care of you, and He assures them: I will take care of you if you will look to Me; depend upon Me; I will deliver you. I will give you the crown of life. So the Church in Smyrna has a very good report but it has this slight caution of being careful not to let natural human fear of persecution and trial undermine their faith. He says: "that you may be tested." "Be faithful" so you could have fear but be faithful instead " and I will give you the crown of life."
The Trojan horse doesn't really exist here but there is a hint of a possibility, the potential of a Trojan horse undermining them, getting inside — that is, fear of persecution.
We move on to the next church.
Verse 12 - "And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, 'These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: so this is Christ with the sword that cuts into the marrow of the bone — discerning attitude, discerning good and evil.
Verse 13 - " I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan's throne is". It has been hard to track down historically, in terms of exactly what that means, as is the case with several of these descriptions. You probably have some pretty good ideas and descriptions of what this means but He allows that they dwell in a very difficult place. They dwell where Satan's throne is and yet this was not a throne per se, this was Pergamos. "And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr," so they had lost, apparently a leader, at least a faithful Christian who had been martyred "who was killed among you, where Satan dwells." There it is again.
I don't know for sure what it means when it says "where Satan's throne is" or "where Satan dwells". We know that the false religious systems of the time had many centers. Ephesus itself was one of those with the temple of Diana and Artemus and so forth — the tremendous paganism that was rampant — and obviously Pergamos did as well.
Some scholars actually say the name Pergamos, comes from a couple of Greek words: pergos and gamos: Pergos meaning tower or elevated place, and gamos meaning marriage and so that there is a relationship, if we can put it in bluntest terms, there is a relationship between the Church and the high place. There is a combination of paganism and Christianity going on here together.
Now, that was no doubt the name of the town well before the church was established. In fact it appears to have been there for thousands of years before that. And so the name isn't necessarily directed to the church but as you know, sometimes God uses those things, and this particular church seems to have a relationship with the world — had become deeply involved in the society to the degree that perhaps they were not able to distinguish between truth and false doctrine, and we see that of course as we go forward here.
Verse 14 - But I have a few things against you," So even though they dwell where Satan dwells — they have perhaps the biggest excuse, if you want to put it that way, the justification per se of: how are we going to do any better than this? "But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam", and we remember Balaam of course from the travels of the children of Israel out of Egypt. "who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
Now Balaam was asked by Balak to curse the people of Israel and Balaam wanted the money, so he kept going back to God and asking permission to curse Israel and God kept telling him no, and he kept blessing Israel and he ended up giving Israel of course, wonderful blessings through the mouth of Balaam. and this is the same Balaam who had the problem with the talking donkey. But God allowed him to bless Israel and didn't allow him to curse Israel but in all of that miraculous situation Balaam still insisted on having his own way, doing his own thing, resisting God's will and he still gave Balak counsel and advice on how to seduce the children of Israel, if you will, into immorality. This doctrine apparently continued to this day and is being discussed as a false doctrine within the Church.
Verse 15 - Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. And again, I've read and heard and seen lots of information about the Nicolaitans but it is not conclusive as far as I can tell. I doubt that we take a hard position on exactly what that doctrine is. There are numerous ideas about what it is. The one thing that is clear is that it is false doctrine. Whatever the doctrine of Balaam represented at that point, which obviously had to do with interaction with the world and fornication with the idolatry of the world as described there, obviously the Nicolaitans themselves, that doctrine represented something that was completely contrary to God's truth and God's word. There are some who think it had to do with abuse of government of various kinds; tyranny and that tyranny had crept into the church, that kind of thing. But that is not conclusive either.
Verse 16 though, here it is again:
Verse 16 - Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.
Now Christ is saying: I am the Head of the Church. I am your friend. This is My body. I want you to succeed but if you don't repent I'll come quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth, or you, perhaps, with the sword of My mouth. I think that is what the actual Old King James says.
Verse 17 - "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it."'
So again we see that the various elements of the reward are described here in different ways for each church even as Christ's identity is described a little differently for each church.
The church was tolerating the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, whatever it was. The church was tolerating the doctrine of Balaam. Can the church do that today? Are we supposed to learn something about our own nature? Are we supposed to learn something about our own thought processes? Are we supposed to learn something of how human nature works even within the church in converted minds? Do all of us who are converted still have a little element of the potential to be deceived or to be misled by a combination of our human nature and Satan's influences? Are we vulnerable to a Trojan horse? Are we gullible?
For example: If any one of us chooses to pursue our private interpretation of scripture, and promote that so that the environment becomes one in which even a new member could not really be sure what the church teaches, would that not potentially be a real danger? Wouldn't that be a potential Trojan horse? Now lest anybody panic, I have no knowledge of that being done in any way, shape or form in this place. I am just asking the question. Is it possible for us to kind of get off on a tangent, begin to pursue a particular element of personal study or personal acceptance of a position perhaps that we have taken right out of the scriptures, but we see it a little differently than anybody else sees, and begin to make it a doctrine, far more minor no doubt than the Nicolaitans or the doctrine of Balaam, but something that can sow discord, something that can cause people to be upset, disturbed, worried, frustrated? Well you answer that from your personal experience.
I can go back for over 45 years in the church and I have seen that happen from the time I was new in the church until now, that occasionally somebody, somewhere, gets an idea in his or her head that begins to be the prism through which every thing else has to be viewed. And when that happens it almost always does two things: It causes stress and trouble for various people around that individual and ultimately causes great trouble and distress for that individual himself or herself.
I am simply saying that Christ gives the churches these warnings for a reason and that you and I are told if we have the Spirit of God, we should be hearing what the Spirit says to the churches.
Let's come on down to the next church.
Verse 18 - "And to the angel of the church of Thyatira write, 'These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass:
Once again we are dealing a description of Christ that perhaps has particular merit to the issues in the church itself.
Verse 19 - I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience: and as for your works, the last are more than the first.
So where He has told Ephesus: Repent and go back and do the first works, He says to Thyatira: Your latter works are better than your first. You've grown in that capacity.
Verse 20 - Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
Now this may or may not have been focused in one individual woman, who called herself a prophetess. It likely did have at least that type, but it probably also is a reference to the larger issue of simply allowing false teachers and false leaders to once again mislead the church, that is strong in love and service and faith and patience, to slip into some form of immorality which undermines the relationship with God and often leads to — what? The last line is critical: "..eat things sacrificed to idols."
Now there is a connection usually between false teaching and idolatry because in one sense they are one and the same. There is also a connection usually between immorality and idols. You frequently find as God talks about idolatry that there are various kinds of sexual immorality involved in that religious worship, because that worship itself often includes sexual practices or is based upon the Babylonian mystery system which permits and encourages that kind of an attitude.
Sexual immorality of course is in itself automatically a form of idolatry because if you are engaging in activity and conduct contrary to God's commands and you are in fact calling yourself a servant of God but you are engaging in behavior contrary to God's instruction then you are obviously allowing yourself to be influenced by a different god. You are allowing yourself to be misled and some times that is a very direct religious practice. Some even take the form of religious practice. Other times it is simply a matter of being deceived into an approach to life and a way of life that undermines your faith and your confidence and your trust in God. So He calls it idolatry.
Was there a woman in the church in Thyatira who was professing to be a prophetess and giving people false doctrine on the basis of a connection with God somehow? Well, probably there was but it is probably bigger than that. It is probably a context of the women Jezebel in terms of the Babylonian mystery religion; in terms of false Christianity; which was arising around them and a combination, a syncretism if we want to call it that, between Christianity and paganism which allowed them to think everything was O.K. We have discovered all of that in the subject of Easter here in the last few weeks — The pulling in of pagan practices and rituals and so forth to Christianity which in fact represents something entirely different.
Verse 21 - I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent — talking about Jezebel and not the church, thankfully. Talking about the Jezebel; talking about those who possessed that attitude, either one or many. There obviously were more than one involved as we find going on.
Verse 22 — Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds.
So Christ says there are consequences for this behavior. You can call yourself by My name; you can say you are in the Church of God but if you are participating in this kind of activity there are consequences. The consequences are to the prophetess, the false leader in this case, the seductress as well as those who commit adultery with her, He says, could go into great tribulation.
Verse 23 - I will kill her children with death, meaning of course again the fruit of that kind of relationship, the fruit of that kind of an attitude, of that kind of religious practice. It will follow through to the next generation and on down the line. And all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and heart. Christ didn't beat around the bush. When He makes a judgment, He makes that judgment and if He has to punish He punishes and when He punishes He stands behind the punishment and He says: I will do it, and everybody will know that I did it, and hopefully that will be good for everybody because the next line says: And I will give to each one of you according to your works. I will judge you according to your heart and mind. I will give everyone of you according to your works.
Even though we are told to bear one another's burdens and to help each other and we are told provoke each other to love and good works, when it is all said and done there is no collective judgment in the sense of each of us somehow being able to have salvation because our brethren are given that reward. We are judged according to our own attitudes and our own works.
Verse 24 - Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine; so some had not fallen prey to this influence even though it was so pervasive that He had to go into very direct description of the punishment, the consequences. Not everybody had fallen into this, He says: those of you who do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan.
I find that an interesting expression: You do not have this doctrine; you have not known the depths of Satan. Now you can simply take that to mean you are totally separated from what is going on. I don't read it that way personally and I'm not trying to interpret the scriptures. Just when I read it, it says to me you have got to be affected by this. The consequences are all around you. This is the way the church is functioning and you are going to be affected by it but because you are not participating, you are not accepting it, you are not participating directly, you have not known the depths of it — you are not judged the same way because even though the fall out affects you.
How would it be? How would it be to go into a congregation where you know that somebody is teaching the whole congregation that it is O.K. to go totally contrary to God's law and to commit this kind of sexual immorality, at least in the physical description which of course also applies spiritually to the idolatry involved? How would it feel to go into that congregation and to resist it and to fight against it and to hold fast the truth knowing that your brethren around you really think you are being a little too righteous? You are being a little too strict. It is O.K. to live this way. The prophetess, Jezebel, said so.
You think you will be unaffected? Well, you might come out of it very strong but I would think there will be a tremendous amount of frustration, stress, discouragement, worry about their welfare, their future, sadness, but Christ says: To those of you who do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden.
He says just surviving here gives you a bit of a chance. Just surviving here gives you a positive score. I will not put upon you any other burden. I cannot hold you —apparently even though the standard doesn't chance — I will not hold you in terms of the understanding of your situation quite as responsible as I might in a different environment.
I don't think I am misreading that but I don't want be guilty of teaching something that is not there either but He says: I will put on you no other burden. You are doing the best you can in the situation you have.
Verse 25 - But hold fast what you have till I come.
Verse 26 - And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations - Another indication here that the system, the political religious system, was crushing them down.
Verse 27 - 'He shall rule them with a rod of iron; They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels' - as I also have received from My Father;
Verse 28 - and I will give him the morning star. — Which of course is being a co-heir with Jesus Christ who is described as the Morning Star.
Verse 29 - "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."'
Oh, we forgot to talk about the Trojan horse, didn't we? No, we didn't forget. What was the Trojan horse in this situation? Well, you might say it is Jezebel but I don't think that is the real issue for most of the people because she's probably the one leading the charge.
What is the Trojan horse here? I would like to suggest that the Trojan horse in this congregation in Thyatira is tolerance.
Tolerance has become a great doctrine in our society today. Tolerance is more important than any other standard. Just tolerate other people and everything will be fine. Don't judge anybody, don't judge anything, and the Bible is quoted and corrupted to say it is wrong to judge anything at any time when in fact that is simply not the case. Christ, as the head of the Church has taught us how to judge. He has told us we ought to know how to discern good and evil; we ought to be able to judge right from wrong.
Now this is a pretty striking description of a church. Don't you find this rather striking that you are reading about the Church of God and He is saying: You allow that Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to do this? Where is the problem? You allow. The tolerance that is connected with this is remarkable. It is a Trojan horse masquerading as righteousness. We are taught that being tolerant, just saying: I am O.K., you're O.K. That sprang on the scene about thirty five years ago, in the early seventies, or the mid-seventies perhaps. I am O.K., you're O.K. You do your thing, I do mine and nobody gets hurt. That kind of tolerance leads to: there is no right and wrong; there is no standard; there is no way to measure. How could I judge, and if you can't judge that, how can you judge yourself? How can you judge your own Christianity if nobody else is doing anything wrong, if everything is alright?
Christ taught us to judge. He even told us to pull brethren out of the fire. How do you know they are in the fire if you don't judge? If you are going to pull one another out of the fire - that takes courage. Just the same kind of courage it takes to rush into a burning house to save a friend. Saving a friend from sin, pulling somebody out of the fire, takes courage. It takes being willing to go and perhaps confront that person privately and say: You really need to repent. You have a personal problem. You need to change. Now I am not talking about judgment from afar; I am not talking about gossip; I am not talking about condemnation. I am talking about a sincere, honest desire to help somebody and to pull them out of the fire — saving them from themselves. That takes courage. It doesn't mean using your own narrow minded standard and saying to somebody: You don't do it the way I do it therefore you are wrong. I have seen that in the church. No, it is using God's standard and dealing with issues that are very clearly contrary to God's word, when you can have the faith and courage and say to someone: I would like to help you. You are wrong. You need to repent. You need to change, and I would like to help you and I will pray for you and I will fast with you. I will do whatever it takes to help you through that problem.
The spiritual fruit of that kind of connection is unfortunately, I think personally from my experience, seriously lacking in the church today — the whole church. The courage to pull one another out of the fire; the courage to confront sin and openly discuss it in an attempt to resolve it; to repent of it and to change and to come out of it. That fruit is not real common. It is lacking. Is it lacking in you? Are you able to have the courage through God's Spirit to do that? Can you look back over the last year since the last Passover, and maybe over the last five years if necessary, and see some growth in that area?
Tolerance is a Christian virtue when properly applied to the shortcomings of somebody who is trying to change. We are told to bear one another's burdens. We are told to wait on one another. We are told to recognize that not everybody is moving at the same pace. Tolerance is a Christian virtue but it is not a virtue when it is directed toward blatant disobedience to God or rebellion against God's authority in our lives — Then tolerance is enabling; tolerance is hurting the person who is caught up in that sin. Christ is the Creator. He makes the rules. Christ judges but He gives us the opportunity to help one another through discerning good and evil and doing what we need to do.
We move on to chapter 3.
Revelation 3:1 "And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, 'These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: "I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
Verse 2 - Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.
You have the name. You can be identified as a part of the Church of God , but you are dead. Well, if they were literally dead, the judgment would be over, wouldn't it? So He is talking about spiritually dead. He is talking about not having any spiritual life. You are dead. You are doing nothing to prepare for the Kingdom of God. You are in a coma, if we put it in that modern terminology. You are not making any progress.
What is the Trojan horse here? How about negligence? You want to go back and look? Notice the very first words to the Sardis church: "...I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful," The next verse He says:
Verse 3 - "....Therefore if you will not watch," — in the middle of verse 3. They were not watchful. They were not paying attention. They were not guarding themselves against the enemy from without.
Their negligence to do their work of spiritually protecting themselves and resisting the evils of the world around them is the Trojan horse here. They do not have any dramatic terrible description of sin like we find in Thyatira. You don't have any great dramatic description here but on the other hand if somebody says: You are dead — is that a real positive judgment?
You know I mentioned earlier how good it will feel to be told what Ephesus was told, but let us take the converse. How would it feel if somebody walked up to you after church - I hope nobody does this; This is not the way to win friends and influence people, nor is it the way to help somebody - walked up to you and says: You know I have been thinking about it and I think you are spiritually dead. That will take a bit of a toll on your psyche, wouldn't it? But that is what Christ says to the Sardis church. You are dead. You are not watchful. Now, we have interpreted this sometimes in the past to mean they simply were not willing to do the work they had to do. They were not willing to watch on behalf of the world; they were not willing to watch and pray and look for the coming of Christ; they were basically doing nothing.
The end of verse 2 says: "... I have not found your works perfect before God." So He is judging them for sins perhaps of omission here as opposed to commission. He is judging them as not quite measuring up.
Again I am asking us to apply these principles to our own self examination; both privately as a Christian and collectively as a Church. How are we doing? And again when I say a church, I don't just mean a congregation. To the degree you know things outside the congregation you can add that in. Some of us perhaps don't have a wide knowledge of the Church as a whole, but to the degree that you have, you can ask yourself: How are we doing as a Church?
We asked those questions on a recent survey, remember? We asked some of those questions on a recent survey when we tried to get a feel for: Where are we as a church, so that we can plan to go forward. We asked some of these questions. There was quite a broad range of responses. Some felt the Church was doing extremely well at almost every level. Others thought the church was doing pretty poorly on most every level, and after you get past those, you look at the middle which may be a little more realistic, and you say: This is where we probably are. Now we didn't do that as far as I know, but that is kind of the way it works. You have some people who are so positive and so optimistic that everything is always going to be good. You have other people who are so cynical and critical and negative that everything is always going to be bad, and so you can't really make your plan based on those who are always going to be on one extreme or the other, but rather those who perhaps take a more realistic perspective in the middle.
I think the Trojan horse here might best be described, and this is just my view - sharing with you — as negligence.
Verse 3 - Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.
So they are not paying attention. They are not watching.
Verse 4 - You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; so just as He said that those in Thyatira: You didn't take part in this, He says that those here in Sardis: You have some here that are doing O.K. They have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.
Verse 5 - He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
Verse 6 - "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."'
Oh, let's skip that next one. Let's go down to verse 14. Let's jump down to the seventh church.
Verse 14 - "And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:
Verse 15 - "I know your works, that you are neither cold not hot. I could wish you were cold or hot.
Right away you find something is going on here: I wish you were something different than what you are. Even if you didn't understand what cold and hot meant, Christ is saying: You are this way. You are not this way or this way - I wish you were something in between. You were something different, at least. You are actually in between. And in this case this was a poor use of a tenor.
Verse 16 - So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
Now that is a scary expression. I will tell you why: Hold your place there for a minute. Go back to Revelation 12. We have recognized that these are successive historic eras of the church and therefore we assume that Laodicea will be on the scene at the time of Christ's return in some form, and in Revelation 12 where we have the Church being persecuted, we come down to - I will start in verse 14 where it shows the protection:
Revelation 12:14 but the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.
Verse 15 - So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.
Verse 16 - But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.
So you have this whole picture here of Satan spewing something out of his mouth; the earth opening up its mouth and swallowing up the Church so that what Satan spewed out can't reach the Church. It goes on to say:
Verse 17 - And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. - Which sounds like part of the body, part of the Church of God — coming back to Revelation 3.
I find this an irony. I don't know if it is intentionally a picture that connects with Revelation 12, but I believe it probably is.
Revelation 3:16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.
So here on the one hand we have Satan spewing out venom toward the Church; the earth opening up its mouth and swallowing up the Church so that the venom can't reach the Church, but we have Christ saying to the Laodiceans who apparently live in that time: I will spew you out of my mouth. I will vomit you out of my mouth.
So the analogy kind of becomes complete. The mouth is involved here but you're not coming out ahead. You're not being swallowed up to prevent you from having the persecution that Satan the Devil is offering, which is described in Revelation 12. Why?
Verse 17 - Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing' - and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked —
There are two things here: "Because you say" and "You do not know". They have all these spiritual problems but those aren't specifically the issue that is addressed here. The Trojan horse is in the term: Because you say and that is proven by the later term: You do not know. So you say based on your judgment, based on your perception. Mr. Welty said in the sermon last week, in describing Jeremiah 17:9 and a couple of other places, the heart is deceitful and we are capable of being deceived and deceiving ourselves so that we judge unrighteous judgment and a man's way is right in his own eyes. We can judge false judgment and that is what Laodicea is doing here.
The Trojan horse among us, in your life or mine, can be that we look at ourselves in the mirror, spiritually, and say: I am doing fine. God describes in pretty strong terms: rich; increased with goods; don't have need of anything; but in reality you don't know what Christ's judgment is. Christ's judgment to Laodicea was: you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. That is pretty straight. So you have to do something about it. You have to change.
Verse 18 - I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; truly rich, and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
Verse 19 - As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
It is always His command to repent; always His invitation to change; always His desire to see us change and overcome and grow. When we come to the Passover that is hopefully what is on our minds — that God is giving us a chance to repent. He is giving us a chance to overcome. He will be patient with us. He will work with us because He wants what's good for us. The Trojan horse here seems to be: leaning to our own understanding and judging human judgment that is deceived.
Well, we skipped over, what this Bible calls, The Faithful Church.
Verse 7 - And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, 'These things says He who is holy, He who is true, "He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens."
So it describes Christ's roll as the heir of David and the offspring of David; the heir to the throne, etc.
Verse 8 - I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
He goes in to what He is going to do first, here. "I have set before you an open door" but He does say "You have kept My word, and have not denied My name." That is a pretty good record.
Verse 9 - Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie - indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
He says: I am going to single you out and make clear to everybody that you are My people.
Verse 10 - Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
Verse 11 - Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
Verse 12 - He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.
Verse 13 - "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."'
A pretty solid recommendation there — pretty good evaluation. What can you complain about? I don't see any Trojan horse there, did you? Ah, but there may be one — Always the downer, me. There may be one. You know what it might be? Well, who did you ever meet that didn't think he was part of Philadelphia? How many people do you know that are in the church in any time - frame that you can think of, or any experience you've had - how many people have you known that said: Well, I am not really Philadelphian. I'm sorry about this but I am half-dead or completely dead or I am Laodicean and I am not zealous. I am judging my own unrighteous judgment. Who do you know like that? I never knew anybody like that in 45 years in the Church.
So, just offering a thought: could that be related to all the other Trojan horses out there in the sense that perhaps, when we think that way, we are not part of Philadelphia at all? Maybe if that is the way I think about myself, maybe I actually should look at the other church descriptions and see if any of those apply to me because the chances are I am going to find some that do, and if I do, then why shouldn't I look at those and try to repent and overcome them as opposed to simply saying: Ah, it is so good to be a Philadelphian - put my feet up and enjoy this while I can.
You see I am just saying there is a potential danger here. We all think we are part of Philadelphia and because we live in a particular time period, near the end of the age, and because, well Laodicea hasn't been punished yet, maybe we are just all Philadelphia , but maybe we are not. True Philadelphians won't have to worry about their fate, if they are true Philadelphians, but how do we know whether we are? Can we honestly examine ourselves in light of what Christ says here to the seven churches and both individually and collectively determine what we need to change? How we can repent; see ourselves as we really are; do we recognize our weaknesses and sins; do I recognize mine; do you recognize yours; do we collectively recognize them; do we have a collective personality or collective character that says: This is the Church of God? Do we recognize the need for the sacrifice of Christ? Do we come to the Passover with the complete appreciation for all that has been done for us?
I want to read one passage in closing here, because we are all warned that it could be a Trojan horse inside the walls.
Hebrews 12:12 Following the discussion about correction, He says: Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, It sounds kind of familiar to what He said to the churches in Revelation.... strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees,
Verse 13 — and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
Verse 14 - Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord:
Verse 15 - looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; the focus by the way of the Passover, lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;
Oh, did you catch that analogy? "... lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;" Maybe, just for explanation here, I could phrase that: Lest any Trojan horse come among you and thereby many be destroyed. ...lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, — see, there is a Trojan horse. Becoming bitter; becoming critical, cynical, discouraged to the point of: it doesn't really matter to me anymore. It won't only affect me personally, it will affect other people.
Verse 16 - lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.
Verse 17 - For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.
Verse 18 - For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, talking about Sinai, of course.
Verse 19 - and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.
Skipping down to verse 22.
Verse 22 - But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels,
Verse 23 - to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,
Verse 24 - to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.
We've been given a spiritual calling; a spiritual connection with God; a spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ, the Creator, the Head of the Church, our elder Brother, our Savior, and soon coming King. We are the Church of God. We are the body of Christ. But down through the ages, for two thousand years, the body of Christ has been told: There is a potential for a problem here. Be careful about this. Look at yourselves. See the struggle; see the sin and repent and change and I will receive you. I will take care of you. I will comfort you. I will see you through it. Christ stands ready to do that. You and I have to do our part by submitting to His will in our lives and not seeking our own even as He told all these Churches to do.
I hope brethren, that as we look back on this whole situation - by the way, if you take the time to go look into Trojan horses, you will find that nobody even knows whether it ever happened or not. Nobody even knows whether it was historical or whether he made it all up, whether it is just a myth - it really doesn't matter. The lesson holds true that, if we let down our guard, if we take in the enemy and sort of sit back and allow it to happen, the enemy can destroy us from within while we are defending the walls without.
So let's examine ourselves and so let us eat.