When Tolerance Turns Deadly

Automatically transcribed — lightly cleaned for readability. Wording is the preacher’s own.

Well, as Pastor Luke mentioned, we are in a series in the book of Revelation, and we are talking about a small section, a couple chapters right at the beginning of Revelation where Jesus, through the Apostle John, writes a letter to seven different churches in what was then Asia Minor, what would be for us like modern-day Turkey, okay? And the letters are, they kind of have like various feels to them. Some of them are really, really heavy. Some of them are really, really like directed and pointed. Some of them are really, really encouraging. And it's the basic belief or understanding that all of these letters were written like on kind of one scroll.

And each letter went to each other church too. It's like they just kind of did a circle. And so the church in Thyatira that we're going to read about today was on the same scroll as the letter to the church in Pergamum that Pastor Luke preached on last week and Ephesus and will be on the one to the church, in Sardis next week. And so I don't know about you, but if I'm Pergamum, I'm reading what Jesus is saying to Thyatira, right? Like I'm not, I'm not going to be like, oh, let's just read our section of the letter. No, like I want to know, I want, I want the tea on what's happening at the other churches. Okay.

Speaking of tea, how many feel a little tired this morning? Maybe a little wore out. Okay. Here is the trick to being caffeinated this morning. Every time I say the term sexual immorality in the sermon today, just take a sip of your coffee. You will be great.

You'll be wide awake, okay, by the end of the morning. Let's just get that out there, okay?

Pastor Luke said it a lot last week. I'll probably say it a lot this week because the letter that we're going to read this morning to the church in Thyatira is not an easy one to hear, okay.

It's not an easy one to internalize, and similar to last week it can be a little bit like confusing what exactly is this letter saying, and we hear some things from jesus to the church or to really one particular individual within the church that we're not really used to hearing, like, I gave you time to repent and now it's too late. Right?

So that all being said, we're going to jump in Revelation chapter 2, roughly verses 18 through 29 this morning. Now, we'll talk about what are some of the significant aspects of this portion of the letter to begin with. The first is that out of the seven letters in Revelation, this one is the longest. It has the most information. It talks about the most topics. It is the longest. And it is the only one that specifically refers to Jesus at the beginning of the letter as the Son of God. That's going to be important here. And we're going to talk more about what the significance of that is here in a minute, but very specifically, it's the only one that outright names him or refers to him as the son of God. Thyatira was, this is not the first time that we've actually heard of this city in, in the new Testament. It's a little, we, it's, it's easy to miss, but in Acts chapter 16, we read that one of the first converts of Paul, the apostle Paul's ministry to the Gentiles happens in Thyatira.

And that is the, the early church leader, Lydia. Lydia becomes a, really pivotal figure in the rest of Paul's missionary movements. We believe that she was wealthy. She probably dealt in dyed fabric, like especially purple fabric, which was a like very wealthy type of commodity back then. But Lydia went on to both serve in the early church by letting them meet in her home, but she was also a wealthy woman and kind of financed some of Paul and Barnabas' later missionary journeys. She was from Thyatira and Paul and Barnabas returned to her home several times as kind of like a place of respite in the midst of all of their travels around, Asia Minor as they were preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. And so this wasn't just a place, even though the letter comes across as kind of like, man, are they getting anything right? It wasn't just a place of like that jesus was bringing rebuke to it was a place where there was a there was a there was a significant remnant of faithful men and women who were carrying out the task of enduring for the gospel in a culture and in an area that was hostile to them.

And so we don't want to paint a totally bad picture of it because there's there's some good things about this city and about this church. But if we look here at the first couple verses, we're going to read Revelation 2, verses 18 and 19 to begin with.

Jesus says, and to the angel of the church in Thyatira, write this. These are the words of the Son of God who has eyes like flames of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. Remember, that's a reference again to how Jesus was described by John back in Revelation chapter 1 when he first received the vision of Jesus during his time in the Spirit, it says. Jesus goes on to say in verse 19, I know your works, church in Thyatira, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceeds the first. So right here at the beginning, Jesus marks out what is commendable about this church. He knows, just like all the other letters, it says he knows, I know what's going on in the church. I see what's going on in the church. It's not escaping me. It's not escaping my, my, my knowledge or even my, like my, my vision. And he's like, there's several good things that are really going on. Like number one, you're being, you're being faithful, right? You have, you, I know your works, your love, your faith, your service,

And your patient endurance. We don't really get a whole lot more than that. He's like, let me just get the good stuff out of the way first. I see your love, your faith, your patience, and your endurance. And I see, he said, that the latter works exceed the first, meaning that like the way that you are enduring in the faith, the way that you are standing up underneath the pressure that you're experiencing from the culture, that is like, that is like primary like awesome characteristic of you church in Thyatira, but we don't get too much more in, in the, in terms of the positive from Jesus to this church. Now, like I said, in the intro, this is the only letter in revelation where Jesus is referred to as the son of God. And that's significant because the son of God, like for you and I may just be, or may have become just like one of the main ways that we refer to Jesus kind of like.

In what we call Jesus Lord, or we call him Messiah, or we call him Savior, or we call him Jesus is the Son of God. But we don't often understand the weight or what was wrapped up in those terms or in those titles for people who would say them in both the New and the Old Testament. It. Son of God was not just one other way of referring to someone that you knew Jesus, but it was connected to and had direct allusions to a long-held prophetic word that comes out of the book of Psalms. And in the book of Psalms, Psalms chapter 2, the psalmist is recounting and writing about the heart of God the Father and how.

The Father is going to set his Son as a judge over the nations and the peoples who have become hostile to God, who have turned their back on God, and who have given themselves to pagan and idolatrous worship. And that it is the son of the father who will sit in pretty violent judgment over them.

That there will come a time where the son of the father, the son of God will rule those nations, says with an iron scepter. And that he will bring judgment upon them because he is the only person worthy, to bring judgment upon wickedness. And so you and I reading, tell these words, the words of the son of God who has eyes like flames. We would just read that as like, oh, the words of Jesus who have eyes like fire and feet like burnished bronze. But to the Jew or even the well-informed Gentile reading this letter and other believers, they would have immediately understood what Jesus was saying here. Not son of God is writing this letter, but the one who will stand in judgment over and against those who do wicked things against the law of the Lord. So he's stay he's like he's not mincing words right from the very beginning he was like I am the one that will bring judgment. I am the one that will bring punishment I am the one who will rule like an iron scepter I have eyes that are flames like fire and I have feet that are like

Burnished bronze meant to depict both a, the piercing ability to see through, the facades of life into the sinful heart of man, and the demonstration of extraordinary strength, feet as burnished bronze. And so.

This whole opening of the letter is meant to communicate some really, really, really strong themes that Jesus sees, that Jesus knows, that Jesus judges.

So, like we said, there is some stuff that is commendable about the church, their love, their faith, their service, their perseverance or endurance, but the complaint is, or the judgment or the rebuke that Jesus brings upon the church is the most significant part of the letter, and has some language and has some consequences that we haven't really seen in Jesus's words yet to the churches. And so let's read those and see, all right, Jesus has a few things to commend the church on. What is the issue here? Revelation chapter two, verses 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.

I have given her time to repent, but she refuses. Thanks. I have given her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. And so 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. And I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you according to your works.

Okay, so not necessarily the gentle Jesus we've come to expect and know in love always in American Christianity, right? This is a Jesus who understands himself as the son of God, the one who will judge.

The thoughts and actions of the world, and who is very clearly saying to the church of Thyatira, listen, I see what's going on and I am about to bring judgment. Now, kind of like the key, one of the key issues here or key features of this is very similar to the church in Pergamum where, last week, pastor Luke kind of walked us through how Jesus was talking about how, like they have the same spirit as Balaam and Balak. And we're like, well, what does that even mean? Right. There wasn't an actual Balaam. It wasn't actual Balak in that mind, but like he was talking about, like they, they have the same attitude. They have the same spirit. They have the same heart condition. And that's exactly what is happening here as well, is that Jesus recounts a historical figure,

And basically says her name. It's like you have a. He says, I have this against you. You tolerate that woman, Jezebel. Now, the question is, who is Jezebel? Well, she was an actual historical figure in the history of Israel, and she was not a positive one.

It had nothing to do with her gender and everything to do with what she did, and what she sought to do. She was, Jezebel was a Phoenician princess. So Phoenicia was like the area of Tyre and Sidon, just north of the nation of Israel, right around the Mediterranean. And she ended up marrying King Ahab. Now King Ahab was among, if not the most wicked king that the northern kingdom of Israel ever knew. And he was ruling from about 869 to 850 BC. Jezebel, while she was married to Ahab, it was kind of like part and parcel in leadership over the northern portion of Israel, tried to have all of the prophets of God, all the prophets of Yahweh killed. Meaning like she wanted to essentially slowly just kill all of those who stood in like prophetic voice for the sake of the Lord, for the sake of Yahweh to the people.

Probably most significantly is that Jezebel was the one who introduced the worship of Baal and Asherah into the nation of Israel. Now, Baal was a, well, it was kind of like a, I don't want to say a classic, but a really well-known false or lesser God that became a large pagan cult gathered around, as well as Asherah.

In the same and similar fashion, maybe a little bit less prominent than Baal, but equally as evil and wicked. And both of them were kind of central figures behind idolatrous pagan worship and a pursuit of, both personal and communal, and also like some form of wicked religious pursuit of sexual immorality, okay?

She raised up 450 prophets for Baal, 400 prophets of Asherah. She attempted to kill Elijah in 1 Kings chapter 19. And pretty much from that point on, the point that she like actually existed in history throughout even today, really, that even that name or the woman of Jezebel is kind of known as a universal sign or symbol of wickedness.

Of destruction, of division, of pagan worship, and of sexual immorality. Now, the question is, well, is Jesus trying to say, hey, that woman Jezebel, she's back.

She's come back, and now she lives in the church of Thyatira. He's not saying like the actual historical person of Jezebel was back. This was probably,

A nickname or. An association for someone within the church who was likely acting in the same spirit as Jezebel was acting. And he says that this woman who is acting like Jezebel is calling herself a prophetess, meaning she is openly proclaiming that not only does she represent God, not only is she claiming that her teaching contains divine revelation, but that it also holds divine authority. So there was a woman in the church who was kind of operating in the spirit of wickedness and sexual immorality and, and pagan worship, but that she was, she was kind of like promoting herself as being like, no, I actually am speaking for God. What I have is I have divine authority. I have divine revelation here. And this really is the basis of the rebuke for this woman, whoever she actually historically was, was not necessarily even what she believed, if you read carefully. If we read carefully what the actual issue is, it says.

I have this against you that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, that calls herself a prophetess and is what? Teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and eat food sacrificed to idols. So what is the actual issue here?

Like one of the main issues here is one, is that the church is tolerating this. That there is a that there is an obvious pagan, ungodly practice of either idol worship and or sexual immorality and the church is just like well we don't know what to do I don't know like we got to be nice to her right,

There's a there's a there's a tolerance that's existing there that is becoming, something that jesus is rebuking you tell you're tolerating this in the body, and not only is they are they being rebuked because they're tolerating it, but he doesn't even really say anything about the nature of the things that jezebel is teaching what he, what what the main rebuke to her is that she's leading others into it.

Is that by your false teaching, by your insistence that you speak for God and speak under the authority of God, you are now, teaching and leading others to do that which is an abomination to the Lord. That it is okay to live in this form of sexual immorality. That it is okay to go to the pagan temples and eat of the food that has been sacrificed to idols, that it is okay to go and like participate in the, sexual immorality that is happening there in those temples associated with that idol worship. And you're just continuing to teach them that, Hey, look, because we have grace and because Jesus has like, you're fine. It's no big deal. Don't worry about it. Just keep doing that this was the issue, is that there was a leading of others away from the heart of the word, from the heart of God.

It says that some members of the church accepted her teaching, and they actually began to believe it, and assumingly so, practiced it. And later in the letter, Jesus records these teachings as the deep things of Satan.

They actually begin to believe and practice these things. Now what really is the context here like what is like what's happening that there would even be a conversation about sexual immorality and food sacrificed to idols seems to be

Seems to be something happening in this area of the world now pastor luke went over this pretty extensively last week. So I'm not going to rehash all of it, but I will say this, that in Thyatira especially, Thyatira was, was a city or an area that was, how do I say this? It had a really high prevalence of,

Intricate craft guilds, meaning people who were like bronze smiths, gold smiths, silver smiths, who dealt with, dyeing fabrics in very beautiful and vibrant colors, trading those around. It was a very wealthy area and a very significant area. And so these different craft guilds would.

Have their own temples, essentially, that they would serve with their own pagan deities and pagan gods. And in order to celebrate the success or to expect success from a business perspective in these craft guilds, They would go into these temples and they would sacrifice food,

On these bronze altars, these golden altars in hopes and in prayer that their business life, the economics of the area would be successful. Now, craft guilds and pagan temple worship often included these kind of feasts to pagan gods and right alongside with them, sexual impropriety, giving themselves spiritually to other gods and giving themselves physically to other people in a way that was not godly.

Jesus does not let Jezebel off of the hook here. He tells her like what we read already this morning in verse 21, or he says, I have given her time to repent.

I've given her that opportunity. I've given her time to repent, but she has refused to repent of her sexual immorality. 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 their works. And I will strike her children dead and all the churches will know that I am he who searches heart and mind. And I will give each of you according to your own works.

So, listen, this is where we talk maybe a little bit more practically about what is happening here. Because even though the historical context is pretty deep and wide and varied, this part is really not difficult to understand.

That God in his grace and God in his mercy and even God in his gentleness, we know, Jesus says it, has given Jezebel, this woman and this church, significant time to repent.

Now, whether that be a direct word to her from a prophet or a leader in the church or another brother or sister in the church with her, whether it come from a personal conviction of the Holy Spirit upon her heart and upon her soul that, listen, you need to repent of this, turn from what you are doing, turn from this sexual immorality,

Invitation to repent, invitation to repent, invitation to repent. And what Jesus says is she had what? Just refused. She just refused.

The sobering truth about her heart, the sobering truth about the human heart, the sobering truth about your heart and mine is that sin can have such a powerful hold over people, that we stubbornly hang on to our rebellion even in the face of an invitation to repent.

Like there is a stubbornness that can exist inside of the human heart, that even in the face of repentance wants to hold on to the life of sin rather than turn towards the life of God.

Why do we, why do we talk about it like this? Well, you know, in my, like, in my life as a pastor, and even really just in my own, like personal walk with Jesus, I've both talked with people and experienced myself. What happens, how does my heart interact with the sin that I know exists in my life?

And this is this is an important question for us all how how how does my heart actually interact with what I know is sinful,

Because there is like there there is certainly the way of jezebel where you see your sin you know your sin you've been convicted of your sin maybe even others see the sin, and you say what, yeah I'm good.

Okay I'm just gonna hang on to it because I like it, and because it maybe it feels good and maybe like I have an identity that is wrapped up in this thing maybe it is representative of a relationship that I don't want to walk away from or a business practice that is that, I can't just like stop doing. Like I know that it's sin. I've been convicted of that sin. I feel it and know it in my heart. It's very clear to me, but.

I'm just gonna keep doing it. The most healthy way, honestly, the most healthy way,

To experience, to interact with sin as it hits your heart is for it to kind of eat at your soul.

Because when we learn to tolerate it in our lives, that is when we are in significant spiritual danger.

You are in significant spirit. I'm not just talking about little danger. I'm talking about big danger, like soul level danger, life altering danger. When we tolerate sin in our lives and refuse to repent of it, even when the invitation has been made clear to repent.

When we feel it, when we know it, when we see it, but we just refuse. I'm not willing to give that up. I'm not willing to stop doing that. I'm not willing to start doing that. If sin if if if if you have sin in your life and you at one point knew or know that you shouldn't do this thing say that thing do that like whatever the thing is right, you know like man I know this is conviction I know this is conviction and just gradually you have like not responded to the holy spirit's invitation to repent, you just gradually not and what you say to yourself is like oh like kind of like the further further and further away I get from the initial point of conviction of my sin like I just don't feel as bad about that sin anymore, that's not a good thing.

That's the deadening of your heart to the presence and conviction of the Holy Spirit. If the sin that once brought conviction in your heart no longer really bothers you that much and it's still there, it's because your heart is becoming deadened and hardened, to the ministry of the Holy Spirit to call you into holiness to Jesus. And while it may feel good to your fleshly conscience it is damaging deadly even to your soul.

See, when we tolerate sin in our lives, tolerance eventually leads to acquiescence. Acquiescence eventually leads to hardness and hardness leads to death.

But we'll tolerate this for a little while and then I tolerate it long enough and be like, ah, well, I guess I just kind of give myself to it now. We just acquiesce to it I guess I'm I've tolerated it long enough I might as well just kind of like throw myself into it might as well just live here in this place my this might as well just be the what my life is like, all about no no like listen there there is a point right, like you repent don't tolerate it don't just accept it don't just give yourself over to it because tolerance leads to acquiescence and acquiescence leads to hardness. Hardness leads to death. This woman's heart was hard. I refuse to repent. It had been tolerated in her life. The church tolerated it. The church didn't say anything. The church didn't do anything about it. And now what? Now Jesus is like, I've given her chance. It's over. He gives her no out. He was like, those who follow her ways and who have given themselves to her teaching and have followed her path into adultery or sexual

Immorality, they can still repent. But if they don't, they will follow the same consequence that she experiences. Now, what is significant here is like, somewhat unlike other portions of scripture, it seems to communicate here, that Jezebel is going to be, or whoever this woman is, and her followers who don't repent are going to experience real life right now type of consequences for their sin. They're thrown onto a sick bed and experience great tribulation is what Jesus says,

I have given 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 and I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart and will give to each according to your works.

So what happens then to those who don't listen to her teaching? Because there were some, there had to be some, right? I mean, we have the example of Lydia who was, I mean, according to everything that we know, faithful up until the very end in ministry with Paul. What happens to them?

Verse 24, but to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold to this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, And to you, I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Like there's, there's almost like a gentleness and like a, Hey guys, man, you are like, you are killing it over here.

No homework for you guys. No, no, no extra work. All right. You're not following this teaching. You're remaining faithful. So all I want for you is just only hold fast to what you have until I come. What he's saying here is like, hey, just persevere. Endure. Keep doing what you're doing. Remain faithful. Stand strong up underneath the pressure of what it means to follow Jesus. And I'm coming, I promise. I'm coming. It won't last forever. It's not going to be like this forever.

In the verse 26, he says, the one who conquers, and who keeps my works up until the end to him, I will give authority over the nations and he will rule them, with a rod of iron as when earth and pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my father. This is a statement that we're not really used to applying to those who remain faithful and overcome. Remember in the first couple of weeks of this series, we talked about how this is a common theme throughout all the letters. Hey, to him who overcomes, or if you overcome or continue. It means to be like, hey, those who remain faithful and endure and persevere in faith, even in the midst of the pressure that they are experiencing from the culture or the world that they live in, to those who overcome, Jesus says like, I will give what? The manna from heaven, right? Or I will give the bread of life. And here he says, what happens to those who overcome? They will rule the nations.

This is not a humble gift. Sometimes we're like, oh, we should walk and anticipate the gifts that the Lord gives us with humility and use them in gentleness and respect. This is one of those gifts where Jesus is like, okay, the letter is heavy on the judgment for those who repent and heavy on the reward for those who remain faithful. And those who remain faithful, Jesus says, you will rule with me over the nations. Not a really common thing that we seem to think about is people who are trying to be faithful to Jesus, that he's inviting us into rule over the nations. And this isn't a uncommon phrase actually, or idea even within the whole of scripture. We might think of like, wow, this is the first time Jesus has said something like this. It's really not. In the Old Testament, God's people would enjoy privileged positions of power during the future kingdom, according to Psalm 149 and Isaiah chapter 60. In the New Testament, Jesus told his 12 disciples, those who, have followed, that they would sit on 12 thrones with him in paradise,

And that they would judge the 12 tribes, that there was a position of authority and rule over, others in the midst of what would happen in the end times. Paul writes to his protege Timothy in 2 Timothy and says, listen, if we endure, he says we will also reign with him. We will rule and reign. And of course, this same idea comes in later chapters of Revelation. Revelation chapter 3, verse 21, Revelation 5, 10, Revelation 22, 5, all of these things, right? That those who persevere will rule with Jesus.

Now, we have these letters in Revelation. Revelation, not an easy book to understand, right? Admittedly, the letters amongst them. But we can still learn some really, really practical things for you and I, right? And this is what we're going to end with. Just a few notes on what we can learn practically from this letter to Thyatira. And then we're going to celebrate communion together.

First and foremost I want to say this there was a there was a tolerance, of improper teaching and improper spirituality in the church of thyatira that they were tolerating that they were allowed the church was allowing and this was a major rebuke of the church,

And we don't know why they were tolerating it and we don't know what exactly happened, but we know that Jesus wasn't really happy about it. And if anything else, what I believe this communicates or can communicate to us that we can apply to our lives and our church here, our own personal hearts and beliefs is this, is that don't ever believe, that what you believe doesn't matter.

Doctrine matters. What we believe about the word of God, both in like, it's like, the dogmatic statements that it makes, but also the heart of God that it communicates, the holiness that it calls us into, the future hope that we have in Jesus, the warning of judgment that we have for those who repent. What we believe matters because when we don't know what we believe or when we don't believe anything, then we're liable to believe everything, okay? And if our hearts, like, what does the psalmist say in Psalm 119? He says, I have hidden your word in my heart. Why? That I might not sin against you, right? That the word of God deeply planted within our hearts matters, not just for our knowledge of the lord and our relationship with the lord but it matters for the own protection of our souls I'm imagining right that there was men and women who were seeing what jezebel was teaching being like something doesn't, something that doesn't sit right with me I don't something feels off about that like ah I don't really know though.

And just let it be, and just let it be, and just let it be, and let it be, and let it be. And then over time, what happens is that Jezebel chirps, chirps, chirps, chirps, chirps, chirps, chirps, chirps, got people around her believing because the church tolerated it at the beginning.

This is the primary role of the elders in the church. The primary role of the elders of the church is to protect the church in matters of faith and doctrine to say no we won't we won't tolerate this, this is not correct this will lead to death and,

And to stop it right at the beginning. Doctrine matters. Number two, we should learn this or know this or see this. Jesus sees all, Jesus knows all, and Jesus will judge all.

Jesus' eyes are depicted here as like fiery flames. They're flames, right? They are piercing. They burn away all of the facades of our life that we put up in order to remain hidden from who we truly are. Jesus sees through it all, okay? Jesus sees it all in your life. Jesus knows it all in your life. Jesus invites repentance, but stands in a place of judgment, right? And there will come a time where repentance is no longer possible. You see, what we're getting into here in Revelation is the switching of the way in which Jesus comes to his people. This is what I mean by that. In a couple months, we're going to start celebrating. I mean, it's September, like Christmas is like tomorrow, right, we're going to be celebrating advent which is like oh the it's the celebration anticipation of jesus coming humbly as a baby so cute. In a manger and there's straw and like donkeys and christmas carols and he comes so gently and quietly he doesn't come with a big splash, you know, you know, just like no room at the end, super humble and gentle.

The way that Jesus comes the first time is much, much differently than the way that Jesus is coming the second time.

The next time that Jesus comes, it says he's coming on the clouds, riding a white horse to tread the fury of the wrath of the winepress of God.

Meaning like as a man who comes and like presses, wine to squeeze out the juice jesus is coming to do that in wrath and in fury and in judgment against the wickedness of god, not gently not humble in a manger with christmas carols no but with like trumpets, and tens of thousands of angels to finally, once and for all, defeat sin and death and evil through his righteous judgment.

Jesus sees all, knows all, and judges all, and we should respond accordingly. Finally, is this. A theme that runs through the letters here is the need for endurance. Hey, just overcome, just endure, be faithful, stick with it, don't give up, keep going, believe the Lord, don't listen to this, don't listen to that, focus on Him, endure, how do we endure? How do we endure?

How do we become people who endure? Because most of us want to endure on accident.

We just kind of want to like white knuckle it without much thinking to how we're actually going to endure. What it means to endure. What it means to fight in this way or to stay strong and up underneath it. I'm going to say this. Like if you want to endure, you need to develop what I'm going to call habits of resistance.

Developing habits of resistance, gives us the like helps us to endure in the midst of spiritual cultural worldly pleasure pressure. See white knuckling it through life very rarely works or it certainly is not, joy filled we do need to white knuckle it through certain situation. Just hold on. Just hold on. Be faithful. The Lord is coming. But listen, we have to intentionally resist. We have to intentionally resist false teaching. We have to intentionally resist the heart condition that doesn't want to repent. We have to intentionally resist the things that would drive us into the place of judgment before the Lord. But the way that we talk about resistance in the modern world is quite different than the way that we actually need to resist, right? We talk about resistance in like with a kind of an outwardly aggressive posture, right? We're going to get bigger. We're going to get louder. We're going to get more weapons. We're going to power up. We're going to become more. We're going to become stronger. We're going to resist. We're going to take the hill.

And in a way I get it. And I understand And I'm that type of guy, right? I'm a take the hill type of guy. And I get it. But listen, the acts or the habits of resistance that bring endurance are the internal acts that are most difficult for us to do.

Habits of resistance look a lot less like just absolutely slaughtering someone on Facebook because they said something pagan.

And a lot more like forgiving someone who has hurt you deeply. Look, I want to resist. No, but no, no, you don't understand, Pastor. You're like, I want to resist and I want to endure. Okay. How much unforgiveness in your heart do you have?

Who has hurt you that you refuse to forgive? No. Okay. I get that. I got that forgiveness. Right. But, well, what else? Like, I, I don't know. Let's, well, it's a habit of resistance in a world of, idolatry. I don't know. Like the, how about this? The greatest hedge against idolatry and materialism in scripture is what? Generosity.

How do I become less like chained to what I have or what I don't have? How do I become less obsessed with getting more, right? Well, the biblical answer to that is like destroying greed and materialism in your heart. The antidote to that is to be generous and give it all away. Very, very, very difficult for your heart to turn greedy when you're giving it all away. When you understand that every resource that you have, everything that you have is not your own, but is simply a large lever for you to move the kingdom of God more, that God has given you what you have so that you can bless others with it. A habit of resistance in a world of greed and materialism looks a lot like just extravagant generosity. How can I serve? How can I support? How can I help? How can I give? How can I build?

A habit of resistance in a world of aggressiveness looks like loving the people, that's easier to hate or dislike.

Right, so habits of resistance are less about like taking the hill and more about letting the Holy Spirit of God sanctify your heart, so that you live as a person who incarnates the character and nature of Jesus in all the places that you go, in all the relationships that you have, in all of the resources that you manage. Okay, no, no, I am a person now who is resisting, right? The pressure.

I am enduring in faithfulness, not because I'm bigger, stronger, more aggressive than anyone else, but because in a world of bitterness, I'm choosing forgiveness. In a world of materialism, I'm choosing generosity. In a world of hate, I'm choosing love. In a world of punishment, I'm choosing mercy. In a world of aggressiveness, I'm choosing kindness. In a world of pessimism, I'm choosing joy.

I'm going to endure by developing a habit of resistance, countercultural values.