Post by Admin on Oct 18, 2018 7:04:30 GMT
The discussion last week was about a congregation – at Pergamum – which was compromising their Christian faith by a tolerating, “live as you wish” attitude. We went a step further with tonight’s discussion on Jesus’ letter to Thyatira, a congregation that has excellent qualities (love, faith, service, and perseverance), yet has slid from tolerating questionable behavior to yielding to a false teacher that literally condoned immoral behavior. Our conversation started with considering the kinds of things in our daily life that make us angry, and the kinds of things scripture tells us made Jesus angry. With His “eyes like blazing fire,” Jesus as described in this letter does seem angry at this congregation, or at least at the one who is leading them astray, labeled here as “Jezebel.”
The Bible discussion book suggested that the Thyatira congregation was putting on a show of love, faith, etc., while underneath beat a heart of wickedness. Our group challenged this. Jesus is not fooled by pretenses, and He was the one who saw the good qualities in the congregation. Plus, toward the end of the letter, He implies that some are not following the false teaching and He encourages them to stand fast in resisting. Another way of looking at the instruction in this letter is to apply it to each of us individually. We each experience and exhibit love, faith, service, and perseverance, yet in our hearts there can be wicked and cruel inclinations as well. The whispers of Satan can expand those evil inclinations; or, our love and faith can overwhelm them and the Holy Spirit can be in control within us. We speculated that this is an on-going life battle.
We talked quite a bit about the challenges of discerning evil behavior and how to deal with it. If we focus on our own spiritual condition and eschew negative behavior, will that be sufficient to eventually choke the life from evil behavior like gossip and bullying? Or will there always be (thanks to Satan) enough inclination in a few people to keep the wicked stuff generating discord. We used examples like cliques in a congregation that gossip about others – can we isolate and starve that, or do we need to confront it and attempt to stop it? That led to discussion on the steps that Jesus will make to discipline the unrepentant “Jezebel.” Maybe those punishment efforts will be visible to others, and maybe they will bring about repentance. Probably, neither is the case. We need to trust God to handle issues in His way according to His plan, while we focus on our own internal housecleaning.
The Bible discussion book suggested that the Thyatira congregation was putting on a show of love, faith, etc., while underneath beat a heart of wickedness. Our group challenged this. Jesus is not fooled by pretenses, and He was the one who saw the good qualities in the congregation. Plus, toward the end of the letter, He implies that some are not following the false teaching and He encourages them to stand fast in resisting. Another way of looking at the instruction in this letter is to apply it to each of us individually. We each experience and exhibit love, faith, service, and perseverance, yet in our hearts there can be wicked and cruel inclinations as well. The whispers of Satan can expand those evil inclinations; or, our love and faith can overwhelm them and the Holy Spirit can be in control within us. We speculated that this is an on-going life battle.
We talked quite a bit about the challenges of discerning evil behavior and how to deal with it. If we focus on our own spiritual condition and eschew negative behavior, will that be sufficient to eventually choke the life from evil behavior like gossip and bullying? Or will there always be (thanks to Satan) enough inclination in a few people to keep the wicked stuff generating discord. We used examples like cliques in a congregation that gossip about others – can we isolate and starve that, or do we need to confront it and attempt to stop it? That led to discussion on the steps that Jesus will make to discipline the unrepentant “Jezebel.” Maybe those punishment efforts will be visible to others, and maybe they will bring about repentance. Probably, neither is the case. We need to trust God to handle issues in His way according to His plan, while we focus on our own internal housecleaning.