Sermons

Toying with Tolerance!

Posted by Alex on
Sermon on March 5 by Pastor Roland Eskinazi

Scripture: Revelation 2:18-28

How serious is it to tolerate error and sin within the church? Why should we not play (toy) with tolerance?
If we would not toy with tolerance, we must:

1. BE BUSY – BUT NOT UNBALANCED! (v18-19)
Thyatira: a servant church with maximum good deeds. But Jesus will never overlook sin because of the righteous things we do.

2. BE DISCERNING – NOT DUPED! (v20-21)
‘Jezebel’ (1 Kings 16 – 2 Kings 9) : a reason why a healthy church needs a front door and back door.

‘I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven’
(Mat. 16:19)

Jezebel’s temptation: ‘Get to know your enemy! How can you defeat sin without experiencing it?’
We must search our Bibles, and guard against allowing the Jezebel spirit, ‘live and let live’, into the church.

The accusation: ‘How dare they (the church) continue to resist the redefining of marriage and the rewriting of sacred Scriptures?

3. BE ACCOUNTABLE – NOT UNTEACHABLE! (v22 – 23)
Achan’s one sin brought judgement on himself, his family and his nation. Playing with God is playing with fire…

‘Keep away from the devoted things, so not bring about own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it.’
(Joshua 6:18)

Do you see Jesus only as your ‘pal’?

‘We became so anti-traditional we took all authority out of community. We became a community of buddies – not a community of growing sheep’
(Eric Mason)

4. HOLD FAST – PURITY IS THE PRIZE! (v24 – 28)

  • Hold fast – new doctrines are false ones
    Move away from Jesus – alone, or Jesus – plus ; and we shackle ourselves to a burden that Jesus never gives.

‘We never move on from the gospel; we move on in the gospel ‘
(J.I. Packer)

  • Hold fast – Jesus gives Jesus to the holy
    The more we walk in the light, the more real the light becomes to us.

Remember! The Table we come to in a moment speaks of God’s intolerance of sin, yet grace to those who re-pent and whom He makes pure. Jesus is both Lion and Lamb, inflexibly holy and amazingly loving. Let’s aim high, not low in our walk together.

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QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

  1. What do the fiery eyes of Jesus, and His burnished bronze feet tell us about Him?
  2. Discuss Jezebel’s temptation? In what ways can we be tempted to compromise the gospel today? How would you respond to someone who says that the more you sin, the more you will experience grace? (Read Romans 6:1-7)
  3. Think back, or if you were not here listen on the website to the messages of the three previous churches we have considered ; Ephesus (correct but cold), Sardis (faithful to the end), and Pergamum (sitting on the fence). Now right out your own description of a healthy church according to Jesus.
  4. Pray that as a church family we may grow in the area of lovingly holding each other accountable and exercising church discipline with a view to true repentance and restoration.