His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): Love, faith, service, patient, endurance, and maturity. Qualities the Lord wants to see in his church. His perfect love is next. We're sharing Pastor Matt Vandervan study of Revelation right now on his perfect love and currently going through the seven letters to the seven churches. The great thing about this study is we're really getting specific instruction on what the Lord likes to see and doesn't like to see in a local church. Today in his letter to the church at Thyatira, Jesus confronts the unbiblical tolerance of sin in the camp. But he also has some good things to say about them as Pastor Matt explains from Revelation chapter two.

Matt VanderVen: Look at verse 19. I know your works, your love, your service, your faith, your patience. And as for your works, the last are more than the first. So Jesus affirms the church is a positive actions if I can say it that way. Jesus seems to almost always begin each letter with a commendation. He goes and I don't know maybe somebody's come to you before and said, hey, I got to tell you a couple of things. There's good news and bad news. What do you want to hear first, right? And they might give you that opportunity.

Jesus comes with the good news. He comes with the good news and I think that's always important. And he begins his commendation. What are the five qualities that he listed? Did you count them? Did you did you capture them here? These are things that are very he's very mindful and expects to see in any of his churches because he dwells in the midst of his church. It's his church. The first one is love. Love. The second one's faith. Right? Third one is service. Fourth one is patient endurance. And the fifth is maturity. What do you mean maturity?

They were doing greater works than where they started. So when we look at this, this love, this idea of this is beautiful because one of the very first attacks that comes on a church is the attack, the love we have one for another. Because we can pretty much find ways to fight about anything, can't we? I mean, human beings have the capacity within themselves to be argumentative, to fight, to see other people's sin on themselves on the other people more than they see it on themselves. Amen? Yeah? We all recognize everybody else's sin is worse than our own.

And I think it's something that's just very easy for human beings to do. And so often you have church and divisions and dividing within church. So often we see you know, Christians at each other's throats and fighting and not thinking the best of one another. You know, first Corinthians talks so much about that, you know, chapter six, you know, there were literally there's a time in Corinth where men and women in the church were suing each other like brothers and sisters in Christ. Instead of coming together and arbitrating that with the pastor or going through these things, they were going to the unsaved magistrates, the attorneys, the lawyers, the courtroom of the day.

And what do you think was happen? These judges were looking at what's going on and go you're no different than the heathens and the Gentiles that you purport to be different. Your God is so great. In evidence, what were they doing? They were misrepresenting God. And we can ultimately do the same thing if we're not careful today. If we're not careful, we can lack love. We can lack that love and that respect that we ought to be given each other. Okay? In the last days, he says the hearts of many are going to wax cold and grow cold.

It's one of the evidences of the last days of the not only the church but the earth here because when the church is removed, the church age is over. He's warning us not to lose our love for one another. Nobody that walks into a church is perfect. There's no perfect church. There's no perfect pastor. There's only a perfect God and his name's Jesus. And when we go to churches and we expect to find those things, we are absolutely setting ourselves up for failure and being naive. We really just are. I it would be like me looking out and expecting all of you to be perfect and saying, oh God, this flock you gave me.

Are you kidding me? Oh God, this pastor you got stuck with. I mean, come on. What are we talking about here? As though there's a perfect church. That's not what this is about. Love. That's one of the first qualities that he actually points out regarding the church. Faith is the second one. They had a strong faith in Christ. There's a remnant that we're going to learn about in this church. What he's about to address here was not the whole church of Thyatira, just like it would be not the entire church here today. There's always a remnant within the bride of Christ.

You know, he's going to talk about wolves among sheep or excuse me, he has in the Gospels and other places. But this idea of faith in Christ alone, we don't put a man on a platform. We don't draw men and women to men. We draw people to Jesus. That is the goal. And that is why faith is important because your faith is only as good as whom you place your faith in. Are you with me? Faith is only as good as whom you place your faith in. I don't put my faith in myself and quite frankly, I don't put my faith in you and nor should you put your faith in me.

Your faith should be squarely placed upon Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of your faith. That's why it's a relationship. See, when we start thinking of these things correctly, all of a sudden that entitlement of anger or hurt or betrayal or all those things that we could feel towards one another just begin to melt away because we actually realize that our opinions and our emotions betray us. And that's exactly what we communicate to a lost and dying world. When we act and we're not we're playing church and we're not acting like Christians, when we misrepresent Jesus that way, why would anybody want to become a Christian if at the end you're going to be just like you were before?

Right? The whole point is we should be acting different, right? We should we should be acting like we're followers of Jesus. We're not perfect. But he wants to do that work of perfection in us. And that's what Thyatira was dealing with. They they were they were playing a part. They were acting a part but they were not sold and surrendered to Jesus Christ completely. Right? But he said that their faith was there and that's everything, relationship. The next one's service. They were about their father's business. They were serving in the ministry within the church and outside of the church.

They also had patience endurance, right? What does that mean? They were long suffering. They were patient. They didn't just say I'm going to take up my toys and I'm out of here, right? Whatever happened to the time where we invested a life. You know, there was a time when I can remember my parents and maybe I'm dating myself. Some of you may relate to this. Your parents might have worked one one job from high school or whatever they got and they stayed at the same company their whole lives. I know I'm I know I am dating myself and I know it's not the way it works anymore today.

But there was a time when there was that kind of a commitment on both sides, the employer and the employee. And and most people worked but it was to provide for their family and then they lived and practiced the things that God would have them. There was a patient endurance. It wasn't just a well, I don't like this whole thing and I'm out of here. You know, you think about what's happening in the church today when there is disagreements and arguments and things like that. So quickly we just leave. So often people leave and they don't even say goodbye to loved ones.

They don't even say bye to the pastor. You've been there 10 years, seven years, five years, two years, a month. And you just leave. You know, I want us to think is that what he's commending this church for? No. He's commending this church for their patient endurance. Why? Because there were things wrong in Thyatira. He could was going to call him out but he didn't say abandon, you know, ship. He said be patient and endure and he commends them for it. And then he goes on to say the greater works. Now this is very important because as we we understand there's none of there's none of us here that are describe for greater works.

The work of sanctification is biblically as scripture and again, you be Bereans here. My Bible tells me that there's nothing I can do apart from submission and surrender to Jesus for the work of sanctification. Salvation is in a moment. So sanctification is a lifetime. And what Jesus is asked me to do is surrender to not to take these hands and just, Lord, my life is yours. In the capacity in which I am able to do that and obey his word is the capacity equally that I grow and mature in my faith. Amen? It's really a very simple algebraic equation, right?

We could even put this into algebraic terms. I mean, it's that simple of an equation. Jesus is a gentleman and he does not force himself upon anyone. Are are you with me? He's a gentleman. He doesn't force himself upon anyone that way. And so the work of sanctification has to be peaceful. It has to be willing. And so he's telling us that there's a body or a group of believers in Thyatira that were fully surrendered and submitted and willing to allow God to do that perfect work of maturation. So those are the five qualities and these are wonderful qualities that we see that we can read in that verse 19 that gives us a little understanding what that church makeup looked like.

But it seems that Jesus was commending only a small segment of that congregation. And again, I just draw your attention back to verse 24. Now I say or now to you I say into the rest entire as many as do not have this doctrine. You who have not known the depths of Satan as they say, he says I'll put no other burden on you. It's a smaller group. It's not it's not the larger group, right? He mentions that there are those who remain faithful in the midst of wickedness enveloping that church. Again, there's no perfect church or pastor.

There remains a work of Jesus as I've just discussed with you. One of the things this reminds me of Matthew 17 when Jesus spoke and he warned us all. He said there'll be wolves among sheep. And it's interesting because an under shepherd, a pastor's role is to lead, feed and protect. It hasn't changed and it hasn't changed 5,000 years. Adam, one of the first shepherds, right? Over the animals in the garden. It it hasn't changed. Lead, feed, protect. That's what a pastor does. It's nothing more or nothing less. That's what he's called to do. But when a wolf comes in, one of the things a pastor has to be sensitive to is watching to see what's happening.

Where's this coming from? What's the motive behind these things? And some of the things that I've just I I kind of made five or excuse me, four bullets here and I hopefully it would be helpful for us this morning. These are all based on scripture, okay? But four things that I think and believe that the scriptures teach us about wolves in sheep's clothing because after all, Thyatira had wolves and they were wearing sheep outfits. And there was a remnant there but Jesus is coming to tell them I'm bringing judgment to the wolves not to the sheep.

And that's what he's saying. He's being very specific because it after all, it's all based on a relationship with him. The first thing that we notice in scripture is that wolves are selfish, not selfless. They love power. They always want to draw men or women to self. It's not let's have a Bible study. It's not coming for counseling. Let's open our Bibles. What does the Bible say? It's let me tell you my opinion. Let me tell you the things I think or believe or here's why. They love power and they love self. The second thing that you will find in a wolf is they refuse correction.

So when you go and you sit down, whether it's you or I or anybody else and you invest in your brother or sister and you love them and you say, hey, you know, brother man, I love you. Enjoy spending time with you. I've noticed there's this area you know, are you okay? You seem to be and boy there's this initial you can feel like the cackles come up. They they respond to correction with anger. Right? Not a defense mechanism. That's sort of expected, right? Anybody okay, defense mechanism. But instead of realizing that you're doing this in love, they find anger.

Anger is what you get in response. Third thing we see is they use emotions to manipulate. So they'll play on people's emotions. You you might know there are people that have the capacity or ability to make themselves cry pretty readily or easily. Uh maybe they could even use words that are manipulative. They could sometimes use affirmation or withhold affirmation as a way to manipulate with words. Wolves are very good at that. They're very good. They can truly play the actor. Right? And I think fourth and most importantly or just as importantly a wolf lacks the fruit of the spirit.

It's just really that simple. Galatians chapter five verses 22 through 23. You shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh, right? He tells us you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh when you what? Walk in the spirit. You and I can never judge hearts. We just can't do it. We shouldn't even try. It 's not in our job description. But we are fruit inspectors. And he said to us you'll know them by their fruit. Jesus said that. He didn't say you're going to know them by their hearts as though we could judge the heart.

We cannot and we shouldn't try. That's we're not anybody else's Holy Spirit. You with me? We're not anybody else's Holy Spirit and we're not on a sin hunt. But we are to be fruit inspectors. And when we look at the fruit, I just just look at I mean, I don't know. Do we take the time here this morning? I know I want to be sensitive to everybody's time. It wasn't where I had planned to go but if maybe even if you just look in the in the the book of Galatians just turn to chapter five, please.

And just look at verse 22 with me this morning. Galatians chapter five verse 22. I want to be sensitive with your time. I I know this is in an addition to the context of uh scripture we're in but I really believe it's one of the ways that protects us from becoming one of these wolves which in essence is going to protect us from false teachers and false doctrine which is the whole point of where Jesus is going to bring a stern rebuke to this church of Thyatira. In chapter five verse 22 he says the fruit of the spirit is what?

Love. Isn't that one of the five qualities we just read about in Thyatira? Joy. Peace. Long suffering. Remember he said that they had suffering endurance. Remember that's another one of the qualities we see. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. I love verse 23. Gentleness. There's a gentleness about somebody like that. Self-control. Against such there is no law. He's drawing our attention to these things and he's saying somebody that comes up to you and either whether it's correction or love or or they're not going to do it with a big old bat that's going to knock your head off.

That's not the aim or the goal here. The goal is right relationship and reconciliation with Jesus. You you take off somebody's head like that and there ain't nothing left to him to be reconciled. Gentleness. Love. What it would be like if a if Christians, if the church actually act did this way. I'm not saying there's not wrong things we got to call we do. We have to be faithful to that. But are we doing that in love? Are we doing that the way Christ wants us to do that because a wolf doesn't care. A wolf doesn't you ever anybody here ever been on a on a boat or ever see a boat go by on the and you're on the shore?

When you look at a boat a lot of times you'll give it gas or whatever you call it when you do and the the front of the boat will come down when you give more gas. And what happens in the back of the boat, it creates more of a wake. Now if you've ever been fishing on the side in a kayak or standing, you know, maybe on the shore and depending how fast that boat comes right by you does that boat knock you over? It can because the ripple effect of those waves but the person driving the boat isn't concerned about that, are they?

Because if they were, they would idle that down and come by throw as not to create what? Havoc or destruction or nothing like that. One of the clear signs of a wolf is when they don't care about the ripple effect that they create. There are so many times when a church splits. We've been fortunate not to have one. Thank you, Jesus. His protection and guidance. But I've talked to a lot of pastors that have been through them over the years. And every single time one it's heart aching for the flock, it's heart aching for the pastor, everybody involved.

And what ends up happening every single time is that whether whether it was right or wrong, what was happening, the way it was handled almost always was wrong. You can be perfectly right and handle it completely wickedly. And that's what we're learning here in scripture because that's the that's the sin of Thyatira. They didn't do anything about it. The pastors, the leadership let it go on. There was no church discipline. There was nothing happening. And because of that, that destruction using the wave analogy was rippling through to the believers, the remnant that were in the church.

They felt overwhelmed by that and so did everybody else. And it was destroying that church from the inside out. And that's exactly what Jesus is is pointing to us to look. That's what a wolf does. It's the attack from within not the attack from without. And so often our guards get let down because we don't think how could somebody sit with us for eight to 10 years, be here or whatever, know him real well and then all of a sudden do something like that to hurt somebody. It it does I've never been able to reconcile it mentally when it's happened.

Whether I do it or anybody else I can't mentally reconcile that. It does not make sense to me at when you love somebody, you don't want to hurt them that way. And even if they're wrong, you don't want to see other people hurt like a ripple. Remember the the wave thing? What happened to sitting down and just talking through it, investing each other and making a commitment? You know, we used to do that but everybody today the culture, the way we see things going uh there's got to be another church around the corner. Do we ever grow in that situation?

Do we learn faithful endurance or perseverance by that? Never given the opportunity to endure means I never grow the gifts or the ability to what? Persevere without pain. Do I learn how to handle pain or a trial of pain? Jesus so often tells us through scripture he that allows these things and these things needs be and it's so often a testing of our faith. Why? Because it's through that faith that it produces perseverance and all the things he talks about. So here he is in this church and he's seeing these things, right? So this this is a little just a little extra here just on on the wolves and the things we need to be careful.

But there were a faithful few who were separated from the large body of the the wicked ones. Look at verse 20. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you because you allow that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess. Couple of things here. She's assuming the office of a prophetess which is fine. A woman can be a prophetess. A man can be a prophet. There's an office of that. Fine. Okay. No problem there. Women allowed to do that. However, in scripture Timothy clearly teaches that women are not to be able to teach men and women.

It's very clear in Timothy, right? It's not something we we need to even debate about. It's it's it's the Bible, the Greek, it's right there. I had a university right in our area, a college. Um students came years and years ago. I remember it was probably five years ago now and they sat there and said you know, pastor uh the student union's coming together and they're asking us about certain things about homosexuality. Do we want to now say that that's of the Lord and God now allows it because he loves the people and and and and you know, but the Bible says that that's still an abomination.

How how about women teaching and women being called pastors and and all of these kind of things? How how do we want to you know, pastor, what do you I say, well, look, you this isn't doesn't matter what I think, what your Bible tell you. And I took them to the passage. They go in and they read it the translation to the the student union um I guess you call them president or whatever the role is they have to kind of organize the students before the vote. And the we said, well, that's just a translation.

So these young ladies came back. There's like four of them. They came back and said, pastor, well, they said it's just translation. I said, why don't we send them the Greek? I said, we can do that. We know the Greek. So I wrote a paper in Greek and I said and not draw attention to me. I mean, the Lord did that. We wrote a paper in the Greek. We sent the manuscript the manuscripts and said, please let them know we'll give them the translation if they like but they can go word by word here. The God's not God's not meant to confuse us at all about any of these things.

Word by word translation of the Greek to English, do the same thing. You be Bereans. So he turns around and he goes and he presents that and turns around and says, look, this is what the Bible says. You know what he did? We don't need to share that. We don't need to present that. We're just going to call for a vote today. And the students voted. And I I'm sorry to say what the result was of the vote.

Guest (Male): That is Pastor Matt Vandervan on his perfect love. We're going through Revelation at the present time and I'll remind you that you can hear the program again when you visit his perfectlove.org. That's his perfectlove.org. We're also at oneplace.com and look for us wherever you get your podcasts. We also offer a mobile app. This is a great way to take Pastor Matt's teachings with you on the go. You can learn more about the mobile app and start your download when you visit our website his perfectlove.org. We can't thank you enough for your prayers for this ministry.

Please pray that as God's word goes forth that lives will be greatly impacted for the glory of God and people would grow by his grace and love or even enter into a relationship with him. And if you have a prayer request, please send that our way. You can email that to us through our website at his perfectlove.org. Are you looking for a Christian school that offers a quality education and a nurturing environment for your children? If so, you might be interested in Calvary Chapel Christian Academy, a ministry of Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. Calvary Chapel Christian Academy is a non-denominational Christian school that serves students from kindergarten to 12th grade.

The academy's mission is to provide a Christ-centered education that equips students to love God, love others and serve the world. The academy offers a rigorous academic curriculum, a variety of extracurricular activities and a caring and supportive staff. The academy is located at 28 North Locus Point Road in Mechanicsburg, PA. For more information, please visit our website at ccharrisburg.org/academy. That's ccharrisburg.org/academy. And then join us next time when Pastor Matt will pick up where we left off in Revelation here on his perfect love.

Guest (Male): His perfect love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore.