Mon.’s Devo - The Churches of Thyatira and Sardis

Read: Amos 4:1-6:14; Revelation 2:18-3:6; Psalm 130:1-8; Proverbs 29:21-22
Amos was speaking to a calloused people who had no compassion for the poor and no respect for God. When they were in need, they didn’t turn to the Lord, and when they were rich they didn’t give him credit for their blessings. Their religious acts were not impressing God because he knew their hearts. God was going to stir up another nation against them.
The fourth church of Revelation was Thyatira which means “the odor of affliction”. It was to be known as the Pagan Church and represented the time of 606- the time of the Great Tribulation. It was condemned for tolerating the misdeeds of Jezebel. Jezebel means “unchaste”. During this time Boniface became the first Pope. They started kissing his feet, worshipping images and relics, using “holy water”, canonizing dead saints, fasting on Fridays and during Lent, praying prayer beads, the sale of indulgences, and many other rituals. The most defiling thing they did was to forbid the people to have a Bible making it impossible for the people to oppose what they were doing because there was no standard except what they said. This became a time known as The Dark Ages and it continues until today.
The fifth church was The Church of Sardis which started in 1520 and will continue till the Tribulation. It is called The Dead Church.
Sardis was the capital of Lydia and was destroyed by an earthquake. It means “escaping ones or those who come out”. These are the Reformers that started with Martin Luther. They opposed “works” as the means of salvation and preached salvation by faith. Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis to the door of the church stating the error of their teaching and the truth of the Bible. He was charged with heresy but his teaching spread throughout the world. Other Reformers like Calvin, and Knox
continued his work teaching the Bible and awakening the people to truth. They did come out of the Roman Catholic Church and its organized religion, but then went on to build their own organized religions according to which Reformer they sided with. So now we have Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc.
Man will never get it right when they try to control and organize the things of God. He never wanted to rule from a box or a building. His kingdom is not one of walls and borders, it fills the earth…every bit of space. We carry the church within us although I love to go to my church and fellowship with my faith family. Sunday worship cannot be contained to a day; it is every day. We take the presence of God everywhere we go. We bring the church to the lost every place we go.
Lord, awaken us to be the church, not just attend one.