“I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance. And that your latter works exceed the first.”
Revelation 2:19
The Lord knows – both the good and the bad! Jesus Christ, the one who all authority has been given to and
who is the one who has the right to judge the whole earth,
observes the fellowship of believers at Thyatira. Like a flame of
fire His eyes search the church. As with all the churches the Lord first
takes note of what His followers are doing well. This should bring great comfort to our hearts. The Lord wants us to do well in our lives for Him.
Remember Thyatira was the least significant city among the seven cities, yet the church’s works are important o the Lord. Like the woman who gave a mite in the Temple, their works are seen and are significant to the Lord.
I know your works The Greek verb know conveys the idea of perceiving with the eyes and the mind. It goes beyond physical sight to include understanding. While the Greek word for work includes deeds and actions, for believers it takes on an even deeper spiritual meaning, It describes the way faith manifests itself through actions.
There are five works the Lord sees.
Your love The Lord uses the word “agape” which is the highest form of love. The Lord saw selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love of the Thyatiran believers. Don’t pass by this comment quickly. The Lord chastised the church of Ephesus because they left their first love. He was no longer the center of their lives. That is not true in Thyatira. Surprisingly, none of the other churches are commended for their love. As we will see love is important but not by itself.
Faith The Lord commends them for their faith – their conviction or belief in the truth of God. The Thyatirians were saved by faith and have not lost that faith in God. The Lord sees that and is pleased.
Service Third, the Lord commends them for their service. The word is “diakonia” which is translated deacon. It can refer to a wide range of acts of service or ministry all which involve serving others in some way. Thus we see the church at Thyatira loved the Lord and loved others.
Patient endurance Lastly the Lord commends the church’s steadfast faithfulness under pressure. Strong’s Concordance notes, “In the Greco-Roman world, endurance was a valued trait, often associated with the virtues of courage and fortitude. For early Christians, endurance took on a distinctively spiritual dimension, as believers were called to endure persecution and hardship for the sake of their faith. This endurance was not passive but was an active, hopeful waiting for God’s deliverance and the fulfillment of His promises.” The church was persisting under pressure.
That your latter works exceed the first Finally, the Lord notes the direction in which the church is headed. He sees the last works they did are greater then the ones that preceded them. This indicates the church is growing, they are moving in the direction of producing more fruit on the way to much fruit. This should give us great comfort in our Christian life. How many times do we try to do something for the Lord and do it poorly. We can walk away feeling defeated. We did not live up to the standard of excellence and therefore we failed. The Lord does not view our works that way. He looks to see if we love him enough to obey Him. When we try and fall short, he does not chastise us. Instead he looks for patient endurance. Will we continue our obedience? Then He looks to see if we are growing in our faith and love – are we maturing in how we work for Him? So the Lord compliments the direction the church at Thyatira is moving – they are growing in grace and that pleases Him
What can we learn? When the Lord gives praise it is based in truth. His comments are high praise to the church indeed. The growth in the church is a sign of life and empowerment by the Holy Spirit. Their growth is an evidence of their desire to live for the Lord. Their maturity is not a flash in the pan based on a spurt of feeing or passion in the moment. There is a settled conviction to love and obey the Lord. This then becomes the measuring stick we must apply to our Christian lives. So there are several questions we must use yo examine ourselves. Are we more like Christ today than we were yesterday? Are we maturing?