Works Won’t Cover It

“To the angel of the assembly in Thyatira write: “The Son of God, who has his eyes like a flame of fire, and his feet are like burnished brass, says these things: “I know your works, your love, faith, service, patient endurance, and that your last works are more than the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate your woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. She teaches and seduces my servants to commit sexual immorality, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Revelation 2:18-21

This was part of the message to the church at Thyatira. God recognized the good things going on in the church, but called them out on allowing sexual immorality within their assembly.

It is a warning that speaks to what we allow and permit in our lives, our family, and our church. It is easy to think that sexual sin is a private matter, it isn’t. It impacts everyone. After David committed adulatory with Bathsheba, his confession to God in Psalms 51:4 was “Against You only Lord have I sinned.”

Sexual sin is a leaven or yeast that will spread. The Bible warns in 1 Corinthians 5:6 Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump? Jezebel spread false teachings, sexual immorality, and encouraged people to each things sacrificed to idols. God gave them time to repent, but they didn’t.

We are responsible for what we allow in our lives. What we permit will impact us and others. We can not have sin in our life and think that works will make up for it. Works won’t cover it, That is clear from this passage because God said I know your works, your love, faith, service, patient endurance, and that your last works are more than the first. Yet He still had something against them. Works won’t cover it. Their sin tarnished it all, especially blatantly sinning in sexual immorality.

When I think about how sin tarnishes things, I remember a time that I was traveling. I hadn’t paid much attention to things as I packed. I went out with a friend, and realized not only did the shirt I put on have a little hole in it, the shirt had some kind of stain also. My friend didn’t really care, but I did. I cared enough to go buy something else so I could change out of it.

We need to be just as aware of our sin and not allow the standards of the world to tell us it is okay. When God says something is not okay, it is no okay. We can not act like the work we do for him, our love and faith and patient endurance will make up for the sin we continue to allow. We have to take the necessary steps to get the sin out of our life.

Prayer – Lord, thank You for the clear standards you have given us as Your followers. You have showed us and told us what our walk should look like. You warn us, repent. You promise forgiveness when we do. Lord, open my eyes to any areas where I have allowed the standards of this world to creep in and where I have started saying that sin is okay. It is not and I don’t want to permit it in my life. In Jesus name amen.