Turkey, Day 04 - Restoring Security

Hello again from beautiful Turkey! One thing I’ve yet to mention since the beginning of our trip is the weather we’ve experienced. We had that one wild downpour, but since then have had clear skies, cool breezes, and highs in the low 80's! It’s been a gift while hiking around the country. That said, we began our day in Sardis.

If you’re tracking with us, this is our third early church stop on the journey through all seven churches mentioned in Revelation. One thing to note: there is unique desire and purpose with every single word that was written to these churches. It was specific to them and to the state of their church. That said, Sardis is an area with a long history of security. It was a fortified city with defended walls and was difficult to overthrow. If you see the photos, this place had the largest columns we have seen yet on this trip. But it did shift in power and leadership multiple times over its life. In addition, there was high honor given to the goddess Artemis. We sat in the middle of the temple of Artemis. Artemis was the chief mother goddess, protector of women, goddess of the hunt, and a virgin. Greek mythology, combined with Roman influence drove the culture of this area. Imagine being an early church in this region where security was found within oneself; where the church manufacturing things by their own power gave the appearance of health and wellness. Knowing this we understand why Jesus says to this church, “I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” (Rev 3:1b) They were prideful and unable to follow humbly. Jesus tells them to wake up! We ask ourselves if we too as individuals or as the American church have become haughty. Are we doing this by our own power? When we don’t display humility, we stop dealing with ourselves in the currency of honesty and feel insecure. But security IN Jesus is to BE secure. This is the truth we needed to hear this morning.

Quick “In Awe” Moment: within this area not 10 yards from these columns of the temple of Artemis was a Christian church dating back to the 300 AD time period. It was a small brick building, you could even say a humble structure, that gives us hope that this church strengthened what remained and repented, and turned toward the Father, walking in His righteousness.

As we moved on to another area, we sat in a LARGE Jewish synagogue. It was immaculate! Measuring 66 feet wide by 279 feet long (that’s nearly a football field!), it had incredible mosaic work and symbols of eagles, griffons, lions, and eggs. You could say these are beautiful, but when we examine more closely, we realize they were bending to the culture around them through decor. They were adorning their holy walls with worldly images. They were appealing to the Greek mythology and Roman power in an effort to be attractive and remain in good favor with Roman rule. This was what the majority was doing, but not the entirety. We see Jesus say to the church of Sardis that “you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.” (Rev 3:4) We see a remnant rising up. A few faithful followers who have remained humble and made their dwelling place the satisfying and sufficient security of their Savior. This is still happening today, thousands of years later. Could it be that God is calling us to be this remnant? Could He be calling us to be the humble ones who find complete security in our Savior and demonstrate faith through deeds of righteousness? This stop on our journey gave us much to reflect on and consider in our own lives.

After an amazing lunch of lamb and red lentil soup, we ventured on to our fourth early church on the journey: Thyatira. Similar to Philadelphia, Thyatira is located in the modernized city on a minimally excavated footprint. But while sitting in the shade under a large tree, we unpacked what God was building in this place. To give you a clear picture of how —purposefully placed — Jesus’ words are to each church, understand this: the city of Thyatira at the time of this letter would have been about 25,000 people whose patron god was Apollo who is the son of Zeus. Now, in each letter’s introduction, Jesus reveals Himself in a different and unique way, speaking of His character. In this letter, and only this letter, He calls Himself “the Son of God”, giving direct contrast and conflict with their patron god Apollo who they would have believed to be the son of Zeus, the chief mythological god. How purposeful and specific was that in breaking their worldview?!

Looking around these ruins we talked of how Thyatira was founded on a trade route and everyone belonged to guilds, which were trade unions of sort in which all the power was held. If you want to prosper socially and economically in this city (and have security), you must be a part of a guild, which also meant partaking in their practices of immorality. Can you imagine the tension this early church felt? Do we hold true to the things God commands of us, even if it causes us social and economic calamity? They were faced with this tension of security and some were bending to the culture receiving criticism from Jesus for this in the letter He gives them. But others were remaining faithful. They were exhorted for this endurance and commanded to “hold fast what you have until I come.” (Rev 2:25) For a season, for a time, they may feel insecure. But they endure. They remember they have true security with Jesus. We spent time in our tribes (aka small groups of about six of us) talking about this tension and how we too must not compromise and hold fast to what we have in Christ. 1 Peter 5:10-11 gave us great encouragement and I’ll end with it: “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”