Sardis and Thyatira - Where does your true security lie?

Written by Mark Garwood

Howdy from Turkey!

We continue to be amazed daily by what the Lord is teaching us in this amazing place, a land full of history and the early foundations of our faith. Praise be to God for his faithfulness through the centuries, from the believers in these ancient cities to us even today!

Today we were blessed to see Sardis and Thyatira, two of the churches Jesus wrote to in Revelation. At Sardis, we sat among the ruins of a huge ancient temple, basically all that remained of a fortified city considered impenetrable for centuries. We heard the stories about how this city finally fell and saw that because the city never questioned its strength, it never was able to shore up its weak points, much as we, if we live in pride without accountability, can so easily be blind to our weakness and sins. Next to the temple sat one of the earliest church buildings ever discovered. What an amazing sight, to see this tiny church where our earliest brothers in Christ once worshipped and prayed to the same God that we get to worship today! Who knows - this might have been the site of the first ever D-Now lock-in!

After that, we saw Thyatira, a once thriving manufacturing city that is now in the middle of the busy city of Akhisar. As cars drove down the street and speakers blared in the city, we listened to Jared explain the economic pressures facing the early church here - essentially "worship the pagan gods or lose your job and livelihood." The early believers here tolerated false teaching in the Church, so we learned from Jesus's admonition to them the necessity to stand firm in the truth of God, not caving or compromising what is true for what is comfortable.

Between the sites, we considered "where does our true security lie?" Is it in supposedly impenetrable walls, like Sardis, or in the security that a career in the bustling city of Thyatira provides? No, our security is ultimately in the Lord our God, and in Jesus Christ His Son, no matter what suffering, attack, or economic pressure comes!