Reflection Questions – The Jezebel Church: “Teaching and Seducing My Servants” (Revelation 2.20-23)

2 Timothy 4:1-5: “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: ² preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. ³ For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, ⁴ and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. ⁵ As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”

1. The wickedness and many distractions around us today can make it difficult to remain faithful to Jesus. Pastors and teachers are especially pressured – both from within and without the Church – to compromise God’s Word and to pander to the plurality and sinfulness of our godless culture. This is, however, nothing new. Why is Paul’s VERY SERIOUS charge to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:1-5, provided on the reverse) as relevant today as it was in the 1^st century, if not more so? Why must believers insist that their teachers obey it? What are the consequences of succumbing?
2. Read Jesus’ comments to some of the other Churches in Revelation: 2:2-3, 9, 13; 3:1b-3a, 8. Discuss what the Lord ‘notices’ about them and what it says about us as a Church Body or about YOU as a Jesus’ follower.
3. Consider what Jesus said to the believers at Ephesus in Revelation 2:4-5a. What do you think He meant by saying, “you have abandoned the love you had at first”? Jesus’ remedy is threefold in verse 5: “Remember … repent … and “do the works you did at first.” These believers had lost something through the years. And so, Jesus asked them to “remember.” Have you lost something that you need to remember? To recapture? How might Jesus’ threefold remedy help us to recapture the ‘wonder’ of our salvation?
4. While the importance of ‘good works’ is sometimes discounted in Christian circles, their importance is very prominent in God’s Word. Jesus commended the Church at Thyatira for their increasing good works (Rev. 2:19). This shows that we serve a concerned, watching Lord. How closely He observes us! How deeply He cares about what we profess and what we do! Have someone read the following verses. Summarize the meaning of each one as a group. What is the Lord trying to say to us through them? What does He want us to learn from these passages? each? Why is it so important to God that we manifest our faith through our works? See: Prov. 3:27-28, Gal. 6:9-10, Eph. 2:10, Col. 3:23-24, Titus 3:8, Heb. 10:24-25 & 13:16.