The Mindset of Worldliness Experienced in Thyatira:
The saints in Thyatira needed to stop their friendship with the world that led them to be displeasing to God. You may ask, in what way was the mindset of worldliness evident in Thyatira? To answer that, we need to take a brief history lesson. Let me describe daily life in this 1st Century Roman city, named here in Revelation.
Thyatira was renowned for its thriving manufacturing and industrial sector. Most workers in Thyatira were members of guilds that operated much like our labor unions of today. The guilds encouraged their members by setting prices for their labor and for the goods they sold.
That meant that all of the various trades: potters, dyers, tanners, bakers, metal workers, textile makers, bronze smiths, slave-dealers, leather-workers, and the rest had their guilds in this town. The history of this period highlights three key aspects.
Sin was Everywhere Present and Powerfully Alluring:
William Ramsay, the famed 19th-century archaeologist, writes: “Revelry, license, and intoxication marked these pagan religious societies (trade guilds) lounging on dining couches, surrounded by troupes of unclothed, dancing and singing slaves, would be fatal to all self-restraining spirits”.
In short, a guild was no place for Christians, and yet quitting the union was economic suicide.
Living in a Cesspool of Sin:
What immense pressures the world placed upon every marriage in the early church. Wives knew that each month their husband was going off to a guild meeting, knowing that he was served all the alcohol he could ever drink, followed by a pornographic strip show.
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