Pergamum Church- Do Not Compromise Series

Opener:

We are excited to be here as we are continuing our sermon series this morning on the seven churches found in the book of Revelations.

We have already looked at the church in Ephesus. This is the church that worked very hard for the Lord, and they stood up to those that were evil, yet they left their first love.

Last week, we were looking at the church in Smyrna which experienced a tremendous amount of persecution for their faith. We learned of the Bishop Polycarp who was martyred for his faith in Christ. In the face of all this persecution, Jesus encouraged this church not to fear and to remain faithful to Him and He will reward them with a everlasting crown.

Today, we are looking at our third church which is found in Pergamum. At the time, like Smyrna, the church in Pergamum was at the center of Roman emperor worship. Duly noted, there was a large throne like alter there that was built on a cliff that overlooked the city to the Greek god of Zeus. This was one reason why John makes reference to Satan’s throne. Located about 50 miles north of Smyrna, we see Pergamum was a leading religious center in Asia Minor. Pergamum was known for its civilization and their education centers. They were involved in various industries such as: pottery, tapestries, and paper products. They were known for their wealth and fashion. Mark Anthony was seen in this library and would even send out books to Queen Cleopatra of Egypt. The city had a huge library of some 2000,000 volumes and was second only to the city of Alexandria. Basically, was like the Google of their time.

Now that we have a little background of this church, Let’s hop into our text this morning found in Revelation 2:12-17 NKJV -12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, ‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: 13 “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast to My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. 15 Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. 16 Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.17 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.” ’

As we look at this church, they had a tremendous battle with worldliness that was taking place inside the church. It is really important for us to remember that Satan uses all kinds of ploys to get the church side tracked. One of those ploys is that he sends corrupt people to try to influence the church from being pure and holy.

I found a story from Joby Warrick who writes a harrowing story about a Triple Agent about how a Jordanian physician who was radicalized on Islamic websites. This young physician would stay up late at night after his work in the daytime among the pediatric patients in Amman, Jordan and be infused with the vitriolic rhetoric of the Islamic preachers on Youtube until he wanted to get involved in the jihad. He did so after he was picked up by the Jordanian spy agency who found his online postings. They were going to attempt to send him into Pakistan as a spy but when he got there, he revealed why he was there. He told the jihadists that he was working for the Jordanians and had some connections to the CIA. Over a period of about a year, this young physician put on a suicide vest and made it into the CIA compound in Khost, Afghanistan and killed himself along with 9 other top CIA officers working in the Middle East. Once the investigation was done by CIA Director Leon Paneta, it was discovered that the CIA had let down their very high standards that they normally followed because they were so desperate to get Osama bin Laden and his top two lieutenants.

The same thing can happen to churches when they drop their guard in pursuit of all sorts of so-called success. There are three main areas which open the door to worldliness in our lives and these are shared by John in 1 John 2:16 NKJV16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. To lust after something is really to have an intense desire for that object to provide satisfaction for yourself often at the expense of others. So the lust of the flesh seeks after pleasure, travel, addictions, movies and a host of other activities that satisfies the flesh. The lust of eyes speaks to an intense desire to see something exciting. This typically involves around possession of things that we don’t currently have but really want. The pride of life is when a person exaggerates ones personal value. They are driven by self ambition and have a prideful desire to have more prominence and to be recognized.