Too often, we choose "getting by", when we could choose "getting over". Too often, we try to skimp on life, hoping not to invest too deeply. That’s "getting by". But we could turn to a better answer. We could choose "getting over".
"Getting by" and "getting over" are not the same thing. "Getting by" means that when the times are tough, we squeeze through. By the skin of our teeth we get by. We manage to make it past the things that are threatening us. We use a credit card to pay another credit card. That’s getting by. We tell a lie to cover for another lie. That’s getting by. We patch a leaky pipe with a piece of duct tape and hope for the best until next week. That’s getting by. We tell somebody who needs our counsel, "I’ll call you next week." That’s getting by. Superficial answers that scratch us where we itch, but don’t get under the skin.
But "getting over" means that when the times are tough, we find a real answer. "Getting over" means that when we are in a rough place, and it looks as though we are going to be defeated, we fight the battle and win it. We find a solution that lasts.
"Getting by" means temporary relief, but the old problem is still around. "Getting over" means that we have whipped that enemy, and he has no power over us any more.
When I was a chaplain at Howard University, one of our students was a chronic "getting by". He had come here from another country, but while he was in school his homeland went through a revolution. That meant that his funds were cut off and that it was too dangerous to go home. So here he was, stuck in the U.S., with neither funds nor friends, and no way to support himself. It was tough, of course. No question about it. But there were things he could do, and I tried my best to suggest them. I suggested that he apply for political asylum; I suggested that he ask the Immigration Service what work he could legally do; I suggested that he call on the university and ask for special scholarship help. There were any number of things he could have done. What he needed was a "getting over" strategy; he needed to face the problem and find a strong solution to it.
Sad to say, however, my student’s method was more "getting by" than getting over. Instead of seeing what kind of work he could do, he would call me to ask for money. Instead of applying for help from the institutions, he would remind me that the Bible taught us to love one another, which always led to a plea for cash ... not a lot, just enough to "get by". And when I would ask the usual pastoral kinds of questions, like, "How are you feeling?" the answer was always the same. I can still hear his gravelly voice, "Just trying to get by, Dr. Smith, just trying to get by." Which really meant, can I beg, borrow, or steal another $10.00 from you today to go with the $10.00 I got yesterday? Getting by!
And when this student did finish his degree, I thought that, "Now he’ll be own his own." But no, he chose to enroll for a master’s degree, still pleading that he could just barely get by. And, do you know, when he finished that degree, he went on and enrolled in Divinity School, claiming that the Lord would provide? I hope the Lord heard from him that year at least as often as I did! Getting by had become a way of life; getting over was never something he could grasp.
Our problem is that we choose "getting by" strategies, when we could look for "getting over" plans. We just live from moment to moment, hoping that something will come along to rescue us. But we could choose to find a way to live that has power and substance, a way that has a victory in it. We could choose getting over.
The church at Pergamum was getting by. In a hostile environment, the Christians of the capital city of the Roman province of Asia had managed just to survive. Their plan was to hold on to their Christian identity and at the same time try to fit in. Try to have it both ways. Be loyal to Christ and at the same time blend in to the patterns of the city’s life. But the Lord of the church had much more in mind for them than that.
Getting by will not gain you much. Getting over is what you really want, whether you know it or not.
I
And so, notice that the Lord of the church at Pergamum begins His message to them by establishing His authority. He makes it clear from the outset that He will be Lord. "These are the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword." In the Roman world, the sword was the symbol of authority. When the governor would process through the city, a great two-edged sword would be carried in front of him. The symbol of his authority.
But here Christ establishes from the outset that His is the authority, His the Lordship. He knows where we live, He knows that we live in a world which pressures us. But He insists that, even so, He is Lord.
"I know where you are living, where Satan’s throne is." "Satan’s throne" refers to the temples of Rome and Augustus, the shrines built for emperor worship. Emperor worship was a hollow exercise in political loyalty. People were asked to perform some little ritual act of worship at the image of the emperor, and there is plenty of evidence to suggest that it didn’t really mean very much to most of them. Sort of like the way we stand up and sing the national anthem before some sports event ... who really cares? We just do it. Well, that’s the attitude most people took toward emperor worship ... ho-hum. Just do it.
But Pergamum was the site of a major shrine for emperor worship. And Pergamum was the capital city of the province.
In Pergamum, you needed to go along to get along. When in Pergamum, do as the Pergamese do. In Pergamum, to flaunt emperor worship was to draw attention to yourself. And so, we suspect, some of the Christians of Pergamum found it hard to stand firm. Why not toss off a gesture of respect to the emperor and still be a part of the Christian church? Why not stumble through this meaningless ceremony of dropping a pinch of salt in front of the emperor’s image, and be done with it? Why not go along to get along? Why not just get by?
Because Jesus Christ is lord. Because these are the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword, the sign of authority. Because, as someone has put it, if He cannot be lord of all, He cannot be lord at all.
The first thing you and I must do if we are to get over and live in victory instead of just get by and live from moment to moment … the first thing we must do is to name Christ lord of everything in our lives. Life will never be rooted and solid until that happens Christ the Lord of all, or He cannot be lord at all.
II
But now let’s get very specific. Let’s find out exactly where it is we are tempted to compromise and just get by. There are two charges brought against the church at Pergamum. I want to take these one by one.
A
First, there is the charge that we blur our witness. We blur and blunt our witness. "I have a few things against you; you have some there who ... would eat food sacrificed to idols."
Food sacrificed to idols; what’s the big deal about that? Most ancient religions involved some form or another of animal sacrifice. In the rites and ceremonies of pagan temples, animals would be ritually slaughtered, and supposedly given to the gods. These meats would then be sold in the marketplace, and it was widely believed that if you ate these foods, you would gain some of the supernatural powers of the gods. In other words, if there was some sort of magic power put in the meat when it went through the ritual, you could get some of that power for yourself.
Now Christians knew better than that. Christians didn’t believe that. They knew that a piece of beef was just a piece of beef. So why not buy the stuff and eat it? The problem is that other people thought they were eating it to get the supernatural powers. The problem is that, even if they were not doing anything wrong, other people saw what they were doing and did not understand the difference. The issue was that they were "getting by" and were not sufficiently different from everybody else in Pergamum. And so their witness was blurred.
You see, God does not call us just to get by on the cheap; God calls us to get over, to have a victory!
Years ago, we used to have these long discussions in the Baptist church where I grew up about keeping our witness clear and clean. One of the things we decided, back in those dim and distant days, was that Christians ought not to eat meals in restaurants where alcohol was being served. And the reason was our witness. We just assumed that as Christians we would never, never touch the stuff, and more than that, we didn’t want to be seen around it for fear somebody would get the wrong idea. It was a clear witness that mattered.
Well, about the time I got into high school, some of us concluded that if we followed that rule, we wouldn’t be able to eat anywhere except for the White Castle hamburger stands and the school cafeterias. Everybody else served alcohol. So we gave up on that point; we went to those restaurants that had bars in them. But we still didn’t drink. And we sat as far from the bar as we could. I remember trying not even to look at it. We made sure we had ice water on our tables, so that no one would think we were using alcohol. A little compromise; but we thought our witness was good enough.
Ah, but then in my college years I found that there was something else you could do. I found out that you could go to a party and mix and mingle with everybody else, and if you asked for a glass of ginger ale ... you still weren’t drinking alcohol. But you were carrying around this golden liquid; it looked sort of like something with a punch to it! Aha! Fitting in! Getting by! Being a good and proper Baptist boy, but letting everybody else wonder! Where was my witness now? Was it clear?
And today some folks don’t even bother to pretend any more. Just hit the booze and let the world think whatever it wants to think! We’ve come a long way, baby, haven’t we? Not!
Do you understand? My point is not alcohol. My point is the witness. You can get by, if you want, with a blurred witness and a blunted testimony. You can get by letting the world wonder if you are a Christian and, if you are, what difference it makes. And with that strategy you will get by.
But the Lord Christ calls us to get over. The Lord Christ wants us to live with victory. Victory won’t happen out of a blurred witness.
B
Then the Lord of the church at Pergamum says He has something else against them. He has against them that they try to slide by on self-gratification. Providing themselves with the pleasures of the moment and not the disciplines that bring victory in the future. He puts it in a very provocative way.
"I have a few things against you; you have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, and practice fornication; you have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans." Now that’s complicated stuff; but in essence it means that some of the Christians in Pergamum have decided that it is more attractive to enjoy themselves now than to be disciplined for the future.
I can only take a moment to unpack these sentences, but let’s try. Balaam was an Old Testament character, mentioned in the Book of Numbers, who misled the people of Israel. Posing as God’s prophet, Balaam led the men of Israel to take whatever liberties they wanted with the women of the Moabites. Balaam had told the people, "Don’t worry, be happy. If it feels good, do it." Self-gratification.
As for the Nicolaitans, mentioned in these letters to the churches in Asia, they were a cult who practiced sorcery and magic. They attracted people by focusing on pleasure. They did entertainment and called it religion.
So what exactly does the Lord have against the church at Pergamum? That instead of the hard, difficult, day-by-day work of spiritual growth and witness, they just wanted to get by with being entertained and feeling good. They wanted to feel a rush of excitement and a spiritual climax. They wanted to see a good show and feel a warm glow. They wanted to escape this tough moment with something that makes them forget all about it. Getting by.
Did you see the TV report this week called, "In the Name of God"? Part of that report told of some churches which are growing by leaps and bounds, but which focus on the excitement of the immediate moment. Everything from dramatic lighting to dancing in the aisle to uncontrollable laughter is showing up in some congregations. All right. It may be good. I certainly don’t think that God expects us to be boring on purpose. I am already boring enough by accident, don’t need to work at it.
But I certainly felt with that pastor who was interviewed and who said that all of this puts a great deal of pressure on him to be more entertaining and to water down the Christian message. It is too bad if what we want now is "getting by" religion instead of "getting over" faith.
You see, "getting by" religion doesn’t want to hear about the hard work of studying and witnessing and giving tithes and building buildings. It just wants to get high in the Lord. "Getting by" religion doesn’t want to struggle at unraveling life’s tangles or unpacking our spiritual sicknesses. "Getting by" religion just wants to get all heated up and escape, for the moment, from the pain of living. The Lord of the church says "No" to that. The Lord of the church wants more for us than that. "I have [something] against you ... that you hold to the teaching of Balaam, that you practice fornication, that you follow the teaching of the Nicolaitans." You just want to get all excited now, when you could choose to be effective later on. You could choose to get over.
III
So how do you come to getting over instead of getting by? How do you start living life for the future instead of just taking care of right now? The answer is in our key verse: "Be faithful until death, and I will give you a crown of life." Say it with me: "Be faithful until death, and I will give you a crown of life."
How do you get to a disciplined faith instead of a fly-by-night experience? There is no simple, swift, take-it-easy kind of answer. There has to be more than looking for temporary fixes and momentary excitement. The Lord of the church insists that we must become a faithful, diligent, attentive, servant people. We must be a distinctive people, a people not afraid to be different. If we want to be a dynamic Christians, not just today’s ’’feel-good’’ people, then we are called to be a people who care, a people who love, a people who will be responsible. In that there is life. In that there is solid good news.
For the Lord of the church promises, "To everyone who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna." Be faithful, and I will give you an inner sustaining power. Be faithful, and I will give you the ability to find strength deep down within. Be faithful, and you will find that you are fed not just for today, but also for tomorrow. Be faithful, and you will see that the riches of God’s word, carefully examined and thoughtfully presented, will feed you for a long, long time. Not just getting by today, but getting over, conquering, victorious.
And the Lord of the church promises, too, "To everyone who conquers, I will give a white stone." White stones were used like tickets or votes. For example, to go to the arena for the public games, you would purchase a white stone. That would serve as your ticket. And then once you were in the arena, if there were to be a match between gladiators, and one of them defeated the other, the spectators might vote on whether there would be life or death for the one on the ground. Turning in a piece of gray lead meant death. Turning in a white stone was a vote for life. So when the Lord says to the church, “Be faithful and I will give you a white stone,” He is saying in faithfulness there is life. In faithfulness there is vitality and energy. In faithfulness and in diligence, in discipline and in honesty, there will be life, renewal for you. Doesn’t sound very glamorous; but it works!
And last and most wonderful of all, be faithful and there will be "written a new name that no one knows." A new name. In Pergamum, with its medical school, if someone made it through a devastating illness, they were given a new name, a name that showed you were a conqueror. An ordinary Joe, healed of his illness, might be renamed Victor. A plain Jane, once healed, might be renamed Angela, God’s messenger. A new name because we are healed.
And you and I will gain a new name because we were faithful. A new name because we took the time to prepare. A new name because we were diligent. There’ll be a new name in glory, if I tell redemption’s story, a new name. A new name over there.
Oh, how we got over! How we did get over! My soul looked back and wondered, how I got over, my Lord.
