Title: “A Church The World Needs--Not Wants--Pergamum”
Introduction:
I HAVE FOUR CHILDREN and I can tell you—kids, are smart—they know when you aren’t living up to what you believe and what you say!
I worked with inner-city, street-wise kids for several years and they know when they spot a fake. They also know how to get what they want!
How do you get what you want? You are a very wise person if you can learn that about yourself—how you get what you want.
Studies today call this “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism”. It is a very self-centered spirituality; a self-absorbed Christianity.
And the Church in Pergamum begs us to ask the question as a church, of which YOU are a part of, are we merely a self-absorbed group of people who are bent on only what feels good to us and care nothing about lost people?
Does God promise to give his children and followers everything they want, or everything they need? If God is our model for what an adult/parent/grandparent should be, then how are we to be?
SO, do you really want to be A CHURCH the world wants but no one needs? We will be just that if we are take our lead from those who remain developmentally immature—merely teenagers in the faith. If we give it just because they want it and it will make them happy, then we are becoming a “feel-good church” and we will primarily believe in a God who is the same!
The rich young ruler would
Let’s walk through the text this morning and hear what the Spirit is saying to us as a church as we make our way through.
2:12 “To the [messenger] of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.
This is referring to Jesus’ words—1:16, it comes out of his mouth. A double-edged sword can cut totally because it swings both ways. Most knives are sharp on one-side. Jesus’ sword isn’t one sided, but two. When his word penetrates it cuts into and knows both sides equally. Therefore His word is accurate, succinct, timely, and right on. So here is Jesus, standing in the midst of the churches, looking over Pergamum and with sword ready to cut—he is speaking judging words that will cut and leave two sections—one on the right side and one on the wrong. Which side will the people of Pergamum be on?
13 I know where you live—where Satan has his throne.
Satan’s throne is where the Emperor’s Temple is—they literally worshipped Caesar with idols and images in Pergamum and the popular Temple of Zeus! Rome represents the Fallen Babylon world and here Satan demanded your allegiance.
Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.
Antipas was a true follower of Christ and a member of the Pergamum church. He was martyred—killed for his faith in Christ right there in their city, and did the church shut down? Do. It didn’t cease to be a church and Christ commends them for that. Their faith in what they knew about Jesus and what He could do was greater than what they didn’t know. NEVER let what you don’t know steal away from you what you do know.
That is why Antipas was killed—because he held on to Jesus in opposition to the culture, to the leaders, to those who would influence him otherwise. Jesus had saved these followers, he loved them, he changed their lives, and gave them peace, and joy, and hope! No one else had done that for them. And since Jesus gave His life for them, they could stand firm in the face of danger and live for Him—whether that meant more days of life or by death. And Satan is seen as the one behind the persecution and killing.
Will you keep the name of Christ? Will you say there is “no other name under heaven by which we can be saved than in the name of Jesus”? And will you gladly accept the consequences for those beliefs?
14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you:
Even though P. remained true to Christ’s name (weren’t afraid to say they were Christians) and didn’t renounce their faith (stood up for the United Methodist Church and the Wesleyan practices and the Bible) even though they were persecuted by the media and portrayed as left-winged liberals and left behind by those who said they were of the “true church”…they had something ugly within them that needed to be pointed out.
So just because you call yourself a Christian and just because your name is listed as a member of a church somewhere doesn’t mean you have an automatic in to heaven when you die or some guarantee that life will blessed with prosperity!
You have people there [within their midst, with whom they fellowship with day after day and week after week in the church] who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and practice (fornication/porneia in the Gr) sexual immorality.
Hmmm… Sex and eating—two of the greatest American past-times. At least it would seem so. Flip through the channels of the magic box and see what it reveals—cooking shows, or shows where people are eating gourmet food or having sex—or least getting ready to. America is not just infatuated with sex and eating, but make no mistake, it is a PILLAR to the Fallen Babylon society we live in. Sex and eating is all about feeling good and focuses on meeting the needs of the individual.
Most of the time in Scripture when adultery and idolatry are spoken of it is referring to it spiritually. On occasion it does speak of it literally, but this refers to the sin of bonding ourselves spiritually with someone or something else outside of our commitment and covenant with God and His people.
The teaching of Balaam—In the OT Balaam taught Balak to entice Israel to sin = to eat food sacrificed to idols and sexual immorality.
In other words, a “feel good, do good mentality” was creeping into the church = a Moralistic, Therapeutic Deism. Moralistic—Do good; Therapeutic—Feel Good; Deism—believe God exists but live like He doesn’t. That’s Christian Atheism.
A Deist doesn’t need Jesus for anything. They may SAY they need Jesus for forgiveness, but that’s just fire-proof insurance against hell when one dies; other than that, there isn’t really any reason to trust in God or pray or have faith.
Reaching out to “things” so they could feel good was a spiritual adultery—this group was learning how to worship that which brought them pleasure and fed their need to feel good inside and out.
I just need to fess up here today and tell you I HATE THIS SERMON—it is SO totally messing with my life. I WANT TO FEEL GOOD! I WANT TO but things and consume them on myself. I want to be able to have what I want, when I want it, how I want it, and want certain things to be in place so that when I want it I can get it. AND WHEN IT ISN’T I am so BENT by it and can be driven to almost CUSS someone out!
Balaam was telling Israelites that it was alright to be involved with worshipping their God AND participating in worshipping others. They could live a dual lifestyle and that was OK.
And the Balaam-like person at Pergamum stated to these Christians that participation in these events and activities was just a form of customary procedures that required little more than showing up, eating, and maybe a dance or two—and they didn’t even have to believe the gods being celebrated were real—including the Caesar idol.
Caesar demanded the celebration (“certainly we are to obey our governing authorities, right?”), everyone else was going to be doing it who were in the city (“there is a social obligation, and you wouldn’t want to make everyone else feel bad or like you were better than they are, would you?”), it was a celebration (“everyone needs a break and some fun everyone once in while, right?”), and really what harm would come from this? “When it’s all over, there’s always tomorrow—and all of this will be behind you—it’s a new day! What consequences could really come from this?”
Jesus puts the hammer down on this—actually it is a double-edged sword, right on these voices of compromise. Satan is very good at selling you. He has several trophies and plaques stating that he is Salesman of the Year and he will try and sell you “Compromise” every chance he gets.
16 Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you 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 [is overcoming], I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.
How would we know if we as a church have bought into compromise?
I want to please my wife, my mentors, my father-figures and role models. I want to please my kids and find pleasure in what I do in life. Learning how to do those things UNDER GOD and not ACCORDING TO THE WORLD takes prayer, some trial/error, time in reflection and living the life alongside of others who desire to do the same and please God too.
Here are a few things I want to bring to your attention as a person as to where you might be in your level of compromising like the Pergamum church. And it is simply stated like this:
IF WE TRY TO CO-EXIST WITH DARKNESS
Light and darkness cannot coexist. Letting our light shine is being an outspoken witness in word and in actions. A witnessing believer and church will face persecution.
The compromising moments that come to us in life will steal our saltiness and dim our light for Christ and must be guarded against. We cannot allow ourselves to operate by the same value system our culture does. We must engage our culture and draw a dark line where God ends and where Satan has his throne. Spiritual issues cross political boundaries.
Stay true to the spiritual issues! Where we stand as a church on partial-birth abortion, stem-cell research, same-sex marriage, cohabiting or living together before marriage is a spiritual matter.
We cannot be soft on porn. We must stop sacrificing our children to the god of this world by having them so involved in the things of this world that being a part of a church family isn’t really a lifestyle, but just one more thing to check off and get done so we can get back to living our REAL lives. That’s co-existing with darkness.
We have to be on the same team with this—AND SAY, “THIS CHURCH will NOT become a place Christ never intended to be.” We must do diligence when it comes to being people of our Word. Whatever mindsets might be in this church that would undermine the WHOLENESS and HOLINESS of Jesus Christ’s church in the world, we need to seek God’s Word on it and rid ourselves of it. How might we be co-existing with darkness?
Ephesus looked to be involved in the world and tried to keep itself pure by staying away. Pergamum open their doors and didn’t keep anything away—letting all manners inside. UMC “Open hearts, open minds, open doors” but it can be opened TOO much! Being TOO open is co-existing with darkness.
Is your pleasure center rooted in Christ or in the world? When it comes to SPORTS,
ENTERTAINMENT, FOODS, EATING, HOBBIES, TRAVELNG, VACATIONING, and a myriad of other things that “make us feel good” – that’s co-existing with darkness. What drives you may be sin. And sin will blind you into thinking what you are doing has no affect on anyone else. But that is a lie. When you go down, you pull others with you and you miss opportunities to lift them up if you remain faithful.
Are you given to token public acknowledgements to schools, government, work, sports, entertainment, celebrations, that are really deep down compromising actions and allegiances that YOU relegate to matters of individual conscience and state you have no convictions about—but that’s only because you have been so indifferent to them for so long! What is being recognized and celebrated in the activities you are associating with? Christians at MARION HS had enough and not only said our kids will NOT be a part of the Musical GREASE which celebrates pre-marital sex, but they did not want its message to be taught to teenagers either. And the school cut the musical.
When we continue to absent-mindedly go on and give token allegiance to the enemy and make it look like we are on their side, we oppose Christ’s standards and the holiness of God in our lives and this world. We are denying the name of Christ when we do that!
Non-compromising may mean your COUPONS won’t work anymore! Would you be UPSET if someone took your coupons away? After all, you’re an American and Americans have the right to be upset. That thinking has leaked into the church—we as Christians think we have the right to be upset about things we have no business concerning ourselves with. THE TRUTH IS we need to see how our UPSET attitudes are hurting Jesus Christ, HIS name, the name CHRISTIAN we take with us and share with others and let them know WHO were are and WHOSE we are.
It may mean you will forego a higher level pleasure in your life; it may mean you draw lines and have convictions about what you do and don’t do (listen) that others mistranslate, misunderstanding, and misjudge you.
It may mean you actually become a person of character and quality that causes other people to become uncomfortable with at first, but who later will respect you… and maybe, just maybe, want to know why you draw such lines—and then you can share why you choose to follow the One who is behind all of the decisions you make.
When you become a Christian you cannot still participate in the community sacrifices to idols. So if you have a job that demands you compromise and worship their gods, you speak out and put your life in God’s hands. Light cannot coexist with darkness.
You and I need to revisit the lost spiritual formation art of FASTING. I am not talking about not eating, just not consuming—ingesting into ourselves for just the sake of ourselves. Can you fast from anything and everything in your life so you can draw closer to God?
How hard would it be for you to hand over your idols? Can you stop offering food up to your TV idol and cease eating in front of it for a month? Can you clean up your Ipod from the trashy Hip-hop language, a soft-porn videos and the sexting pictures your friends have sent you?
Can you slay the Xbox IDOL and put it in a box and in the closet for a month? Light cannot coexist with darkness.
Will you continue to bow down to the VERIZON IDOL and just leave your cell phone turned off for a week or two.
When you go to your card club and play with those who don’t know the Lord, how about bringing up the name of Jesus Christ with that group you have been with for years—would they be surprised? Has light been trying to co-exist with darkness?
After you fast, I mean don’t consume for awhile, pay very close attention to how hungry you have allowed yourself to get for those things—how ADDICTED you have become and perhaps didn’t even know it. How much you long for those THINGS. And therefore, how coexisting with darkness you have been…I think you may say something like, NO WONDER I haven’t felt close to God—
I’ve had so much in between us He couldn’t get through to me.
The rich young ruler left Jesus very sad because he owned a lot of things.
Jesus remarked it is very hard for such a person to enter into the Kingdom
The question I leave you with today is the same one Jesus left with the rich young ruler and it is this: “Is Jesus worth it?” Would Jesus be worth it enough to you to let go of things, stuff, activities, habits, mental mindsets, idols, and things that make you feel good just because they make you feel good—can you give those up for Jesus?
Do we want what God wants for our church and therefore what our community needs for us to be? Or do we just want to be a group of people who feel good about what they are doing and not really meeting the NEEDS of one another, nor of the community within which we live, nor pleasing to Christ?
It begins within your own heart and only you can make that choice for yourself. Is Jesus worth it? I am going to let this service end in silence. Leave when you have made your peace with God. Don’t leave until you have settled it in your heart what you will do about what you’ve heard today.
