Would you agree that worldliness corrupts churches? There are 4 things that cause a church to become worldly.
1. The church begins to participate in worldly functions.
2. The church allows worldly activities to take place in the church and even in the homes of its members.
3. The church begins to baptize and accept people as members who have not truly repented and turned from the world to Christ. (That’s a hard one because how can we truly know if someone is for real in their repentance?)
4. The church allows false teaching and preaching.
Nothing corrupts a church any quicker than worldliness. Pergamum was a corrupted church. It is a picture of a church that is married to the world.
READ VERSE 12. Again the letter is written to the minister of the church in Pergamum. The minister is responsible. If the church becomes worldly, the minister is at fault.
Pergamum had three claims to fame.
1. It was beautifully situated with an air of royalty about it. It sat on top of a mountain that rose up out of beautiful valley. You could see the Mediterranean Sea 15 miles away.
2. Pergamum was one of the cultural and religious centers of the world. It had been a capital city for 400 years. It had a library that was second only to Alexandria, Egypt. Temple after temple had been built to all types of pagan gods. So the church knew what it was to live in a pagan society, as though Satan’s throne itself was there. They also knew what it was like to be persecuted. But they also knew what it was to place their faith in Him with the double-edged sword. READ verse 13.
3. Pergamum was also famous for being the imperial and administrative center of Asia. It was the first city in Asia to openly worship the state and its leaders. The Christians were martyred when they refused to bow and worship Caesar. So the church knew what Christ meant when He claimed to be the one with the double-edged sword. They took great confidence in the fact that He knew where they lived. They knew what it was to live where Satan has his throne and what it was to suffer martyrdom because they refused to deny Christ.
A church that is corrupted by worldliness is committing a very serious crime against Christ. When false teachers and preachers are allowed to teach and preach in a church, it does nothing but corrupt the church even further.
Christ describes Himself as the One who has the double-edged sword in His mouth. This can mean at least two things:
1. The sword of His mouth means His Word.
-The Word of God is sharp. It will cut through the most worldly and hardened heart. It will separate the sinner from his sin.
-The Word of God is double-edged. It proclaims the law of God and the necessity of living a righteous life or else face the judgment and destruction. But on the other hand it proclaims the love and grace of God to those who separate from the world and follow Christ. As Matthew Henry once put it, there is an edge to make a wound, and an edge to open a festered wound in order for its healing.
2. The sword of His mouth means the power and judgment of His Word. The believers in Pergamum were being persecuted and some were even martyred for their faith. Government officials were misusing the power of the sword. They were slaying innocent people. Christ was saying that the power of His Word is far greater than that. He holds the power of life and death over all men.
We should note here that this is a great promise to believers. If the Word of Christ is all powerful, then Christ can look after and take care of us no matter what confronts us. His Word is able to strengthen us. Do you find strength in God’s Word? Examples?
In verse 13 we see that the church at Pergamum is commended for three things.
1. The church was loyal to Christ’s name despite the environment. This tells us that no matter how hectic, how desperate, how tragic things seem to get sometimes; we always need to remain loyal to Christ no matter what. Have you ever wanted to give up on God?
2. The church was pure in doctrine. They had not renounced their faith in Christ. So the Word of God was still strong in this church. We need to keep in mind that the Word of God should always remain our strongest defense.
3. The church stood fast in persecution. We know that Antipas had been martyred. Tradition says that he was placed inside a brass bull and slowly roasted to death. But this did not alter what the church stood for.
This is sort of rebuking us today. This church at Pergamum withstood all this and still stayed true to Christ. Today, people stump their toe and get mad at God and stop coming to church. How strong is our conviction, really?
READ verses 14 & 15. Here is the complaint. The church was guilty of false teaching and worldliness. What does it mean that they were guilty of the teaching of Balaam? It means that there was corruption in the church. There was a mixture of religion and worldliness. You might remember the story from the Book of Numbers.
Balac, the Moabite king, feared Israel. To protect his kingdom, he sought the services of Balaam, a prophet to curse Israel. When the king first approached Balaam, Balaam refused. But he accepted the second offer. Three times Balaam cursed Israel, but with no results. He then conceived a plan. He would corrupt them. He suggested Moabite girls seduce Israel’s men to intermarry and lead them to worship their idolatrous gods. It worked. So Israel, even though they were rooted in God, became unequally yoked together with worldliness and were corrupted.
Apparently what had happened in the Pergamum church was the church had baptized some persons who had never repented and forsaken the ways of the world. (That is why I am seriously thinking about requiring a person who accepts Christ to attend a Bible study for at least 6 weeks before their baptism is scheduled. What do you think of that? They had allowed some of the worldly to teach in the church. They had also allowed a mixed membership of believers and unbelievers. Some were living for Christ. Others were living separated lives of seeking the pleasures of the world.
The result was there were those within the church committing sexual immorality. There were those who were participating in drunken parties of the world, even to the point of participating in the feasts of idolatrous worshippers. You have to stand up for what you believe.
In the secular world, you will be enticed to join in on the Christmas parties, the New Years parties, any celebration where there is alcohol. If you are even there you are sending mixed messages to those around you. You need to separate yourself from it. You should leave the party. And certainly not join in in the drinking. The church at Pergamum was sending this same message by mixing the godly with the worldly.
READ verse 16. Here is the counsel—repent. They needed to repent and change their ways. They needed to deal with those who were worldly and lead them to repentance. They needed to change their practices. They need to discipline those who refused to comply and chose to live the worldly life.
If not, verse 16 contains the warning. Christ says He is going to come quickly and make war against the worldly. Note that he is not going to punish the faithful believers. He is going to punish only those who refuse to repent of their worldliness. His anger is against the impure. He does the punishing by the sword of His mouth, the Word of God.
READ verse 17. There is the promise. The promise is twofold.
1. The overcomer is given the right to eat the manna or bread of heaven. We know the story of God sending the manna to the Israelites in the wilderness. So what does the hidden manna mean? (It means Christ Himself. The overcomer is given the right to feed upon Christ. That is what Jesus meant when He said in John 6:32-33. Turn and read.
The bread is not physical bread, it is spiritual. Spiritual food for the soul. This is the REAL soul food. It’s the bread that man really needs more than anything else on earth. It’s the only bread that can permanently feed and meet the need of man.
The point is pretty clear. The person who overcomes worldliness—who stops feeding on the world—will be given the food of heaven itself. He will be allowed to eat the eternal bread of heaven. He will never die. Note that the manna is hidden. That just means that Christ is hidden to the worldly people. They don’t see or feed upon Him.
Lastly, the overcomer is given a white stone with a new name written on it. What do you suppose that means? There are a lot of opinions.
Only one thing is clear in this reference to it, and it is best to stick to the Scripture. The white stone is the means of being admitted into heaven, into God’s presence. The overcomer is allowed into God’s presence because of the white stone. Note that there is a new name written on the stone. This must mean the name of Jesus Christ, or of the believer himself.
If it is the name of Christ then that means that the name of Jesus Christ is the only name accepted for entrance into heaven. A person must have the white stone with Christ’s name written on it in order to be admitted into God’s presence.
If the name is that of the believer, then the believer is given a white stone as his ticket into heaven. The stone must have his name on it in order to be admitted.
But as we close, we have to note that the church member who has an ear must hear this message to the worldly church. He can never overcome the attacks of worldliness unless he heeds this message. Hearing and heeding is the only hope of ever conquering the seductive worldliness of this earth.
