The Compromising Church- Pergamum
7 Churches Of Revelation Series
CCCAG, September 1st, 2024
Scripture: Revelation 2:12-17
Introduction- Brief Review 7 church’s PPT- talked about the two coastal cities, now going to the interior.
I will have to apologize in advance, because I know I’m going to deeply offend a lot of people with this introduction.
In 1985, I was a huge Chicago Bears fan during their Superbowl run, and then for years afterward. Tammie eventually got me saved into being a Packer’s fan, but for years it was Chicago for me.
I loved the punk rock QB Jim McMahon, RB Walter Payton, Defensive Tackle Refrigerator Perry, and wide receiver Willie Gault. The 4-3 defense that decimated offenses.
When they came out with their famous song “Superbowl Shuffle”, I thought that was the greatest thing ever.
Keep in mind, I was 15 years old.
Chicago came close to having a perfect season 15 wins and one lose to the Dolphins. Sportscasters were convinced that they had a winning team, and they would be a football dynasty for years to come.
The next season, they went 15-2, losing in the NFC championship game. Still not a bad season.
1987- 11/4
1988 12/4
1989 6/10
What happened? Why did such a juggernaut fall so quickly into being a losing team?
A few bad trades, but mostly because they rested on their laurels. The work they put into being a Superbowl Champion team fell apart as everyone began to look out for their own money and fame, and the team evaporated.
But this doesn’t just happen to winning sports teams.
This also happens to churches and church denominations, and even families or individual Christians.
Today we are going to look at the next church in our series- the Church at Pergamon (AKA Pergamos in some translation).
We will see how a once successful church started its slide into obscurity.
Much of what happened to it could be summarized in 1 word- compromise.
We are going to examine the symptoms that led to its demise and see if any of those symptoms appear in our world or our lives today.
Let’s read it together.
Scripture (Jesus speaking to the church)
Rev 2:12-17 CSB “Write to the angel of the church in Pergamum: Thus says the one who has the sharp, double-edged sword: (13) I know where you live?—?where Satan’s throne is. Yet you are holding on to my name and did not deny your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness who was put to death among you, where Satan lives. (14) But I have a few things against you. You have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to place a stumbling block in front of the Israelites: to eat meat sacrificed to idols and to commit sexual immorality. (15) In the same way, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. (16) So repent! Otherwise, I will come to you quickly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth. (17) “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name is inscribed that no one knows except the one who receives it.
Prayer- that God will reveal areas of compromise in our hearts
Brief background on Pergamun (located high plateau/high place)
? Jesus calls the city Satan’s thrown- Zeus’s temple (describe- largest temple, everyone required to worship there, worship involved eating meat sacrificed to idols followed by sleeping with temple prostitutes. This worship was mandatory)
? Known for it’s Library- Second in size and scope only to the famed Library in Alexandria, Egypt.
? Known for it’s “advanced medical knowledge”
? People came there from all over the world to be healed of various diseases, usually intermixing the worship of serpents with medical knowledge. Interesting fact- Rod of Asclepius (A Sclee’ Plee Us) serpents intertwined on a pole is the symbol of modern medicine comes from this city and it’s medical school.
That’s the background- lets look at what the scripture wants us to see about this city and the church that existed with it.
The first thing that is emphasized is in the first verse we read-
I. Jesus and the Word
Jesus describes HIMSelf as one possessing a sharp double-edged sword.
What is the meaning of this imagery?
What does the sword represent in the spiritual realm throughout the New Testament?
The Word of God. (Bible)
The literal Word of God, Jesus, is wielding the Word of God.
This same sword being drawn against the church of Pergamon will be the same sword used in Revelation 19 when Jesus comes out of heaven to meet the armies of the antichrist, with all of the armies of heaven following HIM, and look at what verse 15 says-
Rev 19:15 A sharp sword came from his mouth, so that he might strike the nations with it. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty.
What this verse is saying is- that Jesus simply speaks the Word of God, and the armies of evil fall dead. The same mouth that spoke creation into existence now speaks disaster upon the antichrist and all who follow him and his ways.
That is the take away truth for today- There is power in the WORD of God.
That phrase “Word of God” has two words with different meanings in the Greek Language-
The first is the Logos or written word of God- the bible.
The bible is the book that will judge all of us someday.
Heb 4:12 For the word of God (the Logos) is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Here is the important take away for us-
Jesus is showing the church of Pergamon from the opening of HIS letter to them that HE is holding up the WORD OF God as the ultimate authority of faith and conduct when it comes to everything related to the church and those who call themselves Christians.
Jesus was telling the church of Pergamum, and is telling us today that we should be guided by objective truth, not subjective experience. (repeat)
The second way the phrase Word of God is referred to in the Greek is Rhema- the spoken word of God.
Rhema is taking logos and speaking it through faith which turns it into the most powerful weapon that you and I have at our disposal
Rhema Word is what spoke into nothingness and created everything.
Rhema is logos activated, which turns it into a the sharp double-edged sword that comes out of the mouth of Jesus in Rev 19 that utterly decimates the armies of evil.
And that is a major point about what Jesus is speaking both to the church at Pergamum and to us today-.
We stand on God’s word, and His word alone.
And that was where the church at Pergamon, as well as the church of America was failing. Something has crept into the church, and that is the doctrine of the Nicolatians (Nico-light-ans)
Several months ago we talked a little about this sect in the early church, but to refresh us the doctrine of the Nicolaitans would be summarized in two ways-
promoting experience over doctrine,
AND promoting hypergrace- hypergrace falsely teaches that we can do whatever we want to do because Jesus paid for our sins and has no expectation for us to live a life that reflects biblical morality.
Let’s look at the first part of this- promoting experiences over doctrine,
Looking at the scripture, we see that Jesus lists two things that were causing HIM to draw this sword against the church-
Eating meat sacrificed to idols
Committing sexual immorality
Both involved in the worship of Zeus.
I’m going to save the second one for next week when we talk about Thyatira and focus instead on the first for today.
The meat wasn’t the problem. This is not a plug for vegetarianism.
Jesus said that this church exists where “satan has a throne”. This was the Temple of Zeus we briefly touched on earlier. As part of the worship of Zeus you would sacrifice an animal and then eat that meat as part of the worship service. What was left over was sold at the market. When you were done eating you would again continue your worship of Zeus by being intimate with one of the temple prostitutes.
If you held to the doctrine of the Nicolatians, there was no problem with you going to church with the Jesus crowd, As long as you walked across the street to the 1st Temple of Zeus to participate in that worship as well.
That’s why Jesus is pictured as one holding the sharp, doubled edge sword. Jesus is holding up the WORD of God- the Bible as the ONLY standard of faith and conduct, and never just an experience.
I started following Jesus in a Pentecostal church. I loved the dynamic worship, the feeling of the Holy Spirit overpowering me, and the strong biblical preaching where the pastor made you have a bible and read it as he preached it.
Hearing several hundred bibles opening at the same time, and those pages turning as people found where he would be speaking is one of the best sounds ever.
When I started to study for the ministry, one of the courses dealt with the history of our fellowship. It covered the history of the early Pentecostal movement, which in this country started in 1901 at Charles Parham’s School of Ministry in Topeka KS.
That led to the Azuza Street Outpouring in Los Angeles under William Seymour. Newspapers and religious magazines of that era had an interesting take on this new religious movement-
“The Pentecostals are an experience in search of a theology”
That phrase stuck with me, because shortly after I got saved, the Brownsville Revival and the Toronto Outpouring both took off and started to drastically influence how my first church did our worship services.
Experience became the central part of the service- hours of worship, while bible teaching was an afterthought, or even worse, used to promote or defend the experience over letting the bible set the boundaries of what should be the experience.
It was the central reason our family finally left. Outright heresy was being defended using the bible grossly out of context.
Sometimes what happens in churches, especially in the last 20 years or so is that we exchange doctrine and focus on giving everyone a great experience.
That is bad because when you chase an experience- it’s a heart desire.
If you book a trip to Disney World, are you looking at it to enrich your mind and spirit?
No, you go for the experience. Heart desire.
That’s where we have to be careful- the heart is never to lead us in this life. The mind, filled with God’s truth found in the bible, should lead the heart.
Because what does the bible say about the human heart?
Jer 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
That’s why the doctrine of the Nicolatians is so dangerous- it elevates the experience or heart above the objective and permanent truth found in the bible.
It’s not only dangerous and destructive to the church, but to our lives as well.
Because if you go to a church that never challenges you, never convicts you, never pokes at those hidden areas with the sword of the WORD,
If you go to a church that only makes you feel good,
then you have no problem walking out of that service on Sunday morning and back into the temple of Zeus known as the modern world.
You will use your heart to defend your actions, bending the truth in your mind to allow you to continue to experience the rampant sin this life has to offer you.
That is the warning that Jesus is giving the Pergamum church then, and today us- if we keep following this doctrine in our churches and in our lives,
HE HIMself will come and fight against us, because we left our first love and joined sides with the enemy.
Heb 10:31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
That’s the bad news.
Now for the good news-
But for those who remain faithful- those who keep the Word of God and the doctrine handed down to use over the ages
An incredible promise awaits you-
Verse 17 talks about hidden manna and a white stone.
Most people are thinking- what is the deal with the white stone?
This is why it’s important to have a good study bible so you have the context of the people, culture, and time it was written.
In the Roman Empire, if you did a service to the emperor, A messenger from Rome would be dispatched carrying an invitation.
This invitation was sent to you in the form of a white stone with your name on it, indicating that a banquet was being held in your honor.
The messenger would give you the appropriate clothing, and prepare you for the feast. He would provide the transportation for you and your family to Rome, and when you arrived at the Palace, this stone was given to the guard at the door, who then handed it to the herald.
The herald would hold up the stone for everyone to see and loudly proclaim you as you entered the banquet, list off your accomplishments for all to hear, and lead you to the place of honor in the banquet while the emperor stood and welcomed you proclaiming you as a friend of the emperor.
My friends, this is what the Wedding Supper of the Lamb is.
Jesus’ chance to honor our service to HIM.
In order to get us there-
WE are promised hidden manna.
What is the manna?
Supernaturally provided strength.
But it’s not manna as the Israelites had in the desert. It’s not a natural bread.
It’s supernatural.
Jesus said that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.
God will speak directly to us in these last days with the Rhema word- reinforcing the logos spoken into our hearts as we read the bible and pray
This is the time where this book is more important than ever.
We live in an age were too many voices are screaming at us to be able to discern the truth without an objective source to refer back to.
We need to return to the bedrock of our faith- the bible.
God is going to speak to all of us through His logos, so we can have it ready in our minds and hearts to speak the logos into rhema- and let that power change the lives and spirits of those around us.
Altar call/Worship
“I speak Jesus”
Prayer
