What Type of Church Is This?
A Compromising Church
Introduction:
According to the Homer’s Iliad, the Greeks besieged the city of Troy for ten years without success. After the death of the warrior Achilles, many wanted to give up the fight. But the king of Ithaca, Odysseus, came up with a plan to get the Greek army into Troy. Odysseus built an immense wooden horse. He and his warriors hid inside it. After leaving the horse at the gates of Troy, the Greek army sailed away. The Trojans thinking the Greeks had given up and had left the horse as a gift brought it inside the gates. That night, while the Trojans were sleeping, the Greek ships quietly returned. The soldiers in the horse slipped out and opened the city gates. The Greek army quietly entered Troy and started fires all over the city. The Trojans awoke to find their city in flames. As they tried to flee, they were killed by the waiting Greeks. The story of the Trojan horse and the fall of Troy have come to represent the subversion of anything from within. That is what was happening to the church at Pergamum and that is what is happening to churches today.
I believe sometimes we have been stunned and defeated by the Trojan horses that have been allowed into our gates. Paul warned the Ephesians that savage wolves would arise among them and lead them astray. Perhaps in the very midst of the church today false teachers and immoral people are leading people astray and causing them to fall. We need to watch out and be on our guard for the Trojan Horse.
I wonder if we were to answer the question, “what type of church is this?” What would the response be? Or what about on an individual level, what type of Christian are you? Perhaps you are a Christian who is on fire and willing and eager to serve. Perhaps you are lukewarm or apathetic. Perhaps you are bold or perhaps you are compromising. Perhaps you are growing or perhaps you are backslidden. I want us to ask ourselves what type of church are we, or what type of Christian are we?
I also wonder if we were to get a letter today addressed to us as the church, or even as individuals like the seven churches in Revelation, what would the message to us be? What things would he compliment? What things would he rebuke us for?
One of the greatest problems that we face in the church today is people who claim to be Christians, but who are not acting like Christians.
Frank Sosienski was a postman in Louisville, Kentucky, who didn’t want to deliver some of his mail, Perhaps it was the hot summertime, like we’re experiencing now. Maybe the mail was heavy; maybe he wanted to quit his route just a little early each day. In any case, there were eventually complaints about mail not arriving, and they traced the problem back to Frank. When the postal authorities investigated, they found the mail that was missing. Most of it was in Frank’s attic. You see, over a six-year period he stashed away 15 tons of other people’s mail. They discovered over 1200 bags of undelivered mail in Frank Sosienski’s attic. A mail carrier is supposed to deliver the mail. Truth is, a mail carrier who doesn’t deliver the mail hasn’t done a very good job of being what they’re supposed to be or doing what they’re supposed to do. Now, a Christian is supposed to be faithful in serving Christ.
Text: Revelation 2:12-17
I. The Commendation
a. They Stayed Faithful in an Immoral Place
Pergamum was a pagan city it was the center of Emperor Worship in Asia, with the first temple built to Caesar Augustus in 28 B.C. The emperor worship was popular in that city and all throughout the Romans world. People would call the emperor, “Lord God”. Therefore the Christians had a problem with emperor worship because they were told there was one Lord and God and that is Jesus. Many Christians died because of their refusal to worship the emperor. The Caesar’s would often say, “There is no other name under Heaven whereby man might be saved.” Perhaps this is why the Apostles picked up on this statement and used it to refer to Jesus, which would have been a direct insult to the emperor and may show why they faced such persecution, but it got people’s attention. Perhaps this is why they are told that this is the city where “Satan” has his throne. Augustus believed he was the son of god or god in the flesh. He inaugurated a twelve day celebration called “advent” to celebrate his birth.
Not only was emperor worship popular, but they also were a city known for worshipping the Roman gods faithfully. There is a famous giant altar of Zeus overlooking the city, which was called one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Pergamum was known for their worship of a god named “Asclepion”, who was the god of medicine and healing, who carried snakes around with him. Incidentally, the staff he carried with a snake wrapped around it has become a symbol for much of the medical field today.
Not only was the city full of idolatry, but it was full of immorality. Often times in the Roman world associated closely with the worship of their gods was sexual immorality. We hear of all sorts of unspeakable things occurring at their shrines and so-called “holy places”. Sexual immorality, adultery, fornication, even homosexual acts were common place in these areas and it was wide spread.
Could you imagine the dilemma facing the Christians in Pergamum? Surely it broke their hearts to walk around the city and seeing people bowing to man and man-made statues.
Acts 17:16
Moreover, since it was so wide spread, and so ingrained in their culture it probably was a great temptation for those Christians and a hard concept to remove from their minds. I would assume that it was not easy to be a faithful Christian amidst all the idolatry and immorality in the world around them. It would have been easy for them to have a “well everyone else is doing it” mindset. However, they remained faithful in an immoral city.
Other people in the Bible have stayed faithful in immoral places. Noah was faithful among a world that had gone astray. Abraham was faithful to the one true God despite the idolatry of his father and those around him. Lot was faithful in the immoral city of Sodom despite the sin surrounding him. Joseph was faithful to God in Egypt when sinning with Potiphar’s wife may have profited him more than doing what was right. Moses was faithful in Egypt despite growing up in Pharaoh’s house. Joshua and Caleb were faithful to God despite the other spies giving exaggerated reports of the Promised Land. Elijah was faithful among the Baal worshipers and the leaders who sought to take his life. The list goes on and on. The immorality around us is not an excuse for doing wrong or giving in no matter how tempting it might be.
We have a lot of immorality around us today. We have sexual immorality running rampant and is common place in our society. We are in a minority today if we believe that sex outside of marriage is wrong. We have people who are crude, vulgar, and immoral around us daily. We have people all around us who are calling evil good and good evil. The things we see should bother us. We should hurt to our very soul when we see the things taking place around us that are violating the holy nature of God. However, the immorality that surrounds us is not a valid excuse for us to engage in sin. We must eb faithful in an immoral place.
b. They Stayed Faithful in a Persecuted Place
It is quite obvious that some of the things that took place would have conflicted with what the Christians were taught. The worship of the emperors and the gods was so prevalent that those that refused to do so would face great persecution, and the Christians refusal to do so had become a reason for a vast amount of the persecution in the early years of the church.
The text mentions a guys named “Antipas”, who was a “faithful witness” who was put to death in the city of Pergamum. We do not know anything else about this guy, but tradition says he was the first of many Christian martyrs in the province of Asia and that according to that tradition he was slowly roasted to death in a Bronze kettle during the reign of Domitian.
I cannot imagine what it is like to endure such threats. One thing you can be sure of is that those Christians made sure that they really believed the Gospel if they were going to live it out because it cost them their lives on many occasions. I would be sure that the persecution was difficult and it could be a great temptation to back down slightly when your life in one the line. They however, remained faithful even through persecution.
II. The Correction
It is very clear here that what we believe does indeed matter. I have heard many people say on occasion that doctrine does not matter, that we should not argue over doctrine, and that it does not matter what you believe. Well, Jesus does not take that view and Paul does not take that view as there are numerous rebukes of false doctrines in the church we find in the New Testament. Why was there such a concern about false doctrine and in this instance these two specific false teachings? Because what we believe influences how we live our lives. In other words, bad doctrine will lead to bad character. These particular teachings were leading people in the church astray and leading them into sin. If you remember, the church at Ephesus was complimented for not tolerating, and in fact hating the practices of the Nicolaitans. Why such harsh language? Because the message they were teaching was leading people into sin and was conflicting with the message of the Gospel.
a. The Doctrine of Balaam
Balak, the King of Moab got concerned about his new neighbors the Israelites. He happened to know of a soothsayer in the region who had the reputation that anything he blessed was blessed and anything he cursed was cursed. That man was named Balaam. Balak sent some men to try to convince Balaam to come to Moab, but Balaam did not come at first so Balak sent a second delegation. They promised him a great reward if he would come and curse Israel. He finally left, and on his was while riding his donkey, you may remember, three times his donkey would not heed his directions, then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and opened the eyes of Balaam so he could see an angel of the Lord standing in the way. Balaam never could bring a curse on Israel because they were blessed of the Lord, but Balaam apparently remained in Moab and came up with an alternate idea to get Israel to fall. He wanted his reward. Balaam’s idea was to tempt Israel into sin to get their God angry at them and He would destroy them. The Moabite women lead them into sexual immorality and into the worship of the false gods of the area.
Numbers 31:15-16
Balaam’s deception was in leading God’s people into immorality and idolatry. Perhaps the idea was that since Israel was God’s people they could do anything they wanted, but that was not the truth.
One might wonder who were the Balaamites in Pergamum, and what were they doing. Perhaps the reference that was made to the church at Pergamum was to people who are advocating compromise with the emperor worship since Balaam is symbolic of compromisers. Perhaps they were people that were teaching an “anything goes” mindset. Perhaps they were teaching the church that it was okay for them to go to the temples and worship the pagan gods, bow down before the emperor, offer incense to the emperor, and refer to him as “Lord God”. Perhaps they were teaching that they could engage in the sexual immorality associated with the pagan worship that was so prevalent in the city, and still be Christians. It should go without stating that the Christians could not engage in those things and still be Christian. They were called to be separate, to cast down false idols, to be pure, and to flee from the immorality that was common around them.
I believe we have Balaamites today in the church. The Balaamites of today accept pornography and fornication among Christians. They are those who accept young people living together without marriage. They happily watch movies which have sex and violence in them and take along others with them. They compromise the Christian stand to the detriment of those ensnared in the sin they accept. They tolerate false teaching and perversions of the Word of God. They condone Christians being involved in the things of the world.
Like Balaam in the Old Testament the Balaam’s of today are putting a stumbling block in the path of the people of God. They are causing people to cling to idols and to become spiritual adulterers. An idol is not just a statue that someone bows before it is anything people put before God. In our world perhaps it could be your job, perhaps sports or some type of entertainment, perhaps it could be school, friends or even family. I believe we have many in the church today who are clinging to idols and they forget our God is a jealous God and He wants our whole hearts and does not want to be just one of many in our lives. Perhaps we need to cast down our idols and elevate God to His proper position. There are many spiritual adulterers in the church today too. Adultery is most commonly thought of as a sexual act that is committed by a married person. However, adultery in Scripture is often more a spiritual sin against God. Israel was many times called an adulterous people. Why? Because just like in a marriage they had entered into a contract or a covenant with God. They had promised that He would be there God, that they would love honor and cherish Him, however they ran after other gods. Perhaps there are some adulterous people in the church, who are wanting the best of the worldly pleasures offered and also the promises of God.
We need to understand that the doctrine of Balaam is a stumbling block and is a dangerous lie that we cannot believe, but we must understand that we cannot compromise with the world. We cannot indulge in the things of the world and still be a Christian. The early Christians could not indulge in the emperor worship, the sexual immorality and the idol worship prevalent in Pergamum or the world around them, nor can we indulge in immorality in our world.
b. The Doctrine of the Nicolaitans
The Nicolaitans were apparently prominent towards the end of the first century. They taught that the grace of God was a license to sin, and therefore they sought diligently that the church should compromise with pagan society around them.
I believe there are some who are teaching or holding to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. They may not call it that, but that is exactly what it is. There are many today that teach, and many in the church who seem to believe that they can live in the world and engage in the things of the world and still be a Christian. There are many that from Monday through Saturday one could not tell that they are any different than the rest of the world, they talk like them, the act like them and they look like them, and in doing so they forget that we are called to be different and separate from the world. I believe many have compromised with the pagan world around them and have embraced worldliness and neglected godliness and holiness.
James 4:4
When they are told they have “some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam and the Nicolaitans” he meant that there were some in the church that held to those teachings.
Perhaps today we need to abandon our modern day Balaamite and Nicolaitan ways of thinking and pursue godliness and holiness.
III. The Promise
a. The Hidden Manna
You may remember that the original Ark of the Covenant was lost in about the year 586 B.C. at the fall of Jerusalem. Inside the Ark of Covenant were three things, the tablets containing the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s budded staff, and a golden jar of manna. The manna which was inside was lost along with the Ark. There was a Jewish tradition that an angel or some thought the prophet Jeremiah had hidden the Ark and the manna that was inside and it would be restored at the end of time. That is not a reality, but just a tradition, that may have been played upon here. Nevertheless, we have an offer of some hidden manna. We may recall that manna was the bread that fell down from Heaven to sustain the Israelites as the wandered in the wilderness.
Jesus spoke about the manna and compared it to himself.
John 6:35-51
b. The New Name and White Stone
In court jurors would use black stones to represent a person’s guilt and white stones were used by jurors to show someone’s innocence. Perhaps this is idea is played upon showing that we have a stone that we can present that declares our innocence before a Holy God.
In some instances also during that time a white stone was used as a ticket of admission into an event or place. Perhaps the idea conveyed is that white stone we shall be given will grant us admission into Heaven. White stones were also used as tokens or tickets into banquets or feasts or used as place cards at the dinner table. The White stone then would be a ticket ensuring that we could participate in the heavenly banquet with Christ. Also white stones were given to a man freed from slavery as proof that he had been made a citizen of the province. The white stone then could speak of our citizenship of heaven and our being freed from sin and the consequences of sin.
On that white stone we learn that a new name is written on it. The idea of a new name is very significant in the Bible. Many Bible characters that we know of had their names changed. A new name indicates a new relationship. It was after Jacob, which means “deceiver” wrestled with God that his name was changed to Israel, which means “prevails with God”. Abram’s name which means “high father” was changed to Abraham who means “father of many nations”. Simon’s name was changed to Peter, which means “rock”. Saul’s name was changed to Paul. A new name indicates a new relationship.
The promise sounds good, but don’t miss the command and the consequences. They are called to repent and if they don’t he will fight against them himself.
