This morning we are making the third stop in our study of the seven churches of the book of Revelation. So turn with me please, in your Bibles, to Revelation chapter 2, and read with me starting at verse 12, as we pay a visit to the church of Pergamos (read vv. 12-17)….
If there was one word you would use this morning to describe the church at Pergamos, what would it be? Compromising! – a church that was compromising its stand in relation to the world. You know, I hear a lot of talk nowadays among believers about how the church of God is compromising its standards; of how the church is being soft on sin, allowing it to go unchecked among the people of God. People talk about this problem as though it is entirely new to the church – as though corruption and compromise in the church didn’t exist until just a few years ago. We talk about how as we get closer to the last days, there’s going to be compromise on the part of God’s people, and we act as though it’s all some new phenomenon – a sign of the end, as it were. And yet here we read, in the Word of God, a letter written to a church that existed nearly twenty centuries ago, where we find evidence of what – compromise between God’s people and the practices of the world – corruption in the church. And I say, “Praise God!”
I can see I got the attention of some of you just now. You’re thinking to yourselves, “Did the pastor just say ‘Praise God there was corruption in the church of Pergamos?’” No, I did NOT just say “Praise God there was corruption in the church of Pergamos.” I do not believe in compromise, I do not believe in the corruption of God’s church. But I do say “Praise God”, because we can find in His Word examples of situations that we may be dealing with now. I do say “Praise God”, because in His Word He has not neglected to tell us the whole story of what has happened to His church over time. And I do say “Praise God”, because in giving us the whole story – in giving us these examples from history – He has also given us the tools we need to avoid running into the same problems as the church of old. It has been said that those who fail to study history are… what? – they’re bound to repeat it. And so, church, would you agree that we can praise God, because He was gracious enough to let us know what we’re up against; and because in so doing He has shown us not only how we can overcome corruption in the church and compromise between the standard of God and the standards of the world, but how we can avoid it completely in the first place? Praise God.
Let’s go back to the beginning of the letter, and take a few moments this morning to see just what happened to this church, and what it means to us here today as we sit in this congregation.
One of the first things we notice in this letter is where Pergamos is located: verse 13 of Revelation 2 tells us that the church of Pergamos was located “where Satan’s seat is found.” In other words, they were at the epicentre of satanic activity. See, the city of Pergamos was a city steeped in the worship of the pagan deities and the Roman emperors. In fact, it was said that whenever a new religious craze came along – it didn’t matter how crazy or off-the-wall – even it if was rejected everywhere else, it would find a place among the religions of Pergamos. When it came to religion, anything and everything went. There were no absolutes; there was no eternal standard; it was every man and woman for themselves; and Satan was in his heyday; corruption and immorality abounded at every turn. Does this sound familiar to you? Are we not in the same condition today as they were then?
And yet, couched in the middle of this unstable mass of religious confusion, we find a group that’s different. We find a group that isn’t bowing down to the gods on every street corner; a group that isn’t perverting themselves with the sexual immorality that abounds; a group that is preaching about a God that is high above the earth; a God that is exalted far above all other gods. We find a group that we are told, going on in verse 13, has not denied the name of Jesus Christ, neither have they denied His faith.
I tell you, this is a rebuke to me. I don’t know about you, but there are times when I find myself in situations where the devil just seems to be running the show. Has anyone here ever found themselves in a situation like that before? Profane talk all the time, smoking, drinking, immorality – and nobody seems to care. And I’m not talking about finding yourself in a bar; I’m talking about your workplace, or even among your friends and family. What do we find ourselves doing in those situations? I know for myself, I try to stay as low-key as possible. You know, I’m ashamed to say it, but I don’t even know that a lot of my side of the family know that I’m a Seventh-day Adventist Christian, much less that I’m a pastor. And for years I’ve been going to family gatherings, and I see what’s going on; and it both disgusts and deeply saddens me at the same time. And I know I’m not alone in these feelings; but we don’t do much about it do we?
Now, there are some who would say that we should bring out a megaphone, and stand up on a table, and proceed to point out their sins, to shout down their drinking, and their smoking, and their immorality. And if that’s what you want to do, then by all means, go ahead; but I can promise you one thing: it’s not going to work. For you see, as I read about the church of Pergamos, I find that though they lived in a hotbed of immorality; though they lived among pagans and polytheists; though they lived where Satan himself had set up his throne, they never once themselves condemned what was going on around them. So what did they do then? They lifted up the name of Jesus; they exalted the faith of Jesus. It’s not enough to tell someone what they’re doing is wrong, and then expect them to change. Changing the behaviour is not enough; it’s got to go deeper, right to the heart.
You know what happens when our evangelism consists of making someone quit drinking and smoking? We’re sending them to hell sober. There has been no change to the course of their life, just in what they’re doing along the way. But friends, when we introduce them to Jesus, there is a complete turn-around – a complete change of direction in their life. I know it, because I experienced it. Before I came to Jesus, I was a good person going to hell keeping the Sabbath; I was a good person going to hell not eating pork. But one night, I came face to face with my Saviour; and I stand before you today to tell you that Jesus works. If He changed me, I know He can change you; and if He changes us, He can change the world. Friends, my Jesus tells me in His Word, “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” That’s all we’ve got to do, friends: lift Him up wherever we find ourselves. Don’t start by pointing out the wrongs; just live for Jesus; just hold fast His name. It’s what the church of Pergamos did – and it worked.
Now that’s not to say they kept to themselves; it’s not as though they kept out of sight; far from it. As they lived and worked in the midst of this prevailing wickedness, lifting up the name of Jesus, people started to notice the difference; and some began to ask questions; and the believers had opportunity to share their hope. The result: lives were being changed. Praise God for the awesome power of His Son Jesus Christ.
Now, of course, when you’re in the midst of Satan’s domain, and you’re winning souls to the kingdom of God, it’s not as though Satan is going to roll over and let it happen, is he? Of course not; he’s going to fight back. And we’ve discovered, as we’ve studied the churches of Revelation so far, that he does fight back. We remember the fierce and violent opposition toward the church of Ephesus; we remember the crushing persecution of the church of Smyrna, to the point of destitution and death. No, when the devil sees the church of God doing what the church of God is supposed to be doing, he makes it his number one objective to bring that work to a halt.
More than getting the work to stop, however, the devil wants to divert the attention of God’s people away from the work. And this is what we find him doing to the church of Pergamos. Notice with me please, Revelation chapter 2, verses 14 and 15….
What has Satan done here? He has laid stumbling blocks. In the Greek, this statement literally means, “he raised up a scandal”. And where is this scandal raised up? – in the church. There’s nothing like a good scandal in the church to divert the attention of God’s people, is there; nothing like a little controversy to bring the work to a halt. The example of Balaam is used here, and no more fitting an example could be found in Scripture – nothing could more accurately depict exactly how Satan goes about stopping God’s work. The full story of Balaam can be found in the book of Numbers chapters 22-24, but for the sake of time, we’re going to briefly review what happened.
Balaam was a prophet of the Lord – a worshipper of the God of Israel – who was living in the land of Moab. And one day the king of the Moabites sent for Balaam because the children of Israel were approaching the borders of Moab, and the king was starting to get worried about being overthrown. So the king sent for Balaam and offered to pay him if he would curse the Israelites. Of course, because Balaam was a worshipper of the God of Israel, he couldn’t do it. Three times, we are told, the king tried to get Balaam to curse Israel, and three times it doesn’t happen. In fact, by the end, Balaam actually blesses Israel three times! But the king refuses to give up, and continues to pay Balaam to devise a way to destroy Israel. Balaam wants to be paid, and so he advises the king of Moab to send Moabite women into the camp of the Israelites. Once this was done, the men were seduced into immorality and idolatry, and the entire army of Israel fell apart.
There is an important lesson we need to learn from this story: when Satan fails to stop the church of God by external force, his next plan is to get into the church of God and create scandal. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the greatest threat to the church of God is not from without, but from within. When the church is attacked by society, or some outside agency, we put up our defences and fight back; but raise up something scandalous in the church, and we turn and fight each other. A girl in the youth group gets pregnant out of wedlock; a member of the church is caught in an adulterous relationship; someone in the congregation is arrested for drug trafficking – and what happens? There is fractioning – we take sides; there are contentions; and if we don’t heed the warnings given in Scripture against division, the church of God falls apart.
So what should we do when a scandal threatens the church? Our answer is found in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13. Turn with me there, and we’ll read together from verse 24 (read vv. 24-30)…. Notice what is happening here. Seed is being sown. In other words, the name of Jesus is being lifted up, and we’re seeing results. Praise the Lord. But then what? We see tares, or weeds, being sown among the good seed – that is, Satan is coming into the church and creating a little scandal (notice Jesus said this was the work of an enemy). Now notice what the workers wanted to do: they wanted to pull up the tares. In their zeal, they wanted to deal with the scandal – or more specifically, they wanted to get rid of the ones causing the scandal. Aren’t we the same way, church? When something happens, don’t we want to get rid of the “problem” as quickly and efficiently as possible? “After all”, we say, “we’ve got to be doing God’s work, and we can’t as long as this problem exists.” That’s what we say we should do; but what does Jesus say to do? “Don’t even try to get rid of them yet!”
This isn’t the answer we were expecting, is it? I mean, if someone were to tell us not to worry about dealing with an adulterous affair in the church, we’d call them heretics, wouldn’t we? We’d say they were harbouring sin in the camp, and we’d be ready to throw them out along with the other “problems”. And if we left the story there, it would be heretical; it would look like we were going soft on sin. Ah, but it doesn’t end there. Notice what Jesus says: “Don’t tear up the weeds yet, because you might damage the good crop.” What does He tell us to do instead? – “let them grow together, then separate them when they’re fully grown.”
Three things we learn from what Jesus has just said:
First, if we are too quick and harsh in getting rid of what we perceive to be “problems”, we can harm others in church. It’s a sad reality, but sometimes – indeed, too often – the Christian church is more brutal than any army in the world, because we shoot our wounded. And friends, the Word of God tells us that when one member of the body of Christ hurts, so does every other member. So if you shoot one hurting member, you risk killing many more. I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve come across, of people who have left the church because of how they saw the church treat its own – because of how they saw the members treating one another. So we have GOT to be careful in how we deal with these scandals in the church.
Second, Jesus tells us to let them grow together. In other words, when we’re dealing with sinners, we need to give them time. Friends, I’d rather have a known sinner in the church every week hearing about Jesus than cast them back out into the world where they’ve got no hope. Now understand me: just because I want them here doesn’t mean that I am condoning what they’re doing. Sin is sin, and it’s got to be dealt with. Yes, we need to make it clear that we do not approve of or condone what they have done. But we must make the distinction between what a person has done, and who that person is. Every one us is a child of God by creation, and each of us has the potential to become His child by faith – to be restored to God’s family through Jesus Christ. So who am I – who are any of us – to say that that adulterer, that drug trafficker, that alcoholic, that wife beater, that pregnant teenager, is beyond hope? What I’m saying is that we need to start dealing with sinners the way God has dealt with sinners from the beginning – we need to keep demonstrating and lifting up the love of Jesus to them, and give them every opportunity to let it change their lives.
That brings us to the third point: we can’t always tell the difference between the good ones and the bad ones. People make mistakes; people sin; and friends, we’re all people. Never for a moment think you’re beyond the ability of doing whatever it is you’re condemning in that other person. As long as we live on this earth, we have the potential to sin. But just because we sin, doesn’t mean we’re beyond hope. In fact, I believe that one of the reasons Jesus wanted the wheat and the tares to grow together, is because He knew that by the end, some of the tares would become wheat. It’s a miracle – a weed cannot become wheat without a miracle. But let there be no doubt about it, Jesus is in the business of performing miracles in people’s lives. And friends, as we allow Jesus to be lifted up, we’ll see those miracles. I’ve seen them – I’ve seen them in this congregation; and I hunger to see more, don’t you? To see lives changed by the almighty power of Jesus Christ.
So what do we do when scandal enters the church? We hold fast to the name of Jesus; we keep on lifting Him up. You want to know how to prevent compromise with the world? You go to the Word – spend time learning about Jesus – and as you keep learning about Him, just keep lifting Him up in your life. You want to know how to have personal victory? Lift up the name of Jesus. You want to know how to have victory in the church? Lift up the name of Jesus. I know it sounds too simple. We’ve been taught to believe there’s more to it than that. Forget everything else for now, and just keep lifting up the name of Jesus. Are you worried that we’re going to create a bunch of wishy-washy Christians who won’t know doctrine? Forget about the doctrine for now, and just keep lifting up the name of Jesus. Why? First, I don’t believe the Bible is primarily about doctrine. In fact, Jesus told us the Bible isn’t about doctrine – it’s about Him. Remember what He said in John 5, verse 39: “Search the Scriptures… for they will teach you about me.” If you want to do justice to the name of Jesus, you’ve got to get to know who He is as He’s revealed in this Book. Friends, the Bible is a love letter from Jesus to you and me. And this Book is powerful, because it reveals Jesus so clearly – it reveals His love in such a way that you cannot help but be touched by it. And once you’re touched by it, you won’t ever want to turn back. More than anything else that we might possibly need, we need Jesus.
(Appeal & prayer)
