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Churches of Revelation#3 - Pergamum
February 2006 • Chris Rowney
These messages are also available as audio podcasts at www.tcfnet.org.au/podcasts
“12 “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.
13 I know where you live--where Satan has his throne. 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.
14 Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: You have people there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin by eating food sacrificed to idols and by committing sexual immorality.
15 Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
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 overcomes, 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.”
Revelation 2:12-17, NIV.
We are spending 7 weeks on 7 short letters found in the larger NT book of Revelation.
During the vision that John experienced, after seeing a picture of Heaven and the person of Jesus Christ John takes dictation, and records the words of Jesus to seven local churches in the region near where John was imprisoned.
Some have felt these letters each represent a historical period, one after the other until the end of history which is the description that comes after the seventh letter to the laodiceans.
BUT as just about every era of history has managed to recognise themselves in the seventh letter, and sqush the previous centuries into the other six.. no matter if it was the 3rd, 7th, 12th or 17th Centuries.. perhaps a better understanding is that the seven types of church co-exist in each and every age… and that in fact each and every church can learn from the things said to all of them.
So Jesus speaks to us…
Two weeks ago we saw that Jesus told the church in Ephesus that He knew their works,..
Last week to the church in Smyrna that he knew their troubles and here He tells the church in Pergamum that He knows where they live.
Sound ominous doesn’t it.. “I know where you live!”
“I’m coming to get you!”
BUT that is not why he says that… he recognises the fact that Pergamum (like many cities of that age) is not an easy place to live in and remain unstained by the immorality and idolatory of the surrounding culture.
And he assures them.. He knows where they live.. and understand their struggles, and above all, equips them with all they need to face them.
HISTORY ABOUT PERGAMUM HERE… PICTURES OFF WEB SITE.
Praised for their faithfulness, even under persecution that led to the death, the martyrdom of someone named Antipas.. the believers of Pergamum were challenged by Jesus for compromise!
Balaam was a pagan prophet in the Old testament times, who at one stage was offered money to ‘curse’ Israel, the people that God treated in a special way… He had an experience with a donkey and an Angel that convinced him not to speak a curse, but rather to announce that God had chosen to Bless Israel…
The king who had paid him was pretty mad.. but he got his money;s worth in the end, because Balaam advised him to have his people, especially attractive women, visit the Israelites, and entice them to attend and take part in the worship of their idols… part of which involved sex acts as ‘offerings’ to the ‘gods.
The Blessing of God departed from Israel while they engaged in immorality and while they gave their worship and attention to false Gods, instead of the true God.
Something similar must have happened in Pergamum… we know that some of the ancient gods and goddesses involved temple prostitutes, both male and female.. but while it may mean actual acts of sex, it may just be the immorality of turning from the standards God desired, to those of the culture in which they lived.
Feasts to the Gods were common, and it seems some of the believers were attending and taking part in these activites, while at the same time claiming to be Christians, to be ‘true to the name’ of Jesus.
AND WHAT IS CLEAR HERE.. is it is not just those who took part in these wrong practices.. but the whole church that is challenged by Jesus, because not taking part was not enough… there is a time when believers need to speak up about the things God desires and challenge one another to remain ‘true’ to those Godly desires.
A fortnight ago when we looked at Ephesus we saw a church that was praised for their holding true doctrine, the right beliefs and teachings… BUT who had left their first love for God and for one another.
IN EPHESUS they had TRUTH (factual content) and rooted out the false doctrines, but they did not have love (not true to his name- his Nature)
Here in PERGAMUM they perhaps had love.. (they were accepting of one another) but had failed in one aspect of the ‘truth’
So lets look at what the Bible, what Jesus means when he talk of TRUTH..
In verse 13 what he says can be translated as ‘held fast’ or as I have it here ‘remained true’..
YOU REMAIN TRUE TO MY NAME… (Truth has at least two key aspects… Veracity.. accuracy of factual content….
BUT in a sense alongside, but I would even suggest ABOVE that aspect is another..
That of TRUTH being faithfulness, reliability, consistency, INTEGRITY
God is very loving and accepting.. that is a factual truth.. But God is also Holy, honest, trustworthy, things he wants reflected in US…
It is interesting too, that Jesus says about being TRUE TO HIS NAME!… What does his NAME have to do with it?
JW’S THINK REMAINING TRUE TO THE ‘NAME; OF GOD Means using the name Jehovah (which is odd because ‘J’ as a sound is only a few hundred years old.. it was more a Y (by the way V is a new sound too, it was more like W so King David was Da-Weed and Joshua was Yeshua.
I know some people that insist on called Jesus ‘YESHUA’ because that is most likely how it was originally pronounced..
But the point I have wandered away from .. is that remaining true to the name is not having ;Jesus; or Christian in the name of the church
The point is being true to what the name REPRESENTS
To say of a business that it has a good ‘name’ does not usually mean the particular sequence of letters and sounds is pleasant and attractive… we say that to mean that they have a good REPUTATION
The word the New testament uses that we translate as ‘REPUTATION’ is very similar to the word MARTYR.. (which meant the witness, the testimony.. the sort of stuff you said under oath in court that was true and accurate of the situation…) (It is the word used to describe Antipas, who died because of his ‘witness’ (his ‘reputation if you like!)
A’ good name’ holds meaning far beyond the letters and sounds.
And the ‘NAME’ of Jesus holds and reflects the character of God.
Things we find in the descriptions of the ‘fruit of the Spirit’
Love, Joy, peace, Patience, Kindness Goodness Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control.
Things we find described in lists of the types of people who will and who will not enter the Kingdom. Purity in matters of Sex, of honesty, of avoiding drunkenness and so on..
TRUTH in the Bible, (and remember Jesu sin the Gospels says I AM THE TRUTH’.. and even in Revelation calls himself ‘Faithful and True’…. Truth in the Bible, besides meaning factually true, besides meaning faithful and trustworthy,
BIBLICAL TRUTH is also MORAL RIGHTNESS
“8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.”
Philippians 4:8, NIV.
We can make the mistake of thinking our behaviour is all that matters to God.. of thinking that to be accepted BY GOD we need to behave a certain way FIRST… and that is not true.. WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS CHRIST DIED FOR US, the Bible tells us.
BUT we can also make the mistake of thinking our behaviour doesn’t matter to God at all.
After we are accepted By God, and After we ACCEPT him as our friend, our Saviour, our Lord.. our Behaviour DOES matter,,, because Christ wants to work in us by the Holy Spirit to change us to be LIKE HIM!
To reflect not just his name but his very nature..
And in Pergamum, some in the church were behaving in a way that did not reflect that character, that was NOT true to the name of Jesus.. .. (MORE ON THAT NEXT WEEK)
Now the thing is not that people amongst them were immoral, they did not get told to run away form the city in which they lived… BUT if THEY CLAIMED to know and follow Jesus.. then Jesus had an expectation of them to reflect his holiness.
In many ways God doesn’t judge the wider culture for their sinfulness, they often do not know the reality behind what they do, but he does judge it when he finds it IN THE PEOPLE WHO CLAIM TO BE HIS..
Jesus, in his Love never merely challenges and complains.. He offers help and HOPE!
The people in pergamum were invited to turn around, (that is all REPENT means).. to turn from what they had done (if they were thre ones behaving in immoral ways) or to turn from their ignoring and allowing immorality IN THE BELIEVERS..
And become again what Jesus called them ot be at first.
TO THOSE WHO MANAGED THIS.. to those who OVERCAME he gives a great promise.
Hidden Manna, a White Stone and a New name.
In Isaiah, one of the Prophets in the Old Testament, we read this about a ‘new name’..
“5 To them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial, And a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off.”
Isaiah 56:5, NAS95.
AND
“2 The nations will see your righteousness, And all kings your glory; And you will be called by a new name Which the mouth of the LORD will designate.”
Isaiah 62:2, NAS95.
God’s love for us is so great, and is the kinds of love that means we can COME TO GOD just as we are, no matter what sin, what immorality, what failures we may be.. But God’s love fo rus is so great, and is the kind of love that while we come to God just as we are, God won’t leave us just as we are.
He desires to change us.
But if that seems daunting, he gives us what we need to change… to remain TRUE to the nature of his name
Hear what the Apostle Peter writes inone of his letters, collected in the New testament.
“2 Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
HIS DIVINE POWER gives us evertying we nees for LIFe nad for GODLINESS..
4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
PARTICIPATE IN HIS NATURE.. REMAIN TREU TO HIS NAME!..
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;
7 and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.
8 For if you possess these qualities (AND HERE IS THE CHALLEGE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN BELIEVERS FOR SOME YEARS)… in increasing measure, ….they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But if anyone does not have them, he is short-sighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
10 Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall,
11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”
2 Peter 1:2-11, NIV.
LETS PRAY..
