AM Sermon preached at Central Christian Church October 8, 2006
"The Truth, The Whole Truth and..." (The Letter to the Church at Pergamum, Part 1) Rev. 2:12-17
[SERIES SLIDE WILL TRANSITION AUTMATICALLY TO TITLE SLIDE THEN TO
BLANK SLIDE]
[note to techs----if you want to liven up the opening you could turn off all the lights except the sconces as the opening slides run their course…then at the noted place below turn them all back on again at the same time…]
Imagine this scene.... There you are sleeping soundly in your bedroom in the middle of the night when a family member who has entered your room accidentally makes a loud sound that wakes you up. At the exact same moment you open your eyes to try to learn the source of the sound, the person who’s come into your room, without warning you flips on the light switch. [here’s where you’d turn them all back on!] You’re momentarily blinded and you bristle and mumble to yourself as that loved one says cheerfully---"Oh I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you. I was just trying to find something I think I may have left in here." Man I just hate it when that happens---don’t you?
Then there’s those times you’re out driving at night and the driver of the car coming towards you leaves the car’s bright lights on….[SLIDE OF ONCOMING CAR] you flash them to let them know they forgot, but they either ignore you or it doesn’t register and they all but blind you as they drive by----almost as bad are those drivers who don’t dim their lights are the ones who do dim their lights when they’re about a half a mile away from you but then just when they’re about 50 feet in front of you they turn them back on…that‘s when you feel like this [SLIDE OF DEER], you know what I mean? [BLANK SLIDE] Or how about this----you’re in a dimly lit room when suddenly out of no where (poof!) the unexpected flash of a camera has you seeing spots…. Or maybe you leave a dark room and step outside on a bright sunny winter day… [WINTER SLIDE] ----in a lot of situations, we find sudden changes in amounts of light somewhat aggravating or uncomfortable, don’t we? [BLANK SLIDE]
Well spiritually speaking, I think that’s one of the main reasons Satan struck out against the church at Pergamum. As we’ll soon read, Jesus describes the city of Pergamum as the place where Satan lives and has his throne. Historically speaking, the city of Pergamum was a major center of pagan idol worship in first century Asia. Temples to all different types of Greek and Roman gods were located there and the idol worship that took place in these temples was characterized by prostitution, sodomy, orgies and all kinds of other forms of sexual immorality. History also informs us that when Roman soldiers first began to draw near to the city of Pergamum to overthrow it, representatives of the city met with the soldiers and struck a deal with them. In exchange for their lives and freedom, the people of Pergamum would voluntarily subject themselves to Roman oversight. And they would build a temple dedicated to Caesar worship. And in this wicked dark city which was pretty much controlled by Satanic influences, there was the sudden appearance of a bright light, a church. And to be sure--- Satan noticed it and what’s more he was annoyed by it....that’s why initially he subjected it to all kinds of persecutions, but as we shall see, when he found that he wasn’t winning the war via persecution he changed his strategy. Let’s begin our study of Christ’s words to the church at Pergamum this morning by reading Revelation 2:12-17 [SCRIPTURE SLIDES THEN BLANK SLIDE]
When you read the title of my sermon this morning, "The truth, the whole truth and..." in your minds you probably rather unconsciously tacked on the phrase ..."AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH" because the saying “the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth comes from a courtroom pledge most of us are familiar with. And this brings us to the heart of the problem with the church at Pergamum... For you see---while they had the truth--- and while they knew the whole truth--- they were failing to keep to nothing but the truth. Church members at Pergamum weren’t confronting false teachers who had infiltrated their ranks. And the result, friends, was a mess. Church members were getting caught up in immorality and power games. The activity of the Holy Spirit was being quenched. The church was filling up with hypocrites. And fewer and fewer people outside the church were showing interest in it. Worst of all, Jesus was threatening to pass judgment on them.
Now Jesus’ words of commendation and exhortation reveal five ways we can avoid a Pergamum type of mess in our church and lives. We’ll look at two of them this morning and three next week. So do we keep ourselves from getting caught up in the crud which Pergamum get into? Well one way is to --- [SLIDE WITH FIRST SERMON POINT] stand courageously for Christ.
Because the city of Pergamum was the capital of Asia it was the administrative home of the Roman Governor. Roman governors were divided into two categories those who had the “Right of the Sword” and those who didn’t. Those who had the “Right of the Sword” literally had the power of life and death, on their word a person could be executed on the spot. The pro-consul who had his office in Pergamum had this right of the sword and at any moment could use it against the church. Apparently it was used against Antipas.
John Stott describes the probable scene this way, "It is not hard to reconstruct the scene which probably saw the death of Antipas. Known to be a Christian, he was summoned before the Proconsul of the Province. This civil leader was also chief priest of the imperial cult. A bust of the emperor was set on a plinth, and sacred fire burned before it. To sacrifice to the genius of Rome and the divine Emperor was a simple matter. All he had to do was sprinkle a few grains of incense on the fire and say, "Kurious Kaisar," (which means) Caesar is Lord. Then he would be released. But how could he deny Christ’s name and faith? Had he not at his baptism been proud to affirm his faith? Had he not at his baptism been proud to affirm his faith in the simple words, "Kurious Iesous", "Jesus is Lord." Had he not been instructed that God had exalted Jesus to His own right hand and set Him far above all principality and power and every name that is named, and given him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father? Had his teachers not assured him that to say "Jesus is Lord" was a sign of the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, whereas no man can say "Jesus be cursed" when speaking by the Spirit of God? Such thoughts as these will have invaded the mind of Antipas as his Christian faith was exposed to its supreme test. Whether he wavered or not we cannot say. All we know is that he was given more grace to stand firm, to hold fast Christ’s name and not to deny Christ’s faith. He would indeed render to Caesar the things that were Caesar’s but he must also remember to render to God the things that are God’s. (Antipas) could not bring himself to give to Caesar the title that belonged to Christ. Christ was his Lord, not Caesar, even if it meant the whip, the sword, the lions or the stake. And because Antipas would not deny Jesus, he was killed.”
Do you ever wonder how you would’ve acted if you had been in Antipas’ shoes? Do you ever wonder if you’d be strong enough to endure what he endured? We can and should thank God that we live in a country where we have freedom of worship. And hopefully the day will never come that we’ll be told to deny Jesus or be killed. Chances are it won’t. But we may find that our faith in Christ is about to cost us a friend or a job promotion---if that happens I hope we’ll show the courage of Antipas.
[SLIDE OF HEINRICH SCHLIEMANN]
I doubt you’ll recognize this man. His name is Heinrich Schliemann. In 1871, Heinrich Schliemann began to fulfill a dream he’d had since his youth----he started excavating an ancient city in Turkey. He was looking for the lost city of Troy---and to the amazement of many, this retired businessman found it. Today, you can still see the ruins of its towers and its walls, which were 16 feet thick.
Schliemann desire to find the ancient city of Troy can be traced back to his fascination with the Greek stories surrounding it. One of those stories is found in Homer’s Illiad. According to Homer the Greeks besieged Troy for ten years without success. And then when the warrior Achilles was killed, 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 which supposedly looked something like this… [SLIDE OF TROGAN HORSE]. Odysseus and his warriors hid inside it. And 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. [2ND TROGRAN HORSE SLIDE] 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.
[BLANK SLIDE]
Through the years the story of the Trojan Horse and the fall of Troy have come to represent the subversion of anything from within. Well this letter to the church at Pergamum, helps us to understand that Satan acted something like Ithaca. When Satan found that the outside attacks weren’t as effective as he’d hoped, he changed strategy. He started creating internal problems, most of which could have been avoided if the believers there had been more careful in choosing who they’d do life with. But rather than be cautious they had been careless and as a result, by the time Jesus sent this letter to them they were already learning the hard way that they should have exercised more wisdom in chosing their companions.
[SLIDE WITH 2ND SERMON POINT—Choose Your Companions Wisely]
Now the Trojan Horse at Pergamos, the enemy within that was creating havoc, was what Jesus called the doctrine of Balaam.
Balaam, for those who don’t know about him, was an Old Testament prophet. His story begins in Numbers 22. The Israelites, in their wilderness wanderings, had come to the borders of Moab. They had just conquered the Amorites, and it looked like Moab was their next target. So, the king of Moab sent messengers to Balaam to hire him to curse the Israelites. To his credit, before Balaam answered the messengers, he prayed and asked God what he should do. God told him that he could not go with them or curse the Israelites. And that is what Balaam told the messengers. He refused to go with them. But they didn’t want to take no for an answer. So, they upped the price and Balaam went. Along the way, God sent a messenger to Balaam, the angel of the Lord. As a result of that encounter, Balaam confessed his sin and offered to return home. Instead, the Angel of the Lord told him to go with Moabites, but only to speak the words that God gave him to say.
Balaam obeyed. Instead of cursing Israel, he blessed them. Four times he blessed them. And throughout the process, he up-held the Name of the Lord and refused to deny the Word of God. That is a condensed version of Numbers 22-24.
In NUMBERS 25:1-3 we learn that the King of Moab, at Balaam’s advice changed his strategy. In a sense he decided to infiltrate Israel’s army using his own brand of Trojan horse----Moabite women. They were sent into the camp of the Israelites to catch the eyes of their men. And they did. They invited the Israelite men to their sacrifices --feasts full of immorality and idolatry. And in short order, the Israelite men are eating at the tables of false gods, sleeping in the beds of pagan women, and bowing themselves down to worthless idols. The result? God ordered the deaths of the rebellious. When reading this story it’s so important for us to see how Israel’s rebellious slide into idol worship ---a slide which lead to the deaths of thousands---it’s important for us to see how it began... According to Numbers 31:16 [SCRIPTURE SLIDE] it all began with Balaam’s advice to the King of Moab to have the women of Moab offer sexual companionship to the men of Israel. [BLANK SLIDE]
Now why would Balaam, a prophet of God, hang around and eventually offer advice to the King of Moab that would help him create problems in Israel? He did it because the king offered him a reward. You see, Balaam wanted the best of both worlds. He wanted to enjoy the blessings of being God’s prophet but he also wanted to have some of the king’s money. So he refused to curse the Israelites and he refused to say bad things about God----but at the same time he compromised his position and he came up with some evil advice which he knew would cause the Israelites problems. And here in this letter to the church at Pergamum Jesus tells them that they have gone the way of Balaam.
Apparently the Christians in Pergamum were following Balaam’s lead---they were wanting to enjoy the things of God and at the same time they were wanting to indulge in sin without feeling guilty. So they compromised their faith and they started telling people what they wanted to hear. The lesson is obvious isn’t it?
[2ND POINT SLIDE]
We need to choose our companions wisely. For the people we do life with, the people we hang out with---the people we choose as friends, the people we choose to marry---those closest to us---our inner circle will more than likely have a tremendous effect upon us either for good or not. Listen to some of the many different ways the Bible makes this point…. [SCRIPTURE SLIDE] Proverbs 28:7 tells us "He who keeps the law is a discerning son, but a companion of gluttons disgraces his father." [SCRIPTURE SLIDE] Proverbs 13:20 reads, "He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm." [SCRIPTURE SLIDE] And Paul warns us in 1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character."
Let’s face it folks, our inner circle is not a constant. Family circumstances change. Best friends move away. And when a void is created in our inner circle, it’s only natural that we find ourselves looking for someone new to confide in, someone new to take shopping with us---or to share a meal with----and that’s because whether we’re three or ninety-three, it’s part of our God-given human nature to desire acceptance, understanding and love. And I believe in giving us those desires God meant them for good. But we need to be careful because given opportunity, Satan will twist them and turn them into something evil. And since Satan will sometimes channel temptation through the people closest to us, we have to be very careful who we allow to become a part of our inner circle of friends because we don’t want to buddy up with people who will ask us to lower our moral standards and become involved in activity we know to be sinful. And so again I say we must choose our companions wisely---for if we don’t we’ll go the way of ancient Israel---or we’ll find ourselves in a mess like the church at Pergamum.
[SLIDE OF JESUS AMONG LAMPSTANDS]
Now as I bring this first half of our study to a close I would remind us all that there’s one companion we can travel through life with who will never tempt us to sin, one who will always be there for us, one who will always encourage us and help mold us into the best we can be and all that we were intended to be and He is Jesus Christ. And if you’ve not accepted Jesus offer to be your Savior and Friend, you can do that right now as we stand and sing...........
[HYMN SLIDES]
12"To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:
These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 13I 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. 14Nevertheless, 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. 15Likewise you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. 17He 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.
Cue for Rich and worship team to reassemble---
Let’s face it folks, our inner circle is not a constant. Family circumstances change. Best friends move away. And when a void is created in our inner circle, it’s only natural that we find ourselves looking for someone new to confide in, someone new to take shopping with us---or to share a meal with----and that’s because whether we’re three or ninety-three, it’s part of our God-given human nature to desire acceptance, understanding and love. And I believe in giving us those desires God meant them for good. But we need to be careful because given opportunity, Satan will twist them and turn them into something evil. And since Satan will sometimes channel temptation through the people closest to us, we have to be very careful who we allow to become a part of our inner circle of friends because we don’t want to buddy up with people who will ask us to lower our moral standards and become involved in activity we know to be sinful. And so again I say we must choose our companions wisely---for if we don’t we’ll go the way of ancient Israel---or we’ll find ourselves in a mess like the church at Pergamum.
NOTE TO THOSE WHO READ AND OR CHOOSE TO MAKE USE OF ANY OR ALL OF THIS SERMON: I am sharing this sermon with the hopes it will be an encouragement to others. I apologize for any blatant typing errors! If you find any I’d appreciate hearing from you so I can correct them. I try to give credit where credit is due, noting writers and or sources to the best of my ability. I have for years been drawing from a wealth of sources including this website. I recognize that my mind and writing processes are fallible. I may occasionally fail to properly identify a source. Please do not take offense if you see anything of this nature. I never intend to plagiarize. Having said that I want you to feel free to draw from my message. When appropriate I hope you will give credit as I do. But most of all I hope Christ will be lifted up and God will receive the glory in all things.
