Word of Salvation – May 21st 2023

 

The Living Lord and His Church at Pergamum

 

Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Revelation 2:12-17

Scripture Readings: Numbers 22:21-35; Revelation 2:12-17

Singing:  Stand up, stand up for Jesus (BoW 457)

 

Theme: The faithful church at Pergamum, called to repentance for tolerating evil..

 

Introd: I’ve known folk (and you have too) who travel from church, to church, to church.

Wandering Christians!  Always on the lookout for something better.

It may even be that you are one of those unsettled brothers or sisters.
In one place the minister said something you violently disagreed with.
In another place the people weren’t friendly – nobody even said ‘hello’ to you.
In yet another church the singing was not to your liking.
So you’ve become a drifter… still looking for the perfect church.

These letters to the 7 churches remind us that there is no perfect church on earth.

Only two out of the seven are not criticised.

But they have other problems – like getting cought up in a wave of terrible persecution.

So in all the churches there are problems of one sort or another.

It’s as if God is saying in these letters: Look, this is how it is going to be throughout history.

There will always be my grace at work in the church.

But evil will always be at work in the church too.
There is no perfect church on earth…. only a struggling church constantly battling evil.
And those times when evil is hardly seen are going to be rare indeed.

So Christians must be IDEALISTS – they must keep on struggling for a pure, holy church.

But they must also be REALISTS – they must not give up when they see imperfection.

 

A]        THE CHURCH IN AN EVIL WORLD KEEPS THE FAITH.

1.         Last Sunday we saw the church of Smyrna… a church in a hostile world of persecution.

Here in Pergamum there is also hostility and oppression.

In fact that is a reality in several of these seven churches.

But here in Pergamum the persecution has already climaxed in murder.
Antipas – a faithful member and a witness to the grace of God is already a martyr.
However, here in Pergamum the emphasis is not on hostility but on evil.
This is the church – not only in a hostile world – but in an immoral, evil world.

It helps to know a little of the history and the background of Pergamum.

Asclepios, the serpent-god of healing was worshipped there.

(That’s the origin of the sign of the serpent – still used today by MD’s.)

This serpent-god was a saviour who offered physical healing and eternal youth.

So Pergamum became the ‘Lourdes’ of the ancient world.
People flocked there in droves from all over the place.
But to Christians this serpent-god was only a reminder of satan, serpent of Eden.

In Pergamum there was also a temple to Zeus – chief god of the Greeks.

And if that wasn’t enough there was also the ever-popular Caesar worship.
All of these religions with their hordes of followers.
So there was a great deal of religious zeal in Pergamum.
And what helped the popularity of some religions was temple prostitution.

Pergamum then, is the very heart of paganism… false religion… and immorality.

Someone once compared the church of Pergamum to a lily in a sewage pond.

Jesus says, “I know that you live where satan’s throne is.”
Satan’s influence was everywhere in Pergamum.

Yet it seems that the Lord has deliberately set up camp there in Pergamum.
He speaks of the congregation of Pergamum having residence there.
And so Jesus Himself lives there – for the church is the Body of Christ.

Here then is the church at the very centre of the reign of evil.

A wildly immoral city… the ‘Kings Cross’ of Asia Minor… a regular ‘red light’ district.

Here, almost on hell’s front porch, Jesus planted the church of Pergamum.

To remind us that Jesus doesn’t give up territory to the enemy.

Pergamum is the Christian church in a wildly immoral city.

2.         Jesus commends this church planted as it were on the very doorstep of hell.

He begins once again – as He did with Ephesus – with a compliment (verse 13).
You have not given up… you have remained true to my name.
Even in this grossly immoral environment you have not denied the faith.

That’s a reminder to us that the church of Jesus can survive – even in enemy territory.

There is something about the church… and about the Christian faith…
which makes it possible to exist even in the middle of a Pergamum.

The church has power to ensure its survival…
because Jesus said: Even the gates of hell will not be able to overcome it.

So the church of the Lord Jesus has flourished – not only in comfortable godly suburbs.

It grows and flourishes even in the immoral parts of the most immoral cities.
In Melbourne there are churches only a stone’s throw from massage parlours.
Sydney’s Kings Cross is notorious not only for its immorality.
It is also known for the mission church of Sir Alan Walker.
And the Salvation Army is well known for its work in the slums and in the pubs.

The Lord Jesus does not give up territory to the enemy.

In fact – places like that especially need to hear the gospel of forgiveness.

Especially there… the need for the power of the living Christ is greatest.

Jesus who wept over Jerusalem is still concerned about our cities.

So He plants – right in the middle of them – His church.

Communities of love and power… and often right there where satan’s throne is.

3.         Today it would be easy for us to fear for the future of the church.

The Church in our society seems so vulnerable at times.

Satan seems to be having a field-day and is setting up his throne all over the place.

If Pergamum was immoral our modern cities are often even more so.

The literature at some of our newsagents might make the average person in Pergamum blush.

Some of the ‘R’ rated films in our video shops might well have been banned in Pergamum.

Today the values of our society are reverting more and more to godless paganism.

Okay, we don’t have temple prostitutes – but recreational sex is gaining ground.
And the philosophy of sexual freedom is tearing our families apart.

It’s now quite common to hear little children playing:
“Bobby, you be the Dad… and Margaret can be the Mum.
 And then I’ll be the Mum’s boyfriend.”  How tragic!

Satan is setting up his throne all over the place.

   Grandparents who once spent the hours from 10 to 12 on a Sunday at church and Sunday School
now spend the same hours shouting encouragement to grand-children on a football field.

   Our nation spends more in one month on the TAB than we do in a whole year on overseas aid.

   Lotto and ‘pools’ and poker machines… our greed knows no bounds.

Satan is busy setting up his throne in all areas of life.

And we fear for the church… and for our faith – vulnerable in an evil world.

And yet Jesus could say to Pergamum:
You did not renounce your faith in me… you remained true to my name.
You held on to the reality that you are saved by faith alone in me alone.
And you held to that gospel-faith even in your darkest hour of trial.

As church we have the ability to be right there where satan is at work and still be the church of Jesus.
To witness to the gospel of God’s love and grace in Jesus in the midst of evil.
It is not the evil around us… in our society… that destroys the church.
By the grace of God we can be true to the gospel and faithful to Jesus
            even on the doorstep of hell… right there where satan’s throne is.

 

B]        THE CHURCH HAS COMPROMISED WITH AN EVIL WORLD.

1.         Despite these reassuring words there is also a problem at Pergamum.

Sure, there is first the encouragement that the church in an evil world is still faithful.

But then there comes that terrible word: Nevertheless..!  “Nevertheless I have a few things against you.”

And then Jesus draws attention to two problems in this congregation.

FIRST there was in the church what Jesus called “the teaching of Balaam”.
Balaam was the fellow who was hired by Balak, king of Moab, to curse Israel.
On three occasions, when he tried to do that, he could only speak words of blessing.
God never allowed Balaam to utter a single word of a curse.

The only trouble was that Balaam desperately wanted the money Balak offered.

Since he couldn’t curse Israel he sold Balak a bit of advice… a scheme to destroy Israel.

Balak, just throw a big party to your gods and invite the Israelites.

Show them how attractive your religion is… with its temple prostitutes.

They will soon follow your gods and commit adultery with your people.

It’s a sure-fire way to destroy Israel.  It will trip them up.

Now that same kind of advice was cropping up in Pergamum.

  Look, what does it really matter if you take part in feasts to false gods?
Okay, the food is dedicated to the idols… but it’s really just a big party.

  And so what if there is a bit of hanky-panky afterwards?
Who’s going to worry about the odd night spent with a temple prostitute?

  As long as you keep on believing, what’s wrong with a little fun?
You can still go to church next Sunday….!  Don’t be so narrow minded.

Secondly, there were also the Nicolaitans.
From the little we know about them it seemed they were teaching something similar.
            That to protect your job you’ve got to go along with things at times.
            To make sure you survive in business don’t get too narrow in your views.
            If getting the contract means going along to one of their parties, too bad?
            And if that party involves a bit of pagan worship, don’t be a stick-in-the-mud.
            As long as you don’t toss in your Christian faith.

It all sounds terribly familiar and up-to-date:

     If joining in makes the difference between losing a client or keeping him… then join in by all means.

     If going along with it decides whether you get promoted or not… then don’t hesitate, go along with it.

These people probably reasoned this way to themselves:

Pagan worship is nothing:  Idols aren’t real gods anyway… so worship of them isn’t real worship.

And morals needn’t be held too rigidly because after all we’re saved by grace… not by works.

Both these groups wanted compromise with the world around them.
They wanted Jesus… but also what satan had to offer.
Christianity… but also all that the world promotes.  Does that sound familiar?

2.         The real problem here is compromise.

In this way Pergamum was allowing the evil of society into the church.

Notice too an important point.
Only SOME held to this teaching… “You have SOME who hold to this teaching…”
Some… and yet the whole church is rebuked.

Jesus says: I have a few things against you… you, the church at Pergamum.
You, the whole congregation… even though only SOME do these things.
The whole church is involved and rebuked.
The problem is that the rest of the church wasn’t dealing with the issues.

It wasn’t confronting those members who were undermining the church of Jesus.
People held to the teaching of Balaam and the Nicolaitans.
But they were still allowed to teach Sunday School and become elders.
And they were still allowed to come along to the Lord’s Supper.
            Yeah, well… we don’t agree with it… but it’s his business.
            I wouldn’t do it… but, well, she doesn’t see anything wrong with it.

And because there is no firm action the whole church is being compromised.

The whole church is in danger of being infiltrated and undermined by the world.

Pergamum is the church of Jesus in an evil world.
Faithful under persecution and trial… holding to the name of Jesus.
And yet…. a COMPROMISING church.

They didn’t want to deal with those caught up in temple prostitution.

They didn’t rebuke the business men who had been in the temple of Zeus.

They thought it quite okay to have a little flutter on the TAB occasionally.

And what’s wrong with a bit of try on the pokies?

And a ‘hen’s night’ at the pub with a stripper might be fun now and then.

A church that has gone soft on error and immorality in her midst.

Before I pointed out that the church is strong… that it can survive.
And then not only in persecution and poverty.
It can also survive the evil environment in which it is found.
The church can even survive right there where the devil has his throne.

But what it CANNOT stand is its own members tolerating evil.
It cannot survive when its own people are allowed to compromise themselves.
Unrebuked error and unchallenged immorality is a death trap for the church.
Because a compromising church gives in more and more to an immoral world.

That doesn’t mean that we all set out to spy on each other’s behaviour.

And it doesn’t mean we don’t make allowances for human weakness.

But we must confront those who openly compromise Christian standards.

A compromising church gives in more and more to an immoral world.
It is one thing for the church to be there where satan’s throne is.
It is quite another to ebrace satan’s throne as something perfectly normal.

 

C]        THE CHURCH MUST SEPARATE ITSELF FROM AN EVIL WORLD.

1.         Did you notice how Jesus addresses Himself to this church?

It is as the Living Lord who has the double-edged sword in His hand.

We know Jesus wields that sword to execute judgment against satan.
And that is a great comfort.
But here that sword is not only an encouragement… it is also warning to the church.

In some ways those opening words present a terrible picture.
The Living Lord with a sharp double-edged sword: Jesus Christ is on the warpath.
But in a real way… on the warpath against His own church.
All because His church is compromising with the world.

We see that very clearly in verse 16:

      REPENT… otherwise I am coming to you quickly and I will fight against you with the sword of my mouth.

            Jesus fighting against His own church… what a sad picture.

Please understand: the problem is not that there was sin in the church at Pergamum.
Jesus is an old-hand at forgiving sin… that’s His specialty.  Sin is not the problem.

The problem is that Pergamum has become too comfortable with sin.
It is sin that is not being repented of.
In fact this is a church that has lost its backbone.
A church in which there is no longer any discipline.

It is helpful for us at this point to note the difference between Ephesus and Pergamum.

Both these churches were infected with the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

But what a difference:                        –  In Ephesus the Nicolaitans were hated.
                                       In Pergamum the Nicolaitans were given a hearing.
To Ephesus Jesus said: But you have this in your favour…
                                                            You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, so do I.
To Pergamum Jesus says:  Repent for happily putting up with their garbage.
                                    You’ve become too easy-going with immorality and sexual freedom.

b)         So Jesus calls the church to repentance for its compromising.

In the church of Jesus it can never be a matter of Jesus AND the world.

With Christianity it can never be Christ AND a free and easy lifestyle.
Pergamum, give up your compromise… make some choices.
            Not Jesus AND the ‘new age’ philosophies.
            Not Jesus AND yoga or transcendental meditation.
            Not Jesus AND all that the world offers to our sensual instincts.

Repent… make your choice.
Begin to exercise discipline in your fellowship, Pergamum.
Or else the Lord Jesus will come and fight against you.
And He will tidy up your mess the hard way.

Yes!, says, Jesus, “I know that you live where satan’s throne is”.
But that doesn’t mean you can let him set up his throne in the church.
In the church there is room for only one throne and that is mine.
Not compromise… but choice!  Repent.  Change what you are doing.

3.         I began by saying that many folk are searching for a perfect church and never finding it.

Christians must be REALISTS.
In a broken world there is no perfect church.
The church here is still in a process of becoming perfect.

But Christians must also be IDEALISTS.
Even while we live and work in an imperfect church…
We must strive for a pure and holy church.

And that battle for a pure and holy church must begin with each of us personally.
The text ends with a personal challenge: “To him who overcomes…!”

I must overcome by faith the evil satan puts in front of me… you must overcome it!
I must repent of my compromising with the world… you must repent of it.

When we do that Jesus rewards us with His promised blessings.
Instead of the food from godless banquet tables
               there is the hidden manna… the spiritual food…
                  the bread from Heaven which He gives.
Instead of temporary immoral pleasures offered by the world
               there is the white stone of purity and permanence
                  with a new name that Jesus gives to those who are His.

The battle is worth it saints of God,
            because to all those who overcome in the battle
            Jesus offers life and glory for ever and ever.                        Amen.