Pergamum: The Compromising Church

Revelation 2:12-17
“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, not 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: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed 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 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.” - NIV

Last week we finished up with Smyrna: The Suffering Church and we move into Pergamum: The Compromising Church. Before we go any farther let’s look at a little background of this city Pergamum.

Pergamum is located about 50 miles north of the last church we studied in Smyrna—and it would have been the THIRD stop that a first century postman would have made in delivering mail to these seven churches of Asia—starting in Patmos going by ship to Ephesus...then Ephesus to Smyrna...and from Smyrna, on to Pergamum.

Pergamum was the center of pagan idol worship. In fact its people seemed to have had a fetish for worshiping man-made gods, because their city proudly boasted of having at least four great temples—one for each of the greatest gods of the Greeks. They had a temple dedicated to Dionysus, the god of wine and drama; they had one for Athena, the goddess of wisdom in art and war; they had one for Aesculapius the god of healing, and the biggest temple in town was dedicated to numero-uno in the pantheon of Greek gods—Zeus. Zeus’ massive temple was built on a hill overlooking the city and it was referred to as Zeus’ throne. It was four stories high or about four times the size of the seat Lincoln sits in down at our Lincoln Memorial. In the late 1800’s an archeologist from the Berlin Museum dug up Zeus’ temple in Pergamum and took it back to Berlin where it has been ever since.

Being the center of emperor worship, this city was a little bit different than the others. In other cities—like Smyrna—you could burn your pinch of incense once a year and say, “Caesar is Lord” and then you could do as you pleased on other days. That’s how other Roman cities interpreted the law that made emperor worship compulsory. But in Pergamum worshiping the emperors of Rome was a 365 day deal—so the main issue facing the believers in this city was a constant, daily pressure to deny Christ and worship the emperor as god.

It was kind of like Smyrna where Christianity was not a popular choice and they were being pressured to deny Christ as well. If you claim to serve Christ rather than Caesar you were in trouble. Now, knowing a little bit of the background of the things that they faced let us get into the Scripture and see what Jesus was saying to them.

 

Jesus Knows Where They/You Live

Revelation 2:12-13
“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, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.” - NIV

Again just as a reminder this letter is being written to the pastor of the church, a letter that is from Jesus Christ himself. We know this because the passage at the beginning states, “These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword.”

John 1:1-2
“¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ² He was with God in the beginning.” – NIV

John 1:14
“¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” – NIV

Hebrews 4:12
“¹² For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” – NIV

Jesus is the word of God made into flesh and He dwelt among us and He made his home here with us and these words that are written here in Revelation 2 are from THE WORD Jesus Christ.

I love what Jesus says to the church, “I know where you live – where Satan has his throne.” Jesus knows where they are, where their church is, and where the ministry is in that city. He knows about the difficulty of trying to live a Christ like lifestyle in the midst of paganism. I know where you live, what you are going through, and who is in control of the evil that is around you. I know you live “where Satan has his throne.” It is a great feeling to know that Jesus then and now, knows where we are in this world. He knows the struggle that we have trying to live a Christ like lifestyle in the midst of the paganism of this world. Pagan meaning not serving God.

One thing we need to understand that there is an evil power that is dwelling in this world. He has made his home here. He inhabits the very place where we live.

Job 1:7
“⁷ The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” - NIV

2nd Corinthians 4:3-4
“³ And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” – NIV

Hebrews 5:8
“⁸ Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” – NIV

There is a very real enemy out there, there is a very real devil and he has each and everyone one of those in Pergamum and those today who serve Christ marked. Once you give your life over to God you now become and enemy to the devil. He hates you and will do whatever you can in order to bring you back to his side. He tried his very best to allude the Christians in Pergamum from the purpose that God had them for…which was to create Disciples of Jesus Christ and he succeeded in his mission.

But wait! What about Jesus commending them for being faithful?

Revelation 2:13
“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, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives.” – NIV

You see, they refused to budge when it came to their faith that Jesus is Who He says He is. They held firmly to that truth. Even when they suffered and died for doing so—they held tightly to their belief that Jesus is the only Son of God, the Savior of the World—the way, the truth, and the life. Yet Jesus had something against them. Why?

Jesus said they were true to His name! Jesus said they did not renounce their faith in Him…what about that? Weren’t they doing what God called them to do? Didn’t they still call themselves Christians? Didn’t they still have faith in God? I don’t get it. What was wrong with them?

Let’s take a look. Remember, Smyrna was the only church that Jesus commended and didn’t correct.

 

Compromising the Truth

Revelation 2:14-15
“¹⁴ Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. ¹⁵ Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.” – NIV

Jesus is basically saying in this passage of Scripture, “Even though you were faithful to the church, even though you didn’t deny me, even though you looked the part and even acted the part I have this against you. This is where you are messing up Pergamums, there are some in the church who are compromising the truth. There are some in your church who are harboring sin in their lives. Even though they are faithful to me and keeping my name, they are holding onto some of the world’s teachings…Balaam’s teaching to be exact who enticed my people to sin by eating foods sacrificed to idols and committing sexual immorality. That is what I have against you. There is sin in the camp and it must stop.”

These Christians were strong on the “outside”, meaning they held to who Jesus was to the point of death (“Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city” – vs. 13), but on the “inside” they were weak. There was compromising of the truth. People where corrupting others inside the church.

Let’s look at Balaam. In Numbers 22 – 24 tells the story of Balaam and the errors of his ways. According to the book of Numbers when Balak, a Moabite king, heard about the victories of the Hebrew people as they journeyed from Egypt on the way to the promised land when Balak heard the Hebrews were headed his way, he hired Balaam, a well-known prophet—to curse them. Balaam accepted the job, hopped on his donkey, and was on the way to do exactly that when he met an angel of the Lord—and as a result of that meeting he confessed his sin and offered to go home. The angel told him not to do that and to go with the Moabites but to only speak the words that God gave him to say. So instead of “cursing” the Israelites Balaam “blessed” them. But Balaam was greedy and to keep from losing his pay he told Balak to send his women to seduce the men of Israel.

Numbers 31:16a
“¹⁶ Look, these women caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the incident of Peor.” – NKJ

In essence he said, “Balak, if you can’t curse them, corrupt them.”

Ever since then Balaamism had been known as a teaching that attacked the separation and sanctification that God expects His people to maintain. So, in short, the doctrine of Balaam was the teaching that Christ-followers could embrace the world’s teachings while maintaining their Christian distinctiveness. Compromise.

Alexander MacLaren says,“Balaamism is the attempt to make the best of both worlds, the earthly world and the spiritual world. It’s like trying to run with the hare AND hunt with the hounds.” And the Nicolaitans taught the same basic thing. They believed that sinning was actually a good thing because it gave God another chance to forgive you. This led them to happily participate in the immorality of that city. They went to church on Sunday—and then attended lavish banquets in the temple to Zeus on Monday banquets that were a form of worshiping Zeus as they ate the meat of animals that were sacrificed to him—and became involved in the sexual immorality.

Perhaps the followers of Balaamism and the Nicolaitans said things like this to the to the members of this church—things like, “Look, we’re not against religion or anything, but you don’t want to look like some kind of weirdo, do you? Keep that up and you’re not going to get invited to this Friday’s orgy. People aren’t going to hire you if you take this Christian thing too far.” And some of the people in this church succumbed to that kind of internal pressure. They worshiped Jesus—and they also lived like the devil.

Sadly to say the church today has succumbed to the ways of Balaam. There are people in our churches to day who have one foot in the church and the other foot outside in the world. We compromise the “Truth” so we can try to have the best of both worlds. Notice I said try. You see you can’t have both. It is one or the other.

 

What Does God Say?

One thing we need to remember is, though we are in this corrupted world with the prince of darkness dwelling here, we are not of this world.

Philippians 3:20
“²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.” – NIV

1st Peter 2:11-12
“¹¹ Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. ¹² Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” - NIV

1 John 2:15-17
“¹⁵ Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. ¹⁷ And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” – NKJ

There is no compromising in your relationship with God. There cannot be. Where there is light there is not darkness, where there is darkness there is no light. You cannot have one foot in the world and one foot in the church…you cannot have one foot in the world and one foot in the Tabernacle. We are to be set apart, holy before God. For the use of God. We must not tolerate sin in our lives. We must do whatever we can with the help of God to remove it from our lives. We must not even compromise even a little bit. (I am not talking about messing up – we all fall short of the glory of God, but harboring sin in your life and refusing to remove it.)

1st Corinthians 5:6-8
“⁶ Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? ⁷ Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. ⁸ Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” – NIV

 

We are Set Apart for the Use of God

Jesus prayed that we would be separated from the world.

John 17:14-19
“¹⁴ I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. ¹⁵ My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. ¹⁶ They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. ¹⁷ Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. ¹⁸ As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. ¹⁹ For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” - NIV

I am reminded of the oil that was made for the use of the Tabernacle in order to keep the fire burning on the candles stick that illuminated the Holy Place in Exodus.

Exodus 27:20
“²⁰ And you shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to cause the lamp to burn continually.” – NKJ

This was to be a specific type of oil – pure oil – why did it have to be pure? It was to be holy because it was going to be used by God. When you have dirty oil it will not burn properly and not illuminate what was in front of it – Table of Shew Bread. We too are to be a light unto the world:

Matthew 5:14-16
“¹⁴ You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” – NIV

We are a light unto the world, we have an “oil” that is on the inside of us, the Holy Spirit, and when we have impurities in our life, our life is not going to shine what is supposed to be in front of us Jesus Christ! Remember we are to follow Him therefore He is to be directly in front of us just like the Table of Shew Bread was in front of the Candlestick! We must not compromise the Truth as individuals and as a church!

 

How Do We Fix It?

How can those who were in Pergamum then and us today fix this?

Revelation 2:16a
“¹⁶ Repent therefore!” – NIV

We are to repent before Christ. We must fix our eyes on Christ as the write in Hebrews states:

Hebrews 12:2a
“² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” – NIV

We must do whatever it takes through Christ in order to stand against sin in our life.

Hebrews 12:4
“ ⁴ In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.” - NIV

Have you fought to resist sin or have you compromised the Truth?

We must not compromise the Truth and if we have compromised the Truth we have to go before God, go before the Cross, go before Christ and repent of our sin and ask for forgiveness.

Revelation 2:7
“ ⁷ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” – NIV

Sin equals death, death in our relationship with God, but repentance equals life. Life of abundance. Have you compromised the Truth? Are you like the Pergamum church members who had one foot in the church and one in the world? If so, today is the day to repent and start living life to the fullest for the glory of God.