Pergamum

For my birthday last year Tess, my wife, got me an axe. She went to B&Q, and said to an assistant, 'I'm after an axe for my husband.' And seeing a degree of concern on his face she added, 'For his birthday.' And the axe is for splitting logs for our wood burner. And it's surprising how easily you can split even the hardest piece of wood if you just find the right crack.

And at the start of this series, I used that illustration to explain what these early chapters of Revelation are about. Because in chapters 1 to 3 we're given this vision of the risen Lord Jesus dictating seven messages to seven churches of the first century. And he was out to prepare them for rising persecution and pressure from the world around them.

So imagine my logs stand for the churches and the axe stands for the persecution and pressure. What the Lord Jesus was doing here was exposing the spiritual cracks or weaknesses of these churches – so as to strengthen them, so they wouldn't fall away when the pressure hit them.

But this isn't just history. Because all the cracks that ran though those churches back then still run through the worldwide church today – including ours. Which is why each of the seven messages has this same line at the end:

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches." (v17)

Ie, what God's Spirit inspired here wasn't just for each individual church back then – but for all churches ever since. So before we go on, let's pray that we do hear what God is saying to us:

Father God,
Thank you that what you spoke to the church in Pergamum, you meant for our ears also. And so we pray that through it you would reveal to us the spiritual battle we're in, and that you would expose our spiritual weaknesses, so as to strengthen and protect us from falling away under pressure.
In Jesus' name we pray. Amen

So we've covered the vision of the risen Jesus in chapter 1, and then his first two messages to churches in chapter 2. And tonight we reach the message to church no.3, in Pergamum. So would you open up a Bible to Revelation chapter 2 and v12, where the risen Lord Jesus says:

And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write:The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.

And that's a flashback to chapter 1, v16, where that opening vision of the risen Jesus says:

In his right hand he held seven stars, [and] from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword… 

And as we saw in chapter 1, we're not to think of these visions as photographs: this isn't what we'd see if we were transported to heaven right now. This is more like political cartoons, with symbols that need de-coding. And the symbolism here is that when Jesus speaks to us – through these seven messages – it's like someone coming at you with a sword.

I've experienced one knife attack in my life. I was down near the city centre and this guy Simon went for me and cut me in the leg, which needed stitching. In fairness to him, I should say that this was in the RVI and that he was a surgeon and that I had just signed a consent form for him to remove a lump on my leg – which thankfully was benign. And that's the picture here: through this message, the Lord Jesus is coming at us with a scalpel to deal with what's wrong, so as to make his church a healthier and stronger body. And as with any operation, it's not as if everything's wrong. So he begins by commending them for where they are healthy and strong – namely, in their faithfulness in the face of state persecution. And that's my first heading:

1. Faithfulness in the Face of State Persecution (v13)

Look on to v13:

I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

Now not everything there is immediately obvious. What is obvious is that one member of this church, Antipas, had actually been killed for his faith in Jesus, and that all of them were facing pressure to deny their faith.

So what was going on – what is the rest of v13 about? Well the background you need to know is that all seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 were in the Roman Empire. And Pergamum was basically the Roman capital of Asia Minor – now Turkey. And it was the first city in the area to build a temple dedicated to the worship of the Roman Emperor as a god. So people in Pergamum would come to the temple, burn incense to the Emperor and say the words, 'Caesar is Lord' (just as a Christian would say, 'Jesus is Lord').

And that's what the Lord Jesus was getting at when he said they lived 'where Satan's throne is'. He didn't mean that the Emperor was Satan. He meant that behind the Emperor setting himself up as a god was the work of Satan.

Just think back to Genesis 3, if you know it. What was the fundamental temptation Satan used to draw the human race into rebelling against God? He said,

… you will be like God, knowing good and evil" [which means 'defining good and evil for yourself' – knowing good and evil without reference to God]. (Genesis 3.5)

So the fundamental temptation was and is to say to God, 'I don't want you ruling over me – I want to define reality and make up the rules myself. I want to play god.'

And that's what we all do, by nature, this side of the fall. And that's why, by nature, we all try to get other people to serve our agenda – because we think we're the centre of the universe. And if you're a husband, that attitude is a danger to your wife and marriage. If you're a father it's a danger to your children and family life.

But what if you're the Roman Emperor? What if you're the most powerful man on earth, and you set yourself up as a god, and you have all the power of state to make people recognise you as god – on pain of death? That's really dangerous to everyone else. Because when a Christian like Antipas is hauled up in front of the Roman governor and says, 'Only Jesus is Lord, so I can't call the Emperor 'Lord',' he dies for it.

Now you may be thinking, 'But I don't live under an Emperor setting himself up as a god. I live in a democracy. So what's the relevance of this?' Well, have a look at this picture:

The top crown stands for God – the true ruler of everything, the true definer of reality and of good and evil. And then the crown under him stands for any human government – dictatorship, democracy, you name it. And that government will only be good for everyone under it if it discerns what God defines as good and evil, and rules accordingly. And it doesn't have to be consciously Christian to do that. Because to Christian and non-Christian alike, our God-given consciences, along with God-given structures like marriage and the married family, witness to what's good and not good.

But, next picture, what if the government – like the Roman Emperor – begins to play god?

What if, instead of discerning God's definition of good and evil, it thinks it can define good and evil itself? In that case, God gets crossed out of the picture; and the government takes the place of God, and defines good and evil itself; and imposes its definition on others. And looking back from the celebration of the anniversary of VE-day 70 years on, it's obvious that that's what happened under Hitler. But something similar happened in the last Parliament here, with the re-definition of marriage to include so-called same sex marriage. And we've begun to see Christians penalised if they don't accept what one (non-Christian) critic has called the 'new state orthodoxy' which says heterosexual and homosexual relationships and activity are equal.

(And as an aside, can I say just to be clear: the argument isn't about whether we should treat people equally. Of course we should treat all people equally – and it's the Bible, not secular ideas, which taught our culture that. But the argument is about whether we should treat all lifestyles, all views of morality, as equal – which boils down to whether all lifestyles, all views of morality, are in fact equal. And obviously they're not: you'd disagree if someone said your view of morality was equal with Hitler's.)

So we're closer to Pergamum than you might at first think, with legislation requiring us to bow down to the great god of Equality and to call things equal that in God's sight are not equal. And Christians aren't dying right now for standing against that. But it is costing them. Just go to the Christian Institute's website and follow the story of Daniel Macarthur – the baker who conscientiously refused to make a cake promoting a homosexual lobbying group. He's awaiting a court judgement on him next week, such is the culture we now live in.

So v13 reveals that wherever the state demands ultimate allegiance, wherever the state redefines good and evil and demands that we accept its definition, Satan is at work behind the scenes. Verse 13 again:

I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.

So Jesus begins by commending them for their faithfulness in the face of state persecution. And by implication that calls us to be faithful in the face of things like the 'new state orthodoxy' here.

But before we move on, there's a broader encouragement in v13. Listen again to what Jesus says:

I know where you dwell…" 

Which means that wherever you're being faithful for Jesus right now, he knows your circumstances exactly, he knows exactly what it's costing you – and he commends you for it. So be encouraged. Be encouraged that Jesus knows all about your faithfulness in a difficult marriage, or your faithfulness in a workplace you hate, or your faithfulness to a challenging child, or your faithfulness inside an aging and painful body, or your faithfulness in unwanted singleness, or your faithfulness in a broken home that's always painful to go back to. Wherever you're being faithful for him, the Lord Jesus says, 'I know all about that – in a way no-one else does.' And he says, 'Well done.'

So the particular strength of this church was faithfulness in the face of state persecution. But next, out comes the scalpel as the Lord Jesus starts to operate on their big weakness, which was compromise in the face of cultural enticement. And that's my next heading:

2. Compromise in the Face of Cultural Enticement (vv14-15)

Look on to v14:

But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practise sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

Now no-one knows who the Nicolaitans were, or what they believed. The best guess, because Jesus lumps them together here, is that they believed the same as the people in v14. So now we need some background to understand v14 – so let's start with Balaam.

Balaam appears in the Old Testament book of Numbers (see Numbers 22.1-25.18 and 31.13-16), which is all about God's people Israel journeying towards the promised land of Canaan. And en route to Canaan lay the land of Moab. And the king of Moab was Balak. And Balak was afraid that Israel would invade Moab. So he called in this character Balaam – who was a bizarre mix of prophet and spiritualist – and ordered him to put a curse on Israel. Which sounds weird to us – but that's one form of attack they naturally thought of. But God prevented Balaam from doing that and so instead, Balaam advised Balak on how to undermine Israel. And his advice was: send in your women. He basically said, 'Get your women to mix in with the Israelites camped on your border. Get them to entice the men into sex. From there, they can entice them into worshipping your gods. And soon they'll be so compromised and mixed in with you, they'll be no threat to you at all.' So it was a different version of, 'If you can't beat them, join them.' Balaam was saying, 'If you can't beat them, entice them to join you by compromise, without them even realising it's happening.'

So now look back at v14:

But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practise sexual immorality.

So this church had some misguided, Balaam-style people who basically encouraged compromise with the cultural enticements around them. And the biggest cultural enticements were social gatherings involving the idols.

So here's the other bit of background you need: Pergamum was full of temples to all sorts of gods. And the gods were represented by statues known as idols. And pride of place went to the temple of Zeus, which dominated the skyline like St James' Park. The altar alone was wider than this building. And in fact I've seen it in Berlin in the Pergamum museum, because German archaeologists nicked it in the 19th century (shades of the Elgin marbles). So the place was full of temples full of idols. Plus most homes had a family idol or idols. So for some internationals here from Asia, Pergamum wasn't very different from your home culture.

And in a city like Pergamum, pretty much every social gathering involved praying and sacrificing to idols – whether it was a council meeting or business lunch or sports event. If you were invited out for a meal, it wouldn't be Pizza Express, but in a temple where the food was offered to the idols in front of you. If you were invited for a meal in someone's house, the same thing happened. And in some idol-feasts the temple or the host would lay on prostitutes or willing volunteers so that the whole thing also turned into a sex-party.

Which made life very, very difficult for Christians. Because a Christian can't participate in anything that implies there are other gods – because Jesus alone is Lord. And a Christian can't participate in anything that takes sex out of marriage – because Jesus is Lord and says sex is for marriage alone. So Christians trying to be faithful were cut out of most of the 'cultural life' (in inverted commas) of Pergamum. And they were seen as social misfits and even deliberately ostracised. So, again, we're closer to Pergamum than you might at first think. Because as I heard someone shrewdly say, 'All Christians trying to be faithful must suffer a degree of cultural amputation.'

But these Balaam-style people in v14 said, 'Hold on. Surely the Lord doesn't want us cut out of society and missing out. And surely he wants us to be out there witnessing for him. And surely, if we draw the lines between us and the non-Christian world too strongly, we'll put people off.' And you can see where that train of thought is going, can't you? In no time at all, you're participating in idol-worship – saying privately to yourself that idols aren't real – that it's all just a nonsense – when publically you're really saying that Jesus alone is not Lord. And in no time at all you're having a sexual fling at a party – saying privately to yourself that it doesn't mean anything, that it's just a harmless release, that everyone else is doing it, that you still believe in marriage but that it's unrealistic to say sex is only for marriage – when publically you're really saying that Jesus is not Lord of your body; in other words, that Jesus is not Lord.

So going back to the log-splitting illustration, that is the crack or spiritual weakness that Jesus puts his finger on: the temptation to compromise in the face of cultural enticements.

And it's striking to compare the two halves of this message.

Because in the first half, in the face of state persecution, there was no crack in the make-up of these Christians. And I guess that's because state persecution is so obviously Satanic. I mean, when Antipas was told by the governor, 'Either you say 'Caesar is Lord' and curse Jesus, or you get the death penalty,' it was pretty obvious Satan was behind it. It had, 'This Is A Dirty Great Temptation To Deny Jesus' written all over it. Which didn't make it any easier to stand up to; but it made it dead easy to spot.

Contrast that with the second half of this message – where they had the problem. Because the second half isn't about when the governor tells you to deny Jesus or die. It's about when these misguided, Balaam-style people inside your own church are saying, 'Surely the Lord doesn't want us cut out of society and missing out. Surely he wants us to be out there. Surely, we mustn't draw the lines between us and the world too strongly.' And their compromises offer you such an easier life – a privatised faith which never has to surface in public to make things uncomfortable; a more relaxed, realistic definition of sin; and even a theology to support it: unlike the governor they even quote the Bible. And unless you're spiritually on the ball, you don't even realise that Satan is behind it. But that's just what he wants, because his most effective methods aren't the ones that have, 'This Is A Dirty Great Temptation to Deny Jesus and Sin' written all over it. His most effective methods are much more subtle – like cultural enticement, where he says, 'You don't want to be a misfit, do you? Surely you should be culturally relevant and thoroughly culturally involved, shouldn't you?'

And Jesus sees Satan working that crack and he says, 'Watch out, because Satan stands behind those cultural enticements just as much as he stood behind what the Romans state did to Antipas.'

So watch out for when you're being invited to participate in something where in reality you'd be denying that Jesus is Lord. For some internationals here back home, that may be things very similar to the idol-feasts in Pergamum – temple attendance with your family, ancestor worship and so on. Whereas here in the UK, it might be an invitation to a civil partnership; or to a so-called same-sex wedding; or to a club or party or film that you know in your heart of hearts a Christian cannot participate in, because you know that to go is to participate.

So, Jesus commends them for faithfulness in the face of state persecution, he warns them against compromise in the face of cultural enticement. And third and lastly, he calls them to:

3. Repent of the Influence of Teachers of Compromise (vv16-17)

Look down to v16:

Therefore repent.

And 'repent' basically means 'turn' – turn from your wrong course of action. And in each of these seven messages you have to ask, 'What specifically does repentance mean here?' And in Pergamum it meant: repenting of the influence of teachers of compromise. Just look back to v14:

But I have a few things against you: you have some there [almost as if you're harbouring them, tolerating them] who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practise sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

So Jesus isn't saying that the whole Pergamum church had already plunged into compromise with idols and sex. He's saying, 'That's what some among you are encouraging by their teaching. And you're tolerating that teaching, you're listening to it, and who knows – maybe you're beginning to give it credence.' So repenting here means: stopping doing that. So if the teaching is more the informal influence of some church members, they need to confront those church members and tell them that what they're saying is wrong and harmful to the fellowship. And if the teaching is coming more formally from upfront teachers like me, then those upfront teachers need disciplining and possibly removing.

So how does that apply to us today?

Well, for one thing, you need to be asking yourself regularly, 'Is what I'm being taught at JPC compromising the message of the Bible? Are they watering it down to make being a Christian culturally easier?' And if you ever think the answer to that question is 'Yes', you need to challenge us to repent. And you need to pray for our faithfulness so that the answer to that question might be 'No.'

But what about the wider church – the denomination we're in? It's obvious that many of its bishops and ministers are teaching the rightness of homosexual activity. And they're largely doing that to be in line with the culture and to avoid cultural alienation and cultural irrelevance (or so they think). So how do we repent of them? I mean, you can sack me if I go off the rails, but we can't sack the bishop of Newcastle if he does. So when the last bishop did go off the rails on this issue, we declared ourselves out of fellowship with him, we didn't recognise him, we drew a clear line between us and him.

But a final application is this: we all need to repent of wanting to hear what we want to hear. The apostle Paul wrote this in 2 Timothy 4:

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. (2 Timothy 4.3, NIV 1984)

And that was the danger that these Balaam-style teachers in Pergamum presented: they told people what their sinful selves wanted to hear, because they offered an easier relationship to the non-Christian world and a more relaxed definition of sin. And that the danger presented by many a bishop and minister, by many a professedly Christian book, by many a professedly Christian sermon or article on the internet. In the flood of professedly Christian voices out there, you can always find ones that say what you want to hear on whatever area of obedience you particularly struggle with.

But what does Jesus say in verse 17?

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Which is another way of saying, 'Let him hear what the Bible – which God's Spirit inspired for all people for all time – is saying to the churches.' And we should by all means look for teaching that helps us to do that. But we must beware any teaching that gets in the way of doing that.