Sermon for Sunday February 13th, 2022: 'It’s no big deal, surely?!
(Please read Psalm 1; Isaiah 45: 18-25; Background & Revelation 2: 12-17)
“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any doubled-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account,” (Hebrews 4:12).
A small Christian church meeting in private homes would not have been listed. But somewhere in this metropolis of nearly 200,000 people there was a small Christian congregation. It would be easy to miss. But, as I heard someone say the other day, “Christ knows!” The thing is, He does…
Each of the seven churches in Asia Minor faced a particular problem. Accordingly, in each of His letters to the seven churches Jesus introduced Himself in a particular way. For example, when confronting the loss of first-love in Ephesus, Jesus introduced Himself as the God who is intimately and lovingly involved in all of His churches; upholding their pastors; constantly walking back and forth amid the pews and people. As He loved them. they were to love each other. Likewise, when confronting suffering in Smyrna, Jesus introduced Himself as the God who fully understands suffering. He is, after all, the God “who died and came to life again.” (Rev 2:8). He knows.
Today we meet a Christian congregation in danger of compromise. To compromise is to make concessions or accommodations for someone who does not agree with a certain set of standards or rules. There are times when compromise is good and right—compromise is a basic skill needed in marriage, for example, and in other situations where keeping the peace is more desirable than getting one’s own way.
We know nothing about the founding of the Pergamum church. We don’t know because we’re not told. All we really know about the First Christian Church of Pergamum is provided by Christ’s letter in Revelation 2:12-17. But we do know this church was in danger of compromise; of compromising truth with error; of compromising holy living with godless behaviour. Pergamum was, if you will, a place where Christians went to church on Sunday and revelled in pagan temples on Monday.
How then did Jesus introduce Himself to the compromising church in Pergamum? He said first, “These are the words of Him who has the sharp, double-edged sword…” Literally in NT Greek, ‘the sword, the double-edged one, the sharp one.” An emphasis on each of this sword’s characteristics. Four verses later Jesus referred to “the sword of My mouth.” The same picture is found in Revelation 1:16, “Out of His mouth came a sharp doubled-edged sword.” And finally, in Revelation 19:15, “Out of His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.”
We don’t need to be 1st Century Christians or familiar with Roman swords to understand the rich meaning of this symbolism. A sword is a weapon, a symbol of authority and judgment, a means to defend and to destroy. According to Jesus, His sword is sharp, able to cut through any opposition. His sword has two equally sharp edges, suitable for any direction and any application. His sword emanates from His mouth. And therefore, His sword is the very word of God and wielding all the power of God. It is the weapon of God against which no foe, no argument, no compromise, and no false teaching can stand.
As Paul wrote in Ephesians 6:12, “Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” There is a power greater than that of any earthly governor. Jesus used the Word to resist the enemy and his temptations. And so should the church at Pergamum. There is no better way for Jesus to introduce Himself to a church compromising the truth of Scripture; or for Jesus to reveal Himself to us as we face trials of many kinds. No. From the outset of His letter Jesus told the Christians in Pergamum, as He tells all Christians: “The way to victory is through My word.”
13 I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Not only does Christ know our struggles and endeavours, He also knows our circumstances, “where they live”, in enemy territory where the ground is hard and the results seem poor.
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. He knows they live in a dangerous place. Up to this point they have held fast to His Name and kept the faith even through persecution. Failure to worship the Roman emperor as Dominus et Deus, as Lord and God, resulted in a charge of treason, imprisonment, and even death. This is what happened to Antipas a man who (seemingly) refused to compromise God’s truth.
When others may have dismissed the small Christian church in town, Satan takes notice and attempts to close its doors.. His first ploy was persecution; and when that failed—in the words of Jesus, “You did not renounce your faith in Me”—Satan used another method, namely, compromise. And throughout history, Satan has always been more effective in attacking the Christian Church from within than from without, with error instead of with persecution.
"What makes compromise so dangerous is the subtle way it approaches us. Compromise, by definition, doesn’t involve a wholesale capitulation to worldly ways or ideals; rather, it accommodates them. Most of us would recoil at the thought of tossing Jesus aside and embracing an idol, but compromise never asks us to do that. Compromise says that we can have the idol and keep Jesus, too. There’s room on the shelf for one more object of worship, right? And what’s the harm, since we still have Jesus, right?" (Got Questions)
This was happening to the church in Pergamum. “Nevertheless,” said Jesus, “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.
The Saviour’s reference to Balaam and Balak is from an account in the Old Testament Book of Numbers. Though Balaam was a prophet of God (and therefore a believer), he was a corrupt, greedy man hired by Balak, the king of Moab, to curse the Israelites. However, each time Balaam opened his mouth to curse, God turned his words into a blessing. So, Balaam suggested that Balak try another approach; that he use Moabite women to seduce Israelite men to sexual immorality, and then seduce them to idolatry.
And it worked; as we discover in Numbers 25: “While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down before these gods. So Israel joined in worshipping the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.” What cursing could not accomplish, compromise did. As a result of God’s fierce anger, some 24,000 Israelites died in a plague. And the moral of the story? Never believe that a “little compromise” of Scripture or godly behaviour is nothing to worry about. No big deal.”
Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.”
The growing problem in the Pergamum church was not only that some members were compromising Scripture, but that other members were tolerating it. “Nothing to worry about.” Paul warned the Corinthians that a “little yeast works through the whole batch” (1 Corinthians 5:6). “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols?”
When people start to get “itching ears” (2 Tim 4:3), they are taken away from the truth. Little by little we start to allow other teaching in and dilute the gospel and ruin our witness to Jesus as the way, the truth and the life. We say, “It’s only a little thing; it’s no big deal!” Before you know it, anything goes. Soon we’re no longer holding fast to His Name or keeping the faith. Less church and more world. Soon the enemy’s planes have flown under the radar and dropped their bombs.
This is a great danger to the church – false teaching and bible poverty. We may not want to talk about it, but Christ knows and because He loves the church, He insists we address the danger. “Who cares about a little sin, a little pornography, a little infidelity, a little false teaching, when we have so much forgiveness?” That’s a compromise of the truth. Who cares what you do in the privacy of your own home? Who cares what you do at work? What’s a little online porn between friends?!
With the comfort and the commendation and the criticism of Jesus then comes the command, “Repent therefore!” said Jesus. (Turn to me and be saved,
all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other). “Otherwise, I will soon come to you and fight against them with the sword of My mouth.” Said differently: “Change. Fix this, or I will.” And the way to defeat compromise or error of any type, in any Christian congregation or in any Christian life, is by wielding that sharp, doubled-edge sword of Jesus Christ, the word of God. The word will keep you safe and make you wise.
Finally, as with each of His letters to the seven churches, Jesus closed His letter to Pergamum with the promise of victory, saying, “To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it,” (Revelation 2:17). Manna refers to nourishment from heaven. A new name refers to a new identity. Whatever we give up in this life for the sake of Jesus, we know with absolute certainty that He will nourish us; that He will provide for us; that we will always belong to Him. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
The Psalmist reminds us of the uncompromising truth: Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 3That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers… (Psalm 1: 1-4)
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Lord, help us to hold fast to your Name and to keep and grow the faith you have gifted to us. May the Lord sustain our spirit in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
MFR 11/02/22