Revelation 2:12-17
Have you ever had a job performance review with your boss or supervisor? In my past that always happened in private, just between me and my employer. So I am assuming that’s the way it usually is. Now, you may really like the idea of sitting in on someone else’s review to see how they are doing and if the boss gets it right and thinks of them in the same way you do. But how would you like it if everybody else you worked with got to hear what the boss really thinks of you?
As Kathy and I were praying for our missionaries last week we realized that our missionaries have to give regular reports to their supporting churches every time they come home on furlough. Even in our own business meetings, the various committees report on their activities. I submit the pastor’s report. So what would happen if everybody had to submit a report? Do you see yourself as a servant of God? If so, what would be in your report? What have you really been doing to serve the Lord and what kind of results are you getting for your efforts. We are all missionaries, so what would it be like for you if you had to give a regular progress report? You might think, that’s just between me and God. But should it be?
As we begin today I want you to look at the front cover of the bulletin. You may have already noticed that it is a map of an area in Asia Minor, labeled with the names of the seven churches in their locations at the time of the writing of the book of Revelation. There’s also a label for the tiny island of Patmos, where the letter, the Book of Revelation written by John, came from. I put a circle around Ephesus, a box around Smyrna, and now we are in the Pergamum parallelogram. If we were playing connect the dots, we would continue around in a clockwise direction to make a complete circuit of the rest of the churches Jesus wrote to in Revelation. And that’s the order in which the letters to the churches are lined up in our book of Revelation.
Now do you remember that I said these letters to the churches are like Jesus giving a performance review of each church? I want you to realize that all the churches read all the performance reviews, not just their own but everybody else’s too. Jesus has this philosophy that everybody in his body should know everything about all the parts of the body. He is not so big on privacy is he? But that’s because we are all one in him. We all have different gifts to bring to the work, but also different strengths and weaknesses. We actually need to help and encourage each other.
During our navigate journey we will be working with three other churches who are on the path with us. So we will have opportunities to see how the other three churches are doing too. And they will know how we are doing. The four churches will share regular progress reports with each other. I see that as a very good and inspiring thing. We actually need to help and encourage each other. Early in Covenant history, our forefather in the faith used to ask each other, “How is it going with your soul?” And they expected an honest answer.
We all need each other, and therefore we all need to know how each other is doing so that we have opportunities to encourage each other and as it says in Hebrews 10:23-25, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
The church at Pergamum really needed courage. Jesus understands that. He started out their performance review with these words, “These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 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.”
The sharp double edged sword was the representation of judgment. The Romans ruled by the sword, and Antipas, the martyr mentioned in this paragraph, probably died on a Roman sword. So for Jesus to claim that He has the sharp double edged sword is for him to claim that he bears the ultimate authority as judge over all the world. Those who die as faithful witnesses, will be vindicated at the last day, if not before.
Jesus said he knows where they live, where satan has his throne. That is to say he knows they are on a hard battlefield, right under the nose of their greatest enemy. No wonder they are in mortal danger of becoming martyrs for the faith. And now he commends them for keeping the faith even in the face of such hard persecution. Besides the figurative meaning for the throne of satan, there really was a huge throne like altar to the pagan god Zeus in Pergamum. The cult religion was big business and the religious guilds were working there too just as in Smyrna that we mentioned last week.
In spite of the difficulty and the persecution, these Christians have been strong. They did not renounce the faith, not even when the threat of death arose. So looking again at the ten health missional markers, I would say that the Pergamum church was strong in having a life changing walk with the Lord Jesus.
But apparently not all of them. Jesus says, “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. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.” We first heard about the Nicolaitans when we looked at Ephesus. But in Ephesus the Church hated the practices of the Nicolaitans.
Here in Pergamum it went the other way. Some of the Christians have given in to the pressure. That would mean they have grown weak in the centrality of the Word of God. Perhaps they also lacked a culture of godly leadership and fruitful organization structures that could have kept them from bowing to the cultural pressure that led them to compromise on their faith.
With Jesus’ reference to Balak and Balaam, Jesus helps us understand what the Nicolaitans were doing. They were leading the Christians to compromise with the world around them. They were teaching that you could fit in with society and indulge in the evil practices of the pagan worship, which often included sexual immorality, and yet still claim to be Christians!
The story of Balak and Balaam is in the Old Testament in Numbers 22. Balak was a King who was afraid of the Israelite invasion led by Moses. He hired Balaam, a supposed prophet, to curse the Israelites but God wouldn’t let Balaam curse the Israelites. Instead he blessed them with powerful words of affirmation. This made Balak, the king who hired Balaam, very upset. But Balaam got out of the trouble he was in by telling Balak how he could get God to curse the Israelites. Just get the Israelites to sin with the woman of Moab and they would get themselves into trouble with God. And that’s what they did. They enticed the Israelites to sin and in Numbers 25 we read that 24,000 Israelites died under God’s judgment. This didn’t completely overturn God’s plan. The Israelites still got into the land of Canaan 40 years later. But they paid dearly for their sins.
Now Jesus is saying that the Nicolaitans were doing the same kind of thing in Pergamum. What this tells us is that we also have to be careful about the temptations in the world around us. We are under a lot of pressure today, being enticed to see things the way the world does. We hear that Jesus is love, that he forgives sins and that we shouldn’t judge anybody for what they think is ok for them to do. In this way there is very little regard for God’s will and wisdom. People are doing whatever is right in their own eyes.
But the Bible itself clearly teaches that God will judge sin and will judge sinners if they do not repent and obey the commandments according to the Spirit. That is why Jesus issues the warning, “Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” A fight means there is a sharp disagreement between the way those Nicolaitans were living and the way God wants Christians to live.
So, is there a sharp disagreement between you and God? Are you living according to the wisdom of the Bible that brings blessing? Or are you doing what you want in a way that doesn’t care about what God wants for you? If you were required to submit a report of your daily activities, how much of what you submit would show that you are serving God and how much would show that you are still being selfish?
If there is much selfishness, repent! Repent means to stop disagreeing with God. Believe what he says about sin and salvation. Believe what God says about the dangers we face if we are not found in Christ. Believe what God says about the way to really live! Believe that God says these things because he loves you and as the creator he really does know what is best for you.
The good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is the promise of a new and more meaningful life that we begin to live in him starting the day we first believe it. People who become believers should also become disciples of Jesus Christ. The great commission says that the church is to go and make disciples of Christ, not just church members. We are on a journey to learn to live like Jesus. The rewards are great. And as we have seen in Pergamum, the challenges are also great. But it is worth it.
Jesus says, “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.” The hidden manna is the growing relationship with Jesus Christ himself who is the bread of life. The new name is all about how much we change when we become new persons through faith in Jesus Christ. The true convert does not receive the gospel as an add-on to his previous life. It is more like a complete exchange for it. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
In India, when a Hindu becomes a Christian, they literally take on a new Christian name as part of the process of totally renouncing the old pagan way of life that they must leave behind in order to follow Christ. When they are baptized, the pastor asks this question, and we do well to ask ourselves the same, "In sufferings, persecutions and even unto death will you stay with Christ?"
Today we are going to baptize one of our students. Soon we will move the whole service over to the lake shore where I will enjoy the immense privilege and joy of baptizing one of our young students. The meaning of baptism, is the obedience to Christ’s call to live for him, as a disciple who will be obedient to all the teaching. Jesus said that the Christian church is to “go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Another meaning of baptism is the picture and symbol of the death and resurrection of Jesus and of every believer who follows him in faith. Romans 6:1-4 says, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
This new life will be lived in the community of Christ, the fellowship of believers. We are all in it together to encourage and strengthen one another so that on the day of judgement we all get a better performance review. It starts with faith in Jesus. The world wants the gospel to be, “Just do your best and you will be all right.” But the real gospel is, “You cannot save yourself, but I love you so much I will be your Savior.” Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Then be his disciple, receive instruction in the Word to learn to obey all that he has commanded, as a child of God you will want to, and as you grow in spiritual maturity, you will become a blessing to all people. Let’s do this because we love him who saved us! Amen!
Have you ever had a job performance review with your boss or supervisor? In my past that always happened in private, just between me and my employer. So I am assuming that’s the way it usually is. Now, you may really like the idea of sitting in on someone else’s review to see how they are doing and if the boss gets it right and thinks of them in the same way you do. But how would you like it if everybody else you worked with got to hear what the boss really thinks of you?
As Kathy and I were praying for our missionaries last week we realized that our missionaries have to give regular reports to their supporting churches every time they come home on furlough. Even in our own business meetings, the various committees report on their activities. I submit the pastor’s report. So what would happen if everybody had to submit a report? Do you see yourself as a servant of God? If so, what would be in your report? What have you really been doing to serve the Lord and what kind of results are you getting for your efforts. We are all missionaries, so what would it be like for you if you had to give a regular progress report? You might think, that’s just between me and God. But should it be?
As we begin today I want you to look at the front cover of the bulletin. You may have already noticed that it is a map of an area in Asia Minor, labeled with the names of the seven churches in their locations at the time of the writing of the book of Revelation. There’s also a label for the tiny island of Patmos, where the letter, the Book of Revelation written by John, came from. I put a circle around Ephesus, a box around Smyrna, and now we are in the Pergamum parallelogram. If we were playing connect the dots, we would continue around in a clockwise direction to make a complete circuit of the rest of the churches Jesus wrote to in Revelation. And that’s the order in which the letters to the churches are lined up in our book of Revelation.
Now do you remember that I said these letters to the churches are like Jesus giving a performance review of each church? I want you to realize that all the churches read all the performance reviews, not just their own but everybody else’s too. Jesus has this philosophy that everybody in his body should know everything about all the parts of the body. He is not so big on privacy is he? But that’s because we are all one in him. We all have different gifts to bring to the work, but also different strengths and weaknesses. We actually need to help and encourage each other.
During our navigate journey we will be working with three other churches who are on the path with us. So we will have opportunities to see how the other three churches are doing too. And they will know how we are doing. The four churches will share regular progress reports with each other. I see that as a very good and inspiring thing. We actually need to help and encourage each other. Early in Covenant history, our forefather in the faith used to ask each other, “How is it going with your soul?” And they expected an honest answer.
We all need each other, and therefore we all need to know how each other is doing so that we have opportunities to encourage each other and as it says in Hebrews 10:23-25, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
The church at Pergamum really needed courage. Jesus understands that. He started out their performance review with these words, “These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. 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.”
The sharp double edged sword was the representation of judgment. The Romans ruled by the sword, and Antipas, the martyr mentioned in this paragraph, probably died on a Roman sword. So for Jesus to claim that He has the sharp double edged sword is for him to claim that he bears the ultimate authority as judge over all the world. Those who die as faithful witnesses, will be vindicated at the last day, if not before.
Jesus said he knows where they live, where satan has his throne. That is to say he knows they are on a hard battlefield, right under the nose of their greatest enemy. No wonder they are in mortal danger of becoming martyrs for the faith. And now he commends them for keeping the faith even in the face of such hard persecution. Besides the figurative meaning for the throne of satan, there really was a huge throne like altar to the pagan god Zeus in Pergamum. The cult religion was big business and the religious guilds were working there too just as in Smyrna that we mentioned last week.
In spite of the difficulty and the persecution, these Christians have been strong. They did not renounce the faith, not even when the threat of death arose. So looking again at the ten health missional markers, I would say that the Pergamum church was strong in having a life changing walk with the Lord Jesus.
But apparently not all of them. Jesus says, “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. Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.” We first heard about the Nicolaitans when we looked at Ephesus. But in Ephesus the Church hated the practices of the Nicolaitans.
Here in Pergamum it went the other way. Some of the Christians have given in to the pressure. That would mean they have grown weak in the centrality of the Word of God. Perhaps they also lacked a culture of godly leadership and fruitful organization structures that could have kept them from bowing to the cultural pressure that led them to compromise on their faith.
With Jesus’ reference to Balak and Balaam, Jesus helps us understand what the Nicolaitans were doing. They were leading the Christians to compromise with the world around them. They were teaching that you could fit in with society and indulge in the evil practices of the pagan worship, which often included sexual immorality, and yet still claim to be Christians!
The story of Balak and Balaam is in the Old Testament in Numbers 22. Balak was a King who was afraid of the Israelite invasion led by Moses. He hired Balaam, a supposed prophet, to curse the Israelites but God wouldn’t let Balaam curse the Israelites. Instead he blessed them with powerful words of affirmation. This made Balak, the king who hired Balaam, very upset. But Balaam got out of the trouble he was in by telling Balak how he could get God to curse the Israelites. Just get the Israelites to sin with the woman of Moab and they would get themselves into trouble with God. And that’s what they did. They enticed the Israelites to sin and in Numbers 25 we read that 24,000 Israelites died under God’s judgment. This didn’t completely overturn God’s plan. The Israelites still got into the land of Canaan 40 years later. But they paid dearly for their sins.
Now Jesus is saying that the Nicolaitans were doing the same kind of thing in Pergamum. What this tells us is that we also have to be careful about the temptations in the world around us. We are under a lot of pressure today, being enticed to see things the way the world does. We hear that Jesus is love, that he forgives sins and that we shouldn’t judge anybody for what they think is ok for them to do. In this way there is very little regard for God’s will and wisdom. People are doing whatever is right in their own eyes.
But the Bible itself clearly teaches that God will judge sin and will judge sinners if they do not repent and obey the commandments according to the Spirit. That is why Jesus issues the warning, “Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” A fight means there is a sharp disagreement between the way those Nicolaitans were living and the way God wants Christians to live.
So, is there a sharp disagreement between you and God? Are you living according to the wisdom of the Bible that brings blessing? Or are you doing what you want in a way that doesn’t care about what God wants for you? If you were required to submit a report of your daily activities, how much of what you submit would show that you are serving God and how much would show that you are still being selfish?
If there is much selfishness, repent! Repent means to stop disagreeing with God. Believe what he says about sin and salvation. Believe what God says about the dangers we face if we are not found in Christ. Believe what God says about the way to really live! Believe that God says these things because he loves you and as the creator he really does know what is best for you.
The good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is the promise of a new and more meaningful life that we begin to live in him starting the day we first believe it. People who become believers should also become disciples of Jesus Christ. The great commission says that the church is to go and make disciples of Christ, not just church members. We are on a journey to learn to live like Jesus. The rewards are great. And as we have seen in Pergamum, the challenges are also great. But it is worth it.
Jesus says, “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.” The hidden manna is the growing relationship with Jesus Christ himself who is the bread of life. The new name is all about how much we change when we become new persons through faith in Jesus Christ. The true convert does not receive the gospel as an add-on to his previous life. It is more like a complete exchange for it. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
In India, when a Hindu becomes a Christian, they literally take on a new Christian name as part of the process of totally renouncing the old pagan way of life that they must leave behind in order to follow Christ. When they are baptized, the pastor asks this question, and we do well to ask ourselves the same, "In sufferings, persecutions and even unto death will you stay with Christ?"
Today we are going to baptize one of our students. Soon we will move the whole service over to the lake shore where I will enjoy the immense privilege and joy of baptizing one of our young students. The meaning of baptism, is the obedience to Christ’s call to live for him, as a disciple who will be obedient to all the teaching. Jesus said that the Christian church is to “go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Another meaning of baptism is the picture and symbol of the death and resurrection of Jesus and of every believer who follows him in faith. Romans 6:1-4 says, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”
This new life will be lived in the community of Christ, the fellowship of believers. We are all in it together to encourage and strengthen one another so that on the day of judgement we all get a better performance review. It starts with faith in Jesus. The world wants the gospel to be, “Just do your best and you will be all right.” But the real gospel is, “You cannot save yourself, but I love you so much I will be your Savior.” Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Then be his disciple, receive instruction in the Word to learn to obey all that he has commanded, as a child of God you will want to, and as you grow in spiritual maturity, you will become a blessing to all people. Let’s do this because we love him who saved us! Amen!
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