Pergamum: Compromise

Pergamum: Compromise
Rev 2:12-17 June 30, 2019
I. Introduction:
A. Compromise can be a very good thing when it comes to our differences in
relationships but compromise when it comes to the extreme differences between
Jesus and the world can contaminate our relationship with Jesus.
B. In this third church, Pergamum, there is pressure from both outside the church and
inside the church to compromise.
1. The great majority of this church remained faithful in a very difficult
satanically inspired culture, but there were some on the inside of the church
who thought that compromise was ok, something that could become a
stumbling block to this church!
C. As I read this passage so we can get a feel for them, watch for all of this. Read
Rev 2:12-17
• Let’s begin by looking at …
II. The outward pressure upon the church
A. This is the part that Jesus commends the church for. Let me reread this: v13.
B. Two times he refers to Satan in this verse. He says this city where they dwell, is
where Satan’s throne is, this is where Satan dwells.
1. And this church is commended by Jesus for their faithfulness to Him in the
midst of this very anti Jesus culture!
C. Why would Jesus say this city is where Satan’s throne is, where he dwells? Let’s
learn a little bit about Pergamum and we will not only see why He calls it that but
also understand the great pressure these Christians were under and the cost of
their faithfulness there.
1. Pergamum was a large city and was the political center of Asia Minor. It was
the Washington DC of Asia Minor!
2. One ancient writer said Pergamum was “given to idolatry more than all
Asia!” It had a series of pagan cults located there: Zeus, Athena, Dionysus,
Asclepius
3. They had a theater there that seated 10,000 people. The primary purpose of
the theater was to make the city’s views the people’s views. Sounds like
Hollywood doesn’t it?
a) This theater was dedicated to Dionysus, the god of wine and orgy, and
right next to the theater was the temple of Dionysus.
b) Before the shows people would go to the temple and drink all the free
wine they wanted.
c) Then they would go to the play which often were performed in the nude.
d) Then after the play they would binge and purge with raw meat until they
got in an ecstatic state then spend time with the temple prostitutes!
4. And lastly but not least, Pergamum was the center of emperor worship in
Asia Minor.
a) Pergamum may have been the first place to deify kings upon their death
and this practice so deeply impressed the Caesars of Rome that it led to
the deification of their Caesars upon their death!
b) And then Domitian, who was reigning at that time, was the first to start
the deification of Caesars while they were living.
c) Emperor worship was more intense in Pergamum than any of the other
surrounding cities. The surrounding cities were required to worship the
emperor just one time a year, but in Pergamum every day you had to
worship the emperor.
d) It was here it is believed that the practice began of burning incense to the
Caesar in order to be able to buy and sell in the market. It was so
pervasive that one could not buy or sell, get fire or water, or acquire meat
without declaring Caesar was god. To refuse could mean death to the
believer.
5. It appears this is what probably happened to Antipas who is referred to in v13
as God’s faithful witness who was killed there.
a) Tradition says Antipas was supposedly roasted alive in a hollow life-size
bull, which had a bonfire under its belly, because he refused to renounce
his faith in Christ Jesus.
D. This is the kind of external pressure that this church of believers lived under day
in and day out; and Jesus said they held fast to His name and did not deny the
faith even in the face of death!
• Since Satan could not get this church to go down from the outside pressure he
switched his schemes to
III. Inward pressure upon the church
A. Jesus is going to use the story of Balaam who could not put a curse upon Israel
from the outside, so he instructed Balak to put a stumbling block on Israel from
the inside by getting them involved in idol worship and immorality. Read v14
B. Now in verse 15 he says that in the “same way” the Nicolaitans are doing the
same, causing the church to stumble from the inside by getting them involved in
the local pagan culture of idolatry and immorality. Read v15
C. The Nicolaitans were believed to be characterized by two things:
1. First, synchronism – they felt that separation from pagan occult practices was
not essential. So they mixed together different belief systems and practiced
them as one!
2. False freedom - they were guilty of turning God’s liberty into license.
Reckless grace – they insinuated that freedom in Christ granted them a blank
check to sin.
3. So as a result of their beliefs and practices they were mixing in idol worship
with worship of the true God and the permission for immoral living which
often accompanied their idol worship.
4. They were people who compromised with both the pagan religions and
ungodly culture around them!
D. Note that it says “some” in v15. The great majority of this church was faithful to
Jesus in the midst of external and internal pressure to conform to this ungodly and
immoral culture.
1. But there were some who were holding onto the teachings of these
Nicolaitans.
E. It appears that the problem with this church is that they welcomed them into their
church where they could influence other believers and now that they were there
they were not dealing with them. Jesus called the church to repent, wake up to
what is going on in your church and deal with this internal cancer or I will come
myself and deal with it! Read v16
F. And in v17 he states the reward that is theirs if they do deal with it!
1. It appears that the hidden manna refers to Christ as the bread of heaven to
nourish and strengthen their souls in the midst of this tough days
2. The white stone with a new name written on it refers to the future kingdom
when Jesus will give them a name that is reflective of their unique character
• So
IV. What does this letter have to say to us?
A. We live in a time:
1. A time when our culture is very ungodly and immoral! Yes, under the
influence of Satan as he is called “the god of this world.”
a) There are all kinds of false religions, cults and eastern religions right
here on our doorsteps.
b) And as Ben Carson says “we’ve distorted things to the point where
people believe that anyone who opposes mothers killing their babies is
waging war on women. How can we be so foolish to believe such a
thing? One must be able to recognize the depravity to which we have
sunken as a society when valuing a baby’s life is frowned upon!”
(1) And there are few states that buy into this deeper than the one we
live in.
2. A time where even in the church some who mix together biblical Christianity
with new age beliefs and practices and even some with ideas from eastern
religions.
3. A time where many Christians think it is no big deal to be involved in
premarital sex or live together – I mean “everybody is doing it aren’t they –
what is the big deal?
a) They are right – in our culture and through fleshly eyes it is no big deal!
b) But in God’s eyes sin, any sin, was a big enough deal to send his own
son to a bloody and torturous cross. A big enough deal for someone to
spend an eternity in the lake of fire.
c) It is true – as high as the heavens are above the earth so are God’s
thoughts above ours!
4. A time where many churches are buying into, accepting and even promoting
some of the immoral sexual practices of our culture. Where other churches
say to churches like MVC that “we are unloving and un-Christ-like if we do
not agree with and accept the life style of the LGBTQ community!”
a) Like Jesus said to Ephesus we must be a church that holds to the tension
of love and truth without sacrificing either one!
5. Need I say more? – We live in a time that is much like the time when the
church in Pergamum lived! The only difference is that at this time we are not
under the pressure and persecution that they were for not submitting to the
ways of the pagan culture.
6. I think we are more deceived into compromise than pressured into it!
B. Satan is the god of this world!
1. The world has its own program/system. This system has its own ways,
pattern or mold, basic principles, standards, philosophy, wisdom, viewpoint
and loves.
2. It is a system which is programmed to constantly put pressure on people to
squeeze them into its mold.
3. Satan is the personal agent behind our external enemy called the world which
has all the goodies that attract our internal enemy our flesh!
C. In closing I want to ask you the questions I saw in an article I read:
1. Can you think of any area of your life where you have allowed yourself to be
compromised by the world? If so, can you see where that compromise has
hindered the power of God from operating in your life?
D. Pray