The Worldly Church

It is a greater enemy, because it has greater power over Christians by its favours, riches, honours, rewards, and protection than it had by the fire and fury of its persecutors.

It is a more dangerous enemy, by having lost its appearance of enmity. Its outward profession of Christianity makes it no longer considered as an enemy, and therefore the people are easily persuaded to resign themselves up to be governed and directed by it.

—Robert H. Lauer

Truthfully, this next letter ought to tear at our hearts and convict our souls.

For all who hear it, it ought to lead to sweeping revival across our nation.

These letters, these churches get progressively worse…

But I do think that too many of our local churches are living here.

Here in the greatest danger to the church…worldliness.

Pergamum is, the worldly church.

Revelation 2:12-17.

Revelation 2:12–17 ESV

12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. 13 “ ‘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. 14 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 practice sexual immorality. 15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. 16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’

In an examination of the church at Pergamum, we are going to see that Pergamum is a worldly church.

According to John MacArthur, “Worldliness is any preoccupation with or interest in the temporal system of life that places perishable before that which is eternal.”

In a similar way, Jerry Bridges defines it this way…”Worldliness is being attached to, engrossed in, or preoccupied with the things of this temporal life.”

Worldliness is a spirit, a temperament, an attitude of the soul. It is a life without high callings, life devoid of lofty ideals. It is a gaze always horizontal and never vertical. John Jowett

Worldliness is whatever makes sin look normal and righteousness look strange. Kevin DeYoung

Essentially is this…

Living, thinking, and acting like the world

Adopting and believing the world’s philosophies, desires, passions, and ideas.

Loving the world more than loving God.

Things that in and of themselves may not even be sinful, but they become sinful when we become preoccupied with them over God.

Church, I fear how much of the church today may well be characterized by worldliness.

For this reason, I plead with us to have ears to ear today what God says to the church at Pergamum

PRAY

Body

Big Idea: When righteousness looks strange to us, worldliness has invaded and we must the warning to repent.

I want you to notice how Christ introduces himself to the church at Pergamum…

The Correspondent

Revelation 2:12 ESV

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

How might you interpret that introduction? Why do you think he introduced himself that way?

The words of him who has the two edged sword….

This is the first NEGATIVE introduction to a church.

For indeed, this is NOT a positive one.

In the description of Jesus’ second coming in Revelation 19:15 we understand that this sword is one that brings judgment.

Revelation 19:15 ESV

15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

The church at Pergamum was the worldly church.

They were ONE STEP AWAY from compromising with the world and forsaking the Lord altogether, and thus invoking his wrath.

Some in the church have already made that leap…

Others have remained faithful

This introduction is a warning and an admonishment. The church was in trouble and God, in his love and holiness, was warning them of what was to come

The Church

Again, like Smyrna, we do not have a written record in scripture about the founding of the church at Pergamum.

According to Acts 16:7-8, Paul did pass through Mysia (the region where Pergamum is located) on his second missionary journey.

No record exists of taking time to visit or preach the gospel at this time.

However, he later circles back, ends up in Ephesus and in Acts 19:10, we are told that the gospel went forth from here into all Asia.

It is likely/probable that the church was founded during this time.

Because the church was surrounded by the pagan culture, including that of the emperor worship, it was continually exposed to worldly allurements and the sinful enticements of the world.

Though persecution is not mentioned, it is likely that those faithful to the truth also felt the sting of persecution.

The City

Located about two miles inland from the Aegean Sea

Located about 100 miles north of Ephesus with Smyrna about half way in between.

Was not a port city OR on any major trade route

Was Asia’s capital..and had been for nearly 250 years. It was Asia’s greatest and most distinguished city.

Built on a large hill, 1000 feet above a plain below.

So impressive was the city that famed archeologist Sir William Ramsay said…

“Beyond all other sites in Asia Minor it gives the traveler the impression of a royal city, the home of authority: the rocky hill on which it stands is so huge, and dominates the broad plain of the Caicus [River valley] so proudly and boldly”

(The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia (Albany, Oreg.: AGES Software; reprint of the 1904 edition], 226).11 John F. MacArthur Jr., Revelation 1–11, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 84.

The city had a large deity base with many temples, a university, and a 200,000 volume library.

Among the gods worshipped were Athena, Asklepios, Demeter, Dionysos, and Zeus.

BUT over all of these, like Smyrna, emperor worship was highest. They built the first ever temple to emperor worship in 29BC in honor of Augustus. Later temples were built for emperors Trajan and Septimus Severus.

The cities most important export was parchment.

This is the city from which animal-skin based writing material derived its name.

It also happened to the site where Satan had his throne. (Revelation 2:13)

The Commendation

Revelation 2:13.

Revelation 2:13 ESV

13 “ ‘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.

I know where you Dwell, where Satan’s Throne is

Where Satan dwells.

Much speculation has been made trying to discern what this means…none of it definitive.

Some think that it was the altar of Zeus that was dominate in Pergamum’s acropolis.

To call it an altar was probably misleading. More like shrine.

It was actually a horseshoe shape court that measures 120 by 112 feet with high colonades

The podium of the altar stood 18ft in height

The great frieze (See pic), which ran at the base of the structure for 446ft depicted a gigantomachy, that is a Greek myth about a great battle between the gods and giants.

It was considered one of the greatest of Hellenistic artwork.

Others thing that Satan’s throne was connected to Pergamum’s worship of Askelpios.

He was the god of healing.

People would come from all over the world hoping to be healed by him.

He was depicted as a snake.

Nonpoisonous snakes roamed freely in the temple.

People would lay/sleep on the temple floors hoping to be touched by one of the snakes and thus healed.

This association with snakes has led some to believe that this was the throne of Satan, since he was likewise associated with a serpent.

Others point out that since Pergamum was also deeply steeped and entrenched in emperor worship and Rome was truly a mighty and powerful nation, Satan’s throne could simply refer to Rome as an instrument of Satan’s rule and authority on earth.

Truth is, we are not certain what the expression means or to what it is referring.

However, whatever it refers to, we can know this…Satan’s power and influence was certainly REAL, tangible, and POWERFUL at Pergamum. For it to be called the throne of Satan, the adversary wielded a great deal of power and influence from here.

Thus, the church at Pergamum certainly had a great deal of challenges to face.

Challenges, that (as we will see) they were not doing incredibly well at.

BUT, for all this…(At least some of the church) had something good going for them.

You Hold Fast/Do Not Deny My Name or My Faith

You hold fast my name….and did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was killed among you.

They did not deny His name.

What are some of the names of God?

What does it mean to deny the name of God?

To deny his name, is to deny his salvation.

To deny his name, is to deny his glory, his worth.

To deny his name, is to deny his might

To deny his love, care, grace, mercy.

To deny his name, is to deny is identity, his person, his being.

It is to deny Him.

They did not deny the faith.

Jude 3-4.

Jude 3–4 ESV

3 Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. 4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Jude writes to the church to remind them to FIGHT FOR THE FAITH against false teachers and false doctrine that had been infiltrating the church…including one of Balaam, which we will consider in a few moments, for it also affected the church at Pergamum

His point was this…our faith is one we must FIGHT for, content for.

It has enemies. Our adversary, our flesh, and the world pit themselves against our faith, to pervert, twist, distort, and destroy it. They will seek to deny Christ, to reject him in favor of promoting the passions of the flesh.

Jude says, in the last times, there will be those who follow the passions of the flesh, ungodly passions and who desire that more than faith and obedience to Christ.

He is urging them to FIGHT for and CONTENT for the faith, to not easily abandon it and be deceived by the false doctrines and the worldliness being flaunted all around them.

To deny the faith is to NO LONGER contend for, defend, and stand upon the Word, but to choose to run after the passions of the flesh instead

To be deceived by the philosophies of the world.

The church at Pergamum, however, did not deny the faith…at least not all of them.

SOME OF THEM were. That is the rebuke he will get to.

LET ME CLARIFY….

THERE ARE SOME who did not deny His name

There are some who did not deny the faith

SOME WERE.

BUT for those faithful ones…

He urges them to stand fast.

Hold Fast

To accomplish something by overcoming obstacles

To adhere to strongly

To cause a condition to continue

They clung to Jesus name…

They would not deny Jesus.

They would not denounce him.

EVEN in the days of Antipas, who was killed for his faithful witness.

Antipas

Little is known about him.

But he was clearly a martyr for the sake of the gospel

Tradition has it that he was roasted alive inside a brass bull when persecution by emperor Domitian broke out

His refusal to worship the emperor or recant led to his martyrdom

Clearly, Pergamum also was facing persecution though it was not explicitly stated in this letter.

Despite this….

The commendation is that many STILL REMAINED FAITHFUL to Christ.

They HELD FAST to his word. They HELD FAST to Christ. They remained faithful.

Fearlessly faithful

Until they weren’t….

The Concern

Revelation 2:14-15.

Revelation 2:14–15 ESV

14 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 practice sexual immorality. 15 So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

While some remained faithful to the name of Christ…

Some also denied the name of Christ in another respect through their worldly behavior.

The those who did remain faithful, tolerated those who did not and did not call them out on their sin.

Those who had not held fast…

..had been compromised by two specific individuals and the teaching/lifestyle that they purported.

Balaam

The account of Balaam is found in Numbers 22:1-25:9; Numbers 31:16-18

Balak the King of the Moabites wanted Balaam to curse Israel so that he could defeat them in battle. Their size and number scared him and word of their acts against other nations had reached him. He feared Israel.

God, however, would not let Balaam curse Israel. God would not even let Balaam go to Balak, at first. When he did let him go, he told him to say ONLY what He instructed him to say.

Three times, Balak tried to get Balaam to curse Israel and all three times, Balaam blesses Israel instead.

Unfortunately, despite that…

According to Numbers 22:1-9, Israel whored themselves after the pagan daughter/women of Moab. They ran after them, having sex with them, marrying them, and thus ended up in the idol worship of Moab.

They ran after the Moabite god, Baal, yoking themselves to Him. They fell into sexual immorality and idolatry.

Worship of Baal was associated with Ashterath, the goddess of sex and war.

In the Caananite Pantheon, he became the god of fertility. Thus, worship of Baal was often associated with sexual immorality as part of the worship.

Before the Gentiles came to salvation, idols and sexual immorality was accepted and a normal part of life.

According to Acts 15:22-29, the apostles instructed them to reject that lifestyle and walk in holiness. They were to abstain from sexual immorality AND food offered to idols.

Jude 11 references back to Balaam’s error. Though Balaam could not curse Israel because God forbade it, he found a way to still give Balak what he wanted.

Balaam encouraged Balak to give his women to them in marriage, to befriend, and intermingle with them. In so doing, he would be able to corrupt their hearts and move them away from God and God’s blessing and protection.

Balaam’s plan succeeded, though not to the extent that he had hoped. God intervened and severely chastened Israel, executing twenty-four thousand (Num. 25:9), including many of the leaders (Num. 25:4–5). That drastic action halted the Israelites’ slide into immorality and idolatry.

11 John F. MacArthur Jr., Revelation 1–11, MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago: Moody Press, 1999), 88.

Jude was writing about a problem them church had, and in so doing, he references back to what Balaam did here.

Certain people had infiltrated the church who were perverting the grace of God and twisting it to give license to indulge in sexual immorality…of course, denying Christ in the process.

Jude compares these people to that of Sodom and Gomorrah and their evil wickedness.

These people, by their actions, denied God, blasphemed against him, and walk in the way of Cain.

Jude references their “love feasts” which implies the sexual immorality of Balaam and the passions of the flesh of Cain.

The sins were sexual and immoral in nature; lasciviousness.

They will be judged if they did not repent of their sins.

This same error of Balaam is said to be polluting the church at Pergamum.

AND it is polluting our churches today.

Though the name of Balaam and his error may not be used today, how might the idea of his teaching still be reflected in our culture and in our churches today?

Today…similar teachings or ideals that would relate to Balaam might include…

The most obvious application of this is seen in…

Justifying of a believer marrying an unbeliever despite God’s prohibition. (2 Cor 6:14)

However, it is more likely illustrated in the “little” compromises/slides to lead to relationships/sins that deviate from God’s good and perfect plan.

Though we might acknowledge the wrongness of porn, the “soft porn” of our culture gets a free pass.

Swim suits

Underwear models

Tight, revealing clothing

ALL justified and excused by many with in the church AS THEIR RIGHT and no one has the right to impose their standard

Even going so far to say that if someone has a struggle with how they dress, it is THE OTHER PERSONS problem and not theirs.

In some cases, even Christians find ways to justify more explicit material.

Perhaps even to the point of justified use of porn between a husband and wife or by a man when away from his wife.

Sex before marriage…you gotta try the good first to know if you are compatible.

Justification of masturbation

The acceptance of same sex relationships.

Explicit nature of sex and sensuality in TV and ads

Justifying of a believer marrying an unbeliever despite God’s prohibition.

Church, will we go above and beyond to ensure that our standards please God, protect others, build up the body, and faithfully display the gospel?

10,000 Sermon Illustrations May I Do So and So?

The course of rebellion against God may be very gradual, but it increases in rapidity as you progress in it; and if you begin to run down the hill, the ever-increasing impetus will send you down faster and faster to destruction. You Christians ought to watch against the beginning of worldly conformity. I do believe that the growth of worldliness is like strife, which is as the letting out of water. Once you begin, there is no knowing where you will stop.

I sometimes get this question put to me, concerning certain worldly amusements, “May I do so-and-so?” I am very sorry whenever anyone asks me that question, because it shows that there is something wrong, or it would not be raised at all. If a person’s conscience lets him say, “Well, I can go to A,” he will very soon go on to B, C, D, E, and through all the letters of the alphabet…

When Satan cannot catch us with a big sin, he will try a little one. It does not matter to him as long as he catches his fish, what bait he uses. Beware of the beginning of evil, for many, who bade fair to go right, have turned aside and perished amongst the dark mountains in the wide field of sin.

C. H. Spurgeon

Often we are asking the wrong questions…and instead of waging war, we are walking the line of sin and not sin…trying to enjoy as much of the world as we can without it actually being sin…

All the while drifting so far from God that intimacy with God is a thing not even remotely considered.

We are playing with worldliness.

Someone who refuses to elevate their standards to please God, to walk worthy of him, and to live in sensitivity to others, who insists on their own freedoms and rights, is someone who is not godly, not mature, and who is steeped in worldly philosophies and thinking.

Nicolaitans

Potentially linked back to one Nicolas who was selected as one of the first deacons in the early church.

Whether he went apostate and began teaching false things or one of his followers did, the Nicolaitans nevertheless went apostate and began teaching unbiblical things.

Their deeds involved sensual temptations that led to sexual immorality, eating things sacrificed to idols without regard for the offense that it caused to some others.

All of this in the guise of Christian liberty and freedom.

It seems that they were an extreme form of Christian liberty which was really nothing more than an ethical and spiritual compromise with heathenism.

They basically lived with an unrestrained indulgence of whatever it was that they set their heart too.

Some have pointed out that this teaching was rooted in the belief that the flesh wasn’t real, therefore whatever you did with your body did not matter and was not sin.

A clear departure from truth, for sure, but a very real and present danger in the early church. One that was clearly causing compromise and corruption in the church.

Point is….DESPITE some in the church HOLDING FAST to the name of Christ, despite some refusing to deny their faith and yield to the demands of the pagan culture…

Some had embraced the pagan culture through their worldly ways.

And those who held fast…were not dealing with it.

Pergamum was the worldly church….

“Worldliness is any preoccupation with or interest in the temporal system of life that places perishable before that which is eternal.”

“Worldliness is being attached to, engrossed in, or preoccupied with the things of this temporal life.”

Living, thinking, and acting like the world

Adopting and believing the world’s philosophies, desires, passions, and ideas.

Loving the world more than loving God.

Worldliness is a spirit, a temperament, an attitude of the soul. It is a life without high callings, life devoid of lofty ideals. It is a gaze always horizontal and never vertical.

Worldliness is whatever makes sin look normal and righteousness look strange.

A worldly church is one with its sights NOT set on heaven, on eternity, on God.

A worldly church is one who has grown too comfortable and complacent in this temporal world.

A worldly church is one who has failed to discern worldly, manmade philosophies from that of truth and scripture and who have been led astray.

Worldliness is not a matter of engaging in those practices that some question. It is unthinkingly adopting the perspectives, values and attitudes of our culture, without bringing them under the judgment of God’s Word. It is carrying on in our lives as if we did not know Jesus. Lawrence Richards

It is not weighing all truth by the authority of the living word of God.

What are some cultural perspectives and values of our day that the church is guilty of adopting and accepting?

Culture perspectives and values that the church is adopting

Alcoholism is a disease (that one has no control over)

We are born homosexual, it is in our DNA

THUS Same sex relationships are acceptable as long as they are faithful and monogamous

A rearranging of the roles that God has ordained (Women lead the home and/or the church instead of submitting to the design God had determined)

What we really need is better self-esteem

We just really need to learn to forgive ourselves

Confronting sin in love is judgmental and we have no right to do toward one another.

Tolerance means accepting people’s choices even if God declares them sinful.

We can’t control who we “fall in love with”

Self-care/self-needs

Worldliness in the church exhibits itself through the “Respectable sins” that we never address…

Ungodliness

Anxiety

Frustration (which is really another way of saying anger.)

Discontentment

Unthankfulness (complaining)

Pride

Selfishness (Inconsiderateness)

Lack of Self-Control

Impatience

Irritability

Anger

Judgmentalism (Which is different than confronting sin in love)

Envy

Jealousy

Gossip and other sins of the tongue

The ways in which we not only exhibit but excuse these sins is startling to say the least.

And then we wonder why the church is no longer moving the world.

Worldliness in the church is the number one enemy, and that comes in when we have unspiritual people, and we have unspiritual people too often because they are nominal Christians.

They have the language, they have the outward, but they don’t have the power. So, Paul’s words: “The kingdom of God is not in word but in power.” That whole school of Edwards and Alexander and so on — they believed in the power of religion.

You know, men candidating for the ministry, and the minister saying, “Can he pray down the Holy Spirit?” Imagine that question today. Can a man pray down the Holy Spirit?

It’s not perhaps exactly the sentence we would say is completely correct, but you know what they meant… When those men prayed, the Holy Spirit did come down. Iain Murray in a 9Marks interview with Mark Dever.

The Command

Revelation 2:16.

Revelation 2:16 ESV

16 Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.

Repent

A change of mind that results in a change of behavior.

Repent…or I will come and war against you with the sword of my mouth.

This vision, this depiction of Christ to the church at Pergamum is a threatening one…not a comforting one.

The only rightful and true response to our sin, is repentance.

Church, this is a call for us to NOT play with sin. To NOT tinker with it, seeing how close to the line of sin we can get before we cross over into it.

It is putting as much distance between it and us as possible and never looking back.

Church, our hearts should be sickened by sin.

OURS

and others.

BUT firstly, ours.

Church, our hearts should be broken over the nature of sin within God’s church.

The true man of God is heartsick, grieved at the worldliness of the Church…grieved at the toleration of sin in the Church, grieved at the prayerlessness in the Church. He is disturbed that the corporate prayer of the Church no longer pulls down the strongholds of the devil.

Leonard Ravenhill

The entire church faced God’s rebuke and judgment if they did not change. The sinners for their gross immorality. The rest of the church for tolerating it.

You see, Church, those who are not committing the sins, but who are turning a blind eye, ignoring, or justifying the sins, will also stand in danger of God’s rebuke and judgment.

We cannot tolerate sin and expect God to let us off the hook.

In truth, the church today, perhaps even here at Hephzibah, is largely NONCONFRONTIVE….and we stand in danger of facing God’s rebuke and judgment for our sin.

The Counsel

Revelation 2:17.

Revelation 2:17 ESV

17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’

Read and mediate upon it, we will return to it.

Conclusion

Big Idea: When righteousness looks strange to us, worldliness has invaded and we must the warning to repent.

Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations 7529 No Light in Trainman’s Lantern

Several years ago I read of a terrible accident in which several youth were killed when their car was struck by a train. At the trial the watchman was questioned: “Were you at the crossing the night of the accident?”

“Yes, your Honor.”

“Were you waving your lantern to warn of the danger.”

“Yes, your Honor,” the man told the judge.

But after the trial had ended, the watchman walked away mumbling to himself, “I’m glad they didn’t ask me about the light in the lantern, because the light had gone out.”

God sees it, when our light has gone out.

—Selected

The lights at the church are Pergamum are in danger of going out if they do not repent and correct their trajectory.

The sin of worldliness was polluting and destroying them.

May they repent and turn, and thus be saved.

May we, church, repent of our worldliness, of our tolerance of those who live worldly, and may we be ever growing together to become more like Jesus for the glory of God.

Application

To evaluate the effect that worldliness is having upon you, briefly answer the following questions honestly. Share with someone who can walk alongside you in pursuing kingdom mindedness versus worldliness.

(Questions are courtesy of Karl Graustein. They come from his book “Growing Up Christian.”

Answer each question:

1. What are your favorite TV shows, movies, and bands?

2. What values do they promote?

3. How do their values compare to the Word of God?

4. Do you critically evaluate TV shows or music CDs? How?

5. Is there anything you refuse to watch or listen to? Why?

6. What types of Internet sites do you tend to visit?

7. How do you determine whether a site is worth exploring?

8. Do you think your entertainment habits please God?

9. What qualities do you look for in friends?

10. Do you see these qualities in your current friends?

11. Do your friends influence you toward godliness or worldliness?

In what ways can we identify and confront worldliness in our lives and in the church today?

How can we practically hold fast to our faith in an increasingly worldly culture?

How can we encourage one another to recognize and repent from areas of worldliness in our lives?

What popular values in today’s culture might lead us away from a godly lifestyle?

How can we discern what entertainment choices are acceptable for a Christian?

What can we do to create an environment in our church or youth group that actively resists worldliness?

How can we practice repentance in our daily lives, especially when we slip into worldly habits?

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