Revelation Sermon - 6

Revelation: Mind Games

Revelation 2:12-17

1. Introduction – So far, we’ve seen that John, the author of this book is on a prison island called Patmos. He was there because he refused to worship Caesar as god, was seen as a threat and was put in a place reserved for the worst criminals.

a. It was a Sunday and while he was worshipping he was given an absolutely insane vision of Jesus.

i. Jesus told john to write down what he saw and what he was about to see.

b. We called this book Revelation and what we’ve seen over the past 5 weeks is that Revelation isn’t a book about doom and gloom and destruction.

i. This isn’t an escape manual on how to escape suffering – it’s a ‘how to endure while experiencing suffering’ manual.

1. This book is an unveiling; it’s the pulling back of the curtain about Jesus Christ, by Jesus Christ.

c. At the end of the day – if we are preoccupied with anything else in the book – we’ve read it wrong.

i. This book, the Revelation of Jesus Christ – if read properly – will cause us to fall down at the feet of Jesus in awe, reverence and worship.

d. Also, for those of you who have been here week in and week out, I hope you’re beginning to see how practical this book is for life today.

i. It’s not only a book about the future – this book also helps God’s people in the present. It shows us how to be faithful to God while experiencing pressure from the outside world. And it also shows us the reward for being faithful amid turbulent times.

e. And contained within this large letter are 7 smaller letters that are written to 7 specific churches.

i. These letters encourage churches in what they are doing well, but also rebukes them for compromises they have made and sins they are letting slide.

1. But these letters also offer correction; a way to make right what was going wrong.

a. Today, we’re on the 3rd of 7 letter lets. Let’s hear what Jesus had to say to the church located in the city of Pergamum.

2. Description – So this message is from Jesus – but did you notice how Jesus describes himself? A two-edged sword coming out of his mouth… say what?

a. An appropriate question to ask is, “Why does Jesus describe himself this way?’

i. One reason could be that the symbol for the city of Pergamum is a sword.

1. And that’s because Pergamum was one of the few cities to which Rome had given “the right of the sword” – that is, the power to inflict capital punishment.

b. But another question to ask is “why does the one we call “the Prince of Peace” describe himself using the language of war?

i. Jesus describes himself using this language because a war was raging in Pergamum. But in this battle the soldiers were not men, but ideas.

1. The church in Pergamum was locked in a battle for the mind and they were fighting this battle on two fronts.

a. Knowing a little bit about the history of Pergamum will help us better understand the battle being fought.

3. Overtly – First, the battle was raging overtly as the values of that this world holds dear were clashing against the values of God.

a. Allow me to explain. It seems that every week I inform you that in these cities there were temples to various gods.

i. This week, as we study Pergamum, is no exception. In fact, it might be worse than all the others.

1. “I know,” Jesus says. “I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne.”

b. Pergamum was the first city outside of Rome that was allowed to build a temple dedicated to the worship of Caesar.

i. Thus, Pergamum because the capital and centerpiece of Emperor worship.

1. But along with a massive temple dedicated to Caesar, there were also cults and temples dedicated to worshipping Zeus, Athena, Dionysus and it was the centre of worship for the god Askelpios – the god of healing.

c. Christians in Pergamum were facing a battle for their minds.

i. And keep in mind, that most people in the church came from this world – they worshipped this god or that god – maybe in their not so recent past they even declared Caesar to be lord.

d. But when someone came to town preaching the message of Jesus, they saw that Jesus wasn’t another god among many – he is the God of Gods, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.

i. And out of a pagan and polytheistic lifestyle, the were converted to Christianity and began living a life pleasing to God.

1. But the battle was still being waged. They were being persecuted for not worshipping Caesar, persecuted for not worshipping the hundreds of local gods.

e. But look at what Jesus says to them… You’re doing great! They were fighting this battle on a public front and they were winning!

i. Even when one of their own – a man named Antipas – was martyred for standing up for Jesus, the church didn’t back down!

1. They didn’t worship Caesar as lord, they didn’t rely on Askelpios for healing.

a. The harder the world pushed against the church in Pergamum, the harder the church defended itself.

f. On one front, they were winning the battle. But remember, I said they were fighting the battle on 2 fronts.

i. On the 2nd front – they were losing, miserably. Maybe they concentrated all their effort and resources on the first that they had nothing left for the second.

1. They were winning the overt battle against the ideas and ideals of this world.

a. They losing the covert battle that was happening in their own church.

4. This Against you… - While they weren’t succumbing to the pressure of worshipping false gods – they were allowing false teachers to have a hay day in their church.

a. Here Jesus mentioned to names – Balaam and the Nicolaitans.

i. Who are they? Well, figuring out who Balaam is referring to is easy because we can turn to the book of Numbers and learn all about Balaam.

1. He shows up in Numbers 22-24. Balaam is a man who was consulted by the king of Moab to speak a curse on Israel as they were making their way to the Promised Land.

a. But God made it is so that Balaam could only speak blessings on them.

b. However, in Numbers 25, the Israelites did succumb to temptations and the men engaged in sexual relations with the pagan women of Moab and some in Israel started practicing idolatry. Both were things God commanded them not to do.

i. Now, in Revelation, Jesus isn’t referring to a literal Balaam. The name Balaam became a biblical catchall word for any false teacher who sought financial gain by luring God’s people into sin.

c. And later on Jesus refers to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. More false teachers in the church?

i. Here’s how to read and understand this. The names “Balaam” and “Nicolaus” both mean the same thing.

1. Both names mean, ‘to conquer the people.’ They aren’t two separate groups in the church. Notice how Jesus says, “In the same way…”

a. So, the goal of these false teachers in the church of Pergamum is to get the whole church to follow their line of thinking. A battle for the mind.

i. In particular when it involves food sacrificed to idols and sex.

d. And the sin of the Pergamum church is that they didn’t root out and expel this teaching. They allowed it to linger in their church and even tolerated it.

i. Maybe they willfully tolerated it, or may they thought if they ignored it, it would simply go away.

1. And when we read through the Bible, we see these two sins confronting God’s people over and over again.

e. So what’s the deal with food sacrificed to idols? Why is this such a big deal? In the ancient world – locals would bring an animal to be sacrificed in honour of a god of their choosing.

i. Some of the animal would be kept by the temple workers and some of it would be given back to the worshipper in order for them to throw a feast in honour of that god.

1. And the false teachers in Pergamum were teaching that it was OK for Christians to eat that meat and participate in those parties.

f. The argument the false teachers used probably went something like this. “Idols aren’t real. They are hunks of wood or metal. There’s no harm in eating good dedicated to it.”

i. But that’s a misunderstanding of reality.

1. Revelation unveils for us that there is more to present reality than meets the unaided eye.

a. What Revelation reveals to us is the unseen spiritual reality of the present.

i. Behind a thin veil there is battle being waged between good and evil.

1. There is no neutral ground, and by eating food sacrificed to idols and by participating in a feast honouring a local god, those Christians were putting a deity before the one true God.

a. It is to participate in idolatry which is an affront to God.

g. Same with sex. Jesus doesn’t condemn the church because he’s down on sex. Jesus created us as sexual beings.

i. But sex, and the Bible is crystal clear on this, and anyone who says otherwise is lying, sex is only to take place inside the covenant bonds of marriage between one man and one woman for life to the exclusion of all others.

1. And in the ancient world, much like ours, sex was exploited.

2. One ancient writer wrote that man “had prostitutes for pleasure, concubines for daily cohabitation, and a wife in order to have legitimate children and someone to take care of the household affairs.

h. So how can someone who lived in a culture like, someone who know believers in Jesus, now leave that kind of life?

i. Well, there were some in Pergamum who said, “You don’t have to.” And again, this is how their argument probably went.

1. “You have grace in your life, you don’t need laws and rules. If it feels good, do it.”

a. You have grace and forgiveness in your life, so God will forgive you.

ii. But, that’s using grace as a license to sin. That’s taking advantage of God’s grace and God’s forgiveness.

1. Yes, it’s true that God will forgive us, but we must confess our sin, repent and change our behaviour.

a. You should use God’s grace and forgiveness as a license to do whatever you feel like doing.

i. Again, the false teachers misunderstood the reality of sex. It’s not just a physical act between people – there’s a spiritual element to it as well.

1. But when it is used abused the spiritual aspect of sex gets lost.

iii. Any sin, idolatry, misusing sex, whatever it – can’t be engaged in all willy nilly – because God’s grace should make such an impact in our lives that we find our satisfaction in who God is, not anywhere else.

i. Jesus said that the Pergamum church needs to stomp out this false teaching.

i. Jesus said that they need to repent. To repent means to change direction.

1. The church in Pergamum were going down other path of life, and they needed to turn around and walk a different path.

j. Jesus says if they don’t root out this false teaching from their church, he will come and judge them.

i. Yes, he will come and judge those who were actively leading the church astray, but he will also judge those who sit idly by and do nothing about it.

5. For Us Today – The sins of Pergamum were compromise and tolerance. Some in the church were tired of fighting against the ideals of this world, and simply gave it. And they wanted others to join them.

a. But others in the church were guilty of tolerating such behaviour and not calling it out when they say it.

b. And really life in 2018 is not a whole lot different than it was in 1st century Pergamum.

i. We are still fighting the same battle. We are fighting an overt battle from this world as it is still clashing with the values of God.

1. And we still fight covert battles in the church over how to interact with the world around us.

c. We don’t face the pressure of worshipping idols or political leaders as gods; we don’t face the issue of eating food sacrificed to idols…

i. But we face the idols of materialism or apathy or laziness.

1. We still face the pressure to compromise our sexual ethics in order to labeled ‘tolerant’ by our world.

d. There are even some organizations that call themselves churches who have compromised. Like some in Pergamum, they got tired of clashing with the values of this world, or in an attempt to be relevant with modern culture, they have compromised and allowed sin to pervade through their organizations.

i. And in 2018 the situation of Pergamum is repeated all over again. The messaged is steeped in half-truths or misunderstandings of misinterpretations of the Bible – or the Bible is thrown out altogether – and sin slides into the church.

1. And maybe not even through the back door – maybe it’s allowed to come right in the front door and many more tolerate it once it is there.

a. And that’s not how a church operates. We don’t compromise on the truths of God simply to be relevant with our times.

i. The truths of God are timeless – and they are just as profound now and people need to hear them just as desperately now and they did in times gone by.

2. The warning to the church at Pergamum speaks loudly to us today – root out the false teachings; don’t stand idly by and allow blatant sin to make its home in the church.

e. But even more subtly than allowing blatant sin to persist in the church, sometimes we in the church succumb to the pressure to compromise and it shows up in our evangelism.

i. In an attempt to relevant, we water down the things that make us different.

1. It’s almost as if we want to show the world that we are no different than them, instead of focusing on what we have to offer.

ii. It’s almost as if we are saying, “Hey look at us! We are hip and cool. We have a laser light show in our service and a coffee shop in our building.” Look at how cool we are.

1. The truth is, in some ways we are no different than the world around us. We are all broken human beings looking for healing.

a. The difference is, we have found the source of healing. In reality, what we as Christians and as the church have to offer is radically different than anything the world can offer.

iii. The world offers fleeting moments of happiness – the Christian life is a life of abundant joy.

1. The world offers confusion and disorientation – the Christian life offers peace.

a. The world offers superficial acceptance, the Christian life offers unconditional love from a great God.

i. And all of these things are found in the person of Jesus Christ.

f. The truth is, Christians are different than the world around us. Yes, as God’s people we need to be out in the world and letting our lights shine brightly for all to see.

i. But we also have to make sure that we are influencing the world, not being influenced by the world.

g. The battle described in these verses is still being fought today. We need strength to fight on both fronts.

i. The good news is that Jesus says there is a way to overcome.

1. We must repent of the wrongs we have done and walk a new path in life.

a. We must listen and understand what is being said. If we recognize where we are losing the battle, if we repent of the compromises we have made, Jesus promises victory.

h. He promised, not food sacrificed to idols, but manna from heaven. A precursor to the marriage supper of the Lamb.

i. And if we repent and overcome, his faithful people will be given a white stone with a new name written on it. White represents purity and righteousness.

1. Like the 2 previous letters, this one is so applicable to us today. A battle for our minds is raging on… and we must make sure that the truths of God are winning out over the half-baked ‘truths’ of this world.

i. Next week, Thyatira. Read 2:18-29. Ask yourself “what leaps out at me” and “what puzzles me?”