When I was in my mid-twenties and had completed I sizeable chunk of education with no clear direction for my future, I accepted a sales position. Now I was skeptical at first. I knew that qualifications for the job were minimal and I wasn’t really even sure what it was that I would be selling. In any case, I showed up for my first day of training. My place of employment began in this large high rise in downtown Vancouver. My colleagues came to work in suits and ties. My mentor was an incredibly engaging and motivating old chap from Trinidad. My immediate supervisor, a youth like myself, professed the wads of cash one could make in a very short time. His short term material goals were enough to make any poor student’s eyes widen with incredulity. Well, after two weeks of solid training, I had discovered that we were selling children’s learning materials which, if purchased for a small fortune, would come complete with one’s very own set of Collier’s encyclopedias, a great learning tool for the whole family that could never possibly be replaced by the internet. Eventually, we set out traveling all over beautiful British Columbia filled with enthusiasm and armed with proven sales strategies. Well it didn’t take long for my reality to undergo a dramatic shift. Maybe, it was my supervisor’s cheap portable stereo that he positioned on the dashboard of his rackety old Volkswagon Jetta because the car stereo either didn’t work or didn’t exist. He would blare that alternative crackle above the howl of that diesel engine to the point of severe distortion. Or, maybe it was living out of a motel room and spending most of my waking non-working hours with a co-worker who, in her haughty British accent, spoke constantly about nothing. It could’ve been finding out that my first sale didn’t go thru because my client, a single mom with three kids, failed a credit check. Or there was that time when, while delivering my speal, the prospective client called me on virtually every rehearsed joke that came fumbling out of my mouth. Oh, and I shouldn’t fail to mention the night in Peace River walking door to door in -20 degree temperatures where people would let you in only out of pity. I finally called home one morning to my folks and said this is it. I’m not doing this anymore. I had finally waken up and saw what the reality of my world had actually become and I was compelled to make a radical change; namely, quit my job.
For the last couple of weeks we have been looking at the book of Revelation. In the first week, Brad used an image of tearing back a curtain or pulling the cover off something to explain what “revelation” means. I had, through various experiences, been given a new and more accurate understanding of my reality as a door-to-door encyclopedia salesman. In similar fashion, the Book of Revelation pulls back the curtains of our physical world to give our spiritual senses an new understanding of reality – the reality of who Christ is, the reality of the world around us, and the reality of ourselves in that world. That is the purpose of these letters to the seven churches – to expose them to the reality of their situation in a way that compels them to change the way they live.
“Disobedience is breaking with reality.”
In considering our own reality, ponder this statement, “Disobedience is breaking with reality.” – Think about that statement. Throw it around in your mind for a few seconds. What do you think it means? To me, it says that if we were to see God, our world, and ourselves for who or what they really are, we would be compelled to live lives completely surrendered to Christ. Do you agree with that? It is a very strong statement and certainly worth further contemplation.
I really like the way Darrell Johnson puts it when he says:
“We live fully human lives to the degree that we see ourselves as we really are, see the world as it really is, and see God as God really is.” – Darrell Johnson
Well, all of this talk begs the question, what of my perception of reality? What of my perception of God, my world, myself is eskew? I recognize that we’ll never completely answer this question for the rest of our lives let alone in one evening but tonight we look at Christ’s letter to the church in Pergamum. In dramatic fashion, Christ exposes this church to a new reality of himself, of their world and of themselves. So, in the words of Christ, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the church of Pergamum.”
"Write this letter to the angel of the church in Pergamum. This is the message from the one who has a sharp two-edged sword:
"I know that you live in the city where that great throne of Satan is located, and yet you have remained loyal to me. And you refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you by Satan's followers. And yet I have a few complaints against you. You tolerate some among you who are like Balaam, who showed Balak how to trip up the people of Israel. He taught them to worship idols by eating food offered to idols and by committing sexual sin. In the same way, you have some Nicolaitans among you--people who follow the same teaching and commit the same sins. Repent, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
"Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Everyone who is victorious will eat of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.
Revelations 2:12-17 (NLT)
The reality of Christ
The structure of this letter is like all the others. It begins with a descriptive introduction of the author, Christ Himself. Now you’ll remember from Brad’s talk in the first week, that in chapter 1, John describes this fantastic vision of Christ. His eyes move from one body part to another and in v. 16 he states that “out of his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword.” This is the same reference that Christ uses to introduce himself to the church at Pergamum. Now, why do you suppose he chooses to highlight this aspect of His appearance. First is the idea of judgment. The sword is obviously a weapon of war and in ch. 19 of this book it is this sword, protruding from the mouth of Christ, which figuratively destroys many disobedient nations. Therefore, hearing this introduction, the church of Pergamum could probably be excused for fearing the worst. I think it is also insightful to recognize that scripture also compares the Word of God to a two-edged sword in its ability to separate truth from error. So the aspects of both truth and judgment are probably emphasized in this description of Christ. Well, it certainly foreshadows what is to come.
The reality of the world
Having revealed Himself, Christ now lays out in no uncertain terms the reality of the world in which they live. “I know where you live – where Satan has his throne.”
Wow! What a statement. Talk about slaughtering any glossy “Future is wide Open” ad campaigns that the gov’t of Pergamum was funding. How would you like to have a sign with those words posted on the entrance of your town? What would that do for the city’s tourism industry – who knows, in all likelihood it was thriving for that very reason. You see, Pergamum was the capital city of the Roman province of Asia; therefore, it was the center of Caesar worship. As early as 29 BC, more than 100 years before this book was even written, Pergamum won permission to build the first temple in honor of Caesar Augustus. Behind the city and rising above it stood a huge hill and on that hill stood a whole host of temples and alters to pagan deities. Two temples in particular were most dominant – that of Asklepios, the god of healing, and Zeus, the greatest of the Greek gods. Another reason why, Christ may have described the city this way was that the symbol for Asklepios was the serpent. People with various ailments would come to this temple from all over and they would spend the night there. During their sleep, they would hope that one of the domestic snakes in the temple would pass over them as it was believed that the touch of the snake was the touch of the god himself and healing would come from it.
Pergamum was a city swarming with all sorts of ideas. It boasted a very reputable university. It was famous for its magnificent library which, at the time of Christ, held approximately 200,000 parchment scolls. In fact, Pergamum was a major manufacturer of parchment and the word “parchment” is derived from the name Pergamum. This was the reality of life in Pergamum. Just in case his description of their reality didn’t quite sink in the first time, Christ repeats Himself at the end of v. 13, stating again that Satan lives in their city.
The reality of themselves
Then Christ begins to give the church a new picture of the reality of themselves. Despite the outward pressures of the city to lure members of this church away from their devotion as Christ followers, the people were doing surprisingly well. Even amidst persecution to the point of death, these people were remaining true to their commitment to follow Christ. However, while their defenses to the outside world were holding strong, there was another battle raging within their walls of which they were not faring near as well. Christ accuses them of tolerating individuals who practiced teachings contrary to what Christ taught: namely, eating food which had been offered to idols and sexual immorality. Now, there is nothing particularly odd about the combination of these two practices. When the church was just being born (Acts 15) and Gentiles were being welcomed into it, the apostles laid two foundational boundaries for these new converts and this is what they were. The two together were very common among other religions of the time. So, while the Christian church honored communion and baptism, many religions of that day valued these feasts to the gods and sexual orgies. Which would you have chosen? (That was a joke.)
What is very interesting to realize is that this letter isn’t written to those who actually were engaging in these acts. See, there are two groups of people here - those who engage in these acts and those who tolerate those who engage in these acts. I think this is very significant in understanding what Christ wants us to hear in this letter. The letter was written and, indeed, the indictment was directed towards those who, although not engaging in this disobedient behaviour, were tolerating in their midst those who were. Even the command to repent in v.16 is not spoken to those who were eating food offered to idols or engaging in acts of sexual immorality. While those people would be judged for their deeds, it was the other church members who were to repent. Why? For their tolerance.
What was their offense?
Tolerance
Now this makes me a little bit uncomfortable. You see I pride myself on being a person of tolerance. In fact, I can think of many situations where tolerance could be regarded, well, as a virtue.
We have two dogs – Rishma, a fairly large, very muscular rottweiler, and Kala, a much smaller, very playful mixed breed. Now the two are best of friends but sometimes, when they are both lying on our couch, Kala will attempt to engage Rishma in playful behaviour by first pawing unashamedly at her Rishma’s cheek. When this brings no reaction, she sort of rolls over on to her back with all fours in the air and head looking up beneath Rishma’s chin and begins to knaw rather cautiously at Rishma’s throat but still Rishma tolerates it even though she knows she could crush this nuisance on a whim.
Other images come to mind like tolerating my dad’s cooking when I was a kid and my mom was working late. Or the image of athletes who push their levels of pain tolerance regularly in order to take themselves to the next level in their sport. In the news we often hear of racial intolerance when one group is pitted against another in a messy civil war. An then there is this idea of a moral tolerance which, I guess, would be closest to what we’re dealing with in Pergamum.
Moral tolerance has a tendency to blur right from wrong. Its tendency is to regard moral truth as relative – relative to a historical time period or a geographical location or an individual’s upbringing and environment, etc. Moral tolerance argues that its no big deal if some of our church members are eating food offered to idols. After all, we know and they know that these gods aren’t real. You see, people in that day would bring an animal to the temple of their favorite god. Part of that animal would be offered to that god and part of it would be given back to the worshippers so that they could hold a sacred feast in honor of that god. Maybe some in the church had been invited to such feasts by friends or family members and they shared in this meal. But you see, just as our communion uses physical elements to facilitate a spiritual experience, and just as our baptism employs a physical picture to proclaim a spiritual reality, so also partaking in these feasts was a physical act of spiritual worship to these gods. While many in the church knew this to be wrong, they were tolerating the individuals who did this.
What about the second practice – engaging in acts of sexual immorality. Now, we must understand that in the first century, the atmosphere of these cities was sexually charged. Sex was linked very closely to many of these other religions. Furthermore, this was a very male dominated society. Polygamy was very popular and prostitution was rampant and acceptable. In fact, chastity and marital faithfulness were virtues that Christianity introduced to the ancient world. Moral tolerance argues, “How can you judge someone else for partaking in an activity which is so commonplace and acceptable in our society, has been happening for centuries and has even enticed the best of us a time or two?” Today the argument might go like this, “Oh how can we find fault with a few guys who look at pornography on the internet once in a while. After all, its so accessible and everyone does it. Furthermore, sexual imagery is all around us – we can’t escape it, in fact, society encourages it so why should we be too bothered if a few of us have succumbed to such vice. Hey, no one is perfect – we’ve all been tempted a time or two.” As uncomfortable as it may have been for the church at Pergamum to read this letter, attitudes such as these were responsible for such a scathing indictment and a call to repentance.
You know what I think? I think we’re a fairly tolerant church. What do you think I mean by that? Am I possibly accusing some among us of eating food that has been offered to idols and engaging in acts of sexual immorality? Well, not exactly but we’re getting closer. You know something? There are people among you right here this evening who profess to belong to this church and who call themselves a Christ follower, yet they are struggling. There are elements of their lives which are destructive and are secretly or not so secretly wreaking havoc on their marriages, their families, their friends, their very lives. There are certain things in their lives that impede their ability to connect with their Creator on a regular basis. This is the reality of the lives of the people amongst whom you sit. This was the reality of the church in Pergamum and it is the reality of Lakeview church. There are people in our midst whose lives are such that they are unable to fully experience a relationship with God, they are unable to be fully human. They may not be eating meat offered to idols or engaging in acts of sexual immorality but their perception of reality is rendering them less than human and they don’t even realize it because the curtain has not been pulled back. You know something else? The rest of us aren’t doin’ a darn thing about it. Because of this, Christ calls US to repentance!
Now I know what some of you are thinking. Well, what group am I in? Surely I’m not one of those unclean meat eating idol worshippers and I definitely am not one of those perverted, sex-obsessed lunatics. Am I? Well, I guess this letter is for you then. You see, Christ isn’t writing to that group, he is writing to you who are tolerating the disobedience of this other group in your midst. Your offense is just as serious, in fact, maybe even more serious.
So why do you suppose the church in Pergamum wasn’t doing anything about this? Why were they letting their own members partake in such behaviour? Well, we’re not told but it could have been a number of reasons. I am inclined to think that this church was just too mainstream – a lot like ours in a way. They prided themselves on their tolerance, love the sinner, hate the sin, right? “One of our own is going to an idol worshipping feast – no big deal, they are young in their faith. God will bring them around to see the error of their way eventually.” Or, “one of our own is partaking in this huge orgy to the god, Dionysius. “Ah yah, we don’t approve of it but what’s the big deal – he’s not hurting anyone. It’s just innocent pleasure. It’s not like he does this regularly.”
Well, let’s cut to the chase. What should the people have done about their situation? How should they have dealt with this deviant behaviour among them? What do you think? I know what some of you are thinking. Purge those pagans from the church! Show no mercy. Ban them from ever setting foot inside the church again. Heck, slaughter them with the sword if we have to! All in the name of preserving righteousness! Isn’t that the predominant attitude the church has shown towards homosexuals to this day? Would that be your sentiment towards the chap sitting next to you who may not be living for Christ as he/she ought? I certainly hope not folks. That is not the church. Unfortunately, that has all too often been the church, but friends that is definitely not the church of Christ. When Christ called the church at Pergamum to repentance, I don’t think He was commanding them to banish these few deviants from existence.
So what was his message? I venture to say that His message was actually the exact opposite – His message was to bring these wanderers back into the fold. Folks, the reason Christ calls this church to repentance wasn’t just because they were tolerating these activities from others in their church but moreso because they had allowed these members to wander off the path in the first place. And this is the reality that I think Christ wants to drive home among us tonight. Why are there people among us who are having such a difficult time following Christ with their lives? Why do they find it so easy to wander off the path? I’ll tell you why, because just as in the Pergamum church, we either don’t know or don’t really care what is going on in the lives of others enough to be able to reach out and take hold of their hand when they are going through a difficult period in their lives. For this, Christ calls us to repent.
How are we to overcome?
So if this is the reality of our situation, what is the solution? Christ makes great promises to those who are able to overcome but if this is the reality in which we live, how then are we to overcome. Well, let me try to describe to you what I think it would mean to overcome in this situation. To overcome would be to be a church where no individual was left to wander off into his/her own private vices. To overcome would be to exist as a church in community such that all were in some way accounted for, loved, supported, and challenged. To overcome would mean that one could confidently, humbly, graciously and respectfully approach another and ask the hard questions. How’s your relationship with God going? How’s your marriage? How are you doing with that area of your life that you find difficult to get control of? To overcome would see one openly, honestly confessing to another and both uniting in prayer towards God. To overcome would mean watching each others backs, praying for each other. To overcome would mean having the depth of relationship with one or two individuals in order for all these scenarios to be reality and for no one to be left to tread through life on their own. That is the kind of church God aspired Pergamum to be. That is the kind of church that God aspires Lakeview to be.
How are we to overcome?
Accountability
How does that happen? Well, to a degree it ought to happen in the small group context, but often it doesn’t. Ideally, it happens within a one on one accountability relationship. Only in this context can a level of honesty and vulnerability be reached so as to keep us all going forward towards a deeper relationship with our God and a more fully human existence. So, in my humble opinion, that is God’s challenge for us tonight – to incorporate a relationship of this depth and accountability into our lives. If the church of Pergamum was truly being the church in this sense, there would’ve been no need for this letter because this other group would not have existed.
So here is the challenge. Is there someone you know quite well whom you feel you could start an accountability relationship of this sort with. Maybe you have a friendship which approaches what we’re talking about. Why don’t you take the initiative and conscientiously push that friendship to the next level by purposely challenging each other to better yourselves in your spiritual lives, your marriages, you workplace, or with your kids. Why don’t you seek that person out even tonight while you are here? I would be willing to bet they won’t turn you down. Nobody should be left out of this. I speak from experience when I say that you will absolutely not regret investing in a relationship of this depth and importance. I should like to add that maybe you are thinking, “Well I’ll just be accountable to my spouse. After all, he/she knows me as well as anyone. Can I encourage you, instead, to partner with someone other than your spouse and of the same sex? Without going into reasons why, I am quite certain you’ll see the value in this.
Christ says to he who overcomes, He will give some of the hidden manna and will write His name on a white stone with a new name written on it. As physical manna, the food that God miraculously provided the Isrealites in the wilderness, was their sustenance, likewise, God will provide us with a spiritual manna for our spiritual sustenance. And a new name written on a white stone signifies our ultimate pardon and secure acceptance into His kingdom.
Often tonight it seemed as though I was talking to two different groups as two groups are referred to in this passage. In reality, the line between these two groups is quite blurry. In our own lives we are as likely to find ourselves a part of one just as much as we find ourselves part of the other. Folks, this is all the more reason for everyone to be a part of an accountability relationship. Only then can we overcome and be the church that God calls us to be. |
