REVELATION: THE CHURCH OF PERGAMUM - “TEMPTATION”

There is a version of The Bible paraphrased by Presbyterian Minister Eugene Peterson. In this version, Rev. Peterson puts the Bible in more contemporary, common English designed to help us hear these ancient verses in more modern words. He does a particularly good job in his treatment of the book of Romans which is an important Biblical book for us to hear and learn, but can be very difficult to hear and learn because of the way the Apostle Paul writes. I have used Peterson’s version for years with youth who have a difficult time with vocabulary of the Bible. So today, I want you to hear these words from Romans 12 using Peterson’s “The Message” - So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
I especially like those words - “Do not conform to your culture” which is one of Jesus’ main theme’s throughout his ministry - it is also God’s theme throughout his work with his people. God’s desire for us - for his people - for his church - is that we are to be different than ‘the world’ around us. We are to be distinctive. We are to live differently and think differently and react differently than those people who are not part of Christ’s church. And Jesus says, - this is the best witness you can have to what it means to be part of the church. This is what God challenged the nation Israel to do in the Old Testament and what Jesus has challenges us to do today. Be a witness to ‘the world’ by the choices we make which should be different than the choices made by those who are not part of God’s church. This is the point of the passage from Romans. Live differently; live as God’s people; not only will you be a witness to God but you will also live a life of peace and joy.
That is the issue as we look at the church in Pergamum. As we work our way through the churches addressed in the book of Revelation we are hearing Jesus’ desires for his church. The church at Ephesus was reminded they needed to love each other as they worshipped and served God. The Church in Smyrna was commended for their willingness to stay true to Christ in the face of persecution and today we look at the church at Pergamum.
What we have heard consistently through the studies of these churches mentioned in Revelation is that they were all located in centers of pagan worship. There were temples to other gods and temples which worshipped the political leaders of this time and even temples where one could worship the city of Rome. Idol worship was so prevalent in Pergamum that John refers to Pergamum as the home of “Satan’s Throne”. Remember that while we don’t have temples today to stone idols, idol worship is rampant in the things that people make important in their lives.
As is his custom, Jesus always compliments these churches he is speaking to in something they are doing right and his compliment to the members of the Pergamum church is that they are remaining loyal to Jesus even though several of the members of their congregation have been martyred for their faith.
And then, as he always does, Jesus gets to the heart of the matter which is what Jesus feels the church needs to correct. Jesus always does the ‘You are doing this right but this is what you need to work on if you really want to be my church and be who I know you can be to truly be my witness in the world.” So Jesus points out the story of Balaam which we heard from the story in Numbers.
Balaam’s story is an interesting and even humorous story but represents an example of someone who tried to have a foot in both worlds - one foot in God’s world but at the same time, the other foot in the ‘I can do whatever I want’ attitude and God will love me anyway. I want my cake in my salvation in Jesus Christ and I want to eat it too as I live and do whatever I want to.’
Balaam is a prophet of God. He is a professional prophet and so when people what a ‘word from the Lord’ they go to Balaam This is what God had called him to do and gifted him to be able to do. So if you wanted to know something you would go to Balaam and say, “What does God tell me about…..” and Balaam would get a word from God to answer your question. Balaam also was called upon to like bless God’s armies before they would go to battle or to curse the nation God’s people would be fighting against. But one day a leader from another nation, a leader who was not a follower of God, came to Balaam and wanted him to not only bless his army but to put a curse on God’s army whom they would be fighting against. Now, you and I reading this story think this is a no-brainer. Of course Balaam wouldn’t bless an opposing army and curse his own, but this foreign leader offered Balaam a lot of money to do this. God came to Balaam and told him not to do it, but you know that money looked awfully attractive……. and after struggling with it for a while Balaam decides to do it. He packs up his faithful donkey who has been with him for many, many years and heads off to the land of the opposing army to bless them and curse Israel’s army. As he is going down the road all of a sudden the donkey sees an angel wielding a large sword standing in the middle of the road and the donkey veers off the road into a field so the angel won’t kill Balaam. Balaam is furious and beats the poor donkey and makes it go back up on the road. They continue traveling down the road when the donkey sees the angel and his sword again. The donkey and Balaam are on this really tight path between a mountain wall and a stone wall on the other side and in order to get around the angel and not be killed by the sword the donkey has to squeeze up against the wall and in doing so he scrapes Balaam’s leg. Again, Balaam is furious and beats the poor donkey - who remember is just trying to save Balaam’s life because Balaam can’t see this angel. They continue down the road and again in a narrow passageway is the angel and his sword and there is no way around the angel, so the donkey just lays down. Balaam again begins to scream at the donkey and beat him when the donkey has had enough and turns his head to Balaam and says, “Hey! Stop that! Have I not been your loyal donkey for many, many years? Have I ever done anything like this before? Have I not always had your best interest at heart? So don’t you think that maybe there is something going on here?” And then Balaam looks up and sees the sword bearing angel and realizes that the donkey has just been trying to save his life and that God is putting these road blocks up to keep Balaam from doing the wrong thing.
Balaamism is actually a term used for those who compromise what the word of God teaches. Balaanism refers to trying to be part of the church of Jesus Christ and still try to live ‘out in the world’ just like everyone else. Balaam represents that idea that God loves us and showers us with his grace so it really doesn’t matter what we do or what we think. We can be just like everyone else and that’s OK.
As you look at the picture this is an artists representation of the description of Jesus as presented in the book of Revelation and you see that sword coming out of his mouth. That sword, mentioned here in the criticism to the church at Pergamum, represents the word of God - the word that shows us and teaches us and tries to help us understand that God really does have expectations for us as his people. God really does expect us to live and act in a specific way and the only way to learn what that is - is to study God’s word. To be willing to study God’s word with a true desire to learn what it says, even when it means we need to change; even when it means we need to heed the angel in the road who tells us that we need to rethink our decisions and our practices and our way of life and our tendency to say “but I think’ instead of really listening to what God has to say to us……
Jesus ends this section of the letter to the church at Pergamum with the word “Repent!” which in the Greek is actually a word of urgency….. It actually means “Repent right now! Right away!”
All of these letters to these churches are a cry to us as individuals and as the church to stop for a minute, look at ourselves, and see how we might be compromising in our own life; how we might be trying to have it both ways; how we might be trying to be part of Christ’s church, but still live however we want to and do whatever we want to and be just like everyone else.
“Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Amen!