In our last blog we began studying Jesus’ letter to the church in the city of Pergamum. If you recall, this city was plagued by pagan worship; they worshiped the Greek gods and goddesses – Roma, Asklepios, Zeus, Dionysus, Athena, and were required to worship the Roman Emperor as god. But Jesus commended them for remaining loyal and refusing to deny him, even after having witnessed the agonizing death of Antipas, whom Jesus called his ‘faithful witness.” And I told you that we need believers like Antipas today; Jesus wants followers who are so loyal to him that they will refuse to deny him, even if it should cost them their life.
This blog will focus on verses 14-17 and will finish our study of Jesus’ letter to this church. Last time we talked about Jesus’ commendation to the church, today we are going to talk about Jesus’ complaint against them. Here’s the point I want to make: While a church may not deny Christ, it can still compromise with the values of secularism; and a church that compromises, is a church that Jesus finds fault with, and is a church that must repent.
We begin with Jesus expressing that he has some complaints against them.
In verse 14, Jesus says, “But I have a few things against you.” Even though this church remained faithful to Jesus, refusing to deny Christ, even upon witnessing a fellow member of their church being murdered, there are some things Jesus has against this church. Jesus is not content with this church. Jesus has found some faults with this church, and he aims to address it. The question is: what does Jesus have against this church in Pergamum?
Even though this church refused to deny Christ, Jesus’ fault with the church is that some in the church, not all, were tolerant and compromising with false teachers, and therefore tolerant of immoral practices .
In verse 14 Jesus says, “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.” In Numbers 22-31, as Israel was traveling in large numbers from Egypt through the wilderness to the promised land, Balak, who was king of Moab, hired Balaam to pronounce curses on Israel. But Balaam couldn’t, because God prevented him. So, since Balaam could not curse them, he advised Balak to seduce the Israelites into sexual and spiritual adultery.
Then in verse 15, Jesus states, “So also you have some who hold the teachings of the Nicolaitans.” If you recall from Jesus’ letter to the church in Ephesus, the Nicolaitans were believers who compromised their faith in order to enjoy the sinful practices of the society. So, according to Jesus, the Nicolaitans were like Balaam, because they were seducing believers in Pergamum into sexual immorality and spiritual idolatry, trying to get believers to compromise their faith in Christ and convert them to one of Pergamum’s many pagan gods or goddesses.
According to Jesus’ letter, the believers in Pergamum, unlike the believers in Ephesus, were not opposing the Nicolaitans. While they did not deny Jesus, they were tolerating those who were leading people away from God. While they did not deny Jesus, they were compromising with the Nicolaitans. While they did not deny Jesus, instead of opposing or resisting the false teachings and immoral practices of the Nicolaitans, the church in Pergamum settled their differences and reached a mutual understanding, which opened the door for false teaching to creep into the church, and as false teaching crept in, so did immoral practices. Ladies and gentlemen – a church that will compromise with false teaching, is a church that will compromise with sin.
In the same way, we have churches today who do not deny Jesus but are holding to the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans.
There are churches today who do not deny Jesus, but rather than resist the growing secularism and progressivism happening in our culture, are compromising with the culture, and are therefore, allowing the culture to dictate their church rather than God’s Word. There are churches today who do not deny Jesus, but because of their stance on issues such as marriage, gender, and the sanctity of life, are misleading people on what God says in his Word. There are churches today who do not deny Jesus, but have softened the gospel message, refusing to ever speak on matters such as sin. There are even churches today who do not deny Jesus, but because of their lowered view on Scripture, do not teach that Jesus is the only means of salvation.
For that reason, I believe the state of the church in the 21st century rivals the church in Pergamum in the 1st century.
The church of today is facing a leadership crisis. Instead of leading the culture, we are being led by the culture. Instead of setting the example for the culture, the example is being set by the culture.
At Arizona Christian University there is a woman named Dr. Tracy Munsil. She is the Executive Director of the Cultural Research Center, and she conducted a worldview study in 2020. In that study she said this: “American Christianity is undergoing a “post-Christian Reformation”— and rather than providing leadership and faithfulness in an age of moral decline, members of the majority of the nation’s major Christian groups are rapidly leaving biblical foundations behind and exchanging traditional theological beliefs for the culture’s secular values…members of the nation’s four main Christian groups—evangelicals, Pentecostals and charismatics, mainline Protestants, and Catholics—are customizing their beliefs and creating new worldviews that are only loosely tied to the biblical distinctives that have historically defined them…What we are seeing is an American Christianity that is rapidly conforming to the values of a post-Christian secular culture.”
In the article she went on to say that what was most stunning is how quickly believers are turning their backs on the Bible. This is what she reported: “Most stunning in the research is the radical departure by evangelicals from traditional Scriptural teachings and historical reliance on the Bible. Evangelicals are rapidly embracing secularism, with a majority (52%) rejecting absolute moral truth, 75% believing that people are basically good rather than the biblical view of humans having a sin nature, and 61% admitting they no longer read the Bible on a daily basis. One-third to one-half of evangelicals embrace a variety of beliefs and behaviors in direct conflict with longstanding evangelical teaching.”
The study also found that the slide into secularism is even more pronounced among Pentecostals and charismatics. Two-thirds (69%) reject absolute moral truth; 54% are unwilling to define human life as sacred, with half claiming the Bible is ambiguous in its teaching about abortion, and 69% say they prefer socialism to capitalism. A full 45% did not meet the definition of born-again Christians.
We should not be surprised by any of this. Most churches today, especially in the Pentecostal and Charismatic circles, care more about experience than they care about preaching sound doctrine.What needs to happen is the opposite – if churches put more emphasis on sound doctrine, their churches would experience more of Jesus Christ.
This is the current state of the church. You are currently living in a time where the church no longer leads but follows. You live in a time where the church no longer takes a stand. A time when the church allows society to determine what it preaches, teaches, and tolerates. A time when the church does not view the Word of God as absolute truth. A time where the church of Jesus Christ is compromising with the secular culture.
Let me be clear – while having a difference of opinion is okay, it is not okay to compromise on what the Bible says is true. Jesus does not want his church to compromise.
While it is okay to cooperate with people as much as one possibly can, Jesus did not die a horrible death on an old rugged cross for his church to compromise. Jesus did not die so we could compromise with our sin nature such as lying, gossiping, adultery or greediness. Jesus did not die so we could compromise with those who are preaching a different gospel. Jesus did not die so we can compromise with those who deny that Jesus is the Christ, deny that Jesus is the Son of God, and deny that Jesus is the only way to eternal life. Jesus did not die so we could compromise with the values of secularism such as abortion, transgenderism, gender neutrality, CRT, homosexuality, sexual immorality, and pornography. What the Bible says about these issues are perfectly clear.
Some will view what I just said as intolerant. Some will view it as close-minded. Regardless of what people think, the Christian cannot tolerate sin by bowing down to the pressures of society. The Christian can tolerate false teachers who distort and twist the doctrines of Scripture, to mislead people away from Christ and into acts of immorality. That’s what the church in Pergamum was doing, and Jesus found fault with it.
The church must take a stand on the Word of God, and be willing to deal with whatever persecution might come, even if said persecution should result in the shutting down of the building, in imprisonment, harassment, embarrassment, slander or even death, because Jesus is worth it. If Jesus died for us, then we should take an intolerant and uncompromising stand for him.
But I will tell you, I don’t see many Christians willing to do that today. I don’t see many churches willing to do that today. Many Christians I see are fearful to speak up. And they are fearful to speak up in fear of being criticized, ridiculed, slandered or suffer some other form of persecution, and I think the reason for that is that Pastors have coddled their congregations, whereas Jesus raised up his disciples to be bold in the Spirit, preach the gospel, and prepared to suffer. Christ expects his church to be an army of warriors standing against the tides of wickedness, but instead of standing the church is bowing. So, what does Jesus say to a church that he finds guilty for compromising with society?
First, Jesus calls those within the church who have compromised to change.
In verse 16, Jesus said, “Therefore repent.” In other words, because of their tolerance, he calls this church to turn away from its compromise with false teaching and its tolerance to sin, and turn back to him. He calls them to reform, to improve or amend what is wrong. To put an end to their compromise with false teachers. To abandon their tolerance to evil, wrongdoing, and immoral conduct.
I know Northeast church is not a perfect church, no church is. But when I consider the landscape of the church today, especially in America, I believe this would be and is Jesus’ command to many churches today – repent. Especially these churches who have softened the message of the gospel, toned down the words of God, and have lowered their view of Scripture.
Then, Jesus tells those in the church who have compromised what he will do if they do not repent.
In verse 16, Jesus states, “If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.” If the church in Pergamum does not repent, Jesus threatens to go to them and discipline them. He threatens to pour out his judgement on those who have compromised.
We do not know what exactly the kind of judgement Jesus would bring, but we can get an idea from the church in Corinth. When the church in Corinth, according to 1 Cor. 11:30-32, took communion in an unworthy manner, some of them became sick, some even died, as a result of Jesus’ judgement on them. Jesus is saying the same to the church in Pergamum – if they do not repent of the compromise with false teachers and tolerance of sin, he will come to them and judge them, that he would intervene in some way that resulted in some kind of physical suffering, maybe even death.
It’s the same with these churches today who are compromising with the values of this world and tolerating immoral lifestyles. One day these pastors and believers who are compromising with false teaching, leading people away from Jesus, and tolerating sin will have to stand before Christ. If they do not repent now, they will be judged, and they will have to endure a lifetime of torment.
As Jesus ends his letter, he does so by urging those who have not compromised to hear what he is saying and encouraging them to stay faithful, endure persecution, and resist compromise.
In verse 17, Jesus said, “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…” Meaning Jesus will give spiritual nourishment to those believers in Pergamum who remain faithful and loyal to him, in a city pagan worship. In the same way, if we remain loyal and faithful to Jesus in this world that is growing in hostility towards Christ and therefore us, he will give us the spiritual nourishment we need to remain steadfast also.
Jesus continues, “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.” We do not know what these stones are exactly. But what we do not know is that a white stone was given to those who were victors at the Roman games and given to those who were acquitted in Roman court. So, what we think Jesus is saying here is this: Those who hold fast to their faith in this race called life, those who refuse to deny Jesus in a world that denies him, when they meet Jesus, will receive the victor’s reward of eternal life.
I want to end this blog by asking you a question: Is Jesus still Lord of your life?
Are you still loyal to Jesus? Are you still faithful to Christ? Have you compromised your faith by compromising with the world? If you remain loyal to Christ, if you continue to claim Jesus to be your Lord, if you refuse to deny Jesus, if you refuse to compromise, then when you die or when Jesus returns, you will receive the victor’s reward of eternal life.
However, if you are claiming Jesus as the Lord of your life on the one hand, but at the same time compromising your faith in Christ with the belief system of this world on the other hand then, when you die or when Jesus returns, there is no guarantee you will receive the victor’s reward of eternal life. Jesus wants his followers to live a life of holiness. So, I ask you again: are you compromising your faith in Jesus with the belief system of this world? If you are, I urge you to repent, believe in Christ for salvation, acknowledge your sins, and confess those sins to Jesus. Make your decision today whom you will follow – Jesus or the world – because you cannot follow both.