End Game, Part 3 - The Church at Pergamum

 The Church at Pergamum… (Pergamos)

Revelation 2:12- (NIV) “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write, “These are the words of him who has the sharp, double-edged sword. ¹³ I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, not even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives ¹⁴Nevertheless, I have a few things against you: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality. ¹⁵ Likewise, you also have those who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ¹⁶ Repent therefore! Otherwise, I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. ¹⁷ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.”

This church had a very interesting situation.  On one hand you have a group of people, some called out by name, who have been faithful to the Name of Jesus.  They have been strong in the face of false religion, and even pure wickedness, but there have been some mixed into this group who are following after the teaching of Balaam and Balak. Leading them to compromise on what they believed and to cause them to even fall into blatant sin.

In the Old Testament, Balaam was described in Numbers 22 as both stubborn and reckless.  He was known for watering down the truth, selling his blessing or cursing to the highest bidder. Now, I do realize that in Numbers 22 he listened to the voice of God and spoke it time after time, but that had not always been the case.  He had the reputation of being a prophet for hire.  He also had the reputation of leading people away from what God had called them to do.

This is a very real obstacle for churches today.  Just like Ephesus that walked away from its first love – evangelism – Pergamum had turned its back on the foundational things they thought were important at the beginning.  The first was cultural, the second moral.

The reference John is alluding to here is from the decision from the counsel in Jerusalem in Acts 21:25, “As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”  

In I Corinthians Paul makes the decision to not do anything that would cause someone to stumble or fall.   I Corinthians 8:9, “Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. ¹⁰ For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? ¹¹ So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. ¹² When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. ¹³ Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.”

Now, I know this is talking specifically about eating a specific type of meat that was an issue in their time.  But replace the word meat with wine, cigarettes, overeating, whatever.  My job is to realize that while “I have the right to do anything,” not everything is beneficial. I may have the right to do anything—but not everything is constructive.  No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.  (I Corinthians 10:23-24)

While they started out correctly, they were following the leading of the counsel in Jerusalem, seeking Biblical counsel that had been set over them, they were led astray by people wanting to cause them to walk in rebellion, to cause others to fall, not caring about how it affected the lives of those looking up to them.  So, for me, here’s the issue at the forefront in Pergamum – they are a church without proper covering and accountability.  This, from my personal observation, is one of the biggest reasons churches, pastors, fall into strange beliefs, weird theories and doctrines, and ultimately moral failure.

If you are looking to grow deeper in your relationship with Jesus, do not fall for the same trap this church did.  Set up leaders, pastors, systems of accountability that will help you make right and sound decisions.  At Encounter we have multiple layers of accountability and oversight, and I still struggle at times to make the right decisions on things.  We need all the help we can get.  We have Overseers.  These are men and women who do not attend Encounter Church.  They are ordained in pastoral leadership in their respective churches, and have proven relationally and in wisdom that they are able to oversee the affairs of the Encounter Church, specifically as Deidre and I are involved.   We then have Elders.  These are men and women from within our local congregation that serve as the spiritual guidance and, when needed, the disciplinary covering for Encounter.  Elders keep us, as a church, from falling into any areas that would be less than gray.  Our final level of accountability is that of our Trustees.  These capable people manage the finances and the legal affairs of Encounter Church.  When these three areas function in a healthy manner there is overlap in oversight, providing protection, both for me and the church.

Here is the balance though.  Nothing will kill a church faster than changing from God being in control to allowing a board or a group of people to be.  A church that votes on everything, that chains the hands of their pastors and leaders, that makes the focus on them and not on the people they serve is in direct rebellion to the examples in Scripture.  In fact, this will sound very harsh, but must be said.  There is only one time that the “congregation” was allowed to vote on vision and in the Bible and that was when they decided to NOT go into the Promised Land in the book of Exodus.  The result was punishment and delay in fulfilling their calling.  This is, unfortunately, the case in many churches today.  A select few, or even the majority have led through fear and it has caused the entire church to be kept outside the borders of their destiny.  Again, I am not talking about a dictatorship, or shedding off all accountability.  I am talking about true, Biblical, correct leadership.  Not the hierarchy we have seen, mentioned again in verse fifteen (Nicolaitan).

The church at Pergamum did not have the humility to place themselves under the correct direction of capable people who could help them determine if their actions were being guided after the Spirit or after the flesh.  The result, compromise and sin.

The remedy is two-fold – first repentance.  Jesus tells them in this vision to repent, ask for forgiveness, and allow the Spirit of God to restore them back to the place they need to be in Him.  Then a turning away from the teaching of the Nicolaitans, stop depending on the clergy to do the work of the Gospel, stop tolerating what God has condemned, get back into the words of Jesus, and stop depending on personal ideas and preferences.  Nothing can take the place of God’s word in our lives.  I am not really interested in what you think, I want to know what God thinks.  When this becomes our focus, he promises a new name, grace, salvation.

I love this.  I love that, even when the church is messed up, which most are, Jesus still brings us back to a place of grace.  Even in our weakness, or disillusion and sin, God is still drawing us back to himself.