Scripture: Revelation 2:12-17; Matthew 4:1-11
Title: Commitment leads to contentment
Theme: Commitment
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
One of the greatest leaders of the past century was Sir Winston Churchill. Churchill served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the most difficult and dark days of War World II.
One of his most famous speeches was given at a boy’s school in Harrow, England (near London) on October 29, 1941.
1941 had been an extremely difficult year for the British people. While we in the United States were still contemplating if we needed to get into the war, the British were fighting for their very survival. Every day they were asking the Americans to either join them in the fight or at least send as many weapons and supplies as they could share.
Under the leadership of Adolf Hitler, the Germans along with their allies were doing their best to paralyze and ultimately destroy the British Empire. Their consistent air attacks were taking a toll on Great Britain's infrastructure, it’s economy and its morale. Many thought (especially in the US) that it would not be long before the British would be forced to surrender.
It seemed as if it were left up to the British people to save the European Continent from becoming a part of the Axis powers and being under the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Japanese Emperor Hirohito.
Listen to an small excerpt of Churchill’s speech that day:
“Almost a year has passed since I came down here at your Headmaster’s kind invitation in order to cheer myself and cheer the hearts of a few of my friends by singing some of our own songs. The ten months that have passed have seen some terrible catastrophic events in the world ….
But for everyone, surely, what we have gone through in this period – I am addressing myself to the School – surely from this period of ten months is this lesson; NEVER GIVE IN, NEVER GIVE IN, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER-IN NOTHING, GREAT OR SMALL, LARGE OR PETTY – NEVER GIVE IN EXCEPT TO CONVICTIONS OF HONOUR AND GOOD SENSE.”
That speech became one of the greatest speeches of World War II. The next day and for weeks and months to come one phrase kept being used over and over again – Never give in, Never, Never, Never.
Those words for the United Kingdom were inspiring words and they are words that could be used by the Church today. Words that could be applied to the Church of Pergamos.
Pergamos was quite a town. It did not have the intellectual reputation of Ephesus or Smyrna, but it excelled over them in the areas of art and theatre. It was the religious center of Asia Minor. It was littered with religious temples, altars and worship services.
You could worship Caesar Augustus and the Roman State at one of the three temples that had been built for Imperial worship. You could attend a worship service and sacrifice an offering to Zeus, Jupiter, Athena, and Dionysius at each of their great temples.
You could even go and visit the area where people would be worshipping the god of Medicine (Aesculapius- (/æs'kli?pi?s/) often called the god of Pergamos; the Savior or the Serpent god. You could even sign up for a healing service.
All over Pergamos there were statues dedicated to different gods and goddesses (Greek, Roman, Babylonian). There were these large wall monuments constructed to visually show how the gods and goddesses had created the world and humanity.
Amid all these pagan temples, altars and religious venues was the Church of Jesus Christ. We don’t know who started the house churches or when they were started. All we know is that Jesus tells us that they had already endured some intense persecution.
It wasn’t easy to be a Christian Church in that environment. Jesus tells us that one of its earliest leaders a man by the name of Antipas had already been put to death for sharing the Good News of Salvation in Jesus.
Jesus refers to this town as the place where Satan was dwelling and had his throne. That is quite a testimony and indictment about Pergamos.
Can you imagine the city that you live in called the seat of Satan? The place where Satan dwells and has his throne?
And yet, there was the LORD and His Church. A Church that was commended for its integrity and faithfulness. A Church planted so that people could see the light and experience true salvation. No other area including Ephesus or Smyrna had to face the intense spiritual battles that the churches in Pergamos had to face.
Sometimes when we read these letters to these seven churches it is easy for us to focus on their shortcomings without also looking at the areas in which they were doing great work. Pergamos was a place that we could literally call Hell on earth. A place full of demonic activity. A place where all kinds of wickedness was happening.
Those temples that were dedicated to Zeus, Athena and the other gods and goddesses not only practiced their own liturgy, but a great portion of their liturgy incorporated sexual immorality, prostitution, human trafficking, drunkenness, witchcraft, sorcery, and idolatry.
And in all that mess, the house churches of Pergamos were standing fast. They were staying true to their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
What the LORD tells these house churches in verses 14-16 was a word of warning. Jesus was cautioning the Church. He was trying to get their attention to put a stop to a slow slide in their relationship with him.
Some things had started to creep into those house churches. Some things that would not only harm them but ultimately would destroy them.
They had stood up to persecution. They had been faithful. In that area they were much like the Church of Smyrna. They scored an A on their Spiritual Report Card.
I. Their main problem came in the area of Compromise.
Compromise was not just an issue for the house churches in Pergamos, it has been and still is an issue today when it comes to faith in the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.
From the Garden of Eden to right now the people of God have constantly been tempted to compromise their call, their character, and their commitment to the LORD.
Jesus spoke of a man named Balaam and a group of people called the Nicolaitans when He warns these house churches to shore up their relationship with Him.
If you remember Balaam had been this great man of faith who ended up being this horrible man of deception and evil. You may remember him because of his donkey. A donkey that spoke to him and tried its best to get Balaam to obey the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.
We first meet Balaam when he was trying to earn some money from a certain Moabite King named Balak who was trying to stop Moses and the Children of Israel. King Balak had hired Balaam to curse Moses and Israel and stop them from entering the Promise Land.
The Bible tells us that Balaam tried his best to put a curse on Israel but each time he tried to curse God’s People he instead spoke a word of blessing. Time after time Balaam did his best but just couldn’t say the words. He realized he would have to find another way to stop them.
He told King Balak that if he would have his people invite large groups of Israelites to come and attend some of their worship services that were dedicated to Baal then while they were there they could be tempted with sexual immorality, drunkenness, idolatry, and witchcraft. Balaam believed that many of them would fall away from the LORD and turn to Baal. You can read all about it in Numbers chapters 22 – 25.
That is exactly what happened. God’s People started attending these worship services that were dedicated to Baal. Services that included many the things that the house churches of Pergamos were being invited to each day. As a result, God’s People start compromising. They wanted the LORD but they also wanted the narcissism and sensuality that the false gods and goddesses allowed.
In John chapter 17 we read where Jesus prays this prayer for his followers:
“I do not ask that you (Heavenly Father) take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they be sanctified (set apart) in truth.”
You see, Jesus Himself knew what it meant to be tempted to compromise. We read about it in Matthew 4:1-11. In the wilderness, the Devil tempted Jesus to:
+Just make a little bit of bread – put your body before your spirit. After all you are hungry and you have fasted long enough. God will understand and if He doesn’t then who cares. He is not hungry, you are.
+Just show off a little divine power – it doesn’t hurt to impress people with a bit of showmanship and just imagine how impressed they will be when you jump off the Temple and land safely.
+Just compromise a little and bow down to me – others have and so why not you Jesus? Who said you have to stay true?
As the Son of God, Jesus was fully divine and human. He had all the power of heaven in human form. Jesus knew what it meant to be human; to be limited and to have to deal with all the things humans must deal with daily.
The Devil was appealing to his human side and suggested that Jesus could compromise with Him and short circuit the whole process of going out and preaching the Gospel, having to call disciples, dealing with all the sicknesses and evil and even being able to bypass Calvary. All Jesus had to do was compromise a little.
All of it of course was a lie. Lying is what the Devil does best. He is the Father of Lies. Jesus couldn’t compromise and still be the Savior of the World. How could he rescue, redeem, and restore humanity if He himself was under the leadership and authority of the Devil?
The Devil knew that if Jesus took the bait, then the whole Godhead would be shattered. Jesus would be unable to redeem mankind because he would have rebelled against His Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit.
The Bible tells us that Jesus held fast to His Call, His Character and His Commitment. He did not compromise one bit.
That is exactly what He is calling for the house churches of Pergamos to do as well. Don’t compromise. Instead:
+Remember your call – you have been called to be holy, set apart and different from the World.
“I appeal to you there, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” – Romans 12:1-2
+Remember your Character. Remember you have been born again and you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” – 2 Corinthians 5:17
“…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control …” – Galatians 5:22
+Remember your Commitment.
“And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me”. – Luke 9:23
“Brothers and sisters, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus”. – Philippians 3:13-14
Jesus is asking these house churches and us today to follow Him in being totally committed to our call, our character and to our commitment.
It is not an easy task.
Just ask the likes of Aaron, Samson and Jonah. All were tested by the fire of commitment and for a time lost that fight. Aaron traded in the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY for a Golden Calf. Samson traded in the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY for an evil woman named Delilah. Jonah ran away and found himself in the belly of a great fish. Thankfully all of them repented and turned back to the LORD and stayed true.
Just ask the likes of Daniel and the Three Hebrew Children, and Joseph the son of Jacob. All of them were tested and came through the Lion’s den, the Furnace of fire and Egypt’s prison more committed than ever.
Jesus knew that his congregation in Pergamos was having a hard time. He knew that some of them had been attending services that they should not have been attending. That they were allowing the ways of Zeus, Athena and others to become mixed in with their faith.
If that continued it would destroy them.
I remember years ago a youth pastor was working with his teens and was making a batch of chocolate cookies with them. At the end they would take them out of the oven and share them.
He took the first batch and made them and put them in the oven to bake.
They were all looking forward to eating them.
He then took a second batch and told them that 99% of the ingredients were pure. However, he added just about 1% of some dog feces that he had found in his yard. He had thought that 1% wouldn’t be that bad and they could overlook it.
You can guess what happened. No one wanted anything to do with that second batch of cookies. They still looked good and even smelled good. But that little 1 % of dog mess just turned their stomachs.
That youth pastor was trying to prove a point. 1 percent of the wrong thing can ruin the whole batch of something good.
He wanted his youth to do their best to live a life 100% committed to faith in Jesus. He wanted them to throw out anything in their life that would harm them. Even if it were just 1%. Because 1% can change everything.
Now, that was a rather extreme illustration by that youth pastor. But I think all his teens got the idea.
Listen to Jesus’ warning to Pergamos –
“Therefore repent, If not, I will come to you soon and make war against them with the sword of my mouth.”
That doesn’t sound like a pleasant ending if you ask me.
So, what happened to Pergamos?
What happened to the Church in Pergamos?
As a city it continued to grow in population to the point where it was over 200,000 people.
However, it continued to embrace darkness as it built more temples, altars and worship places dedicated to pagan gods and goddess. During the 2nd century the city added temples in honor the gods and goddess of Egypt – Isis, Serapis and Harpocrates.
Pergamos wanted to be the world’s leader in temples, altars and venues of various religions and faith. It wanted to be the center of as many of the gods and goddesses as possible. It wanted to be known as the city that knew how to Co-exist. It wanted to keep its name as the Devil’s headquarters.
In 262 AD the city was hit by an earthquake and never fully recovered.
Today, it is a place for tourists to visit and look at its ruins.
It’s not easy to be committed to the LORD. We all know that. We all know what it is to put the LORD to the side and get busy doing our own thing. We all know how tempting it is to just put Jesus alongside all the other religions and hope for the best.
But Jesus is Lord. He is the Savior of the World. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
And we are called to follow Him. We are called to be true and faithful.
We are called to
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”
This morning let’s do just that. Let’s decide to the best of our ability; regardless of the cost, that we will stay committed and true. That we will do what many did in Pergamos and many others were called to do – to love God with all of ourselves – our heart, our soul and our mind.
To forever say - No - to Compromise
Never give in, Never, Never, Never
Invitation
