EXPERIENCING INTIMACY WITH CHRIST

Rev. 2:12-17
Bob Bonner
October 2, 2005

Imagine for a moment that as you leave church today, a local TV station has set up a camera and a reporter to interview various ones as you are leaving the service. The reporter catches you by the elbow, pulls you to his side in front of the camera and he asks, with his microphone raised to your lips, “Tell me, what benefit do you derive from knowing Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord? What practical difference has knowing Jesus made in your life?” How would you answer that question?

The following are my recollections of some very real situations a few of you have shared with me from your lives that demonstrate the practical difference Jesus Christ has made in your life.

A gentleman recently told me, “Two months ago, I lay in a hospital bed in the ICU, as a result of a heart attack. I was in pain and afraid of what would happen to my family if I were to die. I was scared. I prayed and asked Jesus to do something that would show me He cared and that He would take care of my family if something happened to me. It wasn’t but a few moments later that a nurse came in and asked, ‘Don’t you go to Calvary Crossroads?’ I told her I did. She must have seen some concern on my face about my condition and she asked, ‘May I pray with you?’ I said sure. And she prayed for God to relieve my fears for my family and whether or not they would be okay without me, and I never told her that those were the concerns on my heart. Jesus sent her to pray for me and to let me know that He had heard and already taken care of my concern. Jesus knows my needs and continually shows me that He has my life under control and and as a result, gives me comfort .”

Monday, I was working out in the gym and a friend came by who goes to another church. This friend suffers from a rare neurological disease that has left him weak and he gets easily fatigued. Where he was once a very active, busy, get-it-done kind of guy, he has been forced to bring his life almost to a halt. He told me, “One day, I was taking some time to be alone with the Lord to pray and read His Word and I heard Him speak in my ear. I’d never experienced that before. He told me, ‘It has taken you all these years to slow down so you would listen to Me. Now, will you allow Me to arrange your day, so that what energy you do have, will be applied to what I deem most important?’ Obviously, I said, ‘Yes, Lord.’ What has happened since has been nothing short of a miracle. He has slowed me down so that He could show me some of my wife’s needs that He wanted to meet through me. As a result, He has brought my wife and me closer together in Him than we ever imagined possible. I have developed a bond with my children that we never had before. He has been using me to reach out and love those needy who have crossed my path, to show them the way to Jesus. Although I miss my very busy and active lifestyle, I would not change it for a minute, because of the purpose and direction Jesus has brought to my life.”

Another told me, “One of the practical benefits of walking with Christ on a daily basis is that I know that I am never alone. I have a constant companion, a friend who sticks closer to me than a brother. A friend who knows me, accepts me and makes sure that I am protected and provided for, regardless of how dark the day may get.”

And another, “I find that knowing Jesus Christ is with Me, and that my future destiny is secure, I can now live today with a deep, settling peace inside. I have a joy and confidence that no matter how bad it may get right here, it won’t always be this way. He has promised me a better day is coming. In turn, I now have the courage and boldness to carry on and tell others what a difference He has made in my life.”

Here’s another report from one of you: “I have discovered that Jesus cares about every aspect of my life, whether big or small. Just the other day, I was taking my dog for a walk and lost a specially made screw that holds his custom- made dog collar together. Without that screw, I would have to buy another collar. I was low on money and because of my schedule, I didn’t have a lot of time to go looking for it. So, I asked Jesus, because I know He cares about the tiniest detail of my life, to help me find the screw to this collar. I retraced my steps from yesterday’s walk, and there the screw was, sitting straight up in a crack in the concrete, two blocks from my home. I know Jesus answers prayer and He cares about everything concerning my life. If He hadn’t shown me where the screw was, then He would have shown me what else He would have me do.”

I wish we could say these responses to the practical difference that Jesus can make in your life were true of all the people I know in this town who call themselves Christians. I imagine if there was going to be a reporter outside the doors of the church this morning, ready to interview some of you, many would look for another exit so that you could avoid having to answer his questions. Why? Because you couldn’t honestly say what difference Jesus is making in your life today.

We know that our lives are supposed to be intimately attached to Jesus, but many of us are not experiencing it. As a result, many see their lives are not making any eternal difference for Christ in the lives of others. If we were honest, some of us would have to admit that the sweet, attractive aroma of Christ that we should be leaving off is instead more of a stench.

The cause for many Christians is loss of intimacy with Christ. This has come about by putting their own pleasures, their own self-seeking personal glory, their own personal agenda first rather than putting their relationship with Jesus, His agenda and purposes for their lives first. These Christians not only live in this world, they have so compromised their walk with Jesus that they have become attached to this world’s philosophies. They have forgotten who they are in Christ. They have forgotten that if we know Jesus Christ, we do so because He first loved us, because He called us and saved us and set us apart for His good work.

Today the church in Grants Pass, in my opinion, impacts our community about as much as the church in Pergamum that Jesus Christ rebukes in Revelation 2:12. Not all the believers in Pergamum had folded under the seducing pressures of their society. Not all of the believers had compromised Christ’s claim on their lives for their own agendas. There were a few Christians who stood strong and were committed to sharing Christ with those they came in contact with. However, as percentages go, they were too few to prevent the Lord from closing the doors of the church in that city.

My concern, is that we believers in Grants Pass have been spiritually deceived by the evil one into thinking that we are okay, like the church at Pergamum, when many of us are not. Because there are many church buildings in this town that hold services weekly, we think we are doing well. But we are not. There are just as many problems and evils inside our churches and in our Christian homes and marriages as there are in non-Christian homes. We mirror today in our churches, the very problems Jesus addresses in this letter to the church at Pergamum.

This morning, we want to take a closer look at the church at Pergamum and at ourselves and see what Jesus says is the remedy, the steps we need to take if we once again want to enjoy a deeper intimacy with Him, if we truly want to make an impact for Christ in our community.

Allow me to first read to you Christ’s words to the church at Pergamum, in Revelation 2:12-17, then give you a little history about Pergamum, spend a few moments explaining some of the detailed statements of Christ, and then we will apply this to ourselves. Jesus tells the Apostle John to record these words: “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: The One who has the sharp two-edged sword says this: ¹³‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is; and you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. ¹⁴‘But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. ¹⁵‘So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. ¹⁶‘Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you spry, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth. 17‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, to him I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and a new name written on the stone which no one knows but he who receives it.’”

Pergamum was the Roman capital of the province of Asia, whose population was about 250,000 people. Pergamum was considered a university town, famous for its library of about 200,000 volumes. It’s greatest product was the manufacturing of a special parchment or paper called pergamena.

In addition to its university, it was known for its great medical center, which, like most other aspects of Pergamum life, was attached to their pagan worship and temples. The people of Pergamum worshiped the gods and goddesses of Athena, Asclepius, Dionysus, and Zeus. They had their own temple to the god, Asclepius, the god of healing, whose insignia was the entwined serpent on the staff. This insignia is still used as a medical symbol today.

In addition to the temple of Asclepius, an enormous altar to Zeus stood on a hillside overlooking the city as though it dominated the city. This altar, one of the seven wonders of the Ancient world, was in the form of a great throne or chair that was forty feet high. It was elevated about 800 feet above the plain below and could be seen for miles. This throne, along with all of the other cults may be what’s behind Jesus’ reference in verse 13, to Pergamum being “Satan’s throne.”

In B.C. 133, King Attalus III bequeathed the city of Pergamum to the Roman empire, because he had no interest in being a king. His passion was the pursuit of studying medicine, botany and gardening.

As a result of the city being bequeathed to Rome, it became a very strong center for emperor worship. It was the first city to build a temple to the divinity of Julius Caesar in 29 B.C. and was a rabid promoter of the imperial cult. Whereas in some cities, Christians were only in danger one day out of the year, when incense was burned to Caesar as he was declared “Lord,” in Pergamos, Christians were in religious danger and persecution year round. To say that the atmosphere of this city was adverse to any effective Christian life and testimony would be an understatement.

In contrast to the church at Smyrna, which was enduring pressure and persecution, the church at Pergamum was flirting with corruption and immorality. While the believers were standing strong for the faith, being martyred for their beliefs in Smyrna, the Christians at Pergamum were compromising their faith.

It’s significant to note that Satan typically uses two effective weapons against the church: first he either threatens or intimidates it with persecution so that it will knuckle under; or he entices it or lures it into destroying itself by compromising with the world. As it concerned Pergamum, Satan used both of these weapons.

The name Pergamum means “married.” It’s clear that this city was married to this world’s philosophies which were deceptively being promoted by Satan. Yet, sadly, the church of Jesus Christ in Pergamum, that was engaged to Jesus Christ, was playing the spiritual role of a prostitute by philandering with the gods of its culture and dating the world of evil to whom they were sent to be Christ’s ambassadors. Likewise, the church in the USA today, is guilty of the same thing.

Anticipating Christ’s executive rebuke for the believers at Pergamum being tolerant of evil and immorality, the Apostle John describes Jesus, in verse 12, as “The One who has the sharp, double-edged sword.” This two-edged sword, as referred to in three other places in Revelation is symbolic of the Word of God’s twofold ability to separate believers from the world and to condemn the world for its sin. It was the sword of salvation as well as the sword of discipline and death. The Word of the Lord has the power to convict all men, and then to convert or condemn the unsaved, as well as to discipline those believers who refuse to obey Him.

John assures us that before Christ uses this sword in any manner, Jesus is very much aware of what the local church is facing. That’s why Christ states, (verse 3) “I know where you dwell.” “I know the environment in which you live, and I know it’s dangerous!”

Because Jesus knows the dangers of living in Pergamum’s society, Jesus has nothing but words of praise for those few believers who have remained faithful to Him and His purposes. He describes these believers as those who “Hold fast My name.” This expression implies that the key battleground in Pergamum was the deity of Jesus Christ or who the Christians were really going to worship, live for and allow to run their lives. Jesus’ name was above all names, specifically, above all Roman gods or the names of human emperors or other religious leaders. The faithful Christians proved their worship and loyalty to Jesus through their actions which revealed that Christ’s purposes were the first priority of their lives.

Besides living morally and actively sharing Christ with others, these believer demonstrated the priority Christ played in their lives by not denying “My faith” or more literally “the faith of me or mine.” Under pressure they did not fold as to what they declared was the truth about Jesus Christ, why He came and how one could be forgiven and saved, and how one was to live.

Right after Jesus makes this statement, He points to one individual who is believed by some to be the first Christian martyred for his faith under Roman persecution, a man named, “Antipas.” We do not know much about this man, but Ray Stedman writes, “Tradition holds that Antipas was tortured to death, seared alive inside a hollow brass statue in the form of a bull which was heated until it glowed white-hot.” Antipas, whose name means against all stood alone against his persecutors, with little or no support from the church. But after he died, his courage gave many of his Christian peers the courage to stand up for their faith, while others folded under the pressure.

The Christians at Pergamum had been true to God under severe testing but had compromised their testimony in other ways, as seen in the next two verses in which Jesus rebukes them for accepting rather than confronting two false doctrines.

In order to understand the first doctrine Jesus mentions, the “doctrine of Balaam” one must understand who Balaam was in the Old Testament and what he encouraged or taught. Balaam was an Old Testament self-proclaimed prophet of God, who hired himself out for personal financial gain. Sadly, in the church across our country as well as at the church in Pergamum, there are pastors and other religious leaders who fleece the flock of their finances for personal gain.

A king named Balak living in near proximity to this false prophet, Balaam, wanted to gain control over the children of Israel. When he asked the prophet Balaam what he could do, Balaam counseled King Balak to cause Israel to sin through encouraging the Israelites to intermarry with his heathen women, which was clearly forbidden in the Old Testament law. The hope of encouraging the intermarriages was that through marriage, the Jews would compromise their faith and participate in King Balak’s idol worship.

Likewise, for the church at Pergamum, intermarriage with heathen women was a problem, because leaders and teachers in the church encouraged all and any social contact with their community, including the worship of idols and participating in sexual relationships other than that between a man and a woman in marriage. These leaders would counsel their flock with words such as, “There is nothing wrong with being friendly to Rome. What harm is there in putting a pinch of incense on the altar and affirming your loyalty to Caesar? If it means keeping friends and staying in business or getting ahead, why not?”

As mentioned earlier, Antipas refused to compromise the faith and was martyred for it; while others took the “easy way” and cooperated with Rome. Hence the doctrine of Balaam could be summarized as compromising one’s commitment to Christ for personal financial gain and personal pleasure.

Not just religious leaders, but many Christians today have fallen into disgrace because of a desire for a few coins and pleasure. Attitudes of holiness-- that mindset that believes that I have been hand-picked by Jesus Christ, saved and set apart to live and serve His greater purposes first--have become mere words to many Christians, while others have quickly adopted other immoral practices. But God’s standards have never changed and He still condemns those who follow this world’s standards above His, and they will one day answer to Him.

Believers today also face the temptation to achieve personal advancement by ungodly compromise. The congregation or individual that compromises with the world just to avoid suffering or to achieve success is committing spiritual adultery, is being unfaithful to the Lord. What’s worse is they are exchanging the experience of intimately knowing Christ on a personal basis for that which will one day evaporate.

Earlier in Revelation 2, the Ephesian church had been commended for rejecting the pagan doctrine of the Nicolaitans. This doctrine was also prevalent in Pergamum, except, unlike the church in Ephesus, these Christians embraced this doctrine rather than rejecting it. As I mentioned in our study of the letter to the church at Ephesus, the teachers of this doctrine encourage the removal of the proper teaching of the priesthood of all believers and replace it with the concept of the clergy being responsible to rule over the people. The people were to take their eyes off Christ and do what the clergy told them Jesus wanted them to do. That which drove the teaching of this doctrine was their thirst for personal power over others.

In response to the teaching of these two false doctrines, Jesus, in verse 16, calls for the Christians to repent and to confront and remove such teachers and teachings from their church. For if they did not, Jesus warned them that they would experience “the sword of My mouth.” This sword speaks of severe discipline for the believers and judgment toward the false teachers. As to the discipline of the believers, Jesus said that He would remove their lampstand or their right to represent Him in the world. In our terms, He was saying, “repent or you will find your church doors closed.” Sadly, they refused to repent and the rest is history.

Yet, even though the doors of the church in general closed, Jesus called those individuals who did repent, who did remain faithful “overcomers”. To these overcomers, Jesus promised three rewards. All three of these rewards have one thing in common: a heightened intimacy and personal life-changing experience with Jesus Christ.

The first reward is the “hidden manna.” “Hidden manna” is described by John in John 6 as being the spiritual food for our inner being that keeps us going. It’s “hidden” in that only the obedient, spirit-filled, dependent-on-Christ believer knows the pleasure of having this personal, intimate touch of the Lord in his life today. This is something Christ wants all of us to experience as we walk with Him each day, but only those who obey moment by moment will enjoy. The “hidden manna” is that spiritual food that feeds one’s personal intimacy with Christ.

The second reward Jesus promised was a “white stone.” It is the only reward of the three mentioned here that will be experienced only in heaven. The rest, we can experience here. A “white stone” in Rome, was often given out by those in prominence or authority as a special “ticket” to gain admission to a special feast. On it was engraved the person’s name. He would then wear it as an amulet around his neck to whatever occasion was being celebrated. If this is what Jesus is referencing, then it must refer to the only future great feast that the book of Revelation speaks of in chapter 19, the marriage feast of the Lamb. Only Christians will be invited to this feast, but to those who endured persecution and remained faithful to do the work of the Lord while they lived here on earth, to them, Jesus will give a special invitation to the marriage feast of the Lamb.

This understanding of the white stone being a special invitation is further supported by the third unique reward promised to the faithful follower of Jesus Christ, “a new name.” This new name points to a deeper or more special intimacy with Christ that all believers may not enjoy. This new name will only be known by the faithful follower who has made Jesus number one in his life and by Jesus, Himself. It will not be made public. It could be likened unto a “pet” name, a private name you may share with your beloved. I have several private or pet names for Becky and all of them are a mark of our special shared intimacy. Hence, here, “a new name” refers to a “pet name” revealing special personal intimacy with Jesus reserved only for those who remain faithful to the end.

What practical lessons can we take away with us from this study? I think there are two. First, we recognize that the Scriptures teach that our salvation is secure in Christ. Some who understand this truth ignore or don’t know what else the Scriptures teach, and figure that because their salvation is secure, it makes no difference how a Christian lives. If we are safe in Christ, we can mix with the world and we won’t be hurt by it. In other words, if my creed is right, then it makes no difference what my conduct is like.” But that kind of thinking couldn’t be more wrong or damaging to one who desires to experience that deeper, personal intimacy with Christ.

It is true that John 10:28 speaks of God’s holding and keeping power over the believer. Once we are saved, there is no way we can be taken or even remove ourselves from the grip and security of our Savior. However, John 10:27 also says, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.” If a professed believer is not following the Lord Jesus, it more than likely means that he/she does not belong to Him. For instance: Some today preach, and many believe, that sex outside of marriage whether heterosexual or homosexual sex is okay as long as there is “love” between the persons involved. This was the attitude in Corinth and the Apostle Paul put the hammer down on it quickly. God does not tolerate any ongoing sin in the believer’s life. Proof of this is in 1 John 3:9: “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him: and he cannot (practice as a way of life) sin, because he is born of God.” We all make mistakes now and then, but that is not what this verse is speaking about. Rather, what Jesus is referring to here is the reality that when Jesus is at home, living in a believer’s life, it is impossible for that believer to continually ignore God’s prompting and go on sinning. When we see someone who breaks away from the faith and lives in a lifestyle of sin, the question is never “Did he lose his salvation?” but rather, “Was that person ever saved in the first place?”

Furthermore, this passage in Revelation, as well as others, teaches us that the Lord has said to repent, turn around and do it my way, or I will come in personal discipline of each individual.

Here’s the second lesson we can take away from this passage, and especially from the rewards that Jesus promises for those who are overcomers or seek Him first, is that He desires (more than you can imagine) for you to experience an even greater depth of intimacy with Him than you may be experiencing now. Look at 1 Corinthians 2:9. In this passage, the Apostle Paul reminds us, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” There are so many wonderful promises that God has made to those who choose to make Jesus their Lord, who choose to be “overcomers,” to those who choose to take to heart the Lord’s instructions found in these letters. There are so many that we can’t even conceive of them all.

What’s more important is to understand God’s heart toward you. What He greatly desires for you to experience is a greater and deeper personal intimacy with Him. At the heart of our loving heavenly Father is the desire to bless your life as a Christian for faithfully following Him, rather than to discipline you if you don’t Why not take advantage of His desire to bless and enrich your life here and in eternity rather than settle for compromising with this world’s priorities and receiving His discipline? Why not make His priorities our priorities in life, and be rewarded for them?

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