Synopsis: In Christ’s letter to the church in Pergamum, recorded in Book of Revelation 2:12–17, we see a church commended for holding fast to Jesus in a city saturated with idolatry, yet rebuked for tolerating compromise within. Surrounded by false worship and cultural pressure, they lived where “Satan’s throne” was, and some even died for Christ. Yet others quietly assimilated, following false teaching like Israel in the days of Balaam. The message is clear: we must live in the world but not be of it. Christ calls his church to courageous distinctiveness, communal repentance, and enduring faith with the promise of eternal reward.

Text: Revelation 2:12-17
Date: January February 22, 2026

Introduction

High Priestly Prayer: In John 17, we have recorded what we call the High Priestly Prayer. It’s Christ’s great prayer before his death for the entire church throughout all ages. And in the midst of that prayer he has these words:

John 17:16–18 “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”

At the heart of those few verses is the idea that Christians are to be a peculiar people, who live in this world but are not of this world. We live in Chicago, but we are not of Chicago. Our lives are deeply embedded in many of the systems of the city, and we are deeply relational bent into people’s lives who are far from Christ, loving them as friends and caring for them as neighbors, all while being totally different.

Illustration – Painting: It’s a bit like an oil painting. If you could imagine a canvas covered in blue, and right in the middle is this circle of white, the church in the midst of a foreign culture. Rather than a hard line separating the blue from the white, the idea is that a master artist feathers the edges. The way it is supposed to work is that the purity of the white feathers into the the surrounding and has a permeating effect on it. But of course, the danger with living in the world is that if we’re not careful the brush strokes can go the other way. The blue of the canvas can be feathered into the purity of the white circle and corrupt the church, corrupt her purity, corrupt her witness.

Personal: How do we live in the world, with hearts purified by God, being sent as ambassadors into every nook and cranny of the city, while not becoming part of the world and allowing it pollutionary effect to corrupt us, to taint us?

Context: Today we continue in our sermon series in the book of Revelation. We are in the midst of the seven letters that Christ has written to seven churches spread out across what Asia Minor, what is now called Turkey. In our first letter to Ephesus, we saw how they were a fading church who had lost their first love. Last week, Thomas preached on the letter to Smyrna, which was a persecuted church. Today’s letter was written to a city called Pergamum. And they are a worldly church, a little too much of Pergamum has crept into their life, rather than the church creeping into Pergamum.

Big Idea: The main idea of this letter is so simple that we have likely heard it said a hundred times. But today I want examine it and push it into us. That is that “We must live in the world, but not be of the world.”

Meaning & Application

AN EXAMPLE OF THOSE WHO HAVE MANAGED THIS WELL

First, where is this church thriving?

Revelation 2:13 “I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.”

Satan’s Throne: What a fascinating description of the city of Pergamum, the city “where Satan has his throne.” Three times Jesus says this. How literally to take this, scholars are largely divided. Is this a reference to a spiritual reality, that Satan had setup his headquarters during that time in that city? Perhaps it is. Satan is a created being. He is not omnipresent, like God. We learn from the prophet Daniel that Satan’s dominion is ordered geographically, with spiritual forces having domain over regions and over nations. Perhaps though, this is more simply a reference to the extreme wickedness of the city of Pergamum.

Array of Gods: What do we know about Pergamum? Pergamum, like many cities throughout the Roman Empire, but especially in this city, had an entire array of gods and goddesses that permeated the culture and the religious landscape, and the day to day life of the average citizen. Today, you can walk through the ancient ruins of Pergamum and see with your own eyes the relics of the shrines to these false gods.

Zeus: The ancient massive altar to Zeus was in Pergamum. Zeus was considered the King of Kings, the highest of the gods. He was the god of lightning and thunder. If you needed something done, you go to Zeus.

Dionysis: The temple Dionyses was in Pergamum. He was the god of wine and revelry. At the festivals to Dionysis, every type of debauchery was present. The alcohol and the orgies and the violence often would be so extreme that people would commonly die at these events.

Athena: Athena was the goddess of wisdom. So if you needed counsel and advice for yourself or for your family, you would visit her.

Asklepius: The famed Greek God of healing had a rather famous sanctuary here in Pergamum. It was a sort of primitive hospital, where patients would be brought in and laid down in a huge religious ceremony with many other sick individuals, and snakes would be released to crawl over them. This might sound gross and archaic, but actually if ever you visit a hospital today and you see the image of a pole with two snakes wrapped up around it, that image is an ode to Asklepius, the greek God of healing.

Emperial Cult: And of course, being a part of the Roman Empire, there were all kinds of ways to offer worship to Caesar who was considered a god to be worshipped along with the many other gods of the day.

In Short – Difficult: In short, Pergamum was saturated in daily behavior and activity that was overtly anti-Christian. And so to be a Christian who was trying to live your life in that city, raise your kids in that city, do business and trade in that city, have a good meal out with your wife in that city, enjoy the benefits of the city, it was going to be tricky to navigate how and where to draw the lines, between “being in the world but not of the world.”

Antipas: While persecution in this city was not extreme at this point, Jesus references at least one well known Christian who had already been killed for his faith, a man named Antipas. Who was Antipas? We’re not certain, but there is an early church legend, that he was an early pastor serving in the city of Pergamum. He was executed horrifically by being burned alive in a hollowed out, brazen, life-sized statue of a bull, which was heated slowly from below.

Holding Fast: Jesus writes to them and says, “Even when that happened, you stayed courageous. You did not deny me. You held fast to my name.”I love that image of “holding fast to Christ’s name!” My mind goes races to all those times I’ve been on an airplane that has hit strong turbluence, and your hands grip the bars on either side of your seat. You know there’s nothing you can do to alleviate the turbulence, you just have to see it through, but you hold on, you cling to those bars. Jesus commends this church in Pergamum for holding on to “his name.”

Precious: What a precious gift the name of Christ is. Many of you know what it means to “hold fast to his name” when trials have come your way. The whole world seems to rock around you, and you simply recite to yourself that precious name. “Jesus is for me, what can stand against. Jesus died for me, therefore nothing cans eparate me from his love.”

Wrap Up: In Christ’s commendation of this church we see that, on the whole, they are a church that is living in a very difficult anti-Christian world, but they are not of that world. They hold the name of Jesus, even when it hurts. May we be that church!

AN EXAMPLE OF THOSE WHO HAVE FAILED

While this is a high commendation, it is apparently not true of everybody in the church. Jesus says the following:

Revelation 2:14–15 “But I have a few things against you: 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. So also [in the same way] you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.”

Hold Fast: Some are “holding” the teachings of Balaam. That is the exact same root word that is used up in verse 13 when it says that the church “holding fast” to Christ’s name.

Nicolaitans: What seems to be happening here is that there is a group of teachers in Pergamum called the Nicolaitans. We actually met them back in Revelation 2:6 in the Christ’s letter to the Ephesian church. It seems this Nicolatian sect was spreading. While the Ephesian church is commended for recognizing them as false teachers and refuting them according to God’s Word. The Church in Pergamum has a number of folks who have started to follow their teaching. If you recall from our study a few weeks ago, it is likely that the Nicolaitans were calling themselves “Apostles.” They were claiming to be teachers of Christianity. But in fact they were false apostles, and they did not speak for Christ. And Christ says that what the Nicolaitans have done to the Church in Pergamum is very similar to Balaam did to Israel in the Old Testament.

Balaam Oracles: You might not be familiar with that story, so let me tell it to you. The story takes place the wilderness years of Israel. Israel had escaped from slavery in Egypt, and they were wandering through the desert. As they wandered through the desert they would often come into near proximity with some of the surrounding nations who feared them because they were such a big size, and because those nations had heard about their God and all the miracles he did in Egypt. One of those nations was Moab, and their King was a man named Balak. Balak hired a pagan prophet name Balaam to go and curse Israel. On three occasions God stopped Balaam from cursing Israel and would only let him bless Israel.

Stumbling Block: But the story doesn’t end there. In Numbers 25, we read that a great tragedy occurred among the people of God. As our text today says, “Balam taught Balak how to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel…” In other words, that false prophet Balaam was not able to pronounce a curse over them, but apparently he turned back to Balak and said “Look, here’s how you take em down. Place a stumbling block for them, a snare. Show them a good time. Bring your women, your wine. Appeal to their senses and they assimilate with you, and you can take them down from within” And so we read in Numbers 25:1-9 the following

Numbers 25:1–9 “While Israel lived in Shittim, the people began to whore with the daughters of Moab. These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel… those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand.”

Yoked to Baal: At the center of that passage is one horrifying little verse, verse 3. “So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor.” Baal was a wicked false god of the nations, whom Israel was supposed to stand vehemently against, to reject, to have nothing to do with. Baal worship involved child sacrifice and mutilation. At the center of the Israelites decision to assimilate with Moab was rejection of their own God, and an embracing of Baal. This reminds of James words in the New Testament.

James 4:4 “You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

We are in the world, but not of the world. The line of separation must be very clear. We must live in Chicago, but not assimilate with Chicago to such a degree doctrinal, moral, and cultural distinctiveness. Jesus says in verse 16:

Revelation 2:16 “Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.”

War Against Them: Two thoughts here.

Communal: Notice, the command is for the entire church to repent of the sins of a few within the church. This is very communal, and therefore it makes us uncomfortable. The Church as a whole has already been commendend, but the fact they’re permitting this false worship to go on unchecked and unrepented of within the church, is a call from Christ for the whole church to repent. And this chase, repentance would have meant casting out the members of the church who were engaged in such abominable behavior.

War Against Them: Second, notice that Jesus does not say he will war against the entire church of Pergamum. He will war against “them.” The rest of the church is holding fast to his name even if they have not properly repented of this sin. Jesus will not war against those holding fast to his name. But to those in the church, who are simultaneously assimilating into godless systems, Jesus will come and make war against them with the sword of his mouth.

Sword of My Mouth: Jesus is pulling from the description of him in verse 12, where we see the double edged sharp sword coming from his mouth. His words define the line. His Words define rihgt and wrong, just and unjust, moral and immoral, godly and ungodly. Just as he did in the days of Balaam, he will bring his justice to the situation.

The Challenge for Us: Let’s fastforward to our day and age and consider these words of warning and how they might apply to us as 21st century Christians. We are to be in the world, but not of the world. Navigating life in 21st century Chicago, is just as perilous (if not more) as navigating life in 1st century Pergamum. The reason I think its more perilous is that Pergamum had an advantage in that so much of the society’s norms were built around overt false gods (Zeus, Athena, Dionysis, Asklepius, and so on). So while there were some questions that were legitimate gray areas that needed good pastoral answers to, for a lot of it the average Christian who was just living their life could pretty easily say “Don’t go to the Zeus temple.” The challenge for us is that the exact same landmines exist all around us, they just don’t go by the name Zeus and Athena anymore, they go by more modern sophisticated names.

List: I am tempted here to give a lot of practical day to day wisdom for how to do this. Specifically what to avoid and what not to avoid. There is space for that and I do that often. But today I want probe the kinds of questions we should be asking ourselves as Christians, that I think we often don’t. Some of these questions might make you uncomfortable

What activities are permissable on the Sabbath (Sunday)?

What music or media blurs the line between your holiness and the world’s pollution?

What clothes ought we wear to maintain holy standards before God?

What political ideologies would be sinful to support? (As much as we would like to live in a world where politics is simply a matter of preference, it isn’t. Policy is an effort legislate morality, and God’s Word defines morality. We can not just say “Vote for Jesus” and pretend like we’re Christians. The issues matter, and the Bible informs them).

What methods are appropriate for a Christian to think about mental health? Can a Christian wholesale adopt the way the world talks about mental health, or are there any lines that we should be aware of, that should separate us.

Where and how should I steward and invest my money in order to do so in a godly way?

How do utilize AI, and what boundaries should I place in my life so as to be steward my mind and my ethics?

What is a godly way to manage social media? How much time am I sinking into social media? What are my eyes viewing on social media?

Here’s the great challenge that was facing the church in Pergamum and is facing us. There will always be Nicolaitans out there, false teachers that will answer all those questions, using parts of the Bible to justify their answers, with an answer that basically affirms all your initial thoughts, requires no change, no repentance of how you were thinking, no realignment to the word of God. It’s far easier to follow the Nicolaitans, and avoid being a trouble-maker!

Why We Do This: Why? Why is it so appealing to us as Christians to follow Nicolaitans?

Lack of Theological Reflection: The first is because of a lack of theological reflection. This is huge! We are Christians. Part of what it means to be a Christian is to rightly divide the Word of Truth, God’s Word. Modern Christians make very little of holding rich and deep theology faithfully. Even pastors. I cannot tell you how many pastors I have made angry in the last ten years for refusing to bend where God’s Word does not bend. We can’t bend our theology to fit modern culture. At this church we push hard into laying a rich theological foundation so that we can understand these things in honor God.

Theology: In March, I’ll be teaching a series of classes on Theology that will likely run up through summer. Be there. Come hungry, to learn, reflect with the class, and apply in your life.

Blog & Podcast: Every week I try to put resources out for you, blogs and podcasts in the weekly newsletter, that help you think through how to apply the word of God in our daily life. These are intended to pastor you faithfully, unashamedly, according to God’s Word.

Fear Being the Social Cost: For some, just like in Pergamum, I think there is a fear of being socially outcast, which is a legitimate fear. We know deep down in our hearts, and really want to honor Christ in our hearts. But we find ourselves in situations when to be clear on our convictions means being socially weird, or socially labeled. And so we water down the edges a little bit, we participate just enough to try to fit in.

Really Desire It: For some still, it is actually desire and affections. We want the world. We want to scroll more and more social media because it feels good. And there is a numbing effect on our heart for God, that we don’t realize we are being yoked to Baal.

Christ the Example: I confess, these lines are hard for me to draw. But where do we turn? Is there an example for us that we can look to of how to do this well? The example is Christ. Christ was perfectly in this world, but not of the world.

Embedded in Sinners Lives: Christ was in the world moving towards all kinds of people. He had a firm and unwavering commitment to holiness but that did not hinder him from being deeply embedded in all kinds of people’s lives. He dined with those whom others considered so unclean that they wouldn’t go in the same house. His own disciples were former fisherman, tax collectors, and political zealouts. He never affirmed their sin. He never participated in their sin. He never laughed at their sin. But he was embedded in people’s lives.

Religious Leaders: Christ stood unashamedly on clear doctrinal convictions on the issues of their day. When asked about matters of divorce, which religious/political view on divorce was correct. He settled the matter, and made a lot of enemies in the process. He didn’t shy away from the debate. He took it head on with scripture as the platform that he stood upon.

Tempation: The Devil tempted in the wilderness with all kinds of wordly offers. At one point the devil offered to give him all the kingdoms of the world. Christ quoted scripture, and the Devil fled from him.

Children: He loved children, and was never too busy for them. When the disciples suddenly thought they were important than they really were, and they tried to keep the kids away, Jesus said “Let the children come to me.”

Loved & Hated: Sometimes people loved him, and the crowds would swarm around him. And you can just imagine smiling and enjoying the rich fellowship of good friends. Other times everyone abandoned him, they labeled him, they rebuked him, but he wasn’t of the world, so he was fine with that. He wasn’t trying to please them. He was trying to honor God.

Arrested & Killed: And ultimately Christ’s commitment to unwavering truth and love, caused to be betrayed by one of his closest friends, falsely accused though he was innocent, scourged, mocked, and crucified.

You might here this all and think to yourself? Is it worth it? That’s a hard life!

A HOPEFUL PROMISE FOR THOSE WHO ENDURE

Well, look at the final verses of this passage. Christ says,

Revelation 2:17 “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, 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.’”

White Stone: What is this white stone? Commentators are divided on it. There were a number of traditions in the ancient where white stones were utilized that this could be a reference to. Some think it is a reference to the stones in the high priests’ breastplate in the Old Testament. Some think it is a reference to the old Greek games (like our modern olympics) where the winner of an event was given a white stone with a special name on it. There is one traditional interpretation that I am particularly fond of. Legend says that in those days when a king would throw a feast, the invitations would go out on a white piece of marble. And on that piece of marble would be the name of the person invited. A carrier would travel across the land, delivering the invitations.

Christ is looking to those who will suffer in some degree for their commitment to Christ, and he is saying “Hold firm to my name. Because one day a carrier is going to deliver a bright white piece of marble to you. And on that marble is not your earthly name, but its a new name, its your heavenly name. And when you see it, you’ll understand it. That invitation is not simply to a feast with the king, it is to an eternal feast, with King whose name is above every other name.

Is it Worth It: Is it worth it? It depends where your eyes are fixed. If your eyes are fixed on what you get in this world, then the answer is a resounding no. It is far more difficult to follow Christ than to go with the flow. But if your eyes are fixed on your eternal life, which will be here before you know it, then the answer undoubtedly yes.

Conclusion

Christians must be in the world but not of the world. We are not called to be hermits shielding ourselves from every possible impurity that lurks behind the shadows. That would be impossible, and Jesus did not do that. We embrace the city as our home. We raise our kids in the city. We love the people of the city. But we wisely do not let ourselves assimilate with the city. This is a worship issue. To whom will we hold fast? May it be Christ!