It is good to be with you. We're going to be in Revelation chapter 2 this morning. If you're looking in the Pew Bible, that's page 1028. This is the letter to the church in Pergamum. Let's hear God's Word together. And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write, the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. 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 is killed among you, where Satan dwells. 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 they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore, repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. 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. Let's respond to God's word together with the refrain you see printed there in the bulletin. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Let's pray together. Father, it can be easy for us to dismiss words that were written many years ago to a different church in a different time with seemingly different challenges. Holy Spirit, work in us in a way today that we would not do that. for we are fallen image bearers like them, the congregants in Pergamum. We are just as prone to Satan's wiles as they were. Help us to see what those wiles are, to turn from them, and to be able by your grace, by your working Holy Spirit in us, to be called like you, Jesus. the faithful witness. Help us now, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. It is great to be with you. I'm here this weekend as Pastor Rick is leading Chestnut Mountain in a transition. You can see it in your bulletin insert. This transition between phases flourishes a church transition process. You as a congregation, you're just finishing the church health assessment phase. Thank you that so many of you participated in the survey. We got about half the people that called Chestnut Mountain home to participate. Thank you. We need your ongoing participation. You will have participatory opportunities. That's a step there. You will have participatory opportunities in each phase of our transition process, including the one that's coming up. So look for a letter that'll be coming out about how you can be involved in the next phase. In the church health assessment phase, we've been trying to answer two questions. Where has Chestnut Mountain been? So the question of history. And where is Chestnut Mountain now? That is, if Jesus were to write a letter to Chestnut Mountain and say, this is how I see you, what would that be? That's what we've been trying to answer these last couple of months. You're moving into what we call the envisioning phase. And envisioning, there's actually two questions as well. These are the two questions that the team that I trained yesterday, they're listed in the insert there for you. Yesterday, I trained your envisioning team. I helped them discover their backyard missionary muscle and began to train them how to use it. That team will be thinking carefully on behalf of the congregation about your community, the needs of your community, and how y'all can reach out with the gospel to your community. In the envisioning phase, we're also trying to answer two questions. Who are we and where are we going? The question of identity and direction. That second question, where are we going, you can try and figure it out also from a different perspective with two other questions. To whom has God sent us? To whom has God sent us? And how are we going to them? That's what we're trying to figure out in the envisioning phase. That's our calling as ambassadors of Christ expressed locally, here, geographically, around where the church facility is and where you live and work and play. What does it look like to serve as an ambassador of Christ here? This transition between phases provides a good opportunity for you as a congregation to take a sober look at yourselves, to repent where needed, to be encouraged today by allowing God's tender promises to fuel your sacrificial living for the sake of others. This letter to Pergamum in Revelation 2 is from Jesus to a church just like CMPC, in a culture just like that which is found here in Hall County. And Jesus' words here encourage the kind of thoughtful reflection appropriate. to a church in your current phase of congregational life as you look forward to a new pastor who's going to lead you out into the spiritual harvest here in Hall County. So let's look here at what God's given to us, and let's first hear the letter. If you didn't see on the insert, I'm an outline guy, so if you like to take notes, there's an outline here. I'm a fast-talking New Yorker. I'm gonna pack a lot into the next, oh, 20 minutes, so you may wanna take notes. All right, so let's hear the letter. Look with me at verse 12. And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write, the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword. Jesus in these letters, if you've studied these letters at all, always re-identifies himself in some way that will be helpful to the church that he's talking to. And in this case, what he says is, these are the words, my words that have come to the one who has the sharp two-edged sword. Sharp. A sword made to cut, but like a scalpel in the hands of a surgeon, cut to heal. Jesus' words are always, they do cut, but they cut to heal. That's Jesus' heart as he's sending these letters to these churches. Look at me, verse 13. I know where you dwell. So this isn't a God who is far away. He's unknowing of the challenges of your life or what's going on with you or what's going on here in Hall County or Chestnut Mountain or in CNPC. He is intimately aware. I know. The all-knowing God, the loving Jesus, I know where you dwell. And here he labels in Pergamum where Satan's throne is. That's interesting. It was especially pagan, you might say. And you're gonna see that they fall into some temptations to the pagan culture around them. Don't we seem to live in a place that is increasingly becoming especially pagan? Yeah, we do. Remember 1 Peter 5.18, that Satan is this roaring lion, he's looking to devour. but not just through the biggest things, but through the small compromises available in daily life. Don't mistake that. In reading through the Bible year after year, you come across a couple of these passages where Paul says, we know the wiles of the devil. And I always stop and I ask myself, do I? Would I pick one up if I saw it? Jesus says, I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. And he begins commending them. He says, yet you hold fast my name. As a church, they had mostly fled Satan, even in the face of what you'll see was life-ending persecution. Actually, something much more severe than what we face now. You hold fast my name. You did not deny my faith. It's important for us to ask ourselves in the daily living that we do and the people that we rub shoulders with, do they even know that we know Christ? Or could this be said of us? That functionally, to those around us, this is how we seem. At least in Pergamum, a lot of them had not done that. They'd held fast to his name. They didn't deny his faith. Even the days of Antipas, who was, we don't know exactly who he was, but he was somebody in the church who was a faithful witness, and he had been killed for his faith, martyred in this place where Satan dwells. This is critical, I think, that Antipas is killed among them, but he was a faithful witness. Non-gospel speaking Christians are non-threatening. Non-gospel speaking Christians are non-threatening. And for that reason, they generally don't get persecuted for their trusting Jesus as their only hope in life and death. So if you're experienced, you remember that Jesus says, not if you're persecuted, but he says, right, Richard, when. The expectation in the New Testament is if you speak the gospel to people that they will persecute you and that you will need Holy Spirit to enable you to not deny your faith and to remain a faithful witness in the place where Satan dwells. Here Jesus commends them that they had stayed faithful in their witness despite this external pressure against them from a pagan culture. So Jesus commends them, but then go on with me to verse 14. But I have a few things against you. All was not well. You have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam who taught Balak. You might remember this from Numbers 25 and 31, right? You can go back and read that sequence yourself. I'm sorry, the teaching of Balaam who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel. So they might do two things. They might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. If your ears are awake to the book of Acts, you'll recall that that's two out of the three things that are forbidden, three or four things that are forbidden to the Gentile believers coming to faith in Christ. But these were the temptations, to eat food sacrificed to idols and to practice sexual immorality. Any temptation in our culture to practice sexual immorality? I meant to look it up this week, but I forgot how big of an industry pornography is in our culture, how prevalent cohabitation premarital sex is, how prevalent same-sex distortion is in our culture. Well, think in a minute about why that is so attractive to us. We are not unlike them. We are just like them. has a couple things. One is this teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel. So also, verse 15, you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans. We don't know exactly what this teaching was. You can go and read the different commentaries and Bible encyclopedias, but here's the things that were obvious about this particular teaching. It taught people to be self-indulgent and to be compromised to the culture. It taught them to be self-indulgent, and compromise to the culture. Again, so far from our experience. So different than us. How are we tempted to be self-indulgent? How are we tempted to be compromised to the culture? As I look at my own heart and the work that we do as florists across the country, here's four quick ones that I see in myself and I see as we work with churches. Four quick ways that we're compromised, tempted to be compromised to the culture. Individualism. I live primarily in consideration of me. Contrast that with Jesus' call to love our neighbors as ourselves in Matthew 22, 34 to 40. Consumerism, fill in the blank for me. If I only had blank, then I'd be happy. Contrast that with Jesus' words in Luke 12, 15, that life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. The American dream. This is the functional thing most of us seek first because it's the water that we swim in that's invisible to us. Most Americans do this by default without even thinking about it. But contrast this with Jesus' words in Matthew 6.33 to seek first. His kingdom and His righteousness and all the things we typically seek first will be added to us. That we don't add the kingdom, the work of the church, the witness to unbelievers, our prioritization of those who do not yet know Christ. That's what it would be to seek first the kingdom. that we don't add that to an already full life, but that would be the first thing in life. Yesterday when we were training the envisioning team, we said, how do you know whether you're seeking first the kingdom? Calendar, checkbook, prayers. Who's on your calendar? Is it unbelievers? How do you spend your money? Is it for the sake of the kingdom? And who's in your prayers? and is it unbelievers who don't yet know Christ? That's how you know whether you're seeking first the kingdom. Calendar, checkbook, prayers. Last way we're tempted to be compromised to the culture, our comfort. This is so much the air that we breathe that has become invisible to us that functionally what we do is we try and live our most comfortable life now. You might contrast this with the many places. that Jesus talks about, the fact that our calling is to pick up our cross daily and follow him out to reach the least and the lost. These, friends, are the traits of our cults of 21st century American culture. As we fall into these things, this shows us how much we need Jesus. You see, Jesus didn't live in any of these ways. He lived perfectly in our place. He died horribly. He rose victoriously. He ascended triumphantly. And now we praise patiently for you and me at the Father's right hand that we wouldn't be compromised to the culture. What should our reaction be when I'm caught up short by the Lord when I see how compromised I am to the culture? Well, like those in Pergamum, we're called to repent and believe. And you should ask yourself, have I even begun that lifestyle where daily I'm looking at the ways in which my life does not measure up to the scriptures and I'm saying, Lord, I'm turning from that because in you is all satisfaction. And so I'm not buying any of that anymore. And I'm turning from that, and I'm saying, in you, Jesus, I have life. In you, as we'll think about in a second, I have the true manna. I am truly provided for. I trust in you. I cling to you. Is that daily lifestyle of repentance and faith, is that what marks your life? It's what Jesus expects will mark your life. How do we know? The next word in the letter. How's she to react when God calls you up short? What do you do? Therefore, repent, verse 16. Yes, Jesus uses the R word. Pretty frequently, actually. We should not hesitate to use the R word with ourselves and with those that we love. It's good for us to repent because we sin. I sin an awful lot. And so it's good for me to get used to repenting. Jesus says, verse 16, therefore repent. If not, if you don't repent, this is not a dead letter. I will come to you soon and war against them. Those who are against me, I will war against them with that sharp double-edged sword, the sword of my mouth. See, when Jesus comes with his sword, he comes to cut, to heal, but either you'll choose to be healed via repentance and faith, or you will be cut down. God doesn't mess around. One of the most sad things about the work that Flourish does is that we see churches that won't repent and God closes them. This is not a dead letter. I've seen it in action. Jesus doesn't mess around. He who has an ear, he who's choosing to listen, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. When Flourish comes and tries to help a church with a church health assessment, what we try and do is that we trust that Holy Spirit is at work among all of you. And that's why we survey you, that's why we interview you, and we just try and collect what Holy Spirit is saying through all of you and deliver that to a church's leadership. That is all we try and do, because we trust that the Spirit wants to say something to your church, and He wants to say it through all of you, and His work in and through all of you. That's our heart as a ministry. He who isn't here, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The Spirit wants you as an individual and all y'all as a church to hear both the convicting words in this letter, but also the assuring words. And so let's go on to the assuring words here, second and last. Let's allow God's tender promises to fuel your sacrificial living. That living is for the sake of others. It is these promises that encourage you to repent and believe on Jesus anew. And there's two promises here, very sweet ones, in the last half of verse 17. To the one who conquers, the one who sticks with Jesus, the one who doesn't give up being a faithful witness, the one who doesn't get compromised to the culture, to the one who conquers, I will, this is God promising, I will give some of the hidden manna. This hidden manna, of course, this is what was some of the manna that was given every day in the wilderness, right? And then some of it was put in the Ark of the Covenant as a testimony to the Lord. And what Jesus says is he's got a bite waiting for you. Well, in fact, he's got a bite waiting for you today. But he's got a bite waiting for you in the new heavens and new earth at his table. He's gonna hand you a bite of the hidden manna. Jesus, of course, is the true manna. That's what he says in John 6, 32. The bread that came down from heaven and our communion that we'll celebrate this morning is a rich foretaste of that. Why would Jesus promise this provision? Right, they had to wait every day for the manna. We're unsure. We're untrusting that the Lord will provide for us. And so what do we do? We provide for ourselves. That's the essence of idolatry. We trust something else than God. That's why we're tempted towards indulgence or distorted sexuality or compromise with the culture. We're providing for ourselves. That's the essence of idolatry. And so, because we trust something else, we worship and serve it, believing it can provide for our needs. But the Lord promises provision now and forever to those who are bold and witness, like Antipas, who live different than the prevailing culture. Even when you do that, and you face scorn and derision and, these days, possible cancellation. If you feel this temptation to provide for yourself, come to this table weak and ask to be fed. And you will be. This tender promise that'll give him some of the hidden manna is a way of God seeking to communicate, I can and will provide for you when you're tempted to self-provide. That's the first promise. Second promise, second tender promise. And I will give him a white stone. This is an odd thing, you can read more about it again in the commentaries and the Bible encyclopedias, but here's the way that God is using this, something that was prevalent in the culture, to say something very tender and breathtaking and beautiful. 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. This is breathtaking to me. I've spent a lot of time meditating on this. This is a promise of personal, thoughtful love now and forever. What this marvelously speaks of is the fact that God has an apropos, tender, loving, and personal pet name picked out for you. I have four children. Jacob, you're gonna notice a theme. Jacob, Jesse, Joseph, and Joy. And my wife's Julianne. Maybe one day I'll get to meet her, she's wonderful. But almost never do my four children get called by their actual names that are on their birth certificates. My oldest will be getting married next month, little proud of that. Actually goes by Jacobus. Jesse goes by Jessmeister, Joseph goes by Jojo, also known as the Edible Boy, if you know Trader Joe's. And Joy, well, she is Joy Abigail, she is her father's delight, and she has about a million different nicknames, the most unique of which would be, used to be Coconut Shrimpy. It's a long story, I'll tell you another time. The use in our culture, I don't know if other cultures use pet names, I suspect that we do, but the tenderness behind a pet name is marvelous. And that's the kind of name that God is storing up for you. Why? So that you would be convinced that you were loved uniquely and personally by God. That you can wake up and roll over in your bed like I did this morning, and you can actually believe, I am loved by God. Can you say that? Honestly, warmly, truthfully, believingly, amazed? I am loved by God. The God of the universe loves me. And that is stunning. Because there ain't no reason that God would set his love on me. Do you believe that? God is here trying to convince you that you're loved uniquely and personally. Why is this important? It can free you from needing to seek love from the unbelievers around you. that might cause you to shy away from speaking the gospel to them. Isn't that why we don't speak the gospel to people? Because we think they'll stop loving us. But if you're convinced and you believe I'm loved by God, you don't need that person's love. And actually, instead, you can love them because the most loving thing you can give somebody is the gospel of grace. And you and I both are called to love our neighbor. Now promises are an interesting thing. They're wonderful, they're glorious. Sometimes I hear people say, well, you know, I get that those are future promises, but what about now? See, we live in the age of quick fix, cash values, speedy everything. All that's good, pastor, but what about now? What about this afternoon? What about tomorrow when I face all these temptations that we thought about earlier? Is there anything for now? Yes, there is. Remember what the gospel teaches you. You have a father in heaven who loves you so much despite your sin that he sent his only son. I've got three sons, you can't have any of them. The father had one son and he sent him. You have a father in heaven like that. He sent his only son to earth for you because that was your only hope. You have Jesus, that son, he lived in your place and you get his record of perfection and he died in your place that every single one of your sins would be washed out of sight and you have Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit who comes and changes your heart and my heart, and then sticks around. He's not like a house flipper who kind of comes in, changes it all up, and then he's gone on to the next house. No. He comes and changes your heart from stone to flesh, and then he stays. Do you pray to Holy Spirit? You should. The third person, if you are a believer in Christ, the third person of the Trinity lives inside of you. That's what the scripture teaches. Do I understand that perfectly? No. Is it a truth I affirm? Absolutely. The third person of the Trinity lives inside of you to give you a desire to live different and the power to do so. There is hope for now, friends. Let's pray that God would enable us to lay hold of these tender promises for now and eternity that we might live sacrificially for the sake of others. Let's pray. Father, you have an amazing love that you set your love on screwed up people like me. Jesus, thank you that you raised your hand, you were willing to come and to live what was a very difficult life. Knowing in advance what that cup was that you were going to drink, that we might get to drink the cup we get to drink this morning. And Holy Spirit, how we need you. We need you to convince us that these things are true, to give us the courage and the willingness to repent and believe anew, and the desire to lay down these ways that we are tempted to compromise with our culture, and instead live for the sake of others. Help us to, in Jesus' name, amen.