Jump Start # 3148

Revelation 2:15 “Thus you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.”

Our verse today centers around the church at Pergamum. The hood was raised and the Lord was revealing some deep, deep troubles that would change the direction and even the future of that church. Just nine verses before, the church at Ephesus was praised for hating the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. God hated that false teaching. But here, the church at Pergamum was embracing and accepting that very doctrine. They were accepting what God hated.

There are a series of lessons that we ought to see here:

First, each congregation is independent and separate. How well this is illustrated with the Nicolaitan doctrine. One church hated it and another church held to it. There are lots of ideas and theories about what the doctrine of the Nicolaitans was, many lean heavily towards an early form of gnosticism. Whatever it was, the Lord hated it. The Ephesians hated it. But not the folks at the Pergamum church. They loved it.

We see right here that the organizational system of God allows each congregation to determine what they will practice and accept. There is no hierarchy, governing board, disciplinary council, or organization that keeps every congregation on the same page, going the same way. I have a friend who owns a Chick-fil-a store. He cannot fry you a hamburger and sell it to you at his store. Corporate won’t allow that. His store must follow the guidelines of the corporation or else he could lose the store. Congregations are not a franchise of some larger corporate structure. Our only bylaws are the New Testament.

This means each congregation must decide for themselves how closely and how accurately they want to follow the Bible. Some do a great job with this. Others are a bit loose on some things and still others, haven’t been close in decades. A name on a sign doesn’t mean much. What mattes is how close and serious they are about following the N.T. pattern.

Second, why would some hold to the doctrine of the Nicolaitans if the Lord hated it. That’s a great question. We are not told why. But, the same could be asked today of some of us. Why do we hold to some things that are very questionable, if not plainly out of line with the Scriptures? It may be that what is taught is comforting and allows us to keep one foot in the world. It may be that the one teaching it is someone very impressive and such a pied piper that we are under his spell and would not question anything that he says. There is a lot of strange things being said today and much too often we give someone a pass because “he is one of us.” And, that’s the greatest danger. Rather than searching the Scriptures as we ought to, we listen to the charisma of a slick and smooth speaker and before long we’ve taken one or two steps away from the Scriptures. There is a lot of emphasis upon feelings today. Feeling your body tingle as you pray, hearing God speak in your ear, seeing signs that God has shown you, these kind of statements are coming not from the world, but our own brethren, and worse, some are smiling, agreeing and accepting these twisted thoughts. A few verse taken out of context are sprinkled on top to give the appearance that this is what the Bible teaches. Does God answer your prayers by sending a tingling sensation in your body? Could you prove that Biblically?

Why do some hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans? Simply because they have allowed themselves to be swayed by a slick salesman and they haven’t searched the Scriptures as they ought to.

Third, the wisdom of God allows opposite churches to exist. Ephesus hated the Nicolaitan doctrine. Pergamum held to the Nicolaitan doctrine. If there was some super structure over all the congregations and all the congregations had to toe the line with what the official board or headquarters said, then corruption at the top would corrupt all the churches. Not God’s way. If you want to hold to the Nicolaitan doctrine you can, but you won’t be right with God, and you won’t be right with God’s people.

So this tells us that I need to get into the depth of what a church is practicing before I throw my allegiance in with them. Much too often, a family just heads to the closest church building to their home. The people are friendly. Worship seems ok. But are they holding to Nicolaitan doctrine? Serious questions and investigation needs to take place before one makes the final decision. Why does this matter? If I can worship there and the people are nice, isn’t that all that matters? Is it? Does it matter what we teach? What about doctrine? What about Nicolaitan teachings? What about the Holy Spirit? What about grace? What about salvation? What about worship? What about divorce? What about fellowship? What about closeness to God’s word? Does it matter? Is it ok to hold to something that God hates? It ought to matter to us.

Jesus didn’t give Pergamum a pass on the Nicolaitan doctrine. They were told to repent or else I’m coming and making war. Serous words for a serious problem. It does matter. It should matter.

It’s time for shepherds who lead God’s people and the faithful of God to understand that a smiling face, a charismatic presentation, and likable personality, may be nothing more than someone selling poison right before our eyes. Someone was teaching Nicolaitan doctrine to Pergamum. And, he was so good that the church was accepting it and embracing it. A pied piper then and pied pipers today.

Hating the Nicolaitan doctrine or holding to it? Are we willing to draw lines in the sand and declare that we stand with God? It’s time to think about these things. Growing crowds. Sizeable followings. Enthusiastic responses does not make Nicolaitan doctrine right. It doesn’t mean God looks the other way.

The legendary Texas preacher, J.D. Tant, ended many of his articles in the early 1900’s with the line, “we are drifting.” Are we?

Roger

Jump Start # 1014

Revelation 2:15 “So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolatians.

The book of Revelation was written to seven specific churches. Theories abound about what those seven churches represent. Some feel that they illustrate cycles all churches go through. Others see church history represented by those seven churches. I tend to think that they were seven real churches and what is said happened to be what was going on. Sometimes a person can read too much into things and conspiracy theories and speculations are fed off of our imaginations more than what the text actually says.

Our verse today is taken from things that were said to the Pergamum church. There were some there who held the teachings of the Nicolatians. Again, all kinds of ideas float around about what the “Nicolatian teachings” were. I’m not sure. What I see is that the church at Ephesus hated the deeds of the Nicolatians (v. 6). God also hated the deeds of the Nicolatians (v. 6). Yet, here at Pergamum, there were some who believed in teachings that God hated.  Very odd in my book. Very strange.  All of this tells us a few important facts.

• Every congregation is separate and unique from others. Some congregations may be opposite in what they are doing. Ephesus hated Nicolatian deeds. Pergamum held to Nicolatian teachings. A person cannot use a wide sweeping generalization about the status of churches, because they are different. It is easy for someone to look at one congregation, usually the one that they attend, and conclude no churches are growing these days. For some congregations that is true. Others, many others, are adding on to their buildings because of growth. Saying churches are weaker today than they were in the last generation, again is a broad generalization that often isn’t true.

• What each congregation needs is different. Ephesus was doing well when it came to Nicolatian issue. Pergamum wasn’t. Ephesus had other problems. One size fits all solutions doesn’t work for all places. Teaching programs, the type of sermons, the specific goals will be different in each congregation based upon what is needed in each place. Often some will try to copy what is being done in one place and use it in another place, and it doesn’t work as well. People, needs, situations are different. Wise leaders will look specifically at the their people and make decisions upon what is before them, not what is being done elsewhere.

• Christians need to be continually taught. Our verse states that at Pergamum there were “some” who held the teaching of the Nicolatians. It doesn’t seem that everyone was, just “some.” That itself tells us that the church was some what divided and not everyone was on the same page. I expect there is some of that in nearly every congregation. It’s hard to know what everyone believes. Some don’t express it and it’s hard to know what they think. Now what these “some” did with the Nicolatian teaching is the key. Was this something that they believed before they became a Christian and they just never gave it up? Was this something that they read or heard and picked up without thinking it through? Did this teaching find a foothold among those young in faith? What would they do with this? Would they try to influence the rest who did not hold this teaching? Would they try to turn the whole church on this? Remember, God hated that teaching (v. 6). What these folks were believing was something that was false, dangerous to their faith, and not part of the Christian system. They would not have learned this from the Bible because the Bible doesn’t teach what God hates. This was a serious problem. If not handled correctly and carefully, a division would easily take place. The work of shepherding involves teaching and correcting. It often is difficult work, as in the situation at Pergamum, some within the church would have to be shown why Nicolatian teachings were not part of God’s will. Would that be well received? Would that turn ugly? Would they be stubborn and refuse to listen? It is much easier to ignore things like this and hope they go away, but they never do. Little problems become big problems because things are ignored.

• There has always been weird ideas, false ideas, crooked teachings floating around that some folks seem to gravitate to and hold on to. False teaching is the way of Satan. It takes us away from God. It makes us think we are right when we are not. Slick preachers, smooth talkers, those that seem to be enlightened and intellectual have a following. For some, they tire of the old ways and they are always looking for something new and different. Some love to live on the fringes. They look for new ways to see things. They like to be pioneers in thought. My advice is simply get over it. After 2,000 years there is not going to be any new discoveries, new ways of looking at things, that is going to change what the Bible says. I’ve read books that are based upon a new way of looking at things. They are new. Insights into the times, some are now saying, changes how we look at some of the verses. Really? Does that mean, until now, no one has known what God says? Only until now, based upon external studies of lands, languages and customs, do we really know God’s will? I doubt that. What about the guy in the 1200’s who didn’t know all that stuff? Was he hopelessly in a spiritual fog because he did not know the truth of what God says? Sorry, I can’t buy that. Satan loves to get us excited about new thinking, new words, new ways. Jeremiah said, “Ask for the ancient paths.” False ways is nothing new.

• Each person and each congregation is responsible for knowing the will of God. We need to stop being spoon fed on Sundays by the preacher. We need to dig into God’s word. Do our homework. Chase down answers to questions and find out for ourselves. When we do that, Nicolatian teachings won’t have a chance among us. We’ll see it for what it is. Those who don’t know are the ones most likely to fall under the spell of false teaching.

• God loves us, even when we believe something that He hates. Pergamum was told to repent. God wanted them to do right. God always holds out the hope that we will do right. He never slams the door shut and is through with us. We often need to change. We often need to get our act together. God is patient. God is waiting. It mattered. Nicolatian teachings were wrong. God didn’t tolerate it. God didn’t look the other way. Dump it. Get rid of it. Repent. The age of tolerance doesn’t fly when one reads the Bible. God has “one faith” (Ephesians 4). Jesus is “the way” (John 14). This is not “have it your way.” It’s God’s way or the highway. The spirit of tolerance is Satan’s gospel, not God’s. Get Biblical. Do things the Bible way. That’s what pleases God. Stop using pretty words and call sin what it is, sin. Some are not different, they are flat out wrong. Some do not see things in a different way, they see things in a wrong way. Follow the Bible. That’s the call for all of us.

Nicolatian stuff—Ephesus hated it, Pergamum held to it. How strange. How strange some things are today.

Roger