Rev. Jared Buss
Pittsburgh New Church; April 28, 2024
Readings: Luke 10:38-42 (children’s talk); Revelation 2:12-17; Apocalypse Revealed §110
We’re in the midst of a series of sermons on the seven churches from the book of Revelation, and today we’re looking at the third church—the church called Pergamos. Here’s a quick refresher on what we’ve covered already. These seven churches take their names from seven cities in modern-day Turkey: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. These cities were centers of the early Christian church. But in the spiritual sense of the Word, these seven churches symbolize all of the different mentalities or different kinds of people that are able to receive the Lord, and be part of His New Church, which is a spiritual church, and isn’t bound to any earthly organization (AR §§41, 68, 69, 88, 153)
As I’ve said in a previous sermon, looking at the seven churches is useful for at least two reasons: For one, we might recognize ourselves in what the Lord says about some of these churches. And if we do, we can probably learn something about what we should and shouldn’t be doing. But nobody is going to resonate with all of the seven churches—and that’s the second reason why it’s useful to learn about them. The Lord’s church—the true church—is full of people whose strengths and weaknesses are different from our own. But all of them are called to the kingdom of heaven—and we need to know that. And if we want to love our neighbors wisely, it’s useful to understand how their spiritual needs might be different from our own.
As I said, today we’re looking at Pergamos, the church of the doer. We’ve already looked at Ephesus—the church of those who understand the truth, and fight for the truth, and value truth more than love (cf. AR §73). And we’ve looked at Smyrna, the church of those who value doing good, and don’t recognize that the good they do is colored by their false beliefs (cf. AR §§91, 97). Now we come to Pergamos. Here’s what the Lord says to this church: [read Rev. 2:12-17].
The teachings of the New Church say that Pergamos symbolizes people who “place everything having to do with the church in good works, and not anything in doctrinal truths” (AR §107). In other words, these are people for whom being good, or being religious, equals doing good deeds. They aren’t interested in doctrine. Maybe they’re the sorts of people who have no time for heady stuff. They’re doers. This emphasis on doing is even more blessed and powerful than it might seem to be. In the end, our lives will be measured by what we’ve done (or tried to do). The Lord tells every one of the seven churches “I know your works” (cf. Rev. 2:13), because that’s what counts. Our actions reveal our true character. As the Lord says in our recitation, a good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruits (Matt. 7:17); so, He says, “You will know them by their fruits” (v. 16).
There’s also something admirably solid about the action-oriented Pergamos mentality. These are people who aren’t interested in contemplating the truths of the church—so they don’t question the truths of the church. They accept that the Lord is the Lord and the Word is the Word. So the Lord says to them, “you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith” (Rev. 2:13; cf. AR §111).
But the Lord’s letter to Pergamos gets off to a rough start. He says, “I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is” (Rev. 2:13). That doesn’t sound so good. These words describe the effect of being totally disinterested in doctrinal truths. Action-oriented people sometimes dismiss doctrinal truth as “ivory tower stuff.” But truth is much more real than that: truth is spiritual light. And being disinterested in light is a problem.
Our next reading, which is from the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Church, from the book Apocalypse Revealed, describes the spiritual meaning of the first part of the Lord’s letter to Pergamos. We read: [§110].
The people represented by Pergamos do good works—or try to, at any rate—and that’s very much to their credit. But they walk in darkness. The doctrine that they have so little time for is the very thing that would show them how to do the good they wish to do. People like this are essentially gentiles, though they might call themselves Christians. They know the Lord, but they do not turn to Him; they have the Word, but they do not look for any truths in it (AR §110). And in the absence of the Lord and His Word, there is no light to guide our spirits.
It might be helpful to clarify the distinction between Pergamos and Smyrna. They’re pretty similar to each other: they’re both strong on the “good” side and weak on the “truth” side. Smyrna symbolizes people who try to do good works, but whose understanding of doctrine involves some fundamental falsities—falsities that foul up their efforts to do good deeds. Pergamos, on the other hand, symbolizes people who don’t bother trying to understand doctrine in the first place. So their minds aren’t tangled up in falsities, but they don’t really see any spiritual truths either. They don’t care about that stuff—they don’t go there. Those part of their minds are like unused rooms.
As I said last week, spiritual darkness is a problem not because the Lord judges us on the basis of what we know and don’t know, but because we need the light of truth in order to do good that is really good. Truth is just the servant of love: it is not supposed to be in charge. But it’s a servant that love relies on. This becomes overwhelmingly obvious if we accept that truth does for our spiritual lives what physical light does for our natural lives. If you try to put away the dishes, or to change the oil in your car, or to stitch up a wound while you’re in total darkness, you are probably going to do something wrong—and maybe something harmful.
The Lord tells the people of Pergamos that they have among them those who hold the doctrine of Balaam (Rev. 2:14), and also those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans (v. 15). Balaam and Nicholas symbolize the kinds of good that we can end up doing when we don’t have the truth to guide us. We’re told that the doctrine of Balaam symbolizes hypocritical works (AR §114). In the book of Numbers we learn that Balaam wanted to curse the children of Israel, but that the Lord required him to bless them instead (Numbers 22-24). Balaam did what the Lord told him to do, but he held on to his intention to destroy the children of Israel, and later on he found ways to lead them astray (Num. 25:1-3, 31:16) So Balaam did good on the outside, but intended evil on the inside—and that’s the definition of hypocrisy. Without the light of truth, we can’t see the selfish and destructive motivations that might lie within the ostensibly good deeds that we’re doing. But the people around us will feel the effects of those motivations. Hypocritical good leaves a bad taste in the recipient’s mouth.
The doctrine of the Nicolaitans symbolizes merit-seeking works (AR §§86, 115). Merit-seeking good isn’t as bad as hypocritical good—it isn’t deliberately evil, it’s just self-absorbed. To seek merit is to take credit for the good that we do, instead of acknowledging that all good is a gift from the Lord. When we seek merit, we end up doing good to prove how good we are—so the good things that we do are actually all about ourselves. Again, without the light of truth we can’t see that merit-seeking quality within ourselves. In the letter to the church of Ephesus, the Lord praises the Ephesians for rejecting the deeds of the Nicolaitans (Rev. 2:6). The Ephesians understand that merit-seeking good is not really good. Where the Ephesians fall down is in the practice of goodness. They’re so busy understanding it that they don’t do it.
The Pergamites might not understand as clearly as the Ephesians, but they know that action is what counts. And that emphasis on action is powerful. If the people who are represented by the church of Pergamos are willing to let the Lord’s light shine on their spirits, and are willing to repent of the merit-seeking and hypocritical motivations that that light reveals in them, they will be powerful servants of the Lord (cf. AR §116).
It’s easy to see the connection between the things that the Lord says about Pergamos and the story of Martha and Mary. Clearly it’s Martha who is the Pergamite in this story. The story says that she was “distracted with much serving” (Luke 10:40). What she was doing was good: she wasn’t sitting around on her cellphone while Mary listened to the Lord. She was serving. Dinner wasn’t going to cook itself. And if Mary sat around thinking about the Lord all of the time, while Martha did all of the work all of the time, it’s clear that Mary would be in the wrong. Martha’s willingness to serve was good. What she didn’t see was that if we’re to truly serve our neighbors, we have to sit at the Lord’s feet some of the time.
Martha’s behavior in this story illustrates how we sabotage our own good deeds when the Lord’s spirit is not with us. We all know why Martha was frustrated; we probably all relate to her, to one degree or another. But it’s also clear that she was feeling resentful and somewhat entitled. Instead of asking Mary for help, she complained about her sister in front of her sister. That wouldn’t have made Mary feel loved. Martha had tunnel vision: the chores were all she saw. She was serving people without paying attention to the effect that she was having on them. The Lord wants to open our eyes, so that we can see these kinds of things. He wants to lift up our faces, and teach us to see His children as He sees them. This is why we need to hold still sometimes—why we need to sit at His feet. This is why we need to read His Word, and go to church, and so on. We need to let Him teach us how to love His children, so that we don’t step on them in the name of getting the chores done. The good news, for the Marthas of the world, is that it’s so much easier for Him to teach us when we intend to use what we’re taught—when our spirits bend towards action. A Martha who also sits at the Lord’s feet from time to time becomes a powerful angel.
It’s clear that all of the different kinds of people described in the letters to the seven churches are able to be saved and go to heaven, if they listen to what the Lord says to them. But the book Apocalypse Revealed makes a point of saying that the people represented by Pergamos have the potential to become angels of the third or highest heaven—the heaven that is home to the wisest and most loving angels. The book doesn’t say that the people represented by the other churches can’t go to the third heaven; it simply makes a point of saying that if the people called Pergamos read the Word and turn to the Lord, they will be angels of the third heaven (AR §123).
In the letter to Pergamos the Lord says, “To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the hidden manna” (Rev. 2:17). And in Apocalypse Revealed we read:
The hidden manna that people will have who are engaged in good works and at the same time add doctrinal truths to the works, means a private wisdom, such as people have who are in the third heaven. For as these were focused on good works and doctrinal truths simultaneously in the world, they enjoy a wisdom beyond that of other angels, but a private wisdom, for it is engraved on their life and not so much on their memory. Therefore people of this character are such that they do not talk about doctrinal truths but practice them, and they practice them because they know them and also see them when others talk about them. (§120)
The will to do that characterizes Pergamos is a powerful thing. It’s clear that we need to seek the truth. The Lord is the light of the world (John 8:12, 9:15), and we need His light. But in the end, words are just words. Talk carries little weight. The Lord says, “You will know them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:16).
Amen.