See if you recognize any of these characteristics:

I realized a number of years ago that it didn’t matter if I was against all the things I should be against, if I wasn’t for anything. 

Ephesus’ lovelessness manifested itself in another kind of sin: not just a lack of life-giving fellowship but a lack of life-giving witness.  The church was so busy battling and protecting and defending, that they had turned inward to self-protection and suspicion.  They were navel-gazers, with no vision or purpose outside themselves.  They were great at keeping the world out of the church, but they were terrible at taking the church out into the world.

It is sad but true.  Theologically astute churches and theologically minded pastors sometimes die the death of dead orthodoxy and grow sterile and cold, petrified as the “frozen chosen”, not compromising with the world, but not engaging it either.  We may think right, live right, and do right, but if we do it off in a corner, shining our lights at each other to probe our brother’s sins instead of pointing our lights out into the world.  The possible outcome may be that we will grow dim as a church, and our light will eventually be extinguished.

I dare say that most emergent Christians either came from Ephesus churches or perceive them to be the overwhelming problem in the Christian West.  The emerging church sees loveless, lightless, listless churches everywhere and rebukes them.  Where such churches exist, their rebuke is justified (though not the emergent remedies).  But it also seems clear to me that emerging leaders are blind to the failings of Pergamum and Thyatira churches.

The church at Pergamum had one main strength.  They were faithful in witness.  It was not popular to be a Christian in Pergamum (Satan dwelt there, after all). And yet, the church did not renounce the name of Jesus.  They were strongest in the very areas where Ephesus was weakest.  The church at Ephesus didn’t love anymore.  They turned their lights inward on each other instead of out in the world.  But the church at Pergamum held together.  They were loyal and did not turn on each other when they faced persecution.  They were bold in their witness to an enemy culture.  They would tell you about Jesus and stand up for him, even if it cost them their lives.

But they were undiscerning, which is why Jesus introduced Himself as Him who has the sharp two-edged sword.  The Christians at Pergamum didn’t have a keen eye for orthodoxy and moral uprightness like Ephesus.  They held to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.  In short, they had been deceived.

If Ephesus was under-engaged with the culture, Pergamum over-identified with the culture.  The Christians in Pergamum bore witness to Jesus, but they had comprised in what it meant to follow him.  Undiscerning tolerance was Pergamum’s crippling defect.  Their indifference to religious and moral deviancy was not a sign of their great relevance to the culture, or their great broadmindedness, or a great testimony to their ability to focus on God’s love; it was a blight on their otherwise passionate, faithful witness.

We don’t know how Pergamum was deceived and why they tolerated the Nicolaitans.  Perhaps they were untaught, ignorant on some key aspects of discipleship.  Maybe Pergamum was filled with the kind of Christians that are always against rules: “Christianity isn’t about do’s and don’ts.  It’s about a relationship.”  (As if the relationship were not guarded and preserved by rules.  Try telling your wife after you’ve had an affair, “Come on.  I thought our marriage was about the relationship, not all these do’s and don’ts.”)  Pergamum reminds me of what can happen to young people that aren’t taught well or to youth movements that lack grounding in the Scriptures.  People get converted, sometimes dramatically, and they live vibrant, courageous, evangelistic Christian lives, but they are also confused, undiscerning, and antinomian.

Maybe the Christians at Pergamum were saying, “Hey look, the important thing is that we all love Jesus.  Don’t get hung up on secondary matters.”  Maybe they were in dialogue with the Nicolaitans, attending lots of warm-fuzzy meetings where they tried to understand each other and gain an appreciation for their differing perspectives.  Most likely, the cultural pressure was simply too strong.  Idolatry and sexual immorality were so rampant that they became like high places for the church at Pergamum.  They didn’t see the danger and the wickedness of what the false teachers were promoting, and so they became overly accommodating.

Ephesus was praised for their good deeds and strong work ethic.  Thyatira was even better.  They possessed the deeds that Ephesus had and the love that Ephesus lacked.  Thyatira was a vibrant church.  They loved, served, believed, and endured.  This was probably the kind of church you walked into and immediately felt like you belonged.  “Great to meet you.  Let me introduce you to my friends.  Here, I’ll show you how you can get plugged in, use your gifts, do ministry.  We’re so glad you’re here.”  It was that kind of church: friendly, caring, full of service to each other and probably to the community.  This church loved.  That’s the good part.

But there was a bad part too.  Their love was blindly affirming.  The big problem at Thyatira was tolerance.  They tolerated false teaching and immoral behavior, two things of which He who has eyes as piercing as fire and feet as pure as burnished bronze is fiercely intolerant.  Jesus says, “You’re loving, which is great, but your tolerance is not love.  It’s unfaithfulness.”

Thyatira was probably a church with lots of community programs, a concern for social justice issues, a desire to be inclusive.  But somewhere along the line, warm-heartedness overtook clear-mindedness.

Most Christians and most churches go liberal for one of two reasons.  Either they are disillusioned conservatives who have seen nothing but legalistic, angry fundamentalism; or they are passionate social activists who, in their desire to love everyone, end up rejecting nothing.  Thyatira’s problem was the opposite of Ephesus.  It is possible that emerging Christians are in danger of repeating Thyatira’s error: they love what Jesus loves but do not hate what Jesus hates.

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