Smyrna: Suffering for His Sake

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Transcript:

We’re going to be in Revelation chapter 2 this morning. Revelation chapter 2. And I’m not preaching on the end times this morning.

I started talking last Sunday morning about how a lot of times when I’m in church, I wonder how Jesus would react to what we’re doing. If Jesus walked through the doors of this church, or really any church I’m at, and He were to walk in here and be among us as we’re greeting each other, as we’re spending time together on Sunday morning, as we’re worshiping in song, as we’re studying his word, how would Jesus react? How would Jesus look at us and respond to what we’re doing?

Even outside of Sunday, the things that we do as a church throughout the week, the way we follow him throughout the week, how would Jesus respond? What would Jesus say if he came to our church? And it’s unfortunate that that, I mean, it’s a hypothetical question.

It’s not one we can have an answer to because he’s not walking the earth in physical form like he did during his earthly ministry. And yet we do see in the book of Revelation at the very beginning where Jesus spoke directly to seven different churches. And these may be symbolic of other things, but we do know these were seven real churches full of real people in seven real communities with real issues going on.

And Jesus addresses each of these churches according to what they were doing, according to what they were not doing, according to what they were doing well. He praises them according to what they were not doing so well. Sometimes he chastises them.

If they needed to be taken to the woodshed, he takes them. If they needed to be encouraged to do better, he encourages them. Jesus talks to seven real churches about how they’re following him.

And even though these were written to churches that are not us, I think we can look at these and see maybe similarities between our church, any church really, and one or more of these seven churches and sort of hold the mirror up to ourselves and say, what were they doing right that he commended them for? Are we doing those things? What were they maybe having some difficulty at?

Are we having the same difficulty? What does he tell them to do? What would he then tell us to do?

What were they just lousy at? And he told them, you need to fix this. and maybe we have the same issues.

And so I think as we look at these seven churches and we looked at the first one in Ephesus last week and how they were doing a lot of things right but they had lost their first love. They had forgotten the reason why they were serving. They had just started serving because it was really a sense of obligation.

We just need to keep a stiff upper lip and do the right thing. Well, you do the right thing because you love Jesus. You do the right thing because you love Him and you want to serve Him.

Jesus’ problem with the church at Ephesus was that they had forgotten their first love. They had forgotten their love for him that was supposed to be the reason why they did things. And really they were a church that was doing a lot of right things, but they were kind of dead inside as far as why they were doing them.

And I think that there’s an example in there for a lot of us, for a lot of churches. We can do a lot of things right, but we need to remember why we do them. And if it’s not driven by a love for Jesus Christ, then we’re really missing the whole point of what we’re supposed to be doing.

And so as we look at these churches, we can hold a mirror up to ourselves and say, what are we doing well? What can we improve at? What do we just flat out need to be corrected about?

And learn from their example. This morning we’re going to look at the church at Smyrna, starting in the latter part or the middle part of Revelation chapter 2. And when I was reading through this this week, it brought to mind a story from a few years ago.

Benjamin was about a year old. We had moved to Fayetteville just a few months before, so I was fairly new there. My health insurance hadn’t gone into effect yet.

And wouldn’t you know, he came up sick on a weekend evening. That always seems to be when the kids get sick, when the doctor’s office is closed. But we were in Fayetteville, no health insurance, and he started breaking out with these red spots all over his face and all over his chest and arms. And we knew it wasn’t chicken pox.

And we said, well, let’s go get him checked out. The urgent care places were closed. I said, we’ve got to go to Tahlequah.

We’ve got to go to the Indian Hospital. That’s the only place that’s going to be open. And that I’m not going to have to sell Benjamin to be able to afford the bill without insurance. So we loaded up the car, and he’s about a year old and doesn’t feel well.

And, you know, when they’re that young and they don’t feel well, they’re whiny anyway. But when they don’t feel well and don’t know how to tell you what’s wrong, I mean, they’re just miserable. and I don’t know if you’ve ever driven that road between Fayetteville and Tahlequah.

It’s not that far, but you go through some rugged wilderness territory, hairpin turns, and what really is not that far is the crow flies, takes about two hours. And so this slow, arduous journey through the mountains at night, and he’s miserable. You can tell he’s miserable the whole time.

And we get to Tahlequah, and he doesn’t understand what’s going on, and they’re trying to decide, does he have, they know it’s some kind of virus, But they’re trying to decide, is it mumps? Is it measles? He’d not had those shots yet.

They didn’t know. And so they had to draw blood. And folks, normally I am a voice of calm and reason in a crisis, somebody who takes charge and says, okay, this is what we need to do, until it involves my children and blood.

And Charla can tell you. Charla can tell you. Madeline bites her lip and there’s blood.

Benjamin ran into Madeline a while back, and there was blood gushing, and he’s screaming, and I’m yelling, Charlie, Charlie, you know, I just kind of lose it. Those are my babies. And when the blood is supposed to stay inside, and when the blood comes out, daddy goes all to pieces.

Daddy turns into a big baby when it involves his babies. Having to hold him. I am circling the airport and coming around to land on a point here in just a second, I promise.

Having to hold him while he’s being stuck multiple times because they’re having to draw blood, and they’re having to draw multiple things of blood, and then they come back because they’ve not gotten enough blood, and him feeling miserable in the car the whole way there, us having to sit and wait, him being stuck and them having to draw blood, and then he was miserable and he suffered and he hated it and it broke my heart watching him suffer and he did not understand why he was suffering. You know they look up at you. I don’t know if you’ve ever been there when a small child has blood drawn or they’re getting a shot.

They look up with that fear in their eyes. They don’t understand why they’re suffering. They just know it hurts and they don’t understand the reason.

There doesn’t seem to be a reason and yet we know there’s a reason. That blood was drawn to figure out if it was something very serious. Eventually they decided it was just some kind of virus that was going to have to run its course.

Something they said, we’ve never seen this before, which is always encouraging. But to know whether it was something serious like measles or mumps or what it was. They had to draw this blood.

There was a reason for the suffering, but he didn’t understand what it was. And so at that point, what is there to do as daddy but hug him and try to reassure him everything’s going to be okay. It’s only going to hurt for a little bit.

It’s going to be okay. You’re going to feel better. I promise we’re going to take care of you.

As I read through this passage where Jesus talks to the church at Smyrna, that’s the same sort of impression that I get from him in his approach to them about the things that they were going through. I know you’re hurting. It’s going to be okay.

I promise. This is not going to last long. It’s going to be all right.

He says in verse 8 of Revelation chapter 2, unto the angel of the church in Smyrna, write, These things saith the first and the last, which was dead and is alive. He’s identifying himself again. Remember last week when we talked about the church at Ephesus?

He identified himself and said he was the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand. These leaders of the church, even they were, I guess this is the right hand, even the leaders of the church, God is in control over them, and he walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. He’s there among his churches.

He’s identifying himself in a way that they needed to know and could understand. And so talking to the church at Smyrna, he says, I am the first and the last. We know that from elsewhere in the scriptures where he calls himself the first and the last. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the author and the finisher of our faith.

You know, we forget about this a lot of times. We think Jesus started at Bethlehem. Folks, that’s wrong.

You go back to John chapter 1 and it identifies Jesus as the Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.

He was there from the beginning. Colossians talks about him being the image of the invisible God. Talks about all things being created by him and all things existing by him.

You read back to Genesis chapter 1 and God says, Let us make man, or I think it’s 1, 2, and 3. The whole story of creation is in there. He says, Let us make man in our own image.

Now, that’s not God with a multiple personality. That’s the Trinity talking amongst themselves. So Jesus has always been, and Jesus always will be.

He says, I am the first, and I am the last. I was here way before you, and I’ll be here way after you’re gone. I’m the first and the last. From beginning to end, I’ve been there. He said, these things say that the first and the last, which was dead and is alive.

You know what? Just as mankind dies, I’ve been dead, and I’ve risen again to life. I’ve experienced life, I’ve experienced death, and I’ve been raised again from the dead.

He’s clearly identifying himself as Jesus Christ. Who’s writing these letters, they would have read this, they would have understood, it is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking directly to us. He’s the first and the last. He’s the one who was, you know, usually it goes the other way around. We’re alive and then we’re dead.

Jesus is the one who can say, I was dead and now I am alive. So they would have understood that this is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking directly to them about their situation. After identifying himself in verse 9, he says, I know thy works and tribulation and poverty, but thou art rich.

And I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Okay, stop there. It’s sort of like with the book of Ephesus, excuse me, the church at Ephesus.

He told them, I know your works. I know the things you’re doing. Speaking to the church at Smyrna, which was a faithful group of people undergoing suffering and persecution.

He says, look, I know the things you’re doing, the good that you’re doing in my name, the big things and the little things. I see the work you’re doing. Sometimes we serve the Lord and we do it in little ways and we think nobody notices it’s not important.

You know what? Nobody may notice your service to the Lord until it doesn’t get done. There are hundreds of little things that go on during the week that we take for granted.

At times, not here, thank goodness, but at times I’ve had to step in and take care of the bulletin at a church. And it’s not my favorite thing to do, but it needs to be done. And it’s one of those things nobody ever may know that I did it, unless I didn’t do it.

There’s not one on Sunday mornings. And then, you know, might as well just close up the universe, because it’s going to end. Little things that the world may never take notice in your service.

Okay, you took care of the bulletin for the church. It’s seemingly a little thing. You cleaned the carpets.

You took food to somebody who needed it who was sick. You prayed for somebody. Folks, what we would look at and say, well, that’s a little ministry.

That’s a little service. I really don’t believe there’s a little ministry or a little service. Anything that we do in Jesus’ name and for his glory, for the benefit of somebody else, is ministry.

And it’s all important. But there are things that we’ll do that the world may never know about, may never notice. And you know what?

Some things we do, we should do with the intent that nobody ever notices. Because we do it for the Lord and not for other people. But it can be easy to fall into, especially when you’re suffering, especially when you’re going through a trial, to think, you know, I just work and work and nobody ever notices.

Nobody ever sees the good I do. Nobody ever pays attention. Where’s my thank you?

Jesus says, I know your works. I see the things that you’ve been doing. I see the service.

I see the ministry that you’ve been doing, church at Smyrna. You may feel like nobody else sees or values what you’ve been doing, but I know your works, he says. And tribulation.

The tribulation is the suffering they’ve been going through. Sometimes we can sit and suffer quietly. Some of us not so much.

Some of us don’t suffer quietly. If I have a hangnail, everybody’s going to know about it. Not me specifically.

Well, maybe me specifically. I don’t know. Sometimes we don’t suffer so quietly, but a lot of times we will sit and suffer in silence.

I’m really struggling with an issue, but I don’t want anybody to know. Or I just don’t know how to tell anybody. Or what will they think of me down at the church?

We’re all supposed to come in here on Sunday and put on our happy face and act like we’ve got it all together, right? Isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? Amen.

Folks, the church is supposed to be like a hospital where we take care of one another and our infirmities. not just physical infirmities. But sometimes we can suffer in silence and say, nobody knows the struggle I’m going through.

Whether it’s a struggle with a sin or maybe it’s a sense of discouragement of something you’re praying for, somebody you’re praying for, and thinking, when is this ever going to get resolved? And you struggle and you wonder or you’re tempted by something. Folks, the tribulations, the suffering that we go through, sometimes we think nobody notices.

I came in this morning, I was not my normal bubbly self and nobody noticed. And I don’t mean to sound, I don’t mean to make that sound like I’m making fun of you if you think that way. I think we all feel that way at times.

Nobody noticed this morning that I was hurting. The church at Smyrna was hurting because of the tribulation, the suffering, the persecution they were going through. Real suffering and persecution.

And probably thought, nobody noticed. We’re just this little church in a small corner of the Roman Empire. The government’s against us.

The Jews are against us. The pagans are against us. Nobody cares what we’re going through.

Jesus says, I know your tribulation. I see it. I see the suffering you’re going through and your poverty.

And whether it’s financial poverty, we’re just totally broke. Whether it’s poverty of another way, we just feel like we’ve got nothing left. I don’t know if you’ve ever felt that way spiritually.

I have nothing. I have nothing left. Sometimes, believe it or not, I feel that way on Sunday nights sometimes.

And not necessarily in a bad way. But you’ve studied and you’ve prayed all week and you’re prepared with God’s word. There’s something to me that is more exhausting about standing in the pulpit.

I can move furniture all day on Saturday and be fine and come and stand in the pulpit on Sunday and I’m just worn out. I feel like a wrung out old sponge sometimes. And then you have to go and let God fill you back up again.

But you get to times where you feel like you’ve poured out everything you have and there’s nothing left. God, I’ve poured out everything I have on these people. God, I’ve poured out everything I have on my family.

God, I’ve poured out everything I have on praying about this situation or this person for weeks, for months, for years. I feel like I have nothing left. If you’ve ever gotten to the point where you feel like you have nothing left, whether it’s finances, whether it’s emotionally, whether it’s spiritually, whether it’s physically, folks, we’re impoverished at times.

And Jesus said, I see that too. See, the church at Smyrna was they had poverty. They’re not a wealthy group of people, but you know what, you can also only go through suffering for so long before you start to feel like you’re broke in other areas.

And he said, I see your poverty. He said, but you’re rich. You’re rich.

Because ultimately, ladies and gentlemen, regardless of how we feel, we have an inheritance in Christ that no man can take away. We have riches beyond our wildest dreams that no man can take away. And I don’t say that as just a platitude preacher talk to make you feel better.

Oh, well, you’ve got riches in heaven. Folks, it’s true. We have a hope and an inheritance in Jesus Christ that nobody can take away.

It doesn’t matter whether we suffer or whether we feel prosperous. It doesn’t matter whether we’re broke or we’re rich here on earth. It doesn’t matter whether the world hates us or the world loves us.

It doesn’t matter how anybody feels about us or how we feel about ourselves. If we’re in Christ we are joint heirs with him and we have an inheritance that no man can take away. It doesn’t matter what the world does to you.

They can’t take away your future with your father in heaven. There’s something that they can’t take away. He says and you’re rich.

And beyond that ladies and gentlemen beyond that. Beyond the future hope in heaven. We have a God who loves us and who walks with us and left his Holy Spirit to live inside of us as a comforter and a teacher and that’s something else the world can’t take away.

So when it comes to spiritual things he said you may be impoverished in every other way he said but you’re rich. He says and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are the they are Jews and are not but are the synagogue of Satan. The church at Smyrna one of the one of the groups that was persecuting them were groups of Jewish people who lived in the area who claimed to be Jews because they were descendants from Abraham.

Well, in a purely bloodline sense, we would understand that to mean they’re Jews. They’re descendants from Abraham through Isaac. That’s what makes you a Jew.

But if they bothered to learn from Abraham, there was so much more that Abraham’s life taught on what it meant to be a Jew. Abraham was considered righteous because he believed God. It was the faith of Abraham and not the DNA of Abraham that made one a follower of God.

It was the faith of Abraham and not the DNA of Abraham that made one part of the covenant with God. You could go through all the external rules and laws and rituals and ceremonies and still not have faith in God, and it didn’t make a bit of difference. It didn’t cut any ice as far as God was concerned.

That’s where the Pharisees were. They had all these external things right, and yet there was no faith in God. There was no belief in God’s promises.

There was no humility before God. Any of the things that Abraham showed. And it didn’t change the Pharisees’ standing before God one bit, did it?

As a matter of fact, Jesus condemned them more than any group of people. And so there were people around the church in Smyrna who would say, you’re against God. You’re violating God’s law because you have to follow these rituals.

And you know what? There were some even in the early churches who said, it’s okay to believe in Jesus Christ. You need Jesus Christ plus the law and plus the rituals and plus the washings and the ceremonies and all of these things. You have to do both.

And their idea was you’ve turned your back on God. You’re no longer a follower of God. We’re followers of God because we follow these rules and observe these rituals.

And so we’re the Jews. We’re the followers of God. And so not only did they stand against the church, but it talks about the blasphemy.

Many of them would blaspheme Jesus Christ, say horrible things about Jesus Christ. They would make up lies about Jesus Christ. They would make up lies about the church. There were rumors in the early days of Christianity spread by the Jews and the Romans. I hope none of this sounds like an anti-Jewish thing.

I love the Jewish people. I believe God loves the Jewish people. But in the early days of Christianity, the Jews and the Romans were spreading rumors together that the Christians got together and did unspeakable things in their worship, that they ate human flesh, that they did.

I mean, just all sorts of rumors, all sorts of blasphemy and slander were spread against the church. Now, imagine being part of that church where the community at large is convinced that you’re doing just unimaginably horrible things and that you’re doing them in the name of Jesus Christ and they’re spreading the idea that Jesus Christ was some kind of false prophet, some kind of false teacher that was leading people away from God. He said these people claim to be Jews.

They claim to be the descendants of Abraham. They claim to be the ones who are following God. He said, but really they’re the synagogue of Satan.

Not because they’re Jews, but because they were opposing the work of God. Because they were relying more on their rules and their DNA. Not that they knew about DNA back then.

but they were worried more about their rules and their bloodline than they were the faith that came from Abraham. And he said, so you’re opposed by the Jews. He said, but I know those who say they are.

He said, but I know what they’re saying. I know the suffering that you’re going through as a result. He said, but don’t be dissuaded from teaching the truth.

Don’t be dissuaded from following Jesus Christ because they are not truly followers of Abraham. They’re not truly followers of God. He said, they’re the synagogue of Satan.

Because as much as we would like to blame these people for attacking Christianity, for attacking the church, it’s been Satan who’s been opposed to the gospel from day one. It’s been Satan who’s been opposed to God and his son Jesus Christ from day one. And when men stand against the gospel today, even good moral people, when they stand against the gospel today, they’re doing so because the Bible says the God of this world has blinded their eyes.

That’s not the God of the Bible. The God of this world is referring to Satan. He’s blinded their eyes to the truth of the gospel.

And so he says they’re doing this at the instigation of who Brother Ken calls Smutty Face. Is that what you’re saying? Okay.

Last week I thought you were saying Muddy Face. Either way. Not a nice guy.

I kind of like that. You know what? If we’re going to name call, I can’t think of anybody better than name call.

They’re doing it at his instigation. You know, ultimately there’s some sense of responsibility on their part, but they’re not too far off if they say the devil made me do it. The devil at least encouraged them to make that choice.

But he said, everything they’re saying about you, everything you’re suffering at their hands, he said, I know about it. And he tells them in verse 10, fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Folks, not just what you’re suffering now.

I mean, that’s encouraging in one sense, fear not. But in another sense, wait a minute, this is going to continue? Yeah, he says, fear not any of the things which thou shalt suffer.

Any of the things that you’re going to be suffering in the future. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried, and you shall have tribulation ten days.

Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Now, a lot of things in the book of Revelation are symbolic ways of saying something real, if that makes sense. It’s not just word pictures, but they use pictures to indicate something.

And the best explanation for this ten-day thing that I’ve seen, I’m not absolutely convinced that it’s right, but it’s the best one I’ve seen so far, is there were really about 10 periods of persecution during the time of the Roman Empire that this church at Smyrna was going to have to go through. Nero came along, he said, we’re going to use Christians as human torches. Another one came along and said, we’re going to throw Christians to the lions in the Colosseum.

And there would be periods of peace in between that where they kind of relatively left the Christians alone. And really, in the first 300 or so years of Christianity in the Roman Empire, there were about 10 periods of persecution. and so oh this in this in this day of persecution okay they might say so 10 days of persecution might refer to 10 periods of persecution again that’s not doctrine that’s just my my best attempt to trying to understand what he’s saying there but basically he says don’t be afraid of the things that that are going to be done to you some of you the devil’s going to have thrown in prison and tried he said you’re going to go through some periods of persecution whether it’s one 10 day period, whether it’s 10 periods over 300 years, you’re going to go through some persecution as individuals, as a church.

He said, but be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Now, that doesn’t mean that as Christians we have to die as martyrs in order to live forever. But it’s giving the comparison, the contrast here of saying they may take away your life, but if you’re faithful unto death, if you die faithful, you can be assured that they can take away that life, but I’ve got life over here that I’m going to give you that no man take away.

That crown of life is an inheritance that can’t be taken away. It doesn’t mean that those who die as martyrs are going to be the only ones who inherit eternal life, but it’s a promise to those who suffered and remain faithful to Jesus that if they died as martyrs, it doesn’t matter because there’s life on the other side. He says, I will give thee a crown of life.

I read this and I picture what Jesus said to Peter, that Satan has desired you that he may sift you as wheat. Satan wants to test and challenge God’s people. And that word sift, I think of sifting flour.

Sometimes you need to do that when you’re baking, but I can’t imagine it’s all that fun for the flour. I wouldn’t want to ride through that sifter. I think in their day it meant something else, where the wheat was tossed up in the air like in Gideon’s day hundreds of years before, where they tossed the wheat in the air, and the chaff would blow away as the wind would pass through, and the wheat kernels would land back in the sheet.

Either way, he’s talking about a time of testing. time of testing to see what you’re made of just like with Job Satan went before God and asked basically for permission to test Job he said I bet I can prove that he’ll curse God and die God gave permission for Satan to test Job but folks even at this he says here that Satan can test, he can try the people he can bring tribulation, he can bring suffering, but we need to remember that it’s all within the scope of God’s sovereignty, so how’s that reassuring we’re still having to go through struggles Because he can’t do any more to us than God allows. And when he gets up to that line, God says, you’re done.

You can’t do any more than I allow you to do. And God says he may try you, he may put you to the test. This world might even kill you, he says to the church at Smyrna. He said, but don’t be afraid, don’t give up, because even if they go so far as to take your life, which is about the worst thing they can do to you, he said, I offer you life on the other side.

You look at the attitude of the Apostle Paul. What can they do to me? As a believer, what really can they do to me?

They can beat me. That’s going to make people more interested in what I have to say when I tell them about Jesus Christ. Wait a minute, you’ve been beaten and you still care enough that you’re going to say this? That gives some credibility.

People are going to listen. They throw me in prison. Great, I’ve got a captive audience that I can tell about Jesus Christ. They sent me out of prison again because I’m annoying to them.

Great, I can go around and tell people about Jesus Christ. They kill me? Great, I get to go be with Jesus Christ. That was sort of the attitude of the Apostle Paul. And that’s where we need to be, ladies and gentlemen.

That’s where churches today need to be. And folks, I will be the first to admit I’m not quite there. Okay?

Don’t feel like I’m telling you this because I’m better than you. I’ve got this all figured out. And whatever happens to me is a way to share Christ. I’m not quite there.

I don’t like suffering. I don’t think any of us do. but that’s something Paul was very good at and that’s something that that Christ is encouraging here this suffering is for is for a reason and it’s not going to last forever and and God’s going to allow you to be tried so that it can be shown what he’s truly made you into being that’s that’s the kind of attitude that we need to to shoot for and again I’m not if you’re not there don’t feel too bad because I’m not there and I just pray that God gets us there together but we need to be of the mindset that whatever suffering we go through is for a purpose and God will use it.

And as hard as it is, we need to learn to rejoice in those sufferings. Because the worst thing the world can do to us is take our lives. And he says, they can take your life, but I’m going to give you a better life in exchange.

And so he says in verse 11, he that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. Okay, again, Last week I mentioned with the church at Ephesus, he said those who overcome will get to eat of the fruit of the