I have to tell you about my experience this week. This week I did something I’ve never done before. This might surprise you, but up until Tuesday, I had never voted in a voting booth. You see, I turned 18 when I was in Basic Training. From that point forward, I always voted absentee. If you’ve never voted absentee, it’s a very anti-climactic experience. They send you four things in your voter packet. They send you a booklet that has all of the candidates and ballot initiatives listed in it. They send you a punch card ballot. And they send you a return envelope. You know what the fourth thing they send you is? A paperclip. It comes complete with instructions of how to unfold the end of the paperclip and use it to punch out the chads on the ballot. Talk about high-tech! So on Tuesday, I was thrilled to walk into Melrose school and vote. There was a short line for them to check my registration and give me my voter card. Then there was a little longer line to wait for my turn in the computerized voting booth. The whole thing only took an hour. But during my time waiting in line, my smile began to fade away. It faded away as I listened to the comments from some of the people. I say comments, but they were really complaints. “I can’t believe how long this line is.” “Why do they only have 3 machines set up—last year they had seven.” “It’s hot in here.” “They need to set up more chairs.” “This line is ridiculous—I don’t have time for this.” In that brief period of time, I went from happy and excited to deeply saddened. How spoiled we have become! Just a short time ago, I’m sure most of us remember the first elections held in Iraq. In order to properly identify the voters and keep them from voting more than once, we dipped their fingers in permanent ink. We remember seeing the pictures in the newspapers of Iraqis proudly posing with their ink-stained fingers held high. But then something we didn’t expect happened. When many of those people returned home from the voting booth, terrorists were there. Those terrorists sought out people with ink-stained fingers and cut them off. When the word got out, our government thought that would be the end of people showing up at the polls to vote. They figured that people would be too scared to vote. But they were wrong. In later voting, the numbers of voters actually increased. The numbers of voters increased knowing that there was a good possibility that when they returned home from voting, they would have their finger chopped off. By the grace of God, we have freedom in this nation that most people in the world can only dream about. But so often, we take that God-given freedom for granted. We can freely walk into a polling place without fear. We can freely go to school or get a job or read a book or write a letter to the editor. And we can freely and openly gather together in worship in the Lord’s house anytime we want. What a privilege. What an honor. What a blessing from God. So, if it is such a privilege and honor and blessing, why do we neglect it? Why do we take it for granted? In many ways we are very distant from the church at Smyrna. We are distant in time. We are distant in location. And many times, we are distant in attitude. While we spend much of our time complaining about trivial things in church like styles and colors and methods and comfort… the church at Smyrna had real issues to deal with. And they dealt with them in such a way that Jesus commended them. This was only one of two churches that Jesus didn’t scold. Why? Because their focus was in the right place. Even though they were terribly persecuted, they pressed on. Like Paul wrote in Philippians 3:14, “I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” That was the church at Smyrna.
Smyrna was a beautiful city located on a gulf of the Aegean Sea. As a matter of fact, it was known as one of the most beautiful cities in all of the Roman Empire. It still is. Izmir, Turkey is the city that stands now in the place of Smyrna. To this day it is one of the world’s most popular tourist spots because of the beauty of the water and the city. Smyrna wasn’t the most economically or politically important place, but it was financially well-off and noted as a center of science and medicine. But here’s what it was really known for. It was known as the most patriotic place in all of Rome. The people of Smyrna loved Rome. They loved Rome so much that 300 years before this letter, they built a massive temple. They didn’t build it to any gods or goddesses—they built it to Rome itself. A story is told that pointed out the people of Smyrna’s love and dedication to Rome. It seems that one time the Roman army was fighting a war during the winter. The battle had lasted longer than they expected, so they hadn’t prepared for winter weather. When the people of Smyrna heard about it, they all stripped off their own clothes and sent them to the soldiers. They loved Rome that much. And because they loved Rome that much, Smyrna became the center of Roman emperor worship. Around 50 years before this letter was written, they built another temple. This time it was not to Rome itself. It was to Caesar. Caesar worship had become the center of all life in Smyrna. It grew to the point that during the rule of Domitian, Caesar worship was law. That’s why John was exiled to the island of Patmos. And that’s why the church at Smyrna was persecuted. In Smyrna, if you wanted to live, you would have to say, Caesar is Lord. But the members of the church at Smyrna refused. They boldly continued to profess that Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. And because of that, many of them lost their lives. Jesus speaks of what they were facing in verse 9. When He says, “I know they works.” He’s telling them, I know what you’re going through. He says, I see—I understand—I know. Hebrews 4:15 says, “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus was touched with the feeling of their infirmities. Why? Because He had to endure even more than He would ever require of them. He endured persecution. He endured trials and tribulation. He endured shame and suffering. And He did it without sin. And He emerged victorious over sin and death and the grave. Just like the song says, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. Because He lives, all fear is gone. Because I know He holds the future. And life is worth the living, just because He lives.” Bill and Gloria Gather have been around for a long time. But I don’t think they were around back in the church of Smyrna. But even though they weren’t, that song speaks of the spirit of the people of Smyrna. Look at what verse 9 tells us they were going through. They were going through tribulation. That word literally means intense pressure or distress or oppression. And it came from all sides. Outside of their little church, everyone they came in contact with worshipped the emperor. They also worshipped the Roman gods like Zeus and Apollo, but that was secondary. They were fanatically, religiously patriotic. And when the Christians in Smyrna refused to say, “Caesar is Lord,” they caught it from all sides. That led to the poverty problem. When employers found out that a person wouldn’t bow to Caesar, they were fired. And there were no unemployment benefits. There was no welfare. As a matter of fact, if you had any money at all, you wouldn’t be able to spend it. Because if a merchant knew you were a Christian, he wouldn’t even sell to you. The only way the people of the Smyrna church could survive was to get support from other churches and share everything they had. So they were going through tribulation and poverty. But verse 9 also says they were being blasphemed against. We normally think of blasphemy as coming against God. But in this case, it came against Christians. People were saying untrue, slanderous things about them. Some of the charges that were laid against them was that they were plotting against the government. They were even called immoral and cannibals because of lies told about the Lord’s Supper. Do you suppose they repeated the words of Paul that he wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:8-10, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” At the time of this letter, that was what they were going through. And in verse 10 Jesus told them that it was going to get worse before it got better. He said that prison was in store for many of them. Not only prison, but an extreme form of the kind of tribulation they were experiencing right then. History bears that out.
When the church received this letter, there was a young man in attendance named Polycarp. Polycarp would grow and mature and become a leader in the church. Eventually, he would become the pastor of Smyrna church. Around 50 years after this letter was written, Polycarp was carried off for refusing to worship Caesar. Even his accusers begged him to give in. He refused. The trial was conducted in the center of the city’s great stadium. As Polycarp was brought before him, the proconsul said, “Have respect to thy old age… swear by the fortune of Caesar…. Swear and I will set thee at liberty, reproach Christ.” Polycarp looked at the stadium full of people. Then he looked at the proconsul and he said, “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury. How then can I blaspheme my King and Savior.” He was then martyred as a witness for his Lord as the citizens of Smyrna cheered. Jesus said, “I know what you’re going through.” “I’ve been there.” “And I will not allow you to go through anything that you are not able to go through.” “You might not think you can, but you can persevere.” You can endure.
Historical events like Smyrna and Polycarp seem long ago and far away. My kids remind me all the time about how “old-school” the ‘90s were. We turned on a movie from the ‘80s the other night and you would have thought we were watching Charlie Chaplin or Hopalong Cassidy. So, if we see a decade ago as ancient history, how do we see the church at Smyrna? Irrelevant? Well, we shouldn’t. Because we’re not that far away from returning there. For the past 150 years, America has been on the Romans 1 downward sin spiral. From the time America quit recognizing God as our creator, the spiral started. And now look where we are. We’re exactly where Romans 1 said we’d be. This week, California has legalized homosexual marriage. Who would have thought that possible, even a generation ago? So, can you imagine where we’ll be a generation or two from now? If God doesn’t intervene with a national revival, it is highly likely that we will be in Smyrna.
But even that seems far away when we’re not going through it right now. Because right now is where each of us lives. But the fact is that right now, many of you are going through your own kind of tribulation. You’re going through your own kind of poverty. You’re going through your own kind of slander. Just like He did with Smyrna, Jesus is telling you, I know what you’re going through. I’ve been there. And I won’t allow you to go through anything that you aren’t able to endure. You can persevere. And then just like He did with Smyrna, in verse 10 Jesus tells you how you can face the trials you’re going through.
First, He tells you to be fearless. Jesus didn’t tell the church at Smyrna that He was going to wave a magic wand and make it all better. Jesus didn’t tell them that following Him was going to be a bed of roses. They knew better than that. But Jesus told them to fear not. Even though they were going to have to endure those things, He was going to be with them. And back in verse 8, He had revealed Himself to them as the first and the last. That means He knows the end from the beginning. He knew how long their ordeal was going to last. When Jesus told them that they were going to have tribulation for ten days, that points out a couple of things. First it tells them that He knew that it was only going to last for a little while. And second, it tells them that there was going to be a definite end to their suffering. Notice that Jesus didn’t tell them what that end would be. Would the end of suffering come in the removal of Roman tyranny? Or would it come in the flames of a martyr’s death? Jesus didn’t tell them. He just assured them that the end of suffering would come. And He assured them that they would be able to endure and persevere until that time came. When you trust Jesus as your Lord and Savior, He tells you the same thing. What Jesus starts in you, He will finish. Philippians 1:6 tells us, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Does that give you confidence as you go through trials? It should. It should not only give you confidence, it should make you fearless. If you are saved by the blood of Jesus, you don’t have to fear. Fear not because whatever work Jesus starts in you, He will complete. No amount of tribulation or poverty or slander will get in His way. Because of that, you can face the trials you’re going through without fear. Not only does Jesus tell you to be fearless, He tells you to be faithful. Look at the last part of verse 10.
“Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
I saw a comic strip the other day that said, “I sure wish the Christian race was a sprint instead of a marathon.” How true that is. How many times do we find ourselves living the Christian life, going all out like gangbusters. Then we begin to burn out. Then we taper off. Then we quit. But the Christian life isn’t a series of sprints and stops. How does Paul describe the Christian life? He describes it as our walk. Yes, there are a few times he talks about being in a race, but never in a sprint. It’s always a marathon with the finish line as the goal. 1 Corinthians 15:58 says, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” Galatians 6:9 says, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Jesus calls you to faithfulness. Not just for a little while. Not just until we get through a rough patch in life. He calls you to faithfulness every day of your Christian life. No matter what happens around you. No matter if you inherit a million dollars or find yourself at the stake with Polycarp. Be faithful unto death. Be fearless and be faithful.
You know, Jesus had nothing negative to say to the church at Smyrna. This was only one of two churches out of the seven that was the case with. And to look at them from the outside, they were in worse shape than any of them. They were tortured and poor and slandered. But Jesus said they were rich. Are you rich this morning? I’m not talking about your bank account. These gas and food prices ought to show you that your bank account can be gone in a second. I’m talking about being rich because you’re a child of the King? Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Has He saved you from an eternity in Hell? If He has, are you living your life free of fear? Are you trusting the fact that He is the first and the last? That He knows the end from the beginning? That He will never leave you nor forsake you? That He will never lay on you more than you can bear? Are you trusting Him for that this morning? And are you living faithful to Jesus this morning? Are you faithfully serving Him in the way He’s called you? Are you faithfully loving His people? Are you faithfully worshipping and serving and loving and walking with Him? Today is the day to get rid of the fear. Today is the day to begin being faithful. And what’s the benefit? It might mean tribulation. It might mean poverty. It might mean slander. It might. But I’ll tell you what it will mean for sure. It will mean the crown of life. “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.”
