Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. Acts 14:22
All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. 2 Tim 3:12
1 Pet 4:12 Jn 16:33
The second Church that received a letter from Jesus by the hand of John was Smyrna. In this letter there is not one word of complaint but all praise. It was also about comfort. This was a word of encouragement at a time of discouragement. A letter of challenge.
2:8 "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this:
2:9 `I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
2:10 `Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
2:11 `He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.'
THE PATIENT: 2:8 "And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
When this Church was founded no is sure. This is the only time the Church at Smyrna is mentioned in the Bible. It is commonly believed that Paul organized this Church while on his third missionary journey. At one time, one of the most famous name’s in early Church history, Polycarp served as pastor of the Church.
Smyrna was a city that was about 40 miles northwest of the city of Ephesus. / about Distance from Vista to S.D
It was a Wealthy Seaport city, second in wealth and prominence only to Ephesus. in all of Asia Minor
QUOTE: WILLIAM BARCLAY - Of all the cities of Asia, Smyrna was the loveliest. Men called it the ornament of Asia, the crown of Asia and the flower of Asia. Also known as / the city of life & strength
Smyrna had been a Greek colony as far back as 1000 B.C. Around 600 B.C. it was invaded and destroyed by the Lydeans and for 400 years there was no city there at all. Then around 200 B.C. Alexander the Great had it rebuilt and repopulated. It was built with streets that were broad, straight, sweeping, and beautifully paved. The city had experienced death and had literally been brought back to life.
In A.D. 26 – all the cities in Asia Minor competed for the Privilege of erecting a temple in the honor of the Emperor Tiberias …
Smyrna won(lost spiritually) the competition & became the Center for Emperor Worship during that time ( Declare Caesar Lord & God
The name Smyrna means “bitter.” It comes from the word “myrrh,” which speaks of the fragrance or perfume that comes from myrrh being beaten or crushed. The name is a fitting one for the Church for this was a Church that experienced bitter times.
MYRRH was an embalming spice used in biblical times.
The thing that is very interesting about this burial spice is that it MUST BE CRUSHED in order to give off its aroma.
THE PHYSICIAN: 2:8 "…..The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this:
THE POSITIVE: 2:9 `I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
There’s a story about the great evangelist, John Wesley, who one day was riding on his horse through some open fields. As he was riding, he was talking to the Lord, and he said, “Lord have I backslidden? Its been two weeks since I’ve been persecuted
(Note that he saw a direct connection between the quality of his walk and the absence of persecution.)
He got down off of his horse to pray and to seek God for whether or not something was wrong in his heart between him and the Lord, since there was this absence of persecution in his life.
As he was praying, there was a farmer behind a hedge who recognized him as Wesley the Evangelist and he picked up a stone and threw it at him. Wesley said, “Thank you Lord.”
The Lord used three words to describe the fierceness of their persecution.
“Tribulation” The word used gives insight into the severity of their persecution.
The word was sometimes used to describe a man being tortured to death by slowly being crushed by a huge boulder being laid upon him. The word was sometimes used to describe the crushing of wheat under a millstone. The word was used of a Roman whip such as was used on Jesus.
The word suggests that they were undergoing fierce persecution.
Their property was confiscated, their citizenship revoked, and many were thrown in prison.
Some were covered with animal skins and tortured to death by wild dogs.
Some were covered in tar and set afire to serve as lamp-posts.
Others were thrown to hungry lions while the crowds watched and cheered.
The Myanmar military government attacked 22 villages of a tribe who are mostly Christians. Witnesses said the military beat and stabbed to death many people.
An Orthodox priest in Egypt was shot. A Coptic bishop faces from eight years in prison to the death penalty on charges resulting from his reporting that 1,200 members of his diocese had been tortured in August and September.
In the province of Sudan, 700 people die from starvation each day. 50,000 mostly Christian kids, have been sold into slavery for “the going rate” of $50.
Cuba - Only ninety miles off the Florida Straits lies an island that stands as one of the last champions of communism. In 1959, Fidel Castro came to power threatening Cubans with socialism or death. In the mid ‘60s, Castro labeled Catholics and Protestants “social scum” and forced both laypeople and clergy into labor camps under inhumane conditions.
Today, despite the government’s claims of religious freedom, Christians are imprisoned and churches are destroyed. In 1996, the Ministry of Justice ordered the closure of all house churches, estimated to number between 3,000 and 10,000. Thankfully, most churches did not comply and continue to influence Cuba for Christ.
China - China’s “strike-hard” policy, presented as a crackdown on criminals, is hardest on Christians, putting more believers in prison or under detention than in any other country. The confiscation of church property and Bibles continues. Yet the Church grows: an estimated 3,000 Chinese come to Christ each day. China’s house church movement, which comprises approximately 90 percent of China’s Christians, endures unimaginable persecution, yet stands on its commitment to preach the gospel no matter the cost.
American Christians know so little of what it means to suffer for our faith. We just cannot relate to it. I spoke in Brazil to two different schools and gave a complete sharing of the Gospel. Something I could never be in this country. We are losing our freedoms at a rapid rate thru very slow moving and suttle persecution and put of little or no resistance.
The faithful Christians at the ancient city of Smyrna knew persecution well and were faithful.
Jesus spoke of their “poverty” (consequence). The word speaks of “abject poverty, possessing absolutely nothing.” “We were so poor; the poor people call us poor or we were so poor we had to go to KFC and like other people’s fingers”. These believers were poorer than the poor.
They lived in destitution and abject poverty. Because they were Christians they had lost everything. They had lost their businesses, houses, lands, and all earthly possessions. It had cost them everything to know Christ and serve Him.
Our guide thru the jungle this past week made the statement about what happens with people who live there. Many often disappear never to be found. Anacondas or crocodiles will most likely get them.
He said every time you go into these jungles there is an eye on you…you are being watched…the more routine you are the more you will be set up and maybe become prey someday.
Satan watches…but also the world does.. This church was persecuted and blasphemed.
Jesus spoke of their “blasphemy” (Vs.9). The word means “slander.”
Malicious things were being said about these believers. On the basis of the words of the Lord’s Supper the story was going around that Christians were cannibals.
Because Christianity did at times split families (one spouse saved the other unsaved), they were accused of damaging with family relationships.
Jesus stated that it was Jews that were behind this persecution. They were constantly informing against the Christians and inciting attacks and persecution. They claimed to be a synagogue of God, but Jesus said they were a synagogue of Satan (Vs.9).
The Lord informs them that future and further persecutions were coming.
The persecution probably came from refusal to acknowledge Caesar as Lord.
Caesar worship had become compulsory in the Roman Empire.
Once a year, a Roman citizen had to burn a pinch of incense on the altar to the godhead of Caesar.
Once he did so he was given a certificate to prove that he had performed his religious rites.
If a person refused to do so he was branded as disloyal and a rebel. He became an outlaw.
The Christians would not acknowledge anyone as Lord but Jesus Christ. They refused to acknowledge Caesar as Lord thus found themselves as criminals under the law.
Jesus made it clear that man may have been the instrument, but Satan was the real instigator
Polycarp, which served as pastor of this Church for a time. He became one of the most famous martyrs in Church history. On one particular festival day, an incited crowd seized Polycarp and demanded the he renounce his faith, worship Caesar, or die. The police captain said to him, “What harm is it to say ‘Caesar is Lord’ and to offer sacrifice and be saved?” Polycarp was adamant that only Jesus Christ was Lord. When he was brought into the arena the proconsul gave him the choice of cursing the name of Christ and making sacrifice to Caesar or death. It was then that Polycarp gave his immortal answer, “Eighty and six years have I served Christ and He has never done me wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” Afterwards Polycarp was burned at the stake.
I think of the reproach and suffering these believers experienced and of the faith and commitment of believers in our day. We let a headache keep us out of Church and they would not let the thought of being beheaded hinder them. We get our feelings hurt and quit on God when the possibility of being tortured did not keep these believers from being faithful to God.
A pastor and his family that Lynne and I fell in love with in Brazil had a hard story. They are serving a very poor town called Lousiapolis. They came their from Rio where he had a ministry thru soccer to the Jews in the area. When they got to the town the church was filled with mud as well as cats and dogs running freely in and out.
Only four members were there. That was three months ago and now they are running around 60 or so.
Driving back from a service one night he told us how when he was 16 he became a believer and was thrown out of his home by his brothers. His father came to find him and said, ‘I am not a believer and do not want to hear about believers but you are my son and can come home’. He and she have been so faithful: The church in Rio provided for them(700 a month) for three months but this past month ended that.
THE PRESCRIPTION: 2:10 `Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death
How could they be rich? Their riches lay in the fact that they lived by a different set of values than many Christians today.
“Set your affections on things above, not on things in the earth” (Col.3:2). Their life was consumed with knowing Christ. They concentrated on pleasing Christ.
What do we see in present Christianity.
Our affections are often set on things around us, rather than on things above us.
In some Christ is given a place but in few is He given preeminence.
They were materially poor but they were spiritually rich.
They were not laying treasures up in this life, but were laying treasures up in heaven.
The world looks at material treasure as the measure of a persons worth.
Many who have plenty in this life, have nothing in heaven.
It is possible in this life to not have anything but still have everything.
Jesus said “for a man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Luke 12:15). Jesus said, “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matt.6:20).
In many cases, compared to these believers, we are rich but poor. Compared to us they were poor but rich.
LIMIT on Trials: 1Cor.10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able,
2:10 `……Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
2:11 `He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.'
What encouragement it must have meant to them when Lord told them He knew what they going through as a Church. He told them not to fear the things they were going through or would go through in the future. His closing words were no doubt the very words they needed to keep on keeping on.
Jesus encouraged them to keep on loving Him, keep on serving Him, and keep on living and honoring Him. They were to keep on keeping on even “unto death” (Vs.10).
Edinburgh, Scotland and Greyfriars Kirk (Church). At the entrance to the Church is a statue of a little Skye terrier dog named Greyfriars Bobby. On the statue is inscribed, “A tribute to the affectionate fidelity of Greyfriars Bobby.” In 1858, this faithful dog followed the remains of his master to Greyfriars Churchyard where he was buried. For the next fourteen years, day after day, rain, snow, or sunshine, this little dog went to his master’s grave and lay there. When the little dog died he was buried in the Church graveyard just a few yards from his master’s grave.
Greyfriars Kirk is where the Covenanters signed a covenant in the 1500’s that they would not allow the king to place his own preachers in the pulpits of the land. The result was the persecution of the Scottish believers experienced.
The real story of faithfulness is not Greyfriar Bobby but is told on a large marker at one end of the Church graveyard. The marker sits on a mass grave of several thousand Christians that were either burned at the stake or hanged for their faith.
The faithfulness of the dog seemed to interest most who were visiting the Church. But the faithfulness of the saints, faithfulness even unto death, is the real story of faithfulness at Greyfriars Kirk.
Jesus praised their faithfulness and promised that one day he would reward them.
1ST thing Proves our Love for the Lord – reveals the Reality of our Relationship – Not to Him but to Us
It is in the times of Trials & Difficulties that we learn where we are really at – How committed we really are
Our tendency is to Praise the Lord when things are going good – grumble & complain when things are going bad
But for most of us – we really don’t know what Bad is – what suffering is
They hung in there . Stayed put they clung to the Lord / they were crushed but not defeated result – Witness & Fragrance - establish any deep roots
We know that from the time of John’s writing there were 10 waves of persecution during those three centuries of Church History
Began w/ Domitian -- 95-96/ ended w/ Diocletian -- 303-313 Prophetically viewed,
The whole period has been termed the "Age of the Martyrs."
The Church, as a whole, has never given off such a sweet fragrance of a witness to Jesus Christ as during the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries AD.
During those three centuries, incredible persecution took the lives of some six million Christians.
Their bodies were torn apart on racks. - Their fingernails were pulled off. They were hung by their thumbs, oftentimes for days.
They were wrapped in animal skins and thrown out for bulls to gore & Lions to Devour
They were covered with tar & set on fire as human torches to light the gardens of the pagan festivities.
2nd - suffering provides compassion for each other – special bond been through same thing / something together
2Cor.1: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
Jesus went through the Ultimate Suffering – literally Became dead – Separated from God for us - He took our Punishment – so that we could become ALIVE to God– by believing in Him
Jesus not only tells them that He BECAME DEAD; He goes on to say that He IS NOW ALIVE. He who became dead and is now alive,forevermore.
Jesus is telling them they don’t have to fear someone who can kill their body - BECAUSE He had already conquered the grave.
Someone once captured what it means to be Poor Yet Rich in the Lines of a Poem
I counted dollars while God counted crosses.
I counted gain while He counted losses.
I counted my worth by the things gained in store,
But he sized me up by the scars that I bore.
I coveted honors, and sought for degrees.
He wept as he counted the hours on my knees.
I never knew till one day by a grave,
How vain are the things that we spend life to save.
I did not yet know, 'til a Friend from above,
Said, richest is he who is rich in God's love!
This CROWN OF LIFE is a special mark of approval.
Their faithfulness had not gone unnoticed and neither would it go unrewarded.
The crown Jesus spoke of was the “stephanos” or the Victors crown. This was a crown that was given in athletic games. It was the reward of the victorious athlete.
It was also given when a man had faithfully performed the work of a magistrate.
At the end of his term of office, he would be given this crown.
It is a special mark of approval given by the Lord to those who endure suffering and hardship.
James 1:12 12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
Rev. 21:8"But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
Phil 1: 29 For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake
Last Sunday night I preached in a town called San Miguel. It was known for witch doctors and demonic things going on. We had a constant string of problems happening one after another. The church was crowded with every seat taken and faces looking through the back doors and all the windows. We had constant sound problems with the sound system as well as people outside playing loud music seemingly to drown out the service.
One beautiful thing happened early in the service when a group of 7-10 year old girls were doing a beautiful dance before the congregation. My interpreter began to explain the song: “you are so pretty…in the eyes of your heavenly Father you are beautiful…the color of your skin and the texture of your hair are beautiful to Him…He made you…just like you are…you are beautiful to Him”. Then the sound went out and the girls stopped for a moment confused…after about ten seconds and still no success fixing the sound….something neat happened…I hear the song again…this time the congregation was singing it for the girls and they began to dance again. They finished and it left an amazing feeling in the room.
How beautiful to walk in victory together through our trials and tribulations…to continue to dance to the songs of encouragement and the prayers of others who stand with. God loves that and wants to see that in the Body of Christ.
When trials comes: Stand faithful…stand together…stand in victory…it is limited…Jesus went before us.
