A Responsive Church in a Changing World: Smyrna

Text: Revelation 2:8-11

Theme: The Lord of glory has a message for his church today: A church is spiritually rich when is perseveres over persecution.

In 1988, James Hewett, a Presbyterian pastor in California, told of a small town that was struck by a tornado. The community’s weekly paper ran a story with the opening line, "We are pleased to announce that the cyclone which blew away the Methodist church last Friday did no real damage to the town." That’s a scarey confirmation of how many in our society view the church in our era. It is considered as irrelevant and without impact. Destroy it, and you really don’t lose much.

The Body of Christ in America today is in a precarious situation. George Barna, a pollster and marketing expert and a Christian concerned about the future of Christianity, believes the church to be in the midst of the most severe struggle it has faced in centuries.

More and more people are perceiving the church to be simply irrelevant to their lives. In Barna’s 2020 State of the Church Report, pollsters recorded that 65% of Americans believe that the Church has little to no impact on their community. Even more unfortunate is that 32% of self-identified Christians believe the Church is no longer relevant in today’s world. Wow!

These numbers are certainly a challenge for the church. As more and more people develop an apathy or even negativity toward the church the window of opportunity for evangelism in America will continually narrow and may eventually close as hearts are hardened and minds are closed.

One has to wonder "why?" Could it be that the church has become "rich in material goods" but "poor in spirit goods?" What did it mean for the church at Smyrna to be relevant in its community? For these believers, relevancy meant faithfulness to Christ at all costs. What are the lessons the Church at Smyrna can teach 21st -century congregations?

I. THE CHURCH CAN HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THE LORD OF GLORY

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life." (Revelation 2:8, ESV)

1. as at Ephesus the message to the church at Smynra is not from the apostle John, but the Lord Jesus Christ

2. when the Lord speaks to His people, we’d better listen

a. what’s the message?

A. THE ETERNAL SON OF GOD WATCHES OVER HIS CHURCH

1. Jesus proclaims that he is the "First" and the "Last"

a. the word First means first in time, first in rank, first in priority—literally first of first

b. the word Last means last in time, last in place—literally last to the extreme

1) it's our Lord's poetic way of telling John that He is the beginning of all things, and ending of all things—seen and unseen, and Lord over everything inbetween

2) Jesus was one with the Father before time began and he will be the consummation of all things, including time

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell," (Colossians 1:15-19, ESV)

c. our faith is in One who has first place in the universe and who is to be given first place in our hearts

2. he is also the One who died, but is risen from the dead

a. we love and worship and serve a living Savior

ILLUS. Every other religion in the world can point to the tomb of its founder.

Confucius is buried in Kong clan cemetery in Qufu, China.

Buddha’s grave is in Kushinagar, India, and is a pilgrimage sight.

Bab, founder of Bahai is buried in the Shrine of Bab on Mount Carmel in Haifa, Israel.

Muhammad is buried in the Mosque of the Green Dome in Medina, Saudi Arabia.

Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are all buried in the The Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron, Israel.

Joseph Smith is buried at the Smith Family Cemetery in Nauvoo, Illinois.

Only Christianity is confused as to the burial site of Jesus. But when your founder rose from the dead you don’t need to be concerned about trivial matters like tombs or graves.

3. this message is from the one who is the first and the last, who died and came to life

a. that gives you lots of authority to speak to his Church — we’d better listen

1) we worship a Savior who is the first and the last

2) we serve a Savior who died and came to life

4. the eternal Christ watches over his Church and he’s watching over this one!

B. CHRIST’S CHURCH IS DETESTED BY THE DEVIL

“Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.” (Revelation 2:10, ESV)

1. since the day of the birth of Christ’s Church on the Day of Pentecost, Satan and his demonic forces have been our enemy

a. he is the prince of the power of the air who seeks to stifle the work and witness of the Body of Christ wherever it is found

b. the Church has been the object of Satan’s persistent attacks from the very beginning

1) Jesus warns his Church at Smyrna that they were about to bear the brunt of one of his attacks

2. the Devil will use the synagogue of Satan (vs. 9) to work his opposition to the Gospel in the city of Smyrna (the devil always uses wicked men to do his dirty work)

a. the Church's chief antagonist were the Jews of Smyrna

1) the Jewish community in Smyrna was a large community, politically powerful and they constantly harassed and hindered the Christian congregation

2) the Jews thought they were the people of God but actually they were the self-deceived representatives of Satan

ILLUS. Sixty years after John wrote the Book of Revelation the Jews of Smyrna stirred up a mob and called for the death of the pastor of the church. Polycarp, the pastor of the Smyrnan church and had been a close personal friend and disciple of the Apostle John. Polycarp was burned at the stake for his refusal to renounce Christ and offer incense to Caesar. He was 86 years old! At his trial the mob shouted, he is the " ... destroyer of our gods ... " When the city’s magistrate gave him one last chance to recant his faith, Polycarp answered, “Eighty-six years I have served him, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who has saved me?” It was the Jews of Smyrna who gleefully gathered the wood to pile around Polycarp’s stake.

3) the Jews of Smyrna were Jews by race and by religion only, not true spiritual children of Abraham

a) Paul made the point in his writings: “A man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit” (Rom.2:29).

b. how it must have pained the Apostle John to write these things of his own nationality

3. when the church faces difficulty it needs to keep its eyes on the risen Lord of glory

a. when the world closes in on us because of our faith we can have confidence in a Savior who conquered death and who is in control

... the Church Can Have Confidence in the Lord of Glory

II. THE CHURCH CAN EXPECT PERSECUTION

1. a faithful church is often a persecuted church

a. whether that church is in 1st -century Smynra or the church in 21st -century China, a church that is faithful to Jesus, and his gospel will frequently be attacked by the enemies of the cross

2. just as at Ephesus (and every church) Jesus sees and knows the condition of every single body of believers

a. the word here translated know means to have a personal experiential knowledge of a situation because one has "seen it with his own eyes"

b. the problems at Smyrna did not take Jesus by surprise

3. faithful service to Christ often brings hardships

a. Jesus opens his message to the Church of Smyrna telling them, “I know your tribulation”

b. the word tribulation in vs. 8 means to experience pressure, and is a reference to an ancient form of torture called pressing

ILLUS. In this torture, the victim was striped naked and staked down and planks of wood or even a door was laid across their chest. Then large stones or weights would be added. Slowly, but surly the weights would suffocate the victim as they were able to breath out, but not breath in because of the weight pressing down on their body. Often ribs would snap, and the victim would slowly be crushed to death.

3. Jesus recognized three “weights” on the chest of this church

A. THE WEIGHT OF POVERTY

1. the church at Smyrna had been a successful church

a. they preached Jesus and lives were changed

b. they helped put shattered and broken lives back together

c. they turned despair into hope

d. they turned hatred into love

1) Jesus knew of their effort, their sacrifices and the struggles that had been necessary in order for this church to accomplish the good works it has done

2. how do we know they were a successful congregation

a. if they had been a namby-pamby bunch of Christians who compromised their principles at the first hint of opposition they would have never experienced the persecution they did

3. one result of their faithfulness was poverty

a. for the 1st century Christian, tribulation and poverty often went hand-in-hand

b. the Smyrnean Christians were poor because of the confiscation of property, and looting of business by hostile mobs, and difficulty of earning a living in a hostile environment

c. the letter to the Hebrews refers to this kind of persecution

"But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward." (Hebrews 10:32-35, ESV)

4. what does Jesus tell the Christians at Smyrna? ... “I know your poverty ... (but you are rich)” vs. 9

a. Jesus knows that our suffering has a purpose

1) the joy that believers experience despite a forced poverty furthers the gospel and thus makes it possible for the others to hear the gospel and have eternal life in Christ

b. their suffering also brought with it a reward

“knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence.” (2 Corinthians 4:14, ESV)

B. THE WEIGHT OF SLANDER

1. the result of their faithfulness was also slander, disparagement and ridicule

a. the enemies of the cross embarked on an active smear campaign against the church and its members

ILLUS. A document written in the late 2nd century A.D. called The Octavius of Minicius Felix describes a debate between a Christian and a pagan at the Roman port of Ostia. It provides valuable insight into how Christians were reviled and how they responded. In it Caecilius the Pagan accuses his Christian acquaintance of a number of anti-social behaviors. These accusations became wide-spread throughout the Roman Empire. Christians participated in ...

Cannibalism — a reference to the Lord’s Supper where believer eat the body and drink the blood of Jesus.

Gross Immorality of incest — the Christians met for worship in “secret places” and greeted their “brothers and sisters” with a kiss. What other sexual improprieties might be going on in these clandestine meetings?

Atheism — Because the Christians would not worship the pagan gods.

Unpatriotic — Because they would not worship Caesar, Rome’s Emperor.

Novelty — The Romans respected all things ancient, which is why they gave the Jews a pass on having to declare that Caesar was Lord. The Jews were an ancient religion that preceded their empire, and the Romans respected that. As Rome slowly realized that Christianity was different than Judaism they came to despise it because any “new” religion was a novelty and not worth protecting.

2. it’s twenty-one hundred years later and Confessing Christians are still slandered

ILLUS. Jesus, himself, told his followers that the world would revile us. In our culture, we are ...

We are called narrow-minded because we believe Jesus is the only way to heaven.

We are called cruel because we believe Jesus taught the existence of hell.

We are called fanatical fundamentalists because we believe the Bible came from God, and is authoritative for faith and practice.

We are called anti-science because we believe the God created the world.

We are called bigoted and hateful because we believe God created sexuality, marriage, and gender, and because we try to base our beliefs about sexuality, marriage, and gender on what the Bible teaches.

ILLUS. Unless you’ve been living in a vacuum the last month, you’ve become aware of an LGBTQ group who call themselves the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. They are drag queens who dress up – often provocatively – in nun’s habits. Their creed is “Go and sin some more.” The are anti-Catholic bigots. Their goal is to ridicule all things Christian, but especially Catholicism.

a. now then ... I am a “son of the Protestant Reformation.” I have serious theological issues with the Holy See of Rome. But openly ridiculing another branch of Christianity should not be tolerated

3. Jesus told his disciples ...

“ “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” (Matthew 5:10–11, ESV)

4. how do we respond when we are reviled and slandered by the culture?

“ ... When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; 13 when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.” (1 Corinthians 4:12–13, ESV)

C. THE WEIGHT OF PERSECUTION, IMPRISONMENT AND DEATH

1. Jesus is very clear, their faithfulness is going to bring a short period of great difficulty

"Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life." v. 10

2. the persecution faced by the Christians at Smynra was only a foretaste of the persecution the church would experience over the next 2,100 years

a. it has been estimated that between 64 A.D. when Paul was executed by Nero and 325 A.D. when Rome legalized Christianity, some 5,000,000 believers were martyred for their faith

1) few if any of us sitting here this morning will be imprisoned because we are a Christian; few if any of us will have our property seized because we are a Christian; few if any of us will be tortured or killed because we are a Christian

2) that’s not our reality

b. that is the reality for millions of Christians around the world

1) as we sit here this morning, the reality for 200 million Christians around the world is the seizure of their property, imprisonment, torture and death

ILLUS. All over the world the devil is putting Christians in prison. The US State Department’s International Religious Freedom Report 2022 reports that the North Korean government has imprisoned for life a two-year-old toddler along with his entire family after officials found a Bible in their possession. They are among the estimated 70,000 Christians imprisoned in that nation. Did you know that more believers were martyred for their faith in the 20th century then in the previous 19 centuries combined? The Center for the Study of Global Christianity estimates that 160,000 believers will be martyred for their faith this year alone. The Center also estimates that over 1 million Christians have been martyred since 2007.

3. Jesus tells this church, "I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty ... I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution ” vs. 9-10

ILLUS. In the 16th century one of the most reviled religious groups in Europe were the Anabaptists. They weren’t Baptists, but the predecessors of the Swiss Brethren, Amish and the Mennonites. They believed in “believers baptism” by immersion upon a profession of faith, and separation of church and state. They were also pacifists. That made them the enemies of Roman Catholicism and most national governments who considered them “radicals”. Even Martin Luther, who is credited with ushering in the Reformation, urged the execution of all Anabaptists as heretics.

The Anabaptist spoke of three baptisms: 1) The Baptism of the Spirit which brings a person into a relationship with Christ, 2) The Baptism of Water which become the sign or symbol of one’s discipleship, and lastly, 3) The Baptism of Blood, which marks one who follows Christ truly in the pathway of suffering.

Thousands were drowned as a way of mocking baptism by immersion. Other thousands were burned at the stake. And still other thousands died in prison. Most lived in poverty because government governments confiscated their property.

a. around the world millions of Christians are facing the The Baptism of Blood

b. we ought to pray for the persecuted church

4. the promise is that those who are faithful unto death will receive the crown of life

D. THE WEIGHT OF GLORY IS FOR GOD’S FAITHFUL

“For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,” (2 Corinthians 4:17, ESV)

1. in that verse the Apostle Paul emphasizes the temporary nature of worldly opposition compared to the eternity that awaits believers, and the glory it will bring

a. Paul says that the slander, disparagement and ridicule we receive because of our faith is producing in us glory

2. for the believers at Smyrna that weight of glory includes the crown of life

ILLUS. The Church at Smyrna would have been familiar with the extreme honor associated with a “victor’s crown.” The city was well known for its Olympic-style athletic contests. Garlands of victory were bestowed only to the highest achieving athletes. No second-place or third-place prize existed. The crown of victory belonged to the victor alone, and every other competitor was considered defeated

3. undoubtedly the Christians at Smyrna were at times tempted to give up a yield to the pressure to give up their faith

a. they never did

b. their faith persevered

c. they were faithful even to the point of death because they knew a victor’s crown was coming

... the Church Can Expect Slander in this World, but it Leads to Eternal Glory

III. LESSON OF SMYRNA'S FAITHFULNESS

A. THE CHURCH THAT WANTS TO BE RELEVANT KEEPS ITS EYES ON THE LORD

ILLUS. Adrian Rogers, pastor of Bellview Baptist Church, Memphis, TN once said that the typical Southern Baptist Church is so dependent upon programs, policies and procedures that if God were to remove the Holy Spirit from the world tomorrow that most of our churches would keep on going as if nothing had happened.

1. Jesus is the "First" and the "Last"

2. our eyes must be turned to Him who has first place in the universe and is to be given first place in our hearts and lives

3. because he is a living Savior we can have total and complete confidence in him

ILLUS. Oliver Green of The Gospel Hour radio program says, "Jesus is the church's spiritual "Rock of Gibraltar" against which no power can stand.

4. relevant churches must be full of believers who keep their eyes on the Lord

B. A CHURCH THAT WANTS TO BE RELEVANT WILL SEE SPIRITUAL HEALTH AS MORE IMPORTANT THAN MATERIAL WEALTH

1. the spiritual condition of the Smyrnean church stands in sharp contrast to their economic condition

a. materially these Christians were poor, but spiritually they were rich

b. they were rich because despite persecution they had remained faithful to the Lord

2. could it be that the Body of Christ in America today is more concerned with the spoils of faith rather than the Spirit of Christ?

3. could it be that most Christians are more concerned about receiving the blessings of our faith than of letting our faith make us a blessing to those around us?

4. could it be that the world has influenced us more than we've influenced the world

a. could it be that too many churches have become showboats instead of lifeboats

C. A CHURCH THAT WANTS TO BE RELEVANT WILL REMAIN FAITHFUL AT ALL COSTS

1. our community and our nation needs men and women, teenagers and even boys and girls who are not ashamed or afraid to stand for truth and to stand for Jesus even when it is unpopular

"for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God," (2 Timothy 1:7-8, ESV)

a. that means that God’s people must remain faithful at all costs

2. Jesus reminds the Church at Smyrna that they don’t have to be afraid

a. they don’t have to be afraid because he has the last word

1) he is the first and the last — I was there at the beginning and I’ll be there at the end

b. in the midst of all this persecution, even in the midst of all your suffering, I hold the crown of life

c. the power of the empire is just an illusion — God is working all things together for good for those who love Him

1) God orders all things for the propagation of the Gospel — even the suffering of His church

ILLUS. Consider: In Acts 8:3 we read of a young man named Saul who was ravaging the church. He entered into homes and drug people off to prison — both men and women. As a result of this persecution, many believers fled Jerusalem and Judea. But the next verse tells us, “Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word.” Now think about that. Jesus told his disciples, You shall be my witnesses (which by the way is the from which we get our word martyr), and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth. What they didn’t know was that persecution of the Church was one way God would get Christians into all the world.

2) which means that the persecuted church around the world — even today — might be God’s way of scattering the Church to other places that need to hear the gospel

Con. We are in the world, but not of the world. That’s the message of the Church at Smyrna.