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nnounced in a general assembly of Smyrna citizens, it is said that the citizen of Smyrna took the clothes off their backs to send to the Roman soldiers.
All this led to the Roman historian Cicero to refer to Smyrna as Rome’s most faithful allie.
Jesus’ Letters to the Seven Churches
Smyrna: Loyalty
“Ephesus: Recovering What Matters Most”
January 13, 2018
January 6, 2019
Introduction
5Introduction
This morning, we are beginning a new sermon series on Jesus’ letters to the seven churches in Revelation.
These letters were meant to both encourage and challenge the churches.
Jesus compliments the churches but also warns them where they are falling short.
I hope this series will encourage our church and our lives.
I hope this series will challenge our church and our lives.
We need to pay careful attention to the warnings in these letters to see where we fall short as a church and as individuals.
This morning, we are continuing our series on Jesus’ Letters to the Seven Churches in Revelation.
Last week, we looked at the church of Ephesus.
The church of Ephesus did a lot of things well, but their love for God had grown cold.
Today, we are going to look at Jesus’ letter to the church of Smyrna.
Read Text
We are going to start in with the church of Ephesus.
Read Text
Opening Illustration: Loyalty — Capitan
Opening Illustration:
The letter to the church of Smyrna is all about loyalty.
For the believers in Smyrna, where does their loyalty lie?
Would they be loyal to God or loyal to Caesar?
The question for us this morning: Where does our loyalty lie?
Are we loyal to God.
We are going to see this morning that the church of Ephesus did a lot of good things.
But there was one area that they were lacking.
This one area they lacked was the most important.
1. Pressure and Persecution
Illustration: Fanatic Fan
1. Doing all the right things.
Theological: Verses 2-3
Theological: The city of Smyrna was a fanatic fan of Rome.
In 195 BC, Smyrna built a temple for the worship of Rome.
Smyrna sided with Rome in important battles that solidified the Roman Empire.
One winter the Roman soldiers faced a bitter winter.
When the Roman soldier’s plight was announced in a general assembly of Smyrna citizens, it is said that the citizen of Smyrna took the clothes off their backs to send to the Roman soldiers.
All this led to the Roman historian Cicero to refer to Smyrna as Rome’s most faithful allie.
In AD 25, Rome awarded Smyrna to build a temple for the worship of the Roman emperor Tiberius.
This temple led to Smyrna being the leading center for Roman emperor worship in Asia.
Once a year, all citizens were required to burn incense to the Roman emperor and proclaim Caesar as Lord.
Unwillingness to comfort and proclaim Caesar as Lord would be interpreted by Smyrna as as disgraceful lack of patriotism and treason.
The church of Ephesus had a rich heritage.
The people who came through the church of Ephesus looks like a list of who’s who in the New Testament: Priscilla, Aquila, Apollos, Paul (spent more time in Ephesus that any other city during his three missionary journeys).
At one time, Timothy was the pastor at Ephesus.
Timothy was later followed by the apostle John.
The church of Ephesus had a rich heritage.
It’s no wonder that the church did a lot of things well.
Jesus has high praise for the church.
Jesus compliments the church for the things they were doing well.
The believers in Smyrna were under tremendous pressure to proclaim Caesar as Lord.
When they did not, they were persecuted.
Tribulation(v.
9): Tribulation refers to the pressure of a crushing affliction.
The idea here is that the believers in Smyrna were facing severe persecution.
In verse 2, Jesus praises the church for their work and labor.
The word “labor” means hard work.
The church of Ephesus did not take the easy way.
The church was not filled with lazy people.
This was a hard working church.
The church of Ephesus was busy serving the Lord.
Poverty (v.
9): This word refers to extreme poverty.
We might use a phrase today like dirt poor.
Jesus also praises the church for their endurance and perseverance in the midst of hardships.
We get a glimpse into the hardships that the church of Ephesus faced in when Paul’s ministry created a riot in the city.
Those in the city who worshiped false gods were going to put a fight against the spread of Christianity in the city of Ephesus.
But the church endured, they persevered through hardships.
Why did the believers in Smyrna face such poverty.
When citizens burned incense and proclaimed Caesar as Lord once a year were given a certificate.
Not having the certificate led to economic sanctions.
People would not trade with you.
If you didn’t have the certificate, you would also be blacklisted from jobs or promotions at work.
Jesus also praises the church because they did not tolerate evil and they did not tolerate false teachers and false teachings.
In verse 6, Jesus said the church of Ephesus hated the practices of the Nicolaitans.
The Nicolaitans lived lives of unrestrained indulgence and pleasure.
The Nicolaitans basically believed that Christians had a license to sin.
The church of Ephesus did not tolerate this evil.
They did not tolerate this false teaching.
Jesus had high praise for the church of Ephesus.
The church of Ephesus did a lot of things well.
Blasphemy: Verse 9 also refers to blasphemy or slander.
This came from the Jews in Smyrna.
The Jews in Smyrna opposed believers in Christ.
Here is how their slander might have worked.
Rome recognized the Jews as serving one God plus the Jews had helped out Rome in an important battle.
So the Jews were except from burning incense and proclaiming Caesar as Lord.
For a long time, Christianity was considered as a part of Judaism.
The Jews rejected this.
The Jews said that Christians were traitors to Judaism just like they were traitors to Caesar and Rome.
Scott: What a splendid church the Christian community in Ephesus seemed to be!
It appeared to be a model church in every way.
Verse 10 tells us that persecution for believers in Smyrna was about to get worse.
Believers would be thrown into prison.
Verses 10 encourages the believers in Smyrna to be faithful even to the point of death.
We know from the historical data in Smyrna that Christians were killed because they worshiped Christ instead of worshipping Caesar.
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