Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

I wanted desperately to somehow incorporate this image into the introduction and I think I have figured it out

{{show Moses tablet comic}}

Thank you Mike O’Leary!

Transition:

Just as YHWH downloaded messages to Moses’ tablets, so also did Jesus use “voice recognition” technology — A.K.A.

The apostle John— to transcribe His letters to seven churches!

The message to the church in Smyrna is the second in the series of seven messages in Revelation 2–3.

Among the seven churches mentioned in Revelation 2–3, only Smyrna and Philadelphia receive mostly praise or encouragement without any blame or accusation related to a sin—so perhaps this is worthy of us paying close attention this morning.

Scripture Reading:

Revelation 2:8–11

Smyrna was a harbor city located about forty miles northwest of Ephesus.

The name of the city – Smyrna –means “bitter” and is the same Greek root word that is translated “myrrh” elsewhere in the New Testament.

Myrrh was taken from a thorny bush and then crushed in order to make a perfume, and it was also used in the preparation of a dead body for burial.

This name is a perfect picture of the church there, which, as we’ll see closer in a moment, produced a pleasing aroma as it was being crushed.

Transition:

We know very little about how the church in Smyrna began.

It is not mentioned anywhere in the book of Acts.

Likely, it was founded some time during Paul’s three year stay in Ephesus due to the close proximity, but we can’t be sure.

What little information we have about the church comes from the description here in Revelation.

However, we do know that this is the only one of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 that still exists today.

The city has been renamed Izmir and it is the third largest city in Turkey.

And, there is still a faithful remnant of Christ followers there.

Since this message follows the same general structure as the other six, we’ll use the same outline in a similar fashion that we developed last week to examine this passage.

I.

The Proficiency of Christ (v.8)

He is what this Church needs:

As He does in each of the seven messages, Jesus reveals Himself to the church in Smyrna using one of the aspects of His character from John’s vision in chapter 1.

And, as is true with all seven messages, that specific aspect of His nature is intended to be a direct encouragement to that church and to what the church is facing.

In this case, Jesus identifies Himself as: Smyrna was the persecuted church, so Christ reminds them of His own suffering, death, and resurrection (2:8).

“The first and the last” This is one of the recurrent titles for Jesus found in 1:17 and 22:13.

In the OT it referred only to YHWH--Jesus is making an important point here.

The prophet Isaiah repeatedly uses the phrase “the first and the last” as a description of God.

Here is just one of several examples:

Isaiah 44:6 (ESV)

So when Jesus applies that very same phase to Himself, he is clearly revealing Himself as God.. VERY INTERESTING GREEK WORDS IN THIS PASSAGE! ὁ πρῶτος καὶ ὁ ἔσχατος

πρῶτος= proto- as in prototype &

ἔσχατος = last thing - where we get the word eschatology - the study of the last/end of all things

Jesus is the Prototype and the end of all things — He is the supreme God! no one is above Him nor will anyone outlast Him!

It is synonymous with the phrase “I am the Alpha and Omega” (cf.

1:8; 21:6; 22:13) and “the beginning and the end” (cf.

21:6; 22:13).

Jesus is God!

And, if that wasn’t enough, Being the only One victorious over death, Jesus can sustain the Christians in Smyrna facing persecution.

As John Stott puts it, “Before we were born He was Alpha, and He will be Omega after we have died.”

Illustration:

God Is the Critic

Dr. James Kennedy said

“Most people think of the church as a drama, with the minister as the chief actor, God as the prompter, and the laity as the critic.

What is actually the case is that the congregation is the chief actor, the minister is the prompter, and God is the critic.”

I think this quote bears repeating:

“Most people think of the church as a drama, with the minister as the chief actor, God as the prompter, and the laity as the critic.

What is actually the case is that the congregation is the chief actor, the minister is the prompter, and God is the critic.”

Lord, forgive us for ever thinking we could be critics of the One who is The First and the Last

“who died and came to life” This may also have been a slap at the nature cult of Cybele, the mother goddess.

Many of the ancient fertility religions based their world-view on personified cycles of nature, winter = death, and spring = rebirth.

In context this relates theologically to 1:18; 5:6, where Jesus is the lamb that was slain but is now alive.

It emphasizes Jesus’ once-for-all substitutionary death and resurrection.

Transition:

II.

The Problem at Church (v.9)

The church in Smyrna was suffering because of persecution, and believers faced poverty even in this wealthy city.

This probably refers to material poverty because Christ immediately assured them that despite their poverty, they were rich—referring to their heavenly riches.

These Christians’ poverty may have come from sanctions against them as part of the persecution they faced-- economic persecution (e.g., loss of income and jobs, destruction of property, legal trouble), exclusion from local trade guilds, either from the guilds hating Christians or from guilds that would employ Christians, but through the work they promoted pagan religious activities that would have caused Christians to compromise their faith resulting in poverty.

Yet in spite of their material poverty, Jesus declares them spiritually rich!

For most of the Christians, though, their suffering was strongly tied to the local unbelieving Jewish community that instigated the persecution against Christians, by accusing them before the Roman authorities.

Because Judaism was tolerated by Rome, Jews were exempt from worshiping the emperor.

Throughout most of the first century, Christians and Jews were closely identified, resulting in some protection for the first Christians.

With the persecutions under Nero in the mid-60s, however, the authorities began to view Christianity as an unacceptable new religion.

Why did the Jews hate Christians so much?

Some Christians had converted from Judaism, and this might have angered the Jews.

Christians were viewed as people who changed or rejected the Jewish law.

By confessing Jesus as the Messiah, they were committing Jewish blasphemy.

This would have been especially offensive if these particular Jews saw Jesus in their synagogues.

Ans since the government officials viewed the Christ followers as a sect of the Jews, the Jews might have worried that the Christians’ refusal also to participate in the Caesar worship was going to endanger the privileges that the Jews already enjoyed.

So they would inform on those who failed to follow the emperor’s edict.

As he does in each message, Jesus begins with the words “I know.”

As Jesus walks among His churches, He is able to evaluate them thoroughly and accurately.

He sees not just what others see on the outside, but He also peers into the hearts of the people in the church.

And in the case of Smyrna, the words “I know” take on even more significance because Jesus knew of the three problems the church in Smyrna was experiencing because He had experienced them Himself in His life here on earth.

Although there are three separate issues that Jesus speaks of here, we’ll see that all three are actually inextricably linked together.

• The church had remained faithful to Jesus in the face of three things Jesus, Himself, had faced on earth:

1. Tribulation

The term that Jesus uses here – tribulation – has a very specific meaning.

Some translations have rendered this word “affliction”, “suffering”, or “pain” – words that fail to adequately express the seriousness of what the church was facing.

This word pictures crushing, suffocating pressure.

It has its origin in an ancient method of capital punishment in which the subject was tied down and a large stone was placed on his chest, eventually causing death by suffocation due to the crushing pressure on the chest.

And while it is true that most of us here may have faced difficulties, trials, affliction, suffering and pain to some degree for our faith in Jesus, very few of us have experienced the kind of tribulation that Jesus is speaking of here.

2. Poverty

There are two different Greek words which can be translated poverty.

The first refers to someone who has the necessities of life, but nothing more.

The other word, the one used here describes someone who has nothing at all – absolute destitute poverty.

Again, I am convinced that none of us here have ever even come close to the kind of poverty that these Christ followers in Smyrna experienced.

Even the very poorest among us are quite rich materially compared to them.

Although Smyrna was a prosperous city, the Christ followers were living in absolute poverty as a result of their faith in Jesus.

We’ll be able to see why that was a little more clearly when we look at the third problem the church was facing in just a moment,

But even though the church was totally broke materially, Jesus pointed out that they were actually quite rich.

How? James provides us with the answer to that question:

James 2:5 (ESV)

This is certainly an accurate picture of the church in Smyrna.

Even though they were poor in the eyes of the world, they were certainly rich in faith, remaining true to Jesus despite the tremendous pressures they were facing.