Word of Salvation – Vol. 40 No.40 – October 1995

 

The Church That Was Under Affliction

 

Sermon by Rev. P. Kossen on Revelation 2:8-11

 

Brothers and Sisters, Boys and Girls.

I remember when I was at school, the school was quite a big one.  If the principal has something important to say, he would use the p.a. system.  He had a microphone in his office, and there was a speaker in each classroom.  And sometimes you would be witting down doing your lessons, and all of a sudden the principal would be talking, calling people to his office.

I tell you, it was quite something if your name was called out.  You would have to stand up and leave your classroom, and then walk among all these concrete corridors, listening to your footsteps all the way, and each step of the way you wonder what you have done.  Till finally, you get to the principal’s office, knock on the door with your heart in your mouth, come in, and stand before him.

Well, in a way that is what is happening to us today again.  In Revelation 1, we saw Jesus as Head of the Church walking among the churches.  He is like the principal wandering around among the classrooms making sure everyone is doing their work.  And today we are just sitting down, doing our work, when the Lord’s voice also comes to us: “Could the Reformied Church of ____________ please come to the principal’s office?”  And as we now again come and stand before the Lord, we ask ourselves, “What is He going to say to us today?”

Maybe we are not ready for what He has to say to us today.  In most of these seven letters, there is a message of rebuke.  “And this is what I have against you…, this is what you should change.”  In the first and the last He even threatens to expel them unless they change their attitude.

But in this second letter, which we are up to today, He doesn’t do that.  He calls to Himself the church of Smyrna.  And He says to them, “I’ve been looking at your work, and you’ve been doing really well.  And I just wanted to encourage you to keep it up.”  And as we listen to this letter from the Lord, may we also hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

And as we trace this message today, we will see it under the letter “C”:

First of all, He Comforts them;
  then He Commends them;
     then He Calls them to continued faithfulness;
        and finally, He promises them the Crown of life.

1.  The Comfort

The church in Smyrna was in a very difficult situation.  Smyrna was also in modern Turkey, about 300 km south of modern Istanbul.  She was one of the very important cities in the Roman Empire; wealthy, beautiful, up to date with all the modern trends, loyal to the Romans for a long time already before the Romans had conquered the area.  Because of this loyalty to Rome, there was a very strong cult of emperor worship.  And also, because it was a major trading city, there was also a very strong Jewish population there.

In modern terms we would say this was a very worldly city.  And it was very hard to live there as a Christian.  If you wanted to be a Christian in Smyrna, it really meant sacrifice.  If you didn’t toe the line, you often ended up losing your job.  And more than that, you were the subject of ridicule.  Being a Christian in Smyrna often meant real sacrifice, poverty, hunger, and also often imprisonment and death by being thrown to the wild animals or being burnt at the stake.

Do you remember the famous Christian martyr, Polycarp?  He was for many years the pastor of this church, the Bishop of Smyrna.  Already when John wrote his letter, Polycarp was a Christian, and maybe even the angel (pastor) of the church in Smyrna.  And about 60 years after this letter was written, Polycarp paid for his faith with his life.  The Romans urged him to renounce Christ, but Polycarp said, “Eighty and six years have I served Him and He never did me any injury.  How then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?”  And the Roman proconsul threatened him, first with the wild beasts, and then with fire, but Polycarp stood firm.  “Listen to me,” he said, “you are trying to make me into something I’m not.  I tell you plainly, I am a Christian.  And you threaten me with fire which burns for an hour!  Don’t you know about the eternal punishment stored up for the ungodly?  But why are you being so slow?  Do what you have to.  I am a Christian.”  And so, with the prodding of the Jews, they burnt him at the stake.

That’s what it was like to be a Christian in Smyrna.  And then you can imagine how comforting the Lord’s words were.  “I know your affliction and your poverty.”  The hardest thing about any affliction is having to carry it by yourself.  So often as a pastor you can find people all wrapped up in their problems, and they say, “But you don’t know what I’m going through; you don’t realise how much pain and suffering this is causing me.”

The hardest thing about an affliction is the loneliness, feeling as though you have to carry it all by yourself.  And indeed, in late communist Russia, this was one of the hardest things for Christians to bear.  They were suffering so much.  But so often they found that Christians in the West were completely ignorant of their suffering.  But then the comforting words of the Lord: “But I know your afflictions and poverty”.  No one else may know what you are going through, but I am the Lord who walks among the lampstands.  I search the hearts; I know; I am aware; I know your afflictions, your poverty; I know the slander of those who say they are Christians but are not.  I can see that you are ridiculed not only by the world, but also by those who claim to be Christians.

Brothers and Sisters, Proverbs 14:10 says, “Each heart knows its own bitterness.” And for us, too, at times, it may be hard to be a Christian.  The cost involved for us may be very great.  It may strain our finances, it may cost us the job we want, the sport we want; it may cause us much ridicule.  And often these things may be things we cannot share with others, a burden we carry.  And yet, then the Lord also comforts us: “I know.”

But then, not only does He comfort them, He also commends them.

2.  The Commendation

“I know your afflictions and your poverty – yet you are rich.”  It was the other way around in Laodicea.  They said, “I am rich, I have acquired wealth and don’t need anything.”  But the Lord said, “You do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”  But not so in Smyrna.  They were poor, and yet they were exceedingly rich.  We are reminded then again that the Lord measures us not by our pockets but by our hearts.  True riches are those which are stored up in heaven.  Peter says that faith is of much greater value than gold.

And that was the mark of the church in Smyrna.  They had a vast treasure stored up for them in heaven.  They were people who were willing to count the cost of being a Christian.  Like Moses, “they chose to be mistreated along with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time.”  Like Moses, “they regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because they were looking ahead to their reward” (Hebrews 11:25).

What about us, brothers and sisters?  We know that this world is not our home, that we are only passing through, as pilgrims, into the world to come.  But are we willing to count the cost of following Christ?  In every situation in life, whether it be in the world, in the church, or in the home, do we determine our direction with the confession of Polycarp: “But I am a Christian” ?  Is being a follower of Jesus more important to us than our own lives?  The Lord praised the church in Smyrna.  Would he also praise you and I with the words, “but you are rich”?

Then, from the commendation, the Lord moves to the call to continue in faithfulness.

3.  The Call

And He comforts them again, saying: “Do not be afraid of what you are about to face.  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.”

We may say, brothers and sisters, that we are not facing this sort of persecution today.  No, we are not – at least, not yet.  But I want to bring something to your attention.  On the surface, the trouble the church of Smyrna faced was the Roman powers who had the authority to throw them into prison and kill them.  Behind the Romans, however, we know there were also the Jews, pushing for the extinction of the Christian faith.  But behind the Jews there was the devil.

We do not face the Romans or the Jews today.  But the devil is just as hard at work today to tempt us away from the Christian faith.  And he has all sorts of weapons in his hands.  Sometimes he may use persecution.  And for us, open persecution would do us a world of good, for we may be forced to make a positive stand for Christ.  However, Satan doesn’t want to work us any good, and so for us he may choose another weapon out of his arsenal.  Maybe the quiet, unnoticed crawl of worldliness; maybe the subtle undermining work of godless humanism.  In so many ways he is at work, to destroy our faith.  And the Lord teaches us that the battle is not over until we receive the crown of life.  And therefore, the Lord calls us to persevere in our faithfulness to Him.

And in this passage the Lord encourages us to persevere in a threefold way:

a.  by His counsel: “do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer.”

It is like a soldier standing on the sidelines before the battle.  As he looks at the battle ahead, he may be filled with all sorts of fears.  The battle seems to be such a big one, against such a powerful enemy.  How will I ever be able to keep on going?  How will I be able to continue standing?

The Lord says, “do not be afraid.”  And in Isaiah, “See, I have engraved you on the palm of my hands.”  And this is truly a motive for perseverance to the end.  As Christians, we will suffer, in various degrees, just as Jesus Christ Himself also suffered for us.  And yet, He has been there, and He has been through it.  And now, from the position of His glory, He calls us, “do not be afraid. – Satan will try in many ways to make you fall.  And I will use all of these to strengthen you in your faith. – And the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered for a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

That is also the second encouragement to persevere.  Do not be afraid, He says:

b.  “The devil will put some of you in prison, and you will suffer persecution for ten days.”

With these words, you see, Christ Himself limits the suffering.  First of all, not all will suffer equally.  The Lord will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able.  You also see that in the letter to the Philadelphians.  They were a church of little strength, but who remained faithful to Christ.  And because they have little strength, the Lord also promises that He will keep them from the hour of trial that is coming upon the whole world.

And you see here that the Lord is in control of our suffering, not the devil.  Some will suffer little according to their strength.  Some would suffer much.  But even those who suffered much, it would only be for ten days.  Ten days signifies a short and a definite time.  And therefore, in whatever manner we may be tested in our lives, let us also know the deep assurance that the Lord is in control, and the suffering will only be a little while.  And after the suffering, the glory.

That is also the third encouragement to persevere, and it’s also the last point in the sermon.  As a motive for perseverance and faithfulness, the Lord promises:

4.  The Crown of Life

“Be faithful even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.”  Again, we are reminded of Hebrews 11, of father Abraham, who lived upon this earth as an alien and a stranger.  He was promised many things through the Gospel.  While he was living he did not yet receive them.  And he had plenty of opportunity to throw it all in and return to his own country, the land of Ur.  But he never returned.  he kept on pressing forward, longing for a better country, a heavenly one.  And that has always been the life of believers.  Living by faith in the things which are promised.  Our inheritance is not in this world but in the world to come.  And those who direct their lives towards the world to come, they will not be disappointed for God has prepared a city for them.

Their faithfulness and perseverance here upon the earth will be greatly rewarded.  The rich fool sought his life here upon the earth, and when he died he had had his life.  But the one who seeks his life in heaven in Christ, when he dies it is for him the entrance into eternal life.

And the Lord will be there to welcome him, “Well done, good and faithful servant; enter into your Master’s glory.”  “Yes,” says the Lord, “I will give you the crown of life.”  For a people living in Smyra, this, of course, had very rich associations with the Olympic Games.  The picture it drew for them was one of the successful athlete entering into the stadium with the victor’s wreath upon his head.

And such also, brothers and sisters, is the victory laid up in store for all those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, who have through Him the forgiveness of their sins and who acknowledge Him as Lord of their life, who listen humbly at His feet, when He speaks to the seven churches of all the earth.

CONCLUSION

And isn’t this second letter to the churches a most beautiful one.  The Lord praises the faithfulness of His people and encourages them to continue in that way.

And again, today, may we have ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.  Last time we were called to look at our first love.  This time we care called to examine our faithfulness to the Lord.

Are we like Smyrna, perhaps poor and suffering for our faith?  Does it cost us to be a Christian?  Would the Lord also say to us, “but you are rich”, rich in the things which really count.

May we each examine our hearts and see if our real treasure is the one stored up in heaven, and may we hear the Lord’s call to persevere.

“And he who overcomes,” says the Lord, “will not be hurt at all by the second death.” For beyond the grave is life, eternal.

May we have ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches!

Amen.