Sermon

December 1, 2004
Midweek Advent #1
Revelation 2:8-11
Pastor Robert Raasch

The Advent King Comes for Those Who are Being Persecuted

1. I Know Your Afflictions
2. Be Faithful to the Point of Death

During our Advent worship this year, we are using as the basis for our meditation, the seven letters to the churches of Asia Minor recorded for us in Revelation chapter 2 and 3. Now someone might ask, "What do the seven letters have to do with the season of Advent?" Actually, quite a bit. For you see, the book of Revelation, more than any other book in the New Testament, deals with the future. You might say, it's the Spirit's instruction manual for helping Christians deal with the events that will lead up to Jesus' glorious return on the Last Day. It was written to help people prepare for Jesus' return. Well, isn't that exactly what we see the season of Advent to be? A time of preparation. We are preparing ourselves for the anniversary of Jesus first coming and preparing ourselves for the reality of his second coming.

And to help us do that, we turn our attention today to the letter which Jesus instructed John to send to the Christian congregation in Smyrna. Now, I think it's important to realize that each of these letters was written to a real congregation, a congregation which faced unique challenges. Each congregation had particular strengths and weaknesses. And yet, as we study each of these congregations, I think we'll find something about each of the congregations that we can relate to. We can see something about ourselves in each congregation, including the congregation in Smyrna. What does this letter teach us about our Advent King? It teaches us that:

The Advent King Comes for Those Who are Being Persecuted

In this letter, Jesus has two things to say to those of us who are undergoing trials because of our faith:

1. I Know Your Afflictions
2. Be Faithful to the Point of Death

Our text begins, "To the angel," that is, the messenger, or in this case, likely the pastor, "of the church in Smyrna, write, I know your affliction and your poverty. I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not." Apparently the Christians in Smyrna were enduring a certain amount of persecution for their faith. St. John calls it "affliction." And who were the people who were doing the persecuting? John says it was the people who say they are Jews, but are not. Hmmm. Exactly who would that be?

Well, we get a clue from Romans 2:28 where St. Paul writes, "A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code." In other words, just because a person is Jewish by nationality, just because he or she is a physical descendent of Abraham or follows all the Old Testament regulations, doesn't mean that they are true believers in the true God of the Old Testament Jewish nation. They may be members of physical Israel, but not spiritual Israel. That's what Paul means when he writes in Romans 9:6, "For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel." Scripture makes it clear that the true Israel of God, the true Jews are those who accept Jesus as Savior from sin.

Well, apparently, it was these "fake Jews," these pseudo believers, who were making life miserable for the Christians in Smyrna. St. John says that these enemies of the gospel were "slandering" the believers. That is, they were giving these Christians a bad name; they were accusing them of things they hadn't done. For example, maybe they were accusing the Christians of being disloyal to the Roman government because they refused to acknowledge that the Caesar was a god. While it's true that Christians refused to worship Caesar; it's not true that they were traitors. That charge was slanderous. In fact, maybe it was that kind of slander by the Jews which may well have created the economic hardship, the poverty that Jesus says he knows they are enduring.

The point is this: these Christians were suffering emotional and financial hardships because other so called "religious" people people of another so called religion did not like the way they talked or acted. Tell me, can you relate? Have you ever been accused of being narrow minded, old-fashioned or "ultra" conservative because you belong to a church body that still confesses that this book is 100% the Word of God? Or that marriage is a divinely appointed institution for one man and one woman, or that homosexuality is not merely an alternative lifestyle. Have you ever been accused of being self-righteous, or even anti-Christian because you refused to join in a worship service or pray or commune with people whose confession of faith is not consistent with yours?

Or maybe you've caught flack from the guys for saying that you're going home to your wife rather than staying out and having another round of drinks after work? Or maybe you've been made to feel like you're not a real man or not a real woman because you don't have any weekend conquests to share with the gang?

Or maybe your confession of faith has led you to endure economic hardship; you've lost your job or failed to be promoted because you refused to doctor the books like you're boss wanted you to do, or you refused to involve yourself in vicious gossip, or back stabbing running rampant in the office. Maybe because you lived your Christian faith in word or deed, you paid a heavy price, you were demoted, despised or openly ridiculed.

My friends, at times like these we can feel like it's us against the world. We feel like nobody knows what we're going through. But the fact is, nothing could be further from the truth. What Jesus says to the Christians in Smyrna, he still says to you and me today. "I know your afflictions." I know exactly what you are going through. They don't come as a surprise to me-and they shouldn't come as a surprise to you either. Martin Luther put it this way: "If Christ wore a crown of thorns, we should not expect people to place wreaths and roses on our head." Or in the words of Jesus himself in John 15:18, "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. And, if they persecuted me, they will persecute you also."

The point is this: Jesus never promised that our lives as Christians would be easy. Instead, he warns us that in one way or another, we'll face persecution for what we believe. In fact, here in our text, Jesus comes right out and tells the Christians in Smyrna the persecution that awaits them. He says, "I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you and you will suffer persecution for 10 days." Whether the "10 days" is to be taken as a literal ten day period or like so many of the other numbers in Revelation, it is to be understood symbolically as a definite period of time, the length of which is known only to God-in either case, the point is the same. These Christians, like all Christians, will continue to be persecuted in one form or another until the return of Christ.

As we look at the world around us, we see that those words are being fulfilled on a daily basis. In places like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, North Korea, Christians are still being tortured and killed for confessing Jesus Christ. It's been estimated that there have been more Christian martyrs who have lost their lives in the last century than all the previous centuries combined. Even today much of the violence being spawned by the Islamic extremists is directed at those who dare to worship a God other than Allah.

In light of the persecution that is a very real part of life in this world, and yes, in our lives, what word of advice does our Advent King offer to us as well as the Christians in Smyrna? He says, II. Be Faithful to the Point of Death. "Be faithful." Notice, it's not be perfect. Rather, it's be faithful, that is, be true to God and his Word, no matter what the situation. Live in such a way so that in the end the Lord will say, "This one belongs to me. He stood by my side. He's stood up for the truth. He's been faithful."

Now, the more you think about that command, the more you realize that it not something we can do on our own. In and of myself, I can't be faithful. By nature, I'm spiritually unfaithful. Yet, in his Word, God assures you and me that we have someone who has been faithful in my place. God has dressed us in the faithfulness of his Son. And it's his faithfulness for me that gives me the desire, gives me the power to be faithful to him.

And when purely by God's grace, we are faithful to God, even to the point of death, what does he promise to do for us? Jesus says, "I will give you the crown of life." Jesus, the one who is the first and the last, Jesus the one who died and rose again, Jesus the one who alone can impart eternal life promises to those who have been faithful to the point of death a life that will never end.

My friends, it's that unbreakable promise that has inspired Christians for centuries. 60 years after these words were written to the congregation in Smyrna, the pastor of the congregation, a man by the name of Polycarp was dragged from his house by an angry mob. They hauled him before the Roman proconsul and ordered him to deny Christ or die. Polycarp's response? He said, "For 86 years the Lord has been faithful to be. How can I now be unfaithful to him?" Enraged by his refusal to blaspheme Christ, the mob made a pile of wood, and lashed Polycarp to it. His final words have been recorded for posterity. He prayed, "O Father of your beloved and blessed Son, Jesus Christ, through whom we have come to know you, the God of angels, I bless you for counting me worthy of this day and hour, that in the number of martyrs I may partake of Christ's cup, to the resurrection of eternal life of both soul and body in the imperishability that is the gift of the Holy Spirit." The mob lit the fire and Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, was burned at the stake. Polycarp was faithful to the point of death and because he was, Jesus words applied to him. He will not be hurt at all by the second death.

My friends, you realize, don't you, that on your confirmation day, you vowed that you would do exactly what Polycarp did. Your pastor asked you a question that went something like this: "Do you intend to continue steadfast in the confession of the faith, and suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it? Do you intend…to remain true to the Triune God, even unto death?"

On your confirmation day, your answer was, "Yes, with the help of God." The question is, "Is that still your answer today? Are you still willing to die rather than deny your Lord? Are you willing to be tied to the stake for the Lord and his word?" Obviously, how you answer those questions say a lot about you much your Lord means to you. It means that you recognize that you could not make such a confession without God working in your heart and life. There is not greater treasure than to be called one of Jesus' followers. It is his faithfulness to you that allows you to vow your faithfulness to him-even to the point of death.

The bottom line is this: As you and I are confronted by the challenges of living as Christians, as our faith is being ridiculed, our lifestyle panned, be assured that Jesus knows what we're going through-because he faced the same things and more. Ultimately it's his faithfulness to us, even to the point of death, that inspires our faithfulness to him, be that to the day of our death or the day of Jesus' glorious return-whichever comes first. To him be our eternal allegiance. Amen.

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