Persecution & Fear

I. Introduction
 A. These seven churches are in very different situations. Some are in pretty good shape. Others are dangling over the cliff. There’s actually a symmetric pattern to their condition. The first and last of the seven churches are not doing very well. They are told that if they don’t repent, their lampstand will be removed. The second and sixth churches are commended without any rebuke whatsoever. And the middle three letters are mixed. They are both commended for some things and rebuked for others.
 B. Today we come to the second and shortest of these seven letters of Jesus, the letter to the church at Smyrna, which along with Philadelphia, are the only letters completely absent of rebuke.
 C. Revelation 2:8–11 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. 9 “ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 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. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’
II. Persecution
 A. These letters are the latest indication we have about what kinds of things the church was dealing with at the end of the 1st century. And there’s a lot here about what the church was like.
  1. Most of the temptations the various churches were facing which are addressed in these seven epistles are temptations to give in to the pressures of the society around them.
  2. And sure enough, this has been one of the great struggles of the church down through the ages.
  3. The pressure from the world was intense, so much so that those who didn’t capitulate were often in grave danger.
  4. And it turns out that with a few seemingly minor adjustments, the truth of Christ can be cleaned up in such a way that it’s not a major offense to the world.
 B. But the church in Smyrna wouldn’t budge. They were being what some people would call rigid and unyielding. They refused to compromise and it was causing them some real problems.
  1. Christians in some of these other churches were finding ways to compromise in order to stay in the good graces of their governments and their neighbors, but here in Smyrna, it seems, they were preferring Christ to the acceptance of the world.
 C. And so they were experiencing three kinds of persecution.
  1. Persecution at the hands of the Jews: v.9 “I know your tribulation and your poverty and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”
   a.  True Jews were those who embraced their messiah. But many Jews did not accept Jesus as their messiah. And that’s what Jesus is speaking about here. He refers to them as “those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.”
  2. Persecution at the hands of the Romans
   a. The Roman emperor required everyone in his empire (except the Jews) to pay him homage, to call him lord and to sacrifice to him. And refusing to do this put you in danger of punishment.
  3. Persecution at the hands of the locals of Smyrna
   a. Society was religious. There were local gods, and it was expected of you that you would worship these local gods in order to be a part of the community and of your profession.
   b. And if you were unwilling to participate in the religious life of the community, it was considered unpatriotic and disloyal. And many times you would be black-listed or your business boycotted.
    (1) This means that if you were unwilling to engage in pagan worship activities, you could easily lose your livelihood.
   c. This is why Jesus acknowledges their poverty. Their poverty was likely a result of their persecution. They were poor – but they were rich because they had Christ.
    (1) And so Jesus says, “I know your poverty (but you are rich).”  Revelation 2:9
 D. So, the persecution of Christians in Smyrna was very severe. Opposition to the gospel was so fierce that martyrdom looked like a real possibility.
III. And in the face of this threat, Jesus calls them not to fear.
 A. 10 “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.”
 B. A most remarkable command: Do not fear.
  1. Jesus is telling them not to be afraid of imprisonment, torture, capital punishment!
 C. How can Jesus expect them to not be afraid in the face of such things? Here is the answer:
  1. They are not to fear the coming persecution because their lives & destiny are in the hands of One who already experienced persecution, even to death, and yet overcame it through resurrection. All He’s asking them to do is what He did: “Be faithful unto death, & I’ll give you the crown of life.”
  2. The true Christian should not be afraid of persecutions because they are really “divine tests” of our faith. Even though the enemy seems scary & dangerous, ultimately he’s in the hands of One who’s so much bigger. (Ask for drawing to be put up.)
  3. In light of this picture, urging them not to be afraid makes sense.
 D. Is persecution the big thing? No, Jesus is the big thing.
  1. Is poverty the big thing? No, Jesus is the big thing.
  2. Is rejection or ridicule the big thing? No, Jesus is the big thing.
  3. Is death the big thing? No, Jesus is the big thing.
  4. Is the devil himself the big thing? No, as Luther said, the devil is God’s devil.
 E. Fear causes all kinds of problems.
  1. If you afraid, you are vulnerable to all kinds of compromise and sin.
  2. If you’re afraid of losing your job, you give in to unethical activities your company asks you to do.
  3. If you’re afraid of your boyfriend breaking up with you, or making fun of you, you give in to him to do things you know you shouldn’t do and don’t really want to do.
  4. If you’re afraid of getting left out or ostracized, you will stay quiet about Christ among people in your life who desperately need to hear the gospel.
  5. You can’t love someone if you fear them. Fear makes you think about yourself. Love gets you thinking of the other. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” – 1Jn.4:18
 F. And yet, we’re so afraid. We’re afraid of rejection; we’re afraid of ridicule; we’re afraid of pain. And we’re especially afraid of death.
 G. The Christians of Smyrna were about to feel the hammer of persecution. Why them more than the other churches? Maybe because they were being more faithful and refusing to compromise.
 H. Remember when the 12 spies returned from surveying Canaan? It reminds me of this letter.
  1. They said, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and here, look at some of its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there!” – Num.13:27–33
  2. Caleb jumped up: “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”
  3. But the others said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are. The land is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them too.”
  4. Moses: “Do not rebel against the LORD. Do not fear the people of the land... Their protection is removed from them! The LORD is with us; do not fear them.” – Num.14:9
   a. Giving in to your fears = rebellion
  5. The Israelites didn’t listen to Moses, of course, but began to try to arrange to return to Egypt.
   a. They had seen the mighty hand of God deliver them from Egypt, but now they were in a panic.
  6. And so, God let that whole generation die in the wilderness, with the exception of Joshua&Caleb.
  7. Their story is summarized by the title of Ed Welch’s book, When People Are Big & God Is Small.
  8. That was their real problem, wasn’t it? They were so impressed by the size of the people, but they forgot how big God is.
 I. But not so the church of Smyrna! The believers of Smyrna stood firm.
  1. An ancient letter tells us one story of what happened with these believers of Smyrna. 
  2. One of the best-known of all Christian martyrs was a native of Smyrna named Polycarp. It seems that when this letter was written, not only was Polycarp a member of the church of Smyrna, but its young pastor, discipled and then ordained by John himself, who wrote the book of Revelation.
  3. Surely Polycarp had read this letter to the church at Smyrna and pondered its message. Likely it was a source of strength for him when his hour of trial came some 60 years later. Let me read you the story of what happened, as paraphrased by John Stott:
  4. Polycarp, now a very old man, “who had fled from...” (What Christ Thinks of the Church, p.32f)
  5. He was faithful even unto death because he knew that God is big and people are small.
 J. The Israelites gave in to fear and so did not receive the promised land. The next generation of Israelites got a second chance to go into the promised land 40 years later, this time under the leadership of Joshua. This time God spoke to Joshua about fear & the need for courage:
  1. “Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:6-9
  2. He says, “Be strong and courageous” three times. But he gives the reason to be strong/courageous.
  3. “Do not be frightened, do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
 K. How about us?
  1. Do we believe that we don’t need to be afraid, for God is with us?
  2. Do we believe that we’re rich even when we’re poor, even when earthly substance is taken away?
  3. The temptation to give in usually doesn’t involve a gun at our heads with the threat of death if we don’t deny Christ. It’s much more subtle than that, because Satan doesn’t want us to recognize it as his attempt to trip us up.
  4. It may be a temptation to keep silent in order to avoid ridicule. It may be isolating yourself from people who don’t like what you believe. It may be conforming to the way the world thinks without doing the study of what the Bible says.
  5. Fear is often at the heart of things like this. We are afraid to be that guy, the guy everyone rolls his eyes about, the guy everybody avoids.
  6. Rev.21:8 is talking about who in the end is going to perish in the lake of fire. And there are many usual suspects on the list: the faithless, the detestable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters. But there one thing on the list which stops us in our tracks: the cowardly.
   a. The cowardly don’t really get the power of God. God may be their working theory, but He’s not their living reality. “Depart from Me. I never knew you.” (And you never knew Me.)
  7. But even those who do get the power of God have to cultivate the awareness of it. We forget.
  8. How do you keep the fires of fear from scorching your heart when scary things arise in your life?
   a. You shall meditate on this Book day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and have good success.
  9. The Bible keeps telling us about how big God is! It keeps calling us to trust Him and not be afraid of the scary threats around us. The Bible reminds us that “the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him.” and that “the nations are like a drop from a bucket and dust on the scales. All the nations are as nothing before him, to him they are less than nothing and emptiness. Who can compare with God?  He sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers. He brings the big guys of the world to nothing, and the rulers of the earth to emptiness. He blows on them, and they wither, and the wind blows them away.” (Isaiah 40:15-24)
  10. Why do you say, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his knows and understands everything! He gives power to the faint of heart, and strength to the one who is weak. Even young people grow tired and exhausted. But those who look to the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. -Is.40:27-31
  11. He spoke and half a trillion trillion stars came into being. Is He not worthy of our trust? Is He not bigger than our problems? Can He not take care of us in the face of threats?