STANDING UP UNDER PRESSURE

For those of you who weren’t here last Sunday we began a study on the churches of Revelation and for our first message we looked at the Church of Ephesus. I asked you to use your imaginations pretend for a few moments that you were a member of the Church at Ephesus. Last week we were the church of Ephesus and God spoke to us. And I believe He’s going to speak to us again today as we look at the Church Of Smyrna. .

If you want to follow along you can turn in your Bibles to Revelation 2: 8-11. Jen read these verses earlier in our service. It’s not difficult to find it’s the last book of the Bible.

Don’t forget to take your information sheets home after the service. I hope you find them useful. I don’t think it’s really necessary for me to go through all the data here right now. I want to get right to the message. What does God have to say to us today? That’s what we need to find out. So here we go!

So what was the church of Smyrna like? What were these people like? What were its strengths and weaknesses?

And as I’ve already mentioned as we look at what God is saying to these people I want us to apply His message to our own lives and our own church. You see God’s message is just as relevant to us in 2010 as it was for the Church at Smyrna 2000 years ago. Go has a message for every generation.

From our Scripture reading earlier we see that these people were going through a very rough time. Wherever they went there was trouble. We know that the Romans were giving them a hard time.

You see Smyrna was an important center for the Romans, and anyone who refused to acknowledge Caesar as Lord would be excluded from certain privileges. This would mean unemployment and poverty.

Half the time these people didn’t even know where their next meal was coming from.

But that wasn’t the worse part. You see to make matters even worse these people weren’t just persecuted by the Romans even their own people the Jews, were giving them a hard time. Some were even disowned by their families. Families were being torn apart.

You see there was a division amongst the Jews some had accepted Jesus while other refused to believe. Even today many of the Jewish people refuse to believe in Jesus as the messiah they’re still waiting for the Messiah to come.

Those who had believed and accepted Jesus were considered to be traitors by those who refused to believe. There was quite a revolt taking place, the homes of the believers were being destroyed, their belongings were stolen and some even lost their lives. So you see things weren’t very easy for these people.

But God commended these people for their faithfulness.

In Matthew 5:11-12 from his sermon on the mount Jesus said “God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers. Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven. And remember, the ancient prophets were persecuted in the same way.” (NLT)

These people may have lost all they had, their homes may have been destroyed, their families may have deserted them but their faith was strong. You see their faith wasn’t in possessions. They may have lost everything of value, as far as this world is concerned but they had something that was worth more than anything they could ever have or ever hope to have from the world. They had Jesus Christ as their Savior.

You see God gives us eternal wealth which is greater than anything this world could ever offer. Everything we have in material possessions will eventually fall apart and disappear, nothing lasts forever. We could have everything this world offers and still end up dying paupers if we don’t accept Jesus as our Savior.

These people were poor materially but they were spiritually rich.

In Luke 6:20 Jesus said, “Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the Kingdom of God.”(NIV)

And James 2:5 Says, “Hasn’t God chosen the poor in this world to be rich in faith? Aren’t they the ones who will inherit the Kingdom he promised to those who love him?” (NLT)

I wonder is it possible that some of these people were there on the hillside when Jesus spoke? Who knows? If so as they looked back and remembered Jesus words I’m sure they would have received comfort.

It’s not easy for us here today to understand what these people had to go through when we live such comfortable lives. We can’t even begin to imagine what it was like for them.

But even as we sit here this morning at this very moment in various places around our world there are those who still face severe persecution and even face death because of their belief in Jesus Christ.

We read about them and we hear stories from missionaries who have ministered in these areas. This morning we collected our Self Denial offering which we do every month this time. We support our missionaries around the world. But we don’t know what some of these people have to face every day. What are their living conditions like? What kind of opposition do they face?

We give our money to support the work but we can only imagine what it must be really like in some of those places. We’ve never experienced real persecution. We’ve never had to live under these extreme conditions. But as we sit here in perfect comfort there are men and women giving their lives for what we take for granted.

Yes there may be people who from time to time call us foolish, or make fun of us, and laugh at us, but we could hardly call that being persecuted. We’re blessed with the freedom to worship as we feel and that’s something we should be very thankful for.

We should all be praising and thanking God from the time we get up in the morning until we go to bed a night. Sometimes I wonder how we here today, who have it so easy, would hold up to such persecution. Would our faith endure, or would we turn our backs on God?

Bu if we really do believe with all our heart, mind and soul that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior we will stay strong even when we’re persecuted, in fact we will be stronger. You see God will give us the extra strength we need.

Some people nervous about witnessing even when there’s no persecution, even in the good times. Some people have become anonymous Christians. Being a Christian isn’t something to be ashamed of it’s not something we try to hide. We should be proud of what we believe.

Everyday there are cults out their going around in our community promoting their false doctrines. They’re not afraid, they’re not ashamed. And everyday people are being deceived by their lies.

But we know the truth. And that’s what we need to be telling the people. We have good news and we need to be spreading it wherever we go. We need to tell our friends, our families, our neighbors and the people about Jesus Christ.

If we would all do that what a difference it would make. What a difference it would make to our Community, to our world, to our Church and to us as individuals.

Satan is very good at telling his lies. We see him on our TV, we read about him in our newspaper, our children are taught his beliefs in school, and he’s knocking at our door. And many people are being deceived by his methods. We need to be on guard!

God has nothing but praise and encouragement for these people in Smyrna. They may not have been the most popular people in their community, but God certainly praised and blessed them! And he gave them some very good advice.

(A) “Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer.”

He assured them that he knew what the devil was up and he would be

In control. He would protect them.

(B) “The Devil will throw some of you in prison to test you.”

Although none of us would want to go to prison, our prisons are nothing like the prisons back in those days. Prisons in those days were dirty stinking dungeons where criminals were held until their day of execution. They weren’t very pleasant places to be put, and there was no hope of ever being free again. I wonder how we would stand up to such a test today. Would we stand firm or would we buckle under from the pressure?

In Hebrews 12:1-3 we are told to persevere just as Jesus did.

“… Let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.” (NLT)

Yes if we’re going to be dedicated Christians it will cost us, Just as Jesus had to bear his cross, there will be times when we will face opposition as well. We may have it pretty easy here in this part of the world, and as I already mentioned we need to be thankful for that. Because we don’t know how much longer we will have it easy. Everyday things are changing.

New bills are being passed in Parliament all the time. And even as we sit here in our comfortable chairs in other parts of the world Christians are already being persecuted for their faith.

And as time goes on, as we get closer to Christ’s return persecution will increase; and as God’s people we will need to be ready. God doesn’t say that he knows life is hard and he would understand if we gave up, he talks about being faithful even to the point of death!

These people are commended for their faithfulness. God commends them for their willingness to stand firm, to remain loyal even in the midst of tremendous persecution. And because of their obedience they are rewarded in the end with the Crown of life. Eternal blessings in heaven. What more could anyone ever ask for than this.

In closing I just want to ask where do you stand today? If you were faced with this sort of persecution what would your reaction be? If your faith worth dying for? Well if it isn’t worth dying for it isn’t worth living for either? What is the Holy Spirit saying to you today? I pray that you will listen to him and be obedient to his calling. Let us pray.