Smyrna: Hang in There

And as you do, we're going to go ahead and dismiss our kids to little district so they can head out as well. Um, and for the rest of us, we're going to get after it this morning. Turn with me to Revelation chapter 2. Revelation chapter 2. We're going to be looking at verses 8 through 11. We're in week three of our series called Letters to the Church in America.

And today we're going to be looking specifically at the letter to the church in Smyrna. And so as you're turning there, I'm going ask a question for you. How many of you have ever watched someone cross the finish line at a marathon? All right. Maybe maybe you've done it. I've not done that.

Um I I've not ran anything more than a 5K before, I think, in my life. Um I would probably look like finishing a 5K those finishing a marathon. Um especially these days. But when you see someone finishing a marathon, they don't look fresh, right? They look like they just ran a marathon. They look like they're in the 26th mile.

Um and and they don't look fresh. They they look actually like they're about to die. I mean, they look it's agonizing. Um they look they do not look rested by any means. I mean, they look completely depleted. But what you always notice is as soon as they cross that finish line and they hear the cheers, the applause, maybe they won and they're getting a wreath or a prize or whatever it looks like, all of the sudden they look fresh again.

It looks like they didn't run a marathon just now. All of a sudden, now there's this bit of excitement that comes into it. And in that moment, the agony of the race suddenly feels light compared to the weight of the glory of finishing that race. And that's what we're going to be talking about today when it comes to this church in Smyrna is something that they experience for a little while, but are willing to endure it even though it looks like it's killing them because of the crown of glory that they're ultimately going to receive. I mean, I know we've got lots of mothers in the room who have birthed children. There's a reason why it's called labor and then delivery.

Because in the labor, it's like, why would I ever do this? It's like you look at the husband, this is your fault. Like, this is and in that moment of labor, you're thinking, "This is the worst thing I've ever experienced in my life." and then delivery and you're holding that baby, that little nugget and and and and in that moment, this is the best thing I've ever done. The best thing I've ever experienced. It makes the labor seem light and momentary when you receive the prize at the end.

And I think this is what Paul had in mind when he says things like 2 Corinthians 4:17. for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. Again, in this life, the suffering feels heavy in the moment. But when in eternity, God places that crown on your head, you'll realize that the suffering that was only for a little while was totally worth it. And that's the promise Jesus makes to this church in Smyrna that we're going to be seeing today. You you may feel the burn of the race right now.

And this is why I titled this ser this sermon hang in there. You're going to feel the burn right now, but hang in there because the crown is coming. And so Smyrna along with Philadelphia are only uh two churches out of the seven churches that don't receive a confrontation. And so I know we've kind of been using that as our as our structure for these messages is Jesus gives a commenation, a confrontation, and then a call to action. And so good job today. You're not going to receive a confrontation, but just commendation and call to action because that's what he does for this church in Smyrna.

And so just remember overarching the big idea for this series is that Jesus is not a concept to consider but a king to trust. And these letters are written out to these churches and indirectly written out to us, those who have ears to hear, receive this, keep this. Jesus is not a concept to consider. But he is a king to trust. And so when he's commending them, he's saying keep going. Keep doing it.

When he's confronting them, he's saying, "Stop doing these things and start doing this thing because you need to trust me. You need to trust what I'm building. You need to trust where I'm working. You need to trust what I'm doing." And then call to action is now that I've communicated it to you, get to work. Do it.

Keep it. Believe it. Trust it. And so today we're going to have the commenation and the call to action. And the big idea for this sermon is again, the path or the pain of the race is temporary, but the crown at the finish is eternal. And so Romans chapter 2, looking at verse 8, we'll start off with the context a little bit of what we're seeing here in the church in Smyrna.

It says to this, "To the angel of the church in Smyrna, write the words of the first and the last who died and came to life." So that's our context. All right? Our context is Smyrna and it's written by Jesus. And so who is Smyrna? What's going on in this city?

What what then? Because in order to understand the tribulation that they're going to that he's going to talk about here in a moment, we need to understand the context. What's going on in this city? If you were to step into ancient Smyrna, you would think you found paradise. I mean, this was a beautiful city perched on the Aian coast, crowned with a hill that glistened with temples. Smyrna was called literally the crown of Asia.

The crown of Asia. It had money. It had beauty. It had influence. And above all, it had the Roman Empire. I mean, it loved the Roman Empire.

Smyrna wasn't just loyal to them, it was so obsessed with them that they literally bid everything they could in order to create a temple to the goddess Roma, but then also win the right to build the first temple to emperor worship, the first temple to Caesar himself. And so to be a good Smyrnan wasn't just to love your city. It was to bow to Rome to worship Caesar. And so if you burn the incense, if you say the word Caesar is Lord, you're in. You're you're a good citizen of Smyrna. And that's exactly what they were doing.

To be on the right side of history is to bow to Caesar himself. And so every business venture, every amenity, every tax cut, every opportunity you wanted for a successful life was yours so long as you worship the emperor. This was the culture of Smyrna. Refuse that, however, and you're out. You'd be cut off from business. You'd be shamed by society.

you'd be branded as an enemy of the state, making it literally impossible to amass any sort of wealth to be able to provide for your family. Where every society has sort of a class system, if you will, like here we talk about the upper class, the middle class, the lower class. Um, every society has some type of cast system. here Christians if you if you say Jesus is Lord instead of Caesar is Lord you're not even in their cast system anymore they consider you outcasts and therefore cut off from every opportunity to live the good life as you would want to call it and so imagine being a Christian here everyone around you believes emperor worship is what leads to a good life and your refusal of that makes you dangerous or unpatriotic or even treasonous. And then you add to that, as we'll see here in a moment, Jewish a Jewish community that was hostile towards Christians and sort of being the tattletales of the Christians in their area.

It leaves no room for Christians to have any sort of vibrancy of life in Smyrna. if you were a Christian, you weren't even able to have a good life. And one of the reasons why we know this is from a a particular character from church history called Polycarp. He was one of Smyrna's pastors. He was an old man um around 86 years old as as the story goes. But church history tells us that he was actually discipled by the Apostle John, the writer and author of this book, the more the the dictator of this book.

And so Polycarp who was discipled by the apostle John lived this out lived in Smyrna. He was arrested and he was dragged before the Roman proconsul and he was told to curse Christ publicly and swear by Caesar if he wanted to live. Now that's what you would expect if you were a Christian in this context in the city of Smyrna. You're going to be arrested. You're going to be dragged before the proconsul, the leaders, the Roman authorities, and they expect you to denounce your faith and worship Caesar. I'll come back to Polycarp at our time of communion.

But this was the world of Smyrna. again, beautiful, powerful, crown of the Roman Empire, loyal to Rome, and costly, deadly for anyone who claimed Jesus, not Caesar, as Lord. And so in this letter to the church in Smyrna, Jesus refers to himself as the first and the last. He refers to himself who died and came to life. And so, let's keep reading to see if his self-description means anything. for these suffering saints in Smyrna.

Look at verse nine as we see Jesus' commendation to them. He says, "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 instead are a synagogue of Satan." And so, we're going to look at those three things that he talks about that he commands there. He commends their tribulation. He commends their poverty. And he commends the slander that is coming against them from the synagogue of of Satan.

So, starting with tribulation, let's talk about that for a moment. Now, this is not a reference to um what dispensationalists refer to as the seven years of tribulation. So, if you're thinking sweet tribulation, let's dive into that. That's not what we're talking about here. Okay? That's something you can Google on your own time and figure out what view of esquetology that is.

But this tribulation is speaking literally a pressure that comes in the form of oppression, affliction, persecution and hardship. This is not just difficult circumstances by happen stance. Like this is um like for example, if we were to talk about just I'm experiencing difficult circumstances like a farmer who's going through a drought. He's like, "Man, if it would just rain it'd be great." No, no, no. This is strategic.

literally strategic calculated attacks against you because of you. That's the type of tribulation that they are experiencing. In essence, to proclaim Christ in Smyrna, you would have one of three outcomes. You would either, and this is at best, you would experience economic hardship or you would experience social ostracism or at worst you're going to experience physical violence. So, to profess Jesus, that's what you're going to receive. one of those three things or maybe all three of those things.

Christians in Smyrna were excluded from the trade guilds and the trade associations which would hinder them from being able to sell goods and make a living and provide for their families. In other words, trade guilds were like these memberships to the pagan temples where gods were worshiped and also where marketplaces and exchange uh where they would have marketplaces and exchange goods. All of that was conducted inside the pagan temples. And so if you were a Christian who says, "I'm I I don't uh profess allegiance to these gods and goddesses. I'm not going to worship them." Well, then you had no membership there.

And because you had no membership there, you could not bring your goods in and set up your marketplace and your tent and whatever it looks like in order to trade there. So, it then made it a step harder for you to actually engage in the economic driver of the city. I mean, here's something to think about. Because Christians didn't believe in many gods and goddesses of Roman and Greek mythology in Smyrna, they had a word for Christians. They called them atheists. Think about that.

That's crazy. because they did not acknowledge Jesus as a god and because that's who the Christians worshiped. They considered them atheists and that was the accusations against them. Because you're atheists, you don't get to have the privileges of us as a city, as a community. I mean, could you imagine in Indianapolis today by professing to be a Christian, you could not get a job or start a business. That's what they were experiencing.

They were completely cut off. In addition to economic hardship, they had social ostracism. They were marginalized, labeled as political rebels, labeled as outcasts of society, and deemed a net negative to associate with. This would be today's cancel culture. You believe in Jesus, we want nothing to do with you. You're cut off.

If you don't agree with the majority or powers that be that deem what is right or morally acceptable, then we want nothing to do with you. You'd be labeled harmful, bigoted, narrow-minded, maybe even hateful, which plays into a bit of the slander that we'll talk about here in a moment. And then at worst there was physical violence. As persecution escalated, Christians were being imprisoned, tortured, and literally thrown to wild beasts and also burned alive at the stake. This was what they were experiencing by professing Jesus in a culture that's worshiping all the gods and goddesses of the Roman and Greek mythology, but ultimately establishing for the first time the worship of the emperor himself. creating a temple there.

And so for you, it would be a net negative to claim Christ in a culture that doesn't claim Christ, but claims everything else. Aaron Ren, again, I've talked about this before, describes this as negative world or negative culture for Christians. Again, we used to be kind of in the 1960s up until the 1990s, it was positive for you to be a Christian. Literally, you there there used to be a time where you would go to the bank and when you would apply for a mortgage, they would ask you which church you belong to. That's crazy. And then it went into neutral world between 94 to 2014.

This is when you create relevant magazine because all of a sudden now Christianity is not necessarily positive, but it's not negative. We're trying to maintain relevance. This is where Larry King would have, you know, a Mormon, a Buddhist, a Muslim, and a Christian. They would talk, they would debate, they would agree to disagree, and then they'd go away. And nobody would argue, nobody would fight about it. And so, at that time, they're all trying to fight for who's relevant, who's going to get the lead.

That's why you have relevant magazine created. At that same time, gospel coalitions created all these different things that are vying for influence. And then in 2014 with the passing of Oberfell, that's when Aaron Ren believes that we moved into negative world to where now to be a Christian, you're not agreeing with the majority and instead you are narrow-minded and bigoted and starting to see the persecution towards that. But we don't see the persecution like what Smyrna did. There might be some of the slander, but definitely not as much of the physical violence. But here's what Jesus says in regards to this.

He says, "I know your tribulation. I know your tribulation." Which is a bit different than what he said to the Ephesians last week. He says, "I see your good works. I see your patient endurance. I see what you're doing."

this one. He's entering in with the Smyrnans, the the Christians here, and he's saying, "I don't just see it. I've been there. I know what you guys are experiencing." Like, I don't want this to be something where I'm a leader communicating to you and asking you to go through something that I wasn't willing to go through myself. I mean, when you read Isaiah 53, you can see exactly what Jesus experienced and language that would be descriptive of what the church in Smyrna was going through.

Despised, rejected, led to the slaughter. So Jesus is the only one qualified in this moment to be able to write them a letter and say, "Guys, I know. I know. I know exactly what you're going through. Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 1:8-10. He says, "For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia."

I think he's talking about Smyrna here. I think he knows exactly because you got to remember when Paul planted Ephesus because of the word that went and spread throughout Ephesus literally says that all of Asia heard the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so when you start looking at these seven letters that are spread throughout Asia, these seven churches, it's coming out of what Ephesus was proclaiming. And so as he's walking through Paul as he's spreading the gospel throughout Asia, I think when he's referencing the persecution that they're experiencing is primarily him drawing back and communicating to the Corinthians, dude, Smyrna was crazy. The affliction that we experienced there, for we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despared of life itself. I mean, there's been moments where we're like, dude, this is hard.

It'd be like, come, Lord Jesus. Let's get there. Let's get that crown. I mean, Paul's using that kind of language. And again, you got to remember Paul's the guy that you can't touch. You could torture him, beat him.

He and he's like, well, like to live with Christ, to die is game. You do whatever you want to do to me. You let me live, I'm going to preach Christ. You kill me right now in the moment. Awesome. I get to go be with Christ.

And in this moment, he's saying what we experienced there, dude. We despared of life. It's the hardest thing we experienced. Indeed, we felt that we had received a sentence of death. But that was, and I love this. This is almost his version of saying, "Hang in there."

But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. What they experienced was so that God could put them in a position to rely on him and not their skill sets. He delivered us from such a deadly peril and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. love that the more suffering that they experience, the greater confidence he has in his Lord Jesus. Because I think just as Jesus is telling this church in Smyrna, I know what you've experienced.

He's he he he's communicated the exact same thing to the Apostle Paul. He even so much has the audacity to tell Paul, hey, uh, I'm going to call you to ministry, but I'm going to show you how much you're going to suffer. And as Paul's working that out throughout his ministry, eventually comes to the communicate or comes to the conclusion, this is the best life I could have possibly ever lived. I don't think he had that mindset when he had just got to Damascus and received that calling, but eventually that's where he lands. Not only do we rejoice in what we get from God, but we rejoice in what we go through for God. Listen to Romans 5:1.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him, we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in of the hope and glory of God. That's what we get from God and we get to rejoice in. And it says in verse three, not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings knowing that suffering produces endurance and endurance produces character and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame. because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

And so he's saying suffering is the conduit in which the love of God is poured into us establishing in us hope. Hope which is so countercultural to our world because our world sees suffering leads us into despair. And God says,"I use suffering to actually produce in you hope and endurance." And I think that's why James 1, the brother of Jesus says this in verses 2 through4, "Count it all joy." My brothers, when you meet trials, same word there for tribulation, of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

And let steadfastness have its full effect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. What are we praying for all the time in our relationship with Jesus? That we would become more like him. That we would actually mature. Like part of our prayer is, hey, when like 10 years from now, I don't want to be in the same spot I'm in right now. I want to be wiser.

I want to be holier. I want to be more in tune with Jesus. I want to be more like Jesus in my conversations with others. I want to be more like Jesus and how I um like father my children and how I pastor and shepherd this church and how I love my wife. I want to be more like him. And he's saying here, all right, you want to know the pathway in which you get there?

Count it all joy when you face trials of various kinds because it produces in you what you're lacking. What you're lacking. When we experience tribulation that the Bible speaks of, at worst it's physical violence and at best it's economic hardship. And Jesus commends this. He commends this. This is why it absolutely dumbfounds me that the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel is still around.

They don't read the Bible. Period. Jesus here says those who are physically poor because of his name's sake are rich. Rich meaning he's not saying that being materially materially wealthy is a bad thing. Proverbs speaks of the wisdom of amassing wealth and providing for generations of your family. The Bible isn't anti-wealth or money.

That's something different. In Smyrna, anyone could build a successful and wealthy life for themselves. Anyone could do that if they simply go with the current of their culture and societal norms, aka pagan mythology and emperor worship. But the Christians are literally unable to do so because of their allegiance to Jesus. There's no means by which they could amass wealth, build business, provide for generations because of their antirist society. And Jesus looks at that and he says, "You, church of Smyrna, are the richest in the kingdom.

You're the richest in the kingdom." If you were in a context in which it was okay for you to be able like you had access to build wealth and amass wealth and and utilize it to be able to invest it for kingdom initiatives, wonderful. Absolutely. That's a great thing. But when you're in a context when you can't do that and you still show allegiance to Jesus, he says, "You're richer. You're richer."

Think about the sermon on the mount. Matthew 5:10-12, "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." He goes on to say, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account." He says, "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they also persecuted the prophets who were before you." Which brings me to the third or the next part, the slander from the synagogue of Satan. Now, what a title.

We we might need to look at that one for a moment. Jesus just said or called someone a synagogue of Satan. I mean, I love that. I just any churches that I just don't that I see that just aren't preaching the Bible or Jesus, I'm just start calling them synagogue of Satan. Just just nail it on their door. But here's what's happening.

The Christians in Smyrna were facing pressure from two directions. On one side, the Roman Empire demanded that everybody worship Caesar as Lord. That was decreed. Everyone worship Caesar as Lord. On the other side, there were some Jewish groups in the city who were hostile towards Christianity. They would sometimes stir up the Roman authorities against Christians, basically tattling on them for not worshiping Caesar.

Why? because they had compromised and said, "We're not really looking for the Messiah anymore. We're good with the comfort that comes from the Roman Empire. We want to be on their side, not God's side, because we want the immediate pleasure." They wanted access to be able to build their businesses. And so they syncretatized, which is just another way of saying that they brought in all of the pagan and world cultures into their belief system and said, "We're no we're no different than you guys.

We're actually we're we're about the same thing. We care about the same thing." And what ends up happening is this group who are masquerading themselves as a synagogue of God. We're the true chosen ones. We literally have blood lineage to Abraham. Jesus walks in and he says, "No, no.

Not only do I not know you, but you're on team Satan. you're on team Satan. And this team Satan that he refers to as the synagogue of Satan were the ones who actually brought the accusations against the pastor of Smyrna, Polycarp himself. The Jews that were not the ones um following or looking for the actual Messiah led this charge and got Polycarp arrested and brought him before the Roman authorities. Now Jesus is not saying that all Jewish people are evil when he refers to them as the synagogue of Satan. He himself was Jewish.

His disciples were Jewish. The entire Old Testament is a story of God's covenant with Israel. Just because you're Jewish doesn't make you a synagogue of Satan. What he is saying is that anyone who opposes the purposes of God and the power of God or the people of God, especially the son of God, no matter their label or their bloodline, is actually aligning with Satan and his agenda. And so he's trying to communicate to them that just because you're putting all your eggs in the basket that you have blood lineage is not what's going to save you. That doesn't make you team Messiah.

But worshiping Jesus does. Aligning with Jesus, believing in him is the only thing that gets you there. But instead, this group, even though they were leaning on that, he says, "You're not you're not the true offspring of Abraham. Only those who believe in Jesus are only those who believe in Jesus." which is why we get access because we're not blood lineage unless you are actually Jewish. But we're not blood lineage to Abraham.

But we become blood lineage because of the blood of Jesus. That's what brings us in. That's what grants us access. And so notice this word slander because it's important. What does Satan refer to as? He's the accuser.

He's the ultimate slanderer. He's the accuser of the brethren in Revelation 12:10. One of his main strategies is simply lies. Lies to whisper lies about God, to spread lies about God's people, to destroy with deception. And these Christians in Smyrna were being lied about. They were being mis misrepresented.

They were being canceled in their culture. And Jesus is telling them, "I see it. I know it. I despise it. I've got you. I've got you.

Literally, one of the reasons Peter and Paul were both martyed was because of historic fire in Rome in uh 64 AD. There was this massive fire that broke out in Rome in 64 AD and it I mean it burned up most of the city. And two there there's two theories as to how the fire got started. One theory which comes down to to these accusations here. One theory is that the emperor at the time, Nero, blamed it on the Christians. The Christians started the fire and therefore brought the apostles in Peter and Paul and they died sometime between 64 and 67 AD.

Marty in Rome. other even Roman historians they're like it was Nero who started the fire because he didn't like the layout of Rome but he wanted to keep his political position and so he needed a scapegoat he needed to be able to blame it on somebody anytime there was calamity going on in this context or in the city for example if there was a drought and there was no rain blame it on the Christians the gods are upset because they're not worshiping in them. They're not giving them allegiance. And so anytime there were negative circumstances in the town, the Christians got the blame because the gods are upset with them. And it was brutal. Some were torn apart by dogs, others crucified.

Christians were being hung on posts and lit on fire at night in order to be human torches. This is the tribulation that they were experiencing. Now, here's a takeaway for us. Don't be surprised when following Jesus gets you slandered. Don't be shocked when people misrepresent what you believe or put labels on you that aren't true. I think to be honest, if you stay around in Christianity long enough, whether you're in leadership, people are going to say things about you.

Whether you're in a workforce, people are going to say things about you. Why? Because Satan, team Satan, the enemy, they don't want the truth to advance. And so, they have to start spreading lies in order to try to thwart it or slow it. Jesus is reminding this church and us that faithfulness to team Jesus is more important than favor from team Satan. Faithfulness to team Jesus is more important than favor from team Satan.

So we got to be willing to be bold even though it might come with accusations and slander and lies. Because the real question isn't what does the crowd think of me. The real question is what does Jesus think of me? And Jesus says to the faithful, I see you. I know you. I know you're suffering and in my eyes you're rich.

You're rich. And so Jesus finishes finishes here with a call to action, an encouragement encourage encouragement for them to hang in there. Look at verse 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 10 days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. For the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. All right, let's be real. If Jesus came to me and said, "Hey, um, don't be afraid, but you're about to suffer." Like, my first thought is I'm I'm a little afraid. I'm just going to be honest with you, Jesus.

I'm a little I'm a little nervous about this. That's exactly what he says to the church in Smyrna. Don't be afraid. Which is also crazy in the fact that he just commended, I know your tribulation. I know you've been you guys have been going through a hard time. And then says, don't worry, it's going to continue.

Don't worry, it's going to continue. Probably is going to amplify a little bit. So, notice two things here that Jesus does. He doesn't sugarcoat suffering. This is why I can't stand the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. You have enough faith, things are going to get better.

You follow Jesus, everything's going to work out. You follow Jesus, all your circumstances are going to just continue to improve. It's not what happens. He says, "Hey, uh, just so you guys know, the devil um is about to throw some of you into prison." Uh, in other words, this is going to hurt a little bit. This is going to hurt a little bit.

Following Jesus doesn't a pain-free life. But it does mean a purposeful life. It is a purposeful life that makes the pain feel lighter. It is a super supernatural thing that the Lord does in us. So that when we experience those extremely difficult times, people ask us how we're doing, we say, "You know what? It's hard, but for whatever reason, I feel at peace.

I feel at peace. I feel like it's going to work out. I feel like I I feel like I'm all right. The Lord's sustaining me through this because it's testing me. The 10 days thing, scholars point out, it's probably not a literal 10day countdown. It's symbolic more of, hey, this is going to be a season.

This is going to be a season that you're going to walk through. Your suffering has an expiration date. It may feel overwhelming now, but it's not going to last forever. There will be a finish line of your suffering that leads to a reward. So hang in there. Here's how Peter describes it.

1 Peter 5 8-10. Be sober minded. Be watchful for your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. John's using that same language here. The devil's about to throw you in prison. He's seeking you.

Peter says here, "Resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." Man, thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, that we have that confirmation. We have that assurance that whatever we suffer for a little while, we know that what God is working out behind the scenes is our restoration, our confirmation, strengthening us, and ultimately establishing us. And so then Jesus gives them this ultimate promise.

He says, "Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life." Remember, Smyrna was considered as a city the crown of the Roman Empire, which is a a way in which I love Jesus playing doing a play on words here. He's like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah." They call themselves the crown of life or the crown of the world, basically the crown of the Roman Empire. That's going to fade and it's going to be pretty temporary. You you can visit the ruins today.

The crown that he gives is not temporary but eternal. And so hang in there. Hang in there. If you stay faithful to me, I've got a crown that never fades. Remember the way Jesus describes himself in verse eight, the words of the first and the last who died and came to life. That's Jesus telling them, "Hey, listen.

You're going to suffer some things. Some of you are going to die. You're going to die. But remember, I'm in control of death and life. I'm in control of it. And so if they kill you, have confidence that I'm going to provide for you the life that you need.

I'm in control. You have nothing to worry about. That's why he takes it deeper in verse 11. He says, "The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death." Well, what's the second death? Later in Revelation, it's eternal separation from God in hell.

eternal separation from God in hell. Here's the encouragement. If you belong to Jesus, you may face pain in this life. You may even face death. But you will never face the second death. You'll never face the second death.

The worst this world can do to you is take your life. But because Jesus offers us eternal life, Paul says, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." It's gain. So here's the takeaway for us. Don't fear temporary suffering. Stay faithful to Jesus because your future is completely secure in him.

It's completely secure in him. Let me put it in one sentence for you. For the Christian, death is not the end. It's just the beginning of eternal life. And therefore, we are able to suffer anything for a little while. We're able to suffer anything for a little while.

When team Satan is whispering, "You're going to lose." Team Jesus reminds you in Christ, you've already won. You've already won. So, you got nothing to worry about. As we come to this time of communion, remember I said I'd come back to our guy Polycarp again. Polycarp was the pastor of the church in Smyrna.

He was this old man, 86 years old. And in 155 AD, 2 century church history tells us that Polycarp was again a disciple of the apostle John. And in a document called the martyrdom of Polycarp that is literally believed to have been written by an eyewitness, a a member of the church of Smyrna during this time, second century, wrote about his death. And this just I mean I've met some people who are like crazy for Jesus. This is crazy. Like this is what I mean I hope to aspire to just the the sheer confidence and peace and just like you know you can do whatever you want.

It ain't gonna it ain't going to affect me. Listen to Polycarp. Here's two things. Remember he got there there was a slander that came from the synagogue of Satan, the false Jews, and they brought him to the Roman proconsul, which was the Roman authorities that would basically try anybody who was not proclaiming Caesar as Lord, but proclaiming Jesus as Lord. And because it was at this point now uh Roman Empire um decree for you to declare uh Caesar as Lord to declare anything else is Lord is breaking the law and therefore now they can punish you however they want to punish you. And so they bring Polycarp to the Roman proconsul and in this document it it's fascinating.

Here's what it says. Eyewitness the proconsul pressed Polycarp to have pity on his old age, swear by the fortune of Caesar and say away with the atheists. That's what the Roman proconsul told Polycarp to profess. Hey, here's what we want you to do. You're an old age. We're trying to have pity on you.

We're trying to have mercy on you because you're old. Here's what we want you to do. We want you to declare Caesar is Lord. And what we also want you to do is to tell all of the atheists to go away. Basically, dissolve your church and start worshiping Caesar. Swear then now, said the proconsul, and I will let you go.

Revile Christ. Then Polycarp answered, "88 and six years have I served him, and he has never done me wrong. How then can I blaspheme my king and my savior?" The proconsul replied, "Polycarp has professed to be a Christian." And then the officials condemned him to be burned alive. And historians say, and this literally because it was such a public event, there are both Roman historians and from this um church historian from Smyrna, they both say the same account.

When they lit the fire, the flames arched around him like a sail in a form in which did not burn him. And so then it goes on to say in the story that because they were concerned that the fire was going to burn out, one of the executioners ran in with a spear and just stabbed him. And it said that as he bled out, it nearly extinguished the flames, but he gave up his spirit and he died. And the last thing it says was he cried out, "Be faithful unto death and receive the crown of life." You got to remember when this letter was written was towards the end of the first century. And so as this letter makes it to the messenger of Smyrna to be read throughout, Polycarp is pastoring them.

through this context and this reality. Hey guys, the devil's going to go around throwing us in prison. Stand firm. He's the one ushering in. He's the one preaching the message to them, but then has to practice what he preaches. And 60 years later, after them receiving the letter, he meets his death.

And I just have to believe Jesus telling him, "Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life." Polycarp's the richest man in heaven right now. The richest man in heaven. Father, we thank you this morning. We come to you knowing the difficulty of life just in general.