Sermon by Mark Johnson of Steiger Minneapolis

MESSAGE TO SMYRNA

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this:
‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until 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. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death.’

What if someone came to you with a message from Jesus? Not some vague impression, but a specific word-for-word message from Jesus himself. What would you expect to hear? There was a group of believers in a town called Smyrna who heard such a message. I believe that what they heard is still relevant to us today.

It had been about 60 years since Jesus was executed, buried and came back to life. The followers of Jesus had multiplied all over the known world. Two hundred years later, Christianity would become an official religion of the Roman Empire. But now, it was frowned upon and, in many places, openly persecuted. John, one of Jesus’ closest friends while he was on earth has been exiled to the island of Patmos for following Jesus and encouraging other people to. While he is on this island, Jesus appears to him and gives him a message for seven churches. One of them is Smyrna. Smyrna is on the Mediterranean Sea in present day Turkey. Life for the Christians, the followers of Jesus, was difficult. They were being persecuted for their faith. This affected their economic standing – they were poor. It cost them to follow Jesus. For many Christians around the world today this is reality.

Life was rough for the Christians in Smyrna. A message from Jesus would have been exciting. When I read this recently I was shaken by it. These people who were suffering for their faith and Jesus comes along and says that it is going to get worse. He says that Satan was going to throw some of them in prison. Jesus did not tell them to just pray and all their suffering would go away. He did not tell them that if they had enough faith they would not be poor anymore and their persecution would go away. He said it was going to get worse. It did not matter how much they prayed at that point - their circumstances were not going to change! How would you like to hear that message from Jesus?

I believe in prayer. I have seen God do incredible things through prayer. I believe God acts in response to prayer. Circumstances change, people change - but not this time for the followers of Jesus in Smyrna.

In the midst of this bad news from Jesus, they also get two commands from him:

Don’t be afraid. The Christians in Smyrna had reason to be afraid. They were already suffering and now some of them were going to be thrown into prison. Why shouldn’t they be afraid?
Many people have some false notions about following Jesus. “God wants me to be comfortable. God wants me to be safe and secure and happy. He would not let me go through anything difficult or dangerous. He wants to take away all my problems.” Really? Where does he say that?

So we go through our lives taking the path of least resistance. Never putting ourselves at risk, always taking the easy way out.

Following Jesus is sometimes difficult. It is sometimes uncomfortable and even frightening.
Being involved with Steiger the past ten years, I have found myself in places where Christians normally don’t go and in situations that have been very uncomfortable. I have been scared. Whether it has been in the trance clubs of Goa, smuggling bibles past unwelcoming governments, singing about Jesus at punk shows, or living in a sketchy area of south Minneapolis there have been times when I have been frightened.

I am sure some of you reading this right now have fear in your life. You’re scared that you might not ever find that guy or girl to spend your life with. You’re worried about your future. You’re scared to tell the people you love about Jesus. You are tempted to choose safety and security over obedience to God. Some of you are afraid to give your lives to Jesus. You have come to believe the facts but your fear is keeping you away. The question for all of us is “Can Jesus be trusted? If I have to suffer will he be there with me. Is he strong enough and good enough to deal with my pain in the midst of my circumstances – good or bad?”

The message Jesus gave to the people of Smyrna was difficult. But the implication of his words was that he understood. He was there. He could be trusted. Jesus was not surprised by the things that were happening. He also told them that it would not last forever. If they hung on they would receive the crown of life.

Jesus is there. He is strong and he is good. I don’t always understand how he works, but he has always been there – even if I haven't always recognized it at the time. But when I look back at the times when I have been in uncomfortable or frightening situations simply because I was being obedient to God, they have been some of the best times of my life.

Be faithful until death. For the Christians in Smyrna this meant don’t deny your faith to stay out of prison. Don’t deny your faith for your freedom and security. Don’t deny your faith to save your life.

In this country (USA), we have a shallow view of faithfulness. We often define it as avoiding certain sins. I am being faithful if I don’t drink or smoke or sleep around. I am being faithful if I don’t vote for the wrong political party. We have churches and ministries filled with people who don’t do bad things and yet are totally unfaithful to God. They lived self-centered lives but they don’t do the bad sins. Jesus said seek first his kingdom and his righteousness. The whole direction of my life, my very reason for existing, must come from my relationship with him.

The goal of life, the purpose of life is to be in an intimate love relationship with the God of the universe. This will result in worship, obedience and service. We will participate with him in restoring his kingdom, his rule. We will speak and act with his authority and with his power.
Our lives will be changed by being in love with Jesus and the behaviors will follow.

God will use the difficult times in our lives – the times when we are uncomfortable and even afraid – to call out of us a faithfulness that we did not know was there. He does not want us to settle for comfortable, pain-free lives that require no faith and produce no faithfulness.

So when you are afraid, don’t quit. When you are uncomfortable, don’t bail out. The difficult time will not last forever. Jesus knows what is happening. He will use the situation to deepen you. He will use it to accomplish his purpose in you and in the world. Don’t let fear keep you from being obedient. Don’t let it control your life.