SPEAKER_00: Hello, Professor Timothy here, First Baptist Church of El Daredo, Europe.
SPEAKER_00: Joined us today in a series called A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus, which is a study in 2 Timothy chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: Throughout this series, we're going to learn a lot about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus who makes disciples of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're going to run this race as we walk through 2 Timothy 2.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm so thankful that you've chosen to join us today, and I hope you are encouraged by God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation chapter 2, verses 8 through 11 is where we are going to be this morning.
SPEAKER_00: And I will begin reading there.
SPEAKER_00: Revelation 2, verses 8 through 11.
SPEAKER_00: It says this And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write, the words of the first and the last who died and came to life.
SPEAKER_00: I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich.
SPEAKER_00: And the slander of those who say that they are Jews, but are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
SPEAKER_00: Do not fear what you are about to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
SPEAKER_00: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
SPEAKER_00: The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Transform us by your word today, we ask.
SPEAKER_00: In Christ's name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: In 115 A.D., 115 A.D., again, we're dating Revelation sometime in the 90s, the mid-90s.
SPEAKER_00: So within about 20 years of John, really the Holy Spirit, writing to the seven churches at Ephesus, there was Pliny the Younger, P-L-I-N-Y, Pliny the Younger.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not kidding, you guessed that he is the son of Pliny the Elder.
SPEAKER_00: And uh, but Pliny the Younger was a governor in uh Asia Minor, and he was writing at the time to Emperor Trajan.
SPEAKER_00: Emperor Trajan, he was writing to get some clarification and some advice on how he should handle the Christians.
SPEAKER_00: There was this new up-and-coming superstition that seemed to be taking hold of the lives of a lot of people, and Pliny the Younger wanted to know how to handle it, and his exact words, he reached out to the emperor.
SPEAKER_00: He says, It is my custom, sir, to refer to you in all cases where I don't feel sure, for who can better direct my doubts or inform my ignorance?
SPEAKER_00: I have never been present at any legal examination of the Christians, and I do not know, therefore, what are the usual penalties passed upon them, or the limits of those penalties, or how searching and inquiry should be made.
SPEAKER_00: In the meantime, this is my plan, which I have adopted in the case of these Christians who have been brought before me.
SPEAKER_00: I ask them whether they are Christians.
SPEAKER_00: If they say yes, then I repeat the question a second time or a third time, warning them of the penalty it entails, and if they persist, I order them to be taken away to prison.
SPEAKER_00: For the contagion of this superstition has spread not only through the free cities, but to the villages and the rural districts, and yet it seems to me that it can be checked and set right.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what Pliny the Younger is saying that for Christians in this time, again, this is within 20 years of the writing of Revelation, this is in Asia Minor, where these churches are that Revelation has been written to, the Christians of the day have two options.
SPEAKER_00: And really only two options.
SPEAKER_00: Option number one is this you come before the courts if you have been found out, and they ask you, are you a Christian?
SPEAKER_00: And if you are willing to say no, if you are willing to say, you know what, I'm more than happy to bow down to the gods of this or the goddess of that, or I'm more than happy to say Caesar is Lord or Trajan is Lord or Lord or Domitian is Lord.
SPEAKER_00: If you will just say those things, you're good to go.
SPEAKER_00: Have a good day.
SPEAKER_00: Option number two for you to say, I am a Christian, I do believe Jesus is Lord, and they will calmly and kindly escort you to prison.
SPEAKER_00: Those are the options.
SPEAKER_00: That's what Pliny the Younger is writing to Emperor Trajan about, telling him, these are the options we have presented.
SPEAKER_00: Trajan writes back with a very kind response.
SPEAKER_00: Pliny the younger, you're doing the right thing.
SPEAKER_00: This is the kind of persecution that existed in Asia Minor in the first and the second century.
SPEAKER_00: As I look at Revelation 2, 8 through 11, here are the three points that I want us to see today.
SPEAKER_00: Point number one is this in this church: things may be bad.
SPEAKER_00: Things may be bad.
SPEAKER_00: Point number two is this things will get worse.
SPEAKER_00: How's that for?
SPEAKER_00: A feel-good sermon today.
SPEAKER_00: Things may be bad.
SPEAKER_00: Point two, things will get worse, but here's where it all changes.
SPEAKER_00: Death will not win.
SPEAKER_00: Let me say it again.
SPEAKER_00: Things may be bad, things will get worse, death will not win.
SPEAKER_00: That's really the summarized version of Revelation 2, verses 8 through 11.
SPEAKER_00: Smyrna, about 40 miles northwest of Ephesus, would have been the next church on the postal route that is getting these letters, and the these house churches would come together in these influential cities and hear uh the words of John.
SPEAKER_00: Again, the words of Jesus Christ speaking to John.
SPEAKER_00: About maybe uh a hundred thousand people in Smyrna, so not quite as big as Ephesus last week.
SPEAKER_00: And in fact, Smyrna is only mentioned throughout the Bible, its only uh reference is right here in the book of Revelation.
SPEAKER_00: Now, look with me at verse 8.
SPEAKER_00: And to the angel of the church in Smyrna, write the words of the first and the last who died and came to life.
SPEAKER_00: Again, the words of the first and last who died and who came to life.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I believe: the the author matters.
SPEAKER_00: Uh the person writing to you really matters.
SPEAKER_00: If you don't believe me any weekday, go out to your mailbox.
SPEAKER_00: And I got a feeling you'll look at the envelope and maybe the name on the envelope, and there's probably some writers that have written to you that you may not open immediately.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes when uh my my letter says it's from energy, I know what's in there.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing wrong with it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm thankful for lights and power, but but I don't need to open it right now.
SPEAKER_00: I know I know what's there.
SPEAKER_00: But when when the letter is written by someone, uh maybe something I've been waiting to see, maybe uh uh a friend has written us, maybe it's that uh I see on the front, this is the wedding announcement of that, you know, sweet couple that's getting married.
SPEAKER_00: We've been waiting on this.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the author matters.
SPEAKER_00: So if you're sitting in Smyrna, and as we'll see in a moment, a church that is heavily persecuted.
SPEAKER_00: Heavily persecuted, the authorities are coming down on you, seeking out believers so that uh they potentially can take you to prison.
SPEAKER_00: You're meeting in uh really well an underground church, really these house churches, uh, and there is threat and there is fear all around you, and then you see this.
SPEAKER_00: We've got a letter from the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That's encouraging news.
SPEAKER_00: Not just the Lord, the one who says this.
SPEAKER_00: Here's what he calls himself.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, I am the first and the last.
SPEAKER_00: There's some good news.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, what does that mean?
SPEAKER_00: That that means this if you're sitting in Smyrna, that I was around long before your persecutors were even born, and I'll be around long after your persecutors are long behind you.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the eternal one, but not just that, I'm the first and the last.
SPEAKER_00: But look at this who died and came to life.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's what's so fascinating about Jesus describing himself in that way.
SPEAKER_00: Well, first of all, preface to that, the just the fact that it's true, that this is the gospel, that Jesus Christ has died for sins, your sins, my sins, gone to the grave and came back to life.
SPEAKER_00: There's the greatest news we could ever have.
SPEAKER_00: But what's fascinating is this that Jesus, in a few moments in this very letter, is going to call these faithful believers in Smyrna to be obedient to the point of death.
SPEAKER_00: Be faithful even unto death.
SPEAKER_00: Now, here's why this is encouraging news or or just fascinating news from Jesus, because Jesus is not calling these believers to do anything that he has not first already done.
SPEAKER_00: That I'm not calling you to some level of persecution that Jesus would say that I too wasn't willing to endure.
SPEAKER_00: Even to the point of my own death, I'm the first and the last.
SPEAKER_00: I'm the one who died and who rose again.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: I know your tribulation.
SPEAKER_00: This word tribulation, literally the word uh pressure.
SPEAKER_00: I I know the pressure that is coming against you.
SPEAKER_00: I know the pressure when it feels like the walls are closing in.
SPEAKER_00: I know the tribulation, the suffering that you sit under each and every week.
SPEAKER_00: I love that Jesus says that.
SPEAKER_00: I I know the suffering.
SPEAKER_00: He knows very well.
SPEAKER_00: I think back to Exodus chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: When the people of God are in Egypt, and they had moved to Egypt as free people, but they have since, under a new Pharaoh, been brought to a life of bondage and slavery.
SPEAKER_00: We see these words ending Exodus chapter 2.
SPEAKER_00: It says this, and God heard their groaning.
SPEAKER_00: God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
SPEAKER_00: God saw the people of Israel, and I love this, these three words, and God knew.
SPEAKER_00: And God knew.
SPEAKER_00: In Revelation chapter 2, verse 9, I know your tribulation.
SPEAKER_00: And I just want to say this as a side note to anyone that's walking through any kind of tribulation of any kind that God knows right where you're at.
SPEAKER_00: Do you hear that?
SPEAKER_00: And do you believe that?
SPEAKER_00: I know sometimes it's hard to believe.
SPEAKER_00: I know sometimes that's hard to process.
SPEAKER_00: I I know there's times where you're waiting on God and wondering what he's up to.
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you what he's up to in every season.
SPEAKER_00: He he is up to this, to knowing very well right where you're at and right what you're walking through, and what you need for that moment, what you need for the next decade, and what you need for the next 10 seconds.
SPEAKER_00: He knows you and he knows your situation.
SPEAKER_00: So I I love this again, verse 9.
SPEAKER_00: I know your tribulation and your poverty.
SPEAKER_00: Your poverty.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's what's interesting.
SPEAKER_00: Smyrna is a beautiful, beautiful city.
SPEAKER_00: Smyrna has a lot going for it.
SPEAKER_00: Smyrna has many people of great wealth.
SPEAKER_00: It's got a fine economy.
SPEAKER_00: So why in the world in the church are all these people who are Christians living in poverty?
SPEAKER_00: Well, I'll tell you why, because things get very difficult when you stand for something.
SPEAKER_00: Standing on your convictions is very tough.
SPEAKER_00: Uh there's examples all throughout history.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I told y'all last week I, you know, I got Katie an anniversary gift later on in the week.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to see Hamilton and Luterock, which we're excited about.
SPEAKER_00: And so Katie has been updating me on Hamilton history, making sure I understand when they're saying this or saying that, that I know the story.
SPEAKER_00: And I was fascinated.
SPEAKER_00: She she brought this up earlier this week that uh you've got Aaron Burr and you've got Thomas Jefferson, they're running against each other, and it's a it's a tight race, and they they don't know who's gonna win, and they're all looking to Alexander Hamilton to kind of give his endorsement one way or the other.
SPEAKER_00: And whoever he endorses is probably gonna win the day because people think highly of him.
SPEAKER_00: Who's he going to endorse?
SPEAKER_00: What does Hamilton do?
SPEAKER_00: He says, We I don't like Thomas Jefferson.
SPEAKER_00: I've never liked Thomas Jefferson.
SPEAKER_00: We don't agree on much of anything, but I do know Thomas Jefferson stands for something.
SPEAKER_00: I do know he has actual convictions.
SPEAKER_00: He looks at Aaron Burr and just says, Here's someone that doesn't stand for anything.
SPEAKER_00: He goes to one room and says what that room wants to hear, to the other says what they want to hear.
SPEAKER_00: And so he gives his endorsement to Thomas Jefferson.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because he actually stands for something.
SPEAKER_00: Standing for nothing was actually costly to the other side.
SPEAKER_00: You may know the story from back in the 90s.
SPEAKER_00: Standing for something can be costly, and some won't do it.
SPEAKER_00: Back in the 90s, Michael Jordan, when he was playing for the Bulls, was uh reached out about uh a situation in his home state of North Carolina.
SPEAKER_00: There was a Democrat running for office, and some felt it was very important that this person win.
SPEAKER_00: And Michael Jordan was called upon to really throw his weight towards this candidate.
SPEAKER_00: And Michael Jordan, really, throughout his career, never really spoke out politically about much of anything.
SPEAKER_00: And he was asked during this time, you know, why why don't you raise your voice?
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you talk about these issues?
SPEAKER_00: Does anybody remember what Michael Jordan said?
SPEAKER_00: He he looked to the person beside him and exact words, he kind of said the quiet part out loud here.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Because Republicans buy sneakers too.
SPEAKER_00: Those were his words.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe not quite ready to stand for much just because it could cost him economically.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the reality is standing for something has its cost.
SPEAKER_00: For believers in Smyrna, standing on the conviction of Christ had economic costs.
SPEAKER_00: If you wanted to do business in Smyrna, you had to be part of the trade guilds of the day.
SPEAKER_00: And if you weren't, you really didn't have much business you could do.
SPEAKER_00: Now, these trade guilds were uh had so many elements of the worship of gods and goddesses and the worship of Caesar.
SPEAKER_00: If you went to your union meeting today and they asked you to stand up and pledge allegiance, that wouldn't be a problem.
SPEAKER_00: You'd do it, I'd do it, you know.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing wrong with that.
SPEAKER_00: But imagine if you went to the union meeting to the trade guild and they they they asked you, uh proclaim uh Caesar as Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Proclaim this God or that goddess as divine.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're unwilling to do it, if you make a stand for Christ, that is a beautiful thing.
SPEAKER_00: It will also cost you.
SPEAKER_00: There was a church of individuals living in poverty because they were unwilling to really uh sell out to the crowd, calling on them to proclaim Caesar as Lord, and therefore it hurt them economically.
SPEAKER_00: They could not get ahead in Smyrna.
SPEAKER_00: And so they have tribulation, they have poverty, even though in parentheses we do see Jesus say, but you are rich.
SPEAKER_00: And let us not forget that.
SPEAKER_00: To the church, you are living in poverty by worldly standards, but don't forget the riches you have in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: That's not just some hallmark card idea that we tack onto that sentence.
SPEAKER_00: That's reality.
SPEAKER_00: You are rich in ways the world can't even fathom.
SPEAKER_00: So I know your tribulation, I know your prover poverty, but you are rich.
SPEAKER_00: And the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
SPEAKER_00: These are harsh words.
SPEAKER_00: Persecution is coming from all fronts, but even from some individuals who are of the Jewish faith.
SPEAKER_00: Not all Jews, ultimately, this isn't a Jewish problem, it's a sin problem.
SPEAKER_00: But there were some among the Jewish party who the Jews had kind of uh had protection uh under the umbrella of Judaism and had protection where they didn't have to uh appease the gods of the day or worship in these kinds of ways.
SPEAKER_00: They were protected, and for a while Christians were able to kind of fall under that umbrella as well, until some in the Jewish party started calling out these Christians and saying, these are not us.
SPEAKER_00: Basically telling Smyrna, basically telling Rome, these are not of us.
SPEAKER_00: And so there were some that were uh really giving the Christians a hard time.
SPEAKER_00: And it's fascinating, instead of a synagogue of God, what does Jesus call them?
SPEAKER_00: A synagogue of Satan.
SPEAKER_00: These are harsh words.
SPEAKER_00: Again, to be clear, we're not talking about all Jews in this day.
SPEAKER_00: Certainly many Jews came to know the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Praise God.
SPEAKER_00: But but we are talking about this one group that had become a synagogue of Satan.
SPEAKER_00: There is persecution all around.
SPEAKER_00: So, first of all, things may be bad, but here's point number two things will get worse.
SPEAKER_00: Because we read verse 8 and 9, and I'd expect a verse that gives us some little piece of hope.
SPEAKER_00: You know, if Jesus comes to me and he writes, I know your tribulation, I know your poverty, I know the persecution you're enduring, I'm expecting a verse that comes next that that says something to the effect of, but things are about to change.
SPEAKER_00: But I got some things in store for you.
SPEAKER_00: Brighter days are coming.
SPEAKER_00: This is the verse I want to see, but instead, verse 10, what do we see?
SPEAKER_00: Do not fear what you are about to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: Now I read that and I look to Jesus and I say, What do you what we're about to suffer?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus, we've been suffering.
SPEAKER_00: What we are about to suffer, so there's more coming.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, there is.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you in to prison.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, the devil is about to do this.
SPEAKER_00: That's an interesting phrase there.
SPEAKER_00: Does it mean some little guy with the red pitchfork is coming to take you to prison?
SPEAKER_00: No, it doesn't.
SPEAKER_00: What he's getting at is the fact that the devil is alive and well and active and using many throughout Smyrna to persecute these believers.
SPEAKER_00: The devil is about to throw you in prison that you may be tested.
SPEAKER_00: A testing of the sincerity of faith.
SPEAKER_00: Really, think in the sense of a testing to form our faith.
SPEAKER_00: To form us as we walk with the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I am continually blown away by this phrase in Acts chapter 5, verse 41.
SPEAKER_00: The apostles have been arrested, the apostles have been uh taken before this council, put on a trial, they are eventually set free, but they face this persecution, and in Acts 5, 41, they leave this council where they are finally granted this uh freedom to go out, even after this persecution, and they go out rejoicing.
SPEAKER_00: And you can look this up.
SPEAKER_00: Acts chapter 5, verse 41.
SPEAKER_00: They are rejoicing.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because the Lord counted them worthy to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: Those are the words of these apostles.
SPEAKER_00: They went out rejoicing because the Lord had account uh had accounted them as worthy to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: This is the mindset for many believers in the first and second century, for many believers in Smyrna, for many believers around the world today and in El Dorado today.
SPEAKER_00: And what it says, uh you'll be put into prison that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation.
SPEAKER_00: Think of this ten days not as a uh ten literal 24-hour days, but a period of time.
SPEAKER_00: Good news is there is an end.
SPEAKER_00: There is not an 11th day of tribulation.
SPEAKER_00: There is an end to this period, but for 10 days you will have tribulation.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the words be faithful unto death.
SPEAKER_00: Pretty straightforward, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Here's what I'd love to hear.
SPEAKER_00: You know, go through this tribulation, and I'm gonna get you out of it right in the nick of time.
SPEAKER_00: Go through this tribulation, but but don't worry.
SPEAKER_00: It it won't go all the way to the point of death.
SPEAKER_00: No, no, what does Jesus say?
SPEAKER_00: Be faithful unto Death, and here's how that verse ends, and here's the good news this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I promise you there is some, and I will give you the crown of life.
SPEAKER_00: Again, things may be bad, things will get worse.
SPEAKER_00: Point number three is this but death will not win.
SPEAKER_00: That's good news.
SPEAKER_00: Death will not win.
SPEAKER_00: Because the one who is faithful unto death, it says, I will give him the crown of life.
SPEAKER_00: It reminds me that crown, really think of a wreath that you would win and be placed on your head as you win an athletic game.
SPEAKER_00: Smyrna had their own version of the Olympic Games, this athletic competition where the winner would get this wreath.
SPEAKER_00: I think of 2 Timothy 4, verses 7 through 8.
SPEAKER_00: Paul's at the end of his life.
SPEAKER_00: What does he say?
SPEAKER_00: I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
SPEAKER_00: Here it is.
SPEAKER_00: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown, a wreath of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, not only to me, but also all who loved his appearing.
SPEAKER_00: So if you will be faithful unto death, I will give you the crown of life.
SPEAKER_00: So those who endure suffering, who walk through hardship and suffering and poverty and tribulation, and you are faithful unto death, on the other side of this, great reward is coming.
SPEAKER_00: The crown of life will be yours.
SPEAKER_00: This is the news of the gospel, okay?
SPEAKER_00: This is the story of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Remember, he said as the author came to us, he's the one that died and lives again.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus Christ himself was willing to go to death, be faithful unto death for us.
SPEAKER_00: He took our death upon himself, went to the grave with our sin, rose from the grave, defeating sin and death.
SPEAKER_00: And so now his story becomes our story.
SPEAKER_00: That if we're faithful with him and suffer with him even unto the point of death, we too will receive the crown of life.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
SPEAKER_00: The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.
SPEAKER_00: Here is the news of the day.
SPEAKER_00: You and I, unless the Lord returns sooner, and Lord willing, He will, even now, Lord, unless the Lord returns sooner, you and I have a day of our death.
SPEAKER_00: We have a day, we will breathe our last.
SPEAKER_00: I hope that's not breaking news to you.
SPEAKER_00: If it is, I want to talk to you about Jesus in just a minute.
SPEAKER_00: Because I got amazing news, even about that day.
SPEAKER_00: But you and I will face our last day on this earth at some point.
SPEAKER_00: But here's what Jesus is saying in this moment: the one who walks with Jesus, suffers with Jesus, endures with Jesus, lives with Jesus, goes even to the point of death in Jesus Christ, certainly you will die.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the good news: you don't have to do it twice.
SPEAKER_00: You will breathe your last, but you will not have to go unto the second death.
SPEAKER_00: Those outside of Christ certainly have their physical death, but they also have this spiritual death.
SPEAKER_00: Where there is a real place called hell and real separation from a Savior.
SPEAKER_00: Those who are in Jesus Christ, though you die, you will live.
SPEAKER_00: Again, that's the heart of the gospel as well.
SPEAKER_00: That death doesn't win.
SPEAKER_00: And so Jesus is looking at this group of individuals, and he's saying this: death is everywhere around you.
SPEAKER_00: Death is knocking at your doors.
SPEAKER_00: Just you all meeting in this moment and having your church service in this house church this morning with you 10 or 12 people under threat, just you meeting means death could be closer than you realize.
SPEAKER_00: You live in this world of death, it seems.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the good news: death doesn't win.
SPEAKER_00: That the emperor doesn't win.
SPEAKER_00: That plenty the younger or the elder doesn't win.
SPEAKER_00: That no one wins but Jesus Christ the righteous.
SPEAKER_00: And by the way, that's good news if you're suffering on uh account of your faith, which we all will, but also just good news in any tribulation of life, any circumstance, any dark valley of your life, that the refrain remains.
SPEAKER_00: That this may be devastating, this may be tough, it is hard, I don't know how I'll make it through, but I do know this death will not win.
SPEAKER_00: That death doesn't get the final word.
SPEAKER_00: And if you just read Genesis through Revelation, that's just what you're gonna see over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting.
SPEAKER_00: The church at Smyrna is one of two churches out of these seven that doesn't receive a rebuke.
SPEAKER_00: You know, last week in Ephesus we saw these compliments, these commendations, but then we did see a heavy rebuke.
SPEAKER_00: Not with Smyrna.
SPEAKER_00: No rebuke, only a call to suffer well.
SPEAKER_00: And that's so fascinating to me because we live in a uh quote-unquote prosperity world where we just imagine surely the individual that is the most prosperous or the church that's the most prosperous, surely that means they're doing the best.
SPEAKER_00: Surely that that means they're the closest to God, surely that means they've got it figured out, and yet you've got this church in Smyrna that that is a church in poverty, that is a church in suffering, and yet God has no rebuke to say to them.
SPEAKER_00: All he says is this you are doing well, you are suffering well, keep going, because I promise you death will not win.
SPEAKER_00: Now, what does Smyrna have to do with El Dorado?
SPEAKER_00: Because there's also part of us that we pray for these top ten churches this morning.
SPEAKER_00: We think of churches like Smyrna, and we we almost feel, if we can just be honest, we almost feel a level of guilt.
SPEAKER_00: Because here we are.
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't nervous to come to church this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't nervous to sit in my pew.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not nervous to share the gospel or to tell people around town that I'm a pastor.
SPEAKER_00: There's a level, am I supposed to feel guilty about this?
SPEAKER_00: No, what we're supposed to do is realize two things.
SPEAKER_00: Number one, Paul tells us very clearly in 2 Timothy, everyone who wants to follow Christ Jesus will suffer.
SPEAKER_00: So the fact is, if you are standing strong for Christ, ridicule will come at some point.
SPEAKER_00: Suffering will come at some point.
SPEAKER_00: There's going to be a way where you could have maybe gotten ahead by doing another thing, but you stood firm in Christ, and it was costly in some way.
SPEAKER_00: You will suffer.
SPEAKER_00: But also, this we've got to remember that we are the church, capital C church.
SPEAKER_00: We are the body.
SPEAKER_00: So think about it this morning.
SPEAKER_00: I think about when Paul talks about throughout his letters the church, made up of different parts the hand, the foot, the eye, the nose, you know, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00: I think not just as individuals, but I think of churches.
SPEAKER_00: That first Baptist El Dorado is a church in the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Other churches in town are in the body of Christ, but also churches on the other side of the globe are part of the body of Christ, brothers and sisters with us.
SPEAKER_00: And if one part of the body is suffering, we are all suffering.
SPEAKER_00: If I came in this morning and everything looked fine with me, except for a broken leg that I'm just limping and dragging behind me as I walk, and I told you everything was fine, you'd look at me and say, Taylor, I don't think everything's fine.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think even close.
SPEAKER_00: I think you need to get that looked at.
SPEAKER_00: We are the body of Christ, and we have brothers and sisters within our body who are hurt and who are suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
SPEAKER_00: That means we are hurt.
SPEAKER_00: That means we are suffering.
SPEAKER_00: That means Christ is hurt, Christ is suffering.
SPEAKER_00: What does Christ say when he calls out to Paul on uh the road to Damascus?
SPEAKER_00: The words that he says, Paul, Paul, why are you persecuting me?
SPEAKER_00: Now he doesn't say, why are you persecuting Christians?
SPEAKER_00: Why are you persecuting the church?
SPEAKER_00: He says, Why are you persecuting me?
SPEAKER_00: Because he is the head, the body of the church.
SPEAKER_00: And when uh the church suffers in any way, the whole church suffers, you and I suffer, and even the head, Jesus Christ, is uh so bitterly saddened by the fact of what is happening to his body, like in North Korea.
SPEAKER_00: Even now, where if you're found out as a Christian, your best case scenario means you're sent to a labor camp.
SPEAKER_00: In Somalia, for you to proclaim Christ as Savior would mean you going against the beliefs, traditions, and practices of an entire community, and quite literally community violence coming against you.
SPEAKER_00: Even now in Yemen, read this week that when a humanitarian crisis comes, humanitarian aid will be sent.
SPEAKER_00: And how does Yemen, the government, dish out that aid?
SPEAKER_00: They do it through the mosque, through Islamic leaders.
SPEAKER_00: And so, if you are a Christian, what does that mean for you?
SPEAKER_00: You don't have access to this kind of aid, you don't have access to the resources that others have.
SPEAKER_00: All across the globe, even now, we have brothers and sisters in Christ.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to hear that.
SPEAKER_00: Brothers and sisters in Christ that are suffering.
SPEAKER_00: And we have the privilege, the responsibility, the obligation we are commanded to pray for them, to lift them up, to hold the rope, to give of our resources, to send missionaries to those areas, and maybe even in this room.
SPEAKER_00: And and parents, close your ears if you want to, but maybe in this room, they're raising up on our pews some children that one day will grow to go to those places, the dark places of this world, and go bring light to these dangerous and dark places.
SPEAKER_00: But not just there, but even across the street.
SPEAKER_00: Smyrna's a fascinating place.
SPEAKER_00: There was a young man in Smyrna.
SPEAKER_00: He was in his late 20s, and we gotta go.
SPEAKER_00: I'm looking at the clock, we gotta go, but I can't go before I mention this.
SPEAKER_00: He was in his late 20s when this letter came to Smyrna.
SPEAKER_00: When it arrived there in Smyrna, and he would have heard these words, and in fact, throughout the years, he was discipled by John.
SPEAKER_00: He became the bishop, the leader of the church at Smyrna.
SPEAKER_00: His name, maybe you've heard it before, his name was Polycarp.
SPEAKER_00: Polycarp was the bishop of Smyrna.
SPEAKER_00: Again, would have been in his late 20s when the letter came.
SPEAKER_00: Leader at the church at Smyrna, and in 155 A.D., he was taken to the arena, the stadium of Smyrna, and he became the first, at least recorded, martyr outside of Scripture for faith in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: We've heard from Pliny the Younger.
SPEAKER_00: Let's hear from someone who was here that day.
SPEAKER_00: Then the Procouncil urging him, urging Polycarp, and saying, Swear and I will set you at liberty.
SPEAKER_00: Reproach Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Polycarp declared, Eighty and six years I have served him, and he never did me any injury.
SPEAKER_00: How can I blaspheme my king and my savior?
SPEAKER_00: The pro counsel then said to him, I have wild beasts at hand.
SPEAKER_00: To these I will cast you unless you repent.
SPEAKER_00: But he answered, Call them.
SPEAKER_00: For we are not accustomed to repent of what is good in order to adopt that which is evil.
SPEAKER_00: But again the pro-council said to him, I will cause you to be consumed by fire, seeing you despise the wild beast, if you do not repent.
SPEAKER_00: But Polycarp said, You threaten me with fire that burns for an hour, and after a little while is extinguished, but you are ignorant of the fire of the coming judgment, the eternal punishment reserved for the ungodly.
SPEAKER_00: Why do you tarry?
SPEAKER_00: Bring forth what you will.
SPEAKER_00: This young man who sat under John's teaching at the age of around twenty-seven, I can't help but think, as he sat in that arena, and they quite literally lit the fire that would lead to his death, I can't help but think that he returned to those words that he heard as a twenty-seven-year-old young man.
SPEAKER_00: Do not fear what you are about to suffer.
SPEAKER_00: Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
SPEAKER_00: Polycarp story is certainly special.
SPEAKER_00: But guess what?
SPEAKER_00: Polycarp's like you and me.
SPEAKER_00: Be faithful unto death.
SPEAKER_00: Be faithful unto Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You will walk through suffering for your faith.
SPEAKER_00: We'll promise that.
SPEAKER_00: Will you make a stand for Christ Jesus?
SPEAKER_00: Will you stand on his word?
SPEAKER_00: If you do, you've got brothers and sisters in this room that'll stand with you.
SPEAKER_00: You've got brothers and sisters in North Korea and Sudan and Somalia that will stand with you.
SPEAKER_00: I want to be a church that stands in that kind of way and holds the rope for those even today are standing in that kind of way.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray together.
SPEAKER_00: Lord Jesus, thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the gospel.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for the hope that even a persecuted church like Smyrna can teach us so much about what it means to stand firm in faith.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, it could look like a number of things.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it doesn't look like being marched into an arena with wild beasts or the flames.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, I would imagine for the folks in this room it doesn't, but maybe it just looks in some way big or small.
SPEAKER_00: Us facing something for the name of Christ that's difficult, that costs us in some kind of way.
SPEAKER_00: And Lord, let us prove ourselves faithful.
SPEAKER_00: We have a great cloud of witnesses that go before us.
SPEAKER_00: We've got brothers and sisters in Christ beside us.
SPEAKER_00: Let us prove ourselves faithful.
SPEAKER_00: Lord, as we worship you now, if there's one that needs to know more about Jesus, needs to join our church, talk about baptism, needs prayer, however it needs to be, that they need to respond, would they do so now as we worship?
SPEAKER_00: Pray this in Christ's name.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Would you stand now as we worship?
SPEAKER_00: I'll be down front as you respond.