“Smyrna” – Revelation 2:8-11

My cousin, Graham Moncure, was born March 4, 1974. At the age of four he was diagnosed with Leukemia. My aunt and uncle were not wealthy people but they managed to provide Graham with every possible chance to survive. They got him to the best doctors at the best hospitals anywhere but more than that, they prayed and they believed.

Graham was born into a Christian home and was saved and baptized at, I believe, the age of six. As he continued to go through chemo and radiation and bone marrow transplants, the whole family prayed. Churches from all over prayed for Graham. People all over the world prayed fervently for Graham’s recovery and healing.

As things got worse, his parents fasted and prayed, laid hands on him and symbolically anointed him with oil. His condition continued to worsen but his parents had great faith. They knew that if their faith was strong enough and if they continued to ask for healing in the name of Jesus that it would be done. They prayed back to God scriptures that encourage us that if we pray in the Spirit and in the name of Jesus that God would hear and they knew he would be healed and so they had faith in that and they thanked God in advance for what He was about to do.

They did everything right but on July 28, 1981, at the tender age of seven years old, Graham died. His parents’ faith was so strong and their belief in Graham’s healing was so sure that they then assumed that Graham would be raised from the dead. It had to be. They couldn’t imagine that God would allow their baby boy to be taken from them. But it wasn’t meant to be.

As you can imagine, they were completely mentally, physically and even spiritually exhausted. They were beyond sad. They were devastated. It affected them physically. It affected their marriage. It affected their relationship with the Lord. And in some ways, they never recovered. They were in some ways disillusioned with Christianity and the Bible. They now had doubts where faith used to be and so many questions they had have never been answered.

How about you? Do you ever doubt? Do you ever wonder if Christianity is the real thing; if the Bible is really true; if God really is in control and He loves you? If you say you never have doubts, you are either not being truthful or your faith has never really been tested. You have never been tested and tried to your core. You have never been afflicted and persecuted and made to suffer.

But if you have suffered severely, you have to ask the question that has been asked for thousands of years. How can a good and loving God allow such bad things to happen to people? Why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? I get asked that question sometimes and I have a few answers. I can come up with some biblical answers but, I’ll be honest, none of them are truly satisfying. None of those answers will bring back a dead child or make you okay with them being gone. That’s for sure.

But I have come to realize something about those questions and it affects everything about this life and how we live it. I have come to realize that “Why does God allow bad things?” is not a good question. It’s not a good question because there are no satisfactory answers, for one thing. Also, the question gives the assumption that this life should be good and that we deserve for it to be good and if it’s not good, then God is to blame.

We just finished a sermon series on finding Jesus in the Old Testament and do you remember how we found that all through the Old Testament, the people are left wanting more? The Law of Moses and the 10 Commandments showed the people they were sinful but it didn’t pay for those sins and that left people needing and wanting a Savior. The sacrificial system, where sins were covered over by the blood of animals, helped people be right with God but they still lacked a Mediator between them and God. Then Jesus showed up in the New Testament and fulfilled those needs and that was great but even with that, something is just not right. Something is still missing. This world is still so messed up and painful to live in. We are still looking forward to something else! What could the answer be?

Let’s turn to the last book of the Bible and I want you to see that, once again, Jesus is the answer. Just like how Jesus was the answer for the people that lived in the Old Testament times, Jesus was the answer for the New Testament and He is the answer for us today. We just haven’t been asking the right question.

Turn to Revelation 2:8-11. This is the second letter that Jesus told the Apostle John to write. In it, Jesus tells the church at Smyrna some of the scariest comforting news ever. Yes, you heard me. Scary-comforting, like only Jesus can. And it should be scary-comforting to you as well.

In my reading this week about the church in Smyrna, I found that the city of Smyrna was a beautiful city set between the mountains and the Aegean Sea. Today it is the city of Izmir, Turkey and it is absolutely beautiful. It’s very much like the south of France, in that it is where all the rich and famous go to vacation. They have the nicest hotels and the kings and middle eastern sheiks park their multi-million dollar yachts in the bay as they go shopping in the hoity-toity shops on land.

It was probably very much the same way two thousand years ago or so when this letter was written which surprised me because Jesus mentions the afflictions and poverty of the church. The difference was that the government had made it a law that you had to worship the emperor and you had to be loyal to Rome and if you didn’t then you couldn’t buy or sell anything. So, for the Christians there in Smyrna, that meant they either had to reject the one, true God and live in plenty or reject the emperor and live in squalor. So, believe it when you read they had afflictions and poverty.

Let’s read it now – finally. Let’s read Revelation 2:8-11 and see what Jesus had to say to this poor church. “To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9I know your afflictions and your poverty-yet you are rich! I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor's crown. 11Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.”

If your family member is having surgery and if I, like a good pastor, came up to the hospital and told you not to worry, everything was going to be okay, your loved one is going to be just fine, what would you think? You might think that it was nice of me to come up there and it was nice of me to say those comforting things, but you might also think, “How in the world do YOU know?” Right?

But if the surgeon came out and told you those very same words, you wouldn’t question him. Would you? Why? Because he would know. He wasn’t just trying to be nice and supportive. He would be telling the truth. It’s his business to know. That’s what he does so what he says is believable. The guy in charge is believable.

Jesus tells John to write down what He is about to say and tell them who it is that is writing these things. It would be nice if John wrote Smyrna himself and told them that he knew the poverty they were in. It’s another thing altogether to have Jesus, who is God, tell them that He knows. So, when Jesus says, “These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again” Jesus is giving just a taste of His credentials. He is saying that He was here before all this started and will be here long after it’s gone. He is the Man with the plan. He is large and in charge. He is in control. He defeated death so this other stuff is under His control as well. That in itself might be scary and it might be comforting, depending on your relationship with Him.

But Jesus goes on to say, “I know your afflictions and your poverty-yet you are rich!” Again, it’s one thing if I come to you when the doctor diagnoses you with cancer and I give my sympathies. It’s altogether another thing when Lois, who has gone through cancer and came through on the other side healed by the grace and power of God comes to you and sympathizes with you. Right?

How comforting for the church in Smyrna to get a letter from the risen Christ who was beaten, bruised, crucified and killed; for the One who was so badly afflicted to write and say, “I see your affliction. I see it. I recognize it. I feel for you and I hate that affliction because I love you so much!”

But if that is true; if Jesus sees their affliction; if He loves them and hates their affliction…then why doesn’t He do something about it?! There can only be a few answers. Obviously, He is lying and He doesn’t really see just how bad they are suffering. Yea, I bet that’s it. Jesus is a liar. You think? Of course not.

Okay then, He must not love them very much or surely He would change the situation they were in. This church, part of His beloved bride, was literally starving and dying. He must not love them very much. What do you think of that answer? No?

If He sees them and He loves them then obviously He is unable to help them. This so-called sovereign Lord doesn’t have the power to change their circumstance. He is not all-powerful and He just can’t help them. Do you think that is it? Of course not. We know better than that.

But that only leaves one answer. If Jesus sees them, loves them and is able to change the circumstance but doesn’t then obviously He wants them to be there. He wants them to go through the afflictions and poverty. But why? Why would He want that for them? Why would He want that for His bride back then? Why does He want that for His bride now? An even better question for you may be, why does He want YOU to go through affliction and poverty?

The Apostle Paul might be a good person to ask that question. Paul knew something about suffering. In fact, he’s kind of the poster boy for suffering. God said in Acts 9, “I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.” But the suffering wasn’t wasted on Paul. He understood it. He knew that God was in control and he knew that God loved him and yet allowed him to suffer.

He starts his second letter to the Corinthians by saying in verse3-6, “Praise be to the God and Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer.”

He says there that suffering allows us to comfort others that suffer and that produces endurance in us. But that may not make you feel too much better so Paul tells us in verses 8-9, “We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.”

Paul says that suffering causes us to depend on God, not on ourselves. Yea, I hear you. Some of you still aren’t convinced so Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 4, “15All this is for your benefit (all this suffering), so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.”

He is saying that our suffering actually helps spread the Gospel. That’s huge! But I understand that still doesn’t make it worth it for some of you.  Some of you have suffered way more than your fair share. I get it. How about this? In 2 Corinthians 12:7 Paul says that he was given a thorn in his flesh to torment him to keep him from becoming conceited. Maybe that is at least partly why we suffer sometimes. It brings us down a notch. Does that make you feel any better? No? Hmm.

Hang on just a second. Paul said something in 2 Corinthians 4 that might help. In verse 16 he says, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. So, that’s good. They are being renewed. But wait just a second. Look at the rest of this! 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

“Our light and momentary troubles”? He just said he was about to die from the pressure but now he is calling that light and momentary. Paul, the same guy that has been beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, shot, stabbed, run over by a Mack truck, left for dead, and beaten by a biker gang (well, practically) says that his suffering is giving him an eternal glory that far outweighs all that stuff.

You know what? Maybe that is why Jesus said in our text in Revelation 2:9, “I know your afflictions and your poverty-yet you are rich!” Jesus allows us to suffer afflictions and poverty so that we will be rich in the next life for all eternity. He says in verse 10, “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor's crown.” I don’t know about you but I want to be rich. Not rich like the ignorant world thinks of rich but rich like Jesus says is rich. I want to be rich, not for a few years with stuff that wears out, gets old and goes out of style but rich for all of eternity with what Jesus calls “great rewards.”

In Matthew 5:10-12 Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11"Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven.”

Jesus says that when we suffer – and everybody suffers – if we are faithful to Him, making Him look good in our suffering that our reward in Heaven will be great. So, maybe the question of why God allows bad things is not a good question. Maybe we ought to be asking another question.

Let’s pretend for just a minute. Let’s pretend that you and your spouse or you and your best friend have just won an all-expenses paid trip to Paris. You go online and research and see that you are going to be staying for two weeks at literally the nicest hotel in the world. You will stay in a suite and have everything you need plus complimentary tickets to the opera and the Louvre and all kinds of cool French stuff.

Finally, the day arrives for you to go the airport and fly first class to Paris. Your husband says, “C’mon honey. Time to go. Don’t want to be late for the flight.” And you say, “Okay, let me just run to the bathroom real quick.” So you go to the bathroom and you realize that it’s just too warm in there so you turn the thermostat down. The air kicks on and you go back. Now it’s too cold. So, you gotta go get it just right.

Then you see that the toilet needs to be cleaned up a little bit. That’s not good. It’ll just take a second. You like to use a nice bathroom. Probably ought to hit that tub with some cleaner while you’re at it, right? Then the sink needs to be touched up after you wash your hands.

“Honey! Come on! We’re going to be late!”

Now…you know what would be really nice? Some new paint would really do this bathroom wonders. I’m thinking Billowy Cloud Blue for this wall and Soft Breeze White over here, maybe paint the trim an accent col…

“HONEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? We don’t have time for this!”

“But I really like to have a nice bathroom! Is it wrong to have a pretty bathroom? It’s just not fair! The Wilson’s have such a nice bathroom. All the fixtures match and…”

What’s wrong with that story? That person is focused on the wrong thing. They are about to go stay in the presidential suite with hot and cold running butlers. They are about to have access to the best French fires, French toast and French dip in the world and they are wondering which paint to use on the east wall of their bathroom. It’s a ridiculous scenario, right?

It’s not wrong to want a nice bathroom. I’m sure Billowy Cloud Blue will be nice. But that is not the point. They are focused on the wrong thing just like we all focus on living our best life now; wondering why we have to suffer and why the neighbors, who don’t even go to church, have better stuff than we do. Who cares?

You focus on making God look good in the middle of your struggle. You focus on being faithful to Him, being obedient to Him and living a life that is holy and honoring to Him. For your light and momentary troubles are achieving for you an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So fix your eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Let’s bow our heads and close our eyes for just a minute and I want us all to go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him what we need to focus on in our lives. What part of your life is not holy, separate and different from the world? Is it your attitude? Your mouth? Your entertainment habits? Is there unforgiveness or bitterness toward somebody else? Do you not have the patience you need or the self-control that is expected of you? Take that to the Lord right now. Those are the questions we should be asking right now.

Ask forgiveness of your sin and repent of it. Turn away from that lifestyle with God’s help and allow Him to change your life. I would love to pray about it with you right now as the music plays.