What It Means To Remain Faithful
Introduction:
Read Revelation 2:10, "Fear none of those things
which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you
into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten
days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of
life."
Those
were the words of Jesus as recorded by John, the last living Apostle
of Christ on earth. He was writing to a severely persecuted
group of Christians in the city of Smyrna which in the first century
was a city in Asia Minor. If you were to look on the map and
try and pinpoint Smyrna, you would want to look for Izmir in the
country of Turkey just east of the
gulf of Izmir. It reaches about 40 miles inland and in the
first century was ideally located as a distribution point for a
large portion of the region.
One of
the things that made this area of the world significant enough that
Jesus chose to point them out by inspiration is the degree of Pagan
worship that existed in Smyrna at the time. Smyrna had temples
built to Zeus, (Jupiter to the Romans), Athena (Daughter of Jupiter)
and Cybele, (Magna Mater or Earth mother to the Romans). In 23
AD a temple was built in honor of Tiberius, the Roman Emperor
between 14 AD and 37 AD.
Now what
makes this fact the most significant to this study is that worship
to Zeus, Athena, Cybele and others was voluntary, however, worship
to Tiberius was not. There was an organization of people in
the Roman Empire who were tasked with the setting up of temples to
the Emperors and promoting the worship of them. This was a
propaganda measure aimed at bolstering the popularity of the emperor
within the Roman society. This organization was known in
history as the imperial cults, sometimes referred to as the "Concilia".
They had the authority from the emperor to force people to worship
the emperor by whatever means they could contrive. Those who
refused to worship the emperor were often times severely punished.
The punishment for refusing to worship the emperor came in several
forms. A few of the means by which Christians were
punished were persecution, imprisonment, seizure of property by the
authorities and the denial of the ability to work a job or buy and
sell goods and food. The Christians in Smyrna were poverty
stricken and were considered the lowest class in that society.
The
non-Christian Roman society thought nothing at all of worshipping
many pagan gods so when the imperial cult showed up and said "Hey,
worship the emperor or suffer the consequences" they simply complied
and went on about their business. To them worshipping an
emperor was no different than any of the other supposed gods of
their society.
But to a
Christian, offering any kind of worship to any god other than
Jehovah was strictly forbidden and doing so carried the consequence
of loss of fellowship with God. The Christians knew this and
as a result, were imprisoned and severely persecuted for it.
Smyrna had a temple built to Tiberius, emperor of Rome. And
Christians living in Smyrna at that time would have been targets of
the imperial cult.
The time
this letter was written was somewhere between 70AD and the turn of
the second century. Christianity was made illegal in Rome
after 64 AD when emperor Nero blamed the burning of Rome on the
innocent Christians in order to spin the blame away from himself and on to
someone else. So at the time this letter was received and
read, it was illegal in Rome to even be a Christian.
It was
no accident that Jesus had a message for Smyrna about worshipping
false gods. Now with a little back ground information let's
read our opening text again starting in Revelation 2:9 and then
10..."I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou
art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews,
and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the
devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and
ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and
I will give thee a crown of life."
Jesus
said, I know you are working hard, and that your tribulation is bad
and that you are living in poverty. But don't fear, worse times are coming for you. Be brave, be
courageous. Jesus says the Devil is going to cast some
of you into prison. Christianity is illegal so you are going
to be thrown into prison. You are going to be tried in court
and you are going to suffer for your faith. You are going to
suffer tribulation for an undisclosed period of time sufficient to
complete God's purpose. Be faithful even to the point of your
death and I will give you a crown of life. Some of the
Christians reading this letter were going to be put to death for
their faith. And history records that Christians living in the
Roman empire did. Many of them died, some of them suffering
horrific deaths. Our brothers, our sisters, our brethren died
in Smyrna because they were Christians and they refused to bow down
and worship the emperor.
In Verse
11 Jesus went on to say some words that when understood in their
proper historical context should make every single Christian who
ever lived hang their heads in remorse for the Christian souls
living in Smyrna and facing what was soon coming their way.
And from these words, we today are going to make some applications
to our own Christian walk. Jesus said in V11,
Revelation 2:11
"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."
KJV
"He that overcometh shall
not be hurt of the second death" The second
death.... Hebrews 9:27 reads, "And as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment."
There's the first death. That is a physical death and we are
all facing that some day, unless the Lord comes while we are yet
living. The second death is eternal condemnation and can be
avoided for those living in Smyrna who were able to overcome the
tribulations they faced and remain faithful. Within
those words contain what we call the logical opposite. If
those who overcome do not face the second death, then those who do
not overcome will face the second death Jesus warned them about.
God expected the Christians
in Smyrna, who were already living under some of the worst
persecution and oppression in the history of Christianity to
overcome, to remain faithful, to not give up, when it got worse,
even to the point of death. Failure to do so resulted in
facing the second death, or eternal condemnation.
It was important to those
Christians living in Smyrna that they remain faithful and they
were told that and they understood that. History records that Christians of the day
endured horrific torture and persecution at the hands of their
oppressors and many went to their deaths doing it.
Here's a question for us
today; let's fast forward to the 21st century; Same God, Same Jesus, same
gospel, same cross, same faith as the Christians living in Smyrna...
We today live in a free
society, with our right to worship God unmolested and freely as we
choose guaranteed by our Constitution. Our abilities to work
and earn comfortable livings for ourselves and our families, free
from religious persecution is written in to our national laws.
We don't have to worry about a government agency bursting through
our doors and dragging us away to prison for being Christians.
We don't have to worry about being unable to feed our families
because we're setting in jail for being a Christian or refusing to
worship the leader of our earthly country of residence.
Before we look at the
question that by now everyone here has already figured out is
coming, let's pause for a minute and look at Luke 12:48...
Jesus is speaking here of servants who knew what was expected of
them but refused to obey... Well, we have the word of God and
we know what is expected. So with that in mind, let's read
Luke 12:48, "But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy
of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever
much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have
committed much, of him they will ask the more."
Jesus says more is expected
from those who have been given more. Jesus expected the
horribly oppressed Christians in Smyrna to remain faithful, even to
the point of death or suffer eternal condemnation. They didn't
have what we enjoy in our society today did they? Christians
living today in the 21st Century, in the United States of America
have got it a lot better than the Christians living in Smyrna in the
1st century. We have more.
Here's the question we all
know is coming... How much more so are God's
expectations for us today to remain faithful than they were for the
Christians living in Smyrna? He didn't cut them any slack. He
said be faithful or be condemned, no matter what. What about us today?
Does it not make sense that we today are at the very least expected
to remain as faithful as they were then? Even to the point of
death. I can guarantee you that Christians living today who
may be lying in a bed surrounded by friends and family at their
deaths are expected to be just as faithful at the moment of death as
Christians living in Smyrna who were expected to be faithful even
when doing so meant their death.
James wrote to Christians as
recorded in James 5:19-20, "Brethren, if any of you do err from
the truth, and one convert him; 20 Let him know, that he which
converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul
from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins".
KJV.. The death James is referring to in that
passage is the second death Jesus mentioned in Revelation 2:10.
A soul cannot die a physical death. James is talking about a
spiritual death which in 2 Thessalonians 1:9 is described as
"eternal destruction from the presence of the Lord." Jesus
paints a very vivid picture of Hell in Mark 9 where he referred to
as the fire that shall never be quenched and the worm that never
dies. The worm eats the flesh of the dead. The idea
expressed here is that there will never be a point at which there
will be nothing for the eaters of the dead to feed upon.
The worms never die because that which they feed upon will never be
consumed. The fire of Hell will never end and the condemned
who are doomed to suffer in eternal fire will never reach a point
where they are no longer food for the maggots. The worm, the
maggot, never
ever dies.
John paints another picture
of Hell in Revelation. Hell is depicted as a "lake of fire
burning with brimstone" (Rev 19:20). Brimstone is
combustible sulphur which gives off choking suffocating fumes when
it burns. Those who are condemned for worshipping false gods "...shall
be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy
angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their
torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day
nor night...", (Revelation 14:10-11).
Hell is an indescribably
horrible place of never ending pain, misery, suffering and despair.
It's the eternal home of all the angels who sinned and all the
thieves, murderers, rapists and other evil people who ever lived.
It's dark, it's burning, the company is bad and it's eternal.
It's a place where we will suffer the agony of death forever but
never die. We don't want to go there, we don't want to be
there, we don't want to live there.
The Hebrew writer had much
to say about remaining faithful. In Hebrews 3:12-14, we read,
"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart
of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort
one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be
hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made
partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence
stedfast unto the end".
And then again in Hebrews
10:38-39, "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw
back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. v39 But we are
not of them who draw back unto perdition; [a place of utter and
eternal condemnation], but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul."
And then again in Hebrews
12:25, "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they
escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not
we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven"
The Hebrew writer warned his
Christian brethren not to draw back, not depart from or draw back
from God. If it were not necessary to remain faithful then we
would not be warned against it with the promise of eternal
condemnation. God isn't going to threaten anyone with
something that isn't real. He's not going to warn us to remain
faithful or face eternal and complete destruction if it's not
possible for a Christian to suffer it.
Peter also gave Christians a very graphic and vivid picture of what
awaits a child of God that succumbs to false teachers and fails to remain
faithful in:
2 Peter 2:20-22, "For
if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the
knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again
entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them
than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of
righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy
commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The
dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to
her wallowing in the mire."
The Christians in Smyrna
were expected to remain faithful to the point of death no matter the
circumstances. If Christians living in the first century under
the the worst persecution imaginable were told to remain faithful or
suffer eternal condemnation, then we can be assured that all
Christians in the 21st century must remain faithful too.
Thankfully, those who may
have fallen away and become entangled in the pollutions of the world
have a remedy. All is not lost. Even though the future
is hopeless for those children of God who have turned from the way
of righteousness, like the prodigal son, they can repent and return
and regain their fellowship with God in Christ.
In our study of the
introductory text in Revelation 2:10 we learned that 1st century
Christians were expected to remain faithful, even to the point of
death. Jesus had no words of condemnation for the Christians
in Smyrna but He did for most of the other churches he wrote to in
the first three chapters of Revelation.
The Christians in Ephesus
had left their first love. Well that's a picture of Christ as
the bridegroom of the church. They were guilty of leaving
Christ as the authority, or the head of their church. Jesus
told them to repent or lose their fellowship with God.
(Revelation 2:1-7)
The Christians in Pergamos
were tolerating false teachers within their midst. They were
told to repent and overcome or be judged by the word of God.
(Revelation 2:12-17)
The Christians in Thyatira
was condemned for allowing and participating in sexual uncleanness
in their midst. They were told to repent and overcome or face
condemnation. (Revelation 2:18-29)
The Christians in Sardis
were condemned for incomplete or imperfect works. They were to
told repent and overcome or face condemnation. (Revelation 3:1-6)
The Christians in Laodicea
were accused of being lukewarm in their faith, They were told
to repent and overcome or face condemnation. (Revelation
3:14-22)
To the Christians in Smyrna,
Jesus simply said remain faithful until death. He warned them
not to mess up no matter what happened. Those Christians got
words of encouragement because they were facing some greater
problems yet to come. Five of the other six churches Jesus
wrote to had already messed up and were not as faithful as Jesus
expected. They all got the same exhortation, overcome or
perish.
The were all told to
Repent... which is a sorrow of heart which leads to a turning
away from sinful behavior. In short, they had to stop doing
those things they were forbidden to do and start doing the things
they were supposed to do.
And finally, they were all
told to overcome those things which were standing between them and
Christ. Overcomers are those who master, conquer, defeat and prevail over
the obstacles that lie between them and God. And every
single one of these groups of Christians were promised a home in
heaven with God if they were successful.
If repenting and overcoming
worked for those Christians living in the 1st century, it'll work
for Christians living in the 21st century just as well. There
was still hope for them and there is hope for us today if we need
it.
It's a bad thing for a
Christian to fall away from God's righteousness and lose their home
in heaven. But it's a far worse thing for a Christian to die
in a fallen state. While we yet have breath in us, if we have
fallen away, we, like the prodigal son can return home to our
Father. We can
say we are sorry, we can repent of the things that caused us to lose
our home with God and we can overcome. Nobody can go back and
change their beginnings. But each and every one of us, if we
need, can stop right where we are, change directions and change our
ending.
Simon the Sorcerer did it.
Acts 8:5-24. He was in Samaria when Philip arrived and
preached the gospel to them. Simon the Sorcerer believed and
was baptized, (verse 13). He obeyed the gospel, he had become
a Christian. This was Philip the evangelist, he was not an
apostle so he was unable to lay his hands on the Samaritans and give
them the miraculous abilities of the Holy Spirit. In verses 14
and 15 of Acts chapter 8, we learn that when the Apostles which were
at Jerusalem heard about it they sent Peter and John to Samaria to
take care of that. Philip was able to perform the miraculous
wonders and the Samaritans witnessed them and believed the word,
verse 6. By the Holy Spirit working through Philip, many
demons were cast out and many people were healed and many people of
Samaria, including Simon the sorcerer believed and were baptized.
Verse 8 of Acts chapter says there was much joy in the city.
But, Philip was unable to pass these gifts along to them and when
Peter and John showed up to do that, Simon the Sorcerer saw it and
that is when he messed up.
In verse 18, Simon realized
that these wondrous gifts could only be passed along by an apostle
and he wanted in on that so he offered Peter and John money in an
attempt to purchase the ability to pass the gifts along to other
people. Verse 19 records Simon as saying, "Give me also
this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands, he may receive the Holy
Ghost."
Peter looked at Simon and
said in verse 20, "Thy money perish with thee,
because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with
money." "Thy money perish WITH thee". Peter
told Simon that he was going to perish and that his money would
perish with him. Simon was lost. Simon was going to
perish. Simon's heart was not right and Peter went on to tell
him that. And then Peter told Simon what to do about it.
Peter told Simon how to fix it. Peter said in Acts 8:22, "Repent
therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the
thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee." Peter told
Simon to repent, in other words, change your heart Simon, change
your way of thinking and ask God for forgiveness. Simon
apparently got the message because in verse 24, he asked Peter to
pray for him.
Simon was going to perish
and he was told how to turn it around and change his ending.
If that advice works for Him, it will most certainly work for anyone
today who needs it.
No one in this room today
can go back and change their beginnings. But each and every
one of us, if we need, can repent if necessary, change directions and change our
ending.
For those who are not in the
body of Christ, we must hear and believe for, "faith cometh
by hearing and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17).
Then we must repent of our past way of life, (Luke 13:3). Then
we must confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God, Romans 10:10 reads,
"For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with
the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
And then we must be
baptized, buried, immersed into Christ, "For as many of you as have
been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." (Galatians 3:27) and
in Romans 6:1-12
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may
abound?
2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer
therein?
3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ
were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like
as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death,
we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the
body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve
sin.
7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live
with him:
9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more;
death hath no more dominion over him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth,
he liveth unto God.
11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin,
but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should
obey it in the lusts thereof.
KJV
And then once we are in the
body of Christ,
1 John 1:6-9
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we
lie, and do not the truth:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son
cleanseth us from all sin.
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth
is not in us.
9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
KJV
And then back to our
introductory text for this lesson.
The
church of Christ
