The Suffering Church

Their suffering increased their riches in Jesus' eyes.

Revelation 2:8-11 "Write this letter to the angel of the church in Smyrna. This is the message from the One who is the First and the Last, who was dead but is now alive: 9 "I know about your suffering and your poverty--but you are rich! I know the blasphemy of those opposing you. They say they are Jews, but they are not, because their synagogue belongs to Satan.

10 Don't be afraid of what you are about to suffer. The devil will throw some of you into prison to test you. You will suffer for ten days. But if you remain faithful even when facing death, I will give you the crown of life. 11 "Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what He is saying to the churches. Whoever is victorious will not be harmed by the second death.

---

It is easy for the cool and comfortable church to draw big crowds and be successful in the ways that man measures success but that isn't the kind of church that Jesus is pleased with. The church that did not get any reprimand from Jesus was the church that was the least cool and comfortable.

The church at Smyrna was doing church right, all of the potential trouble makers are already long gone from this congregation, if church isn't going to be cool and comfortable then the hypocrites are not going to stick around. The casual attenders that rarely come except at Christmas and Easter are not going to attend this church.

Eighty and six years have I served Him and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me? You threaten me with the fire that burns for a time and is quickly quenched, for you do not know the fire which awaits the wicked in the judgment to come and in everlasting punishment. Why are you waiting? Come do what you will.

-Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna

The members of the congregation were persecuted by the Romans and the Jews. They were persecuted by one group for refusing to say, “Caesar is Lord” and the other group persecuted them for saying "Jesus is Lord." The Romans would take away absolutely every material possession for not bowing to Caesar and the Jews would throw them out of the synagogue for their belief in Jesus. Historians tell us that Smyrna was the location of mass executions of Christians who refused to bow their knee to Caesar.

2 Corinthians 6:10 Our hearts ache, but we always have joy. We are poor, but we give spiritual riches to others. We own nothing, and yet we have everything.

Just as the church is Ephesus appeared to be an awesome church through the eyes of man the church in Smyrna seemed to be poor from a human perspective but Jesus saw them differently. God's ways are always opposite from our ways, in God's economy the poor are rich, the lost are found and the dead are alive and the circumcised are the uncircumcised. (Romans 2:27-29, John 8:44)

Their stand for Jesus caused them to lose everything but in reality their suffering only increased their riches. This church was serious about storing up riches that the world cannot take away. (Matthew 6:19-21, James 1:12)

“To everyone wanting a safe, untroubled, comfortable life free from danger, stay away from Jesus. The danger in our lives will always increase in proportion to the depth of our relationship with Christ. Maybe this is why we sit back and settle for a casual relationship with Christ and routine religion in the church. It is safe there, and the world likes us there. The world likes us when we are pursuing everything they are pursuing, even if we do put a Christian label on it. As long as Christianity looks like the American dream, we will have few problems in this world.”

-International Mission Board President David Platt

The prized American dream can get in the way of our dreams of working for our eternal kingdom. We have our roots dug down so deep that it doesn't look like we are planning to leave. If we really believe our Bibles then we should live like we are leaving and we should be sending our treasures ahead of time instead of being so attached to the world's treasures.

The church in America should use it's freedoms to serve more and make disciples more zealously both in our country and abroad. If your church is a cool place to be where life is easy and safe and the biggest persecution that you have is from another church attender that doesn't affirm your worship preferences then your church is due for a makeover.

The Cross and Our Commitment

The cross should be life changing for all of us.

John 19:38-42 Afterward Joseph of Arimathea, who had been a secret disciple of Jesus (because he feared the Jewish leaders), asked Pilate for permission to take down Jesus' body.

When Pilate gave permission, Joseph came and took the body away. 39 With him came Nicodemus, the man who had come to Jesus at night. He brought about seventy-five pounds of perfumed ointment made from myrrh and aloes.

40 Following Jewish burial custom, they wrapped Jesus' body with the spices in long sheets of linen cloth. 41 The place of crucifixion was near a garden, where there was a new tomb, never used before. 42 And so, because it was the day of preparation for the Jewish Passover and since the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

---

For the past three years there have been crowds of people eager to follow Jesus everywhere that he went, just a week ago there were plenty of people that cheered for him as they declared him to be their Messiah, but where is everybody now? Where are the people that saw Jesus call Lazarus out of his tomb?

I remember there used to be a powerful group of seventy disciples that Jesus sent out to do a short term mission trip. This group gave up their time, left their families and their stuff behind to obey Jesus command to go, they returned with awesome testimonies but then they are never mentioned again. (Luke 10:1-24)

Even the twelve that spent almost every moment for three years with Jesus, only one came to the cross to be with Jesus mother in her darkest hour, they had given up so much to follow and yet now they are gone.

The small group at the cross was probably shocked to learn that two people from Jesus past stepped back into the picture to give Jesus a proper burial. These two guys had encounters with Jesus earlier but they didn't reach a decision until later on and they never came forward and expressed their conviction or show any commitment to Jesus.

It seems likely that Joseph and Nicodemus have been in the garden waiting for Jesus death, the tomb site so close to Golgotha made it unlikely that this tomb was ever intended for a rich man like Joseph, it was the best location to bury Jesus body quickly, so they waited in secret nearby with the spices already prepared.

When they took Him from the cross, they defiled themselves and were not able to eat the Passover. But, what difference did it make? They had found the Lamb of God!

-Warren Wiersbe

It seem like these guys planned ahead to work as a team on the burial.  The work that they set out to do could not be done in secret, they had to get Jesus buried in the daylight before Passover began. They would be found out but they didn't care, they were no longer ashamed to be identified as believers. While every other disciple was hiding out these two guys were coming out of hiding and stepping up their commitment to Jesus.

We do not know what happened to make them realize that Jesus is who he claimed to be. I have to wonder when these two men got it and decided that Jesus is the Messiah. They did what we all need to do, they showed courage and faith at record levels. These two would have to miss this Passover because they were considered unclean but that didn't matter anymore since this was the last lamb that would ever need to be sacrificed.

We do not know what happened to these two as a result of coming out to honor Jesus. Any show of sympathy for a condemned criminal could bring trouble on yourself. How would Pilate react? What about the other religious leaders? There must have been a price to pay at the office when the rest of the guys found out about the work that these two had done to give Jesus a proper burial. The rest of the religious leaders must have scorned them and they probably lost their jobs and were not allowed in enter the synagogue ever again.

John 12:42-43  Many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders. But they wouldn’t admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. 43 For they loved human praise more than the praise of God.

It is remarkable that the secret disciples came out of hiding like first responders running toward trouble despite the consequences. When everybody else ran and hid these two reached a new level of commitment and dedication to Jesus.

It is easy to assume that a weak brother cannot be used for the Lord's purpose but it isn't our job to judge him and put him down for his struggle. You would think that the weaker brother would be the first one in hiding but they overcame their fear and openly followed Jesus.

Ask yourselves whether you have sometimes held your tongues because you knew that if you spoke people would find out where you came from and what country you belonged to. Ask yourselves, Have you ever accompanied the witness of your lives with the commentary of your confession? Did you ever, anywhere but in a church, stand up and say, ‘I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, my Lord’?

When these men came for Christ’s corpse and bore it away, what a sharp pang went through their hearts! How much these two men lost-all those three years of communion with the Master; all His teaching, all the stimulus of His example, all the joy of fellowship with Him! Neglect of duty puts barriers up between you and God.

-Alexander MacLaren

There isn't any room in the kingdom for secret disciples. You can be a secret sports fan or a secret follower of a particular social or political issue and then come out when the battle is over and squawk loud about your belief in the cause but where were you during the battle?

The cross should be life changing to the point that silence and hiding out should never be an option. How can we look upon Jesus and realize the evils and terrors that he went through for our sake and keep our love for him silent? How can we serve him without passion and excellence?

Stir a passion in my heart, God
Let it overflow, let it overflow!

RELATED ARTICLES

Music Video: Stir a Passion (Live) - Worship Central (youtube.com)

Do You Really Know Jesus?

Church membership, small groups and even faith doesn't mean you really know Jesus.

 

John 14:7-11  If you had really known Me, you would know who My Father is. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him!"  8  Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied."

9  Jesus replied, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don't know who I am? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father! So why are you asking Me to show Him to you?

10  Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I speak are not My own, but My Father who lives in Me does His work through Me.  11  Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen Me do.

---

Do you know Jesus? I mean really know him? It isn't a strange question. There was a time in the United States when just about everybody knew who Jesus is but those numbers have slowly declined. But just because they knew who he is doesn't mean that they really knew him as a close personal friend.

The Bible tells us that in Jesus' small group they didn't all know him and some of them knew him better than others. We saw recently that Judas didn't get it at all and he wasted three years of his life living a lie. The other disciples didn't really know him fully or they wouldn't react to situations the way they did.

Philip proved that he didn't really know when he asks Jesus "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus has been with them for all this time telling them that he is God (John 10:30-33) and yet they are still confused.

Philip is the same guy that Jesus asked “Where can we buy bread to feed all these people?” (John 6:5) If he really knew Jesus he wouldn't have any doubt that Jesus could feed them even if there wasn't a basket of bread and fish.

I cannot criticize Philip for what he didn't know, I have to ask myself if I really know Jesus, does the average church attender or small group participant really know Jesus? What level of intimacy is my relationship to Jesus?

The average person in Jerusalem may have had physical or factual knowledge of who Jesus is but it didn't have an affect on their life. Even the people that were against Jesus had this much knowledge of him but because they stopped there and didn't go any further in their relationship with him, out of ignorance they came to the wrong conclusion about him.

We need to know Jesus deeper through a relationship built on faith or else we will be in danger of forming the wrong opinion about him. This is the depth of knowing that scripture refers to between Adam and Eve in Genesis 4:1 and this is the depth of relationship that Jesus uses in John 17:3.

John 17:3 And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.

The apostle Paul mentions a deeper knowing of Jesus in his letter to the Philippians. This deeper knowledge of Jesus causes your perspective of worldly things to change.

Philippians 3:8-10  Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ  9  and become one with Him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God's way of making us right with Himself depends on faith.  10  I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised Him from the dead. I want to suffer with Him, sharing in His death,

The value of knowing Christ and holding him above any other love in this world is pretty radical. Paul was educated, he had position in the religious system and he was known for being a devout Jew that obeyed the law but none of this was important to him after he received a deeper knowledge of Jesus.

We can be too much like Paul, we know enough about Jesus to make us dangerous, we can come to some radical opinions about him and do some stupid things. We can value our own ability and our social status above the value of knowing Jesus better and allowing him to be in control.

Perfect Unity

John 14:19-21  Soon the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me. Since I live, you also will live.  20  When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you. 21  Those who accept My commandments and obey them are the ones who love Me. And because they love Me, My Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal Myself to each of them."

The Holy Spirit, the Son, and the Father takes up residence in the life of a believer!  This is such an incredible thought! Jesus will send the Holy Spirit to be our Advocate, he will live within us and help us know the truth so that we can live in unity with the three persons of the trinity. (John 14:16-17)

John 17:23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.

I need to go beyond just knowing Jesus and take it to a deeper level. The burning desire of every believer ought to be to know God better, to know Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I mean really KNOW them and be a real follower of Christ.

I should be diligent to be "Digging the Word" so that I might know and I should allow what I know to affect the way that I live. Once I began to cultivate this deeper communion with Christ it made me hungry for more, I have no desire to return to my previous shallow life being a careless Christian.

I need to remember Jesus words at the beginning of John 14 and realize that I can live with a heart that isn't troubled if I have faith and if I live it out my faith in obedience to his commands. (John 14:1)

RELATED ARTICLES

Knowing Christ More Intimately (bible.org)

Real Christ Followers

The imitations can be so close to the real thing that you might be surprised.

 

Matthew 7:20-23  Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.  21  "Not everyone who calls out to Me, 'Lord! Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of My Father in heaven will enter.

22  On judgment day many will say to Me, 'Lord! Lord! We prophesied in Your name and cast out demons in Your name and performed many miracles in Your name.'  23  But I will reply, 'I never knew you. Get away from Me, you who break God's laws.'

---

In my previous post "Living A Lie" we saw that all of the disciples were deceived into thinking that Judas was one of them. Everyone in the room at the Last Supper was shocked except for our Savior, Satan had produced such a superb counterfeit Christ Follower to the point that the eleven guys that Judas was in a small group with didn't have a clue.

Christianities true value can be seen in the number of cheap imitations that there are. Counterfeiters do not waste their time producing pretend copies of something that isn't real and very valuable, a lot of effort goes into making false cash or precious gemstones or even imitation of expensive medication but nobody is making fake versions of cheap things with little value.

That's one of the ways that Satan proves to us that Christianity is valuable and real. Other religions do not have a problem with fake versions, nobody has ever seen a false Buddhists or a fake Hindu, I know that Christ and his teachings are extremely valuable because of all of the effort that Satan puts into making counterfeits.

You even heard it from our president, “Well, there were Christians a thousand years ago who slaughtered Muslims.”  Those weren't Christians, by the way, those were false Christians who belonged to a false Christian system, but that’s the kind of strategy that goes on all of the time surrounding Christianity.

-John MacArthur "Traits of a True Believer"

There is a lot of talk about being a Christian, many funerals do the injustice of labeling someone a Christian when their isn't any real evidence, what a tragedy that is! The people that attend such a funeral will understand a false gospel and feel comfortable about their eternal relationship with God.

So how do we know who the true Christians are?  Who are the true followers of Christ? If Judas was able to trick eleven guys in his small group then how can we be sure about our own small group?

It is difficult for us to know because the heart is where the real change has to take place. Anybody can put some effort into changing the outside, I can follow the rules and do what is expected of a Christ follower for long enough to fool anybody, but real transformation comes from the heart.

Ezekiel 36:25-27  "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols.  26  And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.  27  And I will put My Spirit in you so that you will follow My decrees and be careful to obey My regulations.

A new heart and a new spirit has to come from God, the inner spiritual transformation has to work its way out to the outer physical transformation, too often we try to change our exterior with the hopes that it will sink inward. The Bible tells us that is the wrong direction.

Heart Issues: Acts 15:9, Romans 2:29, 2 Corinthians 4:6, 2 Timothy 2:22, Hebrews 10:22

From the inside a new creation comes about from nothing, just as the whole universe was created by God from nothing. The new creature looks outwardly toward Christ instead of inwardly toward self. The old things are replaced with new things that are full of life and the glory of God.

Empty Words: Psalm 55:21-23, Proverbs 26:23-25, Ezekiel 33:31-33, James 2:15-16, 1 John 3:18-19

We have all heard the parable of the two builders that built their own homes, they might have the same architect, same floor plan and they were probably in the same neighborhood because they both weathered the same storm but without a solid foundation they will have drastically different outcomes.

Spiritual activity without a proper foundation is the easiest way to seem like you have been changed by the gospel, you don't have to dig or pour a footer, you just pick a place and start building, your house may resemble the true believers around you but without the proper foundation it is all going to fall. (Matthew 7:20-27)

Examine Yourself First: 1 Corinthians 11:31, Matthew 7:4-5, Romans 2:1,

Real followers of Jesus have a new birth, a new heart and new desires, they are Spirit led and obedient to God's Word. Real followers of Jesus are strangely different, what they hated before are the things that they love, going to church and studying God's Word are no longer a chore. All of the stuff the world loves is seen as garbage and so they strive to die to their old way of life.

Ye call Me Master and obey me not,
Ye call Me Light and see me not,
Ye call Me the way and follow me not
Ye call Me Life and desire me not,
Ye call Me wise and acknowledge me not,
Ye call Me fair and love me not,
Ye call Me rich and ask me not,
Ye call Me eternal and seek me not,
Ye call Me gracious and trust me not,
Ye call Me Noble and serve me not,
Ye call Me mighty and honor me not,
Ye call Me just and fear me not,
If I condemn you, blame me not.

It may sound like a long checklist of things to look for in someones life but it can all be summed up with the word love. It's that thing that Jesus said that we should be known for and since the world is pretty good at love that means that we will have to be really extreme at showing love in order to be set apart from the rest. (John 13:35)

These are the clues that somebody is a real follower of Christ. They have experienced a new birth, received a new heart, and enjoy new desires. All of these things make them a totally different person than they used to be.

Plenty of "good" people will end up in hell for eternity without God. Living a moral and descent life may fool your pastor, your friends or even your small group but it isn't going to fool God.

Your good works, church attendance, baptism, Bible study or prayer time isn't going to keep you from hearing Jesus say "I never knew you. Get away from Me, you who break God's laws."

Love Beyond Understanding

If you have experienced this kind of love then you need to pass it on.

Ephesians 3:17-19  Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong.   

18  And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is.

19  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

---

Trying to understand God's love is like seeing a picture of the Grand Canyon, you don't really comprehend how huge it is, but when you are standing on the edge of it looking at it in person you get a better perspective. You can see a little bit better how wide, how deep and how long it is, you get a better idea of its size. But wait, there is more, after you take that in and think you know about it, jump into a helicopter and go up above it and see more of the length, go down into the canyon and you get a better idea of the depth.

As we trust him more and the Holy Spirit gets control of our life we will understand a little better about God's enormous love for us. We will see where we are at and how bad off we are and how much we need to grow to become more like Christ. It will become very clear that he must really love us to accept us in the state that we are in.

Controlled by love.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15  Either way, Christ's love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.  15  He died for everyone so that those who receive His new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.

God's love took control of him and compelled him to send his son to help make us right with him. I need to follow his example and be controlled by love in the same way. Imagine love that is so strong that it compels you to help those that are so beneath you and so far from measuring up to your standard and yet you give them your all and adopt them into your family! That is an amazing love!

We let things control us, it may be pleasure or drugs or fear, it would be awesome if we could learn to allow love to control our every move but even followers of Jesus take control or we allow something else to be in control besides him.

Help me Lord to allow love to control my life more and more as I become more like your son.

Living With Honor

Honor and respect are not very popular in these days of entitlement and selfishness.

1 Peter 2:13-17  For the Lord's sake, respect all human authority, whether the king as head of state,  14  or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.   

15  It is God's will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you.  16  For you are free, yet you are God's slaves, so don't use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.  17  Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, and respect the king.

1 Samuel 2:30  "But I will honor those who honor Me, and I will despise those who think lightly of Me."

---

Honor and respect are not very popular in these days of entitlement and selfishness, there are not very many people that are willing to deny themselves and live by a higher standard. There is a great need for authenticity and high moral vales in our country today.

It seems that the only time that honor is popular is when a con man is trying to benefit from lying about having a military award. The Supreme Court has even said that the right to free speech includes the right to lie about being a honored military vet.

Our government doesn't care so much about honor and valor but the Bible teaches us that we need to cooperate with God and value what he values, his agenda should be our agenda and we should be pleased to do his will. We should revere God and respect the standard that he has set for our daily lifestyle.

“The soldier, above all other men, is required to practice the greatest act of religious training – sacrifice. In battle, and, in the face of danger and death, he discloses those divine attributes which his Maker gave when He created man in His own image. No physical courage and no greater strength can take the place of the divine help which alone can sustain him.”  - General Douglas MacArthur

God made the ultimate sacrifice and in doing so he has given us the highest honor that we could ever have. The cross should be a reminder of the greatest act of honor that has ever been done, God showed us how to sacrifice, he showed us how to stand up for truth, justice and purity.

Honoring God? Make it real!

Isaiah 29:13-14  And so the Lord says, "These people say they are Mine. They honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. And their worship of Me is nothing but man-made rules learned by rote.  14 Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites with amazing wonders. The wisdom of the wise will pass away, and the intelligence of the intelligent will disappear."

History is full of people that pretended to honor God and the consequences for their insincerity are very high. In the Bible the nation of Israel shows us over and over again what it looks like when a nation doesn't honor God and live by the standards that he has set. Their false teachers and immoral government leaders took the people away from God and into ruin.

God gave us his commandments, he gave us an organized society with leaders to govern us and he gave us the Holy Spirit to guide us so that we can be members of society that live orderly, respectful and quiet lives.

Honor in the Proverbs:

Proverbs 3:9  Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Proverbs 18:12  Haughtiness goes before destruction; humility precedes honor. Proverbs 20:3  Avoiding a fight is a mark of honor; only fools insist on quarreling. Proverbs 21:21  Whoever pursues righteousness and unfailing love will find life, righteousness, and honor. Proverbs 22:4  True humility and fear of the LORD lead to riches, honor, and long life. Proverbs 26:1  Honor is no more associated with fools than snow with summer or rain with harvest. Proverbs 29:23  Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor.

Humility, avoiding a fight, fear the Lord and pursuing righteousness are the characteristics of a man that God will honor. I want to be found faithful, to live with authenticity, to live without compromise and serve others so that my Savior will say "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

That is the highest honor possible!