Easter 3
April 10, 2016
SMYRNA: The Poor Church That Was Rich
Revelation 2:8-11
Dear brothers and sisters in our Risen Savior,
At what point do you consider a person to be rich? Do you have to be a Bill Gates or a Warren Buffet? Those are the super-rich, but for most people being rich seems to mean to having more than what you have right now. If you live on Social Security, you would consider having $100,000 a year to be really rich. If you actually earned $100,000, you would probably think that half a million is really rich. And it keeps on going, because those who receive millions find a way to spend it and like many an athlete, they wind up bankrupt.
So let’s set the record straight and establish once and for all what it means to be rich. You see, there’s this group of rich people that I know. Some of them drive BMW’s and Porsches. Some don’t have a car at all. .. Some of the people in this group have hundreds of thousands of dollars saved away in the bank and others have hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to the bank. Some in this rich group have great jobs while others are having a difficult time finding a job at all.
Would you like to meet this group of rich people that I know? I saw them this morning. These rich people were singing “Christ the Lord is Risen Today.” And “Lord I Lift Your Name on High” They were shouting with joy, “He’s risen indeed! Alleluia!” The richest people that I know are sitting right here in this room still celebrating Easter. Oh, I may not know what your bank account reads. But I know that when you have faith in a Risen Savior, why you are rich!
I know that a certain tax day is coming up this week and some of us may not feel all that rich. Our wallets feel a little bit lighter with all that money going to Uncle Sam. Perhaps you’ve had other problems that have caused your bank account to be drained and the credit cards maxed out. But those things don’t matter a whole lot, about whether you’re really rich or not.
The people in the Smyrna congregation were in much rougher shape than we ever will be. It wasn’t that the city of Smyrna was poor, but the Christians were. Smyrna had a tight relationship with Rome and its Caesar. As we learned in the movie, Domitian thought he was God. And those who controlled Smyrna demanded that the people worship the Roman emperor.
Obviously, that’s something the Christians weren’t going to do. So, the Romans took their jobs and their homes and their money and in some cases, even their lives. The Romans made them poor, not rich. Yet, Jesus says to the church of Smyrna, “I know your afflictions and your poverty – yet you are rich!”
Let’s look at this special letter that Jesus dictated to: Smyrna, the Poor Church That Was Rich. And remember it is for us too: He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So let us give an ear to what Jesus wants us to know too. Jesus begins:
1. Command to write
"To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
You may recall from last week that the word angel means messenger, so Jesus wanted this letter to go to the main messenger of the church in Smyrna, which would be their pastor.
2. Description of the author
These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again
This is their God and Savior speaking directly to them! He is eternal, and the beginning and the end of the world, the author and completer of their faith. He reminds them of the basis of their faith. He is the one who died for all their sins, and three days later rose again in victory! He is the first and he is the last and right in the middle, he did everything to save us and he wants us to sing Alleluia he is risen! (He is risen indeed, Alleluia!) But he knows it has not been easy.
3. Commendation
I know your afflictions and your poverty--yet you are rich! I know the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
I mentioned their afflictions from the Romans before. Besides that, those who called themselves Jews in that city were lying about them. They were doing whatever they could to turn public opinion against those who believed that Jesus was their Messiah.
The word “affliction” here means pressed and squeezed, like grapes are squished in a winepress. Their faith had been pressed and squished by persecution. So when we are thinking of our affliction, Jesus is not talking about our daily troubles. Some people think they are afflicted because they have to go to a doctor every couple years, or they have a headache. They think they have a heavy cross to bear if they can’t buy the biggest name on your athletic shoes, or have the latest phone.
What Jesus has in mind with the word affliction, are the troubles we have because we are Christians, and are willing stand up for him and follow him. He has in mind the ridicule we face because we stick to his word, even though some things are not popular or politically correct. Some might consider us uneducated for sticking to creation, or bigoted because we still consider living a sinful lifestyle of any kind can keep you out of God’s kingdom. Think of the worker who is demoted because he doesn’t want to work every Sunday, or left out because he doesn’t go along with the swearing and the drinking. Think of the wife whose husband causes all sorts of trouble because she faithfully wants to worship in church. Think of the student who is ridiculed because he or she still believes that this “book” is the true Word of God.
And Jesus said, even though you are afflicted and poor, yet you are rich. It’s just like what Jesus did for us: As Paul once wrote: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. 2 Cor. 8:9. In Jesus they had the treasures of heaven: where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matt.6:20. The Christians of Smyrna knew what their true riches were.
You know the little proverb: God never promised us a rose garden. The truth is, we need to turn that proverb completely on its head: God has promised us a rose garden. But roses, you see, have thorns. Along with the beautiful buds of his love and forgiveness, life and salvation, we are going to find a few thorns. And they hurt! That is what the struggling church in the city of Smyrna needed to
learn. That had all the riches of God’s grace, one beautiful petal after another, yet there would be thorns and afflictions. So Jesus has no criticism of them at all, instead he encourages them for what would lie ahead.
5. Admonition
Do 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.
In Smyrna, things were going to get worse before they got better. At the time that Jesus gave these admonitions, there was a young man in Smyrna by the name of Polycarp. His name means “much fruit” and he bore much Christian fruit and eventually became the main pastor of Smyrna, for over 50 years. When he was an old man, the Romans started another great persecution of Christians. Once again as in the time of the book of Revelation, many of the leaders were intent on enforcing emperor worship. They hauled many of the Christians to jail for not renouncing Jesus, and refusing to say that Caesar was Lord. And Pastor Polycarp? They searched for him and arrested him on a farm in the country where he was hiding out. He was hauled to the public arena, where the proconsul demanded that he renounce Jesus and burn incense to Caesar instead. Polycarp replied: “Eighty-six years I have served Jesus and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King and Savior?” The proconsul gave the order before the cheering crowd, and on Feb. 23, 156 AD, Polycarp was burned at the stake for his faith in Jesus. And Polycarp received his reward, the crown of life in heaven.
So for us, Jesus wants us also to hear: Be faithful, to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. That is a favorite passage of many, and for some it may be a confirmation verse. Literally that means, continue in the faith, keep the faith even up to death, and I will give you the crown. Continue to trust in Jesus and follow him, no matter what the cost, and when this life is over, you will have the crown of life.
The word for “crown” is probably better translated “wreath.” It’s the kind of crown or wreath that was given to someone who won an Olympic race. It’s a victory wreath. Our victory wreath is the fact that Jesus won the victory by rising from the dead. “Because I live, you will live also.” We will claim our victory crown when we cross the finish line into heaven. Think about how rich that makes you!! We hear in Rev. 5 about the saints in heaven: Never again will they hunger, never again will they thirst. For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Or to put it another way: First the cross, then the crown. We will suffer many things here on this earth. We will have our crosses to bear for Jesus, but then Jesus will give us the crown of life. As Jesus says at the end:
He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.
What does Jesus mean? Our earthly death could be called the first death, but that
pales in comparison to the second death, which is everlasting death in the fires of hell. Perhaps Polycarp was thinking about what Jesus wrote, when he died 60 years later. He said, just before they set the flames to burn him: You threaten me with a fire that burns for a season, and after a little while is quenched; but you are ignorant of the fire of everlasting punishment that is prepared for the wicked."
The worst things in all the world cannot really harm us! So be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life!
So now, here’s a question to consider for our lives this Easter season. Since Easter guarantees that we are rich by faith, are you living like you’re rich? Have you ever read the stories of hoarders – people who have millions, but they live as if they are poor and penniless: ragged clothes, house falling apart, not enough food to eat.
So dear friends, don’t live like you’re poor when you really are rich! We live like we’re poor, when we moan and groan about how hard life is. And yet we have a heavenly Father who takes care of his children. We’re rich. We live like we are poor when we worry about our health and the future. And yet we’re rich – we have someone who healed our diseases and gave us life for our entire future! Living like you’re rich, means to be faithful, to live your faith, to the point of death. It means rejoicing and giving thanks and praising God for what we have in Christ, even when you could be scowling and complaining about what isn’t working out so well.
Smyrna is a city that you have heard of before, and I don’t mean because of a certain Florida beach. But it’s in the Bible in another way. In English we call it Myrrh. That’s the same spice that Nicodemus used to wrap Jesus’ body for burial. That was not the end of the Jesus, and it means it’s not the end for us! Jesus left the expensive myrrh behind, because his living body didn’t need it. He left earthly wealth behind, to guarantee that we had riches for all eternity.
Didn’t I tell you at the beginning that I knew a lot of rich people? Amen.