Sermon Tone Analysis

Faithful unto Death

Revelation 2:8-11

On Thursday, October 1, 2015, an armed man entered into Umpqua Community College in Oregon and began shooting people.

In one classroom, he would ask people if they knew God.

If they answered “yes” he would say “Good because you are about to see God” before shooting them in the head.

Still people would answer yes when he asked them.

People have given their lives for their faith since the very beginning of Christianity, people have refused to renounce their faith even if it meant certain death.

Whether from the threat of being thrown to the lion to being confronted with a gunman in the world today.

Denouncing Christ would have given them their freedom and their life but many stood strong in the face of death and would not deny their faith.

They paid the ultimate price.

Why do people persist when surrendering would save their lives?

What keeps people faithful, how can they remain faithful even unto death?

This morning as we look at the second of seven letters to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, we are going to discover the answer to being faithful even if it means death.

This letter to the church in Smyrna is all about Jesus.

It may seem like the letter is about the suffering and persecution that the church in Smyrna is about to undergo, but from what Jesus says about that, it becomes clear that the suffering and persecution are just a stage built for the drama that displays the worth of Christ.

It teaches us how to be faithful even if it means death.

It’s easy to lose sight of this reality, so we should study what Jesus says to these churches because he means to help them live in light of it, that’s why God gave “The Revelation,” so that his people would know “the things that must soon take place.”

Let’s pray and we’ll read our text for this morning.

Pray!

Our first idea is:

Jesus is bigger than death

Jesus tells John to write “to the angel of the church in Smyrna.”

The statement at the beginning of each of the seven letters recalls an aspect of the description of Jesus in 1:9-20, and in each case what is mentioned is relevant for the contents of the rest of that particular letter.

In this case, Jesus identifies himself as “the first and the last, who died and came to life.”

There is depth here that cannot be grasped.

Think as far back as your mind can go, and know Jesus was there before all that.

He is the first

He is “the first,” before all else that is.

He cannot be preempted.

Just thinking about him as “the first and the last” will bring your mind to the breaking point.

Jesus is bigger than our ability to understand.

He is the last

He is also “the last.”

Nothing will endure longer than Jesus.

He is before and after everything.

By identifying himself as “the first and the last,” Jesus is explicitly claiming divinity.

This is equivalent to God the Father identifying himself as “the Alpha and the Omega” in 1:8.

Jesus identifies himself with the Father.

This is what scholars refer to as “high Christology.”

It is so high that the air is not only so thin it makes us dizzy, the atmospheric pressure at this height crushes lungs.

Jesus is God!

Jesus goes on in 2:8 to say that he is the one “who died and came to life.”

How does “the first and the last” die?

Who would have imagined that God could, or would, die?

He is before and after all that is, and yet he entered into the course of history, was killed, and rose from the dead.

There are no categories for these kinds of claims in the religions and philosophies of the world.

Being “the first and the last” makes Jesus eternal.

How can one who is eternal die?

I don’t know how but I know that it did.

The death and resurrection of Jesus means that death has no power over him.

He is bigger than death itself, and given what the church in Smyrna faces, that reality is one they must keep in their minds if they are to be faithful.

When you think about the end of your life, do you recognize the fact that Jesus has conquered death?

When you think about dangerous situations you might face, the noise in the night that means an intruder might be in your home; when you think of life-threatening danger, do you remember the victory of Jesus over death?

Applying to our fears the knowledge that Jesus is bigger than death should make us courageous.

Courage is a great thing, but it is not our ultimate goal.

Our ultimate goal is to live in ways that show our confidence in Jesus.

When we are courageous because we know that Jesus is bigger than death, we honor Jesus.

And when we put ourselves in harm’s way in order to protect others, or even to save their lives, because we love Jesus and know that he is in control and trust him to take care of us—even if we die—we are following Jesus.

If you don’t know Jesus, you can’t follow him.

If you don’t know Jesus, you don’t know the one who has conquered death and freed us from the fear of it.

Maybe you’re not sure what it means to know him.

Think of the way that he died to protect others, to deliver those who would trust him from the power of sin and death, and know that he can deliver you.

He is able to save.

He is mighty to save.

Believe that.

Know him as Savior.

Trust him.

If you trust him, he will save you.

He is the only hope you have to be delivered from the power of sin and death.

Do you feel your need for him?

Don’t you want “the first and the last, who died and came to life” to stand between you and the awful forces of sin and death?

Let’s keep these truths in our hearts.

Jesus is the first and the last.

He died and came to life.

He is bigger than death.

He has conquered death.

And let’s be courageous because we trust Jesus and follow him by laying down our lives for others just as he laid down his life for us.

Jesus is bigger than death.

Jesus knows our suffering

After Jesus announces himself, he says that he knows three things.

First:

Tribulation

What could be more comforting to the church in Smyrna than Jesus saying to them, “I know your tribulation”?

Tribulation is painful and wearisome.

It pecks away at us little by little, chipping away at our joy, taking the wind out of our perseverance, and things only get worse as tribulation drags on.

Jesus doesn’t trivialize their suffering by telling them it isn’t really that bad, He doesn’t demean them by telling them that if they were stronger it wouldn’t bother them so much and he doesn’t cheapen their experience by offering unsympathetic advice.

Jesus lifts up their suffering with the simple and comforting words, “I know your tribulation.”

One of the most discouraging effects of suffering is that we feel alone.

When Jesus tells the church in Smyrna that he knows their tribulation, he is reminding them of his presence with them.

The second thing Jesus knows is their “poverty.”

Poverty

The church was poor.

The tribulation probably resulted from the wealthy people in Smyrna opposing Christianity because they thought that this new religion was going to displease the gods, it was going to make Caesar unhappy, and it would definitely not raise the city of Smyrna to new heights of prominence in the Roman Empire.

In fact, the values of this new faith were at odds with the values of the Roman Empire.

So, the little church in Smyrna was opposed by the power structures in the Empire and had no financial resources and no influence in society.

Or so it seemed.

Jesus says to them, “I know your tribulation and your poverty.”

This means that the Lord of lords, the King of kings, the one to whom Caesar will bow the knee, knows them, knows their need, and he adds, “but you are rich.”

This is the same paradox expressed by Paul when he described himself

Though we may not have what the world counts as riches, we have what is truly wealth.