"Sardis: Reputation Reality Check." Sunday, July 27, 2014 Revelation 3:1-6

- Many years ago the true story was told of Mme. Modjeska, the Polish actress renown for her tragic roles, who was the guest at an evening party.

- Her admirers pressed her for a recitation from a play. At first, she declined on the ground that memory would not serve her without the familiar stage settings, lights, etc.

- The party guests, however, insisted so she finally agreed, declaring that she would recite in her native tongue.

- Her listeners sat spellbound. Some who were present were even moved to tears.

- When finished she was asked the name of the touching story she had related.

- She smiled & said, "I counted in Polish to one hundred" (Tan, 7700, 581).

- Mme. Modjeska's listeners were counting on her reputation.

- But she gave her listeners a reputation reality check with her recitation to one hundred in Polish.

- Just like Mme. Modjeska's listeners the church of Sardis needed a reputation reality check.

- Roughly 50 km south east of Thyatira & 80 km east of Smyrna, the town of Sardis once lay at the foot of Mount Tmolus in the Hermus River Valley.

- A number of major roads came together at Sardis, so it was a center of trade & commerce.

- Once the ancient capital of the kingdom of Lydia, it fell to the conquering Cyrus of Persia & was later captured by Alexander the Great & Antiochus the Great.

- Gradually, the city fell from its former glory & in 17 A.D. was devastated by an earthquake, the recovery from which Tiberius Caesar helped fund by not taxing the city for five years.

- Little is known of the church except what can be gleaned from this letter, i.e., that she had a great reputation among her sister churches.

- How did Christ rebuke the church of Sardis?

- "I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead" (v. 1).

- The church of Sardis made a name for herself having a reputation as being a progressive church.

- We know a bit about what churches with great reputations are like.

- They have money, talents, human resources, effective programs, active outreach & missions teams, & they are growing.

- But the Lord Jesus told Sardis that while they had a great reputation he was giving them a reality check by telling them that they were dead.

- Like in the story about Mme. Modjeska, what we see on the outside isn't always reality.

- As verse two declares, they had a good reputation with people, but not with God.

- "Wake-up, & strengthen what remains & is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God" (v. 2).

- God wants his people of every place & period to understand the difference between reputation & reality, between what people see & what God sees.

- God's people ought not to rate human opinion as highly as God's opinion, since it is ultimately he who will judge.

- The works of the church of Sardis were incomplete, superficial, more about reputation & appearances rather than about serving God & others.

- What Christ wanted the church of Sardis to learn was this: when my faith is really alive, forgetting reputation, I'll work to please Christ.

- What was Sardis' problem? How can we see beneath her reputation?

- The Lord Jesus hinted at the answer in verse four regarding the few people "who have not soiled their garments."

- Sin crept into the church. Underneath their respectable exterior was secret sin.

- Historically, the city was known for its loose morals. Perhaps the influences of their world led the people of the church to compromise their moral standards forgetting that we are not to conform to the world's standards.

- So Sardis had manufactured a fake reputation. They belonged to the Lord Jesus in name only, rather than in heart, soul, & mind.

- When my faith is really alive, forgetting reputation, I'll work to please Christ.

- Having a reputation for life is not enough; a church must have real life.

- God has gone out of his way to show his people in his word the difference between outward appearances & inward realities.

- Those who lived to make a public show of things, the Lord Jesus called hypocrites in the four Gospels.

- What is a hypocrite? A hypocrite is a play actor acting out make-believe religion.

- One obvious place for such playacting is in our worship.

- We can sing, pray, read Scripture, present our offerings, listen to the message, etc., all the while our hearts & minds are wandering far off from God.

- Pastors are by no means immune.

- I can lead a service & have little awareness of the goodness & greatness of God who I am supposedly worshiping.

- I can preach without the focus of exalting Christ & serving God's people.

- Another possible place for playacting is in Christian service.

- We can easily serve others to make ourselves look good in the eyes of others or in our own eyes.

- Worship & service not done out of love for God & others is empty hypocrisy, ultimately meaningless.

- When my faith is really alive, forgetting reputation, I'll work to please Christ.

- What was Christ's solution for Sardis?

- In verses two & three we read three clear commands given by the Lord Jesus.

- "Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent" (vv. 2-3).

- 1) Wake up! 2) Strengthen what remains! 3) Remember!

4) Keep it/obey! 5) Repent!

- Some in the church were not in a state of moral or spiritual decay, thank the Lord.

- The Holy Spirit could use these folks to breathe new life into Christ's church.

- These folks were sleeping not dead. The job of the wakeful few was to strengthen what remained; the church needed nurturing.

- Babes in Christ need care because they are weak.

- It is the job of mature Christians to feed & nurture, building up the immature in the faith.

- New Christians are unsteady in their faith. They need their foundation built up & their spiritual house well-built or it will not endure.

- They cannot build their faith alone & God did not mean them to either.

- When the church is unsteady, weak, dying or dead, then those asleep have a responsibility to wake up & by prayer, love & witness strengthen & fan into flames her dying embers.

- When my faith is really alive, forgetting reputation I'll work to please Christ.

- What are the consequences if Christ's solutions are not obeyed?

- "If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, & you will not know at what hour I will come against you" (v. 3).

- The consequence of not obeying Christ's solutions was judgment.

- Repentance is required to avoid judgment.

- The late John Stott wrote that, "The shortest road to repentance is remembrance. Let someone once recall what they used to be & reflect on what by God's grace they could be & they will be led to repent, turning back from their sin to their Savior" (Stott, Revelation 1-3, 89-90).

- The same is also true of the church.

- The gospel alone is not what the church of Sardis was called to remember, but also the gift of the Holy Spirit because it is the Spirit who brings life.

- It is the person of the Holy Spirit who completes us. He gives many & various gifts to many people with various personalities & passions.

- The Holy Spirit can refresh stale conditions, awaken the sleeping, strengthen the week, & make the dead alive.

- Being full of the Spirit is the only antidote to spiritual death.

- What promises did Christ give those who conquer?

- "The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, & I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father & before his angels" (v. 5).

- 1) white garments represent purity; their purity enables their heavenly friendship with Christ.

- 2) never blot his name from the book of life; God knows who is in his good books (pardon the pun).

- Everyone whose names are written in heaven has eternal life & everyone not will be thrown into the lake of fire.

- Christ promises to confess the names of those who conquer before his Father & his angels.

- When my faith is really alive, forgetting reputation I'll work to please Christ.

- How does this passage apply to us?

- It's not enough to rest on our laurels, to live off of reputation because reputation is based on past performance rather than present reality, just like we heard with the people who listened to Mme. Modjeska's recitation to a hundred in her native Polish.

- Mme. Modjeska was a famous play actor so she pretended that her recitation was much more than it actually was, resting on her reputation & her acting ability only letting the people in on her little joke at the very end.

- If we rest on reputation, we will soon backslide & find our ways & the world's ways match quite well.

- Instead, we need to give ourselves a reputation reality check. Let me leave us with four questions which we can use for a reputation reality check.

- Do I willingly fulfill my Christian duties or responsibilities, such as witness, service, worship, giving, fellowship, etc?

- Do I want to be known for my faithfulness, yet disappear when there's work to be done?

- Do I vote "yes" with my hand or voice, but vote "no" with my time or money?

- Do I invest myself in strengthening & nurturing others weaker in the faith than I?

- When my faith is a really alive, forgetting reputation I'll work to please Christ.

"Thyatira: Conquer Worldly Compromise" Sunday, July 20, 2014. Revelation 2:18-29

- Last week, we looked at Christ's message to Pergamum.

- While he praised them for holding fast to his name through persecution he also called them out for tolerating false teaching which promoted eating food offered to idols & sexual sin.

- Today, as we look to Christ's message to Thyatira, we will hear his praise of their love, faith, service, & endurance, but he also calls them out for the same problem as Pergamum, some listen to a false teacher that leads people into idolatry & sexual sin.

- Last week, I shared the illustration of what a rotten apple can do to a barrel of apples (without being removed eventually the whole barrel is spoiled) & we need to keep that in mind again this week with Thyatira.

- Where was Thyatira and what was the city like?

- Thyatira was about 65 km southeast of Pergamum on the Lycus plain.

- The city was known for the work of its trade guilds in the production of commercial goods & was famous for its purple dye.

- The apostle Paul's first convert in Philippi, Lydia, came from Thyatira & was herself a dealer of purple cloth.

- The patron deity of the city was Apollo, son of Zeus, but Christ, by referring to himself as the Son of God, set himself against Apollo & the other false gods which were popular in the city, especially the patron deities of the trade guilds.

- What was the church of Thyatira like?

- They excelled in character & in service. As the Lord Jesus said, "I know your works, your love & faith & service & patient endurance, & that your latter works exceed the first" (v. 19).

- The church of Thyatira demonstrated the love lacking in Ephesus, the faith endangered in Pergamum & shared endurance with Smyrna.

- Also unlike Ephesus whom Christ told, repent & do the works you did at first, Thyatira's latter works exceeded their first.

- They were growing & pushing forward, their deeds demonstrating Christ to the world so that Christ praised them, being pleased with their performance.

- But there was something about them with which Christ was not pleased.

- What about the church of Thyatira displeased Christ?

- The Lord said, "But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess & is teaching & seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality & to eat food sacrificed to idols" (v. 20).

- The name Jezebel is important because it reminds us of the foreign wife of Ahab the weak King of Israel, who ruled in the days of Elijah the prophet.

- Queen Jezebel was a witch & a harlot who led Israel's king astray & all Israel into idolatry & sexual sin.

In Thyatira, the trade guilds held regular banquets in honor of their patron deity which often turned to sexual immorality.

- The new Jezebel, claiming prophetic authority, succeeded in leading some of the Thyatiran Christians into a life which appeared faithful but practiced compromise by eating food offered to idols & sexual sin so they could continue as members in good standing of the local trade guilds & not suffer the financial hardship which Christian faithfulness could otherwise bring.

- The whole church may not have known what was going on but Christ was able to see & Christ knew what was going on.

- His blazing eyes search the human heart & the mind & nothing can be hidden from his sight.

- Jezebel represents conforming to the world's morality.

- Sex outside the marriage bed always hurts at least three people: one, God, when we'd rather be satisfied our way than God's way, we hurt God; two, others, when we violate our relational commitments & responsibilities we hurt others; & three, ourselves, it can bring disease to the body & harm to the mind, the personality.

- Sexual sin can be highly destructive to families, churches, & communities because it destroys the integrity on which these relationships stand.

- When we put up with sins we never should, then we allow the church to be poisoned.

- Christ saw a poison infecting & weakening the strong church of Thyatira & the antidote for infectious sin is to reject compromise & continue in renewed faithfulness.

- When my loyalty to Christ conquers worldly compromise, I will conquer in holiness.

- What was Christ's warning to Jezebel and her followers?

- Let's listen to John's record of what the Lord said:

- "I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, & those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, & I will strike her children dead. & all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind & heart, & I will give to each of you as your works deserve" (vv. 21-23).

- The Lord Jesus called on them to repent giving them time, but she refused so he would judge them with sickness, tribulation, & even death.

- Just like in the days of King Ahab & Queen Jezebel, they & their children were ultimately doomed.

- However, not everyone in the church of Thyatira followed Jezebel's wicked ways.

- What was Christ's advice to the rest of the church?

- "But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some called the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come" (vv. 24-25).

- "I do not lay on you any other burden," said the Lord.

- Those words call to mind the teaching of our Lord in the 11th chapter of the gospel of Matthew

- "Take my yoke upon you & learn from me, for I am gentle & lowly in heart & you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy & my burden is light" (Matthew 11:29-30)

- In a world filled with immorality & moral tolerance, Christ wants not his servants to become like the Pharisees who caused many to carry heavy loads, but only to hold fast what is of Christ as handed down by the apostles & eyewitness testimony in the holy Scriptures.

- As the Lord said, "Only hold fast to what you have until I come" (v. 25).

- When my loyalty to Christ conquers worldly compromise, I will conquer in holiness.

-  To what did Christ encourage the church of Thyatira to hold fast? What did they have?

- As the Lord Jesus said, "I know your works, your love & faith & service & patient endurance, & that your latter works exceed the first" (v. 19).

- Works of love, faith, service, patient endurance & growing in word & deed, these are works worthy of holding fast.

- While good words & good deeds are not the basis of salvation, they are a good basis on which to judge character & the evidence of salvation.

- Any church which continues to demonstrate these things proves their love of the Lord Jesus Christ showing that they hold fast to faith in him.

- When my loyalty to Christ conquers worldly compromise, I will conquer in holiness.

- What did Christ promise the one who conquers? What did they have?

- To the one who conquers by boldly holding fast to Christ's works, Christ made two promises.

- One, "I will give him authority over the nations" (v. 26)

- Christ will share his authority with his faithful people.

- The authority he received from the Father is an authority he will share.

- We will reign with him in glory. Those have been faithful in a few things he will place in charge of many things.

- Having learned to do the works of Christ today, we will continue doing the works of Christ in eternity.

- Two, "I will give him the morning star" (v. 27). What is this morning star & what does it represent?

- In Revelation 22:16, Christ describes himself as the bright morning star & in Numbers 24:17 a star is prophesied rising out of Jacob & Jesus is that star.

- Christ promised to give his very self to the one who conquers.

- The faithful, those who reject worldly compromise, refuse to live by the world's standards, & continue in Christ's works, will receive the morning star & share in his rule.

- When my loyalty to Christ conquers worldly compromise, I will conquer in holiness.

- I think I'd be correct in saying that I'm quite certain that no one here is a Jezebel, teaching & leading other Christians into idolatry & sexual immorality. So...

- What kinds of compromises do we make?

- What sins do we tolerate in our lives of which we need to repent?

- Are there some questionable thoughts that I allow myself to engage in like thinking negatively of others, lustful thoughts, violent thoughts?

- Are there some questionable viewing habits that I engage in now-&-then on TV, the internet, magazines, etc.?

- Do I have any unacceptable habits like gossip, backbiting, bullying, fits of anger, being rude, controlling, or opinionated or having an overall negative attitude toward others?

- While it may be hard to put ourselves in the shoes of the Thyatirans it may help us to evaluate our lives when we consider what idolatry is: anything which takes the place of God in our lives.

- The Lord Jesus also wants to praise as he did the Thyatirans, "I know your works, your love & faith & service & patient endurance, & that your latter works exceed the first" (v. 19).

- He doesn't want to have anything against us.

- When we are all growing in love, faith, service, & patient endurance sin will grow further from our minds.

- When my loyalty to Christ conquers worldly compromise, I will conquer in holiness.

" Pergamum: Hold to Truth" Revelation 2:12-17 Sunday, July 13, 2014

- Last time we looked at the church of Smyrna hearing the call of the Lord Jesus to face persecution & suffering without fear & with faithfulness.

- Today, we see another church which held fast to the truth of Christ in persecution, but which tolerated sin & evil in her midst, Pergamum.

- Pergamum's leadership allowed sinful immoral behavior to continue unaddressed in their congregation, sins which ultimately hinder the gospel's effectiveness.

- What happens when one rotten apple is in a barrel of good apples? Do the good apples make the rotten apple good?

- No, they cannot. What happens then is just the opposite.

- The rotten apple begins to affect those closest to it. The rot inside comes out & takes hold.

- Eventually, the entire barrel is spoiled because of the one rotten apple which wasn't removed.

- That is why Christ was so concerned for Pergamum. They had a few bad apples which threatened to destroy the whole barrel.

- What he wants each one to learn is this: When I hold truly to Christ, I will hold only His truth.

- Pergamum was 80 km north of Smyrna & 24 km in land from the Aegean Sea.

- Built on a thousand foot hill overlooking the whole countryside, Pergamum was a hotbed of idolatry.

- At the city's summit stood its acropolis where there was a huge altar constructed to honor Zeus, thus our Lord's reference to Satan's throne.

- The city also boasted a beautiful Temple to Athena.  Also highly important to Pergamum were Dionysus, god of wine, & Asclepius, god of healing, whose symbol was the serpent.

- The city was also a center of the Imperial cult of Caesar. In fact, Pergamum was granted the right to build a temple in honor of the Emperor Augustus a full three years before Smyrna build their Imperial Temple.

- The Roman proconsul of that city also had the rare "right of the sword" which was the power to sentence & carry out executions highlighting Roman authority which Christ declared he is above as wielder of the sharp double-edged sword.

- Pergamum was a city at war & the Christian church there was under siege in the arena of ideas which conflicted with & contradicted the truth of Christ.

- How did the church of Pergamum demonstrate their loyalty to Christ?

- "I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, & you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells." Rev 2:13 (ESV)

- They held fast to Jesus Christ even through persecution that resulted in death among them, Antipas in particular.

- Most likely, his death was at the order of the Roman proconsul for not offering incense to Caesar & declaring Caesar as Lord.

- What flaw did Christ point out in the church of Pergamum?

- "But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols & practice sexual immorality. So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans." (Rev 2:14-15, ESV)

- Their flaw was their lenience, i.e., they tolerated a few bad apples in their barrel.

- I mentioned a few weeks ago that Nicolaitan means destroyer of the people, but what have they to do with Balaam?

- Balaam's story is in the book of Numbers chapters 22-24 in the Old Testament.

- There we read that Balak, king of Moab, called upon Balaam to curse Israel, but each time he opened his mouth only blessing came out.

- So Balaam came up with another plan: he told Balak that the young Moabite women should seduce the Israelite men & invite them to participate in their immoral & idolatrous feasts knowing that this would anger God.

- The Nicolaitans taught that Christian liberty means freedom not only from sin but freedom to sin.

- Earlier in Revelation, Christ praised the church of Ephesus for hating this teaching & its practices, but Christ called Pergamum to repent of tolerating these things among their members.

- Throughout the Bible, God calls his people to be holy, both Israel & the new people of God, the church.

- He does not expect too much, only what is necessary. As Jesus said, "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."

- How do sexual immorality & eating food offered to idols compromise the faith?

- We just noted that God expects his people to be holy.

- Sexual immorality & eating food offered idols compromises the holiness to which the church is called because they deny Christ's Lordship over our lives & make us out to be liars.

- Idolatry denies Christ. If & when we deny Christ we make ourselves liars.

- Sexual immorality disobeys Christ. If & when we disobey Christ we also make ourselves liars.

- As the apostle John wrote, "Whoever says, I know him, but does not keep his commandments is a liar, & the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4)

- & "Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father & the Son." (1 John 2:22)

- Christ is deeply concerned that his church has a balance of love & truth.

- Quite often over the centuries the church has struggled with balancing truth & love.

- We must not separate the two, they need to be held together in balance.

- As the late John Stott wrote, "Love becomes sentimental if it is not strengthened by truth, & truth becomes hard if it is not softened by love" (Stott, What Christ Thinks, 51-52).

- As the New Testament instructs, we are to love in truth & speak truth in love.

- When we don't deal with bad apples we are not acting out of places of loving truth or truthful love.

- Why do we tolerate compromise? Is it love that motivates such compromise? Do we not want anyone to be hurt or offended? Are we afraid to give correction when it is required? Is it because we don't want to stir up trouble or upset the pot?

- I think the answer to all these questions is, yes.

- Yes, we love those who compromise despite their sin. Yes, we do not want people to be hurt or offended. Yes, we are afraid to give correction when it is required. Yes, it is because we do not want to stir up trouble or upset the pot.

- We are afraid to take action which might appear to damage the church, but our lack of action does far worse damage.

- Christ condemns such inaction.  No matter how loving the motive, any lack of action offends Christ because sin & immorality compromise the faith.

- How are we like Pergamum?

- We live in a society that is at war much like the first century church of Pergamum.

- The Christian church of today is also under siege in the arena of ideas which conflict with & contradict the truth of Christ.

- We've been hearing for years that there is no such thing as absolute truth, but that claim becomes an absolute in itself so it's self-defeating.

- To say there is no such thing as absolute truth is a false truth claim.

- We've also been hearing for years that truth is relative, but how can truth be relative when it is based on facts?

- If truth is based on facts it cannot be relative.

- Something is either true or false. A fact cannot be both true & false at the same time.

- Such is the ridiculous nature of these ideas which dominate our culture & lead many astray into lost places, overlooking pits of meaninglessness & despair, a type of living hell.

- Without truth, life, liberty, love ...everything is meaningless.

- It is these types of ideas which can gain a foothold in the church today causing many of us to justify behaviors & make compromises which Christ condemns such as sexual immorality & eating food offered to idols as in Pergamum.

- What did Christ say was the source of such flawed thinking?

- The Lord Jesus said, "I know where you live, where Satan's throne is… ...where Satan lives." (Verse 13)

- Satan is the source of error, of all thinking based on deception & lies.

- Although a powerful enemy, he is a defeated enemy, but the prince of this world, the mighty prince of the power of the air, refuses to admit defeat.

- Everywhere that there is honor & glory given other than to Christ Jesus is a place where Satan's spirit of antichrist is at work.

- What is the solution the Lord Jesus gives?

- He said, Therefore repent. (Verse 16)

- The Lord Jesus instructs each one of us to change our minds about compromise no matter how big or small.

- He wants us to change our minds about empty worldly philosophies & false religions.

- He wants us to stop living in the moment, stop living for today, stop justifying sinful behavior, & stop lying to ourselves.

- He wants us to hand over everything in our lives that doesn't quite fit or doesn't fit at all with his truth.

- When I hold truly to Christ, I will hold only His truth.

- What happens if there is no repentance?

- The Lord said, I will come & war against them with the sword of my mouth, verse 16.

- Christ himself will expose sin with truth, his truth, the only truth.

- All will be laid bare before him to whom we must give account, Hebrews 4:13.

- How can we separate ourselves from sin?

- We need to let go of everything that doesn't fit together with the truth of Christ.

- Every compromise that waters down the gospel does not honor Christ & must be abandoned for we will not escape his judgment.

- We must evaluate & examine our lives then ruthlessly eliminate everything which dishonors & robs glory from Christ.

- The best measure for such an exercise is the Word, his truth.

- When I hold truly to Christ, I will hold only his truth.

- What is Christ's reward for those who conquer?

- "To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, & I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it" (verse 17).

- The hidden manna signifies the Lord Jesus, the bread of life & the eternal life which he gives.

- Some of the manna which God gave Israel in the desert was saved & kept in the temple hidden behind the curtain which was seen by only the High Priest once a year.

- The white stone may represent the Urim & Thummim stones used by the High Priest when seeking divine guidance.

- Both the stone & the manna represent the privileges of the High Priest which God will give to all his faithful people.

- The new name signifies the intimate, private, personal fellowship that every believer will have with Christ in paradise.

- We are not a herd, simply part of a collective, but personally saved & called by name by the Lord Jesus.

- Christ's life, Christ's guidance, & Christ's name will mark forever those who conquer.

- When I hold truly to Christ, I will hold only his truth.

"Smyrna: Hope in Persecution." Sunday, June 29, 2014 Scripture: Revelation 2:8-11

- I've often heard it said by well-meaning church folk how wonderful it is that we live in a society free from persecution.

- But do we really live in such a society?

- My father recently told me of how he was harassed by his boss for reading his Bible in his personal office space while waiting for clients.

- We have heard on the news of both Trinity Western & Crandall universities & how they have been harassed by the media & the GLBT community for their so-called intolerance & hate mongering because of their mutual stance on sexual purity & the definition of marriage.

- Even more recently, we have heard of the federal Liberal leader, Mr. Justin Trudeau, who will require all liberal members of Parliament to vote pro-choice on the abortion issue, which means pro-choice is now the official Liberal party line, & in a country where there's no abortion law an infant can be aborted at any point in the pregnancy.

- Mr. Trudeau, as Rex Murphy has put it, has forced an "irreconcilable, moral choice" while promoting the ongoing "open season on religiously inspired belief."

- Under the law, we live in a free, democratic nation, so we believe.

- We believe we have freedom of religion.

- However, we have that freedom as long as it has zero impact on public policy & public life & is kept behind closed doors.

- Influential atheists, secular politicians, & other so-called experts often picture Christians as fools & idiots who follow religious myths.

- Persecution in the West is not coming, it is already here!

- How are we in the church to respond? Is there a word from the Lord Jesus for the Christian about this?

- Indeed, there is, & it comes to us in the shape of the letter to the Church of Smyrna.

- The ancient city of Smyrna is located 56 km northwest up the coast from Ephesus, & is now the modern city of Izmir.

- Smyrna was a prosperous center of trade rivaling only Ephesus.

- It was a proud & beautiful city & had earned the right to freely govern itself.

- It was famous for its Golden Street so named as it was lined with temples to the Greco-Roman gods.

- Smyrna was among other notable cities to have constructed a Temple to the Emperor Tiberius, & while under the rule of Emperor Domitian, every Roman citizen was required to burn incense to Caesar once a year declaring Caesar as lord!

- The city also had a powerful, prominent Jewish population which was actively opposed to the Christian church.

- To survive & thrive in such a city one had to be able to conduct business freely, but when harassed, shunned, abused on two sides making a living could become near impossible.

- So What did the Lord Jesus have to say to the church of Smyrna that can help us live confidently today?

- What was the suffering of the Smyrna Christians like?

- Besides the anti-Christian cult of Caesar & the hostile Jewish population, what else was there?

- First, according to verse nine, there was poverty. "I know your tribulation & your poverty," said Jesus.

- For time out of mind, committed Christians have been known for their honesty in business which would've excluded them from the dishonest gain of shady & unscrupulous business practices.

- Their Roman & Jewish neighbors may have refused to do business with them.

- To practice an illegal religion in those days meant that you had no rights.

- Finding & keeping gainful employment would have been difficult once exposed as a Christ follower.

- Roman authorities could ransack your home at the mere suspicion or suggestion that you followed the Nazarene.

- Second, imprisonment. As Jesus said, "Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison" (v.10).

- Prisons in those days were nothing like they are today.

- They were often like the prisons which you see in movies set in the Middle Ages: cold & damp, with shackles, stocks, dirt, filth & disease.

- But many prisons over the last 2000 years have become holy places through the prayers, praises, hymns & songs offered & sung by the saints that occupied them.

- Third, death. The Lord Jesus told them, "be faithful unto death."

- The opposition to the truth of Jesus Christ experienced by the church of Smyrna was so fierce that some among them were martyred.

- The most famous martyr of the early church was Polycarp, Bishop of Smyrna; he was installed as Bishop by none other than John the apostle.

- Polycarp refused to swear oaths to Caesar & on February 2, 156 A.D. was burned at the stake.

- Fourth, they were slandered, as Jesus said, "I know...the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan".

- The Jews of those days spread all kinds of falsehoods about Christians everywhere.

- Those who hate the truth will slander & accuse Christians of all kinds of things because of that hatred.

- The secular culture around us today accuses Bible believing Christians of being homophobic, meaning that we fear & hate homosexuals, but this is not true.

- We do not fear or hate homosexuals, rather we disapprove of their lifestyle much the same as we would disapprove of any other lifestyle which the Bible names sinful.

- The Lord Jesus said that the Jews of Smyrna were a synagogue of Satan because the devil is the original slanderer & accuser, in fact, that is exactly what the word, Satan, means.

- Slander is not an easy thing to bear. Repeated ongoing slander, bullying, & name-calling can break anyone's spirit.

- To be misrepresented & misunderstood by those who engage in idle talk, rumor, gossip, & innuendo can leave deep wounds.

- The church of Smyrna was called to suffer. They had experienced tribulation, poverty, slander, prison & death, but the Lord Jesus told them that there was more testing & tribulation to come.

- What of us, are we called to suffer?

- The Scriptures reveal that the Lord Jesus told his first disciples that they were blessed when people insulted, persecuted, & made false accusations against them because of him.

- "Woe to you," said Jesus, "when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets" (Luke 6:26).

- "If the world hates you," said Jesus, "know that it hated me before it hated you" (John 15:18).

- The apostle Paul wrote to his child in the faith, Timothy, "Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (2 Timothy 3:12).

- The church is indeed called to suffer, but suffering terrifies us, so much so, that we compromise our faith & our obedience to the gospel of our Lord.

- The way we compromise our faith & our obedience to the gospel comes from our typically Canadian passiveness.

- What do I mean by Canadian passiveness? Instead of taking action, we vent or complain about things behind closed doors & don't do anything about it because it doesn't affect us.

- When someone else is persecuted for their faith, we're just glad it wasn't us.

- Our compromise comes in the things that we have left undone or unsaid.

- Our only way out is to repent.

- When we agree with the actions that other Christians have taken which have resulted in slander against them, then we need to speak out, to stand up & be counted with them.

- We also often don't share our faith the way we are called to share our faith because we are afraid of the reaction of our neighbors.

- When we do deeds of compassion for those in need, we need to do it in Jesus name without worrying about what others think because "all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

- I know this doesn't sound encouraging, but I was just getting to that.

- How did Christ encourage the church of Smyrna? & What comforts did Christ give them?

- First things first, how did Christ encourage the church of Smyrna?

- The Lord Jesus said two key things to them to encourage them: one, "do not fear what you are about to suffer," and two, "be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life."

- Do not fear; be faithful.

- If there were ever two words of encouragement that we need to hear today it is those words: do not fear; be faithful.

- In times of fear & faithlessness & in times when we are fearful & act faithless God says to us, "Stop it!"

- Fear not; be faithful.

- Do what faithful people do in spite of their fears: Face fear with courageous witness & compassionate mission.

- "God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control." (2 Tim 1:7, ESV)

- When persecution comes, I will fear not & be faithful for Christ is my hope.

- What comforts did Christ give the Christians of Smyrna?

- The Lord Jesus reminded them of several things to comfort them:

-1. He is eternal – the first and the last. The Lord Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

- Although everything else in the world around us changes, Christ himself changes not, he is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

- What have we to fear when we serve the one who is eternal & who does not change?

- 2. He is victorious – who died and came to life. The Lord Jesus appeals to John's readers to be faithful unto death because he himself was "obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." (Phil 2:8)

- Jesus our Lord conquered death so death should hold no terror for us.

- As Paul the apostle wrote, "We are more than conquerors through him who loved us... Nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom 8:37-39)

- Because he is victorious, we are more than conquerors & have nothing to fear.

- 3. He knows all things – I know your tribulation. The Lord Jesus knows our troubles. He understands. He has been there. He walks among the lampstands.

- He sees each church & each person for whom he died, you & me, & he knows the troubles we face & he cares beyond knowing.

- 4. He is just & fair – I know your tribulation and your poverty but you are rich.

- The Lord Jesus sees things, all things, as they really are.

- While the folks at Smyrna lacked material wealth God saw in them an abundance of spiritual riches because of their faithfulness to Jesus Christ.

- In God's economy, it's better to be a rich poor man than a poor rich man.

- As Jesus said, "Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:20-21)

- 5. He is in control – Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation.

- The Lord Jesus is the one who sets limits. Some would be thrown into prison for 10 days; a limited number of people for a limited time.

- The Lord Jesus knows our current struggles & he knows our future trials.

- He has set limits on the Devil's schemes because he reigns.

- 6. He is purposeful – that you may be tested.

- The devil's purpose is to kill & destroy but God's purpose in allowing testing in our lives is to refine us & purify us.

- Persecution purifies & refines the church strengthening her character & her faith even as a furnace refines silver and gold.

- When we look beyond suffering to God's purposes, then we can keep our heads up.

- 7. He is generous – I will give you the crown of life.... The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.

- The Lord Jesus has an incredible gift awaiting those who fear not & remain faithful.

- Eternal life is not something we can earn, it is a gift.

- Remaining faithful in the city of Smyrna was no easy task. It took blood, sweat, and tears, but in the end Jesus told them they would receive the crown of life & avoid the hurt of the second death.

- By our efforts we cannot earn such a reward, but by our efforts to remain faithful we open our lives to receiving God's gracious gift.

- When persecution comes, I will fear not & be faithful for Christ is my hope.

- Persecution in the West is not coming, it is already here!

- How shall we respond?

- With Christ as our Victor; Christ as our comforter; Christ as our strength; Christ as our encouragement, we can respond in faith knowing that…

- When persecution comes, I will fear not and be faithful for Christ is my hope.