Lent 1 MIdweek Revelation 2:8-11 Letter to Symrna

Lent 1 midweek sermon
2/16/2005
Text: Revelation 2:8-11

This afternoon we are continuing our Lenten series study on the letters to 7 congregations as they are recorded in Revelation, chapter 2 and 3. These congregations were located in what is today, Turkey. Last week, we looked at Christ’s words to the congregation at Ephesus. In that particular letter we found out that they were a wonderful congregation, doing everything that a Christian congregation should be doing.
I am sure that you were as surprised as I was, when we read in verse 4 that Jesus held something against them. You see in their eagerness to do church they had forgotten their first love, Jesus Christ, the very reason for their existence.
In that letter we learned that we too have to be careful in our eagerness to do church, so that we do not lose our first love. It sounds strange, but just like the church in Ephesus, churches today can get so involved in making sure that the letter of the law is followed, that they can lose sight of the real reason for their existence, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Today we are going to look at another letter, the letter to Smyrna, a city about 40 miles north of Ephesus. I want to read the text one more time. "To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again. 9 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. 10 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. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.”
As I read the text, what did you hear? If you were like me, you probably heard that they were going through some terrible times, and that it was going to get worse. Makes you glad you are not part of that congregation does it not?
Those people had a tough life, for to be a Christian in Smyrna meant no job, other than those no one wanted, or would do, no government help, only persecution. You were basically a non-being. People lied about the Christians and their faith. It is recorded in secular writings that it was commonly believed that Christians were cannibals. After all they ate the body, and drank the blood of Christ in their Holy Suppers.
Then there were those rumors of incest, a scourge to any society, even one as pagan as this one was. This nasty little rumor had gotten started because it was common for the early Christians to call each other brothers and sisters, and they were always meeting secretly in private homes. Who knew what was going on behind those locked doors? There was no doubt that those Christians were evil and had to be gotten rid of.
None of Jesus’ words up to this point would have been a surprise to the Smyrna Christians, for life, quite literally stunk. If that was not bad enough, He goes on to tell them that as bad as things are, just wait, for it is going to get worse. Now that is news they could have done without. I cannot even imagine what they must have felt as they read Jesus’ words to them.
The letter sounds like a real downer, but did you hear the good news that was in it? I hope so, for Jesus is telling them, and thus us, that if you stay with me over the long haul, you are going to make it, you will receive the crown of life and will not have to fear the second death, which is by the way, hell.
Hmm, maybe this letter is not just about acknowledging their problems and predicting that they were going to even have worse problems. Maybe this letter is a positive letter, one of good news, one that confirms that only if they are faithful enough they will not be left alone in their suffering. They will get through it.
I hope that Christ’s letter helped them, but I wonder if his command to be faithful is good news to Christians today who might also be struggling with problems in their lives, especially those of addiction, or recurring sin? They know that no matter how many times they repent, that no matter how sincere they are, that they are probably are going to do it again.
They hear Jesus’ words and think, “Lord, how can I be faithful to you when I am stuck in the mud and mire of my sin. Lord, how can I be faithful to you when deep down I know I do not have the strength to be faithful.
Or, what about that woman or man that always dreamed of being happily married to a Christian spouse, and having wonderful Christian children, but after years of arguing and fighting, there is nothing but unhappiness and discontent. The kids don’t want anything to do with the church. Life is not good and their thinking, “Lord, I have been faithful for so long and I am getting so tired. Is this the kind of life you want me to live? I am so unhappy. Do not you want me to be happy? Is this all there is to life, just existing?” “How can I remain faithful to you?
Maybe there have been times in your life, or you are going through one now, when you have said to God, “How can I remain faithful to you Lord?” If that is where you are, let me share with you the real purpose of this letter, for it is not about the people of Smyrna or you remaining faithful, it is about Jesus remaining faithful.
Remember the first words of his letter as he tells them and thus us, that he is the first and the last. That simply means that he existed before time began and will continue to exist after what we know as our world ceases to exist. It means that he is in control of everything in between. He sees the big picture and because of that he knows and will do what is best for us.
He can tell us that everything will be fine in the end, for he knows what we go through. He has been there. He was one of us. He was poor, He was tempted as we are. He suffered, He died, and now He is alive forever. He wants us to know that if we listen to him, not just hear him, but really listen to him, we will stay faithful, and that we will beat death, just like he did.
Life can be hard. If it has not been, at sometime or other it will be, and because of that, we desperately need these words of faithfulness from Jesus, so that we too can remain faithful to him. Just like the congregation at Smyrna, we need to hear who he is and what he has done for us. We too need to hear his words as they are written in verse 11 where he tells us, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death.”
We need to hear those words, because we cannot remain faithful without knowing, no, believing, I mean really believing, that Jesus is faithful because he is the first and last, that he really did take God’s punishment for our sins, that he really did overcome death and that he is now alive and active in our lives.
That is the only way that we too can remain faithful to the end and receive our Crown of Life along with the faithful congregation at Smyrna. Amen

Next week Pergamum. Come to the Sunday morning Bible study and find out more about this particular congregation.

1 Sunday in Lent Text Matthew 4:1-11 Title A Time of Contrast

2/13/2005
Title: A Time Of Contrast
Text: Matthew 4:1-11

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen
Lent, coming as it does into a society that bases everything on one’s success and fulfillment, human potential, and self-esteem is a season of contradictions. For in this world, what the church calls us to do during these 40 days of reflection, self-examination, and repentance, is just the opposite of what society calls us to do.
During Lent, God’s church is swimming against the current, in our seasonal confrontation with sin, and death. The world will do all it can to avoid the subject, but not the church, and it should not, for it is only in confronting sin and death that we can see the cross and resurrection.
In our readings for the first Sunday in Lent we are confronted by a series of contrasts. Our Old Testament reading from Genesis depicts quite a contrast between the gift of a lush garden and the aftermath of sin.
God gives the woman and man a garden where all they have to do is enjoy God’s creation. He tells them that there is only one rule, do not eat the fruit off those two trees, you know the ones right over there. As soon as God’s back was turned, we really do not know how long after, Adam and Eve made a bee line for the tree of knowledge and the rest is history.
Paul’s inspired words in Romans are also a string of contrasts and contradictions. Sin came into the world by Adam, grace by Jesus Christ. Many die, in fact all die, because of Adam. Many, God would have all, live because of Jesus. Adam brought judgment and separation, Jesus Christ brought forgiveness and reconciliation. From Adam came death, through Jesus Christ came eternal life.
In our Gospel reading, concerning the temptation of Jesus, there are many lessons to be learned. First, we can learn that Satan will attack when you are the weakest, whether it is from hunger, stress, illness, or what ever weak point you have in your life.
The second thing we can learn, is that Satan will twist God’s holy words against us, to turn us away from God.
The third thing we can learn from our Gospel lesson, is that Jesus has given us a perfect example of how to overcome temptation. He has shown us that we can use God’s Holy Scripture to turn Satan away. To be able to do that we need to study his words to us in his Holy Scripture, so that when Satan starts twisting God’s Words we will know what he is doing, and can respond with the correct application of God’s Words to drive him away.
There is one more lesson to be learned from our Gospel lesson and that is temptation is not coercion. As I read Saint Matthew’s account of Jesus’ temptation I realized that none of Jesus’ temptations were to do anything grossly evil, but to do good things for the wrong reasons or at the wrong time.
After all, what is wrong with turning stones into bread, if one can do it, to feed the hungry? Later, Jesus will turn a couple of fish and five loaves of bread into a feast for 5000. He will turn water into the finest wine ever made.
What’s wrong with believing scriptures so strongly that one trusts the angels to protect them? Later, Jesus will walk on water and through crowds that want to kill him.
What’s wrong with the King of kings and Lord of lords having ultimate power over the kingdoms of the world? Isn’t that what we expect when he comes back on the final Judgment Day?
You see, Satan did not try and force Jesus to sin. He does not force Christians to sin either. He works by lying, and stretching the truth. He really excels when he gets us to do good things for the wrong reasons.
We need to escape his grasp, but how do we do it? I think the best way is to follow Jesus example, for God had this encounter with Satan written down by Matthew for our benefit. The answer is found in Jesus’ first quotation of scripture from Deuteronomy, “Man, (in the Greek, human beings), does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God." In other words, you are to only listen to God.
It is a wonderful answer, for Satan was misapplying God’s words when he tried to tempt Jesus. Because he did not correctly apply God’s word, I think I could argue that they were not God’s Words anymore, but Satan’s. If Jesus had done what Satan had asked him to do, something as seemingly innocent as making bread from stones, he would have been listening to something that is not from God.
Whenever temptation comes to you and it always does, Satan does not have the power to make you do something against God’s will. As much as you would like to, and as popular as it is to shift the blame, you cannot use the excuse, as Flip Wilson use to say, in I think it was his character Geraldine, “The devil made me do it.”
Temptation is not coercion, it involves your participation. The serpent in the garden did not hold Edam and Even down forcing them to eat that fruit. Satan could not make Jesus, turn stones into bread, or do any of the other things he tried to tempt him to do. Satan works by enticing or convincing someone to do something against God’s will. It is creating the desire for something that is harmful to you, and there in lies the problem, because too often at the time it does not appear harmful, but beneficial.
Satan will usually not launch a direct attack on you. He knows a far better way and that is to use our natural inclination to sin, to go against God’s will.
To give you and idea of what I mean, I want to refer to a C. S. Lewis book called, The Screwtape Letters. In this book he records the letters from Screwtape, who is Satan, to his young apprentice named Wormwood. Wormwood has been assigned a particular human being to bring back to hell for food. I do not have enough time to give you an example of Wormwood’s work, but as we follow Screwtape’s responses to Wormwoods letters we see Wormwood’s successes and failures as the human he was assigned to discovers Christianity, falls in love, conducts business, reaches middle-age, grows old, and finally dies.
If I remember correctly there was not a single time that Wormwood launched a direct attack on his human. Screwtape kept reminding him that the temptations he set before him had to be subtle, with the idea being that his human, who as I mentioned earlier, had become a Christian, would think he was doing the right thing, or at the very least just doing what human beings do. You know, all those human weakness we all have, sins that we no longer call sins, but weakness. Wormwood is to make use of that and sometimes he wins, other times he fails.
In the end though, God wins, and Wormwood loses his human to him, and boy does he get chastised for it, as Screwtape signs his last letter to Wormwood who has been called back to hell for consumption, “Your increasingly and ravenously affectionate uncle Screwtape.” .
Remember at the beginning of the sermon, when I listed all the lessons we could learn from Jesus’ temptation, I did not list everything, for I wanted to leave the most important lesson for us to learn today for the end of my sermon.
This account of Jesus’ temptation is Good News for us today because Jesus was not tempted in that the thought of listening to Satan crossed his mind, for if it had, he would have sinned. For him to not even consider the temptation is inconceivable to us, for when we are tempted we weigh the pluses and minuses of the temptation. If the pluses outweigh the minuses we will usually commit the sinful thought or act.
Jesus in his human nature, so completely trusted in God the Father that he did not weigh the pluses and minuses, and in doing so he was not tempted in any thought or deed. He trusted in God and resisted Satan’s attack.
In this temptation account Jesus had already started defeating Satan, one of many temptations I am sure he had to face on the way to the cross, where Satan’s final defeat was completed. Because of Jesus’ perfect trust in God, and his innocent death, Satan is permanently defeated.
Because he is defeated, you do not have to listen to him anymore as he tries to work through your sinful flesh. You can tell him to get lost, that you do not belong to him anymore, for you belong to God.
You are now free to love people, even those people who society calls unlovable, just as Christ loves you. You are free to forgive, even those who are not always repentant, just as Christ forgives you. You are free to serve God, even as he continues to serve you. Most importantly you are free from the punishment of your sin. I guess the only question left to ask is; what are you, going to do with that freedom, the freedom that he won for you on the cross? Amen