“Faithful in Hard Times- Smyrna” Rev. 2:8-17 7-15-07
Smyrna is an example to us all of a church that is bearing up under a tremendous load of hard times. Smyrna was the Job of churches- it was poor, oppressed, and things didn’t seem to go its way- yet it persevered. There was a church in Georgetown that built a new building, put up a new steeple, and almost the same week the steeple went up- two things happened. Robbers came and stole their sound system and copier, and Hurricane Floyd blew their new steeple down into two pieces in the back parking lot. The church had not, to my knowledge done some great sin. In fact, the church was on fire and was the fastest growing church in the county at the time. Sometimes for even good Christians, times can be very hard.
I have mentioned this a couple of times, but I went with a team of Presbyterians to visit the churches in Cuba. The Presbyterian church there was in a unique position, because before the Revolution in the 1950’s the Presbyterian Church in Cuba was part of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), much like the church in Puerto Rico is today. The pastors there were part of the synod of New Jersey, and even now, these pastors are eligible for benefits from the Board of Pensions of our denomination. The government looked with suspicion on any entity that was affiliated with the United States. After the Revolution, Christians were persecuted. It was not illegal to be a Christian, and the government would proudly mention that. But the government made it very hard, and it is still hard today. Government officials would go to the outside of the church and take names of the people who went into the church. If you joined and were baptized, you could not buy a car, could not send your children to college, you were looked upon with mistrust, you could not get a good job, and you could not buy a new house. So many Christians were living three or four generations in the same crowded apartment. Some Christians there complained to me about not getting adequate medical care. When the government runs the medical facilities, and the government turns against Christians, then Christians need to watch out. I met an elder in the church there who could not walk because the doctors there would not give her a vitamin shot to fight rickets brought on by malnutrition. Whenever mission teams went to the churches, we would bring medical supplies to the church. We had four suitcases full of antibiotics for the people of the church on the island. The government heard about this, and made us give two thirds of the medicine to them. We met with the equivalent of their secretary of state to plead with them to end the persecution of the church there.
The effect of all this persecution was that church attendance was down. You couldn’t go to church and take it lightly. I have thought many times about this, and wondered if the same thing happened in our land, what would happen to the churches. Now we can get up, go to church without fear, without reprisals, and without having to worry that we’ll lose our jobs because we come to church on Sunday. We take for granted out great freedom. If we feel like it we can just turn over and go back to sleep because it is no big deal. In many countries, every chance they get to come to church is a precious gift.
I talked to a minister in Cuba who had a church over 700 with attendance of 400/week before the revolution whose attendance averaged about 30 when we went there. After the fall of the Soviet Union, people began to come to church again, and now the man had attendance of over 800, but they couldn’t build new church buildings. The week before I got there the pastor of the largest Presbyterian church on the island had been arrested for anti-government activities.I am so grateful for our freedom of religion. I do not take it lightly, nor do I take governmental attitudes toward churches lightly.
There were three causes of affliction in the church in Smyrna.
1) One was their affliction. The Greek word here for affliction is thlipsis- which literally means crushing beneath a weight. They were being overburdened. We call worries and problems in our language “burdens”, and they had plenty of them. Sometimes our burdens are very, very heavy.
The only two churches in these seven letters that had nothing negative to say about them are Smyrna and Philadelphia. Both were persecuted churches that were staying faithful to God. Pergamum was persecuted, but was compromising with the world. Yet there’s a difference between Smyrna and Philadelphia. Smyrna was told it would face continued suffering (ten days- is a symbolic number). Philadelphia was told its suffering would end. Christians, really must expect suffering. Jesus said, “In this world you will have tribulation but be of good cheer I have overcome the world.” “Do not be surprised if this world hates you- it hated me, your leader.” The Christians in Philadelphia were not told to compare themselves to the Christians in Smyrna or any other church. Comparisons of suffering always fails for various reasons. It is a human yet unhelpful thing to always be comparing ourselves. When we compare our selfishness and self-pity get in the way and often make a bad situation worse. We cannot weigh another person’s burdens, because some bear their burdens silently while others bear them quite loudly. My kids let me have it a lot because when I get hurt I yell—OWWW!. My father did too. Some people complain when they get a splinter in their toe, and others don’t complain when their foot gets amputated. Each person faces their own burden and their own crosses. We must face them looking to God.
2) A second problem mentioned was poverty. This was literal poverty. Doubtless the Christians in Smyrna were economically deprived and perhaps economically persecuted. We do know that the Bishop of Smyrna, Polycarp, was well educated. There were two words for poor here- those who lived simply but had necessities (penia), and those who have nothing at all (ptocheia). The Christians here were said to have nothing at all. Yet they had everything—they were described as rich. Their poverty and affliction had burned off a lot of fake, nominal, surface, half-commitment. There is an illusion among some Christians that if they had just a little more then they would become more spiritual, and give more to God’s work. Ironically, the more you have the more you are tempted to drift away. In Chapin, this is a real problem. We are in a wealthy area of our state of our country, and of our world.
I was reminded of how wealthy we are by the GOoDWorks blitz last week. I looked at Ms. Betty Lyle’s house and thought- this is not a bad house. It was a concrete block house. She had running water, a bathroom and a new roof. But I was shocked when I found out that because she didn’t have any cabinet space, she had been keeping her pots and pans in her car. She was so grateful to God- said it a thousand times- that church members helped her. We put in a new door, and she asked, “Will I be able to lock that door tonight?” I said, “Yes ma’am we hope so.” She said “Praise God!” I said, have you not had a locked door before? She said she had never been able to lock her door in her life. She was poor, but she is rich—not because of what we did, but because of what God has done in her.
3) Imprisonment- John forecasts an imprisonment here for a symbolic ten days- and asks them to hold on. Here it is again. Every church is admonished to hold on- to not give up.
I mentioned Polycarp. His story has lasted throughout the years. He was the Bishop ordained by the Apostle John. Some say that when this passage says to the “messenger (or angel) of the church in Smyrna”- that this passage was written to Polycarp. Polycarp was martyred on Saturday February 23, 155. It was the time of the public games, the city was crowded and excited. A shout went up, “Away with the atheists; let Polycarp be searched for.” Polycarp probably could have escaped, but he had a dream the night before warning him of this day. His whereabouts were given by a slave who collapsed under torture. The police captain tried to urge him to escape his death. He said, “What harm is it to say, `Caesar is Lord’ and to offer sacrifice and be saved? But Polycarp was adamant that for him only Jesus was Lord. The proconsul gave him the choice of cursing the name of Christ and making sacrifice to Caesar and live, or staying a Christian and die. Polycarp said, “Eighty-six years have I served Him and He never did me any harm; how then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?”
The proconsul threatened him, “I’ll have you destroyed by fire unless you change you attitude.” Polycarp answered, “You threaten me with fire which burns for an hour and in a little is extinguished. But you are ignorant of the fires of the coming judgment and of eternal punishment reserved for the ungodly.” The crowd gathered wood and threw torches on the fire. As the flames began to grow, Polycarp prayed, “ I thankyou that you have graciously thought me worthy of this day and of this hour, that I may be a part of the number of martyrs to die for Christ.”
We need to remember and support as we can, those who are suffering. Maybe its the veteran who is recovering, the shut in languishing, or the saddened widow. We also need to remember those who are persecuted. Persecution is not going away today. Many people today are throwing Christianity in the same field as all other religions and ideals. I have heard some blame all religious thinking for 9-11, 2001. If you listen to the debate about religious things in our secular society (like the Blue Laws, or “One Nation Under God” or public prayer) , things can get really emotional, twisted and anti-Christian. I pray that everyone here will have the grace to hold on and be faithful even if life gets hard. If we hold on, there is a crown of life for us.