Please be seated. Well, this is also Veterans Day weekend, as well as the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church. Let me just ask if there are any people who have served in our military or just stand up. We want to recognize you this morning if you've served in the military. Let's give these guys a hand. Thank you for your service. And let me also ask those who have served on the mission field to stand up. Before our missionaries stand up, if you've served on the mission field, there you go. Let's give these guys a hand. These are soldiers that operate in two different spheres, one in our country who fight for the freedoms that we enjoy here, the freedoms where we can worship together without persecution and our military has provided us with that freedom and they maintain that freedom for us. And our missionaries operate in a different sphere with an allegiance to a different king in a different kingdom. And that means that very often they are the ones that put themselves in harm's way. They put themselves at risk. As we already said, this is the international day of prayer for the persecuted church. And so this morning I wanted to talk about the persecuted church. You know, I remember it was in September on the woman's talk show named The View that some of you may be wondering what I was doing watching a woman's talk show. But I remember in September on the woman's talk show on The View, Rosie O'Donnell made a statement and she said that radical Christianity is as threatening as radical Islam in America. Now if you think about that, I think it betrays a misunderstanding on Rosie's part of both radical Christianity, radical Islam, and America. The difference between radical Christianity and radical Islam, one of the differences is this, that the former believes in spreading its message through dying while the latter believes in spreading its message by killing. That's a big difference. Christianity has always believed that the way to spread your message is to give your life for it, to die. That's different than almost any other religion in the world. We believe that dying is the way to spread the message, not killing. Now that's not to say that Christianity has always done that well, that Christianity has always done that perfectly because we haven't. We have erred very greatly and very deeply, especially if you remember in the time during the crusades and the Middle Ages. CS Lewis said if Christianity is ever really going to have an impact in the world, if Christianity is ever really going to be accepted in the world, then one of the first things that it must do, and one of the first things that it should do, how be it one of the things that has been yet to do, is to apologize to the world for all the atrocities that we had committed during the Middle Ages, and in other times in the Church's history. And I think Lewis may be right. So we haven't always done that, but that is the biblical message. The biblical message of Christ is come and die. And so this morning I wanted us to look at the persecuted church. We started a series last week on the seven churches in Revelation. This morning we're going to be looking at Smurna, and Smurna is the persecuted church. And one of the things that I wanted us to look at is that what we have to do is if we are going, I don't want us to just raise our level of awareness about the persecuted church this morning. That might be a good goal, that might be a good thing to do, but I'm not just interested in raising our level of awareness about Christians who are persecuted around the world. That's a virtuous goal, but that's not my goal this morning. My goal this morning is to change the way that you and I think and live, with respect to the values of the kingdom of God. I want to change the way that we think and live. In Western civilization, primarily. We have been sort of coaxed into this idea of pursuing the American dream, to pursue a kind of pain-free and trouble-free life of ease and comfort and safety and security. And these are not the values of the kingdom of heaven. And so I want to radically alter, radically change the way that we think about what is really important, about what really has value and worth for the kingdom of heaven's sake. And in chapter 2 of the Book of Revelation, beginning with verse 8, the first thing that we see in order to bring about this change is that we have to embrace the death and resurrection of Christ in order to radically change the way that we think, in order to radically change the way that we live, that is, to have a trajectory away from ease and comfort, safety and security and towards the idea of putting ourselves, if you will, at risk, to some degree. We have to embrace the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Look at what it says in verse 8. These are the words of Him who is the first and the last who died and came to life again we have to embrace the resurrection, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He is the one, he is the first and the last, he is the one who died and came to life again. Now notice what I didn't say, beloved, I did not say that in order to change the way we think and live we have to believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That is something that we all must do, that is something that is necessary for our salvation. What I am arguing here this morning is that simply believing in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is not enough to change the way that we think and the way that we live with respect to the values that we must have, the values that the Church of Smyrna had, we must embrace it and when I mean embrace it, I mean that we must look at the death and resurrection of Christ not simply as a belief, but as a pattern of life, we must embrace it as a pattern of life. This is a pattern of life, Jesus is setting the pattern, he is more than our example but he is not less than our example, this is our example of life, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is our example of life, it is a pattern of life, it is to be our lifestyle. This past Friday, Carol and I went up to Gainesville, a very dear friend of mine, who passed away, a mentor of mine, a friend of mine, a man who without the Lord putting him in my path, I probably would not be a Christian, I probably would not have come to seminary and I probably would not have become a pastor, he had a tremendous influence in my life, from the time I was a troubled teenager into my young adult years and then even into these last few decades of my life, he passed away, he was 63, his name is Larry Westmoreland, he has been down here before and some of you have met him and I went up to do his funeral and his funeral was taking place in the cemetery, I got there a little earlier and I was walking around the cemetery and looking at some of the gravestones and then people began to arrive and there were three of us pastors who were officiating at the funeral and so forth and many of his friends had come, there was no church service, we did the whole funeral in the graveyard and suddenly it dawned on me and I looked around and I said you know what, when I got up there was my time to speak, I said folks, we are in a cemetery, I mean that may be stating the obvious but we are in a cemetery and what that means is that we are surrounded by death and I said here is my friend's casket, this is Larry Westmoreland's casket, it is right next to me, I am right near death and I said what this tells us is these two realms, these realms, here we are, the living amongst the dead and what that says to us is that these two realms are a whole lot not closer than we might think they actually are. Life and death are two realms that are very close to one another even as even as it was sort of symbolically displayed before us that we were here, we are the living, the church, his friends, the people that he had poured his life into and his church were all there, we were alive, he was dead and we were surrounded by all these graves of the dead and I said you know when you are surrounded by death it makes you start to ask some questions and of course one of the questions that we are always want to ask, whatever we think about life and death seriously and soberly, one of the things that we always ask is is there life after death and that is a good question and what I said to the group that was there I said listen, that is a question that the gospel of Jesus Christ, that is a question that the new testament, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ answers infatically yes, yes there is life after death, it says yes with an exclamation point, is there life after death yes says the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ infatically yes, but I said you know is good a question that is and that is one we should ask and that is one that the Bible does answer for us infatically, I think sometimes the more important question isn't whether or not there is life after death but whether or not there is life before death, one check philosopher as I have quoted before has said you know the real problem with us isn't so much that we are going to suffer or that we are going to die but the real problem is that we sometimes die a premature death, that is a death where we go on living for a very long time afterwards, but that's why I want to say see not not so much is life after death but is there life before death because if there is life before death if you have the Christ life if you have eternal life if you have everlasting life you see now here at this time then you know that you have everlasting life after death see in order to have life after death you have to already have life before death and if you have life before death then death and life can become a pattern for the way that you think and live that's why I say it's not so much do you believe that's necessary you must believe it do you believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ but have you embraced it as a pattern of life if you want to change the way you think about Christianity if you want to change the way you think about the world in which you live if you want to change the way you think and live then you have to embrace the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and more than anything else beloved that's what I want to do I want to embrace this I don't want to just believe it I do believe it but I want to embrace it as a pattern of life as a way of living in this world and I want the values the Church of Smurna has look at the values that the Church of Smurna has to the angel of the Church of Smurna right these are the words of him who was the first and the last who died and came to life again there's the pattern of life there's embracing the pattern of life I know your afflictions and your poverty yet you are rich I know the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not but are of the synagogue of Satan here are the values of the Church of Smurna and I believe here are the values of the kingdom of God the kingdom of heaven the people of God the church the visible church which is a visible expression of the kingdom of God here on earth here are the values beloved the values are affliction and poverty and slander
Francis Schaefer said that the values of Western civilization can be reduced to two are pursuit for personal peace and affluence personal peace and personal affluence those are the values of Western civilization that goes back to what we said when we started the idea that we want to pursue a life of ease and comfort and safety and security we want to pursue a trouble-free and a pain-free life this is what we call the American dream but beloved what we have got to understand if we are going to change the way we think if we're going to change the way we live if we're going to have the values of the kingdom as opposed to the values of Western civilization and the values of the world then we must understand that in order to be rich in the kingdom of heaven it is a life of suffering and of poverty and of slander and of persecution and maybe prison and maybe death these are the antithesis of the values of Western civilization and those are the values that we are to have Jesus said lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth were moth and rust corrupt and thieves break into steel but rather do this lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven were no moth no rust corrupt and were no thieves can break in and steal that's the values of notice how Jesus causes he says to those who are suffering to those who are in poverty saying you are rich notice how Jesus talks about the values of the kingdom he talks about them as treasures laid up in store in heaven that's what we are to pursue that's what we are to seek that is to be our trajectory in life towards the treasures in heaven and away from the values of Western civilization
I don't want us to just give lip service and give honor and have a day that we pray for the persecution church I want us to value these things to the extent that we are put we ourselves are willing to put our own lives at risk that we are willing to go to the very places that we prayed for today that we are willing to go to North Korea that we are willing to go to Saudi Arabia that we are willing to go to Iran that we are willing to go to Iraq that we are willing to go to Afghanistan that we will leave our own safety and security and ease and comfort and that we will be willing to put our own lives at risk for the sake of the kingdom of heaven in order to do that you have to embrace the pattern of the death and life of Jesus Christ the life and death of Jesus Christ and the death and life of Jesus Christ the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and you have to adopt the values of the kingdom of heaven you know it was interesting one of the things that everyone said at my friends bar none this man collected nothing he owned nothing but a few books which he gave away before he died everyone who knew this man gave testimony what I said to the people that were gathered I said you know what sometimes God is pleased to put someone in your life that is an exhortation or a rebuke to the way that you live Larry did not seek personal peace and affluence his life was the very antithesis of it and yet young men and old men alike stood up and gave testimony men older than me men my age and young men who he had been ministering to and mentoring even up until the day he died stood up and gave testimony of how he poured his life into them he had nothing to show at the end of his days in terms of you know the values of western civilization he had everything to show in terms of the values of the kingdom of God I'm not saying we should all live like Larry I'm not saying that God doesn't prosper us and God has obviously blessed us with the things that we have and that's not bad it's only bad is if we think that is what life is all about and when we look at the Church of Smirna we see what made them rich and it was not personal peace and affluence it was the fact that they were suffering and that they were in poverty and that they were being slandered I know your afflictions and your poverty yet you are rich I know the slander those who say they are Jews and are not but are the synagogue of Satan do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer I tell you the devil will put some of you in prison and test you and you will suffer persecution for 10 days be faithful even to the point of death and I will give you the crown of life you know blood so often we think that the opposite of faith is doubt disbelief but the opposite of faith is not doubt the opposite of faith is fear and I think more than anything else our fears keep us from embracing the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our fears keep us from holding to the values and seeking and pursuing the values of the kingdom of heaven more than anything else over and over again the most one of the most frequent commands in all of scripture is do not be afraid why do you think that is it's because people are afraid I'm afraid and I know many of you are afraid as well and that's why our Lord our Savior right into the persecuted church he says don't be afraid you know John was not from Asia Minor John wasn't from the island of Patmos 60 miles off the coast of Turkey he went John was a Jew he was from Israel he went to this area he was taking this area he says in chapter 1 because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ we're not here upholding a life of suffering and affliction and poverty and prison and persecution and death because it has value in and of itself that's not what we're talking about here we're upholding these things as values as they relate to living a life for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus that's what gives these things value there is no value and poverty in and of itself there is no value in suffering necessarily in and of itself for the Christian there is no value in going to prison just for the sake of going to prison those things in and of themselves don't make you a better Christian or a better person necessarily there is only value when we do it because of the word of God and because of the testimony of Jesus and that's why John says he was on the island of Patmos and that's why these Christians are being persecuted in Smirna and yes when you are facing those things beloved you are afraid even more when we're not facing those things we're still afraid and what this is saying to us is don't be rather be faithful you see faithfulness is the answer to fear be faithful even to the point of death will give you the crown of life he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says unto the churches he who overcomes will not be hurt it all by the second death listen there is no promise with the Christian it says you won't be hurt by the first death your physical death we're all going to die that death every one of us those two realms of life and death are much closer than you think and every one of us are going to die that first death for some of us like my friend Larry or my friend Randy you may be blessed to die in your sleep for others your death may involve pain and suffering for some your death may be martyrdom and let me just say a word about that I am not saying that you should run off half-cocked go to travel someplace half around the world just to become a martyr there are some people who if they die a martyr in that sense would probably be sinning there are others who if you don't die a martyr you'll be sinned I am saying beloved is that we should embrace the death and resurrection of Christ to such an extent that it changes the way we think and live and what I am saying is that we should embrace the values of the kingdom of heaven to such an extent that we seek to live the kind of life that might put us at risk that might challenge us not to simply live lives that pursue ease and comfort safety and security trouble free and pain free lives I don't want us to just think about the persecuted church or pray for the persecuted church that's all good and that's well but I want us to live like the persecuted church I listen to a sermon this week by Scottie Smith at Christ Press and Franklin Tennessee and Scottie said he went down to the church in Cuba and ministered down there to the house churches that are meeting underground and they're really struggling right now and they're being persecuted and Scottie said when he got down there you know he said hey we're praying for you guys you know we're praying that God would bring democracy to Cuba the pastors there say wait hold up not so fast the democracy will be great but God is really doing something here right now God is really doing something here in Cuba right now and what we want you to pray for is that the will of God would be done beloved that's what I want us to pray for not only for our brothers and sisters around the world but for us that God would use us to accomplish his perfect and holy will let the church hear what the spirit of God is saying to her you will get the crown of life and you will not be hurt by the second death therefore because Christ is the first and the last because Christ is dead and died and raised again do not heavenly Father we thank you for the word of God for the testimony of Jesus we thank you that he is the first and the last the beginning and the end the alpha and the omega the one who is and was and will forever be we thank you Lord for him who has died for us who lived for us who was raised for us who was ascended on to throne for us we ask God that now you would be pleased to receive our worship and our praise that we would give you glory that we would understand Lord that everything that happens to us if we are in Christ happens for our good and for your glory whether Lord you do bless us with this kind of religious freedom that we have here in the United States or whether you take it away whether we end up living in lives of affliction and suffering and pain and sorrow and poverty and prison or death let us be committed to follow you Lord wherever you take us that we might be like the people in the church of Smirna most importantly that we might be known by you and Lord that you would preserve protect and defend your people not necessarily out of these things but in these things we ask this in Jesus name please rise as we