Sermon for 3rd Advent Sunday December 12th, 2021: “There is hope for a tree…”
(Please read ISAIAH 9: 6-7 & ISAIAH 11: 1-4; MATTHEW 11: 1-12; REVELATION 2: 8-11)
Last week we learned that the hallmark of the model church is love for God and for the saints. The church at Ephesus had, unfortunately, forsaken its first love. If the first mark is love, the second is suffering. A willingness to suffer for Christ proves the genuineness of our love for Him. The church of Smyrna was a suffering church. Christ writes a letter to commend and comfort and crown this church.
Surrounded by imposing hills Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey) was known as the Crown City. It was a beautiful flower and wealthy (one of its streets was, literally, paved with gold); and, like Ephesus, was deeply pagan in its religious worship. Its cultured communities, both Jew and Gentile, favoured Rome and its gods, from Aphrodite to Zeus, and gladly swore allegiance to the Emperor when called to do so once a year. In the eyes of the world this place was rich. You’d get your children’s names down quickly to have them schooled in Smyrna!
A small, struggling church in Smyrna was surrounded, not only by hills, but by a large majority who would do them terrible harm to preserve their peace, their plenty and their power…
The name Smyrna means myrrh. Myrrh (for ever associated with the birth, death and burial of Jesus) is a fragrant spice which (when extracted from a certain tree) must be crushed to bring out its full fragrance. During Domitian’s rule thousands of Christians were brought into the amphitheatres of Rome to be fed to lions while spectators cheered. Many were crucified; others were covered with animal skins and rent asunder by wild dogs. They were covered in tar and set on fire as human torches. They were boiled in oil and burned at the stake.
Justin Martyr was beheaded and Polycarp the aged soldier of Christ was burned at the stake. When Polycarp was 86 years old, he was pressured by the Roman proconsul to renounce Christ to be set free. He answered, "Eighty and six years have I served Him and He never did me any injury. How then can I blaspheme my King and my Saviour?" Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. Smyrna’s most famous son believed…
It’s no accident, of course, (and nothing ever is in the bible), that Jesus introduces himself to this church as the First and the Last, who died and came to life again…and not for the first time in the early chapters of Revelation. John had already met this one, fallen at his feet like a dead man, but felt His hand upon him and heard the strengthening words, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades…” (Rev 1: 18)
What a comforting word for those facing persecution and likely execution because of their love for Jesus. The one who has already gone through suffering and death, as a human being, has come out the other side in His glorious resurrection. Death could not hold Jesus Christ and death, though a fearful and mysterious prospect, does not (will not) have the final word for the disciple who suffers and loves for Christ’s sake. Many times we are warned in scripture that the one who loves Jesus is destined to face persecution. The Christians of this era were crushed and persecuted, but the more they suffered, the more fragrant was their testimony. “We multiply whenever we are mown down by you; the blood of Christians is seed.” (Tertullian Apologeticus, 50, s. 13).
Those who believe in Jesus are, at the end of the day, indestructible. “The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death…” (Rev 2: 11). Their names are written in the book of life. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me. That is Jesus’ final word to those who are suffering because of Him.
9 I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich! Christians at Smyrna were certainly not rich, materially. Their suffering and their refusal to bend the knee to anyone other than Jesus meant they were denied work or housing. They had nothing of the city’s wealth. Destitute. There are Christians the world over who know this experience today.
I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. They faced false accusations: they were cannibals…attended love feasts (orgies!)…anti-family…atheists…they were even to blame for earthquakes!
I know by experience. You are not alone in your struggle! They do it to you…they do it to me. Wherever you go, I have been there already and I am there and can and will keep you to the end!
In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. (Hebrews 2: 10)
17 For this reason he had to be made like them fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. (Heb 2)
For all this, Jesus calls them rich, ‘the poor rich church’! When he judges a church, Jesus doesn’t see the things that are the way we do. We look for success, and power and influence. We look at the surface. We look for the mighty, lofty trees. We judge by appearance. He is God and looks at our hearts. Do they love me; are they willing to suffer, even to the point of death? (We won’t know until we face it, of course).
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; 4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. (Isaiah 11)
33 See, the Lord, the Lord Almighty, will lop off the boughs with great power. The lofty trees will be felled; the tall ones will be brought low. 34 He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax; Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One. (Isaiah 10)
We probably would not choose Smyrna for a church to belong to! 11 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit (Isa 11). From the tiniest of sprouts came the kingdom. As He told Pilate, His kingdom is not of this world…
The old men on the committee saw an insignificant little cobbler from Northampton. The Lord saw the father of modern missions…
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.
And, they would be afraid, of course! Even the redoubtable John the Baptist felt afraid in his prison cell. It is the refrain of Advent and Christmas, do not be afraid. We need to hear that command over and again because in the end, believer, this too will pass!
Jesus never promised His disciples a rose-garden. He doesn’t order the release of John, his friend, from jail. He calls us to endure. But he did promise all who suffered for Him; that He would be with them in and through it all. What a consolation for those who are suffering and poor (not stumbling) on account of Him.
Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown. 11 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.
In the depths of despair, Job once said this: “7 At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. 8 Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, 9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.
He also said: 23 “Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, 24 that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead or engraved in rock forever! 25 I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; 27 I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
In the final analysis – as one person put it - “If you have Christ, then all your pain is temporary. If you don’t then all your pleasure is temporary!”
In the end, it will all be worth it! When the Christ who was and is and is to come, when he returns… the sun will never set again…the Lord will be your everlasting light…days of sorrow will end…people will bring gold and incense (no myrrh)…only praise! (Isaiah 60)
There is hope for a tree; there is hope for you and me!
MFR 09/12/21
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