Apostles Church

The Church Jesus Wants. The historical setting of the book of Revelation. Jesus vs Caesar.  Written to 7 historical churches in Asia, modern day Turkey, who live in Caesar's empire. The book was relevant for these churches. The cultural air that Christians of that day were breathing was the air of the Roman Empire, the world of Caesar. To these early Christians, everything in the culture told them Caesar is King. But the book of Revelation is unveiling the true nature of things - Christ is King and one day his reign will be fully established, his enemies will be his footstool. And we live in that reality even now. So the book of revelation is not meant to just give us the future, but to reveal the true nature of this world with Jesus as King and His Kingdom as the ultimate reality. What it was like to live in the empire of Rome and be a Christian, breathing the empire, and in particular for this church in Smyrna.

The City of Smyrna Still exists today. 35 miles north of Ephesus. It was destroyed in 580 BC and then rebuilt in 290 BC. It re-emerged as a prosperous seaport. Because of this re-emergence it was called "The City that Died, Yet Lives."  It's wealth and prosperity put it in contention with Ephesus for the honor of being the foremost city of Asia, "The First City of Asia". In 195 BC Smyrna was the first city to build a temple to honor goddess Roma. Rome was an emerging world power at the time and this gave the city a lot of favor with Rome. In 26 AD it was awarded the honor of building a temple to the emperor Tiberius. It became the seat of emperor worship. It was a very prosperous city. It had a famous stadium, a library, and the largest public theater in Asia. As you approached the city by boat you would see large buildings lining the cliffs like a crown, so that poets called skyline, "The Crown of Smyrna" and Smyrna was called the Crown of Asia. The Citizens believed its prosperity was in large part due to its allegiance to Rome and its worship of the emperor.

There in this city, in the atmosphere of the empire and the seat of emperor worship, there was the Church, a band of followers who worshiped Jesus as the one Is the First and Last; the One who died but Lives, the one who bestows an unfading crown upon his faithful people. They did not worship Caesar. Their loyalty was to Jesus and Jesus alone. An edict from Domitian declared that in the Empire, Each year every citizen, had to burn incense on Caesar's altar after which he was issued a certificate.  If you did not have a certificate, you risked discovery and the death penalty. But, the Christians did not bow the knee to Caesar. They faced immense persecution and historians note that many Christians were martyred in Smyrna.  Text describes the nature of the tribulation.

Economically oppressed. When Jesus addresses their poverty, he sets it in the context of their persecution. Tribulation and poverty are linked together. The Poverty of these Christians was not due to normal economic conditions (the city was prosperous) or to any laziness on their part. Their poverty was a result of having their property plundered, being looted by hostile mobs, and not being able to earn a living as a Christian because the pagan culture refused to hire you. Remember that Smyrna credited its allegiance to Rome for its success. So, when people refused to give their loyalty to Caesar, they were distained by the citizens of the city and often became objects of persecution. This was not uncommon in the early Church. This is why there was such a call to hospitality because many lost their jobs, had the property plundered or had loved ones who provided for them imprisoned. Hebrews 10:34 speaks of Christians who experienced this. There are Christians today all over the world who encounter this very thing.

Slandered. In the city of Smyrna there was a large Jewish population. Rome allowed the Jews religious freedom, they were exempt from the Imperial cult and could freely worship God in the synagogue. The first Christians were Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah King they were waiting for so Christianity was initially seen by the Romans as a Jewish sect. However, the Jews did not see them that way. They saw them as deviant. And they feared that because of the Christians seditious proclamation that Jesus is King and not Caesar, they feared that if Rome identified the Christians with them, they would suffer for it and lose their religious freedoms and synagogues that were such a part of their lives. So, the Jews of Smyrna took a very hostile posture toward the Christians. They slandered them; they took the side of Rome against them, and in doing so, took the side of the enemy of God's people, not just Rome, but Satan himself. So, the Christian community is slandered, having their reputations marred because of their allegiance to Jesus.

Imprisonment and death. The purpose of Roman imprisonment was not rehabilitation, but to await trial and execution. The reality that these Christians are facing is that many of them are going to be put in prison, tried, and killed for their faith in Jesus. This imprisonment will last for a short period of time and will be an experience of tribulation for them. At the end of the short period, they will face the certainty of martyrdom. Jesus does not say he will rescue them from this. He says it is a test. They would face suffering and death for Jesus due to their allegiance to Him and not Caesar. The temptation they faced was to renounce Christ, and to assimilate into the culture by embracing the ethos of the Caesar honoring empire. But, they would not. They remained faithful even unto death. This was a trial that tested the validity and strength of their faith. We never really know the authenticity of our faith until it is tested. It is trials, tribulations, sufferings and persecutions that test the reality of our faith. These things kill false faith but strengthen true faith. The trials we face will reveal us as a person of faith or as a fraud. That is the nature of trials. Trials test our trust in and allegiance to Jesus.

Jesus wants a faithful church Jesus gives them a promise, "If they are faithful, he will give them the crown of life. Jesus will crown these faithful followers and vindicating them in the end. If they conquer, endure to the end, they would not be hurt by the second death. They would die, but their death would not be the last word, Christ  who died but Lives would raise them and give them eternal life, never to face ultimate judgment and death. These Xns in Smyrna remained faithful to Jesus throughout all these trials. They are one of 2 of the 7 churches who receive no rebuke from Jesus. They are faithful, pure, true, devout to the end.

There is a message here for us. Jesus says, if we have ears to hear this, then listen up to what the Spirit wants to say to Apostles Church. We don't face this kind of persecution, but we do face the temptation to assimilate into the dominant culture to avoid risk or loss or to secure comfort and gain. How would we have responded to this if we had lived in Smyrna? What if we faced impending imprisonment and death, slander, looting, plundering of property, vandalism, loss of job, and the threat of poverty due to our faith? Would we have remained loyal to Jesus and continued to love our neighbor? Or blended into the Caesar worshiping empire? We would like to think we would have. And we would like to think we would, should that ever become the atmosphere of our day. I think the answer to that question depends on how we answer these three questions.

Who is Your King? Jesus or Caesar? The reason these Christians remained so faithful was because of a vision of Jesus as their King. The First and the Last. The One who died and came to life. The letter of Revelation written to these 7 churches begins and is filled with visions of Jesus. Revelation 1.  You did not suffer and die for small things. If you have a small vision of Jesus you will not follow him when it cost you. Illustration: AD 155, the Bishop of Smyrna was martyred. Martyrdom of Polycarp - reveals the empires view of Christians as disloyal atheist who threatened the well-being of the empire. "The whole multitude, marveling at the bravery of the God-loving and God-fearing race of Christians, began shouting, "Away with the atheist! Find Polycarp! ...When the magistrate persisted and said, "Swear the oath, and I will release you; revile Christ, " Polycarp replied, "For 86 years I have been his servant, and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme the King who saved me?"

Which Kingdom do you live for? Let me be a broken record. In the Empire of Rome, every day you encountered images and icons that told the story of the empire. Caesars image was everywhere. On furniture, buildings, coins. You buy a cup of coffee and the coin has Caesar's image on it and the cup doesn't have a naked mermaid, it has the image of Caesar. Those images are meant to communicate a story that captures your understanding of reality and shapes your life. We live in the same situation today. The empire of our day, the cultural air that we breathe, the Kingdom of the American dream is trying to constantly capture our imaginations. Images and icons pass our mind everyday trying to sale us a vision of reality, a life shaping story that tells us what to pursue, how to look, what to own, and who to become if you are going to fit in, really count, and be happy. The temptation for us is the same as the Christians in Smyrna, to let the ideas of the culture dominate our thinking; the values of the empire determine our priorities; the preferences of the culture become the principles by which we live. To be captured by the same story the culture is captured by. It is the danger of Assimilation. What language do you dream in - the language of the empire, city of man, or the language of the city of God, the Kingdom. Do you dream in the language of the story of Jesus, a story of full devotion to God; of sacrificial love for God and for others; of giving our lives away so that we can truly find them, of righteousness and radical generosity...Or do you dream in the language of empire (power, possessions, pleasures) so that you end up living for the same things everyone else lives for. You don't die in the arena when you dream in the same language as the culture does. So Jesus is reminding the believers that His Kingdom is radically different than the empire. Faith, hope, love, sacrifice, generosity, compassion, service, suffering, righteousness, joy and peace - these are the things of Jesus' empire and it will survive and win in the end. The Kingdoms of this world will become the Kingdoms of our God and His Christ. Let that vision capture your imagination. Live for that reality though it is not the most visible one right now. Rome has crowned Smyrna but, Smyrna's crown will crumble, yours will last forever. Rome promises Smyrna life, but it will die; you will not ultimately be hurt by death.  

Are you a Consumer or a Citizen? Religious Consumers. They did not see themselves as consumers consuming religious goods and services. They saw themselves as citizens. Consumers bail during trial and persecution. Not  Citizens. They saw themselves as Citizens that belonged to this Kingdom, whose loyalty was given to it and who had a role to play in it. Illus. Membership class. Consumer to citizen.