To Get A Crown, Crown Him LORD of all.
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Scripture Introduction
Disciples of Yeshua are rarely uncertain about Messiah’s commands to be faithful – and at the same time, they are often haunted by their own memories’ of giving in, giving up, quitting, running, abandoning the fight, sending someone else. If you know what it is to regret looking for an out when you should have stayed in…if you want encouragement to keep in the fight, push the ball a little further…then this passage is for you. You need not be ashamed that you need to hear this passage today, because here in Yeshua tells an entire messianic synagogue that to get a crown, you must stay in the fight despite the adversity that is happening or about to happen. If you are as human as they are, and need a little nudge towards faithfulness sometimes, read with me what we all need to know.
Scripture Reading
To the angel of Messiah’s community in Smyrna write: “Thus says the First and Last, who was dead and came to life. I know your tribulation and your poverty (yet you are rich), as well as the slander of those who say they are Jewish and are not, but are a synagogue of satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, so that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Ruach is saying to Messiah’s communities. The one who overcomes shall never be harmed by the second death.”
“To the angel of Messiah’s community in Smyrna write: “Thus says the First and Last, who was dead and came to life. I know your tribulation and your poverty (yet you are rich), as well as the slander of those who say they are Jewish and are not, but are a synagogue of satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, so that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Ruach is saying to Messiah’s communities. The one who overcomes shall never be harmed by the second death.”” (, TLV)
Prayer for Illumination
Heavenly Father, we have nothing to hide from you, there is no faking it with you. You know our public and private record. Yet, you do not abandon us, and you stay right by our side. We come before you today, all of us, with memories of regret, times we gave up too soon, heal our hearts and minds, wash us clean but today teach us your ways, give us a better source of power, a better love, a better faith, a better hope to stay in the fight, to get the crown you promise. Open our eyes to behold beautiful things from your Word today.
Introduction
Somewhere this morning, a husband and wife, are sitting down to breakfast with their children, smiling on cue at every funny joke, saying a prayer for their meal, but each of them is wondering, “What does God require when you no longer love the one you married?”
There is a widow, whispering her amens to every promise of divine providence that she hears on Christian Television, she is frightened to death because the un-killable beast of a wall-street drop has devoured her savings.
A father, the congregational model of hard work and integrity, is coming unglued because he cannot stomach, much less understand, why someone in his office is spreading lies about him.
A young mother just had her first child, she is in her car driving around in endless circles, she does not know what time it is right now, she has lost track, she is absolutely paralyzed, she does not understand why God let cancer form in her pancreas.
A faithful wife of one of the leaders at an Orthodox Synagogue is terrified because today they are going to lose all their friends and most of their family, including two of their three children, her husband will tell the Rabbi and other elders that He believes Yeshua is their Messiah.
Ordinary people, all of them, and there are a lot more where they come from. What they all have in common is a sense that everything is all wrong where it matters to them most. What they desperately need is a miracle of faith to know that life at the center is all right, but instead of a miracle of faith most of them will hear a gentle request, “Be faithful through this testing.”
For purposes unknown to me, but known to God alone, God places his people in situations where there will be no miracle deliverance, adversity is inevitable, and yet we are called upon in these moments to make Yeshua matter the most. We are promised that there is a crown at the end of the trial only if we crown Him Lord of our lives.
I think that most of us would like God to tell us that a miracle deliverance is coming rather than “you must bear your cross through this trial” and on a future day, “there will be a crown” waiting for you but during the meantime, “make Yeshua matter the most.”
Questions come into all of our minds, “God don’t you love me? God, I can’t do this? Why me? Yes, he matters but don’t I matter?” Trials and adversity test all of our faithfulness. There are only two outcomes possible to any trial: be overcome by them or overcome them. But we can overcome our most significant adversity by learning from Yeshua charge to the disciples at Smyrna that to be faithful to make Him matter most through all kinds of trials in
[Scripture Bond]. Instead of seeking miracle deliverance from trials, Yeshua motivates his disciples to make Him the first, and the last, the one who died but yet is alive.
Here is what Yeshua promises all of us, there is a crown, for those who crown Him LORD (the one who matters most). If the messianic Synagogue at Smyrna had a slogan, it would be this: We know how to suffer. There are only two congregations of the seven in Revelation that does not receive a rebuke from Yeshua and Smyrna is one of the two. We need to understand what it is that keeps Messiah’s people faithful during trials is making Yeshua matter the most, making Him Lord of all of our lives.
To be faithful through financial adversity, Yeshua must matter most to you (v.8-9a).
To the angel of Messiah’s community in Smyrna write: “Thus says the First and Last, who was dead and came to life. I know your tribulation and your poverty (yet you are rich), as well as the slander of those who say they are Jewish and are not, but are a synagogue of satan.
The believers in Smyrna were targeted for economic oppression (9a).
Tribulation and poverty are a hendiadys.
Smyrna was the “Beverly Hills” of Asia Minor due to its wealth and beauty. It was a city that had excelled in medicine and science. Some of the best silversmiths and goldsmiths in the world called Smyrna home. But to be in these guilds, you had to be a member at a Jewish synagogue or worship a roman deity or at least offer incense to Caesar.
What could be more comforting to the believers in Smyrna than Yeshua, saying he knows their economic oppression.
Financial hardship has a way of eating away at your faithfulness that could make even a locust envious. Poverty, lack, a loss is painful and strenuous, it can take the wind right out of your sails. Make every bill feel like a gut punch.
Yeshua does not trivialize their suffering or cheapen it.
Yeshua ennobles their pain and comforts them in it.
Exalts by comparing: Both opposed by power structures.
Comforts by presence: He is with them as Lord of Menorah.
Yeshua transforms their economic oppression into the riches of heaven.
Yeshua was greater than loss, lost opportunities, and lack of opportunities.
Captured by His Glory and Beauty
He is the First
He is the Last
Cheered on by His Victory
His Death
HIs Resurrection
Illustrate: Germanicus was looking to be triumphant in Smyrna.
Smyrna was just one of those prosperous towns. In the year 155 AD or so, only 50 years after this letter was written, there was a young man named Germanicus in Smyrna. He was named after Germanicus Julius Caesar, the name Germanicus was an honorary war title “meaning conqueror of the Germanic people.”
Germanicus family had high hopes for the son but late in his teen years, probably 18 or 19, he fell in league with a group that called themselves “Christians.” They were a weak group, barred from most of the guilds, many of them were among the poor classes. But their teacher Polycarp said he was a disciple of John, an eyewitness of Yeshua. And Polycarp cared for people, he gave more away than he would ever keep. He was an honest and generous old man, and that persuaded Germanicus to give his heart and life to Yeshua as Lord and God.
That caused no small stir in Smyrna. A young wealthy ruler believed in some Jewish person as Kurios es Deus, “Lord and God.” Poison, the Romans thought. They tried to persuade him to offer incense Marcus Aurelius and pay him homage, but he refused. I can only imagine what his friends and family said to him.
The proconsul called on him and pleaded with him in light of his young age to abandon this foolish religion. He had his whole life in front of him, ‘Don’t throw it away on some Jewish fable about a resurrected Messiah.”
We are told from historical sources that were present that Germanicus would not be conquered by fear, not be defeated by the fear of losing wealth or loss of opportunities. He stood his ground, and we are told that he did not hesitate when the wild beasts were released upon him in the stadium. We are told that he was looking for a better treasure than the treasures Rome could offer, that future life could offer, he had his eyes on the prize.
I imagine from that stadium Germanicus could see all the glimmering building that Smyrna was famous for, he saw all his wealthy friends in the stadium with the best clothes and attire; yet, in all this, he saw an even greater treasure, a treasure so high it made all of this look like rubbish.
A faithfulness that remains strong and steady day-in-and-day-out through financial adversity arises seeing Yeshua as mattering more than money.
We are rich because we have what will save us unto eternity.
Babylon the great is a splendidly wealthy city that falls apart at the appearing of one in outdated clothes, on a horse, not a car, with a sword and not a gun.
When the world boasts of its wealth, we know there is a much better treasure.
We don’t measure our wealth in dollars, cents, phones, cars, and houses but in Messiah’s death and resurrection.
Yeshua also tells the messianic Synagogue in Smyrna that he knows all about the social hostility they were going through. To be faithful during social hostility, Yeshua must matter more than your most essential relationships.
I know your tribulation and your poverty (yet you are rich), as well as the slander of those who say they are Jewish and are not, but are a synagogue of satan.
To be faithful during social hostility, Yeshua must matter most to you (9b-c).
They were the target of public scrutiny (9b)
Slander slays a relationship by twisting the truth.
Slander was working against the Smyrna Disciples (v. 9b).
Slandered as Idolaters
Accusations of Incest
Accusations of Incest
Charges of Cannibalism
Allegations of False ID
Slander was the impetus for Roman persecution.
This was a family fight over “who is now Jewish?” (9c).
The Synagogue said that if you aligned with Yeshua, you are not a Jew and so they set to the art of exclusion.
Synagogue of Accusers instead of Synagogue of Praises.
The same thing Paul does in .
Any place of worship can turn into a den of accusers.
Miroslav Volf defined exclusion in his book as:
The act of cutting the sacred bond and treating the other person as an enemy or as a person so excessive that you can abandon them with no consequence.
Or it is seeing someone as inferior to you and must be subjugated to you or expelled from you.
Either way, exclusion always leads to violence, whether physical, spiritual, emotional, or mental.
Mention ways, they were excluded.
The most Jewish thing you can do is believe in Yeshua and be part of His family (9c).
Abandoned by men but Adopted by God.
John’s point is clear: those who denounce disciples of Yeshua were not real Jews; and, on the other hand, those Jews and Gentiles who professed faith in Yeshua were the true representatives of Israel’s doctrine, covenants, and hope.
Yeshua, not Caesar declares who is indeed Jewish. Yeshua was concerned about the self-styled apostles at Ephesus, but here in Smyrna, he is worried about the self-styled Israelites (cf. ).
Illustration: Slandering those who want to promote the Gospel.
Recently the show “the Family” on Netflix follows the story of a supposed clandestine Christian group that is trying to invade Washington and the nations of the world with its ideology. And what do you say is this dangerous ideology? The promote prayer, they encourage the family, family values, they help bring peace between enemies. Yet, the principal reporter Jeff Sharlett casts this 84-year-old ministry in a narrative that says, “it’s not about faith, it’s about power.” That is how slander works, just tell the story and cast it in a negative light.
It’s secretive not it wants to make Yeshua great.
It’s anti-LGBT not it wants family values.
It’s ideological not it wants to preach the Gospel.
It’s treacherous not it intends to promote prayer and peace.
Yet, despite the public slander and ridicule the men and women whose lives have been touched by the Gospel of Yeshua all say the same thing, “They are part of an unashamed fellowship, a family with Messiah at the head.” They will endure all kinds of public shame and ridicule because they have found a friend that sticks closer than a brother.
3. Application: Here is the question, “Whose family matters most to you?”
The most Jewish thing you can ever do is believe in Yeshua, and the most un-Jewish thing you can ever do is reject Yeshua.
The more we lean into his embrace, the easier it is to pass through the trials of exclusion unhinged but also to embrace the stranger, the outcast, the poor, and, yes, even the “other.”
If John had stopped the message at v.9, I think we would all be significantly challenged. Challenged to make Yeshua matter most in financial hardships and during social adversity. This last trial, well it challenges us way beyond any human ability. The challenge is to make Yeshua matter the most to you when it might cost you everything.
Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, so that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Ruach is saying to Messiah’s communities. The one who overcomes shall never be harmed by the second death.”
At a minimum being faithful meant some prison time and at a maximum, it might mean death for the disciple at Smyrna (v. 10-11)
The “Do Not Fear Command” changed the world.
The true cause behind the trials is revealed.
The trials of some will only be temporary.
The purpose of the trial is revealed: Faithfulness on the part of God’s people shows the world a family worth being part of.
Daniel’s Testing for 10 Days
The Three in the Lion’s Den
Nehemiah’s Wall of Testing
The command to ultimate allegiance.
Only Yeshua could give the command to die for Him.
Only faith in the ONE who holds the power of death and life in his hands could
Inspire this kind of courage
And offer this kind of reward (10c-11). 2.
Illustration: Polycarp, “Eighty-six years I have served him, and he has done me no wrong. How could I blaspheme my King, who saved me?”[1]
In Smyrna, Germanicus was not the only one who died in the Smyrna Arena. We know there were many others and at least 12 who were martyred in the days of Germanicus’ fight. The most outstanding was Polycarp, an original disciple of John the Apostle and received his shmicha/ordination from some of the original apostles.
He was well known and well-loved. He left behind one letter he wrote the Philippian congregation that can only be described as unpretentious, humble, and direct. He just was a nice guy that cared about God’s people.
After the death of Germanicus, a good Roman boy, the crowds wanted the death of the man that could poison such a good roman with such lousy stuff as the Gospel. So they called for Polycarp’s death. Soldier’s were dispatched, and Polycarp’s disciples took him into hiding. Polycarp was betrayed by a pair of servants, a pair of former slaves he had freed and employed in his home. Eventually, the soldiers caught up to him. What did he do, the historical account says he made them a meal and gave them something to drink. He asked to pray, and his praying was so powerful that they did not interrupt him until he finished two hours later. The soldiers recounted that they were ashamed to arrest such a decent and noble person.
Like Germanicus, he was asked to renounce his faith, to consider his old age and the pain this was going to cause him. He said to the crowd, “Eighty-six years I have served him and he has done me no wrong. How could I blaspheme my King, who saved me?”[2] He said to do this would be to repent from a greater to a lesser and that is evil; he said, we only repent from the lesser to the greatest, King Messiah Yeshua. At this, the crowds, filled with Jews and Gentiles, broke out into a mad frenzy calling for his death.
And there he died but the reports from the eyewitnesses say there was one in the fire with him, comforting him, and that the flames did not burn his body but the soldiers had to stab his side to make the blood pour out from him.
There was something about the way Polycarp died as a martyr, something about his faithfulness that the historical record showed that the persecutions in Smyrna began to decrease. The people, Jews and Gentiles alike, saw His God in action and something about that provoked both fear and genuine curiosity.
I hope that none of us would ever be called upon to “be faithful unto death” or face imprisonment for “ten days.” Most of us probably wonder, “Would I be faithful, would Yeshua matter the most to me, even if it cost me everything?”
The marks of unfaithfulness: Unforgiving, Arrogant, Stir up Strife, Quick to Anger, Critical, Pattern of Private Recreational Sin.
The marks of faithfulness: quick to forgive, okay with others being right, content with what you have, keep your shalom, unifier, see the potential for embracing others.
And all this is because Yeshua matters the most to you.
My definition of Faithfulness – Yeshua always matters most to me.
Conclusion
I know some people think my definition a little extreme, I might be labeled a hard-line fundamentalist. Let me just ask you this question, “Don’t you require a standard of faithfulness from things and people in your own life?”
If your car starts once every three tries, is it reliable?
If your refrigerator only works on Wednesday and Friday, do you say, “Oh, well, it works most of the time”?
If your spouse promises to only cheat on you once a week, is your marriage really okay?
If your boss only pays you half of what you are owed, is that a job worth keeping?
Do you apply the same standards of faithfulness to your commitment to Yeshua as you do to other things and people in your life? We expect trustworthiness and reliability from things and other people. Why should we be surprised when Yeshua says, “be faithful to make him matter the most?” The problem is that in most of our modern western religious thinking, we think there is something wrong with God or with us if we don’t get a miracle chariot ride out of a trial. We have to reclaim one of the most essential teachings of our Messiah, “The victors crown, belongs to the one who always crowns Yeshua, LORD!”