Smyrna
Tom Shrader teaches on Jesus' letter to the church at Smyrna, emphasizing that suffering is an inevitable part of the Christian life but is temporary and purposeful. He explains that Jesus knows our tribulation, poverty, and persecution intimately because He experienced them Himself. The message encourages believers not to fear suffering but to see it as God's means of producing endurance and spiritual maturity.
“No matter how bad it gets, it can only last a lifetime.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: The 7 Churches (2010)
Recorded: 2010 at Cannon Beach Conference Center
Duration: 54 min
Themes: suffering, persecution, endurance, fear, tribulation, poverty, maturity, hope, facing persecution, experiencing poverty, going through trials, new believer, struggling with fear, church member, feeling discouraged, young adult
Scripture: Revelation 2:8-11, 2 Corinthians 4:7-11, James 1:2-4, 1 Corinthians 1, Acts 8:1, 2 Timothy 4, 1 Thessalonians 5:18, John 9
Theological Themes: sanctification, spiritual maturity, ecclesiology, church growth, divine sovereignty, pastoral care, christology, eschatology
Full Transcript
We come before You, and our words are limited, they're inadequate. They do often represent exactly how we feel, and for that we're grateful that You give us the power to communicate. But God, what we love this morning is that You've spoken to us, that we don't have to wonder or guess or speculate what You think or how You feel about how we live.
Father, we pray this morning and for the rest of our time here that as we look at these churches that You spoke to, that we would see where we fit in this scheme. We may have been last night and looked at the church at Ephesus and thought, hmm, not me. Father, maybe it's today as we look at the church at Smyrna. Father, I pray that what You do in our lives here will not just be something that happens and stays at Cannon Beach, but really transforms us so that we would have informed mind and transformed hearts, and we would live radical lives.
That whatever the norm is, we would move in a different way. That we would go with the flow only if the flow was heading where You wanted us to go. So God, thank You for that. I pray for this sweet spirit and moment we have here in the room right now, and that You would use this time for Your honor and for Your glory. We pray in Christ's name, Amen.
Introduction to Smyrna
Well, good morning. It's great to see you this morning. Why don't you open your Bibles to the book of Revelation in the second chapter. We're going to pick up exactly where we left off. I know kind of in this session and then of course, again tomorrow, because tomorrow, Sunday kind of opens up to the community. We'll have people who will be with us who will just drop in. They'll do kind of a one-off. They'll do just that session. So we'll spend a little bit of review. And then my suspicion would be that there's some of you that are here this morning, staff, no flash photography, please, staff or whatever it might be. And maybe you weren't here last night.
So let me just tell you what we're doing. We're looking at the seven churches that Jesus addresses in the book of Revelation. So we spent the time last night. This is the revelation of Jesus Christ. That word revelation means unveiling, disclosure, uncovering. When we look at the book of Revelation, I hope we understand the main character is Jesus. We learn about Him, His actions, His desires. We know the culmination of this is ultimately that He will return.
He defines Himself, we'll see it again today, as the Alpha Omega, the first last. His power, His might, His majesty. How great is our God? That's just become one of those, it's the duct tape of music is how I describe it. It's like a croissant. You can put anything on a croissant and it tastes good. You can have just any sort of worship set and then you put how great is our God in the end and everybody walks out and says, that was incredible. I mean, it's the duct tape of worship. It's not that worship wasn't good, but you think about God's majesty and power and greatness and He comes back to that.
The Seven Churches Pattern
We said that He addresses these seven real churches and they're churches that represent churches in all times, in all days, all ages and actually represent each person as well. So we urge you not so much to be here and think about your church and necessarily the DNA of your church, unless you're the pastor and can do something about it. This is not to load up your gun and go back and say, this is who we are and we need to change. This is for you to examine your life. And so to take each one of these seven characteristics and see if they apply to you.
Now, those of you who are mathematicians understand that we have six sessions, seven churches. So I'm still trying to figure out exactly how that's going to work, but somehow we'll deal with that. But we'll certainly focus today on the church at Smyrna.
There's a general pattern, remember we saw last night and we see an exception today, by the way. The general pattern is there's a recipient that's addressed, there's a strength that's mentioned and then a weakness, then oftentimes an action and then a promise. As I said, that's a general pattern and today is the exception. It's the shortest of these seven letters.
Reading the Letter to Smyrna
Let's read it. It's Revelation 2, verse 8. "And to the angel of the church at Smyrna write, the first and the last who was dead and has come to life says this, I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you're about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison so that you will be tested and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be fruitful until death and I will give you the crown of life. Verse 11, he who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches, he who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death."
So like all of these letters, this is addressed to the angel at that city, that is the lead pastor, the communicator, the one that's written, that's the teacher. Again, in our context, it might be a senior pastor. It's the one who's doing the teaching. He's the one who would receive this letter.
The Exception: No Condemnation
Now, I said it was a general pattern. When we read through there, you noticed something significant just as compared to just the church from last night. There's no negative mention. Last night, we talked about the universal language of love. Today, we talk about the universal experience of suffering.
The Inevitability of Suffering
Suffering for you and me is not optional. It's not mandatory. It's simply inevitable. And the fact that you and I are followers of Christ doesn't change that. We don't, when we come to Christ in repentance and faith, cease to be human. And suffering is part of the human experience. It's just the stress of life.
We just find stress this way. It's just the wear and tear of living. Your body begins to slow down. The more you love, and all of a sudden, you have children. Somebody said this, that once you have a child, it's as though there's a piece of your
heart that's taken out of you and walking around forever. And so all of a sudden, now you have a relationship. You grow up. You maybe get married. You have kids. There's just brokenness in relationships and hardness that comes to that. There's the wear and tear of experience of things around you. Sometimes your fault, but sometimes not.
Some people that are walking around right now are just kind of caught in this tsunami of this economic condition we're in. Maybe you've done, by and large, everything right, been at that same company for 18 years or 23 years or just a month or two away from being vested, and then something happens. You have some product, and somebody on the other side of the world invents something that makes what you invented, what you work for, what you sell, obsolete just like that. It happens so quickly.
You have a relationship that's broken. You have the body that wears down. We were talking the other day, and I was with one of these guys. I tend to not be an optimistic guy. I tend to be pessimistic. I believe the glass is half empty and leaking like a sieve, and it's just the way I see life. I'm sorry. And so I'm with one of these positive guys, and he's talking about growing old and how great it is, and I said, the only great part about growing old is you're close to dying. That's the only thing I can see that's great about it. I don't see anything else particularly great about it. Your body's wearing down. Things don't work or do work or overwork. It just goes on and on, but it's part of life, and you and I, as followers of Christ, are not excluded from that.
The City of Smyrna
So He writes to the angel, the messenger. Let me tell you a little bit about Smyrna. Smyrna means literally myrrh. Has a wonderful history. Founded about 1000 B.C. It was called the crown of Asia for the sweet aroma in the city. Alexander the Great intended for Smyrna to be a magnificent city, almost literally the first planned community. Huge public library. It was on one of the largest harbors, but had this kind of beautiful screening from the sea. It was the birthplace of Homer, who wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey.
They developed a transportation grid for moving people and goods through the city. It had a predominantly, and this must have been the same city planner that planned several of the communities in Arizona, western wind. And so the flowers were on that side of town, and it would blow that beautiful fragrance into town. But as they began to develop the city, they put in place this elaborate sewage system that dumped all the waste. So the predominant wind now blew the sewage back in them.
It was a free city, much like we saw last night. The Romans did not occupy it. Cicero called Smyrna one of our most faithful and ancient allies, speaking of their loyalty to Rome. In 195 BC, it was the first city in the world to erect a temple to the goddess Roma. In 26 AD, there was a bid that was put out, three cities vying for the privilege to build a temple to the godhead Tiberius, and Smyrna won that bid.
It had an influential Jewish population, and they were active in the city, about 10,000 Jews there. And the city of Smyrna was extraordinarily hostile to Christians. It had a heathen and pagan culture, and heathen religion flourished in Smyrna. Zeus, Hermes, Apollos, Mercury, all were worshipped there, and the reoccurring chant in the city was, "Caesar is Lord." So it's against that backdrop. You can kind of put that together and see, and obviously in our reading, just cursory reading of that, you can see that suffering is a key part of this city.
Jesus Identifies Himself
So Jesus identifies Himself in the second part of verse 8, and very similar to last night, these things say the first and the last. So there's the Alpha and the Omega again. There's that picture of God's sovereignty and control. And He adds this, He who was dead and came to life. Jesus is going to talk to them about suffering, but not in an abstract, theoretical way.
He's going to talk about someone, meaning Himself, who doesn't say, "I feel your pain." He can say, "I've been there." I was born. I lived. I died. I experienced the best and the worst of life. I know suffering and pain and death. All the things that we associate with the last hours of Jesus' life, but all those things that He had for so many years.
Essentially, as we understand it, like three decades lived in, relatively speaking, anonymity. Carpenter, woodworker. I don't watch it often, but when it's on, I will stop and watch Antique Roadshow. And imagine if somebody comes in, they stop in Jerusalem, and somebody comes in, and the guy picks it up, and he said, "This is an amazing stool. Tell me, how did you get this?" "Well, my great, great, great, great, great ancestors bought it years ago. It would have been sitting in our family here in Jerusalem forever." "Do you have any idea what it's worth?" "No? No, I really don't." "Well, notice this down here. It says, it says, Jesus. We believe Jesus the Savior made this stool." That would be kind of cool, wouldn't it? So there are some of those floating around, right?
And He's got brothers, sisters, family, and so my assumption is He has all the pains that you do. We kind of think that by the time He starts His public ministry, His Father's dead. So He's experienced that loss, and He speaks to you in that way.
Jesus Knows Their Suffering
Here's what He says. Look at verse 9. "I know," again, not just my observations. I know about you, but I also know about suffering. I know it factually, experientially. I care. "I know your works. I know your tribulation. I know your poverty. I know the blasphemy of those who say they're Jews and they're not. They're in the synagogue of Satan."
I was invited to pray before a city council meeting. These happen to all, but there's nothing particularly special about that at all.
The Power of Prayer and God's Knowledge
I was invited to pray before our city council meeting. So I went to the council meeting, and when I got there, they said, no, you're the closing prayer. So I got to sit through this entire city council meeting, and we didn't even have a Walmart or something coming in, which could have made it an interesting meeting. It was just dull, dreary stuff.
So the mayor said, "Pastor Schrader is here"—I don't like that too much. I'd rather just be called Tom. I don't call you Salesman Bob. But that's just my preference. So Pastor Schrader is here to close our meeting with prayer. And you could just hear the lack of excitement in the room.
The reason is simply this. Most guys, when they get in there, believe that this time to pray is their opportunity to lecture the city council. So they'll say, "Father in heaven, you've given us this city to live in. We have our challenges. Lord, you know, and we bless and pray that the council will deal with all of these issues that face us today. Father, let's review the issues..." I mean, that's kind of how these prayers go.
So the only guys that wanted to get out of there faster than them was me. So I said, "Father, thank you for today and thank you for these men and women who faithfully serve. God, we pray to you for two reasons. Number one, we think you care. Number two, we think you can do something about it. Amen." And you could almost hear a spontaneous applause. They had blocked out a half hour for that.
Two Essential Assumptions in Prayer
I don't know if you ever think about it in those terms, but when you pray or when you talk to God, when you relate to Him, there's two assumptions that you make that are really important. Number one is that He cares. And number two is that He can do something about it. If you don't think He cares, or if you think He cares, but He can't do anything about it, you're really—well, why are you praying to Him?
Now, to do something about it may be a different solution than my solution. But this is what He's saying. I know these things. Not to terrify you, not simply to inform you, but I know them. And the idea there is much deeper than I just know about them factually. I know about them experientially. I care about these things. This is important to me. And I want to do something about it.
I Know Your Tribulation
I know, and He lists three words there, and we'll just take a second. I know your tribulation. The word means literally you're crushing beneath the weight. And it's the idea of a constant pressure.
So if you think of myrrh, myrrh and the fragrance, myrrh is thought of in kind of two or three ways. As a perfume, it was used in pagan ceremonies, it was used in embalming. Myrrh did not become myrrh and the fragrance until it's crushed, the constant pressure.
He says, I know this. I know the crushing of the weight that you feel. Fill in the blank there. What is that for you? What is that? Is it a physical thing? Is it an emotional thing? Is it a spiritual battle? It's that constant struggle. It's that thing that when your head hits the pillow at night, it's that thing that your mind rushes to. It may be the first thought in the morning. It may be this thing that you feel like you just can't simply get away from. I know this tribulation.
You do not have gods—these ancient gods that were stone gods or wooden gods or remote gods, and they were afraid of them. And they tried to sacrifice to them to kind of buy them off or manipulate them. But you have a living God, the one true God. He says, I know this tribulation. I understand the intensity of it.
Paul's Example of Tribulation
There's a magnificent section, at least in my mind, in 2 Corinthians 4 where Paul's writing, and he writes these words. "We have this treasure," in 2 Corinthians 4:7, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the surpassing greatness of the power of God will not be from ourselves." So we have this gospel.
And then he writes this. "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not despairing, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may be manifest in our body." I love that.
This is the apostle Paul. And again, let me read it to you. We're afflicted in every way. We're perplexed. We're persecuted. We're struck down. That's normative for him. He says, I understand this.
Jesus Is All You Need
He wrote this sentence, and I think it's true though. I can probably argue you could never get there. You don't really know if Jesus is all you need until you arrive at the point where Jesus is all you have.
It's so easy to sing, and I love the song, "Your Grace Is Enough." Let me stop there. I'll give you just an insight of how goofy church can be. We had three couples that left our church over that song because there's a line in there, "remember us," and they're saying, "Well, God never forgets." I said, "Really, adios."
"Your grace is enough." It's pretty easy to sing that at Cannon Beach, but can I sing that every day? You get that. You don't need me to grind that again and again. He knows that tribulation. Your grace is enough. You're all sufficient. You're all I need. I can say that, but I don't know if I really know that until I get to the point where He's really all I have, and then it kicks in, and you know what? His grace is enough.
I Know Your Poverty
I know your tribulation, and I know your poverty. Two words available to the Apostle Paul there that could be translated poverty. One means to eke out a living. It would be—Susan and I were back and forth from Flagstaff to Phoenix. It's a drive of about two, two and a half hours, and there's a place in the middle called Camp Verde, and there's not much there. There's a Starbucks there and a Quiznos there and a Wendy's there and a McDonald's there and a couple other things, but there's also...
We had stopped at a Denny's there, and we were hungry, so we went into Denny's, and we had a server. I started talking to her. She just seemed very nice, and I started talking to her, and then I said, where are you from?
I don't know, somewhere, but she's lived there eight years. How do you like Camp Verde? And I love Camp Verde, and I actually live in the city. It's eight minutes away. I said, how do you like working here? She said, and this is her jobs right now. I'm a server here. I train horses. I clean houses, especially windows, and I'm a store clerk. I'm a single mom.
The Nature of Biblical Poverty
I'm not saying she fits that, but it's that idea of poverty. One word available means eking out a living. I may be doing these things, but I'm barely getting by. The other word, and it's the word that is used here for poverty, means I have nothing at all.
So He says, I know that you have tribulation. I know that you are poor. That's kind of a characteristic of the church, really. In 1 Corinthians, Paul writes to the church in the first chapter, and he says, "For consider your calling, brethren. There are not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble."
That early church, and frankly, like most churches, really, is made up by pretty much average people. Take our church, for example. There are not many PhDs at our church. There are not many powerful people, politically. We see them this time of year, but once the election's over, we won't see them again. There are not many rich people. It's not to say that there aren't any PhDs or aren't any politicians or aren't any rich people. It's to say that's not really what the church is characteristically made up of.
Christ's Strategic Plan
As Jesus decides that He's going to take over the world, He does it in a way different than us. If you have a project to do, what do you do? Well, you get the best, the brightest, the richest. You figure out how to have a banquet. You figure out how to raise the money. You have some sort of strategic plan.
Jesus' strategic plan were these twelve guys. He loses one in the process, and to take these eleven guys, by and large, fairly unimpressive people, and to take this message to the entire world. And He says this: I just know, I know your poverty. I know the slander that you're about to say. I know the slander that you've experienced.
The Slander Against the Church
The blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and they are not. One author writes this: the persecution at Smyrna was made especially poignant by the fact that the great enemy of the local community were the community of Jews. They were God's people racially, but not really. They're like Larry King. Larry King is an agnostic who takes the Jewish holidays off. These are God's people racially, but not in reality. They're blaspheming God as they persecute the church.
Perhaps it was economic pressure from these Jews that brought the church to poverty and slander and accusation against them. Remembering that's what Satan is. And it's frankly always been this way. And the example is as great as the Apostle Paul.
The Example of Paul's Transformation
Remember in Acts chapter eight, we've got the stoning of Stephen. And as the young men took Stephen, the first martyr out to the edge of town to stone him, we're told in Acts chapter eight, verse one, that Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day, a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem. And some of the devout men, they took Stephen and made lamentations over him. But Saul began to ravage the church, entering house after house, dragging off men and women that he would put into prison.
This is the Saul who one chapter later becomes Paul. And all he does, he doesn't lose any of his intensity. He doesn't lose any of that. He simply changes jerseys. And now it's Paul who's on the receiving end of this.
It's Paul who's at Antioch. And they begin to persecute the Jews, persecute Paul and Barnabas. And they drive him out of town and he goes to Iconium and the Jews stir up the Gentiles against him. And they mistreat him and they stone him. And then he goes to Lystra and they stone him, meaning Paul, and they suppose him to be dead. And then he goes to Thessalonica and there's a mob that forms against him.
Turning the World Right Side Up
Their charge against Paul and Silas is they turn the rest of the world upside down and now they're here to do that to us. When in fact, Paul wasn't turning the world upside down, was he? What was he doing? He was turning the world right side up. He was allowing us to see things as they were meant to be.
He was going back and that really is our mission here. Though we understand we're never going to achieve it until Christ comes, but our mission as followers of Christ is to be part of His activity to push back the effects of the fall, to go into the office tomorrow and say, how would it be if we were conducting business pre-sin?
The Six Charges Against Christians
There were six charges. Again, this may be more stuff than you need, but there were six charges. There were dominant charges against them. Number one, that the Christians were cannibals and you know where that comes from, eating the body and blood of Christ. That their gatherings were orgies, these agape love fests, which is false. That they were ruining families, which is in fact kind of true because they were separating families. Christ becomes the delineation in many family relationships.
They were accused of atheism because they didn't have images and statues and candles and incense. They were politically disloyal because they refused to say that Caesar was Lord and they were exciting rebellion in that they told of a time when there would be a new king, Jesus. So those were all the charges against them.
So you can just take all of that and kind of bundle it together. I know your tribulation. I know the suffering, the poverty you're in, the slander that you're going through.
Do Not Be Afraid
Verse 10, Jesus screams this to the church at Smyrna and to every follower of Christ any place, any time. Do not be afraid. I understand what you're going through.
going through. I care. I can do something about it. Don't be afraid of any of those things which you're suffering. Indeed, this is an odd sentence. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison. Not all of you. Not all of you can be tested the same way. That you may be tested. You all have tribulations, 10 days of it. And that's figurative. That's this picture. You're going to have this brief suffering.
Jesus is not saying to you and me, let's be Pollyanna as we march through this world. Let's not pretend everything is okay. Let's not whistle through the graveyard. Let's not just live like everything's going to be happily ever after, just the way we wanted it. Remember what we said at the beginning? Suffering isn't optional. It's not mandatory. It's inevitable.
The Inevitability of Trials
It's what James writes in James chapter one. Count it all joy when you encounter various trials. Why? Because you know the testing of your faith produces endurance. I don't know if Janet mentioned the catalog that's over there. And I will tell you this. I have, in probably each of my last three or four trips up here, gone through that catalog. It is a magnificent archive to go back and to see the tapes and the teachings that old Joe Aldridge did when he was here. Old J. Vernon McGee when he was here. All these wonderful names and all these incredible men and women who have taught here. It's a great resource. It's a great privilege to have that.
Well, I think in about every message I've done here, I've done something on James chapter one, which is on suffering. Because it's the constancy of life. Count it all joy when you encounter various trials. Because you know something. You know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. Then when you say, Jesus, I want to be in this for the long haul, He hears you say, Jesus, let me suffer. Because that's what makes me strong.
Building Strength Through Trials
So I'm a big college football guy. So right now, right down there in my phone right now is the score of where the Iowa game is right now. And it's not hardly barely distracted me, hardly at all. Well, I know that three or four weeks ago, they began practice and they began two-a-days. And these guys have been lifting weights since really, since the Orange Bowl last year, they took a week off and they've been in the gym. And they do that and they push themselves and they push and push and push. Why do they do that? They break themselves down this way so they can build themselves up.
Trials come and break me down, not so that I'm broken down, but so that God can put me back together again His way. Motivated by His passions, not mine. Blessed is the man, James says, after he talks about suffering. Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he's been approved, he will receive the crown of life.
Paul sits and writes what we have as the last correspondence from him for us. In 2 Timothy 4, he said, for the time of my departure has come. I'm being ready to be poured out as a drink offering. I fought the good fight. I finished the race. I kept the faith. In the future, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award me on that day. Now, if we stop there, we go, good for you, Paul. But here's the next part of it. And not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. Is that you?
The Eternal Perspective
There is that day, that moment in time. What that looks like, I'm not really clear. I'm not really sure. There's that moment in time, Miller referred to it when he talked about when I will be in the presence of Christ forever. He says, indeed, I get this. I get it's difficult.
Here's a sentence that I coined a long time ago, and it's become one of those we come back to again and again and again. It's really important for us to remember. No matter how bad it gets, it can only last a lifetime. It doesn't matter how bad it gets. No matter how bad it gets, there's an end to it.
And what Paul's constantly asking us to do is to take out the balance, the scales. Remember the old balance where you put something on this side and you weigh it against something on that side? He said, I want you to weigh these out. Here is this life, this suffering, this pain, and it's real and it's hard and it's difficult. And I get it and I understand it. And I want to compare it to being with Christ forever. And when I put them on the scales, it just goes like this. There's no comparison.
Finding God's Perspective
Here's what he's saying. I need to be able to see God in my life and understand where He fits. I need to understand where He fits into my life. More importantly, where do I fit into His?
Suze and I were coming over to Cannon Beach, I can't, I don't know, a few years ago. And we rented a Mustang, big mistake. Couldn't get in and out of it. Spent the whole time trying to get in and out of this stupid thing. There's no room. But we rented it because it had two things I had never had before. It had a satellite radio, which was really cool, and it had GPS. And so Suze and I must have looked like my mom and dad in the car because we're trying to figure out how to get this GPS going. And we already know where we're going. But I want to see it.
Anyway, we get down here. So we're going to Seaside. And I punched in something. I can't remember what it was. And we're driving along and I kind of forgot that I'd punched it in. And all of a sudden, this voice came on and said this. As soon as possible, make a legal U-turn. And then, because we'd gone by it for a week, but you know, a block or two, we came back. And then it said this. You've arrived at your destination.
Well, that's really what the Bible's doing to me. It doesn't wait. It just says, make a left turn, make a left, make a right. The Bible tells me what's right, what's not right, how to get right, how to stay right. It gives me God's perspective on life. GPS, God's perspective on Schrader. It tells me how to live. It tells me what's key. And it tells me, ultimately, I will arrive.
at my destination. This is so important for us. It's so contrary to the world we live in. And this isn't anything you don't already know, but to be reminded of it again and again and again.
We are not in the land of the living going to the land of the dying. We're in the land of the dead going to the land of the living. This is all passing away. Not to minimize it, not to say it isn't important, but it's simply God leaving us here and using us here for a reason.
If all God wanted to do was get you to heaven, He would have taken you there at the moment you believed in Christ. But He left you here for a reason. And in the broadest sense, it's so you will be a display case for His grace and His mercy to the lost world.
God's Display Case
It's John 9. As they come into the city, they see a man who's been blind from birth and they say to Jesus, who sinned, this man or his parents? And Jesus said, neither, but that he might be a display case for the work of God. That's what you are. You're a display case for God's grace and God's mercy.
So the accusation against us as followers of Christ is that we're so heavenly minded, we're no earthly good. The reality I've discovered is most of us are so earthly minded, we're no heavenly good. So He said, you need this orientation.
Understanding Suffering
Well, let me take the last 10 or 15 minutes and talk about suffering. I want to give you the sources of suffering, and then I want to give you kind of a why we suffer and then how to react to suffering.
The sources of suffering, and I have four here. One of them is Satan or demons or demonic activity. Now, I want to make sure we have Satan in his proper perspective. He's not God, he's not omnipresent, he's not all powerful. So when you say, Satan attacked me today, I'm not really sure. There's 7 billion people he's got to deal with. I don't know how big you are on his pecking order, but maybe.
For most of us, he doesn't need to get that far. For most of us, he doesn't need to get that involved. He has armies and legions of demons and they're here to destroy you. There's an enemy who hates you. There's an enemy whose desire is to destroy you in any way he possibly can.
The second source of suffering is ungodly men or women or people. People who inflict pain on you. You can read the newspaper almost every day and see that.
The third one is the world system. There is a system and a value system that measures success different than God's system. So we look at a successful person, we'll look at how much he has or what he does or where he goes or where he lives. It's measured oftentimes in terms of teams, in terms of wins and losses. There's a world system that pulls us into that.
The World's Measure vs. God's Measure
Two weeks from today, Susan and I will be in Tucson and the University of Iowa is playing in Arizona down there and I've been invited to do the chapel for the team that day, which will be just like, I'm like a little girl going to a Britney Spears concert. I'm so excited, I can hardly stand it.
But I'm gonna talk to him and I've run this by some of my friends who played different sports and they said, the guys are gonna love this because it's gonna show that you really know them. But I'm gonna say, think of the plays from last year. And you all don't follow Iowa football, nor should you. But we won one game by blocking a field goal with like three seconds left, but they recovered it and got another kick and we blocked it again. Or there was in a Penn State game, one of the linebackers or linemen blocked a punt, recovered it, ran for a touchdown. We won the Michigan State game with no time left on the clock. One pass in the end zone, zero, zero, zero.
What I'm gonna say is the play that'll shape you most from last year is when the starting quarterback hurt his ankle and he was out for that game and the following game. And we had to go into Ohio State, terrible place to play, with a freshman quarterback that had never started a game.
See, the world would measure the success of last year by wins and losses. And I would say, no, you learn more in that defeat and the suffering and the hardship. Because most of you guys, most of these guys are never gonna play in the NFL and those that do will play for a few years. And then at some point in time, they've got to deal with the realities of this, the realities of life.
And the world system says, get all you can do, be all you can be, grab it all. And God says, you know what, it's not about you. And then suffering is caused by even believers in our own nature, our own mistakes.
Physical Condition and Spiritual Condition
Now, let me make a giant point here. It is not necessarily true that your spiritual condition is accurately reflected in your physical or material existence. So Paul's sitting in prison, he's been beaten, he's in jail, we would be wrong to therefore conclude that there must be something wrong with Paul spiritually. We sometimes think this, bad things happen, there must have been sin. Might be, but not necessarily so.
Well, let's flip it around. I'm not sure that Bill Gates is a spirit, I don't know. I don't know Bill Gates, he doesn't return my calls, Melinda does, but Bill doesn't. But I don't know, I don't know anything about him, I don't know if he goes to church, I don't know if he's a follower of Christ. We'll be wrong to assume that because he's prosperous, he's therefore a spiritual giant, right?
We can pretty quick get by like Job's friends to somebody who's hurting and go, boy, what have you done? But sometimes our own actions will do this.
God's Purpose in Suffering
R.C. Sproul writes these words: to remove God from human suffering is to quit the pilgrimage of faith. God majors in suffering. He disciplines and displays Himself in the holy involvement in all suffering. Rather than be removed from suffering, it's those circumstances that allow us to see God work.
Why would God allow you to suffer? I have a list of 25, let me give you like four of them. To produce patience in your life. See, you don't know if you have patience until you're put in these circumstances that really you
Suffering Reveals Our True Character
I can't even control whether I'm a patient driver if every light is green. Suffering is what produces maturity. This is how you grow. Count it all joy when you encounter various trials, knowing the testing of your faith produces endurance.
I love this: suffering reveals ourselves to ourselves. And that can work in both ways. You can think you're a real spiritual giant and bam, all of a sudden this comes along and it just destroys you. Or you may not even understand how strong you are spiritually and then all of a sudden this comes and you go, wow, this is amazing. I would have never dreamt that I could have endured something like that.
Until God takes you and puts you in there, you don't know. You've been through the Bible over and over and over again. That's all classroom. We've got to go to the laboratory now to see if it's real.
Suffering Prepares Us for Greater Ministry
Suffering prepares us for greater ministry. I was sitting at a table leading a small group discussion. There were six guys there, all of them younger than me. Two of them had had their wife die. One of them had a brother who he loved deeply who said, "I don't feel well" and fell over dead. One of them, I'd just done a funeral for his son. Strong kid, about 28 years old.
What makes this even more powerful is as we're at the gravesite and we are burying him, right next to his sister who had died several years ago. Well, until you've been suffering like that, you really don't have a lot to say, but now you have a ministry. That's Paul's whole idea in 2 Corinthians chapter one. You've been tested, you've been tried, you've been put in the fire. Now you can go and comfort those with the comfort with which you've been comforted. You can say, "I know what you feel."
Practical Tips for Responding to Suffering
Let me give you some tips - heads up on reaction to suffering. Number one, expect it, don't be surprised by it. It's inevitable.
Number two, commit yourself to God from the very beginning. It's coming, you don't know what it is. In fact, James says it this way: various trials. The word "various" is translated "multicolored," meaning they come in all shapes and sizes you don't even know. So what might be a huge trial and suffering point for Susan might be very different than what might be a suffering point for Janet.
Here's the third thing: don't try to understand all the reasons for your suffering. It feels like about half of the questions that some people ask me starts with the word "why." And almost the minute I hear "why," I've already formulated my answer. What is it? I don't know. I don't know. "Why would you..." I don't know. "Why would you..." I don't know.
What We Know Trumps What We Feel
I'm not talking about intellectual suicide here, I'm just talking about God's doing this. So this has to trump everything. What I know - here you go, here it is, there's the payoff. What I know trumps what I feel.
I know the testing of my faith produces endurance. I know that, so the suffering comes. I know He's a loving God, I know He loves me. I know He'll never leave me or forsake me. I know these things are true. Why He's doing this, I don't know. In its simplest and yet most profound way, whatever I'm experiencing is for my good and His glory. Ultimately, the specifics I may or may not know in this life.
You Are Not Alone in Your Suffering
Understand and realize others suffer. Everyone goes through suffering and pain, you are not the only one. Years ago, during the winter, I got the flu when I was laying in bed and sick, very, very sick. And Susan came in and said, "Can I get you anything?" And I said, "No." She said, "Okay," and she was leaving. I said, "Susan?" She said, "Yes." I said, "No one's ever had the flu this bad in the whole history of the world." "Okay, slick," and she left.
But there's that tendency, right? When you get into this, you go, "Gosh, nobody's suffered like this. Nobody's had to go through this." Thousands have.
Pray while you suffer. This is a big thing.
Don't Despise Your Suffering
Don't despise your suffering. I wrote these sentences, I hope they're right. God has structured and organized our lives to include problems and suffering. Your mission is not to stop the suffering, but to find Him in the midst of the hurt and pain. Not to be absorbed in the pain and try to find a way out.
Because that's the first thing we try to do. Somebody comes to us that are hurting, the first thing we try to do is alleviate the pain. Well, let's examine why we're here. Was there anything we did? What's God teaching us? What's God teaching us in the middle of this? What's the message that He has for you? How is it that you were at this point and now you're at this point?
Even if, again, as I said before, if it's through no fault of your own, what does God want to teach you? What does God want to teach the people around you? And my fear and concern is, we get in the midst of hurting and pain and we so want to avoid the suffering that we run away before we have the time to learn the lesson, which means He's got to take us to the class again. I don't want to go through it again. God, whatever You have for me, I want to learn it.
Thank God for Your Suffering
Obviously, patiently endure suffering in a steadfast way. Here's something you don't think of: thank God for your suffering. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says this: "In all things give thanks."
Think about that. We have to say, "Father, thank You. Here, Thanksgiving coming. Father, thank You for this. Father, thank You for the house. Thank You for the food. Thank You for the job. Thank You for the provision. Thanks for Mom. Thanks for Dad. Thanks for the kids. Thank You." How about this? "Thank You for the suffering. Thank You for the pain. Thank You for the hardship."
You hear it all the time from people who have gone through things that maybe you can't even imagine. They'll say this: "I would have never chosen it and I never want to go through it again, but I wouldn't trade the experience for the world."
Why? Because God showed Himself. He showed up. I don't really know if Jesus is all I need until I'm to that point where Jesus is all I have.
Don't become a self-made martyr. Don't suffer needlessly. You don't have to go and create these things. They'll come to you. You don't have to go and say, "Boy, Tom's talking about suffering. I'll learn a lot in suffering. I think I'll do some stupid things this week." I wouldn't do that.
The Promise and Perspective
And then here's the counterbalance. It's the promise. "He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death."
Make sure I have this perspective of God's. The outer man is decaying. The inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. We look not the things that are seen, they're temporary, but the things that are unseen, those are eternal.
See, that's what happens to me. I can speak in the first person with authority. When all of a sudden there's difficulty that comes into my life, I don't know that I want this. My flinch is to push it away. My flinch is to resist it.
The Story of Polycarp
You may or may not find this interesting. The angel at Smyrna after a period of time, one of the guys who was really a main guy in Smyrna, his name was Polycarp. Born in 69 AD, died in 155. There's an opportunity, chance, possibility that he was taught by John himself. He by all accounts is a wonderful man, loved not just by the Christians, but by the Romans themselves. Very popular, even by the Roman loyalists.
Polycarp was asked, as the Christians were, to say "Caesar is Lord." And he refused. He wrote these words: "86 years I have served Him, and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me? You threaten me with a fire that burns for a time and is quickly quenched. For you do not know the fire which awaits the wicked in judgment to come in everlasting punishment."
The Romans come and they don't want to martyr him. He throws a feast for them. He feeds them. There's a celebration. They request again, then he would say "Caesar is Lord," and he denies that. So they have to martyr him, and they're going to burn him at the stake. He has one request in it that would be that he not be tied to the stake. And tradition says that he spoke these words: "Leave me as I am, for He who gave me the power to endure the fire will grant me the power to remain in the flames."
The Range of Suffering
Suffering, it may be as dramatic as that. It may be as simple as a red light. It may be everything in between.
To the church at Smyrna, maybe to you, Jesus didn't have any sort of wrongs to list, but went right to the strength, and maybe it's because that strength needed so much reinforcement. "I know your tribulation. I know your poverty. I know your slander. I know the suffering. I know what it is. Don't be afraid. Here you go. It's worth it."
Have you ever gotten to that point where you're wondering if it's worth it? I'm doing all these things. I'm going in the midst of all this. I'm going counterculture. All my friends are doing this. I'm going this way. Guys who have decided to bend the rules a little bit, they're getting the deals closed. They're succeeding. I'm not.
I have this constant thorn in the flesh, this physical pain. Don't know specifically what it is for you. Can't get rid of it. It persists. The treatment is almost worse than the disease, and yet in the midst of that, God, I want to see you work. Pretty cool, huh?
God's Eternal Perspective
I love this book in that it's as fresh as today in the morning headlines because it's written by God Himself, and it tells you how to get the most out of the life that He's given you. Suffering? Here's His message. Don't be afraid. Overcome. This is just a moment, a few years. No matter how bad it gets, it can only last a lifetime. And then you will be in His presence forever.
You know what? He's given you all you need for wherever you are, whatever the obstacle. His grace is enough for you.
Let me pray as we close. Father, thank you that we can be here today. God, in a strange way, at least it sounds strange, we thank you for our suffering because we know that it allows us to draw closer to you. God, thank you that you know our tribulation and our poverty and the slander and the suffering and the hurt and the pain in our life, and not in some theoretical way, but a factual way. Jesus, we love you. We know that you've given us everything we need pertaining to life and preparing us for death. God, constantly allow us to come back to that GPS. Come back to this book to gain your perspective. When we grow weary, give us strength. When there's hardship, don't allow us to take it away too soon before we learn the lesson and see you work in our life. Father, remind us that this simple truth, so profound, that your grace is enough. Honestly, we really do say Jesus is all we need, but I'm not sure we know that until He's at the point. We're at the point where He's all we have. Father, thank you that your grace is enough for us. We pray to you in Christ's name, amen.