I was reading the book of Job the other day and I began to think about suffering. Even just a few hundred years ago before religious freedom was cool, people expected to serve God, not to wait for him to serve us. Look at the old hymns and stories and you’ll see that in the midst of tragedy men would praise God. Just look at It Is Well With My Soul. I feel like oftentimes now that’s when someone walks away from the Lord.

That’s what Satan tried to do in afflicting Job. He first took his possessions, and his family. All his children and servants were killed. Then, he took his health and made him suffer in his body. (That’s all just in chapters 1 and 2.) But one of the first things Job does is praise God:

And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”

- Job 1:21 (ESV)

This whole story also reminded me of the song I’m Still Yours by Kutless, off of their latest worship project (aptly named It Is Well). When I sing along with a worship song I really try to make sure that I mean what I sing. I’m still wrestling with this one, but I’m working on it. Give it a listen, and consider… what if your life looked a lot like Job’s? What if you lost your job, your house, your family and your friends? Would you still stay hand-in-hand with Jesus?

This is part 2 in a series on the Seven Churches singled out by Jesus in Revelation 2-3. If you haven’t read it already, you can find Part 1 (Ephesus) right here.

Today, we’ll look at Jesus’ words to the Church in Smyrna:

8 “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life.

9 “ ‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.’ 1

I think it’s crucial that we don’t discount verse 8 as mere poetic form. Jesus reminds us that he is the one who always was, and also died and rose again. This is critical! He who will later tell the Christians to be faithful unto death has overcome death (1 Corinthians 15:55) and will be there to raise us in the end (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Jesus isn’t just letting us know that he is still the one talking! He wants the church to have hope that he has and will overcome!

Starting in verse 9, we get to see that Jesus has seen his people and has heard their cries (Exodus 2:23-25). They are clearly being persecuted, perhaps not yet with violence, instead resulting in poverty (Hebrews 10:32-34). But Jesus reminds them of the riches they have in Christ (Ephesians 3:7-8). Jesus doesn’t reward good behavior with more money in every case, but faithful Christians will enjoy blessings (treasures that last; Matthew 6:20). Here in America, I think we could learn to stop looking at our material wealth as an indicator of God’s favor, and look at the things he has already favored us with: freedom, our families, having the Word of God, etc.

These Jews, who are not worthy of the name, appear to have taken every opportunity to turn the state against the church. These particular Jews were no longer the Synagogue of the Lord (Numbers 16:3; in the Septuagint) but instead are the Synagogue of Satan. You don’t need to worship Satan to serve him. There are a fair number of people of all religions, nationalities and political parties that do this all of the time by spending all of their energy on things that just don’t matter. Even Christians can be guilty! We can be out there doing good things and building a roadblock against the spread of the gospel of Jesus. Look at the environmental movement, that seems to be increasingly finding its way into the Christian walk. While I’d absolutely advocate that we be good stewards of God’s creation, I think things can be overdone. If we spend all of our time preaching the saving of the environment over the saving of lost people, Satan wins. These Jews probably thought they were serving the Lord by standing up to this “Christian” movement, but Jesus makes it clear: all they are doing is service to the evil one.

Jesus predicts suffering for the church. Again, I think this is something that those of us in America should listen to. I’m not a prophet by any means, but I feel very strongly that true persecution will come to the land of the free before Jesus comes back for us. Get ready. Don’t be afraid. Maybe we’ll go to prison, perhaps we’ll be pressed to renounce our faith in Jesus. But our earthly suffering will be temporary (even if ten days doesn’t mean literal days, it certainly isn’t a long time in the scope of eternity) and those who remain faithful will be given the crown of life in the final judgment.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death. The question is: are we ready? In a culture where poverty results in foreclosure (I know that is a terrible thing, and I know that there are people who suffer worse things – I’m speaking of what the average guy considers terribly difficult to bear), are we truly ready for the marginalization and persecution to come? Let’s keep our eyes on him who suffered, died and rose again. Let heaven fill your thoughts and walk with Jesus (Colossians 3:2-4). Amen.

1: The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Re 2:8–11). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

I was planning on making my series on the Gospel of Paul a four part series, one for each chapter of Romans 1-4. Then I began reading Romans 1. Wow. There is so much meat in just the introductory verses! Paul begins his theological heavyweight of a letter to the Roman church by introducing himself, because he hadn’t ever visited them before. He wanted to make sure the church in Rome was confident in his apostolic authority as well as that his gospel was the same that was preached to the people when they became followers of The Way.

Today I want to tackle verses 1-6:

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, 5 through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations, 6 including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, 1

Paul begins by setting his identity in two ways: a servant (Greek bondservant) and an apostle. As a bondservant of Christ Jesus, Paul is referring to his willingness to belong wholly to Jesus. According to the Old Testament law given by God, a person could own a slave or a servant for 6 years. Following the 6-year term, the master would allow the servant to go free. However, if a master actually obeyed God’s laws a servant would actually be well taken care of, and often times he or she would prefer to stay with the master. In that case, they would become a bondservant (Deuteronomy 15:16-17) and pledge their service to the master forever. Similarly, Paul sought to follow the Lord Jesus with his whole being forever.

Paul, also being called to be an apostle, is one commissioned by Christ to take his message (the gospel) to the nations (Matthew 28:19). The apostles were all men who had seen the resurrected form of Jesus Christ. They were eyewitnesses (1 John 1:1-2) to the power and the reality of Jesus’ claim as the Savior and the Son of God. After Jesus had resurrected and ascended to heaven, he reappeared to Paul (who at the time had been a murderer of Christians) and commissioned him to carry the gospel to the Jews, the non-Jews and even kings (Acts 9:15). While his apostleship did afford Paul authority and respect from others, he is clear that he was called and set apart for the gospel of God. It wasn’t his or any other human’s doing, it was given to him by God himself (Galatians 1:1).

Having established his authority, Paul goes on to confirm his agreement to the gospel of Jesus as the church in Rome already knew it. He was clear that the gospel of Jesus was a work-in-progress ever since the beginning of sin that resulted in the fall of man:

1. The gospel was God’s rescue plan long promised in the Old Testament writings by the prophets
2. The Son of God had come in the flesh (as a man) in Jesus Christ
3. This same Jesus had given the apostles the ability and the authority to call non-Jews to repentance and faith for salvation

Next time we’ll look at Romans 1:16-32 as Paul shows us why we need to be saved in the first place.

1: The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Ro 1:1–6). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

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According to the words of Jesus, the church in Ephesus could have been passed off as a normal, successful church especially by our standards in the United States. Honestly they probably would have looked better than a lot of our local churches.

Doctrinally they were pretty solid; they tested men’s words against the Word of God, rejected false teachers when they were found out (1 John 4:1) and they apparently proclaimed Jesus’ name even when it put them or their reputations in danger (John 15:21).

What was it that they failed to do? They failed in their love. Whether this means love for God, or whether this means love for one another we cannot be certain. Though we should remember that 1 John 1:7 reminds us that love for God and love for others go hand-in-hand. You can’t really love God and not love his people or vice versa. However, to better understand their struggle I think it wise to consider their strengths:

The deeds of the Ephesians are hard work and perseverance; the former shows itself in efforts to overcome false teachers, the latter in endurance in face of opposition, whether from false prophets or from other sources.²

Could it be that in their desire to proclaim truth they failed to love? It’s like a so-called Christian who proclaims God’s judgment of homosexuals without pointing out that the very same God stands with arms wide open wanting to welcome his wayward children home (Ephesians 4:15). None of us are above reproach (Psalm 14:3).

As a Bible believer I think it’s critical that we contend for our faith, that we proclaim the moral truth of God’s word to the crooked generation (Philippians 2:15) with whom we share the planet. But we shouldn’t forget about the other things that Jesus cares about. It’s not about being right. When fornication happens and a girl ends up pregnant, Christians should be there to help her, not condemn her (John 8:7). When a man starts looking for the wrong kind of love from other men (Romans 1:26-27), Christians should be there to show him godly love and to encourage him to come back to the fold (John 15:4).

Jesus’ condemnation of the Church in Ephesus, as with all seven of the churches in Revelation is severe. No less than the removal of his blessing on their church! Join me in a few days for Part 2 in the series: the church in Smyrna.

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See the book on Amazon

Having just finished the book What Is the Gospel?, the next book on my radar is Dug Down Deep: Unearthing What I Believe and Why It Matters (click the link to the right to see the book on Amazon).

Starting this journey where I’m thinking about actually doing what Jesus says, I wanted to take some time to get re-visit the foundations of my faith. I’ll try to crank through the book pretty quickly and bring a review back to the site in a week or so.

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