Grace Thoughts

Guest (Male): Hello friends, welcome to Grace Thoughts, the radio ministry of Grace Connection Church with Pastor Tim Kelley. Grace Thoughts has been dedicated to preaching a clear gospel of grace for over 20 years. Here is Pastor Kelley.

Tim Kelley: Yes, get on your knees and you repent, just like He said to the Ephesian church. Say, "God, I've got used to it. I've grown familiar with it. I've become religious. I've become opinionated. I've become a professional Christian. I'm self-based, not mission-based. I don't even think about the world, the church around the world, and I repent. Create in me a clean heart and do a new work in me." It's that easy and it's that quick.

Then we have this church called Smyrna, where you get the herb myrrh from. To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. I know your tribulation and your poverty, but you are rich. And the slander of those who say they are Jews 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 in prison that you may be tested, and for 10 days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He that 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.

One of the churches of two that actually pleased God. There was nothing wrong here; God didn't bring out one fault. Today, there's still a city called Smyrna with about a quarter of a million people, 35 miles north of Ephesus. Great harbor, great wealth, commerce. It had a golden street with different temples in there, a huge theater, library, stadium. Homer was born there. And this, like Ephesus, was a size city. It was free from the Roman government.

But they had two big challenges facing this church. Number one was Caesar worship, promoted to keep peace. Everyone worships Caesar. If we just worship Caesar, then we don't have any religious problems, do we? That was the Roman mentality. We're just going to worship Caesar. The Jews won't worship their God, the Christians won't worship their God, and whatever other religions of the day. If we all worship Caesar, we just don't have to deal with the religions thing. That's all.

So it was against the law. You know the many persecutions, the 10 major persecutions that faced the church. There was Caesar worship. They were made to bow down to Caesar. And this city was one of the spearheads, one of the capitals of people that started it. Because they were Christians and because they would not worship Caesar and bow down to Caesar, it brought tremendous persecution into the church.

But not only did they get it from the Roman government, they had it from the Jews. The Jews came in and said they are the Christian cult and they broke the law. So the Jews would make up trumped-up charges against them and attack the church. So they were getting it from the government and they were getting it from the Jews. They were undergoing tremendous local persecution.

Persecution has never stopped. We don't hear about it much, but it's really been going on since the Cross to the present. People dying for their faith, people being put in prison for their faith, people facing political and social persecution has never really ceased in 2,000 years. We've been somewhat inoculated by it in this generation in our country, but really, if you go back even hundreds of years ago, it was happening all over the world.

I think there's been a dramatic increase in the last 25, 30 years, but it's never stopped. But just as persecution has never stopped—this is important—persecution has never stopped the church. In fact, just the opposite. It seems like the persecuted church is the most effective church that there is. There's a toughness in them, a spiritual focus in the persecuted church where they know the cost of what it is to name the name of Jesus.

In our culture, we can get born again and we can be saved in a church service like this, and there is no real downside to that. But in other cultures in our world, present-day cultures—and you see it on the news if you look—you'll find that if people claim the name of Christ, their family rejects them. Their father wants an honor killing, wants to do honor killings and kill them. And they have to leave their country and leave their friends because of other religions. There's a price, a huge price.

You go to nations where there is not a Christian government—Islamic governments—and you'll find that Christians have virtually no rights. Go to Egypt. What churches are they attacking? Christian churches. But these are the churches, my friends, too, that somehow make their way into the world and make the greatest impact on their environment. This was the Smyrna church. This is where Polycarp was burned.

Now, what I love about this church—I don't know that I love this about the church, but this is an interesting point of the church—this church received no promises of deliverance this side of heaven. They had tribulation, as it brought out. That word tribulation is thlipsis. It means pressure. It's used in classical Greek to mean to be crushed under a great rock—cosmic, world system, internal pressure. They had poverty; they were destitute, one without anything at all. Many in the Smyrna church, one commentator said, were homeless.

But what you never saw coming out of their mouth was, "I'm a victim." You never saw a "poor me" and "how come, God, you allowed this?" They took it. And God said, "If they're going to throw you in prison for 10 days, hang in there. Don't quit. Because in 10 days they're going to kill you, then you'll be free." It's a little funny when you think that's God's perspective, though. For me to live is Christ and to die is gain. The church was not given any temporal good news. All their comfort was promised to them on an eternal level.

They were promised a crown of life. I don't know exactly how that manifests, if it's going to be a literal crown. Let's say that it will be. But we know the crown of life is a word 'zoe' life, and there's different words in the Greek New Testament. There's 'bios' life, which is physical life, biology life. And 'zoe' life is the life of Christ; it's a spiritual life, a higher quality of life.

So, "I'm going to give you a crown of life, but not the life of planet Earth, but a life that was born and nurtured in heaven. That's the life I'm going to give you. A life way above the persecution of planet Earth, way above the pain and the discouragement and the wondering whys. I'm going to give you a life way above that." I'm going to close in just a few moments, but I want to give you just some verses, and these verses really helped me and really ministered to me in my own personal life.

My sacrifices, your sacrifices for the sake of the Kingdom of God will never be forgotten. If you've given something up for the Kingdom of God, if you've went without for the Kingdom of God, those sacrifices will never be forgotten. There's never been a Christian that served God with all their life who got to heaven and kicked some cans and said, "Oh wow, I wish I didn't spend so much time serving God." That's never happened.

There's been no Christian who spent their life and their sweat and their blood serving the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords that ever regretted the hours put in. In life, we may kick ourselves sometimes, but like we said earlier, everything in heaven is never forgotten. The secret anguish is never forgotten. The banging on heaven's door with no seeming answer is never forgotten. The questions of spiritual confusion that you pound heaven's doors with are never forgotten.

The times when you picked yourself up and you went on when you had no strength, those times are never forgotten. The times when you loved when you didn't feel love, the times when you believed when you had no faith, the times when you said positive things when you had nothing but a negative heart—those things are never forgotten. God remembers them. Man may never see them; hopefully they never will.

But God sees it all and God remembers it all. And there'll be a day when we finally die, or the rapture of the church comes—hopefully that's going to happen soon, right after the Red Sox win the World Series Sunday night, and then we can go. It's going to be a day right after that day that we're going to know it was worth it. "God, you were aware of that pain? You were aware of that wrestling I had on the inside? God, if you just had answered me, it would have been much easier."

"No, Tim, I just wanted you to walk. I just wanted you to believe. And I promised you something greater would happen." Let me read you some verses here. I'm going to go through these quick and I hope they fill up your brain. I hope you just blow up when this is done, because these are just great verses. Just blow up. There's going to be Christian guts everywhere, all over the place, because we're just excited over what this is.

Look at this. 1 Timothy 5:24 and 25: Remember the sins of some people are obvious, leading them to certain judgment. Watch this. But there are others whose sins will not be revealed till later. In the same way, the good deeds of some people are obvious, and the good deeds done in secret will someday come to light. Wow.

2 Timothy 2:12: If we endure hardship, we will reign with Him. If we deny Him, He'll deny us. But here's what He says: If you endure hardship, arduous toil in life, you will reign with Him. You're going to reign with Him. How do I guarantee reigning with Him? If I just endure my hardship. What's that quality in our English? Non-quittability. I made that word up, but that's what it means.

I hang in there. I don't quit. I don't throw in the towel even when I get discouraged, even when I want to see responses but I don't get them. I don't throw in the towel. Hebrews 3:14: If we are faithful to the end, trusting God as firmly as when we first believed, we shall share in all that belongs to Christ. Are you about to blow up? Because I'm liking this stuff.

Hebrews 6:10: For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for Him and how you have shown your love for Him by caring for other believers as you still do. "I won't forget it," He says. Luke 18:29: "Yes," Jesus replied, "and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God will be repaid many times over in this life and will have eternal life in the world to come."

Matthew 19:29: Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property for my sake—I love this, listen—will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life. So whatever I give up for the sake of the Kingdom of God, Jesus, Red Letter edition, says you're going to get at least a hundred times.

Any sacrifice you made for the sake of the Kingdom, you'll get a hundred times for all eternity. It won't be temporary; it'll be eternal. A hundred times greater than any sacrifice. Anytime you said no to yourself, anytime you took the lower road—or the higher road, I should say—anytime you forgiven when you've been a legitimate victim, anytime you sacrificed of your own resources for the sake of the Kingdom of God, He says you'll receive a hundred times.

When you've been persecuted by other Christians or persecuted by the world, you'll receive a hundred times when we get to eternity. That sounds too good to be true because we've never really seen eternity yet. Boy, won't we be shocked when we get there? We have to believe it by faith. So the message for this church is simple: just don't quit. You hang in there. All these things will wear you out, but don't quit. These things are designed to make you quit, but don't quit. Because if you quit, there might not be a crown of life.

Do not cast away, Hebrews 10:35 and 36, this confident trust that you have in Me, knowing the great reward that it will bring you. Patient endurance is what you need now, so you'll continue to do My will. Then you'll receive all that I promise. Talking to a persecuted church in the book of Hebrews. We can't allow life, my friends, to take us out of the race. We can't allow heartache and pain and grief and loss to cripple us so badly we can't run anymore. This church was poor, had great pressure, they were lied about, but found faithful. And because they were found faithful, they were eternally rewarded.