March 2, 2008
Scripture:
Ministry:
I just want to look back at the 2^nd^ of Philippians for a moment. V. 10 says, “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.” His name is all that He is. He is the eternal Son of God, the One who dwelt in the bosom of the Father. He came down as a man, Jesus: “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). This refers to His works, how He went to the grave, rose again, and ascended into Heaven. He will also have eternal glory because of who He is. Read Revelation 4:11. As a result of Creation, He will receive glory, honour and power. Read Revelation 5:12; because of His work for us, He will receive sevenfold worship; seven is the perfect number. When this occurs, we will have our glorified bodies and will be able to comprehend all that He did. How marvellous it will be to be able to worship Him as He is and for what He has done. May we remember that we will be there with Him and be able to love Him fully, because He has first loved us—precious!
EG Hymn 308 – I love to tell the story,
Prayer
Today we’ll continue our look at the letters to the seven churches. Last time we looked at Ephesus, who had left their first love. Why should we look at these churches? We can learn from their mistakes; from Ephesus we can learn to keep our love for the Lord strong. Turn to Revelation 2:8–11. This is the letter written to Smyrna. In this letter, there is really nothing bad said about Smyrna, but there is something bad happening to them. The Christians there were being persecuted. Satan was working through their enemies, trying to kill them all. They were burning the Christians at the stake and feeding them to lions, among other things. For 230 years, under 10 different emperors (which may be what the 10 days talked about in v. 10 refer to), the Christians were hunted. Yet this letter ends with some encouragement to them: those that overcame this trial (the Christians) would be given a crown of life in Heaven, spared from the second death (hell).
The next church is Pergamos; read vv. 12–17. In Smyrna, Satan attacked the Christians from the outside. But here, they were attacked from the inside. An emperor named Constantine stopped the persecution and became a friend to the Christians. He put them in important places in government and gave them a higher status. Because of this, the Christians started doing things they should not have and they became entangled in the world. This accomplished Satan’s goal to destroy the Christians as well. I hope that as we look at these churches, we will be encouraged to overcome persecution and live for the Lord.
I Peter 4:16–19
We have been looking at suffering. We saw how suffering can come because of those that despise Christianity. We also looked at how we can cause suffering by our wrong behaviour, v. 15. But being a Christian involves a change in behaviour too, and v. 16 reminds us again that we can suffer for that. It is interesting to see that Peter uses the term Christian. The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch, Acts 11:26, but it seems that it was a term used by this opposed to the Christians, or at least those who were not part of them. Yet the term literally means a son of Christ. These people were being persecuted and yet they were encouraged not to be ashamed. If you read the accounts of how many of the Christians of this era died, you will see that many went down singing. What does this do? It brings glory to God. Suffering is a very real part of the human life, not only for Christians, but for everyone. Often, God finds it necessary to send suffering into a Christian’s life; sometimes suffering is the work of the enemy against us. Yet we should realize that God will work all of it together for good. Hudson Taylor is an outstanding example of this principle: for many years he toiled in China as a missionary. His health was very poor and he seemed to always be in the middle of a trial. He even lost his wife and children to sickness. Yet he said that if he could see his circumstances from God’s perspective, he would do the same thing. Do we have that kind of faith in trials?
As we said, God sometimes sees it necessary to bring suffering into our lives. He may allow it for growth, to bring a higher level of faith to our lives. Or, He may see the need for chastisement. There is an amazing example of this in Deuteronomy 11. Deuteronomy is a book of homilies, a book of discourses, from Moses to the Children of Israel. He is telling them the words of the Lord; but didn’t they know all the things he was telling them, having learned them in Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy? Not really, because the majority of that generation had died. Of all the people who came out of Egypt, the only ones that were left were the ones that had been under twenty years old at Kadesh Barnea (when the spies checked out the land). It is this middle generation that Moses is talking to at the beginning of the chapter. In vv. 2 – 4, he reminds them of how they saw the chastisement of the Lord on the Egyptians. But in vv. 5–7, he reminds them of how they and the preceding generation had seen the chastisement of the Lord in their own lives. This brings up the truth that God will judge His house first. This is confirmed in Ezekiel 9:6. In ch. 8, we see the gross wickedness of the Children of Israel, worshipping everything but God in the place where God wanted to set His name. In ch. 9:6, God wants judgement to start in His own sanctuary. This should speak to our own hearts. If we are not faithful to deal with the sin among us, God will step in and judge.
EG Hymn 148 – Lord, while our souls in faith repose,
Prayer