Smyrna: The Afflicted Church

June 25, 2023

Smyrna: The Afflicted Church

Revelation 2.8-11 CSB

6.25.2023

Outline

“The very thing that made me who I am today was the very thing that destroyed him.”- Arnold Schwarzenegger

Smyrna – in Asia Minor

  • Known for beauty
  • Known for loyalty to Rome

The Church in Smyrna

  • Afflicted
  • Persecuted
  • Impoverished

v.8

  • First and the Last

  • The one who was dead and came to life

v.9a

  • Affliction = to press or squash

  • Poverty = destitute
    • James 2.5

v.9b

Tension between ethnic Jews and Jewish Christians

  • Romans 2.29

 

  • About loyalty to Christ versus loyalty to Caesar

  

v.10a

  • Don’t be afraid: Matthew 10.28

v.10b

  • Reality of spiritual battle
  • Ephesians 6.11-12

vv.10c-11

  • Death / life
  • Without the cross, there is no crown.

In this life it may be that the Christian’s loyalty will bring him the crown of thorns, but in the life to come it will surely bring him the crown of glory. – William Barclay

Romans 8:35-39

  • God’s promise of perspective

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