His Perfect Love

Larry: Pastor Matt speaks of the purpose behind the pain in life.

Matt VanderVen: What we must learn and accept is that our present trials and suffering serve a purpose if God allows it. And that's really hard. I'm not saying please. I know there's a lot of people suffering, going through different things and here and all around the world. I know that there are people sitting in churches all over this country and different ones that God's answer to them based on their terminal illness and the answer's no. And that's really hard. When you're that person or that's your loved one, what do you mean no? But that's where we find out where our faith is.

Do we trust Jesus more than we trust our own opinions and ideologies? Do we trust God's plan more than our own plan? Those things are heavy and we need to think about it ahead of time. It could be that that purpose and plan is one that only Jesus understands presently. We may not even get it yet.

Larry: We're in the middle of a study of Revelation here on His Perfect Love. Today's message from Pastor Matt Vanderbeen is centered on the Lord's message to the church in Smyrna found in Revelation chapter two. You know, pain is never fun to experience or even talk about, but pain, both physical and emotional, is inevitable. The church in Smyrna was suffering a barrage of persecution and tribulation. Yet the Lord reminds them not to be fearful, but rather be faithful. That's an important point for Christians today as well.

Matt VanderVen: Look at verse eight. And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write. Again, this letter's addressed to the anglos. That's word is for messenger, a sent one. And specifically John the Baptist was called an anglos. It can also mean a supernatural angel. But I believe he's talking to the pastors we covered in past weeks to the church of Smyrna, the leadership. And what is Jesus saying to them? These are the words of Him who is the first and last, who died and came to life again. He makes clear the identity of the first and last, the resurrected.

It can only be Jesus Christ that he's talking about here. We know that not only through chapter one of reading Revelation, but if we just turned in our Bibles to chapter 22 verse 13 in Revelation, he says I am the Alpha and the Omega. I am the first and the last. Obviously unifying His deity, Jesus Christ. If you ever meet a Jehovah's Witness or somebody that denies the deity this Jesus being the Son of God, this is a beautiful passage to bring them to. Not only chapter one, chapter two, because he says this over and again, but then bring them to Revelation chapter 22 verse 13.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, declares Jesus Christ, the Lord. And by the way, I know they use a different translation. You want something interesting here? It's in their translation as well. I had someone come up to me last week and share that with me. Even in their translation it states that. So please notice with me something so simple, one verse. First, last. He's communicating four things to us. Did you get all four things? Did you read that with me? Did you see it? He says and to the angel of the church of Smyrna write and then he says these things says the first and the last who was dead and came to life.

Four things right there. Did you catch all four? First. That's number one. He's the first. What? What's that mean? He existed before creation was even formed. That's the first thing he's communicating to us. He came outside of creation into creation. That's a God I want to serve, not limited by time, matter, or space. He's eternal. The second thing he says, the last, meaning he will exist after this present universe is dissolved and created for eternity, a new heavens and a new earth. We're going to read that in Revelation as we get to chapter 20 and on.

The third thing he says, he describes His eternality being eternal because he was dead and he came to life. Anybody question that? Jesus Christ was literally murdered. I put him on the cross. We, human humanity, put him on the cross because of our sin. It wasn't Rome, it wasn't the Jewish people. Yes, they were all part of that, but all of us put Jesus Christ on the cross for the remission of sin. We just need to be honest about that. And apart from Jesus, none of us would be forgiven. Amen. We now because our sins were nailed to Calvary, our sins past, present, and future have been forgiven.

Just let that settle in there for a minute. That's some good news. Now you know why the gospel was called the good news. It's the best news ever, man. So you turn around and you you hear that he's eternal because he was dead and he came to life. You know what? If somebody tells me they're going to resurrect me, how many of you ever lived in the state of Missouri or ever heard somebody say I'm from Missouri? Show me, prove it. Right? You know it's the prove it or show me state. Right? Jesus is like check, tomb empty, dead on a cross first, tomb empty.

He can say yep, I proved it. If I'm going to serve somebody, I certainly want to know they have the capability to fulfill what they're saying they can do. I don't want to trust them. If a man says to me hey, we're going to go to battle and I'm like all right, let's do this and we go out to war and I believe in the cause and it's for a good reason, there's morality, there's the whole lot of reasons to do it. We go out, we go to fight for what's right, our freedoms, our liberty, right?

Our country's founded on that. Fine. Men's blood had to be shed. We go out to war and all of a sudden the guy standing on the field with me and all of a sudden the the opposing infantry or army starts coming in and the guy goes you know what? This is God real. I I'm out of here. Do I want to follow that guy? Do I want to listen to a word that guy's going to say? Absolutely not. That's not your Jesus. Jesus stood in the gap. He took our sin. He did the impossible because he's God and human.

He took the sin of the world by keeping the law perfectly so that you and I could well, we never have to be separated from our eternal God again. And that's because he was eternal. He came outside of creation into creation. That's really important to understand why that was part of the needed ingredients because he was without sin. And then the fourth, certainly His deity, He's God, right? Because He's the first and last and He was alive at this time. He didn't say saying I didn't stay dead, right? Look at what He says. He said I'm the first and last who was dead and I came to life.

So I'm not turning around praying to somebody that 's dead that can't help me, but I am praying to a God that's very much alive seated at the right hand of the Father. He's ruling on the throne of heaven. That's why when I really think about what are we worried about? We're in love with Jesus. He's on the throne. It's a good day. The Lord's words have and were great encouragement to the believers of Smyrna, many of whom were being martyred for their faith. Look at also in verse nine what He says. And He starts after setting this encouragement in place, recognizing the fact that the first thing you need to hear in a letter You know, I I shared with first service, you know, I can remember um how many remember postcards?

I don't know if they still have postcards. I think everybody does. Some of you young people, there was a time where we didn't have phones, okay? We didn't have pagers. We didn't have any You You could use a a pay phone um and you know, you have a quarter. Sometimes it's even cheaper than that, 5 cents or or a dime at one point. But anyway, a quarter, right? You'd put that in and you could call somebody or as many of us did, we called collect. Right? So some of us didn't have any money. Parents were there, mom, dad.

And then some of your parents would be like God, I love you. Hang up. That way it was only for 30 seconds. Anybody remember that? Well, what's he telling us here? Before we even get into the rest of verse nine, well, when I would travel and I remember I just actually just a couple days ago it was really coincidental, right? There's no coincidences. I was looking through some postcards. I I kept everything, almost everything from like my letters, cards, different things from my youth. I love to look back and reflect on those things. And I took uh some some pictures out and uh we had a friend over and we were looking at stuff and I remember I I found this postcard and it said Baltimore, Maryland.

And I am like I went to Baltimore, Maryland when I was 10. I don't even remember being to Baltimore, Maryland. And And then I was down south and I and I wrote a postcard and it said mom, doing good. Wish you were here. Love you. Just something simple. You know? And what was the first thing I said in the postcard? I'm what? I'm okay. When some of us here that that remember having parents or grandparents in war and my brother was in the military for 23 years. He's been in four tours. So he went to combat four different times in Afghanistan, Kuwait, different different places.

And I can remember as a family when he would write home a letter because that's the way he communicated back and even before Afghanistan, that stuff's not too long ago, but even before Iraq and all that, He would just write home a letter and the first thing he would say I'm okay. Like I'm okay. He communicated He was alive still. He was okay. And then everything else after that was always to us a bonus. How are you doing, Johnny? What's going on? How can we you know, what can we do? What can we I'll pray for you.

What do you need? That kind of thing. But I can remember. I can remember dad getting the letters and sitting down and we as a family would everywhere everywhere we were stopped whatever we did came around the table and and it would be read to us. What's going on? Okay, is he all right? It's a big deal. And now he's a federal officer in Dover, Delaware, you know? I think about him today and and security all the things he does and but he always knew enough that there were people that loved him and cared about him and he started the letter by letting us know he was okay.

That's what Jesus does here to this church that's being persecuted and and and afflicted and they're about to die or many of them are going to die. He first thing he wants them to know is you're you're okay. I didn't take my hand off you. I didn't abandon you. You're okay. And then the next thing he he's going to help them to understand that you're not alone either and that he's intimately involved in what's going on. And this is really important because he says in verse nine I know your works, your tribulation and your poverty.

He says but you're rich. I know the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Now this this word ergon, okay, ergon in the Greek it it it's G 2041. Some of the times you know I will I will show you the Greek here and you can look at the words because I like you to see them with your own eyes. It's from a biblical study. Literally it means work, but the ophthalmology of this word it's it's akin to deed or an act. So when it 's used in this context it's in used in context to a deed or an act.

An act or a deed, things done. The idea of working or Jesus emphasizing working as opposed to not working or not being about our Father's business or this church Smyrna not being about His Father's business, something doing less than work. Work is hard, isn't it? Anybody in here say work's not work? Work is always hard. It it requires sweat, uh blood, tears in many different capacities. It's difficult. It requires time and energy. Work is work. It 's not play. Play is play. Work is work. Jesus is clearly saying to them and he's actually commending them because he doesn't turn around as we'll read in other letters and rebuke like hey, your work in the beginning was better than your work now.

Jesus doesn't say that. Jesus is actually complimenting and he's saying I know your work. It doesn't revolve around you. Smyrna, I know you're all in. You don't have one foot in the world and one in the foot in the kingdom. You're not playing church. You're not playing Christian. Your life revolves around me. How do I know that? Because in the very first letter to the loveless church, the church of Ephesus, where did He rebuke them on? Was it their work? No. As a matter of fact, they did a lot of work and they did great work, but what was the problem?

The relationship. They left their first love. They got so busy doing all the things they were doing that they no longer had devotion and time with Jesus, whether that be a prayer life, whether that be talking to him, whether that be engaged in the things of the kingdom of God. No, they failed that course. They failed that required course and they had forsaken their relationship with Jesus. Here Smyrna, they're not rebuked for that. They're not being corrected because their motive is right, they're engaged, and they have right relationship. That's what we learn because he doesn't call it out like he did with Ephesus.

Right? They weren't opposed to hard work. This wasn't a church that you had to go to and motivate. This church Smyrna, if there was a need, Johnny on the spot or Susie on the spot, they're meeting that need. It's one of the things that they're being commended for. I don't want to skip over that. And the point is he says I know go, right? I know intimately. This isn't something that he says I see. I'm witnessing it. I know it. This word used 176 times in six unique forms. He sees their works and deed. He's not ignorant that they have been about their Father's business.

This is also important here because this is going to form a biblical axiom for the Christian. Okay, and I'll talk about what I mean. I call it a God perspective. It's going to help us understand a little bit more about how Jesus works and how Christians operate within that model. I think this is a really important point. Again, I will say it. Does Jesus find any fault in their work? Does he find any fault in their engagement? Does he turn around and say your motive's wrong? You're not about my Father's business? Does he say anything like that to this church?

No, he does not. And yet what does he warn them that's going to be coming? Intense what? Persecution. He tells them death is coming. This has been a struggle for Christians for so long because there's this group of Christianity that's impregnated the church and the doctrine of the Bible, the word of God, the apostles' doctrine, the truth, to think that Christians somehow should have a better life. Or because we have Jesus, there shouldn't be conflict, affliction, or difficulty. There shouldn't be tribulation. This passage here, this is really important. Somebody here I know this morning say you mean pastor, I can do everything and write in regards to my devotion, right?

Not Ephesus. They didn't leave their first love. Check, got that right. Relationships right. Yep. My focus, I'm focused on the word of God, the needs for the people of God, my verticals right, my horizontals right. Check. My intention and motive, I wake up in the morning, I have a plan to do God's work. Yep. Check. And I can still face persecution. I can still face affliction and I can still face suffering. That is why I think the prosperity gospel is so demonic because literally when men will stand up there and say Christian, and I'm talking even Joel Osteen all these guys with that you know smile of his, you know, he's got that you know, it should be like a ding when he smiles like the you know, bubble gum commercial because he'll stand up in front of with a pretty face, he'll look at everybody, you should have this.

You should Are you preparing soldiers for a battle? It would be like me taking an infantry because you're soldiers of God and saying hey, we are going to battle. You know what? You don't need your guns. You don't need your your vests. You don't need any armament. Go get them, tiger. I think you should have a good victory today. And then you watch how many are slaughtered on the field, slaughtered on the field of battle because they weren't prepared, they weren't trained, and they didn't know what to expect. Is this any different? Spiritually speaking, is it any different?

I mean, please correct me if I'm wrong, but is it any different spiritually to not take the word of God, not take Jesus literal when he says you as Christians, I as a Christian, we are going to face tribulation. Is Jesus grammatically challenged? Did he not write in the gospels hey, if I face tribulation, you following me are going to face tribulation too? Is Jesus a liar? God forbid. That'd be blasphemy. No. Friends, welcome to the church of Smyrna. It's a biblical example and remember Jesus sees it all. He He's not indifferent to their suffering.

This is really important. It's not like Jesus is looking down upon them and going I don't see what's going on because I don't want to No, he knows, but he also knows these things needs be. He's going to tell us why. He even allows it because it tests our faith too. Jesus is not faulting their works or condemning their works. Again, I think this is one of the most beautiful unique places. And I'm sure if you're talking to somebody in Smyrna, they're kind of like beautiful, unique. They're like this is hard, man. I just lost my mother.

I just lost my son. I just lost my daughter. I just lost There's nothing beautiful about this, but Jesus promises to take and make beauty out of ashes because as long as we know Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior, absent with the body, present with the Lord, there's not a greater liberation or liberty that can be given to a man to know that you are invincible in the will of God, that your eyes will close on this earth and open right before Jesus. What can Satan do to you? Paul got it. Paul understood that as a man who was a Jew and studied under Gamaliel, all the intellectual, all the biblical scholars, all the the you know, ministry and seminaries and all the things he attended, he got to the place in his understanding where he said to die is what?

Gain. To live for Christ, right? To die is gain. I mean, read it. Go through. Look at every one of these biblical characters. They all come to that realization when they have a true relationship with Jesus Christ. And we just can't water this down. It's deceptive to do that at the very best and at the worst it's evil to change God's word. This is a God perspective as I like to call it. What we must learn and accept is that our present trials and suffering serve a purpose if God allows it. And that's really hard.

I'm not saying please. I know there's a lot of people suffering, going through different things and here and all around the world. I know that there are people sitting in churches all over this country and different ones that God's answer to them based on their terminal illness and the answer's no. And we just need to understand that. That's real. The answer's no. I'm not going to heal you. And that's really hard when you're that person or that's your loved one. What do you mean no? But that's where we find out where our faith is. Do we trust Jesus more than we trust our own opinions and ideologies?

Do we trust God's plan more than our own plan? Those things are heavy and we need to think about it ahead of time. It could be that that purpose and plan is one that only Jesus understands presently. We may not even get it yet. They may not have got it when they received this letter. And I understand what's going on. Jesus, we're doing everything right. Why? Wrong question. Here he is commending them. I share this not to overwhelm us this morning, but to encourage you this morning. If you are going through a difficulty, if you are going through affliction, depression, difficult things in your life, I share it with you this morning that you would be encouraged to know that God is working through you and through that situation.

But we must understand we can do everything right as Christians in this life and still face tribulation. It's really important to understand this. I I pray that this is an encouragement for you. If you've been examining your heart, wondering why you're struggling, thinking maybe there's something wrong, maybe there's somebody here that's been struggling with condemnation, you might be surprised to learn this this morning that actually this is a part of the Christian walk. I encourage everyone to examine their hearts in the greatest scripture. If it all checks out and there's no sin issue, then rejoice knowing you have been found worthy to suffer for the namesake of Jesus Christ.

When we really begin to understand this and live this out, no longer I think of James. Man, I used to read His His book, the book of James. I thought that cat was maniacal. Count it all joy. Are you out of your mind? Have you go through a trial and an anxiety and affliction? Oh, count it all joy. Yay. I just got fired or I just Yay, and I did nothing wrong. I understand His heart better than I ever have. The closer I've drawn to Christ, the more I understand His word, the more I see the harmony of what Jesus was trying to say and then He He was so truthful and so honest that I think sometimes as Christians to cope or to reconcile, we somehow hear it, but we kind of mute it or add a little water so that the vinegar doesn't feel so pungent.

We water it down. And what he was really trying to communicate and that's why he said that a kingdom divided is going to fall on itself. You can't be a Christian truly living out your life for Jesus Christ and have one foot in the world and one in foot in the kingdom. You are going to be stretched. It's going to consume you. You can't be living your life to accomplish all of your goals and you know, objectives and all these fanciful things and dreams and that's that's all nice. I mean, Disney made a whole fortune out of it.

Wished upon a star and yet you're spiritually bankrupt heading right to the headed right to hell. And I don't say this lightly. I'm saying this because the church needs to wake up. Smyrna, it happened. It's a historical fact and it's coming to a city near you.

Larry: As we draw today's edition of His Perfect Love to a close, I'll remind you that all of Pastor Matt Vanderbeen Studies in Revelation are available to you at His Perfect Love.org, oneplace.com, or wherever you get your podcasts. Pastor Matt, as you were talking about the reality of suffering today, even when we're doing what's right, I couldn't help but think of a common question Christians have when they're in the midst of it and that's why. Would you touch on that as we close? Why do we suffer at times and do we always get an answer to that?

Matt VanderVen: Larry, the reality is we've all asked that question why. You know, when we find ourselves suffering in deep affliction, you know, my heart goes out right now to anyone that's suffering with a trial, affliction, persecution. You know, really it's it's difficult and there's nothing I can say or even offer right now that will immediately heal a broken heart or take uh anyone's pain away immediately. The reality is when we face something difficult, we may never know the reason. And that's part of the difficulty in the whole process, the short-term and the long-term. You know, apart from direct sin, difficulty that arises may not be our fault, your fault.

And could be a for a myriad of reasons that maybe we understand or don't understand. Sometimes our trials often increase the faith of others and therefore it's not a simple equation with an answer in regards to suffering. You know, that's not excuse. That's just heartfelt transparent reality. Often when I'm struggling with a with a difficult situation, I pray I trust you, Lord. You know, I believe you can work all things for the good of those who love you and keep your commandments. And right now, Lord, I am asking for help. I don't know what else to pray.

I don't know what else to say, but God, I know you do. I know you know what I mean and I know you know what I need. So Lord, I can only utter the words help. And God, I have to be resolved to understand sometimes it's okay not to be okay. So please, Lord, bring comfort which is what I really need. You know, Larry, that's what we need in these difficult trials. We don't need the quick fix answer. We need love and comfort and truth that comes from our heavenly Father. We need him to enlarge our heart and make more room for himself to bring that perfect peace that surpasses all understanding.

Larry: Thanks again, Pastor Matt. Next time on His Perfect Love, we'll hear more about the suffering church in Smyrna and the Lord's message to them. Come back for that as Pastor Matt returns to Revelation. His Perfect Love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg, West Shore.