Introduction & ice breaker
What advice would you give your March-1-2020-self based on what you know now and have lived through in the last 12 months?
Themes to Consider
Suffering - Poverty and pain
The inevitable fallout of having jesus as King
There is no promise of suffering-free faith.
Suffering and persecution have purpose.
Take courage because it will end!
There is a victor’s crown for those who endure
Christ himself has suffered and endured for us and before us
God's redemption of the mistakes we have made and the injustice done to us.
Practices
Inhale: Confession - the hardships you find yourself in and their weight upon your soul.
Exhale: Repent - Think of people to whom you need to repent. Ask God to help you and make right with them.
Discussion Questions
How has God revealed himself in this pandemic? To you? To our church? What does that mean for the situation we find ourselves in?
What costs have you noticed as a result of serving Jesus as king?
How has suffering or hardship shaped your life and faith? (where has God helped and redeemed injustice and sin)?
How has your own suffering opened your eyes to the suffering of others?
Guided Prayer
Oh Lord, you who know your sheep by name, be my Shepherd this day. Where I am burdened by the cares of life, give me rest. Where I am helpless against the enemies of my soul, be my defender. Where I am hungry, feed me. Where I am weary, restore me. Where I am vulnerable, protect me. Guard me, keep me, shield me, so that I might feel your loving care this day. Help me see you amidst the struggle and find you quickly in my failures. Help me notice those who suffer and are burdened, who long for restoration and redemption. May I be willing to be present in their time of need. In the name of the One who lays down his life for his sheep night and day. Amen.
Supplemental Content
The name of the city, Smyrna, means “myrrh,” an ordinary perfume. It was also used in the anointing oil of the tabernacle and in embalming dead bodies (cf. Ex. 30:23; Ps. 45:8; Song 3:6; Matt. 2:11; Mark 15:23; John 19:39). While the Christians of the church at Smyrna were experiencing the bitterness of suffering, their faithful testimony was like myrrh or sweet perfume to God.
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Purpose of suffering Suffering may be
(1) disciplinary (1 Cor. 11:30–32; Heb. 12:3–13), consequential, purifying
(2) preventive (as Paul’s thorn in the flesh, 2 Cor. 12:7),
(3) the learning of obedience (as Christ’s suffering, Heb. 5:8; cf. Rom. 5:3–5), or
(4) the providing of a better testimony for Christ (as in Acts 9:16)
(5) preparation journey for that which is ahead(Daniel, David, Paul,)
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Dr Howard Thurman who lived through the worst of racial discrimination and the civil rights movement said this about suffering:
“What would life be like if there were no suffering, no pain? The startling discovery is made that if there were no suffering there would be no freedom. Men could make no mistakes, consciously or unconsciously. The race could make no mistakes. There would be no error. There would be no possibility of choice at any point, or in any sense whatsoever… Freedom therefore cannot be separated from suffering. This then may be one of the ways in which suffering pays for its rides.”
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Dr Barbara Peacock writes about these heroes in the midst of suffering:
“The spiritual power that would resurrect justice was found on bended knee”
She goes on to talk about their path through suffering:
The spirit behind rugged knees that tamped the soil in the midst of sugar cane fields is the same spirit behind knees that are calloused by carpeted and wood floors, linoleum in high rise office buildings and storefront churches, and marble tile in towering cathedrals and designer showrooms. The laborious and poignant prayers of our ancestors carried them amidst perilous times. Prayer was their sanity and their lifeline to internal peace. Likewise, prayer is our lifeline to contentment.
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Before his death Jesus warned of a troublesome time ahead
MATT 10: 16 “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. 17 Be on your guard; you will be handed over to the local councils and be flogged in the synagogues.
That time had now come. The Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius was on the throne. These were the days when Christians were fed to the lions in the Arena at Rome, the days when the catacombs were full of earnest believers who met together to strengthen and encourage one another for the trials of life. Throughout the Empire, Christianity was spreading at an alarming rate for the Roman emperors. In spite of fire, sword, and beastly fury, Roman officers and even high government officials were being converted from paganism to serve the true and living God of Heaven.
In a somewhat obscure city in Asia Minor, in present day Turkey, far from the seat of Imperial power in Rome, there lived an elderly pastor who had long escaped the fury of the power of Rome. He was well into his eighties, and for many years he had pastored his church faithfully. In fact, he was so old, that as a young boy he could have been a contemporary and student of the Apostle John.
Persecution did rage in the city, and the enemies of the gospel had sought his life, but he himself had always been able to escape martyrdom.
But one day, he was betrayed and the place of his residence was discovered. The soldiers rushed into his chamber and demanded that he follow them. The venerable old man asked the young soldiers to give him a season of prayer before he left. Stunned and bewildered by this strange request, the young soldiers saw no reason to deny the man this simple request. Many of these young soldiers were so touched by the fervency and tenderness of his prayers that they later repented.
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The elderly man was brought before the Roman proconsul. Clearly Unintimidated by the frail old man, yet somehow threatened by the king he professed, he was condemned to be burned alive in the marketplace.
The appointed day arrived. The old man was led to his place in the open agora, the marketplace where public executions were held. A stake awaited him. It was a usual practice in Roman times to nail victims to the stake. But the old man made an unusual claim: "He who grants me to endure the fire will enable me also to remain on the pyre unmoved, without the security you desire from nails."
He would not require the nails. He would stand immovable.
As the elderly hero took his position at the stake, the proconsul, knowing the frailty of the old man’s frame, took pity upon his victim and gave him a final opportunity to recant. “Swear, and I will release thee – reproach Christ.”
He contemplated his last words… perhaps remembering … His saviours own: “father forgive them for they know not what they do?” Or his predecessor in martyrdom Stephen who prayed at his death “Lord, do not hold this sin against them”
A hushed silence from the assembled throng awaited his reply. Fixing his aged eyes upon the proconsul, the old man gave his answer, immortalized for all of human history to take note:, “Eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never once wronged me; how then shall I blaspheme my King who has saved me?”
He remained in the fire without nails and perished.
How was it that he could remain?
Perhaps it was that 3 days before he had a dream that he was in bed and engulfed in flames as if God was preparing him.
Or Perhaps the words of Christ he read so many times carried him,10 Do not fear what you are about to suffer… be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
These words recorded in revelation 2: - The letter to the church in Smyrna was written to the church which the old man eventually pastored.
This old man was the bishop of Smyrna.
His name was Polycarp. And the account of his martyrdom is still told today 1865 years later.
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Books:
Prayer in the Night: For Those Who Work, Watch, or Weep by Tish Harrison Warren
Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times by Soong-Chan Rah
Prophetic Charge
To the church at Brooklyn:
In a city of transience you have looked for ways and worked hard to be rooted. You have heard and taken seriously the invitation of the first Psalm: that those who live a life drenched in God’s Word become like a tree planted by streams of water, enduring and yielding fruit.
You have joined my heart in being willing to love this great city. I have seen you seek to surround the hurting among you with comfort even if you haven’t seen them all.
But I have this against you. You have been too enamored with your own comfort. You equate making a life in a challenging city as the same as loving Christ and seeking the Kingdom. Too often you have seen through the lens of your own preferences. You have turned desired comforts into necessities, forgetting some of your neighbors who don't have the choice of upward mobility.
Receive the gift of forgetting yourself in service and love. This laying down your life is the way to find it.
(Authored by deacons and leaders of Trinity Grace Church)
