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7/29/2019 Persecution Rev 2 8-11
http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/persecution-rev-2-8-11 1/7
© 2012 – REVDDR LUTZACKERMANN – FRIEDENSKIRCHE, HILLBROW
2nd Last Sunday of the Church Year – 18 Nov
2012
Dr Lutz Ackermann (Friedenskirche, Hillbrow)
Persecution
(Rev 2:8-11)
Grace be with you and peace of the one who was and is
and is to come. Amen.
"To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:
"This is the message from the one who is the
first and the last, who died and lived again. I
know your troubles; I know that you are poor---
but really you are rich! I know the evil things
said against you by those who claim to be Jews
but are not; they are a group that belongs to
Satan! Don't be afraid of anything you are aboutto suffer. Listen! The Devil will put you to the
test by having some of you thrown into prison,
and your troubles will last ten days. Be faithful
to me, even if it means death, and I will give you
life as your prize of victory. "If you have ears,
then, listen to what the Spirit says to the
churches!" Those who win the victory will not be hurt by the second death.
(Rev 2:8-11)
On Friday, when I got back home from the church office,
I found the house in a big mess. Someone had broken
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into the house and randomly searched most of the
wardrobes and cupboards and boxes in most of the
rooms. It seems that they had taken only a few items like
some cash and some jewellery, but it was not a nicefeeling to see, how they had treated my stuff and
intruded my space. Insurance can replace material
values, but not sentimental values. So, for example, one
ring is missing. My grandfather gave it to me in 1982,
when I finished school. So that cannot be replaced.
But with other things it is not about loss. For example
these stoles: they are the ones, my wife and I wore on theday of our ordination. And now I found them carelessly
thrown to the ground. And that shows: here was
someone who does not care at all about what is
important, what is meaningful, what is sacred to another
person.
I am not telling this, because it is such an unusual story:
if you live in Johannesburg, you can probably have
stories like this every day. But I am mentioning it,
because it reminds me of very different situations. Here
people break into houses for material reasons, to steal
stuff. But then people can also trespass and violate
someone else’s dignity and privacy for another reason: to
humiliate their victims.
So, for example, in parts of Nigeria, where Christians
and Muslims live in neighbouring communities, I
personally know some Christians, who have experienced
attacks on their lives and their property, not because of
material reasons, but because others wanted to punish
them for something they said or did publicly.
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© 2012 – REVDDR LUTZACKERMANN – FRIEDENSKIRCHE, HILLBROW
So even in our day and age there are places in this world
where people experience what can only be described as
persecution. And normally it is because of what they
believe or stand for. Sometimes is a circle of perpetrationand retaliation, like many things that happen between
Gaza and Israel these days or the situation in the north
of Nigeria. But there are other situations, where
sometimes a minority is literally fighting for survival
under the constant threat of persecution, often suffering
silently. And sometimes they want silence, because they
know: the louder they complain, the worse is it going toget with the persecution.
Now that is not something new. The words we heard
earlier from the book of revelation earlier speak clearly
of such a situation of persecution. Let me remind you,
that in the first and second century, the Christian faith
began as a movement within Judaism. Now, even in a
situation of occupation by the Roman Empire, the Jewsenjoyed a certain freedom. When the Romans subdued a
foreign nation and people, part of their imperialist
strategy was to bring with them their gods and their
imperial cult and make the conquered nation participate.
But the Jews were allowed a certain exception, so they
could continue worshiping Yahweh in their synagogues.
Now when some of the Jews started following Jesus,
there was a problem: they were much more radical in
their beliefs and would not easily compromise with the
Cesar-cult of the Romans. So they quickly became the
victims of Roman persecution. At the same time, those
Jews who did not believe in Jesus were annoyed because
automatically blame fell on them, too. And so they
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distanced themselves from that newly forming group of
Christians.
So now this guy by the name of John was writing letters
to those congregations which found themselves in themiddle of this ongoing persecution. And he was so sure
that what he was writing came directly from God that he
even put these words of exhortation, consolation and
encouragement in the first person, as coming directly
from the Lord Jesus.
Now, before we look a little bit more at what he has tosay, we need to ask ourselves: is this relevant for us?
After all, we live in a country, where everyone is at least
officially free to believe, whatever they want – as long as
that does not lead to them violating the freedom of
others. No-one must be discriminated against because of
their race, nationality, gender, their faith or their sexual
orientation. And by and large, I think we can say, that is
the case. While there may be occasional exceptions, as a
rule we can say that there is no systematic persecution,
neither of Christians nor of other groups in South Africa
today.
So why bother thinking about it? Well, for one thing we
must remember that the behaviour and character traits
(courage or cowardice, faithfulness and perserverance orgiving up) that come out in a situation of crisis often do
not originate in that situation. In other words, what is
not planted as a seed in times of relative freedom and
tolerance cannot come to bear fruit in the time of a
possible future persecution. And who knows, what the
future brings. So it’s the sunny days when we prepare
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ourselves for the stormy times. It is before the fight that
we need to train. {if time: persecution never far away,
modern African examples: Manche, Steve Biko}
Here, of course, a temptation is that not having firsthand experience of persecution we might end up as
wishful martyrs. “ What ever happens”, someone might
say, “I will never deny my faith” – well, really? How do
we know? The proof, they say, of the pudding lies in the
eating. Now I do certainly not wish to experience
persecution (nor wish I to anyone) and as we meditate
these sombre thoughts we should also turn to God inthankfulness for all the freedom we experience. But at
the same time we should remain realistic and not
speculate too much about how heroic we would be.
So when we listen to the words of this short message to
the believers in Smyrna (that was where Izmir is today,
on the west coast of Turky), there are a couple of things
that catch my attention:
1) Firstly, as the Lord speaks to them through the
writer, identifying him by the words “ I am” . I am
the first and the last; that means the ultimate that
you can think of. Here speaks the one who died and
lived again. He is the Lord over life and death, and
if he calls to “ be faithful, even if it means death”, heknows what he is talking about.
2) Secondly, here like in the six messages to the other
churches, he begins by asserting: “ I know” . I
know you, I know your problems, circumstances,
your issues. I know, what’s going on with you, how
you perceive yourself and how you are perceived by
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others. Sometimes we may feel it like a threat when
we become too transparent. In an age where others
can google some nonsense we have posted on
facebook or somewhere online long ago (and which we maybe we have come to regret!), too much
transparency seems scary. But make no mistake,
the Lord of Lords, the one who is the Alpha and the
Omega, he knows us better even than we do
ourselves. And the wonderful thing is: he looks at
us and through us with the gaze of his love {if time:
aside“ Aslan
”}
3) And then, thirdly, he jumps right into it. No pussy-
footing around: here is what’s going on. Trouble,
persecution, suffering and even imprisonment. He
doesn’t say: “ Ag, it’s not that bad.” or “compared to
others you are still quite ok ”. No such patronizing
nonsense, no cheap consolation, no quick fix.
Sometimes we need to be forced to face reality as itis; but face it with courage.
4) But fourthly then, he speaks of hope: this is not
going to last forever. Don’t give up! Win the prize!
Be faithful! Be victorious! And the paradox is: while
he still talks about a threatening situation, that can
even lead to death, death as a martyr, a blood
witness of the faith, he also speaks about a final
victory. The second death cannot harm you, if you
persevere. Because Jesus is the Lord who has
conquered death for us.
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So, once again, is that a text for us, who are not
threatened by persecution? I believe it is, because if we
can start hearing these words as spoken even to us, even
in a time of freedom and tolerance, we can begin to liveaccordingly – even today.
We can live as those, who belong to Jesus, the first and
the last and the living one!
We can live as those who do not need to hide, because
God can see right through our deepest confusions and
lies and idiosyncrasies. He says:“I know you
” –
but hesays it with a voice of love, with an intent to make our
lives worthwhile!
We can live as people who are not scared to face reality.
We can call a spade a spade. Sometimes the reality we
are awakening to may be harsh. But we can face it with
God.
And we can continue in faithfulness to God. Sometimes
our lives may be threatened, but even in less dramatic
circumstances we know: we can carry on, we can be
victorious, because the victorious one is with us. He is
with us in suffering and in weakness; and he is with us
even in defeat. But he is also with us in victory.
Amen.
And the peace of God, which is far beyond human
understanding, will keep your hearts and minds safe in
union with Christ Jesus now and forever. Amen.
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