Let's pray. Father, you know that there's a million things in my heart that I would like to say to your people. And I don't know which ones would be best. So just help me, Lord. I pray that You would come upon me in power by Your Spirit and speak words through Your holy scriptures that will move Your people to love You more, and to rest in Your great and precious promises more, and to trust You more. I pray this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. About 10 years and one week ago today, we started a Bible study in our home. Within three months, that Bible study became Agape Bible Church. Now 500 some sermons later, here I am preaching my final sermon as preaching pastor of this church. When I think back over that decade, all the times that we've Taking the Lord's table together, times of worship where those special times, you know, where everybody in the room could just tell the Spirit was moving in a very special way. all the baptisms, marriages healed, sins confessed and forsaken and overcome, tens of thousands of dollars given to help the poor, missions work, children being taught, friendships built, battles fought together. We've been through a lot together as a church, haven't we? Especially the last five years, especially the last five weeks. Been through a lot. After all that, what does the shepherd say to the flock that he dearly loves in his final sermon? As I prayed about that, the answer came, just let the chief shepherd speak. Let our great pastor in heaven speak to his church. So if you haven't already opened your Bibles to Revelation 2, Go ahead and take a look because Revelation 2 and 3, in those chapters, what's happening there is the Lord Jesus Christ dictating letters to seven churches that represent all the churches of all time in various different contexts throughout history. So all we have to do is look at which church in Revelation 2 and 3 we resemble at a particular time in a particular context and then we can see what the Lord Jesus Christ has to say to us specifically as a church. The reason we have these letters is so that at whatever point we find ourselves in the same boat with one of these churches we can look and see the specific instructions that Jesus has for that particular situation. So which of these churches are we like? I think the two that fit us the best, the descriptions that fit us the best are Smyrna and Philadelphia. So let's take a look at how they're described, how Jesus describes these two churches, and then you can just see if you agree with me that this kind of fits us at this time. So, let's just click on the About Us page for these two churches on their website. Every church website you ever go to, they always have About Us, and you click on that, you find out all about what that church is like and what to expect. So, let's just click on the link, see how Jesus describes these two churches. What we find when we do that is something that would never appear on any church's website. No church would put this on their website. When Jesus describes what these churches are like and these two fellowships, all he describes is problems. If you were going church shopping in ancient Asia Minor in the first century, most people would just skip right over Smyrna and Philadelphia, both. Both churches were in trouble. They were small, they were weak, they had all kinds of problems. And both churches had a terrible reputation in the community and were hated and despised by the people in their town. Look at verse 9 of chapter 2. He says this to Smyrna. The first thing he says, I know your afflictions. The word afflictions literally means that which causes pain. The root idea of that is pressure. These churches were going through a painful ordeal that was just clamping down on them tighter and tighter, harder and harder, suffering. Next he mentions their legal problems in chapter 2, verse 10. It says some people in Smyrna were in trouble with the law. They were facing prison. Smyrna was probably the most dangerous city for a Christian to live in at that time. Citizens there were required to say, Caesar is Lord, and give some incense to affirm their patriotism. And if you failed to do that, penalty was death. And they couldn't do that. The church, obviously, Christians couldn't do that. So they're facing major legal problems. Then he brings up their reputation. And the legal problems were all twisted. People didn't see it as a religious thing. They saw it as a patriotic thing and misunderstood. Then he brings up their reputation. He says, I know the slander. Jesus says, I know the slander. Both these churches were being slandered in the community, both Smyrna and Philadelphia. It was the same group persecuting both churches. and the same kind of slander, and they were saying, basically, we have God's favor. This is a group of Jews. We have God's favor. We're the ancient people that God has affirmed throughout the ages. God is against you. That's why you're suffering. God has removed His favor. He's turned His face away from you. You do not have His approval. We have His approval. You do not. And they were turning the whole community in those cities against these two churches by making all kinds of false accusations and destroying their reputation in the community. Very difficult thing when your enemies who are doing that have a louder platform than you have. Another characteristic on the About Us page of the church in Philadelphia was weakness. That's the first thing Jesus says about that one. If you look over at chapter 3 in verse 7, He says, I know that you have little strength. Little strength. It's a very nice way of saying you're weak. He doesn't say you're weak because he doesn't want it to come across as a rebuke. He doesn't want to put them down. It's not intended as a rebuke. He's just acknowledging these people were holding on by a thread. The church was weak. Now again, you're not going to see that on most churches about us page on their website. You're not going to click on that and say, well, we're very small, very few members, very meager resources, and we are at the breaking point. as a church. I mean, you compare this to a church like Sardis, which had a reputation for being alive. I mean, people just thought, Sardis, man, that church is hopping. They're thriving. They're alive. And compared to that, Smyrna, Philadelphia, not very impressive. On top of that, they had financial problems, chapter 2, verse 9. I know your afflictions and your poverty. If you want to find a church that's operating in the black, has good financial stability, don't go to Smyrna. There's two different Greek words for poverty. This is the more extreme one. This is destitution, absolute destitution. This church was in major, major financial trouble. One more characteristic. Neither one of these churches... Now, up to now, it looks terrible, right? These churches are not going to make the cover of Christianity Today. Nobody's going to write an article about them. From a human standpoint, it would seem like these churches should just shut their doors already. Just give it up. But our thoughts are not God's thoughts. Jesus looked at Sardis, which was the one that was hopping reputation for being alive, best church around, and he said, you know what, you guys are dead. In reality, you're dead, chapter 3, verse 1. But then he looked at Smyrna and Philadelphia, which looked like they were pretty much dead, and ended up, those two churches end up being his favorite two churches. The format for each one of these letters is pretty much the same. Jesus introduces himself first. That's how he starts out each letter. He says, let me introduce myself, and he highlights one attribute, one or two of his attributes from the vision in chapter one. an attribute that's especially relevant for that church. So he says, let me introduce myself, I'm the one who, and then something that will really help them to focus on. Then he says, I know your deeds, and he goes on to praise them for what they're doing right. And then he says, but I hold this against you, and then he goes and rebukes them for what they're doing wrong, and then he closes by giving various promises of rewards that they will get if they persevere. and become overcomers. That's the structure. Each letter just follows that pattern. But in the letters to Smyrna and Philadelphia, the, the, this, the, but I hold this against you section is missing. It's not there, it's just missing. These are the most problem-infested churches in the group. These two problem-infested churches were so pleasing to Christ that he didn't have anything negative to say about them. Nothing. No rebuke, only praise. They're his favorite churches. The ones that we would naturally skip over are his favorite churches. Why? Why? Was it just because they were suffering and you just felt sorry for them? It's like, well, you're suffering and therefore, no, no, that's not it. There's nothing especially virtuous about suffering. Some churches might be suffering just because they've made dumb decisions or they have unrepentant sin in the body or they're being punished by God or whatever. There's all kinds of reasons you could suffer. It's not because of their suffering that Jesus commends them. There's one more thing about these churches that you need to know and this is the thing that made them his favorite. It was what they did in response to their suffering. Look at chapter 3, verse 8. He says, I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word. That's what made these churches so thoroughly pleasing and precious to the Lord Jesus Christ. They kept his word. What was their music like? Probably not spectacular. They have a good nursery program, youth group, singles ministry, inviting atmosphere, contemporary worship, paved parking lot. I don't know. Jesus doesn't mention any of that. All we know is they had lots of problems and during those problems they kept His Word. That's the mark of a good church. We don't have time this morning to examine everything in these two letters. That would just take multiple sermons. So I just want to point out three things. If it's true that we're like these two churches, I'm suggesting this morning that out of the seven churches, I think these are the two that we're the closest to resembling. If that's true, that tells us something about our value, our responsibility, and our hope. And that's what I want to talk to you about. Let's take a look at those one at a time. First our value. How valuable is a church that fits these descriptions? How valuable is a church that looks like these two churches? That obviously if these are two Jesus two favorite churches, they're the churches that receive no rebuke only praise Then the value of the churches is incalculable and I'm telling you this not to just bolster your self-esteem as a church But because after today you as a congregation have to decide what's next right You have to decide if this church is worth salvaging you have to decide that and The leadership can't decide that. They could decide that and nobody comes and there's no church. You have to decide that. We've had so many hardships in this church and we're facing so much difficulty. Is it even worth it to try to restart? Or should we just disband? We have to decide that. The other thing that you're gonna have to decide is if you leave here, if you decide, God's calling me somewhere else, I gotta go somewhere else, and you leave, where should you go next? You gotta decide one of those two things, right? And if you find yourself looking for a new church, what should you look for? Every church has strengths and weaknesses, but which are the strengths and weaknesses that really matter the most to the Lord Jesus Christ? And I think if you understand what made these two churches Jesus' favorite two churches, you'll know what's really important to look for in a church. There are a lot of things that are important, Jesus boils basically, I think boils it down to one word, faithfulness. Faithfulness to his word. Chapter 3 verse 8, you have little strength yet you have kept my word. Verse 10, you have kept my command to endure patiently. You've just stayed faithful even through all the trouble. In the midst of all their suffering, all their pressure, all their problems, they persevered and they remained faithful to the Word of Christ. And there's two aspects to that, to remaining faithful to the Word. Two parts. First, preaching. just preaching the word faithfully. Expository preaching. Now we talk a lot around here about expository preaching and how important that is. Expository preaching is simply preaching where the main point of the sermon is the main point of the passage that's being preached. The purpose of the sermon is whatever the purpose of the passage is, that's the purpose of the sermon. The mood of the sermon is whatever the mood of the passage is. Everything, instead of just reading a verse and using that as a springboard to go off and talk about that topic and say whatever you want to say, no, you spend, the pastor spends his week learning from that passage, what does that passage teach, and then just shares what it teaches, exposes the passage to the people, that's expository preaching. That's what it is. and it should be in-depth. Scripture is not shallow, so preaching should not be shallow. If you don't get insights most weeks from the message that you didn't already know, then you're going to be malnourished, and so you need to always be learning. So God's Word is deep, it's rich, and we need to look in-depth. I think in-depth, expository preaching is the single most important factor to consider in a church. And sadly, it's difficult to find in Denver. But even more difficult to find, I'm sad to say, is what I'll call expository ministry. This is the doing part. There's this preaching part. When it comes to keeping God's Word, keeping the Word of Christ, to keep it, you have to say it right, and then you have to do it, right? And this is the doing part. Expository ministry is when all of the systems and structures and decision-making in the church are all driven as directly as possible by the Word of God. We do what we do because of what the Bible says. When the elders get together and make a decision, when a ministry coordinator sits down and makes a decision about ministry, they look to God's Word for guidance. What does the Scripture say? This is what we're doing right now in this sermon, right? We're doing it right now. We're faced with a decision, and so we're saying, what does the Bible say about this decision? And so we're looking at Revelation 2 and 3. When we set up policies and procedures and systems and all the rest, the goal has to be to put into practice principles from God's Word and to achieve the purposes called for in God's Word. So at any point, you can point to anything we're doing in this church and ask, why do we do this? And the answer, leadership should be able to point to a passage of scripture and say, that's why. I mean, the prayer groups are an example of that. They just came up to me, studied some scripture, says, we need to get this done. How can we get it done? Let's try, see if we can get done the one another stuff through prayer groups. It comes out of scripture. That's expository ministry. Problems come up, how should we handle this problem? Well, many times, there's one way to handle it that will keep everybody happy. and not ruffle any feathers and make things nice and smooth, but it's not what the Bible says to do. And if we do what the Bible says to do, people are going to get upset, someone's going to fly off the handle. You know, doing things like following through on Matthew 18, which is just unheard of in this culture, being proactive with the peacemaking principles that Mike was talking about and that Tom was talking about, holding the values of scripture even when they conflict with the values of this culture, those can be very unpopular even in the church. And I have seen one Bible-teaching church after another compromise on those things in order to avoid rocking the boat of church growth. It's not easy to find a church with leaders who have the courage and the integrity to keep God's Word the way they conduct ministry, no matter what the cost. It's hard to find. So if you leave this place after today and you look for another church, that's something to look for. Look for a church that not only preaches but keeps the Word of God. And for those wrestling with the question of whether or not to stay, ask yourself the question, is this body worth salvaging? If you're asking that question, one factor to take into consideration as you ask that question is the fact that we have leaders here who are committed to expository preaching and expository ministry. You have men here who have the courage to keep God's word no matter what. And I can vouch for that. I can tell you that that's true. Would it be worth the trouble to preserve this body so that there's one more church in Denver, one church in Thornton, one more church in Thornton that's committed to keeping God's Word? Is that worth doing? How hard is it to find a church where the leaders will commit to God's Word, even when it means losing face, even when it means looking dumb, even when it means being mocked, losing revenue, losing members, getting criticism, In this church, we have leaders like that. Mike is like that. Tom is like that. So is Chuck, and Andrew, and Bill, and Greg Thomas, and Chris Reeves, and Randy Squire, and Ryan Mosier, and several others. Now, are all those men I just named going to stay? I don't know. I don't know how God is calling them. Maybe they will, if you as a church plead with them to stay. Each of them just needs to decide how God is leading them at this time. But even if some of them leave, or even if some of them don't feel called in to help with leadership at this time, I can tell you there are much larger churches where you're doing well if you can find one or two men like that in leadership. And it's not just the leaders either. It's you. It's the congregation. Beloved, one of the most delightful things about pastoring this church It's the fact that when God's Word speaks, you accept it. You respond to it. You bow your knee to it. I can take the most unpopular thing in the whole Bible, and if I can just simply convince you that the Bible says it, you'll do it. You'll accept it. You'll receive it. There's not many congregations that are like that. I could stand up here and preach, you know, wives, submit to your husbands. And if I preach that, if I'm going through Ephesians five and I get to that, I don't have to go on and on with a bunch of psychological studies about how it causes relationships to be more smooth and give you a million examples of wives that were submissive and then it had a good result. And I don't have to try to persuade you by delving into all of the aspects of your marriage that'll be affected if you just do that. All I have to do is show you it is in the Bible. This is what the Bible says. And if you're convinced that that's what the Bible says, you'll do it. You'll receive it. This is the kind of congregation you are. I've seen it for 10 years. You are a church that keeps God's Word. And being surrounded by a body of people who will do that, is rare. It's not a blessing that every Christian gets to enjoy. There are Christians around the world that do not get to enjoy that. There are Christians around Denver that do not get to enjoy that. They're surrounded by people who do not keep God's Word. Even after they hear it in God's Word, they're skeptical. A body that keeps God's Word like that? There's something to be said for preserving that. When I read the descriptions of Jesus' two favorite churches in Smyrna and Philadelphia, and I look at you, I think what we have here is something very special. I hope when you make your decision to stay or leave, you take into consideration not just the preaching, but the body. Last week we did that survey, and most of you marked just one or two options or conditions under which you would stay. Like, I'll stay for this, stay for that, otherwise I'm leaving. There's only a few that marked stay all the way down, every single option. Stay, stay, stay, stay, stay. One of those was Greg Thomas, and Greg and Martha. And I mention theirs just because I didn't tell anybody I was going to mention their name today. But Greg wrote a comment on there that really struck me. At first, I saw that. I thought, stay no matter what? What, are you just like committed to the building? And then I read his comment and it was in cursive. And when I first glanced at it, it looked like he said, we are committed to this building. I thought, oh, he's being sarcastic. I looked closer. What he said was, we are committed to this body. the underlined body. He said, we are committed to this body. If we lose the deep expository preaching, we would still remain, but it would be more difficult. Now that struck me. There's something to be said for an attitude that says, this is my family. I love these people. I'm committed to this body. I love them. I want to serve them with my gifts. Now if you've been around here, Very long. You know there's something special about this group. We've been through battle together. We've cried out to God in prayer together. I mean cried out. We've received answers to those prayers together. So many times. We've celebrated baptisms together. We've watched people grow spiritually. We've all pitched in to make it happen. We've opened up our wallets for years and gave and served in all kinds of ministries and we showed up for work days and we sat under the same preaching. We all sat under the same preaching. We went through the James. We went through Philippians. We went through all these books together. We went through the Sermon on the Mount. We've prayed for one another week after week in prayer groups. We've visited each other in hospital rooms and in jail cells, and we've helped one another out in hard financial times, and we've suffered together, and we've rejoiced and laughed together, and we've rebuked one another, and exhorted one another, encouraged one another, prayed for one another, instructed one another. We've done all that. If God is calling you somewhere else, And you're sure of that? You need to be obedient to His calling and do it. But if that's the case, if you do leave, your leaving should be a tearing away from a family. Not just switching from one church to another like you change insurance providers. Jesus evaluates a church not by its size, not by its popularity, not by its activity, by its faithfulness to keep His Word. And what's the summary of His Word? Love the Lord your God with all of your being. That's the summary of His Word, right? Look up. Look up. This church is devoted above all. to looking up, seeing God, and loving Him, focusing on His attributes, learning what He's like. We do that in our songs. When we sing, we start our praise time with a focus on attributes of God. We look up, and then we build to that final song, which is our song which is all about what God is like. We do that in our prayers. We do that in our counseling. We do that in our children's ministry, in our youth ministry, always beginning with the attributes of God. Are there so many other churches around that do that, that this one doesn't need to continue? Or is this one worth preserving? And if you don't think that this... Let me just talk to you personally here for a second. If you don't think that this body can survive without Daryl Ferguson, Remind yourself, read Revelation again, chapter one, remind yourself again who it is who walks among the lampstands of the churches and keeps the light burning or snuffs them out. It's not Daryl Ferguson. It's Jesus Christ. Everyone is replaceable. Everyone. Moses was replaced. Greatest leader of all time, except for Jesus. Replaceable. He's replaced by Joshua. They did just fine. I'm convinced that for now, and I have agonized in prayer over this, I'm convinced that for now the best chance of the survival of this church is for me to be gone for a while. But if I'm right, and you really are a lot like Smyrna in Philadelphia, then that means this body is priceless in Christ's sight, and precious to Him, and one of His favorites. All of that is our value. Okay? I told you that's three things, three implications. One, our value. That's the value of this body. What about the next one? Our responsibility. If we're like Smyrna in Philadelphia, what are we commanded to do? Jesus gives two commands to Smyrna. Let me just read and see if you can pick them out as I read. Chapter 2, verse 10. Two commands. Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you the devil will put some of you in prison to test you and you will suffer persecution for 10 days. Be faithful even to the point of death and I will give you the crown of life. First command, don't be afraid of what you're about to suffer. And you can imagine these people, I mean they're going through all this suffering and you're like, they're like, about to suffer? Like this is gonna get worse? Yeah, it's gonna get worse. That's what he's telling them. It's gonna get worse. And he says, don't be afraid of it. Courage. That's the command. That's the command number one. Courage. Don't be afraid of suffering. Fear of suffering is one of Satan's most powerful tools. If Satan can get us to orient our lives around avoidance of suffering, he's got us in the palm of his hand. And Jesus helps us not be afraid of that by showing us what Satan's goal in bringing suffering is. Verse 10, I tell you the devil will put some of you in prison to test you. Now, it was human beings that were putting them in prison. But the one orchestrating all that was Satan himself. And when people lie about us and slander us and disparage us on the news or in blogs or on Facebook, the issue is not those people. What doesn't matter is what those people's motives are. What matters is what Satan's motives are. And his motives are, he wants to get us to sin. That's his motive. The word test here, he's gonna put you in prison to test you, that's a word that can mean either test or tempt. Whenever Satan is the one doing it, then it's obviously tempting. So it should be translated tempt. Satan doesn't make us suffer just to watch us suffer. He's not satisfied with that. Satan is not satisfied just by seeing tears streaming down your face in agony. That's not what he's going after. He wants more than that. He wants that anguish to drive you to sin. That's his purpose. The reason Satan brings suffering into a church is to cause that church to respond in sinful ways. That's what he's after. If someone falls into sin in the church and then repents, even if it's a horrific sin, if he repents, that doesn't ruin the church. That is not what ruins a church. And Satan knows that. And so what he tries to do is to get us to respond to people like that by sinning ourselves and then justifying it so that we don't repent. That's what destroys a church. And so the only way that he can bring destruction on a church is by tempting that church to destroy itself. Satan knows he does not have the power, enough power to destroy any church. Satan doesn't. He cannot destroy any church. The only way he can do it is to convince that church to destroy itself. by justifying sin. So Jesus said to this church, don't be afraid of suffering. Realize what Satan is after, but don't be afraid of it. Be afraid of sinning. Don't be afraid of suffering, be afraid of sinning. That's command number one. The second command has to do with faithfulness. He says, be faithful even to the point of death. They've been faithful already, they've been faithful so far, and Jesus says, keep it up. How long? Not long. Not long. Just till you're dead. The 10 days thing there is saying it's not going to be a long time, but be faithful to the point of death. If you hang in there for a while but then collapse, that's not enough. That's not enough. You hang in there for a long time and then collapse, that's not enough. That's why scripture talks so much about the value of perseverance, James 1.2. Consider it pure joy when you face trials. Why? Because you get perseverance in the deal. Romans 5.3, we rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance. That's how valuable it is. In the midst of suffering, sometimes people will, they read those verses and they're just like, I can't stand this, I can't, I can't, how much perseverance do I need? I can't, I don't even want any more perseverance, make it stop. Those are the words of somebody who needs to learn Perseverance. Saint knows from experience that it's after the long battle, in times of extreme fatigue, that Christians become easy pickings. He knows we're not going to fall at the beginning. That's true of individuals, it's true of churches. When I look back at all that God has done through this body over the past decade, there's no question in my mind that Satan wants to shut this place down. No question in my mind. Whatever it takes, he wants to put an end to the things that go on here week after week. He wants the praises to be silenced. The joy in the Lord is to follow through on what God has called us to do, no matter what kind of opposition arises. If God gives you a task, do it. You need to do it. Last week at our meeting, last Sunday at our meeting, a whole bunch of people exhorted me, Daryl, use your gift. All week long, I've been getting emails, messages, everything, use your gift. People are calling me, whatever you do, keep serving the church with your gift. And if it brings hardship in your life, it brings trouble in your life, so be it. Just keep using your gift. And I've heard people say the same thing to Mike. You know, several of you have urged Mike, take this church, quit your job, give up a secure income, and take on all the heartaches and headaches and difficulties and risks of being a preaching pastor in a new church plan. When you say that to me, when you say that to Mike, when you say this stuff, you're asking a lot, which is fine. Keep asking for a lot. You have every right to do that, because nothing in the world is more important than the work of the gospel. So go ahead and call us to give up everything in pursuit of the gospel. It's worth risking everything for, like Epaphroditus who risked his life to do his little part. But here's my question for you. When you're calling us to be faithful to our calling, are you willing to be as faithful as you're calling us to be? Are you willing to subject yourself to hardship and risk and sacrifice and difficulty and scorn, if need be, in order to be faithful, to discharge the duties of your calling in the church, to use your gift, to serve with your gift? Are you willing to pay any price to serve with your gift? Is that something you just want other people to do for your benefit, or are you willing to do it? Now right now, Mike is praying fervently, asking God, what way do you want me to go? He's seeking God's will. How is Mike going to know the answer to that prayer? What God's answer is? How God's guiding him? I think one of the main ways God answers a prayer like that is through the church, through the body. Paul and Barnabas knew that God was sending them to the mission field when the church spoke. The Spirit moved in the congregation and they said right there in the worship service, okay, go. The seven knew that they were called to that ministry to the widows when the church put them forward. And one way a pastor will know if he's being called to shepherd a particular flock is if that flock says to him, if you commit, we'll commit. If there were 30 or 40 or 50 of you who would sign on a dotted line and say, I am all in. I'm going for this. I am fully committed to this restart effort. I'll do it, what it takes. I'll serve on a ministry team. I'll take a position on a ministry team and I will serve and I will use my gift. I will pray hard. I will give 10% of my income. I will do all I can do to make this effort a success and make sure that there's a church on this corner that looks up and goes deep and reaches out. If 30 or 40 or 50 people committed to that, and 8 or 10 men stepped up and said, I'll help lead this church. I'm not perfect, but I will help lead this church. Well, that would say a lot to Mike and whoever else about how God is guiding. But if he just gets a dozen people that say, well, we'll watch and see what happens, Well, if that's all he has to work with, maybe that's the spirit saying, that's not the way I'm leading right now. Now please understand, I'm not telling you that it's God's will for you to make a commitment to this body. I don't know that. I don't know if it's God's will for you to stay, and so I would never tell you to do it, because I don't know. I am telling you, In fact, I'm commanding you on the authority of God's word that you must make that commitment somewhere. You must commit to that level to some church. Whether or not it's this church, it's a decision you need to make between you and God and seek His guidance just like Mike is doing and ask whether this church is worth salvaging. But whether it's here or somewhere else, it is not optional. It is not if you're a Christian. God has given you gifts. He requires you to prove faithful, 1 Corinthians 4.2. Now it is required that a steward must prove faithful. The enemy is going to tempt you to withdraw. It's just like Andrew was saying in his prayer. That's the temptation. Oh, that experience at Agape was so traumatic. I just need to sit out of church and recoup and recover for a while. I just need to go and attend somewhere as an observer, you know, so they can heal. No. You do not heal or recover by being unfaithful to your calling. That is not going to bring you any healing. Disobedience and unfaithfulness never bring healing. All they do is bring more damage to your soul. If we learn anything from the letters to Smyrna and Philadelphia, it's that Jesus loves a body of believers who remain faithful even through the most excruciating suffering, even after he tells them it's about to get worse. You can say, I mean you can't say, There was suffering, therefore I have the right to be unfaithful for a little while. You can't say that. Times of suffering are precisely the times when faithfulness is most necessary. In Revelation 2-3 he praises Ephesus because they have not grown weary. He just praises them for that. You haven't grown weary. Don't grow weary. Don't falter in your calling. Matthew 24-45 says, Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom the Master has put over the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time, it will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. Be faithful. Be found being faithful when he returns. In the weeks to come, don't be idle. Don't be found idle. Either be faithful here, be faithful somewhere else, but whatever you do, don't use what has happened here as an excuse for unfaithfulness. We're all familiar with that phrase, well done, good and faithful servant, right? Where does that phrase come from? It comes from the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. Now a talent was a large sum of money. It was about 16 years wages, so a huge sum of money, like more than a half a million dollars. And Jesus tells a story about a master who gives one of those to one servant and then five of them to another and ten to another to manage while he's gone. And the one who got the five and the ten, those two, they put the money to work, they get a return, he comes back and he says to them, well done, good and faithful servant. That's where that phrase comes from. But the other guy, the one with the one talent, was afraid of the risk involved in investing it, and so he just locked it up and kept it safe until the master returned and said, here, I kept it safe. And to that servant, this master says, you wicked, lazy servant. Three servants, well done, well done. Faithful, faithful, lazy. And the point of the parable is, don't let that happen to you. Don't be that third guy. God has entrusted resources to your care. He has given you spiritual gifts, skills, abilities, a body, money. You have all these resources. You've been given them. You've been entrusted them. They're not yours. They're just, you're just a steward. You're supposed to, they're entrusted to your care for the sake of the kingdom. He wants you to put them to work. Faithfulness is using your gifts and your talents and abilities and time and money to serve the church. Unfaithfulness is failing to use your gifts and your talents and your abilities and your time and money to serve the church. Be faithful. Be faithful. So on the question of our value, what makes a church good or bad? Faithfulness to the Word. And faithfulness to the work. On the second thing, the question of our responsibility, what does Jesus command? He commands us to continue to be faithful until we're dead. Third, final point, and I'll try to make this faster, our hope. Each letter, I told you, each letter begins with Jesus introducing himself by pointing to one or two of his attributes that are especially important for that church's situation. So there's some attributes of Christ that are most necessary for Ephesus, most necessary for Pergamum, whatever, and will really help them in their situation. So if we're like Smyrna and Philadelphia, then in our context, what attribute of Christ is most important for us to fix our attention on? It's going to help us in our situation right here. What does he say? How does he introduce himself to Smyrna? Chapter 2, verse 8. So Jesus is the conqueror of death and the master of life. He's eternal. The people in Smyrna needed to know that. They were at risk of being put to death by the government and their church seemed to be hanging by a thread on life support. Jesus assures them. I'm the one who decides who lives or dies I'm the master of life. That's true of individuals. It's true church bodies Jesus Christ decides if a church lives or dies not Fox 31 news not Daryl Ferguson Not someone with a blog or someone with a Facebook page or a website or a gossipy mouth. Those people are not in control of what happens to Christ's church. Christ is. And if you read the accounts of Jesus going to funerals and breaking them up by raising the person from the dead, ruining the whole funeral, and you look in the accounts of when Jesus does that, it just calls people back to life. You realize Nothing's over until Jesus says it's over. Nothing's over until Jesus says it's over, no matter how it looks. And if we're gonna obey the commands of the Lord Jesus Christ that he's gonna give to these churches, we have to be clear in our thinking about who he is. He is the author of life and he has full supremacy over who lives, who dies, what lives, what dies, no one else, nothing else, only Christ. That's the attribute he gives to Smyrna. What about Philadelphia? Chapter 3, verse 7. To the angel in the church of Philadelphia write, Thus saith the one who is holy and true, who holds the key of David, what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds. See, I have given you an open door that no one can shut. That's a quotation from Isaiah 22, verse 22, where Eliakim was given total authority in the house of David. I'll read to you, Isaiah 22, 22. I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. What he opens, no one can shut, and what he shuts, no one can open. So Eliakim, at that time, had total authority in the house of David, and Jesus is quoting that verse, applying it to himself in the kingdom of God. He has total authority in the kingdom of God. If Jesus Christ decides a door of opportunity is open, it is open. He decides if an effort is successful or if it's a failure. He's the one who can grant access into the treasury of the kingdom of God, the treasury of blessings, the treasury of grace, and he's the one who can close the door and nobody can have access then. And look what he says to this church, chapter 3, verse 8. See, I gave you an open door that no one can shut. Jesus wants this church to remember that a door isn't closed until Jesus closes it. Everything they could observe around them was screaming to them the fact that doors of opportunity are all slamming closed in their face. And Jesus said, no, I say when a door is open, and I say when it's closed, and I'm telling you, this one is open. Both of those attributes, the one to Smyrna and the one to Philadelphia, point to one thing, Jesus' absolute supremacy. And we need to keep that in mind so that we can have confidence in His great and precious promises. We don't have time this morning to get into all the promises. There's so many promises He makes, especially to Philadelphia. But let me just mention one of them. Chapter 3, verse 9. Look at that one. He says, I'll make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, these are the people that are slandering and ruining their reputation, I will make them acknowledge that I loved you. That's one of the promises. I'm gonna make them. These people are slandering them publicly. And everybody's believing them. And they got the broader platform than the people in the church. So people are being convinced. And the people in the community are hearing all this slander and they're believing it. And the folks in the church didn't have any way of setting the record straight. And that's frustrating. But look at Jesus' promise. He said, I'm gonna make those people acknowledge. The ones who are slandering, I'm gonna make them acknowledge that I loved you. They're gonna have to do that. Jesus is going to make the truth known. He is going to expose who's in the right and who's in the wrong. He's going to do that, and he's going to force those who are in the wrong to acknowledge the truth. We don't have to worry and fret and stew about lies that are being told about us, slanted reporting on the news, attacks online, blogs. Jesus says, I know the truth. I know the truth. And when the time is right, I'm going to make the truth known, and I'm going to make your enemies acknowledge it. Christ always has the last word because he is the author of life and the controller of the key. Our time is gone. I do have one more thing. Can I say one more thing? What are you gonna do, fire me? If you'll indulge me, I just wanna You know what the purpose of the miracle of the miraculous catch of fish was? We see it in... Some people have criticized the Bible because they say, well there's a mistake because Luke puts it at the beginning of Jesus' ministry and then John puts it at the end of his ministry. It's not a mistake. Jesus did it twice. He did it twice on purpose. When he called, in the beginning of Luke, when he called his disciples, so they're commercial fishermen, right? They're fishing on a lake that has more profusion of fish than just about any piece of body of water in the world. I mean, it's just loaded with fish. And they had these huge nets that they would go down and just catch tons of fish at a time. They go out and do that, and all night long, they don't catch one single fish. That is a miracle. That's not just a bad night fishing. That is a miracle. They're not out there with a rod and reel. This is commercial fishing. Not one fish. This is how Jesus calls them. So all that happens, and then he stands there and he says, all right, and to make matters worse, they ripped their nets while they were not catching anything. They're catching junk, and then it tears their nets. So now they're fixing their nets. After all night, they fished all night, they're exhausted, they're trying to sew them back together. Jesus walks up, says, load up, gear up, go back out there, throw the nets out one more time. This landlubber guy, he's not even raised on the sea. They're like, all right, and so they go out there and they throw out and there's so many fish that it rips their nets and it almost sinks their boat. And then he says this, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Now you put that miracle with that statement, what do you get? It's like, I don't want you to be fishermen anymore. I want you to follow me and I can give you spiritual fruit like I just did with those fish. That's what's going to happen. You're not going to be able to handle the spiritual fruit. Follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. And I'll give you... I'll make you catchers of men. I'll give you results. They left their nets, followed him. Right? No brainer. It's easy. Fast forward a couple of years, Jesus is dead. The whole thing is shut down. It's a disaster. They were saying things like, we had thought that he was the one. We thought he was inside. We had hoped he was going to bring the kingdom. Now it's done. Now it's done. What do they do? Go back to fishing. What else are you going to do? Then comes John 21. Jesus comes in John 21. They're out there fishing. Once again. No, all night. Not one fish. What's going on? They hear a voice from the shore. Try the other side of the boat. These huge nets. The other side of the boat. Wait a second, that's Jesus. Splash, Jesus, Peter's swimming. He's got to go see Jesus. They put the nets on the other side of the boat. The nets rip. The boats almost sink. There's so many fish they can't handle it. They get to shore and Jesus says to them, follow me. Do you see what's going on there? He's saying, hey, I'm having to redo this miracle. The first time I did it, I said, follow me, I'll make you fishers of men. Leave the nets, follow me. I didn't mean short term. I didn't mean just till things seem like they fall apart. I said, follow me. Until you're dead! And I will make you fishers of men, catchers of men. I'll give you fruit. I can do it. I've got the power. This is what the risen Christ is saying. Beloved, follow Him. Let's pray. Oh Lord Jesus Christ, holder of the key, master of life and death, We bow before your supremacy. We lay down our lives. Ask of us anything, Lord, we'll do it. This world has nothing for us, we only want to follow you. Just give us guidance. Show us what you want, we will do it. All that you have said, we will do. Give us the grace to follow through on that commitment. And Lord, I just pray for this body. And pray for these dear brothers and sisters. Oh Lord, you know how precious they are to me. Please, each one of them, show them what you want them to do. Move in their hearts, give them hope. Give them excitement about the fact that you've given them gifts and then you've called them and said, I will give you spiritual fruit, just follow me. Strengthen them to be faithful to your word. Make them love a church that's faithful to your word. The ones that you call elsewhere, Lord, let them go out from this place and go into other churches and bring into those churches an influence that will make those churches more faithful to your word. And if it could be in your pleasure to do it, Lord, please preserve this body. Let there be a witness that continues here. We ask it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.