A few days before the wedding, alongside the joy sits a question nobody wants to say out loud: what if this does not last? That fear opens a sermon on faithfulness, in which faithfulness to God turns out to be inseparable from faithfulness to the people he loves. To the poor and slandered church in Smyrna, Christ says: I know your affliction (Revelation 2), and what he promises is not relief but the crown of life. No one has ever endured this by willpower alone, because the smallest kernel of faith is enough. Listen if that wedding question sits in you too, only it is no longer about a marriage but about faith.
Discussion questions
For your small group or for personal reflection after the sermon.
- The speaker showed that the letters to the churches in Revelation follow a common pattern, and Jesus opens each one with the words "I know". What does it tell you about Him that He starts there?
- The church in Smyrna was small, poor and slandered, yet Jesus has no rebuke for it. How do you understand the idea that what it lacks materially, it has in abundance spiritually?
- Jesus does not tell this church to run away, but says "do not fear" and "be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life". How does this promise change the way we look at coming suffering?
- The sermon stressed that faithfulness to God cannot be separated from faithfulness to our spouse, family and brothers and sisters in the church. In which of these relationships is it hardest for you to persevere right now, and why?
- Paul wrote that he felt he had received the sentence of death and did not endure by his own willpower. Why is it so hard to stop relying on ourselves, and what does relying on God look like in practice?
- The speaker described a couple whose argument ends differently when one says to the other "I see your hard work". Who close to you could you say this to this week, and how will you do it?
