Revelation 2:10

 “Be faithful, even  to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.”

Let us read the key verse loud and clear.   Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.   Let us meditate this verse: Be faithful, even to the point of death. I want to think about three things:

First, be faithful.  According to M. Jacob Lee, faithful means ‘faith’ plus ‘ful.’ In order to be faithful, you need to have ‘faith.’  There are many kinds of faith. What faith enables us to endure to the end?  Be faithful, even to the point of death..   It is the faith that God will ultimately prevail, and we will have ‘victory.’   Have you ever noticed that American movies always ends with ‘happy ending?’  Hollywood people are very wild, but they are still the product of American culture.  Deep in American conscious is a belief that even though ‘good’ may have temporary setbacks, and evil seem to prevail, in the end, good crushes evil, and good people have a victory.    This is a Christian belief: as Isaiah realized in the temple, it is God who reigns, and it is God who prevails.  If there is trouble, it is temporary.  It is not permanent.  It will pass away, and God will eventually come to rescue me.

This teaching is throughout the Bible.  In the Bible, evil  never prevails.  For example,  the cross of Jesus is not the story of defeat, but victory.  Jesus experienced a temporary set back on the cross, but he eventually won the victory by his resurrection.   He crushed the head of Satan by his resurrection.   Abraham had temporary setbacks in his life of faith.  He struggled to believe God’s promise.  But he never gave up.  When God said, look up at the stars and count the stars, and so shall your off spring will be, Abraham lifted up his face, and believed God’s promise.  Bible says: Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed God’s promise.  He endured to the end, and he became the father of many nations.   In our life of faith, we experience defeat, frustration, and failure, but as a Christian, what we believe is that we will ultimately prevail.

 Second, what does God want us to learn through our faithfulness?  If we win, then why can’t God just give us a victory?  Why does he subject us to suffering?   Why does he drive us to the point of death?

This letter was addressed to the Christians in Smyrna, and Polycarp was Bishop of Smyrna church.  At that time, Roman authorities began to enforce Emperor worship, as a Christian, Polycarp certainly refused to obey this command.   So, he was chained and was sentenced to death.  He was to be burned.  At that point, he was asked to deny only once that Jesus was not his Lord, and worship the Empreror.  Polycarp responded: My Lord Jesus has been  faithful to me all these years.  How can I deny him now?   He refused, and he was burned.  He was faithful to Jesus even to the point of death.  We might ask: What does God want us to learn by enduring persecution, or hardships, even to the point of death?  Certainly, God wants us to learn something.    You know, there is ‘some truth’ that can be learned only at the end of your struggle.   And this truth comes with such a heavy price of your life that you never ‘forget’ once you have learned it.

 Let me be more specific.  You know M. David Park from Baltimore?  I gave him nickname, Baltimore Dosa (Master of way), because he really understands ‘something’ about faith.  You know when he was a student, he met Jesus through UBF 1:1 Bible study.  So, he wanted to serve God in UBF.   But his father did not like that idea and wanted him to leave UBF.   But when he disobeyed, his father told him: ‘I would stop supporting you financially if you continue to go to UBF.’  David Park was advised to pray for ‘forty days.’   He and his brother started to pray for forty days, that God might change their father’s mind.  He prayed earnestly one day and next day he looked his father’s face to see whether there was any sign of change.  No change.  He prayed for ten days and looked his father’s face, again.  No change.  He prayed for twenty days, and no change.   Thirty days.  Still no change.  He became impatient.  He prayed for 39 days.  Still no change.  But at the fortieth day, the last day of his bow, he noticed that his father’s face changed.  There was a smile!    His father said that he would support him.   So, he won the battle.  You see: M. David Chung learned a valuable lesson that God indeed exists.   After realizing this truth, he is never shaken in any circumstances.  You see, he learned this lesson because he prayed ‘to the end’.  If he had quit at the 39th day, then he would have never learned this precious lesson.

 This is the lesson God wants us to learn.  You learn the truth only at the end of your struggle.   So, if you keep quitting, you never learn anything.   You know: once Edison said: 99 percent of work is perspiration, and 1 percent is inspiration.  On a superficial level, what Edison said may sound like Edison puts more emphasis on work, 99 percent is work, and only 1 percent is inspiration.  But that’s not what Edison said: What Edison said is this: What is important is 1 percent inspiration.  If you don’t get that 1 percent of inspiration, then you never finish the work.  But this 1 percent inspiration only comes after you put your 99 percent effort.  If you put 98 percent, then you don’t get that 1 percent inspiration, and the work still remains unfinished.   Now, going from 98 to 99 percent is extremely difficult, and many people give up at 98 percent, so they never experience that 1 percent inspiration.  You see Edison performed 10,000 experiments to make the light ball.  He failed 9,999 times, and at the 10,000 trial he succeeded.   Do you think spiritual life is different?  No.  It’s the same.  Lazy person will never understand the depth of spiritual truth, because they lack the ‘pushing power’, to push from 98 to 99 percent to finally get inspired and open their spiritual eyes to meet the living God face to face.

 Why does God push us to the limit?  Why does God push us to the point, where we literally experience death?  You see, miracles occur only when you reach the dead end.  If you have even one dollar in a bank to rely on, do not expect a miracle.   Be faithful, even to the point of death, and you will learn something truly valuable lesson.  That’s why Jesus said:  Be faithful, even to the point of death…

Finally, the importance of ending well. You see: what is important is ‘Ending.’  Anyone can start something impressive, but only a few can really end well.   Final grade of our life is given according to how we end our life.  There was one evangelist.  He was respected, and commanded the audience by his powerful messages.  But he had one immoral encounter with a woman at the peak of his life. When that sin was publicly exposed, his life as an evangelist ended.  Now, people forget all the good works he did, but only remember his bad ending.   You know there is a saying: The courageous dies once, but the coward dies thousand times.  Suppose Polycarp denounced Jesus once, and saved his life.  Then, he would have saved his life, but the history would be extremely critical of his actions.  But he chose to remain faithful to Jesus at the exchange of his very life, and we all honor his courageous faith.  His ending was indeed glorious.
 
 We heard beautiful testimonies and life testimonies Friday and Saturday.  We can see the work of God in each one’s life.  This is just a beginning.  It is my prayer that each one  may end their life of faith well.   I am very grateful to God to see many faithful servants of God.  Shep. Patrick Keenan, Bruce Hollinger, David Brogi, Paul Sambucho, Richard Anderson, and many more.  They are faithful.  They are remnants of God’s ministry.   They are the stump, and holy seed in God’s redemptive history.  I also thank God that Abe Lee recognized his role as Isaac in God’s history.  We first generation missionaries are like Abraham, who pioneered the life of faith in a foreign land.  We are struggling to leave a spiritual legacy to our descendants.  We will remain faithful to the end, so that our descendants may look upon us and be inspired to live by faith to the end.  Let us all pray that we all remain faithful to the end, even to the point of death.  Satan will tempt us to give up our life of faith, but don't’ listen.  Be faithful to the end.  Then, God will give us the crown of life.