Opportunity Opens: The Church of Philadelphia
Introduction: One of the most clever Volkswagen ads shows an impeccable little car-- with a flat tire. And the caption reads, “Nobody's Perfect.”
Some make the mistake of thinking Philadelphia was a perfect church. No. If they were perfect they would be in Heaven, like a ripe apple, they would be ready for Christ to pluck them from the earth and put them in heaven's basket. But they were not perfect, because no one is perfect. If you came today, looking for the perfect church, you will be disappointed. But I feel just as confident in saying the same thing about any church in the world, because there is no such thing as a 'perfect church', because the church is made of people and since there is no perfect people, there can be no perfect church. We are imperfect people serving a perfect God. If you are looking for faults you will find it, that's like looking for a grain of sand on the beach, it is easy to do that! There is always something to find fault with.
Having said that, there are good churches. I believe we have a good church for the same reason that Christ felt Philadelphia was a good church, so good in fact that Christ did not say any thing bad about them, I'm sure he could have, I'm sure like some people he could have combed over every nook and cranny and found something to complain of, but as love covers a multitude of sins, there was nothing significant to rebuke. You hear me say sometimes that 'we are all a work in progress.' Indeed, as long as there are no glaring wrongs, and everyone is striving in repentance, progressing in grace, and growing in faith and acting out of love, I believe the Lord is pleased with us.
Jesus introduces himself to the church in verse 7 saying “To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write” John is just the messenger here, Christ is the author. He is like the stenographer in the courtroom, writing down what is being said. Those who complain of their ministers being too harsh must understand that as long as He sticks to the word of God, he is nothing more than a messenger. You don't thank the mailman when you receive thoughtful birthday cards from your family. You don't get mad at the mailman if you receive a summons, or jury duty in the mail. He is just doing his job, delivering the mail.
And in this letter Jesus tells John to write v.7 “These are the words of him 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.”
Christ is Holy and true and He has authority over his churches. He has the key to open doors and to shut them. The key of David seems to refer to Isaiah 22:22 where the key to the house of David was given to Eliakim who then had access to all the wealth of the king. Christ holds the keys of death and Hades but he also hold the key of David, the key to spiritual treasures!!
When I was younger and we would leave youth group on Wednesday night, many of the teenagers along with the youth leader, had permission to go to the gym in Porum and play basketball and we were all ready to go too and wondered what was taking so long and someone said they had to locate the guy who had the key. We may have permission to enter heaven but we must petition the one who holds the key. Christ gives us permission to come but there is only one way we can come and that is through him.
He shuts the door on foolish virgins who sleep away their day of grace and opens them to the obedient and faithful.
Transition: I would like to share with you four things I found that Christ rewards Philadelphia with.
Perseverance is rewarded with opportunity (v.8)
“I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”
There are two words that are consistent with every church. Jesus says “I know”. In every letter to every church we see the omniscience of God, in those two words. He knows everything. He sees everything. If we try to hide, he sees us. How funny that Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves behind fig leaves, as if God couldn't see through it. He sees those things were are most ashamed of. He also knows the good that you yourself can not see. He knows your problems. He knows your tendencies. He knows your strengths. He knows your weaknesses. He knows. Five of the seven churches he says the same four words: “I know your deeds”. To Pergamum he said “I know where you live” and to Smyrna he said “I know your afflictions” He knows where you live and he knows the pain you are going through. He knows the hand you've been dealt. He knows if you have much or if you have nothing, He knows if you are old or young, capable or not capable. He knows when things are hard and He knows when they are easy. In His omniscient mind, He tells the Philadelphia church that He 'knows their deeds' and while they may not have been perfect, their spiritual growth was pleasing to the Lord.
In that pleasure, He offers an open door, a door of opportunity. They had an opportunity for successful ministry. In ministry there are doors that are shut and those that are open, for example: the door to Saudi Arabia may be shut but the door to China is open. Paul said He tried to go to Thessalonica but Satan hindered him, that door was shut. But the one who holds the keys to all doors is Christ. The possibility of the church in Philadelphia reaching thousands was wide open. God allows doors to open for those who are ready and he won't open them until they are. Philadelphia was ready for the opportunity to take the next step. Are we ready to take the next step? The door is open we just need to walk through.
He said “I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name” Philadelphia was a small church, but God thinks more of quality than quantity. The Lord does not blame us for having little strength, if anything he blames us for having little faith, but not little strength. They had little strength but they kept God's word. God blesses the man who has little strength to hold to God's word, but he holds on anyway.
When a person begins their walk with God in a halfhearted, apathetic way. They will avoid persecution at all cost. They try the religious double shuffle. They try to believe a little of everything and not much of anything. If you try to be on the right side with the world and on the right side with the church you're going to end up on the wrong side of God and it will serve you right! Those that come to Christ with that mindset usually just want fire insurance, they are content to know that they won't go to hell. If there was a secret path or a back gate to heaven don't doubt these people would try to take it. The problem with that is, that nobody respects a man like that. Their friends don't, their neighbors don't, their family doesn't, and the devil himself knows his kingdom is safe and secure when that man is around. But for the one who says “I'm going straight for glory! And if anyone gets in my way, then I feel sorry for him, because I am bound an determined to take the right road!”
I am going to believe what He wants me to believe. I am going to say what He wants me to say. I am going to think what he wants me to think. I am going to do what He wants me to do. And if I perish, I perish! But I am no traitor! And I will perish serving the Lord!
Keep his word when sense tells you not to! Keep his word when others mock you! Keep his word when trials hurt you! Keep his word when facts seem to contradict it! Keep his word when circumstances tempt you to doubt it! Even in your weakest moments keep his word and you will have an open door sitting before you! The Philadelphia church kept his word and didn't deny his name. Let others call you a bigot but don't deny his name!
Men do not keep things that they consider valueless. A man went into a friends house and was surprised to notice a dusty old blanket on a shelf in their living room. It was quite a contrast, to see such an ugly blanket in a beautiful home. But it was the only thing that survived the fire that their parents were able to salvage after everything else was lost. All the photos, and home videos, and scrape books were burned, and that blanket was kept as a reminder of their family conquering trial. If it has no value to them, they do not treasure it. This church treasured the word of God, the way that family treasured that old blanket, that is why they kept it, not only as a reminder of the past but it is valuable for the present and future as well.
Transition: They defended God's name before their opposition, the synagogue of Satan, the liars that call themselves Jews so secondly their . . .
Principle is rewarded with humility (v.9)
“I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars – I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.”
Not their own humility, they already had it but they were rewarded with their opponents humility. The false Jews were most likely similar to the Pharisees of Jesus' day, judgmental, exclusive, and legalistic. Jesus spent time teaching them how some were misinterpreting one scripture or another and how they were misunderstanding the intention of God. It's not just those that worship false gods but those who worship God falsely that are a 'Synagogue of Satan'. Today how many worship a God formed from their minds but not from the Bible? Their God may have the same name but he is not the same God. I worship the God of the Bible. And those who claim they are the only ones of God are liars. God so loved the world.... There is no secret way in. It is as plain as John 3:16 can make it, anyone who believes in Christ and follow him shall not perish but have eternal life.
The Philadelphia church was not without trial itself. We might think, they were good because they had no struggles, no persecution, no trials. That's not true, they struggled with false Jews, that no doubt tried to rebuke them, tried to discourage them, tried to convert them, tried to shame them, tried to hinder them, and yet they were so principled in their faith that they WOULD NOT BUDGE FROM IT, no matter what was said or done to them.
Some people never care to believe God's word at all. They have thought out what they believe; their theology is made out of their own substance, like spiders spin their webs out of their own bowels. But for those whose theology is based on “THUS SAITH THE LORD” They believe in something so sharp and powerful that it slices through every lie and it will never fail them. The truth of the Holy Bible is convicting and convincing. Convicting to read and convincing to see it lived out.
Over time, In the face of true faith, even the Synagogue of Satan was convinced that these Christians are the real children of God, and that they had indeed been in the wrong and that the church served Jehovah and that Jesus Christ was Lord, His Son and their Messiah! They wanted to join them in communion and worship God in the same manner as they did!!
Transition: Their opposition bowed at their feet in humility, and then we read how their . . .
Patience is rewarded with keeping them from adversity (v.10)
“Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth.”
Obedience leads to reward and in this case a reward of divine protection. Christ promises that while tribulation was going to come to the whole earth, they would be protected from it.
Some churches worry that they might lose people to the world or to every wind of doctrine. Some worry that they might lose people to persecution. But if you believe in the word and have no desire to change what you believe you will not be led away. The word says if possible the very elect will be deceived. "The elect" are Christians, true followers of Jesus, and members of his Church. But as long as they look to him for guidance and protection, trying the spirits by the Word of God and by the truths which they have learned in creed and worship, they stand firm against the strongest temptations.
You might have an unbelieving friend that says “you are so dogmatic!” he calls you pig-headed, and says “It is no use arguing with such bigots” and He will go to argue somewhere else. That's what you want because if he can't gain his point with you he will try to gain his point elsewhere, leaving you alone. Keep the word of God, and the word of God will return the favor. God's thoughts are as high above ours as the stars are above the earth. David said such knowledge is too wonderful for me, who can attain it? And yet there are some who drag him down and presume to sit in judgment over him.
Charles Spurgeon once compared true believers to mites in the cheese that eat their way into it, and penetrate into the center by feeding upon whatever lies in front of them. We eat into the word of God, and we live upon what we learn, tunneling through the truth like dig dug. We live by it although we can never eat it all, even if we tried. But if your enemy gets you away from the word, he will swallow you up.
Transition: If we keep his word and his commands enduring patiently, there will be a crown for us at the end. The fourth reward is that . . .
Persistence is rewarded for infinity (v.11-12)
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he leave it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on him my new name.”
The Philadelphia church was reassured that their Lord was coming soon. And they were encouraged to stand on the promises and persistently hold on to their faith and if they did, they would be like the pillars in heaven, not supporting heaven but beautifying it. Pillars were erected to honor the emperors and their names were in-scripted on it. The name of the God in whose service we labor and under whose banner we fight will record all the services the believers did to the church of God, just like a soldier enlisted under God, the Christian will be listed under the name that is above all names, Jesus. By the Lord's influence we fight the good fight and will come off victorious. Today people give money to have their name on a plaque or library or stadium etc. these things perish and fade away. What better thing is there than to have your name on a heavenly pillar that said “Faithful Servant of JESUS CHRIST”
If we are just as determined to stick with Christ as the devil is to take us from him, then we will make it to the end and the end is glorious. Last Sunday my wife and I visited our old church from the 80's and the church her grandmother went to and an uncle of mine said that he had never shared this story about that awful day she had her fatal car accident after church, this past year, but he said that as he came upon the scene he saw Lillian (my wife's grandmother) touching the face of a bearded man who was holding her neck and the two were speaking in tongues, later he said they could not find that man, I asked him who was it? He then said “I believe he was an angel” If his testimony is true and I have no reason to doubt it then I believe he is right.
I have said before but I will say it again: that when you are living right with Jesus, death is no longer is your enemy, but your friend. There is no fear of death when you belong to Jesus.
Conclusion: Interesting that next week we will see that the door Jesus mentions is a closed door that he stands outside of, and knocks, but here in Philadelphia, He puts a door before them and it is wide open. Even the undeserving Laodicea has a chance if they will take it. But here Christ removes anything blocking Philadelphia from having opportunity, all they need to do is to take it. How simple is it to walk through an open door?
I'm going to tell you the same thing the former pastor told me, but for a different reason. Today you have an open door and an opportunity sitting before you. The Lord's love is wide open. His arms are outstretched as the east is from the west. The gates of grace are calling you home. Today is the day of salvation.
Call to stand.
I was talking about motorcycles with David last week and we both mentioned how hard it is to let go of the throttle when the bike is dangerously carrying you out of control, you are trying to hang on for your life. We all mentioned how counter intuitive it is to let go in that situation, we fool ourselves into believing we are in control. The same is true with God, we think we are in control and everything is obviously not working right but it seems so hard to let go. But the moment we let go of the throttle, the situation and our false belief that we are in control and let him take over is the moment He saves our lives.
If there is anyone who needs salvation, healing, guidance, prayer in general, a spiritual favor, or to pray for someone not even here. Open door of opportunity is here this morning.
