The Seven Lost Churches of Revelation
12/05/2004 - The Door is Open
I can remember the first time in my life that I really cared about knowing the will of God. It was during my senior year in high school when I was in the midst of the college application process. Up until that time I never really thought much about the future. I just kind of floated along. Life was pretty much scripted out for me - after elementary school I'd go to junior high school and after junior high I'd go to high school. I didn't have much of a choice. My biggest decisions were, "Should I pack my lunch today or buy?" And even that was no brainer if pizza or hot dogs were the main entree!
But now that was all about to change. I was coming to the end of my high school career and my friends were all choosing different paths. Some were going into the military and others were getting jobs and some were going on to college and some of those were going to Christian colleges. And I really didn't have a clue what I was going to do.
So I applied to three or four schools and started to pray that God would lead me to the college that he wanted me to attend. For the first time in my life I prayed for an open door. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I had heard other people, much more spiritual than I, pray for open doors. So I asked God to open the door to the school he wanted me to attend. If I got accepted that would be an open door and if I didn't get accepted that door would be closed. It sounded like a simple, failsafe plan to discover God's will for my life, until I got accepted to all four schools. That was a bummer. I wasn't ready for that!
Doors started to open everywhere and I wasn't quite sure what to do about it. Part of me wished that I had only been accepted to one school. That would have made the decision a lot easier. So I continued to pray and talk to people and visit college campuses until eventually it became clear that one school was the best fit for me and the things that I wanted to pursue with my life.
Praying for open doors is not a bad idea. God often uses prayers like that to give us guidance or at least to help us narrow down our options. Since that time I've prayed that prayer for other things too. And I've talked to many of you who also pray for open doors when it comes to finding a school, or getting a job, or choosing a house, or even choosing a spouse. We often pray for open doors to talk to people about Christ.
That's a prayer the apostle Paul prayed in Colossians 4:2-3, Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.
Paul prayed for an open door to share the gospel with people. That's a wonderful prayer. And the neat thing about open doors is that when God opens a door no one can shut it. The reverse is also true. When God shuts a door no one can open it. Open doors and closed doors are just another way that God shows us who's really in charge.
The church we're going to look at today had a wide open door for ministry. God is giving them a golden opportunity to impact their region for Jesus Christ. Of all the seven churches in Revelation this is the church that reminds me most of Valley View and the doors that God is opening for us these days.
This morning we continue our series called The Seven Lost Churches of Revelation with a teaching I've called "The Door is Open." If you have a Bible turn with me to Revelation 3:7-13 and follow along as I read.
Revelation 3:7-13, "To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 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. 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. 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. 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. 11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12 Those who overcome I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them 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 them my new name. 13 Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Philadelphia is the sixth of the seven lost churches of Revelation. The Greek name Philadelphia means "the city of brotherly love." It shares the same name as our own city of Philadelphia, although I don't know if they had cheese steaks then or not! And like all of these cities, understanding the background helps us to understand the specific words of Jesus in this letter.
Philadelphia was located about forty miles southeast of Sardis. The city was established about 150 years before Christ under the reign of a king Attalus who named the city after his deep love for his brother, Eumenes.
It was the gateway city to eastern Asia Minor, kind of like St. Louis was the gateway city to the western frontier in this country. The city was strategically located at the intersection of three regions and was intentionally founded to be an open door to spread the Greek language and culture throughout the eastern reaches of the Roman Empire.
Unlike Sardis and Pergamum, Philadelphia was not built on a mountaintop. Instead, it was situated on the edge of a great plain full of lava rich soil. It was an area known for its frequent earthquakes. In fact, the city was destroyed and rebuilt on at least two occasions and the people there lived in fear of aftershocks and tremors that occurred almost every day. It was not uncommon for them to run out of the city and into the countryside three or four times a week, maybe more, for fear of being crushed under a wall or a falling building.
Yet in the midst of that ongoing trauma there was a small church there. We're not exactly sure who started it, but it was doing well. And Jesus comes to it without a word of criticism. Instead, he wants to expand their vision of what he has in store for them.
First, look how he describes himself in verse 7, "To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 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."
It would be easy to blow right by this three-fold description of Jesus, but let's not. Jesus is holy. The word holy means "separate or different." Jesus is just plain different. He is unlike any other person who has ever lived or ever will live. He's not just a little bit better than we are. He is completely different from us. He is 100% God and 100% human wrapped up together at the very same time. That's not something anybody else is ever going to pull off. That can't be duplicated by any other religious leader, not now, not ever. He is in a class all by himself. There is only one Jesus. That's why I am follower of Jesus and not a follower of Buddha or Mohammed or Oprah or Dr. Phil or some other popular figure. Jesus alone is holy.
Jesus is true. I love this. In the Greek language there are two words for true. One means true as opposed to false. And the other means real as opposed to unreal. That's the word here. Jesus is real. He's not fake. He's not the creation of somebody's active imagination who made up a fictitious person named Jesus because he was having a bad day or was going through a midlife crisis or needed a crutch to make life work. Jesus is real. You have God's word on it.
Jesus is in control. That's what it means when it says that he holds the key of David. The "key of David" is a term that appears in the Old Testament book of Isaiah. In Isaiah 22:20-22 we read, In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah ... I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David. What he opens no one can shut and what he shuts no one can open.
During Isaiah's day a man by the name of Eliakim held the keys to the royal palace in Jerusalem. He was in charge. He had the keys to open the door or to lock the door to anyone he wanted. Keys are a symbol of authority. Even today we recognize that whoever has the keys to a building has authority in that place.
But ultimately it's Jesus who holds the keys to our lives. He's the one in charge. He's in control. This past week my aunt died suddenly. She was the wife of my mother's brother and a woman who had enjoyed excellent health throughout her lifetime and so it was quite a shock when we heard that she had passed away. And yet in conversations with the family this week more than once we discussed the fact that God is in control. He alone knows when our time down here is up and there's nothing we can do to change that.
So the one who is holy and real and holds the keys tells this church in Philly, "Look out! Get ready! I'm going to swing a door wide open for you!" Look at verse 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.
Jesus is about to take the church in Philadelphia to another level and make an impact on that region that it never dreamed of. Philadelphia would not just be an open door for the spread of the Greek language and Greek culture. It would be an open door for the spread of the gospel and the life giving power of Jesus Christ.
And when I read that I thought of us and the open door that God has given Valley View. For years we prayed and asked God to open a door for a more permanent facility for our church community. Not a building that we could call "the church," because the church is not a building, its people. But a building and a property that we could use as a tool to help us further achieve our mission of being a biblical community that helps seekers become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
And for a while we thought that building would be this building, the Audubon YMCA. A few years ago, it appeared that this door was opening up to us and so we formed a formed a task force to help us explore the opportunity of purchasing the YMCA. But then suddenly the door shut when the property that the Y was hoping to acquire became unavailable. God shut the door and we were back to square one.
But then in March of this year the phone rang and the door to the Sunnyside property began to swing open. And it opened in such a way that it was obvious to all of us that this was a God thing. This was a door that God was opening and that no one could shut. God was on the other side of the door waving for us to come in.
And so in July we took title to the property and in September we moved our offices there and now today we're going to talk about how the property can be developed in such a way that will further the mission of Valley View Community Church and potentially touch the lives of those who live in hundreds of homes within blocks of Sunnyside.
We are a church, like the church at Philadelphia, that has little strength. We're not a super church or a mega church. Yet by God's grace we want to be a church that keeps his word and does not deny his name. And if we do that then I believe the best days are ahead for Valley View. The most exciting days are yet to come. The provision of Sunnyside qualifies as a miracle in my mind. Yet God has much more in store for us. We haven't seen the last of God's miracles around here. So get ready the door is open.
God also tells us in this passage that with open doors also come closed minds. The church in Philadelphia had its critics. But God would silence them. Look at verse 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.
Every church that's making a difference for Jesus Christ has opposition. Every church that's making an impact has critics. It goes with the territory. And for the church in Philly it came from those who claimed to be Jews, but really weren't. They were known as "Judaizers." They were Jews by birth who had believed in Jesus, but who also felt that Gentiles believers needed to keep all the Jewish rituals in order to please Christ. And that led to lots of spiritual pride.
"This church can't possible be pleasing God," they said. "They're not God's chosen people. We are! We're the ones God truly loves not them!" But one day, Jesus says, they'll recognize that they were wrong and that you were right and that I really did love you.
God will silence the critics and God will protect this church from impending doom. Look at verse 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.
The hour of trial that God is referring to here has to do with the horrible events described in the rest of the book of Revelation. The church in Philadelphia would not go through that trial known as the Tribulation which will one day come upon the whole world. In fact, many Bible scholars believe that this verse applies to all believers as a promise that none of God's people will experience the horrific events of the Tribulation, but will instead by raptured before those events occur. Whether that's taught in this verse or not is hard to say, but we do know that God fulfilled this promise to the church in Philly. It did not experience the Tribulation, which still lies ahead of us.
As always, Jesus promises rewards to those who overcome and remain faithful in their pursuit of Christ. Look at verses 11-13, I am coming soon (the idea is that I am coming suddenly). Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12 Those who overcome I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them 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 them my new name. 13 Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
These rewards may sound strange to us, but they would have connected with the church in Philly. The image of being a strong pillar in God's temple and not having to leave it anymore spoke of safety and security to a people who often felt very insecure living at the epicenter of city that they frequently had to evacuate because of the constant threat of earthquakes. One day we all will be safe and secure in our heavenly home.
Twice in its history Philadelphia was given a new name to honor the Caesars who helped to fund it's reconstruction. After one earthquake it was named Neocaesarea, the New City of Caesar, and later on it was called Flavia, to honor the family of another Caesar who rebuilt it. But those names never stuck and to this day the city remains Philadelphia.
A new name and a new city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven speaks of a new identity for those who know Jesus. We belong to Christ. We are citizens of his kingdom and one day that kingdom is coming to this earth and we who belong to Jesus will be a part of it because we are his. We bear his name.
God fulfilled his promise and swung open a door for the church in Philadelphia and that door has stayed open until this day. One writer put it this way, "When the Turks and Muslims flooded across Asia Minor and every other town had fallen, Philadelphia stood firm. For centuries it was a free Greek Christian city amidst a pagan people. It was the last bastion of Asian Christianity ... and to this day there are a thousand Christians living in it. With the exception of Smyrna the other churches are all in ruins, but Philadelphia still holds aloft the banner of the Christian faith."
God has opened a door for Valley View. Wouldn't it be exciting if this church continued until Jesus comes back? That's possible. Our door of opportunity could stay open that long if we keep God's Word and don't deny his name. Let's not be afraid to walk through that open door.