Weak Beloved Philadelphia

*The sermon manuscript below was generated from the recording by AI…

Well, we’ve been following a messenger through the churches of Asia, the 7 churches of Asia, or the 7 main churches of Asia. There’s lots of other little churches. And you’ve been sent as a messenger on behalf of John to take the Book of Revelation, the letter of Christ to His Church. And as you’ve traveled, you’ve been through lots of different churches. You’ve seen Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamum. You’ve seen Thyatira, you’ve seen Sardis, and you’ve left Sardis, and now you’ve drawn near to a pretty new city, Philadelphia. It’s probably only about 100, 150 years old. It’s quite young in comparison to most of the other cities.

And as you draw near to this city, you notice it’s quite different than a lot of the other cities. For some strange reason, there’s lots of people living outside of the city rather than living inside of the city. As you draw near, you see the city, but outside, the vast majority of the people are living not because their fathers, uh, farmers Sorry, they might be fathers, but they’re not farmers, but they’re living in shacks, they’re living in homes that they’ve built on the outside of the city. And you find this a little bit strange, ’cause you’re new to the area, and so as you head into town, you run into a local and you ask them why. And they explain that it’s an area that’s suffered really badly from earthquakes, and around about AD 17, there was a particularly nasty earthquake which leveled most of the city. It, in fact, it also destroyed a lot of Sardis. It destroyed a lot of the churches and cities in that area, but in Philadelphia, it wasn’t just one earthquake. They had aftershocks for months and months afterwards, and so every time they tried to reestablish something, it would kind of just fall over again. It was a, it was a city that lived in fear, fear of when the next earthquake was coming. Nothing felt stable.

When you walk through the city, as you enter as the messenger, you come in and you see walls with cracks. You see door frames which are separated from the wall. You notice that a lot of the pillars for temples and things like that have either been cast down or they’re broken or they’re cracked. You notice instability everywhere you look. And the city, by and large, is pretty empty. And as you go in, you see a big sign, you know, “Welcome to Philadelphia,” but someone’s painted over it. And, and they’ve written, “Welcome to Neo-Caesarea.” Because Neo, the Caesar, he gave a whole bunch of money to rebuild the city, so they thought they’d better honor him and rename it, but that got old as well, so then someone painted over that as well, and then they renamed it Flavian because, you know, the emperor was from the f- the family of Flavius, so it would be nice to rename their city after Flavius as well, so they called it Flavian. But then someone painted over it again, because everyone really liked Philadelphia way better, so they went back to Philadelphia. So, it’s a city that’s had lots of different names.

And as you draw into the city, one of the things that strikes you quite differently in this city compared to a lot of the others is that, by and large, the Jews have a huge amount of freedom and they’re quite respected. You know, the first synagogue of Philadelphia has got a lovely building. They’re respected. The local Pharisees and synagogue rulers are highly sought after, and people honor them. And just down the road from the magnificent looking synagogue is a old beaten-up shack called the church. And the Jewish locals despise it. They heap scorn upon it. They call them false believers. They reject them as being part of the covenantal people of God. In fact, they’ve already published their documents of excommunication declaring them to be outsiders and unloved by God.

And as you come into this church, you can feel a level of sadness, a level of weakness. You can sense a level of being harassed. And, you know, you hand the letter over to the minister who presides over the congregation, and he stands up to a very weary, a very tired, a very weak congregation, and he takes up the letter of Jesus Christ and he begins to speak. And he speaks wonderful words of comfort without a single rebuke. You know, if you’re in the congregation, you hear Christ rebuke Ephesus. “But I have this against you.” You hear Him rebuke Smyrna and Thyatira and Sardis. But you and Pergamum, the persecuted and harassed churches, nothing but commendation. Nothing but encouragement.

And as you hear these words, I want you to focus on 3 images. I want you to just focus your attention on 3 images that we see in the passage. Firstly, the Lord of the key. The Lord of the key. Secondly, the Lord of the door. And then thirdly, the Lord of the pillar.

So firstly, the Lord of the key. You know, my grandmother, my oma, she’s 94. She’s getting on now. And she’s fit for 94 and she’s still sharp mentally. She still talks about the old people that need to be visited, you know, who are all younger than her. And, and I- I- I was talking to my mum the other day about how cool it would be if she hits 100, and, you know, you get the letter from the King. Now, could you imagine if she got the letter from the King, but then you read through the letter and you realized the maid signed it because the king was busy? You’d be pretty disappointed, right? You’d be like, “Wait a second. I got a royal le- letter and the king, the king’s maid or the gardener signed it? Where’s the king? Why didn’t he sign the letter?” You’d feel really ripped off. You know, when, when you receive something, who signs it makes a big difference, right? If you get a che- a check from the local homeless guy, you’re not that enthusiastic, but if it comes from the bank manager, you’re probably pretty excited.

Well, this letter comes from one with a key, from the Lord of the Key, but firstly you need to see that this letter comes from what we’re told is the H- Holy One. Have a look at verse 7, “The words of the Holy One.” Now, we use the word “holy” a lot, don’t we? We sing it, we read it, we talk about it, talk about the need for holiness, we talk about a holy God, we sing Holy, Holy, Holy, and yet if there’s any phrase that represents the Lord, our God, in the Old Testament, it would be holy, wouldn’t it? Every time you see God described, the phrase “holy” is almost always there. Because holy, in a sense, is the definition of God. But not just holy, but holy, holy, holy. You see, the, the totality of God’s glory, His character, and His work, is defined as holy.

And in the presence of a large Jewish synagogue looking with scorn upon the Christian church, Jesus says, “I am the Holy One. I am Yahweh. I am the God of the Bible. I am he who is set apart by God’s own choosing, for God’s own purposes.” But he’s not just holy, he’s also true. Now this means 2 things. 1, it means he speaks truth, everything he says is true, but it also means he is truth itself, which is really striking when you think about the fact that the group of people that are persecuting the Christians in Philadelphia are Jews who are saying what? “Jesus is not the Messiah. Jesus is a phony. We killed him!” And so here is the Philadelphian church and here are Philadelphian believers, and they’re sitting in their church and the Jews down the road are saying, “You are not true believers, you are not true covenantal people of God, you have no part in God, you have no part in Yahweh, and so we excommunicate you.” Which, if you don’t know what that means, it means, “We cut you off from the Church, we cut you off from God, and you have no blessing. You have no part with us any longer.”

And as the Jews are saying that, Christ is saying to his people, “I’m the one with the keys. I’m the only one with authority to remove and attach to the covenantal people of God.” The visible church may excommunicate someone from a congregation, but only the Lord Jesus Christ can remove someone from the covenant, and that can be a great encouragement when a church has abused you, when a church has mistreated you, when a Christian says to you, “You’re not a real believer,” because only Christ is the judge. It’s also a great encouragement when people say to you, “Oh, you wanna be a Christian? Well, this is the standard. You wanna be saved? Well, this is the standard.” And Christ says, “I’m the only one with the keys to let you in.” Which also reminds us that if you want salvation, there’s only one place to go, right? Do you want to live forever? Well, don’t bother coming to Logan, because Logan hasn’t got any keys to save you. I have the gospel, and I can point you to the one that has the keys of eternal life, but I myself cannot save you. Only Christ can do that.

And so that should fill every single one of us with confidence to do what? To flee from the wrath of God to the arms of Christ, who has the keys of eternal life, who has the keys, can open the door and let you in, and no one can stop him, who can welcome you even if others say that you have no part. I think this is also an important reminder for us, brothers and sisters, that that the God of Judaism, the God of Islam is not the God we worship. Sometimes you’ll hear people say this. This is important for you to know. A- a lot of parts of Christendom will say, “Jews worship the same God we do. They just don’t recognize Jesus.” Or, “Muslims, they worship the same God you do. They just don’t recognize Jesus.” Brothers and sisters, if you get Jesus wrong, you’re worshiping a false god. Do you know why? Because Jesus said, “I am the revelation of God.” Remember, Philip comes to Jesus, and he says to him, “J- Jesus, show me the Father. That’s all I want. Show me God the Father, and then I’ll be content. That’s all I ask.” Do you remember Jesus’ response? He says, “Philip, how long have I been with you? Do you still not get it?” is the paraphrase. Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

Now, if you don’t have Jesus, you don’t have God the Father, because the only way you can know God the Father is by coming to Jesus Christ. So when Jesus says, “I have the keys,” he is claiming complete, total exclusivity. In other words, there is no way to God outside of the Lord Jesus Christ. If anyone tells you that there is a way to God without Jesus, they are a liar, they are of the devil, and they must be rejected, because there is salvation in no other name than the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know the wonderful thing is, this savior, this Jesus Christ, he does not hide himself. But he declares openly and frankly, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. I will turn away no one.” He stands with the keys, and he is willing to embrace you with salvific, salvation, salvific authority, and to set you free from all of the slavery of this world. It’s a picture of a key, the Lord of the key. The emphasis, of course, is not on the fact that there’s a key, is there? The emphasis is drawing our focus to he who holds the key, “he” being the Lord Jesus Christ.

But the second thing we see is the Lord of the door, the Lord of the door. You know, life’s filled with opportunities, and often we miss them. I- I remember when we lived in Rotorua, there came up an opportunity to buil- buy 2 houses. They were, like, one of those state houses where the 2 are connected together with a cement block wall through the middle. And there were 2 of them for sale, $62,000 each, on the sections, large sections, like you could probably put 6 houses on it. And I thought at the time, “I should really grab that.” Like, “It’ll be tight, but I think we can make it worth. I think we can make it work,” and I didn’t. $120,000 for 2 houses, a huge opportunity. You look back now, right? Hindsight’s a wonderful thing. You go, “Man, I could’ve made a bomb off that,” but I didn’t take it. I missed the opportunity. And sometimes missed opportunities, you know, you lose out. Sometimes they are serious. So, for example, when the people of Israel went to travel into the Promised Land, they were given an amazing opportunity. Do you remember? They’re standing before the Promised Land and the Lord says, “Go forth and conquer. I will be with you. I will cast down your enemies.” What did they do? They said They said no. “The people are too big. The giants are too scary. We shall all perish.” What was the consequence of this missed opportunity? They perished in the wilderness. They wandered for 40 years and died.

Well, the Lord Jesus comes to the church in Philadelphia and He says to them, “I give you an opportunity.” He says, “I open up a door before you.” Have a look at verse eight and nine. “Behold, I have set before you an open door” Remember, He has the keys. ” which no one is able to shut.” Now, if you’re a good Biblical scholar, you’re gonna ask yourself immediately what question? Well, what is the door? What is this door? Is it a physical door? It’s a metaphorical door. What is this metaphorical door? Well, the, the door language, this open door language is used in the New Testament several times. It’s used in 1 Corinthians 16. It’s used in Acts 14. It’s used in 2 Corinthians 2 and Colossians 4:3. And in every one of those incidences, it’s an open door of opportunity for the Gospel, so that Paul will say, “Please pray for me,” in Colossians 4. “Please pray for me, that an open door for the Gospel will be there.” A door for ministry. I want an opportunity and to go through it and to see the Gospel go forth.

The Holy, true one with a key says, “I am opening up a opportunity for you for the Gospel to advance in Philadelphia.” Now, I want you to imagine yourself for a second as a Christian in Philadelphia. You’re hearing this letter, right? It’s easy for us to detach ourselves. Just picture yourself now, the letter’s just come in from the messenger, the minister stands up to read, you are harassed, you’ve been persecuted, and then Jesus says, “Guys, I’ve opened up a door. I’ve got the key. I’ve opened up the door for the Gospel, a large window for the Gospel to go forth.” What might you think to yourself?

Now, I can think of 3 immediate objections that would come to my mind if I was in that situation. Firstly, “I’m way too weak to walk through it. I am way too weak to walk through this door. In fact, you know, guys, I- I hear what Jesus is saying, but maybe the best thing w- to do would be to consolidate and, and gather our resources together.” And if you don’t think churches say this, you haven’t had the joy of sitting in church meetings where I’ve seen men stand up and say, “We want to do a church plant.” And someone says, “We don’t have enough resources. We need to limit what we’re doing. We need to reduce, and pull, and build up before we try and do Gospel work out there in Whangarei. We’re too weak. We lack what we need.” And I think that’s hinted at in, in a response of Jesus where he says to them, “I know that you have but little power,” in verse 8. Jesus is not ignorant of the reality, right? He says, “I’m opening up a door and I know you’re weak.”

T- the second temptation might be to say, “There’s too much opposition. I mean, Jesus, we’re already being persecuted here. We’re already being hated on by the Jews, and it only takes 5 minutes for the Romans to get their backs out of joint. It’s not gonna take very much from them to get offended. You know, what we really need to do is play it low, play it cool, be reserved, because, you know, we don’t wanna inflame the situation. We don’t want to upset the locals. We wouldn’t want the world to think bad of us.” I wonder if you’ve heard those types of phrases before in the church. It’s very common. “Well, do evangelism by all means, but, you know, you don’t wanna upset your neighbors. You know, do it in a way that doesn’t offend people. Don’t be too pushy, because your work colleagues might get upset.” We’re afraid, and we’re tempted to fear the oppression that comes to us.

But the third one is, “We’re weary. It’s been a hard slog in Philadelphia. We’re worn out. We don’t have anything left to give. We’re weak, we’re oppressed, and we’re just worn out. I’m out of energy. Can’t you see I’m doing the best I can?” And to this church, Jesus says, “I give you an open door.” I give you a wide opportunity for the Kingdom of God to be advanced in Philadelphia. I give you an open door for the Gospel to march into your town.

And the wonderful thing is, in our passage, Christ provides the solution to all 3 of their temptations, all 3 of their fears. They’re, they’re afraid that they’re too weak, and Jesus says, “I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” In other words, has your weakness been a problem yet? You see, Christ doesn’t need our strength to advance the Kingdom of God. Paul says to the Corinthian church, “When I am weak” What? How does it finish? “When I am weak, then I am strong.” Now, what’s really striking about this is he doesn’t say, “When I am weak, you make me strong.” He doesn’t become weak and then discover some hidden resource of strength that enables him to go out and do it. No. He says, “When I’m weak, that’s when I’m actually strong, because Christ’s power is made perfect in my weakness. In my weakness, Christ does his best work.” That’s what he’s saying. So, Philadelphia and Reformation Bible Church, don’t freak out about the fact that you’re weak right now and the door’s wide open. Rejoice, because that’s when I do my best work. That’s where I love to work, in weak churches and in weak people who are willing to work in their weakness for Christ.

He also addresses their fear of oppression. It’s a striking word in verse 9 and 10. He says, “Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan” That’s the Jews. ” who say they are Jews but are not” Which, if you remember back to Pergamum, the problem here is not that they’re not Jewish and they’re lying. The problem is a true Jew believes in Christ. A true covenantal child believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, and they don’t. And so they’re showing themselves to be children of the devil, not children of God. So, they say they’re Jews but they’re not, but lie. “Behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.” Notice the fear. The fear is, we’re oppressed, so we should back off. Jesus says press forward, and do you know what they will recognize in their oppression? That I have loved you.

Now, when Jesus says, “I will make them bow down before you,” he’s not He’s not saying to them, “They’re going to try and persecute you, but you’re going to crush them.” What he’s saying is, “You will conquer them through your persecution. They will persecute you. They will hate you. They will even kill you,” and as Jo- Jesus says in the Gospel of John, “and think they are doing service to God.” And in doing so, they will bow down before you and recognize that Christ loves you. And the testimony of church history says, “Amen.” Because as Richard Wurmbrand says, “We made an agreement with our torturers. We preached, and they beat us. We shared Christ, and they tortured us. And in time, our torturers joined us in the cell.” It’s the fulfillment of this exact promise. Jesus says, “Don’t, don’t worry about the fact that you’re gonna offend the people. That’s exactly what’s gonna happen. Don’t worry about the fact that your work colleagues are gonna think you’re a nut job. Don’t worry about the fact that your family are sick and tired of you talking about Jesus.” 1, one of my uncles said to my wider family, “I’m not coming for Christmas. I’m not interested ’cause you people just always talk about Jesus.” I mean, what a problem. “Don’t, don’t worry about it,” Jesus says, “because they will hate you. But when they hate you, I will conquer them,” in the Gospel. That’s part of the open door, is the hatred of the world for the church.

But then thirdly, Jesus says that he will provide a solution for their wariness. And so, Jesus says Have a look at verse 10. It’s hinted at here. “You have kept my word about patient endurance. I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to try those who dwell on the earth.” Now, we don’t have time to unpack the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world. It would take us about the next 3 hours. But what I want you to see here is, “You have kept my word about patient endurance.” Now, this is a really interesting phrase, and you could translate it one of 2 ways, and the way I would translate it is this. “You have kept the word of my patient endurance.” Now, what it’s talking about is not so much the word Christ spoke or, or the words someone else spoke, but rather the, the testimony of Christ’s patient endurance. In other words, they read the Gospel, and they heard the news of Christ, who patiently endured suffering, who patiently endured all things, and they followed in his footsteps. He says to them, “Church,” in the past, “Church, you patiently followed my example when the Jews hated upon you, and I know you are weary, but you did it before. Do it again. It’s the door. Walk with wariness, and I will protect you. I will keep you from the great day of trial that all the people of the earth will go through.” What is it? It’s a promise of the perseverance of the saints, right? It’s a promise that Christ will preserve his people in spite of their wariness. He won’t make them not weary, but he will carry them. He will ensure they make it home.

And so what we see here is that Christ, as the one with the keys, is the one that opens up doors for effective ministry, and Christ is the one who provides the means for that ministry to be done and the resources for it to be done with, and he’s the one that makes it effective. Which means what? We are entirely dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot conjure up ministry opportunity, as much of as church growth strategy books want to tell you you can. The other thing it does is fills us with confidence because Christ is the same today as he was in the first century, and he still delights to use the weakness, the oppression, and the wariness of his people to advance his Gospel, to save sinners, and to move his kingdom forward. I think it encourages us to do the work of the ministry, as we’ll see tonight, and at the same time, labor in prayerful dependence upon God, because only he who has the keys can save anyone. Only he can build the church.

And so we see a key. We see a door. And lastly, we see a pillar, the Lord of the pillar. Jesus tells them to hold fast, in verse 11. He encourages them with the reminder that he’s coming soon. We have to pass over it for now. And in verse 12, he says, “The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.”

And here, we get the culmination of everything that’s true about Philadelphia. Do you remember the striking things about Philadelphia? It was an earthquake city, right? With its foundations cracked and buckled and broken, it was kind of an empty city where everyone had to be cast out in fear. It’s a city that had had multiple names given to it. And Jesus says to the church, “I will make you a pillar.” To a church in a city which had been shaken to its very core, where pillars had fallen over, broken and buckled, Jesus says, “In spite of what the Jews are doing, in spite of all of your oppression, in spite of everything you’re going through, I will make you an immovable pillar in the temple of God.” Now, why the temple of God? Well, you may not remember, but there were 2 pillars, 2 pillars in the Old Testament temple. They were not rebuilt at the time of Ezra, and Herod’s temple didn’t have them either. There were 2 pillars. Boaz was one, and Jachin was the other. One means established. The other means built up. And I think John and Jesus here are referencing those 2 pillars and saying, “I, Jesus, will establish you like those 2 pillars in my house, and no one will ever take them away.”

You see why? Because the Jews had been telling them, “You’re not of the people of God! You’ve got no part to do with us! We are the people of the temple! We are the Jews! We are the synagogue brethren!” Jesus says, The Philadelphian Christians, they are the people of God. I will fix them like a peg in my house, and no one will ever take them down. It’s the comfort of the Lord Jesus Christ who establishes and strengthens his people as he builds them.

The second thing he will do here is he’s gonna give them a, a name, a name. gonna write their name upon the pillar. Have a look. Verse 12. “I’ll make him a pillar of, in the temple of my God, and then never shall he go out of it. And I will write on him some names, the name of God, the name of the city of my God, that is New Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own name.” Now, do you remember? H- how many names did Philadelphia go through? Started with Philadelphia, changed to Neo-Caesarea, then they became Flavian before they went back to Philadelphia. And so as the people of God sit in this city which can’t decide on its name, Jesus says, “I will write my name upon you and it will never be taken away. I will write the name of my city, the name of my people will be upon you, and I will write the name of my Father upon you. No one’s ever taking it away.” And do you remember what the name is when Jesus says, “I will write my name on you”? It’s at the end of Revelation, “And written upon his thigh is,” what? “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

You see the, the Jewish persecutors, they had excommunicated and cut them off and removed their names from the book, right? That’s what happens when you get excommunicated. You get removed from the book of membership. Jesus says, “I’m putting you down in a book and no one will ever take it out.” But then he also says, “You’re never gonna get cast out.” See, everyone was living outside of Philadelphia, right? Because they were terrified of earthquakes, they were terrified of what may come. They were afraid. And Jesus says, “I will put you in the temple and you’ll never have to leave.” It’s like when David says, “One thing I desire of you, Lord. One thing, that I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and gaze upon your splendor. That’s it. That’s all I want. Just a door keeper. Let me be a door keeper in your house, nothing more. I just wanna be in your house and be in your presence.” And Jesus says, “I will do it.” Though men may cast us out, despise us, scorn us, reject us, yet Christ approves of us. And if Christ approves us, brothers and sisters, what does it matter what man thinks of us? If every person in this world hates you but Christ loves you, you are well-loved.

You know, by entering the mission of God, by walking through the door, they risked everything, didn’t they? They risked losing a name. They risked losing their church. They risked being removed, and yet Christ promised to give everything they needed. And so in this passage, we, we see a key, we see a door, we see a pillar. You know, there, there’s one very striking fact about Philadelphia, unlike the rest of the churches. Philadelphia lasted the longest. Jesus says to Philadelphia, “I have opened a door and no one can shut it.” And Philadelphia said, “Amen. Let’s walk through the door.” And do you know in 1500 A.D., or 15th century I should say, sorry, the early 1400s, Christian Philadelphia still existed and they were surrounded by a sea of Muslim, because the Muslims had taken over, right? The Turks had taken over and they were like an island in the sea of Islam, holding onto their faith. And it wasn’t until the 15th century that this church fell over. For 1,400 years they used that open door.

And I guess it’s a wonderful encouragement to us, isn’t it, here in Karaka? As if the Lord says to you and I, “I’ve opened a door of gospel ministry into Karaka. And if I’ve opened it, no one can shut it.” And the question is, will we walk through? Will we do the walk of the m- the work of the ministry? Will we advance the Kingdom of God and in centuries to come see a gospel witness maintained in this place? And if we’re an unbeliever, will we enter the door ourselves and be saved?

Well, briefly, brothers and sisters, I think this encourages us to do several things. Firstly, it encourages us to engage in Christ’s mission. To walk through the door with confidence, not with timidity, not with fear, but with bold confidence in our weakness and in our weariness, in our homes, and in our church, and in our workplaces for the sake of the gospel. It encourages us to trust Christ who sends us forth in weakness, and in weariness, and in the face of opposition. It, it encourages us to obey Christ, who is the head of the mission, right? He is the one that organizes the mission and sends us forward. It calls us to follow the pattern of Christ laid down before us, who patiently endured everything, who bore the good testimony of Christ. And it calls us to live for the glory of God, doesn’t it? Because that’s our chief end, to glorify God and to enjoy him forever, and in so doing, seeing the Church of Christ built up.

It’s a wonderful comfort to know that Christ is in charge of the mission. So let us labor on, not growing weary, and may God grant us to yield forth much fruit.

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