Philadelphia

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As we stand, let's pray.

Heavenly Father,
As we look at your Word we ask that you, by your Holy Spirit, to open our eyes to it and to challenge us from it.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen

I remember when I was a student studying in Belfast I would go home every weekend – as was the student custom in Northern Ireland. Why would I go home every weekend? Well, firstly because everyone did and secondly how else would my clothes get washed and ironed? How else would I eat a proper Sunday roast every Sunday? My mum was great – I would depart each Sunday night for the 20 minute drive back to university with everything I could need for the week. Life was good! (I might add that my food was served at meal times in the college refectory and that my flat was cleaned daily by cleaners too! Nothing like university life preparing you for the real world! For some who know me well that might explain a lot.)

Anyway, there was a price for this kind of foot-in-both-places kind of life. I could get home to mum and dad's and find mum in my bedroom caught red handed! Not only would I catch her picking up my washing or leaving off a pile of freshly ironed clothes but also having a quick scan of my post and, mainly, my bank statements! Nothing could escape her knowledge. Not over spending, a sneaky take-away, not points on a driving license or even a cheap flight bought to visit mates! Nothing.

And Revelation is maybe a little like this for us - we can peak in on these letters from the risen Lord Jesus to the churches in modern Turkey. We get to read everyone else's post! And that is what Jesus intended! At the end of each letter he says, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." (Revelations 3:13).

As we snoop in on these letters we find out what Jesus values and hear the warnings he gives to his church. We have ears to hear so let us hear! So we're in chapter 3 working through the letter to the church in Philadelphia and I have three points from the passage for this evening.

1. Unexpected Encouragement

So, my first point is this. This letter is unexpected encouragement. If you have been here each week in Revelation I'm sure that this struck you too! Compare this letter to those to the other churches! In the others Jesus issues commands and warnings but in this one there is no warning and the closest to a command is there in verse 11, simply "hold fast what you have…"

No, this letter is different. It is encouraging! It is warm.

And yet, there wasn't much in Philadelphia that you or I would find terribly impressive. Look down with me at verse 8. Jesus says, "I know that you have but little power."

And I am sure that is how they thought of themselves – weak and insignificant. They may be looked at other churches with more money, better resources, a bigger and better reputation, a better rate of growth or a more famous leader and they might have thought of themselves as insignificant and unimportant by comparison. And so might we if we looked in.

It seemed like those nearby might have thought the same too, Jesus says in verse 9 that he will make others "come and bow down before" them. I think it is alright to infer then that nobody was doing that at the time. Maybe because this church wasn't much to look at! Or maybe because they stood for what was true and that made them different. Perhaps it was the sort of Christian fellowship that even other Christians try to ignore. Maybe it is the way people talk about us as a church. "Those crazies in Jesmond!" Or maybe we're guilty of looking at others like this.

Yet, Jesus offers no advice to them. He offers no 'here is how to get better' or 'this is how you can get stronger'. No, there are no tips of how to gain more influence. All Jesus says is "hold on" (v.9). This command is overflowing with encouragement – Jesus says to them, "keep going, keep it up! You, Philadelphia, are on the right track!"

2. What Does Jesus See in Them?

Yes, this letter has unexpected encouragement for an unspectacular church and if this is how Jesus speaks to this church then we ought to ask ourselves a question: What does Jesus see in them? (and that's our second heading). It seems to me that Jesus sees faithfulness in this church. I mean, it is not because this church is weak that Jesus values it but rather it is their faithfulness despite their weakness! And faithfulness should be high up on our list too. Above results, reputation and skill – faithfulness!

Jesus shows us that faithfulness is of high importance to him. And he is our prime example in this! And even if you doubt that right now you can look back to 2000 years ago in history when Jesus went to the cross to keep a promise that he had made us. And what a cost that promise had! That day proves we can trust Jesus entirely. Let's have a look at how we see this church was faithful.

Firstly, look at the second half of verse 8, "'I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word…'" Or, in other words, 'you have kept the Bible'! 'You're a Bible church'. Those are the words we use to describe ourselves on our website!

So, what is a Bible church? It's a church which holds to the whole Bible because it is all the inspired Word of God. It has supreme authority, above all else, to tell us what to believe and how to live. A Bible church will not ignore God's standard for life in order to fit in and be relevant! It doesn't leave things out just because they don't like them as if ripping parts out of God's Word because some of it is hard to understand or because some of the stands we need to take are unpopular!

Philadelphia was a Bible church! And Jesus values their faithfulness. Secondly then, and attached to that, Jesus goes on to say in verse 8, "… you have kept my word and have not denied my name". Mr Brown living in Philadelphia headed weekly or daily maybe to the temple, paid a tithe to the emperor and declared that, 'Caesar was lord'! Of course, Mr Brown had become a Christian and for him to say that Caesar is lord would be to deny the truth that Jesus is Lord. From the moment these early Christians in Philadelphia accepted the Lord Jesus and began following him they were under immense pressure to give into social pressure!

So, this is the second thing Jesus sees in them. They have not denied his name – even when it might have been incredibly uncomfortable to stand firm! Thirdly then, verse 10 says, "you have kept my word about patient endurance". These believers keep going – they have kept his Word and not denied his name and endured the hardship that might have come with that!

And what about us? We need to keep watch and when a church is ripping out parts of the Bible for the sake comfort or because of cultural enticement then we need to get out of there! Because if we endorse ignoring parts of God's living Word then we will deny the name of Jesus! That means that you have a one item check list when you're looking for a church. For some moving on in September to new cities for work or university – you're looking for a church which teaches the whole Bible and stands for what it says. And that will be seen from the pulpit and the lives of the congregation. Take, for example, the McArthur family in Northern Ireland. They are bakers and they have recently lost a court case and been found guilty of discrimination because they will not ignore the Bible's teaching – even in the way they run their business - and thus they did not deny their true Lord, Jesus Christ. Or if you're an international student who became Christians here in the UK. You might find that as soon as you fly home and your parents pick you up they want to go straight to your ancestor's shrine to worship that. And so from the minute you step off the plane you are under pressure to deny Jesus' name.

Yes, faithfulness is what Jesus sees in Philadelphia and we can look in on this letter and then evaluate ourselves as individuals and as a church. Look at Sardis from last week: they had reputation (Rev 3:1). Yet, Sardis got a wake-up (Rev 3:2) call and here Philadelphia, who is weak, gets no such advice because they are faithful. This makes Jesus very different to other people. So often we are interested in results or 'the fruit'. And this outlook explains, sadly, why so churches ignore sections of God's clearly given teaching in order to be popular. And sadly this explains why so many marriages end and why so many appointments we make get broken, ignored and forgotten. Because we value what we see will be fruitful and not what might be faithful – even at a cost.

Perhaps you, however, beaver away as part of a very small Christian fellowship or a small ministry area here at JPC. Perhaps you speak up for the Bible in your class or office as a minority of one and to the distain of your peers. Perhaps, despite carrying on, you have little fruit to show for your efforts and you feel pretty weak or insignificant but you hold to the Bible, you believe it and you proudly wear the name of Jesus and you stick at it. Jesus says to you "I see! I know your deeds, I love you and I am going to honour you in front of everyone."

Does that not warm your heart?

3. What Does Jesus Say to Them?

So, lastly, then. What does Jesus say to them?

Now, you may assume, given my accent and my reference to the Asher's Bakery in Northern Ireland, that I am their cousin or best friend or that they lived 'down the lane' that or, at the very least, my uncle's neighbour sold them a house but I don't know them! … I do of course know people who know them and who go to their church. I mean, it is Northern Ireland! I've not spoken to him but I'm sure, though, that there have been moments when Daniel McArthur, the 24 year old manager, wanted to give up. I know how I would feel if flung into the media over an issue which makes his stand unpopular. (Let's thank God for the reaction of so many to that ruling and keep praying!)

Equally, I'm sure that there were times that the Philadelphians wanted to give up. Times when they faced hardship and difficulty, when they faced persecution or injustice that it just didn't seem worth it. And I'm sure we can all recall moments or weeks or times like that in our own walk. Perhaps, if you were here, you remember when our application for a Free School was declined because, bottom line, we hold God's Word as true. That was deflating. That was disappointing.

But in the face of hardship Jesus says a lot here to reassure them (and us). Firstly, he says there is "an open door". Look with me at verse 7:

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. (Revelation 3:7-8a)

Jesus says that he has the key of David. David was long ago the King of Israel so he got to decide who got into the Kingdom of Israel. That's God's Kingdom. In our first reading Nick read from Isaiah 22 where the prophet talks about that key of David going to someone else so that that person might have that kind of authority. The authority to decide who belongs to God and who doesn't. In this letter Jesus claims that key. You see, because the forgiveness of sin can come no other way other than by trusting in Jesus' death he holds that key. He is the only who can say who gets in and who doesn't. To these faithful believers he says, 'I have opened the gate for you! And nobody can shut it on you.'

I wonder how many slammed doors these Christians in Philadelphia faced. The door of the synagogue slammed in their face or the economic door of the market place or even the door of the family home. Just like today! If you are a faithful Christian you might find a slammed door somewhere in your career because, as the world sees, you're not quite sound. Here is a door that will never be shut to you. Or maybe some of us will find a slammed door in a relationship we've pursued because you've set godly and right boundaries. But here is a door that will never be shut to you. And shouldn't we be saying to ourselves that this one is the only door that matters.

I mean, not all of us will have to choose between doors all the time but if we did have to choose between an open door to a board room and an open door into heaven really what kind of choice is that? One more thing Jesus says then. Jesus talks of "a named pillar". We don't but if we did have names pillars in this building I would claim that one. Two years ago, before joining staff, I was sitting right in against that pillar but had forgotten that I was reading that night. So David, leading the service, said, "Martin Thompson" as he looked to the lectern where I was not, "will not read from the Old Testament." – it's amazing that I ended up on staff!

Anyway, Let's pick up in verse 11:

I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. 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." (Revelation 3:11-12)

Now, at time when people made a donation to the building of a Temple they would inscribe their name on a pillar - they would put their name on it to show that they paid for it. (We're not doing that for anyone at St. Joseph's... before anyone asks.)

Jesus is telling us here that God is building a spiritual temple which is eternal and these faithful Christians are integral to that building. They (and us) don't just get a seat but we are like one of the pillars. And he will put his name on us so that we have all the honour and dignity of God himself. It is as if, proudly, he will say of us, I did that, I got her here and my glory is shown in her. Soon, this name, Jesus, which can shut many doors here and now will be their crowning glory.

So, as we snoop around in the post for the Philadelphians we find an assurance for this weak fellowship in their present struggle against the tide and a promise that one day they will be honoured for their faithfulness and patient endurance. What a hope we who have ears to hear have for the future!

Let's pray.

Lord,
Help us to grow in faithfulness!
In Jesus' name.
Amen.

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