Sermon for
August 17th, 2010

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WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR CHURCH TO BE LIKE?

Revelation 3:7-13 Sermon series 2010
What church would you like your church to be like? Perhaps you have heard of some mega church in the Cities, like Willowbrook, or Saddlebrook, with thousands of worshipers each week, with offerings that total in one month what your church totals in a year. How about you be like that church? Or I’m thinking of the little log cabin church in the Grand Teton National Park, that has a window behind the altar looking out at the majestic mountain peaks. What a beautiful setting for a church, perhaps be like that one.
But now think about a church that is richly blessed by the Lord Jesus, whose members receive no rebuke from him but only commendation. How about being like that church? There is such a church, it is the one to whom Jesus wrote his sixth of seven letters through the apostle John. This letter is our text, and the church I am referring to is the Church of Philadelphia, not Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but the Philadelphia of Asia Minor. As we study the Lord’s letter to this church, we’ll see that this is the kind of church to imitate. “Blessed Is the Church that Is Like the Church of Philadelphia”

Jesus puts before it an open door
Jesus introduced himself to the church of Philadelphia as the one “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.” David was a King of Israel in Old Testament times who had great authority. Jesus is the king of the world who has all authority in heaven and on earth. He attained that authority when he suffered and died for the sins of the world and then rose from the dead. He conquered the kingdom of Satan and the powers of sin and death and established himself as the Savior with a kingdom rich with God’s love, the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. These are his treasures. He opens the door to them to all who repent of their sins and trust in him, and no one can shut that door. He closes the door to forgiveness and heaven to all who refuse to repent and turn to him, and no one can pry open that door.
The church of Philadelphia had this great Jesus as the head of their church. He placed before them an open door to his treasures of salvation. The door was open to receive forgiveness for their sins and the Holy Spirit for their faith and life. They were one blessed church.
Are you like this church? Whom do you look to as the head of your church – your pastor, your church council, or Jesus Christ? When Christ is the head, and when you approach him in faith, then you have before you an open door to the treasures of his kingdom. Whenever you are burdened with the weight of a sin, Christ opens the door to the fountain filled with blood that removes all your guilty stains. Whenever worry smothers your heart or troubles overwhelm your thoughts, the door is open to approach the Father in prayer and receive his care, mercy and help. You can even ask for the Holy Spirit and he will be given you in rich measure. His gifts of love, patience, kindness, and self-control are there to receive and apply to your relationships. Talents of leadership, serving, teaching and showing mercy are there for your church to find and use. Blessed is the church that is like the church of Philadelphia.

Jesus promises treasures of grace
Jesus’ words to the church of Philadelphia included mention of other blessings that were theirs. He said, “I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my Word and have not denied my name.” The members were weak, some physically worn down, others emotionally drained. But they had stayed loyal to Jesus' word. They heard the Word preached and kept it in their hearts. They had not denied Jesus’ name but confessed him openly to their neighbors as the Savior and Lord. They did not do this on their own strength but because of the grace of Christ freely given them.
Here’s the second special gift of Jesus to this church: He held open the door to do mission work; he gave them opportunity after opportunity to take the word they cherished and spread it so others might hear and believe.
Now for the third blessing of Christ to them: In their city were Jews who labeled them as not really being the people of God. Jesus called these Jews a synagogue of Satan, for Satan was behind their mean attacks. He told the church, “I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.” Jesus would direct events so that these Jews would later admit that Jesus loved the Christians. His love for the Philadelphia believers would be so deep and evident that even his enemies could see it.
The following words of Jesus reveal a fourth blessing: “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 Word of God had worked a patient endurance in the believers to bear up under the strains of life. Jesus promised that when even more distressful times came, when famines, wars, and violence of unequalled levels came to the world, he would preserve them in faith.
What church could ever have had it any better than the folks of Philadelphia? Blessed is the church today that is like that church! It may have little strength of its own – its members may not be powerful and influential; many may limping through life with scars, heartaches, and suffering; but they have made God’s Word their strength. They have a loyalty to the Word of Christ that says, “If this is what God wrote in his Word, then this is what we believe and teach.” In life and in death God’s Word is their great heritage, to spread its truth from age to age has become their chief endeavor. They have not denied Jesus’ name when bad things happened to them or their families, but their faith in Jesus, strengthened by God’s Word, has continued to declare, “Jesus is Lord.”
Are you such a church? If so, many are the blessings that Christ places before you. He holds the door open to you to speak his Word and do mission work so others may come to know him. The door to bring his saving Word to your neighbors, to families, children, new residents, and the elderly will remain open. When you walk through those open doors and do the work of Christ, you may encounter people who will speak against you; but Jesus’ love will sustain you and create in you love even for your enemies, and many of them will in the end conclude, “My how your Jesus loves you.”
Christ will give you patient endurance for all the setbacks of life and will keep you in faith during the hours of trial and distresses that come to this world. Blessed is the church that today keeps Christ’s Word and confesses his name, just like the church of Philadelphi

Jesus promises eternal victory
Jesus wrote to the church of Philadelphia, “I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one takes 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.”
With these words Jesus announced he was coming soon to bring them to the final stage of salvation. By faith they already had the crown of eternal life; when Jesus came they would experience it fully. Christ would make each a pillar, someone unmoved from where Christ planted him in the temple of God. Three names Christ would give to each: one, the name of his God; they would have the same close fellowship with the Father that Jesus enjoyed; two, the name of the city of God, the new Jerusalem; they would be permanent residents of that city; three, his new name; they would share in Christ’s glory on high.
Blessed is that church today which is like the church of Philadelphia! Can we find such a church? Can we find people who have heard the Lord say to them, I am coming soon? Why, that is what Christ says to you in Revelation 22:20: “I am coming soon.” Can we find people who possess the crown of life? Why, Titus 3 says that through baptism we “have become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” You share in the promised glory of heaven. Christ promises that you who now shake at the sound of thunder or at the diagnosis of a doctor will be an unshakable pillar in the temple of heaven; those whom Christ takes to heaven, stay in heaven, in that splendid city filled with God’s glory.
There are many churches you could choose to be like but there is one church that Scripture presents as richly blessed. Her people had little strength, but they had Jesus and his Word, an open door to the treasures of salvation, and promises of life eternal. Be like that church. Blessed is the church that is like the church of Philadelphia. Amen.

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