The Church of the Open Door
Originally delivered at New Hope Community Church on August 29, 2021.
Don't Join a Perfect Church, Join a Faithful Church
Have you ever heard this expression before?
“If you’re looking for the perfect church, and you find it – if you find the perfect church – well you better not join it because it won’t be perfect anymore.”
I love this. And the reason is because no one is perfect, right? There’s no such thing as a perfect church. It doesn’t exist. Now I’ve already made a similar statement in sermons before, when I asked if New Hope was perfect, and I said no – all of you go here, myself included. Well today, it’s time that we rephrase that question. My question to us is no longer, “Is New Hope perfect” but instead, it is now, “Is New Hope faithful?”
There are no perfect churches, but there are faithful churches.
And so today, in our series in the book of Revelation (singular, not plural) on the Seven Churches, we now come to the 6th letter to the church in Philadelphia. The faithful church.
The Church in Philadelphia
And you see, this church was faithful both to God’s Word, and it was faithful to Christ’s name. Similar to the church in Smyrna, the persecuted church, the church in Philadelphia is the only other church that is commended by Jesus – He doesn’t have anything negative to say. So, as we get started this morning, if you brought your Bibles we will be in Revelation 3, starting in verse 7, and as we’ve been doing in this series, I’d like for us to read through this passage first, and then we’ll begin to drill down into the specifics.
“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. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. Because 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. 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. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
Before we start to go through all of this, I’d like to first focus on something for us to keep in our minds throughout this message, it’s the characteristics of the church that we see in verse 8:
“I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”
Characteristics of the Philadelphian Church
So let’s look at this – what incredible characteristics to have in a church, right? Right there at the end of verse 8, “I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and not denied my name.”
So, we’re to be two things:
faithful to the scriptures
faithful to the savior
We also learn from verse 8 that they were the Church of the Open Door. Christ clearly opened a door for them, and I think that this same principle is also true for us today both individually and corporately. Meaning, if we follow and are faithful to His Word, and we’re faithful to Christ in His glory, then God will open a door of opportunity for us.
It’s then our part to be faithful and step through that door.
There are six sections to our text that I’d like for us to look at.
Section 1: Destination
The first section we’ll look at is the destination.
"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."
Revelation 3:7 (ESV)
Now the city of Philadelphia, the name means, “Brotherly Love.” Clearly here we’re not talking about the city in Pennsylvania, founded by William Penn – but rather the Philadelphia of Asia Minor, or modern-day Turkey.
Philadelphia is about 25 miles southeast of Sardis. This city sat high up on a hill that overlooked a major Roman road that led into the interior of what is now modern-day Turkey. Now if you remember Josh mentioning the earthquake from last week, this Roman road was destroyed by that exact same earthquake that toppled Sardis in 70 A.D.
Being on this important Roman road, Philadelphia was actually a city that was famous for its vineyards, for its wines. And as a city in the Roman empire with a booming wine industry, it, therefore, worshipped the Roman false-god Bacchus, their “god” of wine. Honestly, I could stand here this morning and just cover this town, there’s so much there – but what I want you to see here, and the point I’m making is that Philadelphia was a dark, pagan city. And what’s more is that we see that God has planted His people, again, in this dark, pagan city, to be like what? The salt and light of the earth, Matthew 5:13-14, in a quite literal sense, “a city set on a hill that cannot be hidden.” And as we continue out of setting up the context for the destination of this letter, right at the end of verse 7 we have this incredible description of Christ:
"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."
Revelation 3:7 (ESV)
A Description of Christ
Now, this part of this verse is extremely interesting to me because so far all of the descriptions that we have of Christ opening the letter to the church are all found in Revelation chapter 1, in the vision of Christ.
So in context, a brief overview of Revelation:
Chapter 1 we have the Vision of Christ
Chapters 2 and 3 are the Voice of Christ
Chapters 4 and 5 are the Victory of Christ, with the Church triumphant in Heaven.
Yet for the first time, this description of Christ in verse 7 doesn’t come from Revelation chapter 1.
So where do we get this description? Let’s look to the Old Testament.
The description says that
He is Holy
This may seem obvious to many of us, but I want to make sure that I stress that the mention of Christ being holy, indicates that He is God.
That’s because God is Holy. We see this in several places in Scripture, but let’s first look at Revelation 4:8:
"And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!'“
Revelation 4:8 (ESV)
Next, in the Old Testament in Isaiah 6:3, when Isaiah was called by God he saw the LORD high and lifted up. And they cried, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
So this Holy in reference to Jesus means He is God. He is divine.
The second description: He is true, “the true one…”
A lot of times in the Old Testament you’ll see these two attributes mentioned in tandem. Together. Jesus in John 6:37 is the bread that comes down from heaven. Or described as the true bread that comes down from heaven – in contrast to the manna that was given in the wilderness.
The third description: He “holds the keys of David who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.”
Again – this is a description of Christ that we get nearly word for word from the Old Testament. From Isaiah 22:22:
"And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open."
Isaiah 22:22 (ESV)
Now in this verse, and in context, we are seeing in Isaiah that God’s servant, Eliakim, is being given a position of power or authority over the house of David – to open doors, to close doors. Or as we can clearly see, he became a foreshadowing of the future fulfillment of Christ.
So we have these three characteristics of Christ:
He is Holy or divine.
He is true, genuine, authentic.
He holds the keys of David. He is in authority. He sits on the throne and he reigns from Heaven.
So I don’t know about you, but for me reading and looking at this characteristics of Christ and of God brings my heart incredible comfort.
I think a lot of times we can have a tendency to take these incredible descriptions and words for granted, so just think about them this morning. Really think about it. God is Holy, God is true and authentic, and God is in authority. As I was writing this message, I was reminded of Matthew 28:18, when Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." You know, I’m thankful that I was originally given this opportunity to teach this message at New Hope, as it allowed me to spend quite a while studying just this passage in Revelation. And when I came to this verse while studying, it just made me step back, mentally, for a second.
Just look at our world right now, and the era in which we live. First, I thank God that we’re all able to meet again in churches. I'm grateful that I get to meet each week with New Hope in an incredibly beautiful city and part of the country. From 2020 with COVID, and now with what’s going on in Afghanistan and the U.S. immediate withdrawal, – to really seemingly everywhere and everything. And then to read this verse, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to [Christ].”
I’m glad. Aren’t you?
A. W. Tozer put it like this, and I love it:
"While it looks like things are out of control…there is a God who hasn’t surrendered His authority."
A. W. Tozer
Christ's Commendation
And if that’s not easily the most comforting thing we could have, especially today, especially right now, I don’t know what is.
And this is what I love about studying Scripture, we have all of that in just the first verse from this letter.
Now, moving on, let’s look at Christ’s commendation of the church in Philadelphia in verse 8:
"I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name."
Revelation 3:8 (ESV)
So we’re right back to that phrase, the “open door” that was mentioned in verse seven. Christ comes right back to it, “I know your works, your deeds. I’ve opened a door before you. No man can shut it.” I love that. “I know you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”
I have opened a door before you.
What does that mean?
There’s a few options that we seem to have here:
1. Salvation. Jesus says in John 10:9: "I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture."
2. However, while that verse, obviously is absolutely true as the Word of God is inerrant, when we look at the full scope of the text here in Revelation, I’m not so sure that in this passage the open door is referring to salvation. That’s because we also see a door used in Scripture for a couple of other things:
opportunity
service
God opens a door. And we have, therefore, an opportunity to serve Him. Let’s look at what Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 16:9:
"for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries."
1 Corinthians 16:9 (ESV)
This is also alluded to by Paul in 2 Corinthians 2:12 and Colossians 4:2. But notice this in our verse 1 Corinthians 16. “…and there are many adversaries.” When God opens a door for us, then what? Satan tries to shut it. He must not have really internalized that verse:
“…I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.”
Christ in control. And He hasn’t “surrendered His authority.”
But when God opens a door of opportunity for service, you can wager that Satan will be there trying to slam it shut. Trying to throw all the obstacles he can in your way to keep you from stepping through that door. To keep you from a life of effective serving the Lord.
Greg Laurie puts it like this in his book, Breakfast with Jesus:
"Let’s not settle for a saved soul and a wasted life."
Greg Laurie, Breakfast with Jesus, pg. 190
He later goes on to say that we should strive for a saved soul and an invested life. We should use it serve the Lord. We should use it for the Glory of God.
It’s God who opens the doors of opportunity in our lives.
A Pastoral Calling
As many of you know, before my wife and I moved to Middle Tennessee to be a part of this incredible New Hope family, we lived in West Texas. I told a story a little while back about a time when I was in college and had interned at a church in Las Vegas. I had this incredible experience at a youth camp when 3 of the campers in my group who were atheists accepted Christ, and I knew that in that moment I wanted to be in the church, serving, working in the church for the rest of my life. Well fast forward a few years from that camp and that summer, and I’m not working in the church. I’m not serving in the church (I was attending church, but you get the point). But instead, I’m running my own pretty small graphic design business and driving for Uber and Lyft in the evenings, and I’m pretty frustrated just overall.
And it’s because I felt like I wasn’t doing at all what I needed to be doing. Yet I had gone to school, and received a degree in this field – that was what I was supposed to be doing. But every day, I kept thinking back to my time in the church, to that experience with those kids. And one day this feeling had built up to the point that I’d had enough. I needed to be a pastor of a church. Right then.
And after phone calls with previous pastors and advice given to me, I ultimately came to the realization that I couldn’t just make it happen. It wasn’t going to happen right then and in my time. And for good reason. That door hadn’t opened yet, and I, as we’ve seen in Scripture today, clearly wasn’t going to be the one to open it all on my own, no matter how hard I tried. I don’t have the Key of David. Instead, the advice I was given was to serve in the church, in any capacity. Work in the church if I could. So I did, I volunteered for the worship team, I served doing visuals, lights, in the children’s ministry on Sunday mornings, in the Youth on Wednesday nights. Everywhere they would let me serve I was all in.
And you know what door did open?
A door that I saw on a website called ChurchStaffing.com. It was a listing for the opportunity to be the Communications Director at New Hope Community Church in Brentwood, TN.
And I thank God from the bottom of my heart that I stepped through that door. I thank God that He’s called me to ministry, and I thank God for His enabling of me to be in ministry.
And this process of God opening the doors, calling us to step through it, and enabling us doesn’t apply solely to pastoral ministry. It could be anything that God has called any one of you here this morning to do. He opens that door of service and of opportunity, and it’s our job as Christians to be grounded in His Word and to be faithful to step through that door.
And I don’t know specifically what that looks like for you. Maybe that looks like God opening a door at the grocery store. Maybe you’re in the aisle looking for an ingredient that’s actually on the other side of the store (I say that from consistent personal experience), and you hear someone say, “Everything’s so crazy and different lately, I just don’t know what’s going to happen to this world.”
We do. We’ve read the Bible. Maybe that’s your opportunity, your open door to share it with them.
“But what if they laugh at me or reject me?”
They mocked and rejected Christ, you’ll be in good company.
Where does the change we seek start? In our own hearts. To be faithful to step through the door. To allow God to call you and to enable you.
And here’s the comforting thing about this, and it’s the first thing that Christ commends the church in Philadelphia with, it’s not about our strength, it’s about God’s strength.
God's Strength, Not Ours
We’re small, we’re weak. Comparing us to God – we’re infinitesimally tiny. We’re a weak church compared to the strength of God.
Like in the last part of verse 8:
"I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name." - Revelation 3:8 (ESV)
It doesn’t matter how weak we are, God is strong. And it’s when we place our faith in Him, when we rely on Him, that we experience His strength. I love what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” There it is.
So the door is opened for them, they’ve relied on His strength, not theirs, and now (and possibly my favorite part of this) they have kept His Word. The application here is that we are to be loyal to God’s Word – to be grounded in Scripture – both in our lives and in our church. The word of God, simply put, is to be read and studied in our daily lives – not just during the hour and fifteen minutes we’re altogether each week. So when the verse tells us that they have “kept [His] Word” it means that not only are they reading His Word, but they are living His Word. Obeying His Word.
Again, here’s my question for this morning – are we being faithful to Christ and His Word? Are we living out His Word in the 167 hours we have outside of these walls each week?
And the last commendation, "you have not denied my name.”
So the door is opened, they’ve relied on His strength, not theirs, they have a high view of Scripture (the Word of Christ) and are loyal to living it out in their lives, and they lived it out for the Glory of Christ (the savior).
Loyal and faithful. What incredible characteristics.
We ask what can change or help our society our world, and this is it. Loyalty and faithfulness to God’s Word, and living it out in our lives. A desire to glorify and honor Him.
Are we a faithful church?
Are you, and am I, a faithful Christian?
The church only has power because of the Word. Because of the truth of the Gospel, and the power that we have to change the world around us is in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When old things pass away in our life, all things become in the new in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). That’s what will change the hearts of man.
So they had opportunity (the Open Door), they relied on Him for strength, they lived out His word, and they were loyal to His name. So let us now look at Christ’s commitment to the church in verses 9 and 10:
"Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. Because 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."
Revelation 3:9-10 (ESV)
Vindication and Preservation
So what do we see here in these two verses?
We see vindication, in verse 9, right?
And then we see preservation, in verse 10.
We see that this “synagogue of Satan” causes problems for the Christian church. As was the case in Smyrna (cf. 2:9), Christians in Philadelphia were facing hostility from unbelieving Jews. In fact, Ignatius later debated some hostile Jews during his visit to Philadelphia. And here’s where we get to the meat of this verse, it’s because of their rejection of Jesus Christ as the Messiah, that they, therefore, were not a synagogue of God, but a synagogue of Satan. Though they claimed that they were Jews, that claim was a lie.
But we see vindication as He will make them “come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.”
One day your faith will be vindicated.
I’ll stand here before you all and say that not one of us will get to Heaven and say, “Why did I do all of that? Why did I accept Christ? All that I went through, all that persecution, I could have been living it up!”
Not gonna happen.
In fact, there’s an old Hymn called, “When We All Get To Heaven” by E. E. Hewitt in 1898. You may have heard this or sung this hymn growing up, but either way, I’d like to read part of the words of this hymn to you, as I think that it wonderfully conveys this message, this joy, and this moment of the vindication of our faith.
When we all get to heaven,
what a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus,
we’ll sing and shout the victory!
While we walk the pilgrim pathway
Clouds will overspread the sky;
But when trav’ling days are over
Not a shadow, not a sigh.
Let us then be true and faithful,
Trusting, serving ev’ry day;
Just one glimpse of Him in glory
Will the toils of life repay.
Onward to the prize before us!
Soon His beauty we’ll behold;
Soon the pearly gates will open–
We shall tread the streets of gold.
-”When We All Get To Heaven” by E.E. Hewitt
In the end, truth prevails.
So as we move on to verse 10, notice also that we’ll be preserved.
"Because 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."
Revelation 3:10 (ESV)
We’ve made it to a part of the text today – that this specific verse, Revelation 3:10 has been debated on whether the rapture of the church will take place before or after the great tribulation, before the “hour of trial.” The pre-trib vs. post-trib debate, as one could call it.
My job here this morning, within the context of this message, isn’t to try to persuade you that the rapture will take place before rather than after the tribulation or vice versa. Instead what I want us to focus on isn’t so much the what as the why. The reason Jesus gives as to why His people will be preserved. That’s what we’ll be focusing on, and what I want us to take away from this today.
And so we see this reason right there in the very first phrase of verse 10: “Because you have kept my word about patient endurance…”
This is so important because this is precisely what caused the Open Door and the triumph over the enemies of the gospel that we talked about in verses 8 and 9.
So I’ll go ahead and say it – whether you think 3:10 means that the Church will be raptured before the tribulation or that the church will be preserved through the tribulation, both options share a common view. A common view that we all, every single one of us, can agree on. And it’s that Jesus says He will keep His people from the tribulation from the “hour of trial.”
“Because you have kept my word about patient endurance.”
You know, I think it’s interesting, this phrase “you have kept.” They already “kept” the word about patient endurance. Some say that God always keeps His people from ever suffering. I think if you’re a human and a believer, you know that’s not the case, and from the very words that Jesus says, it hadn’t been the case in Philadelphia. The fact that they already “kept” the word about patient endurance means they have been enduring. Enduring something unpleasant. But again the important thing that I want us to take away this morning is this same concept: faithfulness. The glaringly clear concept in this verse is the commendation of the way the church faithfully kept Jesus’ word.
Now let’s look at verse 11, Christ’s council to the church in light of this:
"I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown."
Revelation 3:11 (ESV)
I don’t want us to misinterpret this verse as it being possible to lose your salvation. That’s not what it is saying. Instead, the crown in this passage is in reference to the crown of life (like we saw in 2:10), the reward of eternal life for believers and we are to hold fast in that, in His Word and to be faithful to His name.
One of the things that I think is so harmful to our society and to our world is this seeming abandonment of the Doctrine of the Return of Christ.
We can’t lose motivation for missions, we can’t lose motivation for evangelism. And I hope that doesn’t sound like I’m suggesting that New Hope has. I’m so glad that we have an Outreach team here, and that New Hope has a Missions team. Rather, I’m speaking to the state of our general culture. A state that doesn’t think about these passages we’ve been talking about over the last month or so.
Jesus Christ is coming soon. And you might be sitting there thinking, “I’ve heard people say that my entire life. The church has been saying that forever.”
Yeah – so think of how much closer it is to His return!
Comfort and Promise
As we get close to wrapping up this morning, I want to touch on one last concept here, and that is Christ’s comforting words of promise. In verses 12 and 13 we read:
"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. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Revelation 3:12-13 (ESV)
The First Promise we see hear:
1. To the one who conquers, or in some translations, overcomes (another name for a Christian; 1 John 5:5), I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it…
A pillar represents stability, permanence, and immovability. Pillars can also represent honor. In fact, in pagan temples at that time, pillars would often be carved in such a way as to honor a particular deity. So in contrast, we see this marvelous promise that Christ makes to believers is that they will have an eternal place of honor in the temple of God (heaven).
Now remember the context of Philadelphia here, remember the destination. This was a town subject to earthquakes. It’s an area with a lot of volcanic activity, so when an earthquake happened they would, in fear, move out of the city. This still happens today. So to these people used to fleeing their city because of earthquakes and also enemies, the promise that they will not go out from heaven was understood as security in eternal glory.
2. Christ’s second promise to the one who overcomes is that He will write on him the name of My God, the name of the City of My God, and a new name.
So notice these three things here:
I will write on Him the name of My God. This is ownership. Simply put. Sealed with the Holy Spirit. All Christians belong to God, in an intimate personal relationship with Him forever.
…the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. Citizenship. Christians have eternal citizenship in a city whose maker and builder is God.
A new name. This always intrigues people. It seems like everyone is like, “what’s the new name?!” I know that was my thought when I first read it. And here it is – ready? I don’t know, He didn’t say it in the Bible. But here’s how I’ve come to think of this part of the verse. In heaven, we will “see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2). Whatever we may have known of Christ will pale in comparison to the reality in which we will then see Him. But I can promise this, the new name by which we will have the privilege to call Him will reflect that glorious revelation of Him.
Let Him Hear
Now our last verse, verse 13: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
Are you listening? Is God speaking to you about a door of opportunity? A door of ministry?
When I went to those pastors and told them I wanted to be a pastor, do you see what the advice really was? Get in the church, and wait on Him. If God opens a door for you, you’ll know. I don’t believe God opens doors to keep them a secret, to see if we can figure out the puzzle. I don’t know what that door is for you, but what I can say is that when that door opens for you, step through it.
This remarkable (and fairly lengthy) message of affirmation comes to a community that seems to be weak and suffering from serious opposition from those who deny the message about Jesus. The revelation of Jesus’ message to them here is that their weakness is not the most important thing about them: the most important thing is that they have obeyed Jesus’ call to ‘patient endurance’.
However much you may feel trapped by your circumstances, and despite our weakness, what matters is the sovereignty of Jesus, and that we can rest in the strength of our savior.
What matters is the one who can ‘open doors.’ Particularly, that door that really matters. The door which leads into a place of peace, security and salvation in God’s presence.
I want to point out that one open door that we all have, which is always open is prayer. Charles Spurgeon says this:
"Prayer is an open door which none can shut. Devils may surround you on all sides, but the way upward is always open…"
Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening Devotional (November 3rd PM)