Allen Raynor Weblog:
“Philadelphia: The Faithful Church” (Pt. 1)
(Aug. 21, 2019)
Believers
are told many times and in many ways throughout Scripture the importance of
perseverance. Perseverance is defined as
“Steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially
in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.” (Dictionary.com) To persevere
is the responsibility of both individual Christians and churches. If we simply work hard and give our best to
do the things the Lord has asked us to do, He will take care of the rest, even
if it takes much more time than we expected.
There is often irony in the way the Lord works. C. S.
Lewis, in his sixties, married a lady named Joy Greshem – an American divorcee
with two sons. After she died of cancer,
he committed to caring for the boys – but Lewis himself died two years
later. The youngest son, Douglas, later
married and moved to Tasmania. Neither
he nor his wife had accepted Christ. One
day, Wheaton College asked Douglas to participate in a tribute to Lewis – and
as an honorarium, the college gave him a folio of Lewis’ books on audio
tapes. Douglas’ wife, Mary, began
listening to them, and finally, at the age of 40 received Christ into her
heart. Seven years later, through her
prayerful diligence, she led her husband to Jesus. A great example of perseverance! Too often we expect immediate results and
instant gratification but God’s ways are much slower than ours but much more
reliable.
We see the
patient character of God revealed in Romans 12:12 where Christians are
commended to “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation continuing steadfastly
in prayer.” Above all, God is simply
calling on His people; His church to be faithful to His Word and persevere
through all the trials/tests/tribulations that come their way. The church at Philadelphia (Rev. 3:7-13) was
doing what the Lord expected of the church.
They are lifted up as an example of faithfulness. The Lord had nothing negative to say to this
church – only positive – unlike the other six churches.
The name
“Philadelphia” means “brotherly love” in Greek.
The city was small and was located about 40 miles southeast of
Sardis. Its location, vineyards, and
wine production made it wealthy and commercially significant. Christ is described as being “holy,” “true,”
the one “Who has the key of David,” and the “One who opens and shuts doors.” His “holiness” means He is “set apart.” Being “true” speaks to His faithfulness and
being one who keeps His word/promises.
Instead of being “false,” He is “true.”
A “key” in Scripture represents authority. Whoever has a key has control. As the holder of “the key of David,” Jesus
alone has sovereign authority to determine who enters His Messianic
kingdom. Revelation 1:18 reveals to us
that Jesus has the keys to death and hell; here He is depicted as having the
keys to salvation and all blessings.
Finally, He is identified as He “Who opens and no one will shut, and who
shuts and no one opens.” Here Christ’s omnipotence
is emphasized. In other words, what
Christ does cannot be overruled or overpowered by another or higher authority,
because there is no one more powerful!
Jesus Christ is the holy, true, sovereign, omnipotent Lord of the
church.
The deed of
the church at Philadelphia caused the Lord no concern, which seems amazing;
almost too good to be true! Jesus’ care
for them was solely concern for them
personally and not concern because of
them. The phrase “I have set before you
an open door; and no one can shut it,” in this context, appears to refer to
their entrance into Heaven and “The New Jerusalem.” It is certainly possible this open door also
is referring to “service” and “witness.”
In Colossians 4:3 Paul wrote “Meanwhile praying also for us, that God
would open to us a door for the word to speak the mystery of Christ.” He writes to the Corinthian church “For a
great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” (1
Cor. 16:9)
Despite the
fact they had little strength/power they had made a positive impact on this
city. How did they make this
impact? It was by faithfully keeping
God’s Word. Their love for Christ was
genuine and it showed. Further, they had
“not denied His name,” in an environment where it would have been quite easy to
do so. Revelation 14:2 describes the
tribulation saints who refused to take the mark of the beast saying “Here is
the patience/perseverance of the saints; here are those who keep the
commandments of God and faith of Jesus.”
It is never
easy to stand faithful to God in the face of persecution, but it is always the
right thing to do. Former U. S. Attorney
General John Ashcroft wrote in his autobiography “Sometimes when you are doing
the right thing, you have to stay strong, steely, and silent, even though you
are getting beaten up by others for doing what is right. Often it takes a long time for the truth to
emerge.” (John Ashcroft; Never Again;
229-30) Perseverance is about being in
it for the long haul! A good friend of
mine, and fellow pastor, told me the first time I met him 15 years ago that the
church he pastored had been going through what he called “a 5 year purging.” He was cautiously optimistic about the future
but was also battle worn. His
perseverance did pay off though as
that church slowly developed, in the years that followed, as a strong and
healthy church that looked much like the church at Philadelphia. It is always right to do the right things and
it is always wrong to do the wrong things for reasons we know and for reasons
we do not know.
In Christ,
Dr. Allen Raynor, Pastor
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