I’ve share before that I grew up playing baseball. One of the greatest lessons I learned while playing was during my final year of little league, or what was called majors. To be honest I was the best pitcher on the team, if not the league as a whole. My team on the other hand had two other good players, but they weren’t even in the top ten best players in our town. The lesson I learned was during one game at our home field. The game started off as most did when I pitched, the first two batters struck out and I was feeling pretty good. The third batter step up to the plate and hit a routine fly ball to right field. But for our team, nothing was routine, and the right fielder missed the ball and the runner advanced to second base. I was furious and in my mind I started to think that I could trust this team, so I had to do it myself. I had one of my best outings that day. Except for the fly ball, every other batter for the next five innings struck out.
Then came the seventh inning, we were up by one, but I was visibly exhausted, with a pitch count closing in on 100. I struck out one batter, then walked the next, then struck out the third. The fourth came and I walked him as well. It was then that my coach called a timeout and came to the mound. I didn’t have many of these visits, so I knew what he wanted to talk about. But he wasn’t the only one, the third baseman, one of my friends, also came over. Both of them told me the same thing. There’s a whole team behind you, let the guy hit the ball and let your team get this final out.
So I did. I threw a nice low fast ball for the batter, hoping he’d hit a ground ball. Instead he pulled it somehow and got a fly ball. Guess where? Right field and again the the right fielder missed it. The two runs I had walked came in and the batter made it to second. The other team was up by one. It was there that I learned the lesson that stuck with me for the next five years. I had to do it myself. The next batter came up and I struck him out. We went on to lose that game, and it made an impression on me to where I would not trust another team to stand behind me, until my college days. In those years, I grew as a pitcher, but not as a player. I became isolated on the mound. And though I led my high school team with the most strikeouts, it became increasingly difficult to do so, and my arm paid the price.
It was finally playing in college that I no longer had to worry about carrying the team. And instead, was able to grow as an all around player by realizing that when I did try to do it on my own, it made me bitter and unable to play as a team player. In the end I realized that I had missed out on the joy of playing with my teammates, because deep down, I resented them. Because I relied solely in my own strength, I was lesser for it.
And it’s this idea of not relying on our own strength that brings us back into our Out-Look Series, where we are returning to the book of Revelation chapter 3. This week we will be looking at the last two of the seven churches that were addressed by Jesus. And as we open up to Revelation 3:7, let’s look back at where we’ve been so far in this series.
We started out this walk through the first three chapters of Revelation by looking at the two aspects of the believer’s relationship with God. These two aspects are to love God with everything and to love others as ourselves. These two aspects are what God calls us to. We cannot have one with the out the other, and when we focus on one at the detriment of the other, both suffer in the end. Since the majority of the time in the Church we focus on the first aspect of our relationship, the loving God with everything, we turned our attention to the second aspect of loving others as ourselves. There are many ways to do this, such as taking care of physical needs: a glass of water, a sleeping bag, a coat. Yet the greatest way that we are called to love our neighbors is to share the Gospel.
It was here that we began focusing on the why and how we are to go about this Gospel work. First we looked at the why, which is to be motivated by God’s holiness. When we understand the awesomeness of God and how far away from him we are without Jesus, that should then motivate us to share the Gospel with those who are on the path to forever being away from God in the lake of fire.
Second, we need to realize that one of the most powerful places that we will experience God’s grace as a believer, is by enduring the work that God calls us to. Grace abounds to those that are not only saved, but are experiencing God through the work he has laid our for his people.
Thirdly, as believers, trials and tribulations are guaranteed by Jesus. When we follow him in salvation, we have been and are being separated by God from this world. This means we are already being put in and adverse situation to what the world wants. And when we engage in Gospel work, we are putting ourselves that much more in direct opposition to the world’s desires.
Finally, as we engage in Gospel work, it is easy to fall into the trap of winking at certain sins so that we may garner the praise of man. It’s easy to not want to stand on certain biblical issues, so that we can be seen as more tolerant or loving, when in actually what we are doing is being less loving, and watering down the Gospel’s power in a person’s life.
All this brings us to our finally two churches in Revelation 3, where we will look at what happens when we’ve been active in God’s work.
“7 To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him 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. 8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9 I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you. 10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.
11 I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown. 12 The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them 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 them my new name. 13 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Here we continue looking at how Jesus sees these two churches. There are a lot of similarities with previous churches. And if we take a step back and look at the seven churches together, we can see that these last two churches kind of mirror the first two. With both Sardis and Philadelphia being churches of praise, and Ephesus and Laodicea being churches of correction. Let’s get more into this, starting with Philadelphia.
The city of Philadelphia was another one of these hub cities where a lot of commerced flowed. It was junction for the northern road to Ephesus and the eastern road to Pergamum. Because of its location and its hub status, it was known as the “gate” or “door” in which everyone needed to venture through if they were going to get to one of these more important cities.
The city was situated, not only on a trade route, but also in an active volcanic area. In fact, in AD 17 the region experienced a violent earthquake which leveled three cities: Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Philadelphia, along with Sardis was rebuilt by the Romans, who renamed the city Neocaesarea, to honor the imperial family. The city grew in prominence because of the rich volcanic soil that was all around, which led the city to becoming an important agricultural center as well.
Jesus uses this historical reality to speak to the church that is located in the city. It is one of the few cities that Jesus doesn’t have a condemnation, but gets his full encouragement. Jesus uses imagery of keys and doors that no one can shut. This imagery connected to the opening and shutting of gates and doors fits with Philadelphia being the gate and door of Asia Minor. You had to go through the city to get to other more prominent places. Likewise, only through Jesus can a person attain salvation. This is based on Jesus’ words in John 10:9, “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture.” Jesus’ words here assures the church that they have passed through the gate of Jesus into his salvation, and because he holds the key to open and shut such a gate, no one else can close it.
After this assurance of Jesus’ authority and the church’s access to salvation through him, he turns his attention to encouraging the church. Like Sardis before it, the church at Philadelphia had little. In this case the wealth of the church isn’t in view, as it was in Sardis, but rather their power. The word that the NIV translates as "strength” carries with it two possible connotations. It can either be miraculous power, as in miracles, or in physical power, hence the translation of strength. I don't think they are lacking in miraculous power, because the rest of Jesus’ exhortation wouldn’t make sense. In fact it wouldn’t be encouragement but another correction for their lack of faith. Instead it would make more sense that they have little strength. Jesus compliments them that though they have little strength, they have kept the faith.
This could be a reference to the church having gone through a taxing persecution by a community of Jews who are denouncing the church as not being of God. And so Jesus not only commends the church for continuing in the faith, though they have little strength remaining to do so, Jesus gives an encouraging word that he himself will show to this Jewish community how much he loves this church. This will be done through Jesus forcefully making these people fall down before the believers in honor.
And like before, Jesus puts eternity into perceptive. In this case, Jesus draws on the historical events of Philadelphia to do so. Both the pillar imagery and the new city of Jerusalem coming down both speak to what has happened to the city. An earthquake came and destroyed the city, yet Jesus will make the church unmovable. The Roman government rebuilt the city, giving themselves the glory, yet Jesus will build his own city giving all glory to God.
Let’s turn our attention to Laodicea, the church that gets the most attention from preachers. It is the one church that doesn’t get even a hint of commendation. Everything’s bad with this church, and Jesus is about to impart judgment on it. This is why Jesus calls himself the “Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.” He says this because his judgment is true and the church at Laodicea better listen, prepare, and repent at Jesus’ judgment.
Again, it’s the works of the church that are in view and Jesus uses the imagery of hot and cold water, with that of lukewarm water. The reason for this imagery is because of the situation in Laodicea. The city, though it was extremely wealthy, which is something we’ll come back to in a bit, was known for bad water. The neighboring city of Heirapolis was well known for hot water springs that were said to have medicinal properties. Another neighboring city, Colossae, was known for pure, cold water that was some of the most refreshing. Laodicea on the other hand, needed to bring their water in via an aqueduct. The water arrived lukewarm and was awful to drink. Jesus uses this imagery to let the church know that they too were not useful either as hot or cold, but were lukewarm. Because of this Jesus would spit them out, because they were disgustingly useless.
But he does’t stop there. Unlike the other cities of Sardis and Philadelphia who needed Roman help to rebuild their urban centers after the earthquake of AD 17, Laodicea was so wealthy that they refused the governments help to rebuild. This became a point of pride for the city. It seems that the church had their own pride with their wealth. Yet Jesus tells them that they are “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” True wealth is Jesus himself; true riches are only found in him. Therefore Jesus calls the church to buy from him, to be clothed by him, to receive ointment for their blindness from him.
And though Jesus is harshest with Laodicea, it is never to the point of final rejection. The purpose of his direct rebuke of the church is for repentance. Jesus states, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” A lot of the time we as Christians use this verse to give hope to the non-believer, and though I don’t disagree with the thought being used in that way, the reality is, the context has it with the church. Jesus is calling the church to open the door to him. He is calling the church to invite him inside for a meal.
Why does Jesus do this? Because he loves the church and wants them in a right relationship with him. Paul states it this way in Ephesians 5:25-27, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27 and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.” This is what Jesus is doing here. Calling the church to repentance, Jesus is washing and renewing her to be without blemish. This is why Jesus says, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.”
And after he calls the church to repentance, to a reestablished relationship with him, he puts everything into eternal perspective once again. Victory and a throne of authority is placed before the church to receive as a reward.
And it is here that we see ourselves. As we move forward in Gospel work, we must realize it is done in the strength of Jesus. God’s Gospel work is for his glory and for his kingdom. It is so easy to give up the work when we fill physically, emotionally, spiritually spent. Yet, in the little strength we have, Jesus is strong. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 1:27, “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” Paul even rejoiced in his weakness, when he wrote a second time to the Corinthian church this, “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong (12:10).”
It’s okay to recognize our weakness, because by trusting Jesus in recognition of our own weakness we can then rely on his strength to work in us. This is the grace that is seen in our endurance of the tasks God has set out for us.
This recognition of weakness in our lives, keeps us from becoming prideful in what we have. The building, the money, the reputation; the glitz, the glamor, the names on side of buildings means nothing if Jesus is left outside knocking. Ministering from a place of recognized weakness, keeps pride in check and the Gospel centered on who it’s supposed to be on. In the modern church, like in the modern business world, everyone wants to know our strengths, yet in the Church of Jesus, he wants us to realize our weakness.
The church of Philadelphia was commended because they didn’t rely on their strength, whereas the church of Laodicea was chastised because they did. We need to seek God in our weakness, rather than our strengths, because he is glorified even more when we do so. Our strengths are gifts from God, but when we rely on them we no longer rely on God. This leads to our glory and not his. Yet, when we trust God to work in our weaknesses, there we see the glory of God more fully, and so do the people we are mistering to.
It’s hard and can take more time for fruit to be produced, but it is lasting fruit.
My challenge for you this week to is be weak. Go before God and acknowledge where you fall short in serving him. If you struggle with speaking to people, if you struggle with talking about the Gospel, if you struggle with anger, pride, hate, gossip, lust, drunkenness, the occult, bring those things before God. Don’t whitewash them, don’t push them to the side and cover them with what you do good. Take them before the throne of Jesus and lay them down. Confess weakness before the strength of the Almighty and seek his strength in defeating all that is not of him. And have no fear in his presence, the payment, the wrath that hovered over sin was paid for. So now in your weakness, God’s strength can be seen.
Let us be a people who recognize our weaknesses, working the the strength of our God, so that we may live in his Almighty power. Amen.
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