Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Revelation 3:7-13

Theme: The Lord of glory has a message for his church today: When He presents us with an open door, we'd better step through it before it is shut in our face.

As in all the letter to the Seven Churches of Asia, this letter is sent to the senior pastor of the Church at Philadelphia.

This church is one of only two of the seven that receives no condemnation from the Lord.

Like several of Philadelphia’s sister churches, this congregation was under severe threat from a powerful Jewish presence in the city.

Therefore, the names of Christ chosen here reflect that situation and reassure the beleaguered Philadelphia Christians that the Messiah is indeed on their side, not on the side of the synagogue of Satan.

The Christians at Philadelphia are a picture of the faithful church.

Christ looks at them and see three characteristics that need to mark every congregation of confessing believers — faithfulness to Christ and His Word, Dependance upon the Holy Spirit, and Steadfastness despite opposition and persecution.

I. THE CHURCH AT PHILADELPHIA HAD LITTLE POWER, BUT BIG INFLUENCE

1. the city of Philadelphia was a city set on a hill which defended the post road which ran through the Hermus Valley

2. it was named after its founder, Attalus Philadelphus

a. legend tells us that Attalus was so devoted to his older brother, Eumenes that the term Philadelphia become a synonymous for "brotherly love"

3. the Christians of Philadelphia adopted the city's name and its location as a model for their ministry

a. though it was a small congregation their presence was like a city set atop a hill — it could not be ignored

"You are the light of the world.

A city on a hill cannot be hidden.

15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.

Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.

16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."

(Matthew 5:14-16, NIV)

b. their ministry was the incarnation of the city's name

1) they were full of brotherly love

4. here was a church that, according to verse eight had little strength yet it was powerful in its influence

a. what this means is that the church was small, poor and insignificant by the world’s standards

1) but it was a church that impacted its community for Christ

b. when archeologists excavated the old city of Philadelphia Christian symbols were found throughout the city as were the ruins of 25 house churches

A. JESUS CHRIST WAS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH AT PHILADELPHIA

"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."

(Revelation 3:7, NIV)

1. in all the other letters, our Lord uses symbols to describe himself that come from the vision John had of him, recorded in Chapter 1

a. in this letter, however, Jesus makes no reference to that vision

b. he uses other titles to describe himself telling them plainly who he is and what he does

2. evidently the church at Philadelphia, like the church at Smyrna, was being persecuted by the Jews of the community

a. like at Smyrna, Jesus once again refers to the Jews in Philadelphia as synagogue of Satan

1) this synagogue of Satan was a group of unbelieving Jews who were persecuting Christians

2) the majority of the persecution the New Testament church faced came from the Jewish community

a) even most of the Roman persecution was an effort to appease the Jewish authorities

b. these groups were guilty of slandering the church in Smyrna and opposing the church in Philadelphia in some way

1) the church's message that Jesus Christ was "the way, the truth and the life" did not set well with members of the Jewish Synagogue who believed that Jesus was a blasphemer and justly executed by their brothers in Jerusalem

2) John writes that they are liars because by rejecting the Jewish Messiah, they have renounced their status as “true” Jews, and that is why Jesus calls them “liars”

c.

Jesus assures His church that he truly is the One spoken of in the Scriptures

3. Jesus is the Holy One

a. the term "Holy One" was a phrase used by the Jews to designate the Lord's Anointed One — that is, Messiah

"In that day men will look to their Maker and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel."

(Isaiah 17:7, NIV)

b.

Jesus Christ is the Holy One

1) this means he is totally righteous — a man in every respect, but a man who never sinned, so that he could become sin for us on the cross of Calvary

a) His character is without flaw or blemish

2) he is totally God — the express image of the Heavenly Father — to know Jesus is to know God

4. Jesus is the True One

a. the word true in this passage refers to someone or something that is genuine, authentic, and real

ILLUS In 1872 Elijah McCoy invented an automatic lubricator for oiling the steam engines of locomotives and ships.

Lubricators were a boon for railroads, as they enabled trains to run faster and more profitably with less need to stop for lubrication and maintenance.

Similar automatic oilers had been invented, but none of them worked as well as Elijah’s.

Over time train engineers came to trust in Elijah’s oiling system so much that when assigned an Engine the would ask, “Is it fitted with the real McCoy oiler.”

In time, the idiom the real McCoy came to refer to something genuine, or authentic.

b. when John describes Jesus as the True One, he is calling Jesus the real McCoy, the one, and only, real, and genuine Savior of the world

1) all other claimants are fakes and charlatans

5. Jesus is the Holy One, and the True One who "holds the keys of David"

a. the background for this title is found in Isaiah 22:22

1) a man named Eliakim received the key of the chief steward of the King David’s household

2) as the representative of the king, Eliakim was authorized to exercise full administrative authority in the king's name

3) it was Eliakim who would decide who could or could not have access to the king

b. the point that Jesus is making is that His will cannot be opposed

1) He governs the events of history on earth

2) He will open some doors; he will close other doors

a) what he opens no one can shut, what he shuts, no one can open

b) no human power can contravene what he determines

4) it is Jesus, not religious ritual, or right living who gives us access to the kingdom

6. the Holy One is the True One who"holds the key of David was the head of the church at Philadelphia

a. Jesus remains the head of his church — it is an authority he has not abdicated ... not to Pope, and not to Pastor

B. THE CHURCH AT PHILADELPHIA WAS AN EVANGELISTIC CONGREGATION

1. why is this small, seemingly unimportant church, so praised by its Lord?

a. in these seven verses there is not even a hint of disappointment or condemnation

“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."

(Revelation 3:8, NIV)

ILLUS.

The Apostle Paul uses this analogy about himself.

On his second missionary journey he tried to go into the province of Asia to preach the gospel but was forbidden by the Holy Spirit; it was a shut door.

Then he tried to go into Bithynia, on the southern shore of the Black Sea, but was not allowed of the Lord -- another shut door.

But when he came to Troas he had a vision of a man from Macedonia, and he learned that the Lord had opened a door for him into Europe.

Paul's commitment to enter that open door has changed the history of the whole Western world, affecting all of civilization since that time.

b. we are not given any details about their deeds but we can probably assume what some of them were

1) Jesus looks at this church and knows the changes which have been wrought in the hearts of individuals whom have had the gospel preached unto them

2) he knows of the shattered and broken lives that they have helped put back together

3) he knows of those who's lives were characterized by hate, but who are now full of love

2. Jesus praises this church because they were an evangelistic congregation

a. their priority was winning people to Jesus Christ!

b. rare is the church that grows primarily by reaching the lost and unchurched

c. most of us — even the mega-churches — grow primarily by trading sheep and goats

3. their evangelistic enthusiasm is so profound that Jesus has set before them an door of opportunity to claim their town and their region for Christ

v. 8 ". . .

See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut."

ILLUS.

It is sad when God opens doors, and we fail to step through them.