PARTNER ON PURPOSE
Love Letters • Sermon • Submitted
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· 5 viewsBecause we are object of Jesus unerned affection we are recipiants of His unmerited favor.
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I want to begin with an overview of the letter & then give you 2 observations I think will be useful for us as we seek to fulfill all that we are called to as a company of people
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7 “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.
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. 9 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. 10 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. 11 I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.
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A STRONG GOD & A WEAK CHURCH
A STRONG GOD & A WEAK CHURCH
& A WEAK CHURCH
& A WEAK CHURCH
This letter is filled with contrasting pictures
Jesus is strong & they are weak
They do work but have little power
Claim of allegiance to God (jews) but actually members of Satan’s team (synagogue)
Enduring trials provides an escape from trial
The largest & most important contrast is that of Jesus’ strength & sovereignty & the churches vulnerability.
If you have ever struggled with, or know someone who struggles with, the idea of Jesus/God being all powerful (sovereign) & exercising His will freely I need you to listen to this carefully
A STRONG GOD
A STRONG GOD
Jesus is revealed as being holy, true & sovereign.
Jesus is revealed as being holy, true & sovereign.
These 3 build off one another to give us not only a picture of Who Jesus is but to give us an assurance of our allegiance & reliance upon Him as God.
Holy meaning that He is pure but it’s more than that He is pure (without mixture). Holy means that He is not only pure but that He is not polluted by anything or corrupted by anyone.
We’ve heard it said that power corrupts & absolute power corrupts absolutely but this cannot be true of Jesus because He is utterly holy…utterly separated from all that could pollute or influence or distort the purity that is within His very Being.
His holiness means He exists outside the realm or possibility of corruption
True meaning that He is fully & finally all that He is; no deception or lie or falseness within Him.
We fear that perhaps He is holy but perhaps only partially or temporarily Holy.
We fear that maybe part of Him is holy but then another part is easily corruptible.
We fear that maybe He is fully holy now but in some future time He may very well become unholy.
None of this is possible because He is not only holy but also true…He is fully & finally all that He is.
Being true means He is not temporary or transient in His nature or being.
He is what He is, He has always been what He is & He will always be what He is.
We, as finite being need to progress, to grow & to change…He does not.
Key of David speaks of His ability to do all that He pleases & how no one is able to thwart His plan or purpose regardless of their attempts to do so
David is the Old Testament picture of the ultimate ruler, the righteous & just ruler who loving leads his people.
Now that we see The One upon Whom ultimate authority rest we are show just how vast His authority truly is
We need not fear or push back upon His ultimate authority because we now know Him to be holy & true
Were He not both holy & true this statement of unlimited, uncheckable & unstoppable authority may well prove to produce only fear & dread from us but because we see Him in the splendor of His authentic holiness we are free to stand in awe & bask in the radiance of all the He is & all that He does
Even when we do not seem to understand the details of His plan or are confused by the way He seems to excursive His authority we can still rest in our assurance that He is good
When we see Jesus like this, as holy & true, we rejoice over Him being given the key of David & ruling sovereignly over His creation.
Jesus rules not like we do but rather out of His holy & true nature (authentic holiness)
Do we really want anyone else in the drivers seat?
A WEAK CHURCH
A WEAK CHURCH
In contrast to Jesus seen as the strong God we have this church with little power, under persecution from false believers & unable to avoid the trial & suffering of the world they live in.
They are said to be faithful & their name implies a great love for one another
They appear to not be a very large church or at least not having much influence (power) over their city
They are an active, actual church
All the promises, statements & encouragement Jesus makes in this letter are directed at those who have been redeemed
This means He dwells among them
Jesus, The God of the Flame (He walks among the flames of lamps & hold the flames of stars)
Their name means “brotherly love”
Nothing negative & no corrections are given to this church
It stands as a picture of
Their motivation is their love for their true brother Jesus & their earthly brothers as well
The unity of love is the mark of the genuine church ()
THEY ARE KNOWN BY JESUS
THEY ARE KNOWN BY JESUS
Their weakness doesn’t stop Him from knowing them
They are not known because of who they are but rather because of Who He is
They are not known because their have earned His attention but because they are objects of His affection
Our known status is a testimony of Who He is
He knows us for His glory & our good
Jesus says He knows
Jesus says He knows
Their Work
They’re Weak
Their work was that they remained faithful to Jesus & that they had held onto His word (the gospel)
This means He dwells among them
Jesus, The God of the Flame (He walks among the flames of lamps & hold the flames of stars)
Their name means “brotherly love”
Their motivation is their love for their true brother Jesus & their earthly brothers as well
The unity of love is the mark of the genuine church ()
Their weakness doesn’t stop Him from knowing them
They have not denied the deity & lordship of Christ
They are not known because of who they are but rather because of Who He is
In this day to ascribe allegiance to Jesus was to deny allegiance to Caesar
They have endured persecution from false believers
Jews claimed not only the unique love of God but the exclusive love of God
Their weakness doesn’t stop Him from knowing them
They are not known because their have earned His attention but because they are objects of His affection
Their weakness doesn’t stop Him from knowing them
He seeks us for His glory & our good
Jesus says He knows
They are not known because of who they are but rather because of Who He is
Our known status is a testimony of Who He is
They are not known because they have earned His attention but because they are objects of His affection
Their Work
There is a subtle teaching right now that seems to imply that our weakness is what qualifies us to be know…the danger here is to make the emphasis be on our weakness & not on His strength
Our known status is a testimony of Who He is
He knows us for His glory & our good
It is not to puff us up to say that we are known by Him but rather to show that He is great
We will now see however that He knows us for His glory but also for our good
GOD’S GLORY OUR GOOD
GOD’S GLORY OUR GOOD
Their Weak
We see in this passage the beautiful way God has ordained our ultimate good to be found in His glory
He knows us for His glory & our good
They are an actual active church
We see in this passage the beautiful way God has ordained our good to be found in His glory
He is said to be the door keeper, to uniquely hold the ability to open & shut doors that no one can undo.
He dwells among them
Jesus, The God of the Flame (He walks among the flames of lamps & hold the flames of stars)
This church has little power & no prominence within their city.
Their name means “brotherly love”
Their motivation is their love for their true brother Jesus & their earthly brothers as well
In the face of their weakness Jesus blesses them with an open door.
We will discuss later the meaning of the door
They are favored by God; partnered with, graced by Him
The unity of love is the mark of the genuine church ()
Jesus does what only He can do but they seem to be the sole beneficiaries of this action
He does not say “I need you to do this or that for me so I’ve gone ahead & opened a door for you”
In reality when Jesus acts on our behalf it is clear to all who see the Jesus alone deserves the credit & therefor the glory/honor
John
They see that only Jesus could have accomplished such a task
Even when it is not clear to us
Beware of anyone who claims divine action for person glory…the glory belongs to God!
Because we are objects of Jesus’ unearned affection we are recipients of His unmerited favor (grace)
His grace is seen in His partnership with the church
We do what He calls us to do, namely to believe the gospel (hold to His word) & He does what we are unable (incapable) of doing namely open doors no man can shut
Whoever sets the orientation of the door is responsible for keeping it set
It doesn’t end with Him simply doing great things on their behalf…He actual invites them to share in Who He is!
He invites them to share in His glory as a means to demonstrate His nature & love
God has reconciled us to Himself not just Himself to us
Christmas is the downpayment on Easter
If His goal was simply to come to us His mission was accomplished upon His birth but if His goal was our coming to Him than His life, death, resurrection & ascension are key elements of what He has done for us
In bringing us to Himself He invites us to participate with Him in His ruling & reigning
Their enemies are made to bow before them
Joseph & his family ()
This is NOT their motivation but rather a demonstration of Jesus love & partnership with them
When the queen stands by the king the subjects bow before them
2 observations I feel will be helpful to us
SATAN’S SYNAGOGUE
SATAN’S SYNAGOGUE
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.
“Jews” refers to those who claim to be God’s people but here are seen to not be
“Jews” refers to those who claim to be God’s people but here are seen to not be
Name-Tags lie
Jesus declares that those who oppose His purpose are not simply opposing Him but are, in truth, aligning themselves with an unseen, conscious, intelligent, supernatural evil
Satan is the opposer of YHWH & the oppressor of YHWH’s people
To stand against God’s purpose is to stand with Satan
There is no 3rd option, to be against God is to stand with Satan
To be against God is to stand with Satan
They aren’t bad people, or misinformed or even just wrong…they are, in truth, the antithesis of what they claim to be
Claiming to be God’s but belonging to Satan
How scary to live your whole life believing you are one thing when in truth you are the opposite of that thing!
In an age of tolerance Jesus declares the truth
Jesus was not a “sweetie pie”
Jesus made a whip & cleared the court of the gentiles
30 acres!
Because He was making room for us gentiles to come & seek Him!
Jesus does not avoid the truth, does not make it palatable or less blunt but declares it as true
In His earthly ministry Jesus never seems to interested in avoiding controversy
They aren’t bad people, or misinformed or even just wrong…they are, in truth, the antithesis of what they claim to be
Claiming to be God’s but belonging to Satan
How scary to live your whole life believing you are one thing when in truth you are the opposite of that thing!
“Jews” refers to those who claim to be God’s people but here are seen to not be
Name-Tags lie
Jews believed they were not only uniquely loved by God but rather exclusively loved by God & this produced within them all kinds of vial & wicked things
Racism, segregation & exclusion are demonic
These are the works of Satan to keep God’s people from fulfilling God’s purpose through them
We need to understand that we are in danger of this same type of thinking if we forget our mission to not simply be recipients of God’s love to conduits of it!
THE OPEN DOOR
THE OPEN DOOR
What is the open door?
Open doors for effective ministry ()
Open doors of blessing (windows) ()
God seems to have blessings stored in heaven…for who?
God has blessings in heaven waiting for us but puts them in state of response
Open doors of heavenly invasion ()
Ascending & descending!
All these things are good & right. All of these things very well may be the door that Jesus is speaking of here but I believe it is much more & that these doors are subsequent (or subsidiary) to the real open door Jesus sets before His people.
Jesus is the door!
I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
We are promised here that we can enter by Jesus into Jesus so that we might be with Jesus!
The goal of Jesus is to restore a people unto Himself that He might demonstrate through them the splendor of His glory & the glory of His splendor.
His glory & our good!
Jesus offers to us, those who are the objects of His love, the invitation to find home in Him
Peace, Place & Purpose
REST IN JESUS!
The Jesus door leads to glory
The Jesus door leads to escape from trial
The Jesus door leads to crowns
FINAL