Week 7 FOMO: Open Doors & Missed Opportunities

WEEK 7 FOMO: Open Doors & Missed Opportunities (Philadelphia)

STOP PICKING LOCKS

(Revelation 3:7-13)

I. INTRODUCTION & THE SETUP

Welcome to Cross Youth! We are nearing the finish line of our series!

The May 1st Collective:

 In just a few weeks, on May 1st, all of our campuses are coming together for one massive Collective Night where Pastor Jaser is going to wrap up this entire series. You do not want to miss it.

The Series Recap: 

But tonight, we are in Week 7 of FOMO. We are changing the Fear Of Missing Out to Faith Over My Opinions.

Tonight, I am talking to the students in the room who are running on empty. You are trying to stand up for your faith, but you are exhausted.

The Big Idea: 

Before we go any further, I want you to clock this thought into your mind for the rest of the night: 

Culture can only cancel you if you try to force your way through their locked doors of opportunity. But culture can never cancel an opportunity given to you by God. Only you can cancel that. Stop picking locks.

The Scripture Approach:

 Keep that in mind as we look at the letter to the church in Philadelphia.

Tonight, we are going to read this letter a little differently.

I am going to read the text, but I’m going to pause as we go to decode the symbolism, so you can understand exactly what Jesus is saying.

II. THE SCRIPTURE READING & SYMBOLISM BREAKDOWN

Let's look at verse 7.

Revelation 3:7  

Revelation 3:7 CSB

“Write to the angel of the church in Philadelphia: Thus says the Holy One, the true one, the one who has the key of David, who opens and no one will close, and who closes and no one opens:

Symbol 1:

“The True One” 

In Greek, the word for "true" used here means genuine or authentic.

Jesus is fact-checking the culture. He is saying, "Culture thinks they have the real truth. But they are fake. I am the only authentic truth."

Symbol 2:

“The Key of David” 

In the ancient world, whoever held the king's key had absolute authority over who got into the kingdom.

Jesus is saying, "Culture thinks they hold the keys to your success.

They don't. I, Jesus, hold the Master Key."

Revelation 3:8  

Revelation 3:8 CSB

I know your works. Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.

Symbol 3:

“Little Power” 

Jesus isn't insulting their spiritual authority. He is validating their exhaustion.

He is saying, "I know you are exhausted. I know you are running on empty. But you haven't caved."

Revelation 3:9

Revelation 3:9 CSB

Note this: I will make those from the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews and are not, but are lying—I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know that I have loved you.

Symbol 4:

“The Synagogue of Satan”

 This was the religious elite. They had literally excommunicated the Christians and locked the doors on them, claiming they were the "true" people of God.

Jesus says, "They are lying. And one day, I will publicly vindicate you right in front of them."

Revelation 3:10-13

Revelation 3:10–13 CSB

Because you have kept my command to endure, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one takes your crown. “The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never go out again. 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 out of heaven from my God—and my new name. “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.

Symbol 5:

“The Pillar & The Name” Philadelphia was a city traumatized by a massive earthquake.

Buildings constantly collapsed, and the people lived in fear. Whenever a Roman Emperor bailed them out financially, the city would rename themselves after him.

The Promise:

 Jesus says, "I will make you an unshakeable pillar so you never have to live in fear again. And you don't need a politician's name to protect you; I am stamping My eternal name on you."

III. THE PHILADELPHIA REALITY

The Reality of Standing Firm:

 Now that we understand the symbols, let’s look at what this church was actually dealing with.

The Lockout:

 The Christians in Philadelphia were a tiny minority. The Jewish leaders rejected Jesus as a false messiah.

Because the Christians followed Jesus, the synagogue leaders formally excommunicated them.

The Original Cancel Culture:

 They literally shut the wooden doors of the synagogue in the Christians' faces.

They told them: "We are the true people of God, we hold the authority of who gets into God's house, and you are locked out."

The Missed Opportunity: 

To be kicked out meant losing your social standing. You lost your business connections.

You became an outcast. It looked like they had missed their opportunity for success.

Running on Fumes: 

They were exhausted. They were broke. They had "little power." But they refused to compromise.

IV. THE MODERN CULTURAL PARALLEL: REDEFINING LOVE

Our Reality Today:

 In modern Western culture, we don't have a literal synagogue shutting its wooden doors on us. But we have something very similar.

The Door of Culture:

 We have a culture that threatens to shut the doors of opportunity on us if we don't bow to their rules.

The Redefinition of Words:

 In Philadelphia, the elite claimed they had the "true" religion. In America today, culture claims they have the "true" definition of words.

The Big Word:

 And the biggest word culture has redefined is LOVE.

Culture's Definition:

 Culture says that love equals 100% affirmation and acceptance. They say, "If you don't affirm everything I do, if you don't celebrate my choices, then you don't love me. You are hateful."

The Biblical Definition:

 But that is not what love is in God's eyes. Biblical love is choosing the highest, holiest good for another person, even if it requires sacrifice. Love is choosing God's way for someone over your own personal preference.

The Excommunication:

 But here is the catch. If you hold onto the Biblical definition of love... if you refuse to affirm what God calls sin... culture will excommunicate you.

The Threat:

 They will lock you out of the group chat. They will lock you out of the promotion. They will label you an outsider. Culture says, "Leave your biblical faith at the door, affirm our definitions, or miss your opportunity."

V. THE CULTURAL OPINION: THE COMFORTABLE COMPROMISE

Culture's Lie: 

Because of this threat of excommunication, culture has sold you an exhausting opinion.

Culture says: "If you want to be successful, if you want favor, if you want opportunities... you have to leave your Christianity private."

The Music Industry Example: 

This lie has creeped into things like the Christian music industry.

Culture says, "If you want a hit song, you have to do things our way. Water it down. Make it vague."

The Seeker-Friendly Trap: 

But it’s not just the music industry. This lie has crept right into the pulpit.

It has created "seeker-friendly" churches. You see it in places like Joel Osteen's church or Elevation.

The Palatable Gospel:

 The culture told the church, "If your services don't look a certain way—if they aren't palatable and comfortable—people won't want to know your God."

So they bought the lie to keep their "opportunities."

The Kiddie Pool: 

They water down the Gospel just to get people in the door. They only let their congregation wade in the kiddie pool. They want to make it easy.

The Rootless Believer: 

But here is the tragic reality: Because they only stay in the kiddie pool, they never go deep. And because they never go deep, they never grow roots.

Blown Away:

 And when a believer has no roots, it is incredibly easy for culture to just pluck them up and blow them away with the slightest breeze of opposition!

VI. PUBLIC VINDICATION & THE MASTER KEY

The Jesus Fact-Check: 

I know it is exhausting to stand your ground and plant deep roots.

But remember how Jesus introduced Himself? He said, "I am the TRUE One."

Who Defines Truth?: 

Culture does not define what love is. Jesus does.

Culture does not define what truth is. Jesus does.

The VIP Table: 

And when culture shuts a door in your face because you stood up for the True One... Jesus steps in. Look back at verse 9. 

"I will make them come and bow down at your feet..."

The Old Testament Echo: Jesus is quoting Isaiah 60, and He is repeating the promise of Psalm 23!

Psalm 23:5

Psalm 23:5 CSB

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

The Public Favor: 

David was an outcast running for his life.

But God set up a VIP banquet table for David and forced the enemies who tried to ruin him to stand there and watch God bless him!

Don't Compromise for a Seat: 

Hear me on this: You do not need to water down your faith to get a seat at culture's table.

If you stand firm, God will prepare His own VIP table for you, right in front of the culture that rejected you!

The Ultimate Provider:

 Jesus holds the Master Key. And when He opens a door for your life, no algorithm, no cancel culture, and no hater can ever close it.

VII. THE CHOICE BEFORE PRAYER & D-GROUP REFLECTION

The Exhaustion: 

I know there are students in this room who are running on empty. You are trying to be genuine. You are trying to hold onto the "True One." But you feel like you have "little power."

The Invitation: 

I am not here to tell you what to do tonight. Jesus never forced anyone through a door; He always offered them a choice. And tonight, The choice is yours.

Option 1:

The Bottomless Pit: You can keep spending all your energy trying to pick the lock. You can keep struggling against culture, trying to figure out exactly how the pins fall to force your way into what you think is an opportunity... only to walk through it and realize it is a bottomless pit.

Satan's Trap: Later on in Revelation, Scripture talks about a bottomless pit that Satan and his angels are going to be thrown into. And listen to me—that is the exact same pit Satan wants you to fall into! He wants you to experience exactly what God is going to do to him.

Option 2:

The Master Key: Or, you can choose option two.

You can accept the locked door in front of you. You can trust that God locked it to protect you from the pit.

And instead of picking locks, you can find the door that the Key of David has already opened.

Save Your Energy:

Save your energy. Stop picking locks.

Stop fighting to fit in.

It is not your fight to begin with!

The Choice Before Prayer: 

In just a moment, I am going to pray over us. But I want you to make your choice right now.

You can keep your FOMO and keep picking locks, or you can hand your exhaustion over to Jesus and accept His open door.

D-Group Challenge: 

As we pray and dismiss to our Discipleship Groups tonight, I want you to get real with your D-Group leaders.

The Discussion: 

Talk about the situations in your life that feel like a missed opportunity.

Talk about the times doors were closed in your face and exactly how that made you feel.

Faith Over Feelings: 

It is time to work through those feelings.

We must to stop basing our decisions on our emotions, and start leaning into our faith.

STOP PICKING THE LOCK:

Culture's FOMO opinion says keeping silent and compromising is the only way to succeed.

But tonight, my prayer is we all choose Faith in God's Word over the opinions of culture.

STOP PICKING THE LOCK AND LET JESUS CLOCK THE LOCK