Jesus at the Door

I Stand at the Door and Knock – Window

Windows to Faith

Rev. 3:20

Series Slide

Good morning and welcome to worship on this Father’s Day Sunday!  I hope you take time to thank the men who have blessed you and helped you in this life.  For some, it is a father, others it is a grandfather… a father-in-law… an uncle, a neighbor, a Sunday school leader or teacher.  We have all been impacted by men in our lives, and today is the one day we set aside to say, “thank you.”  We don’t usually spend much time talking about Father’s Day, but I thought you might want to know a little history of the day we now mostly take for granted. 

Grace Clayton

On December 6, 1907, at exactly 10:28 AM, the Monongah Mine of the Fairmont Coal Company in Fairmont, West Virginia exploded, killing 362 miners.  It has been called “the worst mining accident in the history of the United States.”  The next year, Grace Golden Clayton, the daughter of a minister in the area, proposed that they set aside a day to honor all fathers, but especially the men who lost their lives in that explosion.  And so, Sunday, July 5, 1908, was the first Father’s Day church service known to have happened in the United States.

It didn’t pick up much traction outside of the region, and it wasn’t until the following year that  Sonora Smart Dodd worked to set aside a day in Washington State to honor fathers. 

Sonora Dodds

Mrs. Dodds was impressed by Anna Jarvis, who is credited with creating Mother’s Day.  Mrs. Dodd’s father, William Jackson Smart, was a decorated Civil War veteran, but his wife died giving birth to their 6thchild.  William then became a farmer and raised his children on his own. 

While sitting in worship on Mother’s Day in 1909, she came up with the idea to honor fathers.  Over the next few months, she convinced the Spokane Ministerial Alliance and the local YMCA to set aside a Sunday to honor fathers.  She selected June 5, since it was her father's birthday.  However, the ministers agreed, but wanted to separate Father’s Day from Mother’s Day by a few more weeks, and set the 3rd Sunday of June as Father’s Day.  The first official Father's Day was then set for June 19, 1910. 

News of the celebration and the work of Sonora spread across the nation and all the way to the White House.  Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Calvin Coolidge both attempted to set Father’s Day permanently on the calendar as a national recognition, but it wasn’t until 1966 when the good ol’ Texan, President Lyndon Baines Johnson, signed an executive order establishing the 3rdSunday of June as Father’s Day.  In 1972, Congress passed, and Richard M. Nixon signed into law, the bill establishing Father’s Day as a National Holiday.  An interesting aside, Sonora was 90 years old when the event she started was signed into law.  Two years later, she was honored at the World's Fair Expo in Spokane, Washington, for her work establishing the holiday.  She died peacefully 4 years later at the age of 96.

So, as Paul Harvey might say… “Now you know the rest of the story.”

But, we aren’t here to talk about Father’s Day, we are here to talk about Jesus… specifically the fact that Jesus stands at the door of your heart, knocking… asking to be let in… asking that you allow him to lead and guide you into the life you were created for.

Sermon Slide

You might remember that Dustin preached on this passage back when we were looking at the Seven Churches last Fall.  For those who missed the series, or forgot… this is one of the churches discussed in John’s Revelation, as he shares Jesus’ message to the churches.  Jesus saved his most striking and harsh words for this church at Laodicea.  He told them that they were neither hot nor cold, that he wished they were one or the other, but they are lukewarm, and because of that he will “spit”, “spew”, “vomit” them out of his mouth. 

There are a couple of misinterpretations of this passage that are common today.  Growing up, I was taught that this meant that Jesus would rather me not even know him or reject him outright (be cold spiritually) than to be lukewarm.  Well, nowhere else in scripture does this view stand.  In fact, Jesus meets us where we are… think of the Woman at the Well… Think of Nicodemus… Think about Zachaeus… Jesus is constantly meeting people where they are spiritually and drawing them into a deeper relationship with God the Father through him.

Another misinterpretation is that these verses, especially the verses read for us a moment ago, are evangelistic in nature. 

Let me ask you this… how many have received or given a Gospel Tract?  If you don’t know what a Gospel Tract is, it is a little pamphlet or folded document that shares the Gospel of Jesus Christ and gives directions on how to become a follower.  Has it ever been an effective tool to draw people to Christ? Yes.  Is it the most effective way to draw people to Christ? No.

When used as a guide for a conversation, it is great… there’s human interaction.

When you leave a gospel tract folded up to look like a $100 bill as a tip at a restaurant…Not a great method.

Well, a few of the more effective tracts, one developed by the Billy Graham Association and one by The Cru – or Campus Crusade for Christ called the 4 Spiritual Laws, use verse 20 as the climax of their evangelistic effort… that Jesus is knocking at the door of your heart, waiting for you to accept him as Lord and Savior.

Now, that is beautiful imagery.  And, I am not going to say that it is untrue.  I do believe God is pursuing us… That’s what Prevenient Grace is all about.  But that’s not what Jesus is talking about in this passage.

So, now that we know about Father’s Day… and we know what this passage is not about… let’s pause and ask God to open our hearts to better understand the message He has for us today.

<PRAYER>

He was 15 years old when the preacher stepped foot into this pulpit.  A revival had been planned, and the youth came most every night to hear what the different evangelists had to say.  But this night, something was different.  Pastor Sidney Roberts introduced the guest preacher for the evening, as he had each night, and the young preacher began to read his passage from Revelation.

During that sermon, the passage about Jesus knocking on the door was read, and a young 15-year-old Rankin Koch sat staring at this window.  Rankin was unsure where the voice was coming from, but he knew his answer… “Yes, Lord, I will go.”  You see, Rankin was already a Christian…  Evangelism really wasn’t the point of most revivals… Revivals were to revive the Christians in the pews to do and to be all that God had called them to be.

Yes, the hope was, just as with every presentation of the Gospel, that if there is one who does not know God, they will come to accept Jesus as their Savior… but true revivals were about reviving the church!  And that day, Rankin was revived, and many lives have been changed since that day, including my own.  It was decades later that Rankin would become my District Superintendent as I followed my call to ministry.

You see, we read this passage and think it’s for the Lost… to open the door of our heart and allow Jesus in.  But this letter… these words from “The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God” were words for the church… they were words for those who said, “Yes, I am a follower of Jesus.”  But there’s more to the story than that.

Jesus actual words were

Rev. 3:17

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.

The Church at Laodicea was wealthy… the city was wealthy.  Yes, they had a water problem… they didn’t have a viable water supply of their own and had to rely on the water being brought in by aqueduct from the cold mountain springs of Colosse…or the hot springs of Hierapolis.  The cold water was useful… it was refreshing and tasty (as long as it was cold), and the hot water was useful… it was like soaking in a mineral jacuzzi!  But by the time the cold, or the hot water was piped across the arid land…. It had become tepid and nasty.

Though they had a water problem, they did have other resources.  Laodicea was a crossroads between the East and the West of the day.  Because of that, they had become a banking center where financial transactions took place and people would exchange money from one side of the world to the other.

The sheep of the area produced a black wool that, when spun and woven, produced a soft fabric that was desirable and traded across the known world, from the East to the West.  And finally, the mineral-rich water and the arid region were used for medicinal purposes.  In fact, there was a medical school in the area known for teaching and treating eye ailments.

In other words, Laodicea was a financial center… a fashion center… and a medical center for the known world.  They were wealthy.

In fact, they were so wealthy that when a massive earthquake had damaged much of the region, they asked for no help.  Colosse and Hierapolis both accepted the financial assistance Rome offered, but Laodicea said, “No thank you, we can take care of ourselves.  We don’t need your help.”  The people and businesses of Laodicea came together and rebuilt their city without the outside intervention of Rome…. They were self-sufficient.

But does that sound like anyone you know?  Do you know a nation that might have a natural disaster devastate a city, and the leaders say, “We will take care of this… we don’t need another country's help… we got this ourselves.”

Can you think of a nation that is wealthy?  A nation that is a fashion center for the world? A nation that is a financial center for the world? A nation that is a medical center for the world?

Yes, it’s easy to talk about the US in this way… we are a wealthy nation that doesn’t need anything… we don’t even need God to help us, we got all we need without God… at least that’s what we think.

I know, it’s easy to talk about the US that way, but what about you and me… what do you need God for in your life?  We are a pull our boots up by the bootstrap kind of people.  We are self-sufficient.  We were raised to be the ones to help others, not to need help.

What am I saying?  This passage, this letter to Laodicea, could have been named the “Letter to the United States.”  It could have been named “the Letter to Corsicana.”  It could have been named “the Letter to Jay”… or Cindy… or John… or Jeff… or Jane… or Patti… or Don… I could go through and name every one of us in this room…

This letter is for you and me, because more often than we would like to admit, we tell God that we are good… we’ve got this… we’ve got our wealth… we’ve got our health… we’ve got our job…

When Jesus is saying, “you don’t realize how poor you really are… You don’t realize how unhealthy you really are… You don’t realize that there is so much more for you when you become who you were created to be.”

And so, Jesus says

Rev. 3:18-20

… 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.

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 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.

And so, we come back to the window.

Sermon slide

A variation of the painting that is hanging in the Chapel of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, England.  The original image has rusty hinges because the door hasn’t been opened in years… reflecting the self-sufficiency of the church. 

The original has no handle on the outside… because Jesus will never force his way in, we have to open our hearts to the Lord. 

The original has weeds and an apple in the foreground.  Weeds that represent the way the life of a follower can be choked out by the cares of the world, and the apple as a reference to the sin that separates us from God. 

The original has three sources of light depicted… a new day dawning, a halo around Jesus, the Light of the World… and a lamp in Jesus’ hand showing that in Christ there is no darkness.

Various other depictions of this passage have been passed down for hundreds of years, each with nuances.  In our window, we are reminded that Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Notice the crook in his hand… Jesus goes out after the sheep that wandered away…

In our window, there is a latch on the outside, but it is unlocked… Jesus has done his part; he has made a way for the door to be opened, but we have to be the ones to open the door.

Jesus is wearing green… symbolic of the abundant life he offers when we live the life he created us for… and white, the color of purity.

Rather than an apple in the foreground of the original painting – reminding us of the original sin overcome by Jesus, our window has a couple of lilies in the foreground – representing faith in God’s provision and the splendor of spiritual growth when we are in Christ.

Now, I ask you… What do YOU see when you look into the eyes of our Savior?

What will you do when you hear the savior knocking?

What is Jesus’ message to you, today, as you open your heart to him again and anew?