Philadelphia - A Small but Mighty Church

Today, we come to the 6th church of the 7 churches of Asia Minor.

We are in the 3 beginning chapters of Revelation.

Revelation starts with a description of Christ, and then 7 letters to 7 churches.

These letters were written to real churches.

They were in real locations.

They had real people.

They had real problems.

It’s so interesting that these letters are not random.

The contents of each letter have unique language that is fitting to each city and the Christians within them.

This week we find ourselves in , and we look at the church of Philadelphia.

Let’s read this now.

Read :7-13.

In order to understand Christ’s unique words to this church we need to understand a little about Philadelphia.

The churches are Asia Minor are in a postal route.

John, begins on Patmos, and records Christ’s words.

It is sent from Patmos to Ephesus, on to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira.

This postal route is shaped in a semi-circular shape.

From Thyatira, it moved down south to Sardis, and then to where we arrive today, Philadelphia.

This was a city that was built sometime between 197 and 160bc.

It was built during the reign of Eumenes, a king in Pergamum.

He loved his brother, and it was named to reflect that love, Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love.

The region near Philadelphia was known for its wine.

They had very fertile soil.

They were on the edge of what has been nicknamed “The burned land”.

It was land that had volcanic rock mixed in with the soil that made it very fertile.

The problem with having volcanic rock is that the region was and has been prone to earthquakes.

And it still is today, for example in 1999, there was an earthquake that decimated the region.

It was a 7.6 magnitude earthquake that killed more than 17,000 people and left bout 45,000 people injured.

That was in 1999.

In 17ad, there was a major earth that wiped out the area.

To the north it destroyed Sardis.

It was just as destructive in Philadelphia.

The region had so many earthquakes and aftershocks that people were afraid to enter the town.

Their buildings were falling apart.

They were afraid that their shaky buildings were going to fall on them.

So many people lived outside the town in huts.

At the slightest tremor, they were leaving their buildings and running for the fields.

When the earthquake of 17ad hit Philadelphia, the Roman Emperor at the time, gave them 5 years of no taxes.

This 5 year period of time allowed for them to rebuild and reestablish themselves.

The people of Philadelphia were so thankful that they changed the name of the town from Philadelphia to Neocaesarea, which means the New City of Caesar.

Years later they changed their name again to Flavia, the name of the Emperor’s family who succeeded Nero.

Each of these details, the earthquakes, the shaky ground, the names will come in handy later.

That’s what I mean when I say these letters were personal and unique.

Within this town was a small church.

This little church was persecuted.

Just as in other towns, there was a strong Jewish population, and these Jews brought pressure upon the Christians in the town.

Despite the size of the church and the pressure upon the church, Jesus commends them.

He has nothing bad to say about them.

No rebuke.

No warning.

We’ve seen in the other churches that Jesus is willing to reveal sin and error.

But that doesn’t happen with Philadelphia.

Instead, He gives them compliments and plenty of promises.

I think this is appropriate for us.

We are a small church.

And being a church, we should be students of the church.

This morning we will look at , and see the 4 qualities of a small but mighty church, so that we would be a church that is commended by Christ.

As we work through our text, we will ask ourselves 4 questions.

These are 4 questions about what a little church believes, how a little church ministers, what a little church hopes in, and is promised.

And hopefully, we line up to what Christ commends them for.

And where we differ, may He correct us.

First, What does a little church believe about Christ?

Like the other letters, Jesus begins His letter to Philadelphia by identifying Himself.

He says that He is the Holy one, the true one, and that He has the key of David.

Being Holy and True is something that is unique to God.

You and I are not naturally holy.

In Christ, we are called holy, and we are called saints.

But this isn’t something that comes naturally to us.

describes our natural condition, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

We aren’t naturally in that position of holiness.

Being holy is something that is given to us.

We are made holy.

We are adopted.

But not so with Jesus.

He was born without sin.

He was born without the inclination or desire to sin.

He was born without inherited sin.

He is holy because of His nature, because of who He is.

He is holy in a way that only God can be holy.

says, “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.”

That’s the kind of holiness that Jesus has.

He is holy in a way that deserves our attention, our worship and our trust.

He is the true one.

This is about His quality.

Never does He lie.

One of the attributes of God is that His will is perfect, and so perfect, that He doesn’t change His mind.

says, “And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”

This applies to God the Father, and it applies to God the Son.

He can be trusted.

This is also why we believe every word of Scripture.

Because it is His word.

If Jesus cannot be trusted, than neither can His Word.

And if His Word cannot be trusted, then neither can Jesus.

So He introduces Himself as Holy and True.

He is not shying away from His title.

He wants you to know that He is divine, the second member of the Trinity.

Worthy of all worship.

This is a title of divinity, of deity.

This is how He introduces Himself.

A little church believes in a big God, in a big Jesus.

Because the bigger we understand Jesus to be, the bigger we understand God to be, the more we obey Him.

And conversely, the smaller you understand God to be, the less you fear Him and more obedience becomes optional.

Jesus also says that He has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

What is a key? A key is authority.

It unlocks doors.

It locks doors.

It allows people from going in, and stops people from going out.

When Amanda and I worked at Dairy Queen, if you were important you received “the keys”.

The keys were able to open up the office in the back.

Which that was okay.

But the real power of the key was that you were able to open the registers.

This meant that your co-workers needed you.

If a customer was shorted a quarter, you needed a key to open the register.

If someone needed a refund, you had to find someone with “the keys”.

The keys brought you power and authority over your co-workers, they needed you.

Because they had the power.

Keys at Dairy Queen meant you had the power.

Jesus has the key.

But not just any key.

He has the key of David.

Back in the Old Testament, God promised David a son.

The promise was that this Son would rule over God’s people forever.

David thought that this son was Solomon.

But King Solomon, the wise king, the one who built the temple … he died.

And it wasn’t Solomon’s son, because he was a proud and wicked man.

The nation split when he became king.

And it wasn’t any of the other descendants of David.

When you read the Old Testament and you read:

Kings and Chronicles.

And you read of king after king after king.

What you see is that none of these kings were the promised Son.

None of them had the Key of David.

At least not until Jesus.

Here comes Jesus.

He is the Son of David.

He is that promised Son who would fulfill the covenant, the promise made to David in the past.

And He has the key.

He has authority.

He opens and He shuts.

He shuts and He opens.

This speaks of His ability as well as His will.

He is worthy of worship.

He is to be trusted in.

describes this day that Jesus was teaching.

He’d said some difficult things.

He’d talked about predestination and election.

He talked about eternal security.

He was talking about these things before John Calvin was alive.

Jesus was the original Calvinist.

And bunch of those who followed Him left.

They said it was too hard of a teaching.

Jesus then turned to His disciples and asked them what they thought.

Simon Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

That’s how Jesus begins His letter to Philadelphia affirming what every believer must affirm:

That Jesus is Holy.

That He is true.

That He is the Messiah.

This means He is to be listened to.

A small church believes big things about Jesus.

When we understand the bigness of Christ, then we unashamedly love His Gospel.

This raises our next question, how does a little church minister?

I think we should like the church of Philadelphia.

They were a small church.

They were the underdogs in their culture.

They were a small church.

Verse 8 Jesus says, “I know that you have but little power ...”

Some people have taken that to be an insult.

Like, “Shame on them for being so weak.”

That is talking about their size.

They weren’t bursting at the seems.

And yet they had a mighty ministry.

This was a ministry blessed by God.

He says, “Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.”

When you see the word “behold” it should get your attention.

Jesus has given them an open door, which no one can shut.

The language of a door here is that of ministry.

Listen to how it is referred in other passages.

says that God had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

Paul talks about staying in Ephesus because there was a wide door for effective work.

Paul said that the Lord had opened a door for him for ministry.

, Paul asks for prayer that the Lord would open a door for the word , to declare the mystery of Christ.

Door in this context means an opportunity for ministry.

Jesus had given Philadelphia a door, a ministry that no one can stop.

They are a small church.

Not many people go there.

But the Lord sovereignly gave them a ministry, that cannot be stopped.

This means the synagogues that have thrown them out cannot stop them.

The Roman government that has put temples to the Emperor in their towns and persecutes them cannot stop them.

This is a door, a ministry, that cannot be stopped.

Jesus entrusts this small church, with an open door, with a big ministry.

They may be small in number, but they are big in spiritual power.

This is something that we need to pay attention to.

Because we are a small church.

I love our church.

I love you guys.

But sometimes theres a bit of a disappointment in being a small church.

We look to other churches and we wonder, “what do they have that we don’t.”

They have lots of programs.

They have lots of groups.

They have lots of events.

What can we do to be like them?

Here is Philadelphia.

They are a small church.

They have a big ministry.

And what is their ministry?

What do they have that is so groundbreaking?

Look at the end of verse 8, “and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”

That right there is the primary ministry of the church, to hold God’s Word.

Martin Luther once said, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God.”

We must be held captive to the Word of God.

And see our job as that of proclaiming it to the culture around us.

And I believe that this same ministry is for us.

Christ is never going to say, “Southwest Christian Church stop preaching the Gospel.”

We must begin begin with knowing who Jesus is.

We must have a firm grip on the Gospel.

But He will say, “Hold to my word.”

says, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Do you believe that?

Do you believe that there really is no one else?

says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, ...”

How does a little church minister?

We must begin begin with knowing who Jesus is.

We must have a firm grip on the Gospel.

says, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Do you believe that?

Do you believe that there really is no one else?

says, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, ...”

How do we minister?

By holding to the truth and saying it.

We have real needs.

I’d love to have more people here.

At congregational meetings and in private conversations the question is asked, “How do we get more people here?”

We don’t need bounce houses, or fancy concerts.

We don’t need mailers.

We don’t even need a reputation of community service.

What we need is the Gospel.

We need to be a small church that is mighty with the Gospel.

Holding to it.

Not compromising or denying it.

And collectively, each of us taking advantage of that door of ministry that is set before.

To go and make disciples wherever you are.

That’s our ministry.

In fact the more secular our culture goes … the more our message stands out.

May we become evangelistic.

May we become disciple makers.

Not just on GTTV Saturdays.

But all the time.

Let’s carry Gospel tracts.

Let’s always be ready to explain the faith.

Because we have a big ministry.

We ask our third question, What does a little church hope in?

They were a little church with a big ministry.

Jesus said their ministry was like an open door.

Just because Jesus granted them this ministry, did not mean it was an easy ministry.

He doesn’t address any sins.

Life was hard.

They would suffer.

He doesn’t give them a warning.

They would face persecution.

He compliments them on their works.

He also knows their weakness … they have but little power.

People would die.

In Rome entire families would be fed to the lions in the Coliseum.

They suffered economically.

They suffered politically.

They suffered socially.

The Jews rejected Christ as their Messiah, and they were actively opposed to the Gospel.

They were some of the biggest opponents to the Christians.

Read through Acts.

It wasn’t Rome that was the biggest threat.

It was the Pharisees, the high priest, the priests.

Look at Jesus description of the Jews in the region.

He called them the synagogue of Satan.

He said they weren’t real Jews, because they did not know Him.

And through the years it has been dangerous to be a Christian.

They are a small church.

The world is opposed to what Scripture says.

They are outnumbered by the culture.

There is an attack upon truth.

You with children, worry about your kids.

You see your kids being attacked by the culture, and you wonder how things can get better.

How are we to respond? What is our hope?

Look at verse 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.”

First our hope is not in us.

We aren’t to arm ourselves and go on the offensive.

We aren’t to use force to coerce the world to change.

But we do have hope, and our hope is in Christ.

Jesus sees the sin of those persecuting His church.

“Behold ...”

There’s that word to tell us something to pay attention to.

“… behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.”

There is evil in the world, but Jesus is s conquering king.

We don’t change the world, but He does.

“I will make them come ...”

There is evil in the world, and our hope is that Jesus will come and make things right.

says that Jesus will come with his mighty angels in flaming fire and inflict vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the Gospel.

says that vengeance belongs to God.

describes the throne room of God, and in this room are martyrs.

Those who have suffered and died for the faith.

In revelation 6:10 they ask, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

And the answer was, “Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.”

Jesus

Our hope is that Jesus is just and He will judge the world.

And not only will He bring judgment, but He will elevate His church.

They will come and they will fall down at the feet of the saints.

They acknowledge their error.

Jesus then describes What does a little church hold to?

They acknowledge the church.

They acknowledge Christ.

They will come not to repent, but they will come as conquered foes.

The day is coming, when every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord.

“I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.”

Philadelphia was a little church, that was oppressed by those around them.

And the day will come when their opponents will come to the feet of the church and realize how wrong they were.

The language of Revelation is that we are conquerors in Christ Jesus.

Look at the first half of verse 10, “Because you have kept my word about patient endurance ...”

The end of every one of these letters ends with “The one who conquers ...”

We’ve seen that Christ is going to return, and when He returns, we will rule with Him.

The grace of God is that the victory of Jesus is also the victory of the church.

Christ loves the Church.

The church are those that He died for.

You cannot be a Christian and not be a part of the church.

Christ loves the church.

If you love Christ … then you love the church.

Lastly, What does a little church have promised?

At the end of this letter, Jesus gives 4 promises.

Look at verse 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.”

To those who endure, who hold to Christ, Jesus gives 4 promises.

First there is safety from the Tribulation.

He says, “I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.”

Let’s talk about some eschatology for a moment, these are things that are yet to happen.

He says that there is an hour of trial, that is coming on the whole world.

Later on in Revelation it talks about what is known as the Tribulation.

This is a 7 year period of time of global calamity.

It’s unmistakable.

Water turning to blood.

Death.

Disease.

Darkness.

All the scary bad stuff that you think of in Revelation, happens during this 7 year period.

I think the Tribulation is what Jesus is talking about here in chapter 3.

Let me tell you why I think this is the Tribulation.

He says that there is an hour of trial, and its coming on the whole world.

Not just a small region.

For example, in Smyrna, there was talk of 10 days of suffering.

That was 10 literal days of intense persecution.

It was limited to one area.

Here, it’s upon the whole world.

It cannot be missed.

The global scale of it is reemphasized, it’s said twice for clarification purposes.

It comes upon the whole world.

Reemphasized by saying that this hour of trial comes upon “those who dwell on the earth”

That phrase, “those who dwell on the earth”, is used elsewhere in Revelation, and it means all those who are enemies of Christ.

It’s all those who are oppo

Again, it’s not just for those in Philadelphia, or even Asia Minor.

It’s for earth dwellers.

Whatever is coming is going to affect the whole world.

Also notice that this period of suffering is for a period of time.

He says an hour.

It’s a fixed amount of time.

It has a beginning and it has an end.

It occurs within history, and then history continues.

And Jesus says, “I will keep you from the hour of trial”

How does some kind of global suffering, hit the earth and all those in the earth, without affecting believers?

How does Jesus keep it from us?

By a rapture.

By sucking us up.

Taking us out of the world.

There will come a day when Christ will remove His church from the earth - a rapture.

This rapture will occur before the Tribulation.

Why before?

Because He’s keeping us from it.

This is what we would call a pretribulational rapture.

It comes pre - before - the tribulation.

Some people might ask, why can’t this rapture come after the tribulation?

And there are people who think that.

They believe in a post-tribulational rapture

Because Jesus doesn’t say, “I will keep you through the hour of trial”.

He says, “I will keep you from it.

And the language is specific.

This is a promise, this is a comfort.

Someone might say, “Well does it matter? There are lots of arguments about this, and lots of different ideas, how can anyone be sure?”

Yes, there are lots of arguments about this, and lots of different ideas.

I’ve said that before.

But let’s be clear about this, it’s a promise from Christ.

When is it okay to ever doubt a promise from Christ.

We are slaves of Scripture.

In Christ’s introduction, Jesus said He is holy and true.

It’s easy to believe someone when whatever they say is easy to believe.

If I said, I was going to jump 3 inches off the ground, I wouldn’t need to make some big introductory statement saying, “Church, I am true, and you can believe me, and I’m going to jump 3 inches of the ground.”

But if the promise is bigger, stranger, more impossible, then you need a big preamble, “I am the holy one, and the true one.”

“And I will keep you from the hour of trial ...”

He comforts and encourages the Philadelphian Christians by saying He will keep them from this hour.

That’s a promise to the church.

That doesn’t mean que sera, sera, and let the world fall apart while you watch it from your lazy boy.

We may see the warning signs on the horizon of things getting very bad.

But you don’t have to worry.

That doesn’t mean que sera, sera, and let the world fall apart while you watch it from your lazy boy.

Your job is to take that open door that the Lord has put before you.

Your job is to take that open door that the Lord has put before you.

That ministry of holding to His word and preaching it.

You job is do what He has assigned you, and rest in His promises that He will return.

The second promise is that Jesus is coming soon.

Notice that in verse 11, He says, “I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.”

In other passages, when He has said, “I am coming soon” that’s been a warning.

“I’m coming soon, don’t let me catch you sleeping.”

In the previous passage, with Sardis, Jesus implies his sudden return as that like a thief.

And it’s one of judgment.

Here in Philadelphia His sudden return is a good thing.

This can happen at anytime.

I mentioned a 7 year tribulation.

It should scare you.

That is 7 sequential years.

At the end of the 7 years, Christ will establish His kingdom.

Every generation

But that won’t happen until those 7 years, that Tribulation has happened.

The second promise is that Jesus is coming soon.

I know that it has been almost 2000 years since Christ came, but this rapture can happen at anytime.

This rapture can happen at anytime.

It can happen today.

There is nothing stopping Christ from taking us today, and sparing us from what is coming.

It could happen tomorrow.

It could happen in a week.

We don’t know when, but when it happens, it kicks off a 7 year clock so to speak.

What does this mean to us?

It means we should look forward to Christ returning.

It really can happen at anytime.

Look forward to it.

He says, “Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.”

This crown was a crown of twigs and branches.

It was placed upon the victor of an olympic game.

You could think about it as a gold medal.

The winner of an olympic event receives a gold medal.

Do you pay attention to current olympics at all?

It’s becoming pretty common, especially with Russian athletes to win an event, let’s say in Track and Field, and then later on they test positive for a human growth hormone, think steroids.

That’s cheating.

They compete.

They win.

They get the medal.

And then they’re caught cheating.

And the medal is taken from them.

They’re stripped of their prize.

They lose their prize.

They lose their crown.

Here we are looking forward to the return of Christ.

He is calling for us to endure.

Because you don’t want to have your crown taken from you.

You don’t want to be found out to be a cheater.

So until the day when Christ returns and takes us from what’s coming, we endure.

The third promise that Christ gives is found in verse 12, “The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.”

Philadelphia was a place where there were lots of earthquakes.

Their buildings were collapsing.

People were living outside of town, in shacks, because they were afraid of having a wall fall over on them.

They would prop up their shacks with pieces of wood, whatever kept them from falling over.

They understood the value of a solid pillar that wouldn’t collapse when the world felt like it was.

The ruins of Philadelphia have these gigantic pillars that remain.

They are massive.

They aren’t those normal round, circular, white pillars that you are used to when you think of the ancient world.

These are huge structures that somehow survived the earthquakes and time.

Those who are in Christ, are a pillar.

They stand firm.

Though the world around us seems to be falling away, we have a hope, we have a confidence.

And we know that we will be with Him into eternity.

The Philadelphians would feel the ground shake, and they would run from their homes.

Jesus says they will be a pillar in the temple of God … and would never leave it.

This is a reminder of eternal security.

If Christ died for you, you are unshakable.

Nothing can remove you.

As sturdy as those old Philadelphian pillars are, eventually they will crumble.

But if you are in Christ, you will receive a body fit for eternity.

You will be a pillar in the presence of God, that no longer has to run.

The fourth promise is there is that you are marked with 3 names.

Philadelphia knew about receiving new names.

Originally it was called Philadelphia, only to be renamed Neocaesarea.

People love to talk about the mark of the beast.

It’s one of the fascinating topics of Revelation.

Being marked, being identified as following the antichrist.

You know what we don’t talk about enough, is being marked by God.

Jesus mentions 3 names being marked on those who belong to Him.

Look again at verse 12, “The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and 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 from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.”

He says we will receive the name of God.

Have you ever seen Toy Story?

There is the cowboy, Woody, what’s written on his foot?

Andy.

Children write their names on their toys to mark that they belong to them.

You will have God’s name written on you.

You will be marked as belonging to God.

Identified as His.

Satan can never claim you as his own, because God has already marked you.

He guards you.

You will receive the name of the city of God, the New Jerusalem.

It comes at the very end of everything.

You will have it’s name.

It is the name of your citizenship.

Like the US Flag on the soldiers uniform that identifies him as a US soldier.

The name of the new city, marks you as a citizen of the city of God, that is going to come down from heaven, and where you will live for eternity.

God will mark you as His, and as a citizen of His heavenly city.

And the third name that will be marked on you is the name of Christ.

Just as your name is written in the Lambs book of Life, His name is on you.

It shows that you have been redeemed by Him.

So a small church receives big promises.

God will keep them from the Tribulation.

They have a hope, a comfort that the Lord has not forgotten them and will come soon.

And God marks them, separating them as His.

The Church of Philadelphia was small but mighty.

They may not have been the biggest, but we see:

They believed something strong about Christ.

They had a bold and powerful ministry.

They had a grand hope.

And they had enormous promises.

I feel like I gave you a lot this morning.

If a sermon is a meal, I hope I didn’t force feed you too much.

I find Philadelphia so encouraging.

We aren’t a strong church.

But there’s no reason we can’t be like them.

Jesus commends them.

May we pursue these same qualities of a small but mighty church.|

I’d love to answer questions if you have them after church.