Philadelphia: The Key to Transformation

Amen. Amen. Well, you can go ahead and be seated. Good morning, church. It's good to gather with our family of believers this morning who treasure Jesus and help others follow him. That's why we're here.

That's why we exist. Uh Revelation 3, that's where we're going to be today. So, if you got your Bibles, go ahead and grab those. Turn with me to Revelation chapter 3. Uh we are we've got two weeks left in our series letters to the church in America and then we are going to dive into John chapter 15 and we're going to spend about six weeks in John chapter 15 with a series called treasure. And so that's going to be sort of a how-to series on what it looks like to abide in Jesus.

And so for today, Revelation chapter 3, turn there with me. We're going to be looking at um the church in Philadelphia. And so, you know, the structure, there's a commendation, there's a confrontation, there's a call to action. Uh, that's typically the structure. Last week, uh, we looked at the church in Sardis. Sardis got no com uh, commendation.

They got all confrontation. Uh, this week, it's going to be a little bit different. And so, this week, Philadelphia gets all the love. They get all the commenation and no confrontation, which is great. Maybe that's because they are the defending Super Bowl champions. I don't know.

Um, but nope, that's a different Philadelphia. This church is in a city that does mean brotherly love and that's what they get from Jesus. A lot of love, a lot of commendation. So, this is a good church. This is a faithful church. This is a church that uh we'd love to be modeled after based on the work that they are doing, but also uh the way in which they are trusting Jesus in difficult situations.

And so let's walk through this together and pray that the Lord transforms us to be more like Jesus. And because here at the district church, because we are a church that uh loves the Bible, we love God's word. All right? We we know that it is the power um in which we profess, in which we proclaim, in which we uh win people for Christ. Like it is the source that we use. Um it's not our own ideologies.

It's not our own opinions. It's not our own feelings. It's not any of those things. It's the word of God that we dive into. And it's the word of God that we spring forward from. It's the word of God that we orient our lives around because it's what tells us about God.

It's what tells us about Jesus. It's what tells us about the goodness of salvation. And so because of that, I'm going to ask you to stand as we read Revelation 37 through13 and just honor um the Lord's word this morning as we look at this. So starting in verse 7, here's what it says. 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.

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. 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 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.

I am coming soon. So hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown. 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 who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.

Father, I just pray this morning that your word would do for us as it did for this church in Philadelphia. I pray that it would build our faith. I pray that it would transform us to become more like Jesus. that we too would become a pillar, unmovable, unshakable, uh, and able to be a pathway for others in our community to come and bow down before you and worship, to be able to come and know who you are because of the word that we proclaim, because of the Jesus that we serve, because of the Savior who forgives us of our sins. I pray that our people would treasure him and I pray that we would help others follow him as well as this door is open. It's in Jesus name that we pray.

Amen. Y'all go ahead and be seated. Philadelphia to give you a bit of a context of what we're looking at here. Philadelphia was a small but a very strategic city in Asia Minor. Unbeknownst to the founders of the city, the city was sitting on a major fault line. A major fault line.

Literally, historians tell us that in about AD17, there was this massive earthquake um that leveled the entire region of Philadelphia and the surrounding areas so bad that even Rome had to step in in order to rebuild the city of Philadelphia. And so you can just imagine the trauma of living in a place. I mean over and over and over again this city would be ransacked with just earthquakes earthquakes constantly un you know nervous as to what was going to happen the next day or in the middle of the night. And so because aftershocks were so common, most people actually moved out of the city and and in the city center and they would live in these hut uh huts and these tents outside of the walls. Why? Because again, no one wanted to wake up to another building collapsing on top of them.

And so that's the context in which Jesus is writing this letter to this area. And so in response, what the people of Philadelphia did was they would build their structures with with these massive stone pillars. And so got a couple of examples here. If you would go back to the picture before this one, this is what typical columns would look like in um the ancient uh the ancient east. And so first century, this is actually the temple of Zeus that is in Turkey that you can go and visit today. If you were to think of pillars, that's what you would typically think of is this is what a pillar would look like.

But because of the earthquakes that would come in Turkey and because of the earthquakes specifically that were shaking the foundations of Philadelphia, they had to build them bigger and build them stronger. And so these are what pillars would look like if you were to visit modern-day Philadelphia today. Now, again, not the one in Pennsylvania, but the one that's in Turkey. if you were to visit it, that's what they look like. They wanted permanence. They wanted stability.

They wanted security. They wanted something that would hold and that would last even when everything else was shaken. And so I want us to keep that in mind as you walk through this because one of the things that Jesus did in almost every single one of the letters is he would lay his word, the text over the context of the area and region and culture that is going on within them. And so let's be strengthened again by the words and power of Christ this morning and look at the text. 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. In verse eight says, he says, "I know your works.

Behold, I have set before you an open door which no one is able to shut." And so, the first thing I want you to see here is that the true Christ holds the key to transformation. The true Christ holds the key to transformation. Now, think about this for a moment. In the ancient world, keys symbolized authority. Keys symbolized authority.

Think about it like a master key. If you were a part of an organization, not everyone holds a master key. Only a select few hold the master key. And it usually gets you to any and every door that's within your organization. That's similar to what he's talking about here with the key of David. Now the key of David is a reference back to Isaiah chapter 22 verse 22 where he talks about the Messiah having or possessing the key of David which is an open door giving access to the kingdom of God but ultimately also access to the throne of God.

So we are able to come and be before the presence of God because of the one who possesses the key of David. And so Jesus is ultimately saying here that no emperor, no culture, no philosophy, no political leader could open or close that specific door that gives you access to the kingdom of God, that gives you access to the throne of God. In other words, Jesus Jesus is saying here, I decide alone. I decide who gets in and out of the kingdom and who has access to his throne. He alone has the power to transform a life from death to life. Because if you're outside of his kingdom, you do not get to partake of the life that comes from the kingdom.

But if you are within the kingdom, then not only do you have access to life, but you have access to the throne. You have access to the presence of God. You have access to all of the benefits that come with the kingdom of God. You receive therefore life. And what Jesus again is saying here is I decide who gets in and and um who gets in and out of the kingdom, who has access to this throne. And so Philadelphia was surrounded by gods and philosophies, but none of them could actually open the door for their salvation.

None of those ideologies, none of those philosophies could open the door to their salvation. And so why does that matter to us? Because our world is no different. Our world is no different. People think the keys to life are intellectualism or emotionalism or pragmatism. Meaning we believe we can think, feel or do what is necessary for success or romance or politics or money or even self-identity.

But none of those actually open the door to true transformation. None of those actually open the door to satisfaction or to salvation. Only Jesus does. You can't actually think, feel, or perform your way to salvation. You can't do it. That was the reason for why they had so many different gods and so many different temples and so many different ideologies.

And it's the same reason why today we have just repackaging it the same thing continuing to play or play itself out. intellectualism, emotionalism, pragmatism. It's still the same play running today that people are striving after. The reason why I'm not happy, the reason why I'm not satisfied is because I don't know enough. So, let me go get more education. The reason why I'm not satisfied with my life or is because I I don't feel happy enough.

And so, I need more emotionalism. I need to dive into spiritualism. And when it comes to that, I need to continue to to to meditate more and figure my or feel my way through life. And if it doesn't feel right, then it must be wrong. And so I need to keep shifting it in order to finally find something that actually feels good. And if that doesn't work, if I can't think it enough and I can't feel it enough, well then I'll just perform it enough.

Let me actually remove all of intellectualism. Let me actually remove all of the feelings of my life and let me just do what is right. and stop doing what is wrong. But again, none of those things are ever actually going to get us through the door to our salvation. And here's where there's good news. Jesus tells them that he's actually put before them an open door.

Not a closed one, but an open one. Have you ever met someone who is so loving and hos hospitable that they'll say things like, "My door is always open. Come over anytime you want. My door is always open." That's what Jesus is telling them right now to this church. He's telling this church, "I so love you and I so care about your community that I am opening a door.

I'm opening a pathway for you." Look at what he says next. Let's keep reading the text here. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 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.

The second thing I want you to see here is that those who are transformed by Christ become pathways to transform others in Christ. Look at what Jesus tells them. Jesus commends them for faithfulness despite weakness. They weren't a mega church. This was not the church of Ephesus. Okay?

The church in Philadelphia looked a lot different than the church in Ephesus. They didn't have political power. They didn't have cultural influence. They were small and looked like they have little power. Looked like they were weak. But they were faithful.

They were faithful. They returned every Sunday when it was difficult to get up in the morning. They returned to the study of the word. They returned to their groups when they're breaking bread in their homes. They returned and were faithful in hopes that God will open a door that God will bring his transforming presence to their community. And therefore, God gave them favor in the city.

Here's what that means. God doesn't need your strength. He uses your surrender. Their faithfulness made them a doorway for others to encounter Jesus, even their enemies. It refers to the synagogue of Satan. And I'm not going to dive too much into that.

Go back to um an earlier message when we talked about the synagogue of Satan and dove deep dove or delve deep into that. But the main thing was the synagogue of Satan did not want the true church of God to thrive. And so they would come into it in order to create division and speak lies and even create persecution for the church because it is what it is a synagogue of Satan. And so if you're contrasting here him saying I possess the key of David that gives access to the kingdom of God and the throne of God. What I'm also showing you is that I have the power over the false church, the false synagogue of Satan, who thinks he is dwelling or reigning on the throne, who thinks he actually has all the cultural influence. And what he's showing us here is the one who possesses the key versus the synagogue of Satan.

He's going to make them come and bow down. All right? So like whose side do we want to be on when it comes to true authority and true power? Their faithfulness made them a doorway even for their enemies which would eventually acknowledge that God's love was on them and they too could be transformed by the saving power of Jesus. Guys, that's what we're praying for. That's what we're praying for in this community, in our surrounding areas.

We're praying that through the faithfulness of us as a church, treasuring Jesus and looking for opportunities to help others follow him, that God creates a doorway for us for those who are not worshiping Jesus but worshiping culture, worshiping ideologies that are contrary to Jesus, who are essentially synagogues of Satans, just in cultural ideologies, wanting Jesus to make them stop worshiping that and come and bow down before his feet. That's what we're seeking. That's what we want because that's the greatest thing for them to experience and happen among them. And the way that that door opens is through the faithfulness of us. not bending to culture, not forgetting and pushing the scriptures to the side and say, "Well, let's do whatever we can to become more seeker friendly, but no, standing firm on who Jesus truly is and making sure that and that's why I believe he says the true one that holds the key of David because there are many Christs who pop up in first century.

There are many Messiah forms that pop up today. The same thing is true. There are many things popping up on social media that people are saying if you follow this or if you do this or if you believe this or if you think this that it'll provide you the salvation that you're longing for. And what we are to hold fast to and to stay and to stay faithful in is worshiping the true Jesus, the true Christ who actually possesses the key. so that those around us have access to the actual kingdom and the throne that there's a doorway open that is the pathway of us following Jesus being a faithful church. It creates a doorway open for them to hear from the true Christ what the true gospel is that actually leads to the true salvation for them.

I want you to listen to this. In Acts chapter 17 26- 27, it's not going to be on the screens, but just listen to this. God made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place. In other words, where you live is not an accident. Where you work is not an accident. What family you're in is not an accident.

That would be an evolutionary mindset that I just stumbled upon the street that I live on, the house that I purchased, we just bought into the market right at the right time and that's why we're able to find where we're at. No, no, no. God in his sovereignty is over all of that. And he allotss for us where we live, the boundaries in which we dwell, which means he's placed us specifically where we are for a purpose and a reason. And here's what it is in verse 27. That they should seek God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him.

Yet he's actually not far from each one of us. In other words, when you look at the church in Philadelphia, there are people who are quote unquote far from God. But because of the faithfulness of the church, believing in and following the true Christ who holds the key, because of their faithfulness, he creates an open door for them so that those who are far from God are actually not that far from him. But they have access to him because of those who are possessing the true gospel and the true message. Think about it like if you've ever played with dominoes, not the actual like game dominoes where you like compare, you know, playing. I'm talking about like when you stack dominoes and then tip them over.

That's how God has set this whole thing up. We are set in place by God. Not too far from each other, but reachable. And then one after another, we are tipped over to hit our neighbors with grace, creating a domino effect of gospel transformation. That's the way he set it up. He placed you just close enough to somebody so that when he tips you over with grace, you hit somebody with grace so that they are able then to walk through the door of God's salvation.

Why do we need to know this? Because that's how transformation spreads. That's how transformation spreads. Not through the loudest voice or the biggest platform or the most likes, but through ordinary believers who refuse to let go of Jesus's name and also refuse to be silent about Jesus's fame. That's what we do. That's what we're called to.

Church, God does some of some of his extraordinary work through the ordinary faithfulness of his people. That's what you're seeing in Philadelphia. People would look at that and be like, "This is not an extraordinary church. They're small. They're little. They have little power.

They have little resources. They're getting ransacked by all these earthquakes that are happening to them. And yet, church history actually says that this church lasted. This church liter like you can go back and look at this. You can trace their lineage throughout Turkey, modern day. This church lasted from this time written around 1st century AD to around 1342.

1,200 years the church existed. And the only reason why we say it ended in 1342 was become was because of Islamic um expansion that came in with the idea of convert or die. and they came in and slaughtered the entire church. I'm not saying just like drove them out. The only way this church could stop was by death. And that's exactly what happened.

That's exactly what happened. But for 1200 years, there was a door open because this little church trusted in the true Christ. You may feel weak, but God says, "That's the perfect place for me to show off my strength." This produces confidence and boldness for us because it tells us that God can use us powerfully for his purposes. And it also tells us that those who seem too far gone are actually not far at all. I love that the group he talks about are not the ones who are like, "Hey, and because we're opening a door for you in this city because of your faithfulness to the true Christ, um, just look around for those friends of yours who are good people but just don't know Jesus."

No, he's saying, "I'm going to make the synagogue of Satan come and bow down. I'm going to make the ones you think are furthest from me in your culture be the ones who come and join you in worshiping Jesus. You can be a million steps of rebellion away from God, but it only takes one step of repentance to come back. That's why I believe he says no one is too far from finding him. He's actually not far from each one of us. It's one step of repentance to be able to get back to him.

So through this faithful church, God created a doorway for the faith for the faithless to come and worship the father. Let's keep reading. Look at the text. 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. I am coming soon.

So hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown. Here's the third thing I want you to see. Those who are transformed by Christ become protected from the trials of culture. Those who are transformed by Christ become protected from the trials of culture. Here's the observation. Jesus doesn't promise to remove them from hardship, but instead protects them through it.

He doesn't remove them from hardship, but instead protects them through it. Philadelphia knew about shaking foundations, literal earthquakes. Jesus promises stability in the cultural and spiritual earthquakes of their time. So he's essentially saying if you if you look at this the way and this would be conjecture a little bit but that's all right. I would have to imagine that those in the synagogue of Satan are not going to willingly come and bow down. Now, I think that transformation is going to happen.

But I think he's ultimately saying to them, this is going to be a battle. This is going to be a war of conflict. like this is going to be those who belong to Satan coming to Christ is not going to be an easy just like hey let's just have like a town hall meeting and just kind of preach the word out there and everyone be like oh we've been looking for this for so long thank you so much for providing this it's going to look like what you see anytime you open social media right Now those who are professing Christ, there is going to be anytime there is an act of the Holy Spirit in proclaiming the gospel, there is always a reaction of an unholy spirit to try and stomp it out. What's crazy in the last two weeks is I would probably say now I will say it because I'm just confident enough to say this that at Charlie Kirk's memorial service has single-handedly now let me all let me preface this remove any of the political conversations that were had during the service.

Just remove those things. That's not what I'm talking about. It's neither here nor there. The fact that one after another people got up and articulated the gospel message of Jesus Christ. It is single-handedly in our known history the largest evangelistic or sharing of the gospel proclamation that the world has ever seen. The reason why I say that is because there's over a hundred million people who tuned in who tuned in.

And the thing I'll say in regards to that is two things. One, and I hope this is not true, but if it is true, it's because churches are not preaching the gospel, and God's going to bypass that and create another way for the gospel to spread. The gospel is going to get out. God's going to get it out. Secondly, and that just is just a churches need to step back into the game. Secondly, the reason why I bring this up is because it has also created an outcry both of those who are yes and amen.

We love what was being said in regards to the gospel. also those on the other side saying this is not the Jesus we serve and they're going to double down and say this is not the life we want this is not the country we want and what it is doing and what it is is what it is creating right now in our cultural moment is there is no middle ground there is no lukewarmness left for Christianity in this country. It's only going to polarize the situation so that those who are worshiping the true Jesus, it's going to be crystal clear who they are. And those who are not worshiping the true Jesus and are just caving to culture but still calling it Christianity, they're going to be exposed for who they truly are as well. And the tension is going to rise when that happens. There is no more neutral Christianity.

It's going to be those who worship the true Jesus and those who are in the synagogue of Satan. And we need to decide where are we? Where are we? and trust that if we are following the true Christ that when the pressure from this side starts to press in on us that he's not going to remove the hardship but he's going to protect us through it. That should boast our confidence and our boldness to continue proclaiming the true Christ because we know that God is going to protect us through it. He's going to sustain us through it.

The hour of trial isn't just the end times. It's the pressure every Christian feels living in a culture that does not love Jesus. But he promises his people won't be abandoned during it. That's important because our world will keep trying to shake us, shifting morals, cultural hostility, political division. But Jesus says, "If you hold fast to me, nothing can steal your crown." Hold fast to him.

Now, how does he finish out this letter? What What's the call to action here? Look 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, in 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 who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. The fourth thing I want you to see here is that those transformed by Christ become pillars in the temple of Christ. Those who are transformed by Christ become pillars in the temple of Christ. Again, remember Jesus is laying the text over the context here. In Philadelphia, earthquakes meant people were constantly leaving the city for safety. Stability was rare.

Look at this picture one more time. Here's what makes that imagery even more powerful. Those massive pillars weren't just in the civic buildings. They were also part of the local synagogues and temples. They wanted what they believe to last to the point that you can actually still visit them today. And so when Jesus says to his church, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God, never to leave it.

They have literally an illustration in which they can view right in front of them. He wants us to be like these. That's amazing. He's not pulling a random metaphor out of thin air. He's speaking directly into their cultural anxiety. They knew what it was like to run from crumbling walls.

They knew what it was like to live with constant instability. And Jesus is saying to them, "In me, you don't have to run anymore. In me, you'll be unshakable, permanent, immovable. You'll be a pillar in my kingdom that no earthquake, no empire, no cultural tremor will ever topple." It's why the true gospel of Jesus Christ has transcended 2,000 years of of history and culture and remains still the one thing that is stronger than any other thing that comes in and tries to to to stomp it out. Like this isn't the first time there's been a sexual revolution.

This isn't the first time that there's been political division. Like as we were studying in our Friday night forum this last week, just even going back to the early Roman Empire, like what what we see today in the sexual revolution of America is like junior varsity compared to what it looked like in the Roman Empire to what it looked like in the day and age in which the scriptures were being written. In that time, the minority would be a man and a woman in a monog monogous marriage. And so what they were stepping into was telling men have one woman and at the same time don't engage in um sexual promiscuous uh acts or orgies in the cultural realm that's around you in the festivals that were going on at the ends of their t temple worships. And so it was really important to be able to see that for this church and for us, there's nothing new under the sun, what we're experiencing right now, God's not like, I didn't see that coming.

He's like, I've seen this before, and I know exactly what wins. Faithfulness to me. Faithfulness to me. Another interesting note, it says, "As pillars, Jesus writes his name on us." If you were to visit Philadelphia today, you'll see these pillars. They were often inscribed with a message or a name of the person who donated the materials for the pillar to be constructed.

So, knowing that as as this little church is hearing him say, "You're going to be pillars of mine. I'm going to make you pillars that are immovable and indestructible when it comes to proclaiming the gospel. And there's going to be an open door for you. He's also telling them, I want you to look at the pillars right now. And you see that that person over there donated the materials for this one to be constructed and see that on this pillar, this other organization or person donated in order for this one to be constructed. What he's telling us is he's going to write his name on us so that when we look at it, it's not that I came with my own resources or my own intellect or my own emotionalism or my own pragmatism.

He's saying you didn't come with your own raw materials in order to construct your pillar. Instead, he donated all of the raw materials necessary for you to be built into a pillar, which is so good for us because again, it's not up to us. It's all up to him. We're holding fast to him. And so we don't have to wake up in the morning and and think, "How can I muster up all of the right things to say today? How can I muster up all of the right things to feel today in order to be a good Christian?

How can I muster up all of the right actions today in order for somebody to look at me and say, "I noticed you're so good. I want to know who your Jesus is. Instead, what we get to do every single morning when we wake up is we get to say, "I am imperfect and I am a beggar and I mess up and I don't always think the right things and I don't always feel the right things and I definitely don't always do the right things." But I do follow someone who throughout his 33 years on this life, he never thought a wrong thought. His thoughts were always righteous. Like when you look at Romans 3 and it talks about our thoughts, it says that all we ever desire is evil.

All we ever want is evil. Even the good things that we think come from evil motives, as Isaiah tells us. At the same time, feelings. We wake up and we say we worship a Jesus whose motives were always holy and perfect and pure. Everything he did was for the love of the father. And then not only that, when it comes to pragmatism, we wake up every single morning saying, "I don't have to be perfect today.

I follow one who is perfect and lived a perfect life. And everything he did, all the works that he accomplished are constructing for us a temple in which we get to worship in but also pillars in which we get to be faithful. Everything we do points back to Jesus. He is the first cornerstone that then all of us are built and ordered around. This should build our faith. He's donated all that is necessary in order for you to come through the door to be a part of the temple of God where the presence of God dwells, but to also be a pillar within it so that nothing nothing can destroy you.

Church, the world says you're disposable. Jesus says no. No, you're foundational. If you're in him, you're not just another plank in the wall. You're a pillar in the house of God. Philadelphia shows us what transformation looks like.

Weakness surrendered to Christ becomes strength. Faithfulness in trial becomes an open door for evangelism. Perseverance today becomes permanence forever. Your Here's what the church here's what our community needs. And here's what I believe the church in Philadelphia was for their culture. Your transformed presence in Christ becomes the transforming presence for others to come to Christ.

Your transformed presence in Christ becomes the transforming presence for others to come to Christ. That's what happened in Philadelphia. And I believe that's what God wants to do through us. Let's pray together. Father, we pray this morning that the call would be simple for us to come to Jesus, to walk through the door that he has opened for us and to refuse to let go of him. Father, I pray that as this church in Philadelphia, though they were small and though they were weak and though they had little power, they were in fact primed perfectly for them to become an open door for what we would consider the worst of the worst to be brought in, to come finally and bow down at the feet of Jesus.

Jesus and worship the true Christ. Our culture wants us to create a synagogue of Satan and your word tells us that's not going to work. That possesses no power. And instead, we have the true power that is found in Jesus alone, our chief cornerstone, our chief shepherd. And Jesus is the one who says, "I will build my church and the gates of hell will not keep it out." What that means for us is that we get to walk into the synagogue of Satan and prevail.

We hold the power because we hold the true Christ who has the key to salvation. May we grow in our faith. May you strengthen our weakness. May you help us help others come to you. It's in your name we pray. Amen.

Would you all please stand with me as we come