Letters of Jesus Part 7 - Philadelphia

well here we are in Philadelphia love of the Brethren let's see what Jesus thought of the church here letter to the angel of the church in Philadelphia what would Jesus think about the little group of Christians here in the town that was planted here to spread Greek culture to the east of this land and further afield to Asia here was this church what was it going to do this is a message from the one who is unutterably holy and absolutely true he holds in his hand king david's key to god's house and when he opens the door nobody can shut it again and when he shuts the door nobody can open it again I know all about all you are doing look I have flung wide a door right in front of you I know that you don't seem to have much power or influence but the important thing is that you have faithfully done whatever I told you to do and you have never been ashamed of my name watch how I will deal with that synagogue of Satan who claim to be true Jews but a telling lies you will see me force them to come and prostrate themselves at your feet admitting that my love has been showered on you and not on them because you have been as patient as I told you to be I now promise to protect you from the worldwide trouble that will soon test all those living on the earth and coming back as soon as possible just hold on firmly to everything you've got from me and don't let anyone deprive you of your prize anyone who wins through will become a pillar of strength in the temple of my god and he will have the special name of my god inscribed upon him as well as the name of the city of my god that new jerusalem which will come down out of heaven from my god and I will also write on him a third name the new name that I will then have let everyone who hears these letters read take heed of what my spirit is communicating to all the seven churches when we look at the letters side-by-side again we notice the last three former kind of sandwich Sardis Philadelphia Laodicea nothing good nothing bad and nothing good and Philadelphia's squeeze in between these two churches in a very serious condition I just want you to try and imagine the Sun the Philadelphia congregation they've heard the letters to Ephesus Smyrna Pergamum Thyatira and Sardis and Saudis has been a really rough letter and now it's Philadelphia's turn I can imagine them almost holding their breath what's he gonna say about us after all that and the relief that they must have felt when he said I have nothing to criticize well let's go back and look at the city first of all again a key city because it's on the borders of three different counties the counties of Lydia Mesilla and Phrygia in the province of Asia so it's a key place it's on the borders of these three counties there are road and River junctions indeed it was called the Gateway to the east if you've been I think is it toussant louis in america they now have a huge parabola arch hundreds of feet high they call themselves the Gateway to the West this was the Gateway to the east it was founded as a Greek colony the furthest Greek colony into Asia and they founded it quite deliberately as a gateway to take Greek language and culture up onto the main high plateau of what we now call Turkey so it was essentially from the very beginning seen as a missionary town but not a missionary town to spread the gospel a missionary town to spread what we call Hellenism the Greek culture and way of life which they believed was the best and they were expanding as an empire and they'd had little difficulty in planting Greek culture on the coast but as they spread further inland they encountered these Phrygians these hill people who were very old fashioned very conservative very obstinate well I'm sure I need to say no more even parts of our own country a bit like this as you will find if you go and live there and they clung to their own customs and their own religion and their own ways of life and so Philadelphia is planted to spread a different way of life to spread the good news as they thought it of Greece and its philosophy and its culture and its entertainment and all the rest secondly I want to remind you of the environment we are now in what is called the burnt land a lot of volcanic lava around the soil is really ground up from volcanic lava it's a volcanic region and that of course makes it quite fertile especially for vines vines grow very well in ground-up lava in volcanic areas and not surprisingly the god of this town was Dionysus the god of wine so it was very Fatah but it also meant that it was a very perilous place to live you never quite knew when there'd be another earthquake and so very often you'd find the people of Philadelphia were having to run out of the city to escape the falling buildings time and again they had to rebuild they were always going out that comes out in the letter where Jesus said you'll go out no more they would understand what that meant that meant fleeing for your life when the whole place was shaking these huge stones were tumbling down into the street it also meant that there were a lot of hot health Springs nearby so you've got this strange mixture of a perilous place to live and yet one that was prosperous fertile and healthy the third thing I want to say about is this they they were constantly having to rebuild after the earthquakes and therefore they had a preoccupation with buildings and fun enough this letter seems full of doors and keys and pillars and parts of buildings which again would make sense to them fourth thing is their gods and temples they had so many on one hilltop they literally called it little Athens they had modeled parthenons up there and it was little Athens so the Greeks had really established an outpost of Athens their capital city in Greece here at Philadelphia one more thing this city constantly changed its name constantly getting a new name so you had to keep changing the postcode or at least the address it was called Philadelphia because it was founded by a man called Atlas who had a brother Emma NEAs whom he loved so dearly everybody knew this King really loved his brother he honored him looked after him and so they actually called the city after his brotherly love and Philadelphia means brotherly love that's why they called the city in America Philadelphia they wanted it to be a city of brotherly love though it's not quite that today as you know then it changed and they called it neo Caesarea in honor of the Roman Emperor in gratitude to Darby Ria's who had actually helped them financially to rebuild after the earthquake during his reign and so in gratitude they changed the name from Philadelphia to neo Caesarea which means new Caesar it's bit like New York they simply took the name Caesar and then called the town new Caesarea and then later it changed again after another Emperor the Emperor Vespasian and they renamed the city after his family surname and they called it Flavia so they were used to changes of names the city was constantly getting a new name and you find that Jesus keeps pointing her I'm gonna give you a new name three new names and the city had had three new names so that's a little bit of about the background what do we know about the church well we know just one thing it was small it was a struggling little group and they had an inferiority complex about it well I mean can you imagine with Sardis up the road the live church that everybody sit down if you want a live church don't go to Philadelphia there they're faithful but struggling little cause you know but if you want a live church go up the road to Sardis you can almost hear them talk and poor little Philadelphia next door Assad is feel so small and that they were obviously not having a great deal of influence on the city and not growing terribly fast our but Jesus has a let thing and he wants to say to that little church he doesn't want to speak sternly to them you won't discourage them at all especially after the letter to Sardis as I've said they must have wondered what know--they was going to say to them but what a relief they must have looked at it at each other after it was read in church history we're okay and Jesus meant them to think that it's the longest self description of Jesus of the whole lot if you compare the self description it is the longest now we're not just going statistically by size but it it's almost as if he's saying you're the least important Church of the seven but you're the most important to me I want to talk to you the body may be weak but the head strong he's saying you've got all you need in me you may be small and insignificant and not influential but you've got me and he calls himself by a number of lovely titles first of all he talks about what he is and then he talks about what he does firstly what he is he said I'm holy and true I'm the holy one literally and that is a title for God used even in this book of Revelation one of the striking things about Revelation is that the same titles are applied to both God and to Jesus nothing could be clearer that Jesus is God titles like the Alpha and the Omega the first and the last they're applied to God in Revelation 1 and to Jesus and at the end and here's a title the Holy One that's one of the titles of God in the Book of Isaiah it's a Zayas favorite title forgot the Holy One of Israel and here's Jesus a I'm the Holy One I'm God you've got all you need in me then he says and I'm the true one now one of the interesting things in the Greek language is this that the word true and the word real are the same word therefore wherever you see true in Scripture you in the New Testament you can change it for the word real when Jesus says I am the truth he's saying I'm for real when he says I'm the true vine I'm the real vine and he said that when he was looking at the metal vine on the gates of the temple piece of beautiful wrought copper work but he says I'm the real vine I'm the real bread of heaven not the metha I'm the real bread it's it's lovely I just love switching those two words around in Scripture I'm real and you see truth is what corresponds to reality do you follow me if a thing is true it is real if it's untrue it's unreal and so truth and reality are the same thing I am for real I'm the true one the real one now he moves to what he does and I think at this point I must find my Bible and read something to you from the prophet Isaiah because it is so striking it's in Isaiah chapter 22 not even sure how much to read I think I've read quite a bit it says this is what the Lord the Lord Almighty says go and say to this steward to Shabnam who is in charge of the palace what are you doing here and who gave you permission to cut out a grave for yourself here hewing Your Grave on the height and chiseling your resting place in the rock be where the Lord is about to take firm hold of you and hurl you away oh you mighty men he will roll you up tightly like a ball and throw you into a large country and there you will die and there your splendid chariots will remain your disgrace your disgrace to your master's house I will depose you from your office and you will be ousted from your position in that day I will summon my servant Elliot him son of Hilkiah and I will clothe him with your robe and fashion your sash around him and hand your authority over to him and he will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem into the house of Judah I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David and what he opens no one can shut and what he shuts no one can open I can't believe that that wasn't in Jesus mind when he wrote this letter and it's the story of a steward who had the keys to David's Palace and therefore had the most power to open rooms and let people in and open doors and let people out he was second only to the king and authority and shebna became big-headed and he thought he was even more important than the king and he started building a stone tomb to himself like a royal tomb after all I have the key of David I'm somebody and God deliberately kicked that man out of the country and he died somewhere else he'd been collecting chariots and all sorts thing he'd been lining his own nest because he was the key holder of David's Palace and in his place le Hakeem was put a man who was humble a man who was reliable a man who was trustworthy and he got the key to the palace and what he opened no man could shut what he shut no man could open Jesus is here claiming to be the fulfillment of that man le Hakeem with all the worlds of rulers who strut around and make big tombs Jesus is the humble one the reliable one who now has the authority to the king's palace so much more we could say that I'm sure it comes out of that Old Testament once again these letters keep referring back to the Old Testament do you know that in the book of Revelation there are over 400 allusions to the Old Testament if you don't know your Old Testament you won't understand most of the book of Revelation maybe that's why a lot of Christians don't understand it but there are constant allusions because actually Peter says that it was Jesus who told the prophets what to say about himself and so we have Jesus with the key of David I have the key to the king's palace and if I open a door nobody can shut it he's the reliable he's the humble one as well as the Holy One he's the reliable one the trustworthy one well now he gets on with the letter he says I know your deeds you have little strengths means either in numbers or influence they were insignificant but not to the Lord there were three things that were good in this little church number one you've kept my word and to keep the word is not just to treasure it it means to obey it you've done whatever I told you now what joy that must bring to the Lord when he can save a church they've done everything I told me that's the secret of real success to do only those things that the head of the church tells you to do so simple on this little group of faithful Christians everything Jesus told them they did no argument no saying well that's impossible here they just did it you've kept my word you've not met denied my name not only was obedience characteristic of this church but courage was too they also had faced this test of their courage to say there were Christians openly to say Jesus is Lord run Caesars Road and they done it and they'd not denied his name furthermore it says they had endured patiently patience we had a lot about that earlier from mark love is patient can wait now you can get very impatient when you don't see quick results we live in an instant age not just instantly and comfy but we want everything by next Tuesday or says they had the latest we want to see the church immediately successful we want things now it's because we live in an existential rather than an eschatological age boy there are two big words for you eschatological means you live for the future existential means you live for the present and I'm afraid what we're getting is an existential rather than eschatological gospel a gospel which is more concerned with delivering people from their hangups than from hell you understand what I'm saying a gospel that's becoming too preoccupied with the personal and political problems of the present and is overlooking the future that God is planning for us we are the people of tomorrow we live for the future the kingdom is tomorrow breaking into today we can have a foretaste now but no more and we are looking and longing for the full kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven we are eschatological people that word means living for the future for the end and that should profoundly affect our behavior in the present but when you become a church just living for the present one of the first things to go is patience Bible constantly says wait patiently for that future it's coming James says in his letter the father is patient waiting for the crop to come then why are you so impatient you can get so impatient that the kingdom is not coming want it no no you've waited patiently I get a lovely feel for this little group of people they were obeying the Word of God they were courageous they didn't deny his name and they waited patiently for the future certain it was going to come so they were loyal rather than lively faithful rather than full and steadfast rather than successful Jesus would rather have a small church like Philadelphia than a large church like Sardis or Laodicea we must realize what Jesus is looking for and what he really wants and then give it to him well he makes three special promises for their immediate future one of which he's already got in hand it's already begun to do one of these things but he says three things I'm going to do for you and I just list them I'm afraid I'm guilty of alliteration so often that's the province of fools poets in Plymouth Brethren on tour but anyway I I got the disease from somewhere but you had it this morning mark so why shouldn't i well here are the three things he promises them increase influence and immunity now let's look at these three lovely promises influence he says I've sent before you an open door you may think you can't do much but look I've opened an opportunity for you you just go through he's really saying Philadelphia is my mission or town not to spread Greek culture but to spread my good news and really you can't do much if if the Lord doesn't open a door for you you try and evangelize where the Lord hasn't opened a door you'll find in Paul's letters frequent mention of the word door and it's always a door that is open to preach the word a great and effectual door has been opened for me the Lord opens these doors sometimes are so busy trying to better a closed door down that we didn't see the door that he was opening which was probably in quite a different area see let me mention two doors the Lord has opened wide in our country first the door into prisons the key of David has opened prison doors and the gospel is sweeping through some of the prison's of our land and preparing evangelists in there who when they're released will come out and show some of us up so wide door is opened I'll tell you another door I'm excited about we we had a representative here last time we were videoing from the gypsy's where any of you here you'll remember the lovely talk he gave us in the morning worship I'm constantly in touch with the gypsies I think the last phone call was about a week ago and it's just so exciting to hear how the Spirit is opening the door do you know there's not a gypsy family in England that hasn't got a Christian in it now the proportion of gypsies who now loves the thought is higher than for any other ethnic group not talking about the travelers now I'm talking about the Romani gypsies and Jim and I have visited a camp outside Leicester where every Caravan had stickers for Jesus in it and they turned a barn in which they used to keep their old painted caravans into a little church you've never seen such a collection of chairs all from rubbish dumps with sagging seats but they've collected chairs from everywhere and there's a pastor preaching there morning and evening every Sunday and he can't even read he gets his messages from the Lord the spirit teaches him and I'm astonished they ring me up and ask about Bible teaching but you know they don't remember so what does this mean they're ringing me up and say read this and I think this is what it means and you know they are spot on I don't need to go them I say the Spirit has told you the meaning you don't need to ask me well I want confirmation and so we've been distributing tapes and videos among because those who can't read this is a way of getting teaching through but here are two doors the Lord is open wide and there are many Christians sitting in church on Sunday that haven't even seen them don't know about see when Jesus opens the door no one can shut it we should be keeping our eyes open for the doors that he opens and grab those opportunities and if he shuts the door you can batter it for all you're worth but you'll never get it open again and he says to Philadelphia you're small you're may be insignificant in your own eyes but I've set before you an opportunity if you take it you're gonna influence many second influence even on their enemies now they were having real trouble from the Jewish traders and the synagogue and Jesus has no compunction about calling it a synagogue of the devil they're trying to close this little church down and Jesus says I'm gonna humiliate them I'm gonna bring them and they're gonna fall down in the knees before you and say you're the people of the Messiah not as the Messiah loves you who we can see it can you mention that the best way to get rid of an enemy of course is to turn them into a friend and that's what's going to happen they're going to come and join you and say we're sorry for what we've said about you can you imagine that how they would feel then so there they're going to increase the door for the gospel zone they're going to influence even their enemies they're going to see the love of Christ in them and come and humble and service and say you got it and we haven't and thirdly immunity they were small they couldn't take much persecution and so Jesus said there's a wave of trouble going to come right through but I'm going to keep you from it now some unfortunately have built on that promise as the secret rapture we're all going to be taken away before the trouble comes this is only promised to Philadelphia I want you to notice and it's promised to a small faith Church and Jesus is going to give them special protection he doesn't say it's going to protect anybody else it's going to be an hour of trial for everybody of testing but it's a promise of great encouragement of special concern I'm going to take a special good care of you when these troubles hit lovely promise so Jesus concerned about a small but faithful church his advice says I'm coming soon once again this thought of the parousia the return of Christ is going to be something that will hold this church together and keep it faithful all they need is perseverance hold on to what you have similar to Sardis but here all of them are holding up Sardis only a few names see that no one will take your crown that doesn't mean that somebody else will grab their crown and wear it themselves it's see that nobody robs you of the reward that will come the crown is so often in Scripture the equivalent of the gold and silver and bronze medals of the Olympic it but then they didn't hang something around your neck they put a wreath of olive leaves stone together on your head this was the crown it's the crown of somebody who's won through who's run the race who's touched the finishing post first someone who's persevered who was kept at it and who stayed with it a lovely reward the promise for the future is fascinating for a reason we'll come to in a moment he promises first that they will be a pillar in the temple of my god some people have thought but then in Revelation 21 in the New Jerusalem there is no temple yes there is actually if you've read the next line it says for God and the lamb will be the temple to be a personal temple and you will be a pillar in that temple now already in the New Testament Peter James and John have been called pillars of the church and we use the phrase as well don't we he's she's a pillar of the church meaning somebody who is always who's reliable who's supportive you can depend on them it's a very strong a picture a pillar in the church and most churches have such pillars some have more than others it's not always all the members but to be a pillar of the church and to be a pillar of the temple of God it means to be a permanent part of God part of him and then comes these new names three new names the name of my god now in the days in Philadelphia which was speaking there were a lot of pillars with names on it was their way of honoring citizens the way of making them freeman of the city you got your name on a pillar but often on those pillars was the name Dionysus the name of their God but in fact Jesus says I'll inscribe on you the name of my god and the name of my city the city of my god this New Jerusalem that's coming and my new name now I told you that Jesus has 250 names and titles but he's going to get more and I don't know what we're going to call him when we live with him in the New Jerusalem you don't either he is going to have a new name it won't be Jesus it won't be Christ what will it be well I haven't a clue I'm enlisted I'm dying to find out that I remember when I said once I'm dying to get to see the New Jerusalem and the man in the congregation said you will David you well we will one day and that name will be written on us - he will own us we belong to him what will it be what would we call him something that nobody's ever called him yet it will belong to his new phase of existence in a new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem when everything has been made new and therefore there been your names incidentally you will have a new name - Jesus usually gave new names to those who followed him he called Simon which means a reed shaken in the wind he called him Peter a rock he actually called James and John sons of thunder which tells me quite a bit about their temperament well did they hang on did Philadelphia come through when Islam swept across Asia Minor the last Christian bastion was Philadelphia would you believe it it was the last one to give in this is when the Turks conquered Philadelphia in 14th century unless tragically they were betrayed by the church in Byzantium that's Istanbul today a church that was jealous of Philadelphia and they betrayed them they finally fell actually to this day there is an Orthodox Church with an orthodox bishop in Philadelphia but one of the most interesting things it is one of these living towns where there are very few ruins because they're all buried under modern houses and shops and factories but there is just one little place which still survives from the early centuries and all you can find there are the pillars of the church isn't that fascinating the letter is written into the ruins and we stood between the four pillars that held up the church brick pillars and we actually saw in the lower parts you may be noticed on the video on the lower parts we saw Christian paintings pictures do you remember them and we stood there and read the letter I will make him a pillar in the Church of my god and he won't ever go out again never have to run for his life again so all that remains of the pillars of a church in Philadelphia that church had the healthiest history for the next few centuries after this letter of all the seven churches small but not insignificant small but very significant what a lovely letter what a lovely Church a church that the world would say was a failure but what Jesus said that's one of my successes

Channel: David Pawson - Official

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Length: 33min 49sec (2029 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 17 2014