A Lord's Day Message for Sunday, February 27, 2011

(©Rev. Larry A. Langer, First Presbyterian Church, Jasper, IN, February 27, 2011)

“7 Churches: Brickbats and Bouquets”

“6. God’s Message to Philadelphia: “Overcome!” 

Revelation 3:7-13 and John 16:25-33

“If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.” (Revelation 3:12)

Is there any among us who hasn’t heard of the city of “Philadelphia” as the “City of Brotherly Love”? Do you know how this began? The name began in the Greek language sometime during 159 to 138 B.C. The one word “Philadelphia” breaks down into two words, “feelos” – a friend, someone we are fond of, an associate, a neighbor; and “adelphos” – lit., the womb, a brother (literally or figuratively). Together, it becomes a word that indicates a person who is “loved like a close brother,” almost like a twin, a “womb-mate.”

Sometime then, during 159 to 138 B.C., Attalus II was the ruler of the Pergamum area in which the town was located. Attalus had a brother whom he loved very much, and honored his brother by naming the town Philadelphia, “Brotherly Love.”

Philadelphia was an important city originally. It sat on a high plateau, becoming a strong fortress city. It was also a city through which a main highway ran. One might say that it was a “gateway city.” Smyrna lay a hundred miles due west and folks traveling to Asia, Phrygia and the east usually passed through Philadelphia. Also, the imperial post road of the first century A.D., which originated in Rome, passed through Philadelphia on its way to the East.

(We can picture Philadelphia as our own Indianapolis, with Interstates 65, 69, 70 and 74 all converging and passing through. Indiana and Indianapolis aren’t called “the Crossroads of America” for nothing! So, too, Philadelphia.)

Economically, Philadelphia was part of a huge wine-growing district, and had textile and leather industries.[1] Culturally, Philadelphia was to be a mission city for disseminating the Greek and Asian culture and language in the eastern part of Lydia and in Phrygia. Its success at this is attested by the fact that the Lydian language ceased to be spoken in Lydia by A.D. 19 and Greek took over. (Ramsey, Seven Churches, p.391). But beyond this language achievement, Philadelphia had not been successful in converting the Phrygians (Barclay, Seven Churches, p. 80).[2]

All of this would indicate a thriving, growing, continuing city of which the world then could be proud. But Philadelphia had what I would say was “an identity problem.” In A.D. 17 an earthquake destroyed Philadelphia and 11 other cities; in fact, the whole area was so earthquake-prone that many people preferred living in the rural areas surrounding Philadelphia, rather than in the town proper.

(We can think today of the devastation we can see because of the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. Will they rebuild? What will they rebuild? Will the great Cathedral, the TV station, the office buildings, the homes be rebuilt?)

After the earthquake in Philadelphia in A.D. 17, the Roman ruler Tiberius Caesar came to their aid and had the city rebuilt. Out of gratitude, the citizens then named the city “Neocaesarea,” which means “New Caesar.” Later, the town was named Flavia and Philadelphia. Later, yet, when the emperor cult was established in the town, the name became “Neokoros” or “Temple Warden.” In the fifth century, it was nicknamed “Little Athens” because of its proliferation of festivals and pagan cults.[3]

Basically over 400 years, the town had at least five names and/or nicknames, going from the “City of Brotherly Love,” to “Little Athens” because of the huge amount of pagan cults and festivals.

In this mix is the PCC, the Philadelphia Christian Church. Although nothing is known about its origin, we know it prospered under the ministry of a prophetess named Ammia for at least 60 years. (This was an early biblical recognition of the ministry of women pastors.) And here’s an interesting quote: “Long after all the surrounding country had succumbed to Muslim control under Turkey, Philadelphia held out as a Christian populace until 1392.”[4] Philadelphia, until 1392, apparently was regarded as a “Christian City,” much like we would say that “Jasper is a Christian City.”

For our purposes today, let’s consider Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love, also the City that Jesus Christ loved. We can consider this letter of Christ, as dictated through John, a love letter of encouragement to the Philadelphia Christian Church to overcome their challenges because they stand in favor with Christ and with God.

To this church there really wasn’t written a “brickbat.” We can remember that with the other five churches, there was usually the statement, “I know your works,” then a small bouquet, but then a pretty heavy brickbat. Not so with Philadelphia, and the bouquet came in the same form that we often send flowers or give attention.

Jesus basically says to the Philadelphia Christian Church, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” I don’t know about you, but this is the greatest promise of Christ: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

There are other great promises that we experience from Jesus. One is that “when we confess our sins, Jesus is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Another is “In life and in death nothing can ever separate us from his love.” Another is, “whoever believes in Jesus shall not perish but have everlasting life.” But, much like the promises that we make in marriages or the promises we make toward family members or the promises we make toward our dear, dearer and dearest friends, Christ “is with us always, even to the close of the age!”

So how did this letter assure the Philadelphia Christian Church of God’s love for them in Jesus Christ?

First, they were assured that Jesus was the real, genuine thing. Remember, their town had been through at least 5 name and nickname changes. Different rulers had come and gone. Cults had sprung up and grown.

We know how we get, don’t we, when our lives and living situations become unstable and/or inconsistent. Our lives, our bodies, our guts really like to be “settled.”

We don’t like constant change to the basics of life. We fear the unknown. Oh, we like variety in our lives, because we like a little “spice,” but we always like to return to what has been stable for us. When the life and area around us changes too much, we begin to doubt what is real, what is still our anchor point.

This is why Jesus says to the PCC, “These are 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.”

The people needed these authenticating words; we need to hear these authenticating words and remember them, also!

Of course, we believe that Jesus is the holy one, the true one, and we believe that this authenticates Jesus. But, most other religions, cults and sects have the same language for their leaders, their “holy one,” their “true one.” What really helps the PCC here is that they are reminded that this holy one, this true one “has the key of David.” These people would know this code phrase as referring to Christ as the Messiah, because Christ is from the “line of David.” We can remember this, also.

Because we ourselves don’t come from “the line of David,” we aren’t Jewish, so this wouldn’t be our authenticating key, our pass key. Our authenticating key would be and is: “Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me.”

The opening of the letter could read for us then,

These are the words of the holy one, the true one, who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one will open.

Second, Jesus says in the letter, “I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”

What do we say to a person who is down and feeling worthless? “Look! Take a look at yourself. You have a lot to offer. “To the world you may be only one person, but to one person you may be the world.” You may have very little influence in the world, so “the best way to show love to the whole world is to love with a particular passion some little part of it.”” (William Placher, 1996)

It is the same way with a church: To the world we may be only one little church, but to one person we may be the world, and the best way to show the world the church’s influence is to show with a particular passion our influence in some little past of the world. We can be reminded that we have an open door out of which we can see our little part of the world. We can be reminded that we want to be a beacon of light to Jasper and beyond, from our little corner of the world. You see, I believe that this letter speaks to us. Jesus says to us, “I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door.” I believe the question is not who will come in through the door, but how many of us will go out through the door, keeping Jesus’ word and not denying his name?

You see, our challenges are no different today than were the challenges in 100 A.D. We have those who claim they are Christian, yet only say this because they try to be “good people” and that Jesus was a “good person.” These are people who say that God is so good that he would never not accept anybody. What about all the “good people” in the world? Are they condemned because they don’t claim Jesus as their Savior?

Well, my friends, yes they are. If we believe this letter to the church of “Brotherly Love,” those who claimed to be staunch Jews still awaiting the Messiah were not only lost, but Jesus said they were a “synagogue of Satan.” Why? Because they denied who Jesus Christ was!

Third, Jesus also says to the faithful members at PCC, “I will make them come and bow down at your feet.” Jesus’ enemies will become Jesus’ footstool. Then Jesus says, “If you conquer, if you will take advantage of the open door, if you will stand firm in the faith of Jesus Christ, even though you are small, I will keep you from failing, and I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God and you will never go out of it!”

We really have no idea what it means to have our name on something while we are alive, especially something like a pillar that holds up a temple. We can imagine it for us, but what if we lived back in 100 A.D.? The buildings weren’t all that magnificent; only a few were big enough to be built with pillars. And, if you were a VIP, you got your name chiseled on a pillar. These pillars were strong enough to withstand earthquakes!

But this letter says that God’s promises are stronger than even these pillars! And, we are the pillars, not some building. Jesus said, “I will write on you the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.”

We know that later in the book of Revelation, we hear about the “Mark of the Beast,” the number 666, being written on people. We also hear about “the new Jerusalem coming down from God like a bride adorned for her husband.” And, here we hear about how Jesus says we are already pillars of his kingdom, because he knows our works, we use the open door, we keep his word with patient endurance, and we look forward to his coming. We will hold fast to what we have so that no one may seize our crown. We are a good church for Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

[1] Alan Johnson, Revelation (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary), (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing Co., 1981), p. 451

[2] op. cit., p. 451
[3] op. cit., p. 452

[4] op.cit., p. 453

---