Philadelphia: It's Not About The Size of the Engine - Revelation 3:7-13
If we watched or read the news the week after the Super Bowl we encountered the most amazing story. It was not a story of some amazing play during the football game, or even of some kind act by one of the players for a fan. In fact the only connection to the football game was that some involved in the story were watching the game when it happened. It is the story about Averie, Abel, and Jamie making a 13 mile journey to their new home when Jamie, who was driving, hit a patch of ice. Their truck rolled multiple times, knocking Jamie unconscious. When Jamie came to, she found Abel, her 20 month old son, in his seat, crying…but there was no trace of her 4 year old daughter, Averie. She feared the worse for Averie, especially once help arrived and there was still no sign of her daughter. We could understand her panic and worry, but we, because we were seeing the story after it happened, knew what was going on. Despite her young age, and small size (3 ½ feet tall and 32 pounds), Averie had managed to make her way out one of the broken windows in the truck, tunneled through snow, climbed a fence, and walked ¼ mile in foot deep snow in the 21 degree night temperatures, heading for the only light she saw…a farmhouse…her little heart and mind driven to get help for her mother and brother.[i]
We don’t know if her mother had ever read her the children’s book, The Little Engine that Could, but we can imagine that the drive in this little girl to save her family gave her the same, “I think I can” to “I know I can” attitude. We all know the story of the little engine, a small engine that accepted a job that bigger trains refused. The little train was determined, despite the obstacle of a gigantic hill, to get that load home. Interestingly enough, as we consider the church of Philadelphia, the oldest origins of the story that became The Little Engine That Could, go back 105 years to a brief version of the story in Sunday School literature.[ii]
Moving from Averie’s heroic trek and the determined delivery of the little blue engine, we return to our journey. As we are making our way through Revelation for the first half of this year, we have journey from church to church over the last six weeks. We have moved from Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, and here, in our next to the last church, we come to Philadelphia. No, we have not crossed the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean to arrive in Pennsylvania, but we have traveled southeast of Sardis, deeper into Asia Minor (or modern-day Turkey) to arrive in Philadelphia. We remember last week we encountered the harsh message to the church in Sardis…a message from Jesus to the angel of the church in Sardis, and to Sardis itself, in which we had to look hard to find any word of commendation. Let’s see how Philadelphia fares in the eyes of Jesus as we consider the template through which each of these letters seems to fit.
We begin with the address: “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 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….” Ephesus encountered the one who stood among the seven lampstands. Smyrna encountered the one who was the first and the last. Pergamum found itself hearing from one with the sharp two-edged sword. Thyatira is addressed by the one who has eyes like a flame of fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. And Sardis is faced by the one who has the seven spirits and seven stars. Here, we have to look a little closer to find the connection to 1:12-20…the connection is in the keys…Here in Philadelphia, Jesus is the one who holds the key of David, a continued affirmation of Jesus being the Messiah from the line of David, and in chapter one Jesus identifies himself as the one who holds the keys of Death and the place of death.
Imagine the power of those words, my brothers and sisters, as those in Philadelphia heard them in the midst of their persecution, and for us, in all our encounters. Christ is the one who holds the keys that determines life and death and where we spend eternity…and if Jesus, the Messiah, opens the doors of life for us, no one can shut that door, no one can close it, no one can keep us from that promise…and if Jesus closes the door to darkness, death, and separation from God, so that we never encounter it in eternity, then no one can open us and make us face that hell. Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, is the One who is in control. Where Sardis encountered warning and condemnation in their address…the words of hope for Philadelphia begin in this address.
As we move from the address to the next part of the letter, we find that we have moved back into the regular form as found in the letters prior to Sardis. We come to a very extended commendation: “I know your works. Look 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. I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but are lying—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 of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.”
Jesus begins by saying, “Look I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut.” This calls immediately back to the address and the promise that Christ is the One who is in control…that it does not matter what others may do to them, they cannot close the door that Christ has opened.
Jesus continues, “I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.” Here we find the connection between Philadelphia and Averie and the little blue engine. It is not about their size, but about their determination and faithfulness…for Averie it was faithfulness and determination to save her family…for the little blue engine it was faithfulness and determination to deliver his load…for Philadelphia it was faithfulness and determination to be true to Christ, regardless of their size…regardless of how hopeless things may have seemed…regardless of what others may have said against them.
Averie could have decided she was too small and too insigingicant to do anything, could have looked at the darkness and the snow and simply laid down and died.
The little blue engine could have said that he was too small to carry that big load, and never attempted anything big, and eventually end up being a forgotten engine, rusting away, in a railyard somewhere.
The church in Philadelphia could have reflected on the words and commandments of Christ, to, as we reflected on in the other churches, Christ calls us to “love God, love others, and make disciples.” Being a small church, they could have said to themselves, “We aren’t big enough to do anything like that. We don’t have the money, we don’t have the people, we’ll just be good at taking care of ourselves.” Yet, those in Philadelphia did not do that, they remained faithful to the Christ’s Word and went about his work…despite their weaknesses, they were praised for doing what they were able to do.
You know, it is usually good when we have little power, when we are weak, because it reminds us of who has the power, and who is able to do great things through us. We are reminded of Paul’s words: “Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”[iii] It is in our weakness that we are reminded that we are in the need of grace, that we are in the need of God, that we cannot do it alone, but that we need God’s divine presence to enable us to do what we do. We are not strong men (or women), we are dependent children of God.
So Philadelphia, despite their small size, and knowing their dependence on God, continued on: “loving God, loving others, and making disciples.” In their efforts, they encounter the same difficulty that the folks in Smyrna encountered…they have a run in with the folks that are part of the synagogue of Satan. Remember, this is not a slam or put down of any Jewish group…and we do not know whether these were folks claiming to be Jews, or Messianic Jews who were those who claimed Christ as Messiah…but what we discussed before, that those who John says are of the synagogue of Satan, are those who claim to be God’s people, but are not…here John says, “they claim to be God’s people, but they are not, they are lying, they are of the synagogue of Satan, the “father of lies.” We don’t know what the trouble was, but maybe these folks kept telling the church, “you’re too small, you’re too weak, just give up, surrender to the emperor worship, there’s nothing you can do…don’t worry about making disciples here, you don’t have the resources.” They could have been the naysayers…we know those folks…we encounter them everywhere, even in the church, the folks that say we cannot do it, that we’re not good enough, not strong enough, don’t know enough, don’t have enough resources.
If this was the case, then Philadelphia did not heed their lies, they remained faithful. Why should we remain faithful in the midst of the realization that maybe something is beyond what we are told is our ability. First is to remember what we mentioned just moments ago, that where we are weak, He is strong. The second is to remember if we are doing the will of God, then nothing is going to limit us and nothing is going to get in our way…it will be like encountering an open door that no one is able to shut.
Remember the story of when Peter and the rest of the apostles had been arrested for teaching in Jesus’ name in Jerusalem…saying that Jesus was the Messiah. The Jewish religious Council had told them to stop. Peter said very bluntly, “We must obey God rather than human authority.” Then a little while later, one of the most respected of the Pharisees, a member of the council, stood up and, after dismissing everyone but the Council, said, “…I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them—in that case you may even be found fighting against God!”[iv] “…if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them….” If it is of God, it will be “…an open door, which no one is able to shut.”
Jesus says, you know those folks who have claimed to be my people and who are not…those who have tried to shut you down…there will come a day when they are going to know that I have claimed you and that I have favored you…they will “come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you.”
Jesus continues, “Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth.” Note, this does not say, “I am going to take you out of the world so that you won’t have to endure the trial”…it doesn’t say, “you will be whisked away before any tribulation comes,” it simply says, “I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world….” Jesus is saying, “because you have faithfully endured so much already, I will make sure that you will not have to go through what everyone else is going through…you’ve had enough.”
As we continue through this letter, moving to the point of correction or condemnation, we find that, like Smyrna, Philadelphia is not corrected…Jesus does not find fault with this church. Jesus, like he does with Smyrna, simply offers them a warning, or even a word of encouragement: “I am coming soon; hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown.” Jesus is promising that God will intervene soon…that it will not be much longer that they have to continue to endure…remember this was written to give people under the Roman Empire hope…they needed to know that their troubles were not going to last much longer…Jesus is coming soon. Jesus tells them to “hold fast to what you have, so that no one can seize your crown.” Jesus tells the folks in Philadelphia in the midst of their persecution, Jesus tell us in the midst of everything we face…hold fast…keep the faith…don’t give up…don’t let anyone steal your crown…don’t let anyone take the promise of eternal life in the very presence of God away from you…not that they can rip it away, but that they can cause you to doubt, to give up, to walk away…. “Jesus says, hold on…keep walking through that snow…keep climbing that hill.”
Why do we keep treading through the snow, why do we keep climbing that hill…it is because we see the top of the hill…it is because we see the light in the farm house…it is because Jesus has shared with those in Philadelphia and with all that can hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches that, “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.”
The promise…what a promise…what hope is offered here…if God’s people conquer…if they hold fast…then they/then we will be found in the temple of God…we will become part of the very place of worshipping God, we will become part of the temple of God…and never leave it again, never find ourselves back in the darkness and among those things that threaten us now. Jesus tells us that we will find that, while those who give in receive the mark of the empire, the mark of the world, the name that will be written on us is the very name of God…that we will be claimed by God, belong to God, and forever be connected to God…and that nothing can separate us from our God…
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…Amen.
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