All Saints EP Revelation 3, 7-end EP/CF 26.11.06

In the name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

This evening we go to the last Book of the Bible to a book, which many of you are too scared to read. Hidden in the opening chapters is a story of seven very different churches. By studying them, we can learn much about our church, ourselves and others in our church. They are representative of all churches.

The book of Revelation was written as a letter and it was intended to be circulated around the churches. The seven churches mentioned are located in Asia Minor, which is modern day Turkey.

While each church is addressed individually, all seven messages are important for each church to read. At the end of each address John writes, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” So all of us need to heed what was said to all the churches.

The seven letters to the churches in Revelation depict many things. First, they depict the state of affairs of seven actual churches. Some are alright with some bad points, some are good, and some are bad. Secondly, each church is representative of a period during the church age. Thirdly, every Christian can be categorised by one of the seven churches. Finally, every present day church falls into one of these seven categories.

Therefore, the purpose of studying these churches is to look at ourselves and our church to see how we match up to Christ’s evaluation. Our passage speaks about the churches at Philadelphia and Laodicea. Therefore, I shall speak about them. It is up to you to go away and read about the five others as well.

Philadelphia was known as the city of brotherly love. It was named after a king, Attalus II who was known for loving his brother, Eumenes II - 200 B.C. This is highly appropriate for this church.

Jesus says nothing bad about this church. Every church and every member should be like this. Jesus has opened the door to them and no one can shut it. The church of Philadelphia has kept Christ’s word and not denied his name.

It is a small church, not big in numbers. We tend to think of larger churches as those Jesus wants. However, this is not the case.

Not all churches are bad, but big churches have worldly power Power brings the tendency to forget God. The church, which is likely to seek God in prayer, is the small church, which can hardly afford to pay the quota. A small church survives more because of God’s grace rather than their own ability.

Because of their faithfulness, Jesus would make the enemies of the church fall down at their feet and acknowledge that Jesus loved the church. There is a lesson here. We should all strive to live such good lives that no matter how much someone dislikes us, in their heart of hearts, they still know and understand God loves us - that we are Christian and we do what we do because we love God. This is the view taken about the Philadelphian church even by its enemies.

Also, because of the faithfulness of the Philadelphian church, God would spare them from the “hour of trial” that would fall upon the whole earth.

Now we come to the second church. Laodicea was the wealthiest city in Asia Minor. It was well known for its banking industry, medical school and textile industry. It was also known for its lack of good drinking water.

If the report on the church of Philadelphia was all good, then the report on the church of Laodicea was all bad. Jesus had nothing good to say about this church, as it is the opposite of the Philadelphian church.

Jesus calls the church lukewarm and warns that he is about to spit them out of his mouth. This refers to the quality of the drinking water in the area that the church would have been able to identify with. The church of Laodicea is the large church that I spoke about . They are wealthy. They think they can survive without any help from Christ.

Jesus calls this church wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. This fits many of today’s churches. Churches are too often seen as a business and it is the bottom line, which counts. What really matters is spiritual growth of the members, otherwise all the baptisms, growth in attendance, new members, and youth attendance will eventually go to waste and they will desert the church as quickly as they came.

If we think of the Parable of the Sower, the church of Laodicea, is planting seeds. However, they are not taking care of their plants. They ignore the plants that have a shallow root and let them wither and die. They see weeds surrounding other plants, but they do not pull out the weeds. They allow the cares of the world to choke out young Christians.

The church of Laodicea counts how many plants they have and decides they are doing a good job. However, God looks for fruit and sees that the church has failed to produce much fruit. He is ready to rebuke this church.

There is a call to repentance. Jesus stands at the door and knocks and will come in if anyone answers the door. Revelation 3,20 “Behold, I am standing at the door and knocking” is a common verse used to discuss salvation. However, this verse is really about the condemnation of the church of Laodicea.

Jesus is standing outside of the church and knocking on the door. This is not good. Jesus should not be outside but this is the situation at Laodicea. They have decided they can stand on their own two feet and do not need God.

The seven churches of Revelation depict every church and every person. Our duty is to determine what All Saints is like and what we are. If we are going to prosper and do good, we must match the church of Philadelphia not Laodicea.

If we wish to thrive, we must not compromise our Christian principals. We must stick to God’s word. We must suffer. Suffering is imposed by God on those whom he loves in order to test and strengthen their character. It must be our prayer that we will have courage and ability , so that we may share, through God’s grace and mercy, the blessings of the church of Philadelphia which still holds aloft the banner of the Christian faith. Let us remember Christ holds the key of David. He has the authority to admit us into the kingdom of God, and he also has the authority to keep us out. Let us be worthy to receive Christ’s name. He is the King of righteousness. He is our faithful and true witness.

Amen.