5th midweek Lent Date: 3/16/05 Text: Rev. 3:1-13

3/16/2005
5th midweek service in Lent
Text: Revelation 3:7-13

He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So closes each letter to the seven churches. This is an important statement, one that appears to be more fitting for the beginning of a letter from Christ, than the end. But whether it is at the beginning or the end, it tells us that it is only through our spiritual ears that we can believe in and thus trust Christ’s words to us. So let us all listen closely with our spiritual ears, so we may not just hear, but understand
The letter to Philadelphia is usually described as a missionary letter. I will explain what I mean in a moment, but first let us take a quick look at the ancient city of Philadelphia in what is modern day Turkey. It is located just 30 miles southeast of Sardis. It is an important city because it lies at the head of a long valley extending to the sea. It is known as “The gateway to the East.” Unfortunately this entire region lays just south of a great volcanic plain, and thus is subject to earthquakes. Philadelphia along with twelve other cities was leveled by an earthquake in 17 A.D.
Since this city was considered by the ancients to be the doorway to the East, the imagery of keys and doors would be very meaningful to them. It was the custom for centuries, for the rich to have a trusted servant or slave in charge of the doors to the house and storage areas. He who held the keys had the real power, for no one could go through a door unless the doorkeeper let the person in. To be in charge of the keys was to have power, at times absolute power.
Verse 7 of our reading is a quote from Isaiah 22:22, where the Lord is telling the chief steward of Hezekiah. “I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.”
This meant that the steward was directed to exercise complete control of the household of the king. As possessor of the “key of David” only he could open locked doors, and no one else could lock the doors he opened.
Jesus uses the words of Isaiah to proclaim that he is over the household of God, and that he alone has the authority to control entrance into it. He earned this authority of who enters heaven by his death and resurrection. His open, empty tomb shows us his authority over death. For those who believe in him as their Savior he has shut forever the door to eternal death, that is the second death, when the body and soul of the unbeliever are reunited and sent to eternal damnation.
The Gospel message of this text is that Jesus has not only opened the door to heaven but that he has also opened another door for the Philadelphian Christians. This “open door” represents opportunities for bringing the message of Christ’s victory, his kingship to others. Paul uses a similar expression in 1 Corinthians 16:7-9, where he is writing to the congregation at Corinth, “I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. 8 But I will stay on at Ephesus until Pentecost, 9 because a great door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many who oppose me.”
When Christ opens a door of opportunity for Christians he expected his people to go through it and make the most of those opportunities. God expects his followers to always take advantage of opportunities which he had set up in advance for them to do. If the opportunity is missed or ignored, he might close the door.
It appears that the Christians of Philadelphia had recognized the open door and had gone through it to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ. They were proclaiming the Gospel but not to the fullest extent God wanted them to, for it is the Lord’s desire that all hear the Good News.
Part of their problem might have been the Jews who were causing them much suffering and maybe even persecuting them, for you need to remember that the Christians did not voluntarily leave the synagogues. They only left after they were driven out by the religious leaders of the time.
In verse 9 Christ speaks harshly of the Jewish people who had not accepted him as their Messiah. They had forfeited their membership in the covenant with Abraham and his descendents and now belonged to the synagogue of Satan, for anything that is not for Christ is against him.
The true children of Abraham, the true Israel, were those Jews and Gentiles who accepted Jesus as their Messiah. This of course brought on the persecution they were suffering, but Christ tells us that the Christians there still remained faithful in their witness of the message and their Lord.
Because of that faithfulness Christ promised that their enemies from the synagogue would be judged and he would make them fall down at the Christians feet. It is not known if this was to be a literal falling down at their feet, or a symbolic falling. It is probably symbolic, for we are told that all people, even non-believers at the last judgment would kneel before Christ, acknowledging his Godhood.
Christ did not just stop there, for he continues on giving them another promise, a promise that he would defend them during their period of trial. No matter how much suffering and persecution the congregation might experience the Lord will see his people through that time of affliction.
As if those promises are not enough he gives them even greater promises, for the letter concludes with two more promises. The first being, “I am coming quickly”, the time is near. Be about your business, for time is running short. Quickly finish the mission, for it will not be long now.
Then he gives them his final promise of victory with the words, “I will place him as a pillar in the temple of my God.” Each believer in Christ will be assured that they are a member of God’s temple, the New Jerusalem, the place of perfect everlasting life with God in the new heaven and earth.
What this letter means to us today is that one’s citizenship in the new Jerusalem is confirmed by the name of God, being written upon each child of God. This takes place in Holy Baptism, where the name of God is conferred upon the person being baptized.
It means that you are guaranteed a place in heaven, for the key to heaven is Jesus and his cross. You can now stand before God without fear, for you have been made holy by his precious blood shed for you.
It also means that you will not lose the crown you have received, for you have power, the power of Jesus’ name. The world might think that you are weak. You might even think you are weak when you will fall into sin. You might suffer and grow faint of the spiritual battles waged against you, but remember the name of Jesus Christ, for his name always refers to his character.
Jesus Christ is holy, perfect, and loves you with a love that we as humans cannot even begin to grasp. That is why, for example, we can know that our prayers are being answered when we pray in Christ’s name, for knowing his character, his holiness, his perfection, his love, assures us that when we pray for the things that are in accord with his divine will we will receive them.
Of all the letters to the 7 congregations this one gives us the most assurance that despite our weaknesses we will make it through life, for Christ will give us the strength we need to run the race. (Read from page 49 of the daily devotions) For the Lord defines the lack of strength as an opportunity for his word to work its power. God’s Words make us strong. Our weaknesses are our sinfulness. God’s forgiveness brings us hope and strength in the midst of this fallen and weak world. Christ brings resurrection in the face of death. It that resurrection power that God pours out though us as we take his Word to our family, friends, and business associates. That same power that raised Christ from the dead pulls us out of our valleys, through our challenges, and creates in us perseverance and faithfulness. Let us close with a prayer.
God almighty, omnipotent Lord, you are far more capable than I. Fill me with your resurrection power to accomplish whatever is your will. Amen

5th Sunday in Lent 3/13/05 Text: John 11 Title: Jesus Wept

3/13/2005
Text: John 11
Title: Jesus Wept

Please join me in prayer. Eternal God, pour out your Spirit upon us that we might be aware of your presence in our midst, that we might be attentive to your Word, and that we might be faithful always to your way, through Jesus Christ our Lord we pray. Amen
Have you ever heard the old saying, “Where there is life there is hope”? That saying implies that where there is no life, there is no hope. That might hold true for non-Christians, but for Christians, it is just the opposite, for where there is death there is hope.
I think that we as Christians, also struggle with that concept, especially those of us who have had loved ones die. Too often we do not see any hope as we look at our loved one lying in the casket. Oh, we talk about the hope that we have for the resurrection, but our pain is still there, the hope for our future appears dim, and quite often we cry out to God, “Why God, why did you not heal my loved one? Why did you let my loved one die?”
That is exactly what we are hearing from Martha and Mary today as they respond to Jesus’ presence. “Lord”, each one of them said to Jesus, "If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” In other words, Jesus, you must not have really cared, for you told us you were coming and you did not show up for four days and now our brother is dead.
There is no doubt that they were both disappointed with him and probably angry, but they still had faith in him, for we read in verse 22, Martha’s confession, “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." They believed he was the Son of God; the problem was that Jesus had not acted the way they thought he should have and when he should have.
Not only did Mary and Martha not get the reason for Jesus being there that day, but Jesus’ disciples, and all of those gathered there that day did not get it either. Jesus did not come to raise Lazarus from the tomb to prove his friendship, or to reward the loyalty of those close to him. He came to show them that he was there obeying the will of his father in heaven. He was giving them in a sense, a preview of his own death and resurrection. It was about all those things and they just did not get it. That is why Jesus wept.
I am not saying that Jesus did not feel sorrow for those gathered around that grave that day. I am sure he did, but why would he weep when he knew that he was going to bring Lazarus back to life? Why would he weep when he knew that the sisters would be overjoyed when he called their brother from the grave?
No, there had to be another reason for his weeping, a deeper reason, so I did a word study on the word “wept” and its different forms. I found that the word “wept” or “weeping” is found 253 times in the Bible. All but two of those times are used in the sense of an expression of sadness, shown by tears.
What was interesting was that in one of the two instances where it had a different meaning than an expression of sadness, shown by tears, was in the sentence “Jesus wept” that is in our text today. That particular Greek word that our Bible translates as “wept” is really a type of sorrow that twists one’s emotions so much that it almost kills you, the type of emotional or spiritual pain that is reminiscent of the type of sorrow Jesus felt at the Garden of Gethsemane.
He wept because they did not get it. What was he going to have to do? How many miracles was it going to take? How many times would he have to heal someone? How many sins did he have to publicly forgive? How much more would he have to do? When would they learn to trust in him? So Jesus gave them the ultimate proof of his divinity, he called Lazarus out of the grave and he came out alive and well.
Before I go on, I think it is important to know a little about why John makes the point of Lazarus being dead for four days. It seems like from time to time, there had been instances when a person had gone into a deep coma, and thinking they had died, they were put into a tomb, only to have them revive later. To make sure this did not happen, the religious leaders had come up with the four day rule. If the person had not revived by the fourth day, they were considered officially dead.
John makes the point then that Lazarus was really dead and not just in a coma. He wanted his readers to know that Jesus had really brought a dead man back to life. You would think that Lazarus’ coming back to life, would put an end to the unbelief surrounding Jesus, wouldn’t you? We are told that many did believe in him, but many others did not, and for one group in particular it was the official start of the plan to put Jesus to death.
Each time I have read this text, I have always wondered why in the world anyone would want to put someone to death who could bring people back to life. It does not make any sense, for at the very least you would think they would like to have him around in case a loved one died, but that does not seem to even be in the picture. They wanted him dead because Jesus was not behaving the way they thought he should be, for raising people from the dead did not fit into their world view and they did not like it. He was going to have to die and that was it.
The question for us today really comes down to this. Do we get it? Or, are we so wrapped up in our own personal worldview, the worldview that says that if it cannot be proven by science or human reason, it cannot be true, that we cannot see Jesus at work in our own lives?
You see the current worldview that so many people think frees them, actually restricts what they think can and cannot be, for it confines their notions of who in charge and what is going on in the world. You have a Jesus enter that kind of world and raise someone from the dead or do a miraculous healing, and it blows their mind, so they reject him, so that they can remain in their safe, fixed, secure little world.
I do not know how many of you know it, but as part of our ministry we have several Alcoholics Anonymous groups meeting in our building every week. This has given me an opportunity to visit with some of those attending their meetings. Every once in awhile I get to share the Good News of Jesus with one of them, and I thank God for that.
One thing that I have found out from talking to them is that when a person is on the wagon, that is, not using alcohol or drugs, they often develop another problem. That problem is they have a new life. For when you are drinking or doing drugs, you do not have to think about what to do with your life. The bottle or drug tells you every move to make.
But, when you get your life back, well, the ball is back in your court, and that can be very frightening. Many find that it seems better to keep on drinking or doing drugs rather than to change to their new life. It is just too scary to go that way, to be free of the drugs or alcohol.
I have shared this with you this morning, because I think that there are many Christians who have in a sense, the same problem that an alcoholic or drug user has when they try to go on the wagon, for you see it can be very scary to have Jesus come to your tomb of self reliance, and call out your name so he can free you from that tomb where you live, freeing you of all the sin that binds you up, thus giving you a new life, one that is free to live in his service.
Oh, some might come part-way out of their tomb, but they will always have one hand on the doorway so that they can duck back inside if Jesus asks too much of them.
You see, that is the problem. They know Jesus, they believe in Jesus, but they really can not trust in Jesus. They keep hearing his voice calling, “Come out, come out. Come completely out of that tomb and let me free you of all those past sins, grudges, hurts, and whatever else is still binding you up, keeping you from living the life I want you to live. Come out, for you cannot do it on your own. Listen to me, for I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, whoever believes in me will be saved and have eternal life. Come out and live. Trust me, for I am God!”
It is my prayer this morning that if there are any of you here that still have one hand on your tomb door, that you will let go, for those things you trust in are all dead things that cannot bring you real peace. Trust in Jesus enough to let go and step away, so that you can live your life free of guilt and condemnation.
We have a mighty God, a God that died for each of you, so you can trust in him. He will keep his word, he is with you, even when you do not feel like he is, for our God is a God of compassion and he has promised all that believe in him that he will raise their bodies from the grave to eternal life. We have hope. What could be better than that? Amen