What Makes a Church Great? Reflections on the Church in Philadelphia. Revelation 3:7-13

On lower Broadway in Manhattan, at number 209, stands St. Paul's Chapel, part of Trinity Church's parish. On September 11, 2001, the towers fell a few hundred feet away and the little chapel, built before the Revolution, stayed standing. In the days and months that followed it became a place of rest and relief for first responders, with the Salvation Army among those serving there. In a wilderness of rubble, it was an oasis of hope.

That picture frames the question I asked in yesterday’s message, the one on this Monday morning that still begs for out clear answer: What makes a church great?

Jesus answers it in his letter to Philadelphia, a church he describes with some of the most tender words in the seven letters. By ordinary measures she was nothing special. "You have but little power," he says (3:8). Yet he sets before her something no one could take away: "I have set before you an open door." The greatness of a church is not measured by its seating capacity but by its serving and sending capacity.

A City Built on Shaky Ground

Philadelphia was beautiful and badly placed. It sat beside an active volcanic region, and the earth shook so often that people regularly packed up and fled, then crept back when the rumbling stopped. In AD 17 a great earthquake destroyed the city. Tiberius generously helped to rebuild it, and the grateful city fathers renamed it Neocaesarea, "New Caesar." The new name never stuck in everyday speech, but the idea behind it did: a new city with a new name, owing its life to an emperor's favor.

It was also called "Little Athens" for its many temples, and it had a custom of honoring its best citizens. When someone gave exemplary service or sacrifice, his name was engraved on a temple pillar as a memorial.

Now listen to what Jesus promises: "The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it. I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem... and my own new name" (3:12). A people who knew about shaking ground and fading monuments are promised a city that will never be shaken and a name no one can chisel away. They will never have to flee again.

The Key and the Door

Jesus introduces himself as "the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one will open" (3:7). That is the language of Isaiah 22, where the key of David's house is laid on the shoulder of a trusted steward. It also echoes Jesus' words in chapter 1, where he holds the keys of Death and Hades (1:18). The one who holds the key to the grave holds the key to every door.

So the open door is his to give, and it opens in two directions. It is a door into the kingdom for the people who walk through it, a gospel welcome. And it is a door of opportunity for the church, a gospel witness. Paul used the same picture more than once: "a wide door for effective work has opened to me" (1 Corinthians 16:9), "a door was opened for me in the Lord" (2 Corinthians 2:12), and he asked for prayer "that God may open to us a door for the word" (Colossians 4:3).

Little Power, Huge Opportunity

Philadelphia's strength was small, and her opposition was real. Jesus speaks of a hostile group claiming a religious standing they did not hold, and he promises a reversal: he will make them "come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you" (3:9). It is the story of Joseph's brothers all over again. The ones who dismissed him find themselves coming to the very person they once rejected, and discover that he has been working for their good all along.

He also promises, "I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world" (3:10). That does not mean Philadelphia would be spared suffering. Jesus told his disciples in this world they would have tribulation (John 16:33), and he prayed not that the Father would take them out of the world but that he would keep them from the evil one (John 17:15). To be kept from the trial is to be kept from being swept into the enemy's strategy to destroy your soul and your witness. That is a promise for the church in every age that tribulation touches.

Seeing the Need and Refusing to Do Nothing

I have been privileged to serve in a church whose founding pastor, David Nicholas, was known for a conviction that has outlived him: SRC is a church that saw the need and refused to do nothing. That legacy has to remain our commitment and become our destiny.

God has set a great open door before us. Multiplying churches, teaching the next generation, training pastors and equipping ministries, and renewing and extending our campus are all ways of asking one question: will we walk through it?

History is full of people who stood in front of an open door and did not recognize it. The story goes that in 1999 the founders of Google offered the company to Excite for under a million dollars, and the offer was declined. Blockbuster is said to have turned down a chance to buy Netflix for $50 million, calling the idea a niche business. And Ronald Wayne, a co-founder of Apple, sold his ten percent stake for $800 less than two weeks after the company was formed. In each case, the door stood open and someone judged it too small to matter.

We do not want to be that church. We want heaven to be standing-room only, and we will do whatever it takes to get the gospel to everyone we know, everywhere we go, and to plant new churches that proclaim Jesus in every nation until he comes again.

The Narrowest Door of All

There is one more door, and it matters more than any other. The open door to God's kingdom is a narrow gate, and there is only one way through it, by faith. Jesus not only opens the door, he is the door (John 10:9). The greatest opportunity before any human being has nothing to do with mergers, markets, or signing the next big act. It is the invitation set before you right now.

Like the door of Noah's ark, it will not stay open forever. One day it will close. Come into the city of God by faith in Christ, and you will dwell securely in a city that cannot be shaken.

He has the key. The door is open. Will you walk through it? And will those of us who believe in and follow Jesus, walk in his way of authentic greatness, not strutting as kings but stooping as servants to bring the gospel to all in word, deed, and sign?