Packing for Philly
When you mention moving to
people you get a wide range of responses.
As Ginger I have prepped to move here to Michigan we have talked with
friends and family from North Carolina and Tennessee and of course some of you
here. I have discovered that most
people loathe the thought of having to move. Most people would rather take a beating than have to pack
their things and move.
What is it about moving
that torques people so much? I
have actually given quite a bit of thought to this over the past several weeks
if you can believe that. As I have
mulled this over and over and over I have come up with a few factors that I
think can sum it up.
The first factor that I
have identified is the fear of change.
As we are all aware, humans are creatures of habit. We like things to stay relatively
routine from day-to-day. Yes, we
like to do various things but the older we get the more we tend to like to follow
our daily regiment and we don't really care to change things up a whole lot. There is just something that feels
secure about doing what has worked in the past. When we think of having to upset the flow of life and make
major changes to our daily pattern then it tends to cause anxiety whether we
are excited about the change or not.
For most people this fear does not cripple us or cause us to not be able
to function, but it brings in stress that we would assume do without.
Another factor I have
identified is the fear of separation.
I believe that we were created for relationships. We have an innate desire to be with
other people. Yes, there are times
when we want everyone to just go away so we can clear our minds or just relax,
but after that time has passed we want to be with those who bring us comfort
and joy in our lives. When we have
to move sometimes it means leaving behind those whom we hold dearest to our
hearts. We have to make new
friends and we have to learn new people and faces all over again. For some of us this is very fun and
exciting. For others it scares
them to death to think of having to make all new friends. Let's be honest with one another,
long-distance relationships even among the closest of friends are difficult at
best. Today with e-mail and text
messaging we can stay in touch a lot easier but it is something we have to work
at, and many people don't want to work that hard to maintain things and over
time the relationship fades.
A third factor is the fear
of financial loss. It takes a lot
of money to move. Not only do you
have to rent a truck and buy fuel for it, but you have to come up with money
for deposits for utilities and the new house. This can be a huge financial burden for many of us. Sadly, most of us do not have three
months of income in savings, and when we have to move it may take every dime we
have to pull it off. Sometimes
moving means going to an area that has a much higher cost of living, and
although we may take a position that pays more it may take a much greater
percentage of that income to live in the area. If we are not very careful after a move we can get in a
financial bind and bring in a lot of stress that we would rather live without.
When you combine these
three independent stress factors you have a recipe for a potentially depressed
or at the very least stressed individual or family. We have to have a refuge where we can feel safe to lay bare
our burdens. We need someone we
can count on to restore peace to our lives. Of course as your pastor I would tell you that Jesus is the
only One capable of providing the stability that we need. But what many of us may find ironic is
that Jesus is the One who is calling us to move. It is Jesus who wants us to pack our bags and move to
Philly, but the same Jesus who calls us to move on spiritually is the same One
who will empower us to do all that He has called us to do.
There is a really neat
parallel that pops up when we consider making spiritual moves. Many of us are content with where we
are spiritually. Many of us are
satisfied with the status quo of
doing "church" as usual, but that is not good enough.
Turn with me if you will to
Revelation chapter 3. It is here
that we will see that Jesus wants us to flee from our comfort zone and from the
valley of complacency. I am not
going to take time this morning to explore each facet of the messages to the
churches in Philadelphia or Laodicea, but I want to hit a few highlights, if
you will, of the overall messages.
I am going to approach this
passage in reverse order. I want
us to first look at the message to Laodicea.
**Read Revelation 3:14-19**
Here we find that the Lord
speaks of their deeds. He says
that they are not hot or cold in what they do. They are just sort of going with the flow. They don't want to make any waves or
upset anybody. They want to look
out over the pond of life and not see any ripples. But Jesus comes along and splashes a huge rock right in the
middle of things. He wishes they
would either get on fire for Him or leave Him altogether, but because they are
not really doing anything He wants to spew them from His mouth and send them
away.
Notice they are a people
filled with impurities.
Jesus goes on to tell them that they need to buy gold from Him that has
been tried in the fire. The gold
is symbolic of the character that Christ longs for each of them to have. He wants them to be free from the
things of this world and be willing to let go of anything that keeps them from
having close fellowship with Him.
He also wants them to buy
the eye salve that will allow them to see the wickedness of their lives. Jesus wants them to turn away from the
things that will lead their eyes astray.
Friends, this is a message
that is filled with stinging rebukes, but it is also a message of hope. Let's look closer at verse 19. Jesus says that it is those whom He
loves that He reproves and disciplines.
If He did not love them then He would not point out their
deficiencies. If He did not love
them then He would just let them go on living in their lost state of
being. But because He loved them
and because He loves us, he wants us to turn away from sin and quit playing
around with life. Jesus wanted
them and He wants us to allow God to mold their character into that image of
God's goodness and mercy that was originally woven into the very fabric of our
being.
I find it very interesting
that the message to Philadelphia came before the message to Laodicea. You need to realize that the message to
each church would have been read by the other churches. The messages were all sent out
together. We see this by simply
reading the messages as a complete literary unit, but also because that was the
practice of the day. So Laodicea
would have known about Philadelphia's message and vice versa.
When we look at the message
to Philadelphia we find that Jesus did not offer a rebuke to the believers there. In fact, Philadelphia and Smyrna were
the only two churches out of the seven that were not rebuked. The other five had something that they
needed to address and Jesus lovingly brought that to their attention.
We see that Jesus opened a
doorway of opportunity for them that no one could shut. He did this because they had a little
power. They had this little bit of
power because they kept His word and did not deny His name. The fact that they each one held fast
to the word of Jesus' perseverance also cleared them from having to endure the
hour of testing that was and is to come.
The secret of success for the church in Philadelphia was staying true to
the word of God. That sounds very
much like the early Adventist church does it not? Our church was grounded and on fire from its inception
because the people who founded this great movement were students of the Word of
God. They spent hours and hours
devouring the Scriptures.
Friends, I submit to you
today that Christ is calling each one of us to move to Philly. I think it is time that we packed our
bags and left Laodicea. We have
been lukewarm for far too long.
Does this mean that we have all been sitting back on our laurels doing
nothing? No, not at all. What I am saying is that we need to get
back to being people of the word of God who are driven to reach a dying world
for Jesus. There is always a small
percentage of people who stay on fire no matter what. I praise the Lord that those people exist, but the Lord has
not just called that small group of people to be on fire for Him. Jesus expects each of us to make a
stand for Him and not just try to maintain the status quo of doing the bare minimum to get by. Getting by does not fly when it comes
to our walk with the Lord. God
expects us to grow and to bear fruit.
Do you recall the fig tree
that Jesus and His disciples passed on their way back to Jerusalem? The tree was barren and because it bore
no fruit Jesus cursed it and it withered away. When Jesus surveys our life He expects us to also bear fruit. We will find the same end as the barren
fig tree if we fail to grow and produce fruit. One day when time is finished Jesus will say depart from me
for I do not know you if we fail to grow fro Him.
He is calling each one of
us to either get on fire for Him or to get out of the way so that someone else
can be.
I know that this seems like
an easy equation doesn't it? On
the surface each one of us would agree that we would rather have the Lord say
the things about us that He did to the church in Philadelphia than what He had
to say to Laodicea, but when it comes right down to it we don't want to take to
the necessary steps to make it happen.
Why is this? I think it
comes down to those same stress factors that we discussed earlier with a
physical move.
We have a fear of change
spiritually. Initially when we
first come to learn the truth God has for us in the SDA church we are so blown
away and we want to embrace it.
Yes, some of us take more time in making our decisions but once we have
all of our concerns addressed many of us make a decision and choose to follow
Jesus in all that He has shown us, but then it stops. Later when He calls us to maybe give up something else we
may say no to the Lord or even worse we may pretend not to hear Him. I know this happens because I have done
it myself in several areas of my life.
I am not going to get into all of that today, but suffice it to say that
I have been there and done that. I
have been afraid to make changes because I knew it meant that I had to give up
something that I liked doing or eating.
We are afraid to move out of Laodicea because we do want to make deeper
changes than we initially had to make to become and Adventist. This is even more applicable for those
who have grown up in the church because they have not had to make any make any
major changes to follow the Lord.
What about the second
factor we discussed earlier: fear of separation. This one is a bit more subtle because many of us have
friends within the church who are there to help, but for some of us it means
being separated from friends and family if we live like we know we should. I can think back to a time in my walk
where I had two sets of friends. When I was around my church friends I acted
the way I should and did and said all the right things, but when I was around
my other friends I was not exactly the model Adventist. I would maybe say things that I should
not say or tell jokes I should not tell.
I was as hypocritical as you can get. Then one day I realized that I had to stop living in both
worlds. I decided to make a stand
for my "other" group of friends. I
began to act the same way around them as I did my church friends, and before
too long they wanted to know more about my faith. I praise the Lord that out of my group of friends the Lord
used me to bring two of them into the church. But it did not happen until I allowed the Lord to help me
overcome my fear of separation.
Where there some that did not join the church and that I grew away
from? Of course. But I know that I did the right thing
by not continuing to live in two worlds.
What about fear of financial
loss? This one has never really
affected me because I have never had any money to lose, but I have known people
who were quite well off and did not want to make a commitment to the Lord
because if they kept the Sabbath they would lose their job. Instead of realizing that God owns the
cattle on a 1,000 hills and that he could provide for their needs in a myriad
of ways they have never considered, they felt that they had to stay in control
of their finances or else life would cease to exist.
I know that each of you are
not affected by each of these categories, but I dare say that there is at least
one area that you may need to work on.
Perhaps you are so set in your ways that you don't want to grow beyond
what the Lord had shown you in the past.
One area that it took Ginger and me a while to find victory was in
regards to meat. We waffled back
and forth on the issue for s few years.
But we finally got serious about it as the Lord convicted our hearts and
we took a stand for Him by His power.
Today I can honestly tell you that I do not miss meat in my diet at all.
Am I saying that each of you sitting here this morning that still eat meat is
lost? No. But I am saying that if the Lord has
put conviction in your heart to change that aspect of your life and you have
refused to submit it then you are quenching the Holy Spirit and you need to
submit it to the Lord.
That holds true in each of
these factors that we have discussed today. If there is anything in your life that is keeping you from
being as close to the Lord as you should be then you need to give that up. Maybe for you it is certain friends who
drag you down spiritually. If that
is your case then you need to be willing to cut ties with them so that you do
not allow them to case you to miss out on being with Jesus for eternity.
Friends today I want you to
be willing to say to the Lord that you are tired of living in Laodicea and that
you want to move to Philadelphia where there is a zeal for the Lord. I want you to realize that time is short
and that we need to get serious about following the Lord in every aspect of our
lives. In future messages we
will look at what it means to present ourselves to the Lord in a holy way that
is acceptable to Him. But today I
simply want us each one to come to the place where we are willing to move and
make the choices that God asks us to make.
**Appeal**