You Are the Ones I Love
“Look, I will force those who belong to Satan’s synagogue—those liars who say they are Jews but are not—to come and bow down at your feet. They will acknowledge that you are the ones I love.” -Revelation 3:9, NLT
“The Lord loved them! They needed to hear that. For a church undergoing extreme difficulty, such a statement was the most personal and precious encouragement they could seek.” -Barnard and Quick
“Every small church in a difficult area of ministry will find this letter encouraging. Every Christian uncertain about his or her gifts and place in the church as a whole will be comforted. The basic message is profound: God is more interested in faithfulness than success.” – Grant R. Osborne
As the pastor of a small church, it is so encouraging to study the letter to the church at Philadelphia. As with each letter, some points in the letter parallel other church letters and then some stand out unique to a unique family of faith. Striking in this regard is the way that the partnership between Jesus and this small but faithful church is brought front and center. While we can say this is true of every church that has ever been about the business of seeing the Kingdom of God grow, it had to be reassuring to the faithful at Philly and ought to be encouraging to us. We are small but, God is busy at work in the church doing His will in and through us. Our size is not a negative factor in His work. Afterall, He’s the one holding open the door, our job is simply to walk in faithful obedience through it. Aside from this unique element, the other one which sticks out and on which I didn’t take time to comment in the message yesterday is the end of verse 9, “…that you are the ones I love.” This will be the acknowledgement of the Jews at the end but, in stating it, Jesus reminds the believers at Philadelphia of His love for them. He loves them. Not a future version of them, or a bigger church version of them, or a zoomed out so-the-blemishes-don’t-show, version of them, He loves them. He knows them and He loves them. And that is powerful encouragement. I often call to mind the fact that God loved me before He saved me. I’ll admit I must do a better job of remembering that He loves me still. Jesus loves His church. Genuinely, deeply, and presently, Jesus loves the church. To be a small church can be a challenge, especially when unlike Jesus, the current metric for church is focused on ‘success’ more than it is on faithfulness. But the letter to Philadelphia reminds us that Jesus loves and partners with churches of all sizes. Let that be an encouragement to you today!