Week 6, Spring 2008, children's teaching material

 

This week we will be looking at the letter that Christ told John told to write to the church in Philadelphia.

 

Suggested activity:   Revisit the maps, and identify where Philadelphia (modern day Alashehir) is located.

Look for Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira and Sardis.

Re-stress that all of John's letters were written to real communities of Christians, in real places on earth. People may still worship in the very same places today.

 

                                   

 

We’re told in v.8 that the church in Philadelphia had ‘little strength’. Philadelphia was on the edge of a great volcanic area, and earthquakes were quite frequent, so it’s not surprising it wasn’t a huge city! The church itself was a small fellowship, which hadn’t yet made an impact on the people around them.

Yet, despite being small in number, and with ‘little power’, they had remained faithful in keeping Christ’s word, and not denying His name. From this we can assume they were either being tested by persecution (like Smyrna) or pressured by peers (like Pergamum and Thyatira), but had held firm.

 

It is often easy to assume that smaller people (or smaller communities – like small schools, churches or villages) have ‘little power’, and so cannot make a difference to the things around them. This is not the case!

Suggested Story:     A traveller was walking along a long, deserted beach when he saw a woman in the distance who looked like she was dancing. As the traveller got closer, he could see that actually she wasn’t dancing, but was throwing things into the sea. When he got closer still, he saw that she was scooping up starfish off the sand and tossing them into the waves. Curious, he asked her what she was doing. The woman replied "When the tide goes out it leaves these starfish stranded on the beach. The sun is hot today, and so they will dry up and die before the tide comes back in, so I am throwing them back into the sea where they can live." The traveller then asked her "But this beach is miles long and there are hundreds of stranded starfish, many will die before you reach them - do you really think throwing back a few starfish is really going to make a difference?" The woman picked up a starfish and looked at it, then she threw it into the waves. "It makes a difference to this one" she said.

 

The result of the church in Philadelphia’s faithfulness, despite their size, is seen in v.8, where Christ says ‘See, I have placed before you an open door that no-one can shut.’

This ‘open door’ leads to their future, a future building God’s kingdom, of spreading the Gospel (the good news of Christ), and of serving Christ.

Effectively what Christ is saying here to the church in Philadelphia, and to us today, is that by offering faithful service to Him, no matter how small and insignificant we seem or feel, we are led to further opportunities of service in the future (through the open door).

We can make a difference!

 

In v.7, we are told that Christ ‘holds the key of David’.

David was the second King of Israel (his story is found between 1 Samuel 16 and 1 Kings 2 in the Old Testament), and he is the only person in the bible called David. This shows the unique place he has in scripture. There are 58 New Testament references to him, including the often used title of Jesus as ‘Son of David’. (in Matthew 1:6, he is listed in the genealogy of Jesus).

Being the holder of David’s keys is a reference to Christ being the Messiah – the heir of David’s covenant (see Psalm 89:28-37).

Holding this key, a royal key, shows Christ’s authority – with it He can open doors that no-one can shut – there is no higher authority.

 

 

What Christ places before the church of Philadelphia is an open door. If they step through this door (it is totally their choice as no-one can shut the door) then further opportunities to display God’s kingdom will be presented to them.

What is important is that it is Jesus who holds the key.

Jesus holds the key to their future.

Jesus holds the key to our own future too.

We can choose to step into whatever Christ has for our futures too.

Like the people of the church in Philadelphia, we might feel small, of little power (weak), or lacking in ability.

This doesn’t matter though – because Christ is with us. He will equip us with whatever we need to serve Him best. We just have to step through the open door – by trusting Him.

In v.9 & 10, Jesus says how He will protect the church of Philadelphia if they step through and follow Him. He will make their enemies fall at their feet and will keep them from the coming trial.

If those promises are true for the church in Philadelphia, they will be true for us too. (see v.7 – ‘these are the words of him who is holy and true.)

 

This idea of Christ presenting an open door for us – a door unlocked by the key of David – is similar to something Jesus said while he was alive on earth.

In John 10:7-9, Jesus talks about how He is the gate for the sheep.

In that time, shepherds would round their sheep up and put them in a pen, say overnight. These pens would not have a gate, just an opening for the sheep to walk through. The shepherd would then lay down in the opening – to sleep himself – therefore stopping any sheep escaping, or any predators (like wolves) entering. He would be like the gate to the pen.

In this story Jesus talks about us being the sheep, and He is our shepherd, protecting us from the predator, who He calls the ‘thief’ – the devil.

In v.9, He says ‘I am the gate, whoever enters through me will be saved.’

They will be saved from the predator – for ever.

Anybody who trusts, loves and follows Jesus will have eternal life in heaven after they die.

This was called ‘eating from the tree of life in the paradise of God’ in the letter to Ephesus (Rev 2:7), wearing the ‘crown of life’ in the letter to Smyrna (Rev 2:10), eating the hidden manna’ in the letter to Pergamum (Rev 2:17) and having our name ‘never blotted out from the book of life’ in the letter to Sardis (Rev3:5).

Entering ‘through’ Him – is like going through the open door.

Both mean Christ will be with us on the other side.

Both mean having a close relationship with Jesus, so that we know when He is calling us through the open door or gate.

 

Ask the children what they are doing currently regarding having a relationship with Jesus.

How / when do they meet or talk?

 

Having this close relationship with Jesus is vital.

Without this, how do we know when He is calling us though the open door?

How will we know what we are to do when we step through?

 

 

In v.12 of Revelation 3 (today’s reading), we see what Jesus promises those who overcome.

He uses this term ‘overcoming’ a lot in the letters to the churches in Revelation.

This is those who overcome the testing of the devil.

This is those who overcome the peer pressure.

This is those who stay faithful to God, no matter what.

Here He says ‘him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the temple of my God.’ ‘I will write on him the name of my God’.

In Philadelphia there were many temples. Often these old temples had lots of pillars – think of the old ruins we see in Greece and Turkey today, like the Pathenon on the Acropolis in Athens. (Maybe bring some pictures).

When a man served the state well, the elders of the city would build a new pillar into a temple to commemorate him. His name would then be written on the pillar, so people for generations afterwards would remember what he had done.

Today, here in Britain, you sometimes see round blue plaques on buildings – especially somewhere like London. In a similar way, these plaques contain the name of somebody (sometimes famous) who had done something important in that place. It’s a way we can remember what they did.

(If you go across the road from SMB, into Oaten Hill – past the old post office, and on to the New Dover Road junction you will see a new tall building on your right (where Court’s furniture store used to be, opposite Blockbuster). There is a tree in the pavement there, and a stone (not a blue plaque) in the new building which mentions a person who contributed a lot to the locality during their life. The tree was planted by her.)

Jesus promises to make us a pillar in the temple of God.

Not a literal concrete pillar, but like a pillar holds up the whole structure of a building, so we will be integral parts of God’s temple – heaven. We will have God’s name written on us – we belong to him, nobody else.

 

Suggested activity:    Ask the children to draw a fancy temple, with lots of pillars.

 

We can be pillars here and now too.

At SMB.

A church is a group of people, not the building. The building is simply where the people meet to worship God.

Without us, there would be no church.

We can become important ‘pillars’ of the church, by serving the community.

Without the volunteers who help at services and through the week – people who are pillars of the church – we would not be able to exist as we do today.

You can become a pillar of SMB – or of your cluster.

I’m sure there’s some way you can serve, and make a difference – just like the lady with the starfish.!