REVELATION 3

20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.

21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 

22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

IS JESUS KNOCKING ON THE DOOR?

This is the final letter to the seven churches and is probably the most severe. This church was rich beyond measure, but Jesus had a terrible verdict on this church.

When I came to faith this verse was used, but it doesn’t relate to salvation. Indeed, it is both an invitation and a rebuke to the church.

Why should Jesus be standing and knocking on the door of the church? Surely the handle of the church is on the outside, and doesn’t Jesus have the key?

If He had either, then surely, He wouldn’t be standing outside knocking. It is because He wanted His church to invite Him in, but sadly, like this church, many of today’s churches lock Jesus out of their lives.

Surely if someone knocks at the door of your house you let them in! So what are the reasons Jesus has to knock? Here are several:

Each of the five churches that are criticised in these chapters in Revelation have a reason for not opening the door.

The Ephesian church had left their first love. They wouldn’t open the door because they didn’t want to show Him the extent of their sin and falling away. Basically, they were ashamed to open the door. The Ephesian believers started off burning all their books of enchantment and witchcraft, but maybe this was slowly creeping into the church again? Are you afraid to open the door because you have fallen from your first love, though once you would have gladly opened the door, however now the door stays firmly shut?

A church or an individual believer doesn’t usually slam the door shut on the Lord… we close it one push at a time. It starts with the something small. Maybe you prayed for one hour per day, but now you only pray for 10 minutes. Maybe you read your bible and loved to dig into the word every day, maybe now it’s every week or maybe you read your bible just on Sunday or on bible study night. You still carry your bible, and everyone sees you with it, but do you currently read and obey it?

The church at Ephesus had everything right and they were active in sharing the gospel, they discerned error and would not tolerate false teachers and they were doctrinally sound.. yet they had one thing wrong…they had left or abandoned their first love, the flame of passion had been put out, what was once burning passion for Christ, was now only a flickering flame. 

Are you/ Am I like that?

I know that I although I love the Lord, it is not with the same passionate first love I had.

It’s like when you fall in love, your whole life is consumed with the other person, it’s the same with Jesus. When you become his, there is something radical that happens in your life, a new love.

Have things crowded out your first love?

It could even be good things such as ministry and preaching, all these things are good, but they are not the best. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, he said she had the best part. Luke 10:38-42

The church at Pergamum had a serious problem with false teachers. So why would they open the door? If you have false teachers in your church, they are not likely to answer the knocking of Jesus on the door. False teachers will never answer the door to Jesus! Why? Because they will be exposed by Jesus. False teachers will not answer the door to Jesus, they do not want their churches or their followers to learn about Jesus.

The church at Thyatira had a real problem with sexual sin, as it was rampant in that church. Let me ask you… if a church or an individual is full of sin, will it open the door? No, it will keep the door closed. Look at what Adam and Eve did after they sinned: they hid themselves. Psalm 32 says:

3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity;

   I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

Is your life or the life of your church full of sin? If it is, then you will find it very hard to open the door. You don’t want to expose your sin to the piercing stare of the Lord. You try and hide it, but Jesus sees everything and knows everything. Do you think by keeping the door closed, that you can hide your sin?

The fourth church was Sardis: the church that had a great name, and many people called it alive, but in the opinion of Jesus it was dead. How many churches say this? We are alive, but whose opinion is that?

In fact, they are dead. That is why Jesus is knocking at the door. He is trying to wake the church up, but how can dead people open a door?  Do people think you are alive? The question isn’t what people think of you, it’s what Jesus thinks of you. You need to wake up from your spiritual sleep and deadness and open the door, because Jesus is knocking.

The final church is probably the worst culprit. Why was this?

The Laodicean church had everything, so their door was closed. If you have everything in your house and a door-to-door salesman comes to your house, do you open the door to him/her?. No… because you already have everything.

So many churches today think they have everything, and they do. They have programmes, great buildings, great sound systems, great worship teams, but they lack one thing, and that is Jesus. The door is closed on Him, He knocks on the door.

Maybe you have everything, but again in whose estimation?

In all these churches, there is one remedy and it is this… REPENT.

If you have lost your first love.. you need to repent.

If you have false, teachers invading your life or life of your church.. you need to repent.

If you have sin, in any shape or form in your life, or in the life of your church.. you need to repent.

If you are dead and lifeless and need to wake up.. you need to repent.

If you think you have everything and need nothing.. then you need to repent.

But the promise to all who do truly repent and open the door to Jesus is intimate fellowship with Him. Some of us are fearful to open the door, because we are frightened to let Jesus see what is behind the door. But Jesus knows what is behind the door! He sees right through the door! He sees your heart believer, and you cannot hide anything from Him.

So repent, open the door and have intimate fellowship with your Saviour.

The church and the individual Christian need to open the door to Jesus. He must not be shut out of our lives, or out of our churches. He wants and desires for us to put Him at the centre of our lives.

Don’t leave Him knocking at the door… let Him in.

God bless you,

Keith