Revelation: The Church at Philadelphia
“The Small and Faithful Church”

Heard the term ‘pillar of the church’ or ‘pillar of the community’? What does it mean?
In every congregation we have those who are pillars of the church - those who can be depended upon to keep things going. When volunteers are needed for something crazy the preacher thought up, they volunteer; when chicken needs frying, they are at the stove; when something needs repaired, they get our their hammers; when money runs short, they dig deep to get the bills paid. These ‘pillars’ do about whatever they are asked to do. And in small churches like ours, you all qualify as ‘pillars’ because it takes all of us, working together, to sustain these churches God has established in our communities.
Have you ever wondered how the designation ‘pillars of the church’ or ‘pillars of the community’ came about? Centuries ago, there was a custom in Asia Minor - the location of all of these churches we have been looking at in Revelation. When a priest or a leader in the community died, a pillar with both his name and his families’ name inscribed on it was erected to honor him and placed in the temple where he served or on a public building. This person who had given their time and effort to the work of the church or the community literally became a pillar in recognition of their dedication and service.
We continue our study of the churches of Revelation. We have looked at Ephesus which was a doctrinally correct church that needed to work on loving one another, we looked at Smyrna which was complimented on their perseverance in the face of persecution, Pergamum was the church that was trying to adapt to the culture, Thyatira which had great mission and service but was listening to false teachers. The church at Sardis was a church that needed to work on their spirituality. Today we look at the church at Philadelphia - a small church. The church that is most like us.
There are a few things that have stuck with me since elementary school and one was the meaning of the name ‘Philadelphia’ because of the Philadelphia we have in PA. And that meaning was ………. Right, ‘brotherly love’ and that name had the same meaning in ancient Turkey! The city was founded by Attalus II. He had a brother Eumenes whom he loved more than anything - so he named the city he founded Philadelphia to honor the love he had for his brother!
There is a little band of Christians in that city, not very powerful or influential. In fact they regularly had trouble with their Jewish neighbors as well as the Romans who demanded that everyone worship Caesar. They suffered socially, economically and politically because of their allegiance to Jesus Christ. But they hung in there, put up with all their enemies could throw at them and remained steadfast in their loyalty to the church of Jesus Christ. Someone has wisely said, “Life is a grindstone: whether it grinds you down or polishes you up depends on what you are made of.” Well, these Christians in Philadelphia were apparently made of the best material around. This was the congregation that virtually everyone would be thought of as a pillar of the church. Philadelphia was a church just like you are.
Over the course of the last couple years, I have had on 4 occasions to speak in various places about the joys of small churches. In this presbytery, in WV Presbytery but I also had the privilege of addressing Holston Presbytery in TN. What a privilege to be able to ‘brag’ on the commitment of a small church. You really need to know how unique you are in your willingness to answer the call of God to serve in your communities. While we need to be careful of that word ‘proud’ but you should be ‘proud’ of what you have been able to accomplish - because as a small church what we know is that it is not ‘us’, because we couldn’t do these things on our own, God working through us that what we are able to do what is accomplished. You have figured out that through God’s faithfulness we are able to accomplish great things in our communities. And I’m here to tell you that I hear so often from churches much larger than we are “Oh, we can’t do anything. There just isn’t enough of us or we don’t have or we aren’t able because……” Every now and then you need to hear what you and God together have been able to accomplish.
It recalls the words to us God said to Moses and the Hebrews: In Deuteronomy 7: The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. Think about what God is saying here. God did not put you together as a congregation so you could say - “Look how many of us there is” but God put you together so you could say “Even though there may not be a lot of us, with God’s help and our trust in him, we can do amazing things.” All it takes is a love for God, a love for one another, and a willingness to listen for God’s guidance and the work and mission he puts in front of us.
Sometimes it takes stopping and taking a step back and just spending time remembering those things in the past you have been able to do - and not to lament that ‘we don’t have enough people to do that anymore’ or to think ‘those opportunities are gone’’ - but to say “God helped us do those things” so surely God will help us as we move forward.
The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But just because you are the ‘the fewest’ doesn’t mean you are the lowest - but you are high in the esteem of God for it is God that helps us see we are exactly as God wants us to be and if we remember that - then we can accomplish much more than we ever thought possible.
What you have figured out is that you are a group of rock solid pillars who realize that we all need one another in order to do the work God has given us. Every one of us realizes how important his or her participation really is; each one of us knows that if you miss worship, your absence will be felt (and since everyone always sits in the same place it is easy to pick out when you are not there!!!), each one knows that if they do not get their offering in each week, the amount will be missed as bills are paid. Every one knows that if they don’t fulfill their ‘assignments’ as we put together our missions, then there will be a hole in what needs to be done. Everyone of you is a pillar because in small churches there is no place to hide - our success depends on everyone pitching in in one way or another.
There is no question of the ways you all have honored God n the ministries that you have carried out. Honored God even more than large churches who have the resources and the people to accomplished great things - but look what we show people we can do when we rely on God and one another.
We, like the church in Philadelphia, have shown what is possible in the name of God.
And Jesus says in this letter to the church in Philadelphia and to us - because you have been willing to be the pillars of the church, I will make you pillars in heaven!
It is hard sometimes. We get tired and we get frustrated and we worry about where the time or the money or the people will come from - and yet our ministries in the community continue and they grow and we can feel the blessing of God as we sacrificially work for him. Amen.