Have you ever seen a place with as many doors as this church building has! A hardware salesman would be in heaven, right here! Doors, doors, everywhere doors.
There are doors leading to the outside. Eight of them, I think.
There are doors inside, leading into the rooms. Some doors take you into one room, so that you can get to the door that takes you into another room.
There are doors that are really two doors, cut half-way up. There are doors that are very wide, but then there are doors, like this one into the choir loft, that are very small. All sorts of doors in this place.
There is one door that opens on a stairwell that most folks don’t even know is here. There is another door that is so well hidden only a few people realize it exists. And when you see what is behind it, you wish it didn’t exist! There are even doors you have to open so that you can reach the light switch to give you light when you enter the next door down the hall! What a magnificent treasure trove of doors we have, right here!
Have I been through every one of them? There are two doors I have never entered, never tried to enter, and have no desire to enter. One of these doors is a trap door that takes you to a crawl space underneath the sanctuary floor; to enter that door you have to be young and lithe, like Keith Pinder, who did ran some wires in there not long ago. As long as we have young thin men, I’ll never have to squeeze in there!
And the other door I have no intention of using is a hatch door, at the top of a ladder from the third floor, going up to the bell tower. I haven’t opened that door because as sure as I’m standing here, when that door is opened, there will be a brace of dead pigeons to deal with, and the only things worse than dead pigeons are live ones flapping in my face. So you can keep that door closed!
The church building is full of doors. All kinds of doors. There is one thing, however, that seems to be common to almost all of these doors. A custom we have about a great many of the doors in our church: they are shut and locked. Classrooms, offices, closets, the whole place gets shut down tight much of the time. I don’t remember asking for that. It just happens. Doors locked up.
Wherein lies a parable, a parable about security, spiritual security in the hour of trial.
The Lord of the church at the ancient city of Philadelphia says to His people: "These are the words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens: I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut." Spiritual security in the hour of trial.
I
Some doors lead to the outside. Yes, they are kept locked much of the time. But most of them are equipped with what is called, "panic hardware." Panic hardware lets you go out of a door any time, no matter whether the outside is locked or not. Some of our doors have panic hardware. They are always ready to let us go out, locked or not.
Notice that, as the Lord speaks to His church, the first thing on His mind is the door that leads us out. The door of opportunity.
"Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut." The door of opportunity, leading out.
I am persuaded that the most important thing we can do for spiritual renewal is to serve. If you would be revived, start with service. We’ve always known this, but somehow we got stuck in our ruts. We found ourselves going stale. We felt dissatisfaction in our spiritual lives.
But I feel something quite different now. I feel a new vitality;
I feel a growing commitment. It is reflected in something so simple as our statistics. On an average Sunday right now there are about 35 or 40 more of us here than on an average Sunday a year ago. And that’s just one measure. Something is stirring in our church.
What is happening? It’s really very simple. In the last twelve to eighteen months we have organized several ministries. We have taken the challenge and we have organized to do things for others, and that is changing us. That is reviving us. We have chosen to go out the door, where there is opportunity.
We have organized the Visitation Volunteers to go to others with a message about Christ. We have organized Reclaiming Our Youth, and right now the first young people are being assigned to some of those volunteers. We have organized a Single Parent Action Group and a Marriage Enrichment Group. We have put together the SHARE program. We are doing some things that take us out of doing church as we used to do it. We are walking through the open door of opportunity.
All of that you know and know well. But here is what I want you to see in this Scripture: when the Lord sets before us open doors of opportunity, no one can shut them. If it is God’s will that we go through an open door, then I do not believe that the naysayers and those who may oppose us will ultimately prevail. This is the Lord’s church, and if we are faithful to walk through an open door of opportunity, no one can shut it.
You see, sometimes we have stopped short of what we might become because we ran into imaginary obstacles! Imaginary opposition! It wasn’t that the city government ever told us we could not do something; it was our fear that they might tell us that stopped us! It wasn’t that the neighbors actually told us they would dislike anything we proposed to do; it was, in our minds, the fear that they might not like it that stopped us!
You know what? It’s time to use the panic hardware! It’s time to plunge forward in ministry! If you would save this church, get out of it to serve the world! If you would love this church, love it by giving it away! If you would revive your own spirit, go out and love the world. The doors of the church are always unlocked, so that we may go out! Listen to the Lord of the church, "Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut."
II
But now, on the other hand, there are some other doors which are very secure. Some doors which you not only cannot walk through easily, but which are also secured two and three different ways. This sanctuary door, for example, the way many of you come and go every Sunday. When it is closed after worship, we first set a push-button lock; we then turn a deadbolt, and top it off by pushing a latchpin into the door jamb. When that door is locked, it’s locked ...which explains why when you try to leave after everything is closed down, somebody will grumble at you!
You know why we do all of that. We do it to protect ourselves. We don’t want intrusion. We want security from theft and vandalism. We want privacy. We don’t want to be disturbed. And in a dangerous world, it’s tempting to wall ourselves off from hurt, harm, and danger.
But did you know that in our spiritual lives, despite all our security measures, we are just fooling ourselves? Did you know that real security in your life and mine comes not from locked doors? Real security comes from faithful trust in the Lord. Real security comes as a gift from Christ Himself. He says to Philadelphia, "Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming."
"I will keep you from the hour of trial". You see, we can never do enough to insulate ourselves from all of the dangers of life. We can never put ourselves into some secure cocoon to ride out all the storms. In the end, what we have to do is to trust Christ. That simple. Yes, that simple. Because real security in the hour of trial comes from within.
Margaret and I love to watch an English comedy that is broadcast on one of the public television stations. It takes place in a London department store, and it’s called, "Are You Being Served?" In a recent episode of, "Are You Being Served?” one of the staff, Mrs. Slocombe, got permission from the boss to live in the store building while her own apartment was unavailable. She and her fellow workers did their best to create a home-like atmosphere, but the best they could do for walls was to use some movable partitions, some fake walls, like stores use to display furniture or other household fittings.
And so, out there on the department store floor, they even created a front door for Mrs. Slocombe, right in the middle of one of those fake walls. Now you could easily walk around either end of this wall, but there was a door cut in the middle of it, and on that door were two locks, three chains, and a solid bar, all of which Mrs. Slocombe faithfully put into place before going to bed. Well, her co-workers, one by one, came up to visit. All of them knocked at this well-locked door, and most politely waited for her to come and undo two locks, three chains, and a solid bar. But her last visitor just couldn’t wait, and while Mrs. Slocombe labored to open two locks, three chains, and a solid bar, he just walked around the end of the wall and scared her out of a year’s growth!
You cannot keep the hour of trial locked out. No amount of hiding will do it. No amount of pretending will accomplish it. You can only live in trust that He who has brought you thus far will not leave you now. Spiritual security is a gift from Christ Himself.
I knew of a church that was suffering tremendous vandalism damage. Windows were being broken, graffiti were being written on the walls; all the security systems in the world were not sufficient. And when the insurance company canceled their policy, the pastor persuaded the trustees to take a bold step: unlock the doors. Unlock all the doors. Literally no security at all. They invited the youth of the neighborhood in for recreation and other programs, day and night; and within a month all the vandalism stopped!
You see, trusting Christ is our real security, even in the hour of trial.
"Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming."
III
So: some doors are equipped with panic hardware, so that we can quickly get out where there are opportunities to serve. The Lord sets before us an open door, which no one can shut.
And some doors are equipped with two and three security systems; but it is the Lord who protects us in the hour of trial. It is the Lord who shuts doors, which no one can open to harm us.
But now some doors are always almost never locked. Some doors swing wide to embrace us and bring us inside. Some doors need no locks, for they point to welcome. Some doors send the message, "Come in, you belong here."
The good news this morning is that whoever you are, whatever you have done, wherever you have been, there is a place where you can be at home. There is a place where you can be secure.
"If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God ... and my own name." If we conquer, if we will be faithful, there is a place where we will always be at home.
There is a place where the doors of embrace will always be open.
When I first came to this church, I noticed those huge metal covered doors we have at all of the offices. Big panels of sheet metal cover every inch of each of the doors down the corridor. To me, the impression it gives is forbidding, stern, unwelcome. If I had my preference, it would be for a door with a window in it, or at least for a warm wooden door. But we have steel covered doors, and I made up my mind that, except when I am counseling with someone, I would work with my door standing open. I am not going to be barricaded behind an iron curtain.
I don’t consider it an interruption when someone comes by and speaks to me. I don’t consider it an invasion when someone comes in and sits down. Why not? Because the place which is always welcoming is the church. The place which is always embracing is the church.
Someone even suggested that in our renovation plans we could build a hideaway office, where I could escape from the traffic. No, I don’t think so. I don’t want to escape. The church is always welcoming. The church is always embracing. The Lord says, "If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God ... and my own new name." Trust Him and you will be kept; trust Him and you will always be at home.
Spiritual security in the hour of trial. Doors. Doors open to service. Doors shut to harm and danger. Doors never locked and welcoming. Spiritual security in the hour of trial.
One day Jesus came riding, riding to the door of the city. That door flew open to Him, for He was its king. To Him all doors must open.
That week, another day, Jesus came striding, striding to the door of the Temple. There He drove out those who would exclude and make it a closed up, locked up place. To Him all doors must open.
That week, another day, Jesus came climbing, climbing to the door of an upper room, to gather with His own. For His own the door of fellowship must be open.
That week, another day, they put Him behind locked doors, in Pilate’s prison. That week, that day, they took Him to the place called Calvary, and they locked Him up behind death’s doors, behind death’s tightly locked and bolted doors. That day they shut Him behind the door no man has ever opened. They locked Him up in death. That day.
But that week, another day. Another day. A tomb with a stone rolled before its door. "If you conquer, I will write on you the name of my God ...and my own new name." To Him all doors must open.
