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WHAT DOES HE WANT? Serie 51974
Revelation 3:14-20

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| "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. \ If anyone hears my voice and

opens the door I will come in to nin." | Every time I hear that fmmédwihesemeuee
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my memory transports me to childhood:— to Bible

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yeree.
sehool.| We sang a pretty catchy song about 4 but what I really liked was a
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flannel-graph_ visual-aide that showed a large red heart with a door on it and
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Jesus knocking. Fire were made to understand very ceheanly that Jesus wanted >

Grant We knew 7 had
come into our hearts, and although we were never“sure why, M—didntt_soemto
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mascowmetnthonbioe 1) do with gehiny Le Adavuer .
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That same idea is expressed in Holman Hunt's very popular painting that
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portrays Jesus at night, lantern held in his hand, knocking gently on the door
of a rustic cottage \ the favorite old hymn says the same thing;

| "QO Jesus, thou art standing

Outside the fast-closed door,
In lonely patience waiting
To pass the threshold o'er.

O Jesus, thou art pleading
In accents meek and low."

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#& lowély Savior seeking

It is a very attractive idea 2 most winsome sentiment:

access to human hearts. \ Unfortunately, it has very little to do with the New

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Testament \ As is often the case, the images we attach to the words are more the
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product of American pietism - or what we fondly call "old-time religion" - than

the result of honest Biblical seuiy. [ome flannel graph heart; \ the popular

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painting; \\ the hymn;simply do not do full justice to the text from which they
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received their original inspiration.

Let's look more carefully. \me text in question (scho1a, I stand at

the door and knoek"eones from the book of Revelation, easily the most perplexing

and difficult document in the Biblical me It was written by an exiled
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political prisoner by the name of Jobn.| Because he was an articulate Christian,

_eieaameiaemem, the Roman political establishment banished him to exile on the
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lonely island of Patmos,\ They, should have executed him because from exile he
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wrote a frankly political polemic against his captors - which we know as the

Book of Revelation. | In order to protect himself and the early Christian

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communiti mployed wild image and secret boli - the ristians
unities he employed wil gery ecret symbolism Christian

understood te:|the Romans did not Ever since, of course, Christians have been
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trying to squeeze their own political biases into John's symbolism. {ae various
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times in my life I've been told that the seven-headed beast in the 13th chapter

of Revelation was really Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Gyamkibaeede=euserers,
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Lee ecuemn Wingh in “a 30's tot the
Nikita Kruschav, and Mao Tse Tung. wes A is baal *
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Ghoclygric visien uss “willed Vatu gerson of EDR,
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In any case, John of Patmos began his book by using the very dramatic
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image of Christ himself dictating letters to the seven Christian churches
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located in Asia Minor} In the prologue to the letters he describes his vision
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of Christ: ls son of man, clothed with a long robe, a golden girdle round his

breast, his head and hair were white eausuimeee=weed, his eyes were like a flame of

fire,|his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace. | from his

mouth issued a sharp two-edged gvord,| and his face was like the sun shining in

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full strength" (1:13-16)

John adds the comment that when he saw this vision he fell at his feet
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as though dead. \ and reading the description we do not wonder why. line point is,

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that this i tly the image that comes to ind when I heaf the familiar
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verse about Jesus knocking at the door.\ My image is a little more serene. | But
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the Biblical text becomes even more upsetting.
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Addressing the church at Laodicea, in Chapter 3, he says, I know

your works: \You are neither hot nor cold \ Would that you were cold or pot \ so

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because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew _you out of my

mouth,...rhose whom I love, I reprove and mewcen,_\

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And then -- after all that | "Behold, I stand at the door and

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rect) te anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and
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eat with him and he with me." |on second thought, it's no wonder that I didn't

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get the whole picture in Bible School.\ That's pretty strong medicine.

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But let's pursue it a bit by filling in a little moyef the background.

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The issue in the Laodicean_ church was the same issue_that got John of Patmos in
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hot water in the first places nanet Roman insistance that its subjects ered L a:
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; a simple matter of patriotisn.\ The Christians could not do
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it and their refusal was regarded as treasonous civil disobedience. \ re appears

that the people of Laodicea were trying to play it both ways; | exying desperately
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to remain neutral.| Their lukewarmness, which was so offensive to John of Patmos,
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was precisely in their refusal to be what they claimed to be -- followers of
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Jesus Christ:\to take a controversial stand regardless of the risk to security
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and well-being.
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Three preliminary conclusions may be drawn at this point.| The words --
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"Behold, I stand at the door and knock") are addressedfto a church, a Christian
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conmnity; second, it is not a mild plea to open one's heart in order to be saved
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so much as an urgent demand to be honest about one's commitment.-} Third -- my
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impression of it all --if we must visualize it -- is not of a mild and gentle Jesus
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tapping on the door in the quiet of night, "in accents meek and low''y but of a
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en? pounding on the door in broad daylight.

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That, I would suggest, is a little more consistent with what's
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happening in the New Testament than the tepid image of artists and hymn

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writers. \Jesus Christ wants in -- but he has something more in mind than a
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private sense of salvation. \He demands to be taken seriously in the world by
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those who call him Lord.
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We have come a long way from that understanding .\ There is today a

tragic and debilitating division across Christendom, within denominations and
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within congregations between what may be called, for the sake of discussion,
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the pietists and the social sctivists.\ rietists are the people who see the
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purpose of Christian Faith as the saving of a eae is regarded as the
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Savior who seeks admission to human hearts through conversion.\ The desired
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result is a personal sense of salvation. \When it stops here, and dtmmeeadel y

only, WalF - Arve . _—
does, the position is siupkyp=nee=Bériteet. (Unfortunately, people who take this

position usually know more about the Bible than anyone else, and are able to
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overwhelm the average skeptic with proof texts. \ They claim, and a lot of people

agree, that their position is Biblical Christianity -- the real thing: | ehag_when

preaching, for instance, deals with anything other than how to get to heaven it is

: and that when the church addresses itself to the world, it has
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become dangerously politicized, unfaithful, and perhaps even communistic.
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The other side of the divide belongs to the Social Activists. | the hn

purpose of Christian faith for these people is to bring about a utopia on earth -~- 7 bed ..
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py remedy iw: , i
prindemapenainin s f@ all the ills of mank mankind -- hunger, poverty, pollution,

oppression, racism, sexism. \ sesus Christ becomes the revolutiona ar
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excellence} the church the serge ground for social and political ferment.

"Relevance" is the "by-word" of the social activists:\relevance in terms of
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societal structures and institutiombut not often in terms of the needs of the
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human spirit.
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Now, to be sure, this has been a caricature of the two positions,
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And yet the division is a real one across the church. \ is a conflict we feel
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in our own hearts and one that many of us pray will be resolved. \For the fact is
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that both positions contain truth:\ both are able to quote the Bible to prove

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a point ‘Noth can isolate words and acts of Jesus to support their stand \ Bach
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needs the other, however, if the end product is to be called Biblical Christianity.
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Pietists need to start being honest about the whole prophetic tradition
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in the Old Testament and to pay a little attention to the very real Biblical
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concern for peace and justice.| Pietists need to look with integrity at the life
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of Grist who did identify with the poor, the oppressed, the outcasts, who was

crucified not for preaching personal salvation but for upsetting the politicians,
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And Social Activitists need to stop ignoring the God of the 23rd psaln:\ the
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fatherly God who knows his children by name, who stoops low to share their suffering
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and bind up the wounds \ Activitists need to come to terms with the Christ of
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the New Testament who did set men free from sin and fear,

And it all ought to be driving us back beyond the immediate debate in
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the church | pack to the fundamental question:("What does He wane?" )re Christ stands

at the door and knocks - the door of our heart - our home - our church- what is

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it He wants of us?
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The Bible gives two answers -- or rather one answer with two parts .\te

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wants us -- he wants our trust, our faith -- and he wants_us_ to do his will in
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the world, | ana the two are so close that in the eyes of God they become one,

Moses, for instance:\"Go dogdMoses ,- to Egypt land --tell ole Pharoh -

let my people go!" God came to Moses, out in a pasture near Hereb | God knocked
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on the door and gave Moses an experience with a burning bush that he'd never
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forget. \ nut the purpose was not to save his soul, although that happened

in the process. \ c0a, the account reads, saw the affliction of his people,
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heard their cry for help, knew their suffering and decided to do something
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about tt\to set them free -- to be precise: \free in a very political and
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economic and social sense. \and Moses was the one who was called to do ie | hae

sort of thing keeps happening in the Bibte.\\ People are saved by God in order to

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serve. \ Salvation in the Bible is not confined to a private sense of security

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but a stance in life that gets people involved with other people, more often

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than not in sticky and controversial situations.

Leslie Nasebiegén , a Bishop in the Church of South India, put it in

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very concise terms: \ "Peter and Andrew and James and John are not portrayed
as mystics seeking the true religion and finding it in the teaching of Jesus.
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They are rather shown as men picked by a commander for an expedition, a task force
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rather than a study group or a holy club", \ Then, addressing us, he says:

| "the Church has constantly forgotten this.\ It has listened to the words ("come

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unto Me")but not listened to the words ("Go - I will be with you". It has

interpreted conversion as if it was simply a turning toward God for purposes of
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one's own private inner religious life, instead of seeing cammie@éen as it is in
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the Bible, a turning toward God for the doing of his will in the secular world,"

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(Honesteniinininginre fee TeCRT EMMA pp~hoGabOi she inode Hi )

Jesus is knocking at the door. \xe wants us to love him enough, trust
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him enough, have faith enough in him to do his will in the world.\In Laodicea,
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when John envisioned him knocking at the door he wanted his people to believe in
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him by taking a stand on an issue that appeared to be purely poriticat |r Moses'
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case he wanted Moses"faith - but also his body.
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e wants us to be saved. e calls us t ali and grasp o
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salvation by serving other people. \se. Paul saw that when people in the early

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Corinthian Church were arguing about who was really saved \ ne wrote to them
\ "ze I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and

if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing". |
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And a verse from the First Letter of John A\ nie know that we have passed from

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death to Life when we love the brethren". \

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The means to our salvation - other people's need God calling us

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through the cry for help from a — It's an intriguing thought - a

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devastating thought in light of what is happening to the mission of the United
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Presbyterian Church ‘\prdinarily we do our Christian service as a kind of after~-
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we relvednuHy pny price
thought to our churchmanship:]and then we are inclined to feel that it falls into

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the category ef self-sacrifice. \ But the Bible keeps insisting that the reward of
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salvation is given as we love -|"For we pass from death to life when we love

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the brethren". |

The sad part about it is that young, alive and very perceptive people

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are rejecting the Gospel of Jesus Christ because they ase=mswwe that much of what
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goes under the name of Christianity stops with the individuat..\ they've watched
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the church back away from the life and death issues of our age and they've
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concluded that this faith is ixzeleyant.\ And they're right \ wore to the point --
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faith that stops with me isn't Christian faith at all. | pox the Gospel is the
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call of Jesus Christ to receive the gift of salvation - and then
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to live it by serving others in the world,
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When that happens there is nothing lukewarm about it, \ Christian faith

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lived in the world is hot, enthusiastic, joyful, urgent \ And yet, one has to
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acknowledge that the 1970's have given birth to an insipid lukewarmness in our
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culture. \ so much has happened to us in a decade -- assassinations - civil rights-
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Vietnam - the Great Society - Watergate - that a lot of Americans seem to
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have lost the capacity to care and to fee1.\ People today, in the words of

William Sloane Coffin, are scrambling to become Charter members in(me

Association of Life's Bystanders" } Right now we'd settle for a little peace
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beet
and quiet, \a better price on e#erem and a bit of stability on Wall Street.

In a piercing commentary on life in the 70's, Langdon Gilkey
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observe... hen there is nothing significant in our lives, existence
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becomes a treadmill leading nowhere, a mere succession of rote acts ‘\ commuting
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in the subway ,| opening Letters, |naking out orders \\ sweeping a floor....and then

at the end of the day eating another meal and brushing your teeth..... "'

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GlamiapyaiasonilinnsLsniandnge OH

We combat the lukewarmnesgof life, Gilkey suggests, by way of the

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new Holy Trinity - sex, megge and success. \ sur it doesn't work. | Life_remains

empty. \ Sex becomes a desperate performance \ booze a_poor crutch and success -
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in this context there is Tee success that is successful enough.

Your salvation -- your peace -- your self - fulfillment - is out
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there in the form of someone who needs you: |someone who needs your love and
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attention and stxength.\ The world needs that { the world needs the corporate
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mission of the United Presbyterian chureh:\\ this community needs the love of

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Broad Street Presbyterian church \and someone needs you,
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But most of all we need the salvation that is promised when we love
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the brethren. \ You see, in the final analysis, Jesus Christ knocks on the

door of our lives and calls us -- not really to self-denial s|not really to
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self-sacrifice \- but to self-fulfiliment to fullness of lifes wholeness,

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c leteness.\ I ivi we do receive:\in loving we do become the crown
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of creation: —>

i ervi others -- a grand sca i -~ rae

in serving ers on a grand scale, or simply personally

intimately -- we do taste a little of God's eternal kingdom,
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One te owe ..

That's what he wants.\That is the call and the promise.\ There's a
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banquet waiting for those who love.
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"Behold, I stand at the door and knock \ 16 anyone hears my

voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat
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with him and he with me...."
Amen

Father, give us ears to hear your call as it comes through the cries of those
in need. Give us grace to live and love, through Jesus Christ our Lord,

Amen.

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