Revelation 3:8 and 20
(May 5, 2006)
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Introduction
The mission of Olivet Nazarene University is to provide an Education with a Christian Purpose. That’s why we exist. Tomorrow morning the university will confer degrees and celebrate the academic accomplishments of this year’s graduating class. This evening, however, the focus is not on the academics, as important as that is. The emphasis tonight is on the spiritual dimension of our work, for in reality that is the defining characteristic of this university. If we only deliver a very fine academic program, then we fall short of our primary calling.
I speak tonight particularly to those of you who are graduating, but I certainly invite everyone else to listen in as I talk about the promise of an open door. The text is Revelation 3:8: “See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut.”
Four years ago at the freshman dinner, I talked with you about that door, which then was marked Olivet, and I encouraged you to walk through the door to find your future, to expand your mind, to sharpen your skills and understandings, to forge friendships for a lifetime, and to deepen your faith in God. Within a day or two of that speech, classes were underway and you began to settle quickly into the rhythms and patterns, the ebb and flow, the give-and-take, of campus life. And now suddenly, it’s time to go.
So let me set before you tonight, once more, the promise of an open door. Not just any door—it is the door of your future.
A hope-filled door,
a door of promise and possibility,
a door of service,
a door of obedience.
The world that waits for you on the other side of the door marked Graduation is a complicated and dangerous world. There is war and terror. There is economic instability and job insecurity. There’s an upside-down view of what is right and wrong, moral or immoral, acceptable and unacceptable. There is a sea of broken human relationships out there. And you will have to find your place in wide-open, anything-goes, nothing-is-shocking-anymore society.
But be assured there is a place for you out there. God, in fact, sends us into the world. We are not called to the monastic life, where we shut the world out and huddle behind closed doors. Rather, we go forth as salt and light into a decaying and dark world. I thought again this week of the words of the Scottish clergyman George MacLeod who wrote,
I … argue that the cross be raised again at the center of the market place as well as on the steeple of the church. … Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap; at a crossroads so cosmopolitan that they had to write his title in Hebrew and in Latin and in Greek; … at the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where he died, and that is what he died about. And that is where [the church] should be.1
It is very important that you take your rightful place in the world. As you do, I hope you will be winsome and wholesome in your witness. Enjoy your life, your friends, and your loved ones. Be happy. Pursue with confidence your new independence. And when opportunities arise (as they surely will) to share your faith, to stand up for Christ, and to shoulder the cross—remember at that moment it is God who sets “before you an open door that no one can shut.”
Several years ago, Jill and I were living in Dallas, where I was pastoring a wonderful church. We came home late one evening, and as we walked to the door, I asked, “May I use your keys?”
“I didn’t bring my keys,” she said.
“I thought I had mine, but I can’t seem to find them,” I replied.
So I checked once more in the car, but no house keys. It was late, it was dark, it was cold for Dallas—and there we stood locked out of our own home.
“It could be worse,” I said. “It could be raining.”
Sure enough, just then a light rain began to fall. It is very frustrating to be locked out, to be right there at the door but unable to enter. I walked around to the back of the house; that door was secure. I began to try the windows. After a few minutes of “casing the joint,” I returned to the front porch where Jill was waiting patiently, tucked in out of the rain.
“I have good news and bad news,” I said. “I found a window that is unlocked.”
“Great,” she replied. “What’s the bad news?”
“It’s too small for me.”
I pushed the window open as far as it would go, and I pulled together a couple of things for Jill to stand on. Just as she got about halfway in, I heard my neighbor from the house next door yelling out his back door, “What’s going on over there?” He had evidently seen people moving around our house in the dark.
I hated to tell him that I had forgotten my keys and that I was now making my wife climb through the window in the rain, so rather than going into all of that, I called back, “Hey, it’s me, John. I locked myself out, but I think I’ve got everything under control. Thanks.” Just then I heard Jill hit the floor inside and mumble something about, “What do you mean, you’ve got everything under control?”
It is exasperating to be locked out, because the real purpose of a door is not to keep people out but to let people in. I have great news for you this evening—God sets “before you an open door that no one can shut.” That’s the promise, and God keeps his promises. What is the nature of this door that God sets before you?
I can answer only in part, but it seems to me that this door, the door of your future, is first of all …
I. A Door of Opportunity
An array of opportunities, in fact, will come to you in the next few years through your vocation, your new relationships, and your witness and service. Opening those doors will give you an opportunity to make a positive and grace-filled difference in the world. We often are told that our country is in need of great leaders, and certainly that is true. You can be among those leaders, at work, in the community, at church, in your homes, in government, and so on. But the world needs more than leaders; it also needs servants.
Jesus humbled himself as a servant leader. He didn’t command an army. He didn’t sit on a throne. He wrapped himself in a towel and washed the feet of his disciples, for his is a kingdom of love. And it is God who sets before you an open door of opportunity, a door marked Service. I am convinced that if you will serve others and bear witness to your faith in Jesus, you will have a profound impact.
This world will not be better off if we have one more millionaire, but it will be a better place if even one person, you, for example, lives his or her life with integrity. One committed Sunday school teacher, one scout leader, one Big Brother or
Sister, one loving mother or father, or one dedicated teacher or pastor or nurse can make more of a difference in this world than almost anything else.
Seek significance, not just success. You are standing on the threshold of the rest of your life. You are at the door. This is a very brief moment in which the past gives way to the future. As you move through this door, do it with purpose. Do not drift your way into tomorrow.
Seize the day.
Play for keeps.
Turn the obstacles of life into opportunities.
Jesus said, “You are the light of the world…. [Therefore,] let your light shine before [others], that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:14, 16). You have before you a door of opportunity to lead and to serve.
It is also …
II. A Door of Promise
It is a door of the promise of God’s presence, God’s protection, and God’s provision.
We are living in a secular world—
a world often hostile to Christian values,
a world with many problems.
But you are well prepared for such a world. You have a good education. You are young men and women of character. The Book is true—“[You] can do everything through [Christ] who gives [you] strength” (Phil. 4:13). He has made provision to meet your needs.
And God goes before you into that waiting world. Be assured that just as God has been with you during these bright college days, he will be there in the days to come as well. In fact, God is already there.
God promises his presence: “I am with you … [even] to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).
He promises his provision: “As your days, so shall your strength be” (Deut. 33:25, NKJV).
And promises his protection: “Do not be afraid, for I am with you” (Gen. 26:24).
God sets before you an open door, a door of opportunity, a door of promise, and it is …
III. A Door of Invitation
Later in Rev. 3, Jesus says, “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (v. 20). Here is one of the most beloved word pictures of Jesus in all the New Testament. He “stand[s] at the door and knock[s].”
Can you see him?
Can you hear him?
His very presence is an invitation to open the door of your life and invite him in as Savior and Lord. If somehow in the course of these years at Olivet you have not committed your life to Jesus, let me tell you it is not too late—it is never too late, for he is there, even now, at the door.
In fact, in John 10, Jesus declares, “I am the door” (v. 9, KJV). Jesus alone is the way to eternal life. The Scripture declares, “No one comes to the Father except through [faith in Jesus Christ]” (John 14:6); he is the Door to salvation. And he is the Door to your future. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight” (Prov. 3:5-6).
The Door of opportunity and promise is Jesus. But it is you who must open the Door; you must be willing to walk through the Door.
Years ago, a little girl named Francis Jane Crosby, just six weeks old, caught a cold and her eyes became slightly inflamed. The regular family physician was out of town, and a man posing as a doctor gave her the wrong treatment. Within days her eyesight was destroyed and she lived the rest of her life in total blindness.
But Francis was a very bright and gifted young woman who, in spite of her disability, answered the call of Christ, opened the Door, and let him into her life. She was able to complete her schooling and become a teacher and a nationally recognized poet. Among her many accomplishments was her composition of over eight thousand hymns and songs, many of which were songs of personal testimony.
Someday the silver cord will break,
And I no more as now shall sing.
But O the joy when I shall wake
Within the palace of the King!
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story—saved by grace.
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story—saved by grace.2
At the age of ninety-four, Fanny Crosby died, and on her grave in Bridgeport, Connecticut, there is a simple headstone with these words:
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh what a foretaste of Glory Divine.3
The true measure of your life will not be what happens to you but what happens in you and then through you as you say yes to Jesus.
Conclusion
Tomorrow morning as I will hand you a diploma, the door of your past will close, the door of your future will open, and you will begin a new phase of your journey. I can assure you that if you will follow Jesus Christ, he will lead you every step of the way.
If you will commit yourself fully to God, if you will walk with him and seek his will and his blessing in your life, he will surely bless and keep you. He is the Door. He is the Way. Will you follow?
I like how Fanny Crosby put it in another one of her songs.
I am Thine, O Lord; I have heard Thy voice,
And it told Thy love to me.
But I long to rise in the arms of faith,
And be closer drawn to Thee.4
My challenge for you tonight is to open the Door with faith, confidence, and commitment; live your life for his honor and glory. Let him draw you closer, and in doing so, you can share in that testimony, “I am Thine, O Lord.”
Presidential Charge to the Class of 2006
I would like for the graduating class of 2006 to please stand.
This is the last time I will have the opportunity to talk to you as a class. I am convinced it was God who brought you to this campus. It was his grace that has sustained you during these days. And it is God who goes before you into the future.
You are a blessed generation, but with each blessing comes a sacred responsibility to live lives worthy of your calling (see Eph. 4:1). Remember always, you are children of God. May your lives count for things eternal.
Be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (6:11, NKJV) and the winds of evil. Take with you “the shield of faith” (v. 16). “Be strong in the Lord” (v. 10).
If you will follow Jesus, he will lead you every step of the way. He is the Door. He is the Way.
Go forth from this campus with confidence and joy, knowing that God has set “before you an open door that no one can shut” (Rev. 3:8). It is a door of opportunity and promise. God is there on the other side of that door. He has gone ahead to prepare the way.
So I charge you to embrace the future with faith. Be bold and live with purpose. And may the God of peace be with you.
Prayer
O God of life’s endings and beginnings, we give you thanks for these young men and women. We ask that through your grace none would be lost to the kingdom. Bless them tonight and tomorrow and in all the days to come. Lead them in paths of righteousness for your name’s sake. Give them inner strength. Hold them steady in the grip of your grace, and may they bear the marks of a transformed life. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.