In Revelation 3:7–13, the apostle John is writing a letter to the church at Philadelphia. This church was called the faithful church. They had been found faithful in keeping His word and maintaining His name (v. 8) and persevering in the midst of trial (v. 10). Because of their faithfulness, God presented them with the open door of opportunity.
I believe that we, as Alabama Baptists, have been given an open door from the Lord. He has opened new doors for our work together as a convention.
First, a word about opening new doors (Rev. 3:7–13).
We are walking through the open door of evangelism. Through the leadership of Sammy Gilbreath and his staff, we are seeing people saved and unreached people being claimed by the grace of God.
We are walking through the open door of church leadership. Under the leadership of Edwin Jenkins and his staff, we are training pastors and church leaders to discover and develop leadership at the local church level.
We are walking through the open door of global partnerships. Under the leadership of Reggie Quimby and his staff, we continue our work with the saints of Venezuela and our sister conventions in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
We are walking through the open door of new work and new church starts. Under the leadership of Ron Madison and his staff, we are planting new churches: Anglo, Hispanic and multiethnic congregations throughout Alabama. Our goal is to have 270 new churches by the year 2005.
We are walking through the open door of Christian higher education. Under the leadership of David Potts, Mark Foley and Thomas Corts, we are seeking to lead Judson College, The University of Mobile and Samford University to new levels of Christian higher education in the 21st century. If ever there has been a time for Baptists to be committed to Christian higher education, it is now.
We are walking through the open door of Christian journalism and communication. Under the leadership of Bob Terry and his staff at The Alabama Baptist, we are learning the importance of a state newspaper that is seeking to keep us informed about our work at the local, associational, state, national and worldwide levels.
We are walking through the open door of providing Christian homes and family counseling to children and adults in Alabama. Under the leadership of Paul Miller and the staff of the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries, we are reaching out to every village and hamlet in our state to say, “We care about children and about families.”
We are walking through the open door of helping senior adults. Under the leadership of Billy Austin and his staff at our retirement centers, we are seeking to express our admiration and appreciation to those who have built our convention and our local churches through the years.
And through the ministries of Shocco Springs, The Baptist Foundation of Alabama, ALCAP, Woman’s Missionary Union and all the ministries of our convention, we are seeking to do the same things for which the church at Philadelphia was commended. We are seeking to remain faithful in keeping His Word, maintaining His name and persevering in the midst of controversy and conflict.
I pray that in the future God will continue to provide for us an open door. I believe as long as we seek to build bridges and maintain open communication with each other, we will see the doors remain open. If not, then we may see the doors of opportunity close.
Paul challenged the church at Ephesus (Eph. 2:11–18) to build relationships with those who were not exactly like them. In his day the relationship between the Jews and Gentiles was very strained. A wall of conflict had been raised between them, and the brick and mortar for that wall were prejudice, power and position.
First, notice their prejudice. The Judaizers had long had the attitude that God only created the Gentiles “as fuel for hell.” Because of that belief it helps us to see the hardness of their hearts toward the Gentile world. It was their conviction that the only way Gentiles could enter the kingdom of God was by submitting themselves to the act of circumcision.
However, the apostle Paul, who was called by Christ to be the apostle to the Gentiles, refuted this interpretation of the Law. His position was that the “act of circumcision” was applicable only to the Jews. Circumcision was an “outward symbol” of their covenant relationship with God as His covenant people. Paul taught that “in Christ Jesus,” what was important for the Jew and the Gentile was not the circumcision in the flesh but “a circumcision of the heart.” That’s what he said in Romans 2:29.
Christ, through His death on the cross, and with His precious blood, had come to make them one people and He “tore down” the wall of separation.
Hear me today. It is the blood of Jesus Christ that makes us brothers in Christ. Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing else. It is the only requirement of the New Testament. It’s what Jesus has done. It’s not what we can do. It’s not any man-made gimmicks that we can come up with that will determine fellowship in the body of Christ. It has already been procured by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s what makes us one in the faith and in the family.
To use something like conformity to an “act of circumcision” was a departure from the Lord Himself who required fellowship with Him and with each other only through the blood of the Lord Jesus.
Listen, brothers and sisters, you cannot improve upon the blood of Jesus. You and I can add nothing to the blood of Jesus Christ that would put us in fellowship with each other.
Secondly, notice their power against each other. The zealots for the Law had formed their own group and made their interpretation of what they intended to be the theological issue of the day. They were going to force the issue of circumcision and they were going to demand compliance from the Gentile Christians.
Paul came forward and challenged their interpretation and their actions. They accused the apostle Paul of not being “loyal” to the Law of Moses for teaching that the Gentiles did not have to undergo circumcision in order to obey the customs of the Jews (Acts 21:21). Paul said then we will hear the leaders of the church on this matter.
Acts 21:25 tells us the Jewish council supported Paul. As a result, a great power struggle was mounted by the zealots of the Law and a “wall of conflict” divided the family of God, Jew and Gentile.
Thirdly, notice their position against each other. Paul took the position that “in Christ Jesus” the middle wall of separation had been torn down. You know that in the temple there was a court of the Gentiles. Gentiles could not dare go beyond their own court in the temple structure.
Paul is saying now in Christ Jesus this middle wall of separation has been destroyed. It has been torn down. Just as that veil was rent to give us access to Jesus, the middle wall of separation in the temple no longer separates and no longer divides Gentile brothers from Jewish brothers in the family of God.
The zealots of the Law maintained their position that a Gentile must conform to “the act of circumcision,” which the law of Moses required. The end result was a “wall of conflict” that divided the family of God. However, over time the Spirit of God began to work in their hearts and began to work in the hearts of those whom they carried the light of the gospel to.
We see this beautifully illustrated in the encounter between Peter and Cornelius in the 10th chapter of Acts. Peter, a prejudiced Jew, was in his house when he had a vision. He had a vision of a sheet let down from heaven with all kinds of four-footed animals on that sheet.
You know the story of how the voice said, “Kill and eat” to which Peter replied to the divine revelation, “Not so Lord, I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” The voice of Jesus replied, “Don’t you dare call what I have made common or unclean.”
While Peter was contemplating what it was that the Holy Spirit was trying to tell him, three men sent from the house of Cornelius knocked on his door. They said, “Our master has sent us to you. He wants to know how to be saved. Would you come and tell him.”
Don’t you see, brothers and sisters, what the Holy Spirit was doing in the heart of Peter. He was tearing down a wall in his heart, and He was saying to Peter, “Peter, you cannot carry My gospel as long as there is a wall of conflict and separation that My blood has taken down. You cannot keep it erected in your own heart. You cannot maintain that wall of separation and be a preacher of my gospel, the good news that Jesus saves.”
Brothers and sisters of this convention, here’s the point. When Peter was willing to walk through an open door of a new relationship, a wall of separation came down in his heart and in his ministry and God blessed him.
On Sunday, Aug. 13, 1961, a wall was erected that separated East and West Berlin. It was built for the express purpose of keeping East Berliners from escaping to West Berlin.
On June 12, 1987, standing in front of the Brandenburg Gate, President Ronald Reagan as the leader of the free world spoke these words: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” The miracle happened on Nov. 9, 1989. Almost overnight the Berlin wall came down.
I have a piece of that wall in my hand today. It reminds me of how quick a wall can go up but it also reminds me of how quick a wall can come down. People took their hammers and anything they could find to tear down that wall.
Alabama Baptists, brothers and sisters in Christ, as I leave office I challenge you to join with me in a continued commitment that together we walk through the “open doors” of ministry and relationships that our Lord has opened for us. We, as a state convention, must remain focused and turn our energies and our resources to walking through the open doors that our Lord has opened for us, but we also must give attention quickly to “tearing down old walls” of controversy and conflict, and seek to be reconciled to one another by doing what the church at Philadelphia did — by keeping His Word, by maintaining His name and by persevering in the midst of trial.
I challenge you today, Alabama Baptists — and if this message goes beyond these walls — I challenge Southern Baptists — tear down these walls. Tear down these walls.
It doesn’t mean that we will always agree. There is room for disagreement. There is room for honest debate. There is room for us to sit down eye to eye and heart to heart and shoulder to shoulder and face to face, not back to back, and talk out our differences, talk out our theological doctrinal differences.
But under God, ladies and gentlemen, if I understand this Bible, we have a mandate from our Commander in Chief who has told us and warned us to be united in carrying this gospel to the whole world while we can, while we may. May God help us to do it.
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