Here I am! 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. Revelation 3:20
Where is Jesus standing? At the door, yep, that’s obvious.
But what door?
Is this a door to open to unbelievers, to seek and meet Christ?
Is this a magical “door to the heart of all mankind” or what?
Jesus is not standing at just any door. He is at the front door of a church.
Jesus is at his own front door; he should not have to knock.
The church door he is knocking on, let’s call it “First Laodicea,” has a rich history. It was a result of Apostle Paul’s work, in fact, in the town of Laodicea he wrote the Epistle of Colossians, and Laodicea was an important Roman city in Asia Minor —all that does not matter. What matters is how accessible, open, and prepared each person, your or me, and a whole church is for Christ to come in and have time with us, to fellowship. If we won’t let him in for a pot luck dinner, what will we do when he returns as promised for His church? Is our friendship obvious enough that there is an open door for our Lord to walk through?
He is a friend who should never have to knock. Not only should he not need to knock, his presence in people of the church should be recognizable to everyone by the way we act, love one another (John 13:34-35). A church cannot have closed doors. Take the doors off the church, and then not only will Jesus be unhindered to come in, but it will be easier for you to go out of the church to reach a community that needs the peace and healing refreshment of Christ. If you lock Christ out, it is a fact, everyone is locked out! Wide- open church doors will allow a church body to go out and bring in the spiritually empty, and when they are being brought in, Jesus comes along with them and fills them.
If Jesus can’t get past the doors of your church, if he can’t get past the barriers on your heart, no one can get in.
Someone is knocking; do you know who is there?
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