Series: Revelation (The Lamb Wins

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Series: The Church Text: Revelation 3:14-22 Message 9 (May 29, 2016)

THE DEAD CHURCH 14 “And

to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. 15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” Introduction 1. Earlier you heard from Isaiah 5 and 1 Corinthians 10. Every day in the wilderness the Israelites witnessed the miraculous power of God. God provided manna – every day, 6 days a week for more than 38 years! In the desert God provided water for 2 plus million people and no Israelite died of thirst! Every day they were guided by a cloud in the daylight and fire in the sky at night, assuring them of God’s presence and His direction! Their clothing and shoes never showed signs of wear, though they were nearly 4 decades old and worn virtually every day! 2. How can we not be stunned hearing this: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water and we loathe this worthless food” (Numbers 21:5). God had planted His people as a beautiful vineyard and all they did was produce sour grapes unfit to harvest! Paul tells us that these things were recorded for us as examples, given to us to be warned, “(He) who thinks that he stands (must) take heed lest he fall.” 3. The church we are about to consider might be seen today as the church to model. The internal evaluation of the church in their own words was “(we are) rich; (we have) prospered; (we) need nothing.” Quite strikingly, our Lord drew a different conclusion: 1

“You are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.” There is something greatly disturbing in that evaluation. It is not simply in the description, as bad as that is. It is in the contrast of what the church thought it was and what it was in the eyes of Christ. Two of the more tragic words in the text are “not realizing” (v. 17). How could the church be so far off? How could something that looked so wonderfully alive be so thoroughly dead? 4. We have been looking at the NT church. Today we turn our attention to the church of Laodicea. Paul did not establish the church, which most likely was founded by his coworker, Epaphras, who was also founded the church at Colossae, just a few miles away. What makes this Laodicea important to us is what Jesus had to say about the church in Revelation 3. 5. In Revelation 2-3 we have seven letters to seven congregations. We looked at the first one – Ephesus, a couple of weeks ago. Laodicea is the final of the seven letters. Some see these seven churches as representative of eras in Church history. Some see them as representative of all churches throughout the ages. These churches could also be considered as a regressive movement away from Christ. Ephesus had abandoned their first love. If we leave out the two churches that received no condemnation from Jesus (Symrna and Philadelphia) by the time we get to Laodicea, Jesus is on the outside looking in. We need to be exposed to the potential of the slippery slope of apostasy. No church is ammune. 6. Kids, the church of Laodicea had some serious problems. Jesus compared them to water and He said they were neither what nor what (cold nor hot)? He was not pleased with them. He called them what word (lukewarm)? And what did He say He would do (spit them out)? Jesus described Himself with a word that we often use at the end of our prayers. What was that word (Amen)? If the Laodiceans would repent and believe, Jesus said they could sit with Him where (on His throne)? I. HOW JESUS CAME TO THE CHURCH (14) Christ comes to the church in just the right way, at the point of need. To Laodicea, He doesn’t use any of the descriptions found in chapter one. Instead He uses three divine titles. It is no wonder that the Lord would appear to an apostate church with the bold declarations that He is in fact God! Listen to these three descriptive titles. 2

A. “The words of the Amen” 1. This is the only time this title appears in the NT for Christ, but probably points back to Isaiah 65:16 (“God of truth” – truth (affirmation, certainty) and Amen are the same in the OT). Amen is the transliteration of the Hebrew word. 2. Christ is the Amen in that He is the God of truth incarnate. In 2 Corinthians 1:20, Paul writes, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.” It is through the person and work of Christ that all of the promises of God and the covenants of God are fulfilled and guaranteed. OT promises of mercy and grace, of love and forgiveness and eternal life, are bound up in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. He is the Amen because it is through Him that all of the promises are confirmed and delivered! 3. To refer to Himself as “the words of the Amen” is to say that Jesus is God and in Him are found all of the promises of God. Anyone who would turn from Him would be guilty of profound foolishness and wicked disobedience. B. The Faithful and True Witness 1. Everything that Jesus says and does is trustworthy and perfectly reliable because it is absolutely true. 2. This would suggest that Jesus’ assessment of the church was certain, but it also would affirm the genuineness of His gracious offer at the end of the letter. C. The beginning of the creation of God 1. Jesus is the source, the origin of all creation. His supremacy is clearly in view. 2. For a church that had compromised its very existence, Jesus comes to them with a strong declaration that He is supreme over all of His creation, including them! Laodicea needed to see Jesus in this light! II. HOW JESUS SAW THE CHURCH (15-18) A. Their works made Him sick! (15-16) 1. Drawing from the historical situation of the church, the Lord zeros in on the spiritual problems. Laodicea was situated on a high plateau, which provided great protection, but made it necessary to pipe in water from a source many miles away through a series of aqueducts. The water arrived in the city foul, dirty and tepid. Unlike the hot springs of a sister city, Hierapolis or the cold, refreshing spring water of Colossae, Laodicea’s water was disgusting, nauseating. 3

2. As Jesus considered the works of this church, it made Him sick! Some churches make the Lord angry. Some cause grief. Some make Him sick! Hot probably refers to those who are spiritually alive with fervency for the Lord. Cold probably speaks of outright rejection of the Lord, dead without pretense. The Gospel left them unmoved. Luke-warm fit neither category. There was no outright rejection of the Gospel, but the probability of genuine life in Christ was low (Matthew 7:22-23). Paul spoke of such people in Romans 10:2 and 2 Timothy 3:5. It is amazing that one who is cold spiritually would be less offensive than one who is lukewarm. As one commentator wrote, “There is no one farther from the truth in Christ than the one who makes an idle profession without real faith.” As awful and shocking as this is, the Lord was not done in His rebuke. B. Their self-evaluation made Him sick! (17) 1. Laodicea was known for their wealth (much gold – as a wealthy banking center – So wealthy in fact, that after a devastating earthquake in AD 60, they refused help from Rome and rebuilt the city with their own funds), their development and marketing of a black, very soft wool, which was sought after for clothing and carpet, and for the development of an eye salve which was exported all over the Greco-Roman world. (They were renown for a medical school specializing in eye care). You can see with greater clarity the impact of Jesus’ words with that background. 2. Any believer or church concluding after self-evaluation to be rich and prosperous and in need of nothing is thinking more highly of thesmevles than they ought. The words of John Stott (30 plus years ago) are instructive and all too relevant for us today: Perhaps none of the seven letters is more appropriate to the twentieth century church than this. It describes vividly the respectable, sentimental, nominal, skin-deep religiosity which is so widespread among us today. Our Christianity is flabby and anaemic. We appear to have taken a lukewarm bath of religion. 3. It is amazing how far away from the truth this church had drifted. Their selfevaluation and Christ’s description could not have been further apart. For the wealthiest, best-dressed, healthiest people around, it was quite a blow to hear that in Christ’s eyes, they were wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. 4

C. Their failure to heed counsel made Him sick! (18) (At least up until this time they had not heeded His counsel). Do you know what this is? This is a gracious call to salvation. He could have just judged them right then and there, but He did not. 1. Buy from me gold refined by fire … so you may be rich – This is not suggesting that salvation is for sale. This is the invitation of Isaiah 55:1 (You who have no money, come buy and eat). 2. White garments to clothe yourself from the shame of nakedness – White garments are consistently used as a picture of those who have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ! 3. Salve to anoint your eyes so you can see – the Laodicean’s were not only proud of their eye salve, but they were also proud of their assumed superior spiritual insight. Blindness is consistently a picture of lostness, and being able to see is the mark of one who has been enlightened with the truth of the Gospel! For a church that was so self-sufficient and smug, this is an amazing offer of counsel from the Lord! III. HOW JESUS REPROVES THE CHURCH (19-22) A. Reproof and repentance (19) 1. The Lord promises here that those whom He loves, He reproves and disciplines (Hebrews 12). Keep in mind that those who do not belong to Him are destined for eternal damnation. This is a declaration of hope as much as anything. 2. Those who would be zealous and repent would be those who would demonstrate their true relationship to Him. Oh that we would mourn over sin and hunger and thirst for righteousness! Luke defined it this way in Acts 11:18 – “When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God saying, ‘Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.’” B. The call to restoration (20) 1. Countless tracts and sermons and artwork have used this picture to suggest that Christ is standing patiently at the door of our hearts knocking and requesting permission, if only we will open the door. There is something of that tenderness there, but that picture is less than accurate. 2. Christ has been telling the church that He was coming – first a remote contingency (Ephesus) and now here, at the very entrance of the church! He was not coming to Laodicea; He had arrived! And in view of the nauseating, apostate condition of 5

the church, one would expect Jesus to come and break down the door in divine judgment and destroy the church without reservation. That is not a foreign concept in the Scripture (Psalm 2:6-9; Revelation 19:15). However, just when you would expect that, Jesus held back judgment and called them to repentance. Promising them that if they repent, He will come in, not to judge them, but to have fellowship with them. 3. Middle Eastern culture was very big on hospitality. During the day, the door was open, symbolizing an invitation of welcome. As night approached, the door would be closed and not opened again until morning. To come in and eat would be to come and take up residence with them (Romans 13:11-12). That was the gentle demonstration of mercy from a God who had been ignored and disregarded. C. The promise to receive and recognize (21) 1. Not only is there fellowship with Christ around the table, but there is the amazing promise of sitting with Christ on His throne! 2. Even the most sickening, pretending church can become the recipient of the gracious mercy of Christ! Conclusion 1. Jesus ended each of His letters with, “He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” That suggests that He wanted us to pay attention to all seven letters. Are we listening? There is some serious repenting that needs to happen in the church today. Like the church at Laodicea, the Lord has for the most part withheld His judgment so far, but we dare not presume upon His mercy, or worse, assume we have no need of His mercy. 2. Anytime we are exposed to God’s truth it is appropriate that we take a look inside. It is not about the person next to me or the people in the choir or the preacher in the pulpit. It is about each of us. Before we write this off as an unnecessary warning, please remember the picture that Jesus has painted. He is not promising to come. He is here. He is not pleading with us to please let Him in. He is standing announcing His presence. If we repent, we enjoy rich fellowship and live in the hope of wonderful promise. If we resist, there will be no fellowship and our future is shame and certain despair. 3. He who has an ear, let Him hear what the Spirit is saying to Lakeview Church right now! 6

4. As I suggested at the beginning of this message, Laodicea earlier may have been like Philadelphia, but having compromised over time Laodicea ceased to be a church at all. By the end of the first century it is doubtful that any believers belonged to the church. The call of Jesus is the assignment He has given to us, that we are to call people to repent and believe the Gospel. It is the gracious and merciful call to salvation. Tragic is the church that no longer realizes the truth, “I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see.” If we think we need nothing, we are deceived; for we need everything – and it is all found in Jesus! 5. So, this is a call to repentance, to believe the Gospel. To do so,we must affirm that we believe who He is. We must also admit that we are a sinner. And then we ask Him to forgive us and to accept us into His family. And He will. 6. So often we speak of “accepting Jesus.” That’s not exactly correct. Moree precisely it is Jesus accepting us. He makes us acceptable by forgiving us and clothing us in His righteousness.

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