Nauseating Christianity

Series on Revelation

I The Vision

D The Perseverance

7 The Thriving Church

Text: 3:14-22

Introduction

Laodicean is an adjective in the dictionary, so the name of this church has become proverbial for indifference and lukewarmness in every realm. Laodicean pops up in conversations today as a label for those who have compromised orthodoxy in order to win cultural acceptance. Recently an Indian American girl Kavya Shivashankar, 13, won the televised Scripps National Spelling Bee and its $40,000 prize after rattling off the letters in “Laodicean.” The periodical “Christianity Today” reported that the media reporting the next day had not yet connected the Greek adjective to the Bible. But of course you could because you have heard Jesus’ judgment on that church and it is not pleasant: It’s nauseating. It is the only church in which Jesus finds nothing good to commend. The city of Laodicea was founded by King Antiochus II Theos and named for his wife, Laodice, in the 3rd century B.C. Regarding the founder of the church historians believe that Epaphras, one of Paul’s helpers, preached the gospel to the Laodiceans, as he did to the inhabitants in nearby Colosse about 10 miles away. Paul mentions the Laodicean church in passing five times in his epistle to the Colossians encouraging them in 4:16 to See that [this letter] is also read in the church of the Laodiceans and that you in turn read the letter from Laodicea. The Church today is often a vivid example of the Laodicean Church, fractured from within, with our Lord forgotten by hating one another, permitting the flagrant ignoring of the 10 commandments, condoning practicing homosexuality as righteous, re-electing governments throwing out God, and the Lord’s prayer, yet professing to be Christian. God is love and truth and He has said what He will do to those who hold Him in contempt, blaspheme the Holy Spirit and mock His Son, who gave His life for our sin and rose from the dead assuring us of everlasting life in Him. Thus we read in verse 14, “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. And what will Jesus do to them? He will spit them out. Uncommitted Christians are nauseating. Here in this letter we see the realization, the rebuke and the right that come from Jesus.

I The Realization

The church of Laodicea must realize its condition. That means they must have a real and accurate appraisal of who they are. This is stated in verses 15-18, I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. If you turn on your TV you can see offer after offer of schemes that will teach you how to become rich. Here Jesus gives the only one that really works. Are these people prosperous or poor? They think they are prosperous, they say they are prosperous, but in reality they are poor. Why are they poor?

A Poverty

Consider first their poverty. It consists of being uncommitted to Christ. Being lukewarm and neither hot nor cold. Why are they poor? It is precisely because they think they have everything. They thought they were the cat’s meow or the cat’s pajamas which is lingo borrowed from the 1920’s describing someone who is incredibly awesome. In the words of Jesus they thought they did not need anything. This is the worst possible posture to have. It is the opposite of the humility that brings God’s salvation and blessings. The door to the grace of God is a very low door. Those standing proud and straight cannot get through it. Like the rich man who finds it harder to enter the kingdom of heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Jesus describes their poverty in these words: wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. It is hard to imagine that they could be all these things and ignore it. God says in Hosea 13:6, When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me. When God describes why he judged the nation Israel he says in Ezekiel 28:17, Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings. There is an old saying that love is blind. This was coined by Shakespeare and was quite a favorite line of his, appearing in several of his plays. Modern-day research supports the view that the blindness of love is not just a figurative matter. A research study in 2004 by University College London found that feelings of love suppressed the activity of the areas of the brain that control critical thought. People in love tend to overlook faults that are obvious to others. The church in Laodicea was in love with itself and it could not see its faults, but Jesus saw them clearly. Curiously enough Jesus is the only one who loves us even when he sees all our faults. This is why he counsels them on how to become rich.

B Prosperity

The world is set on becoming rich. Most people are persuaded that everything will be better if they are prosperous. Sadly, they are persuaded in spite of the fact that there are innumerable lottery winners who are miserable. In hard times stealing, burglary and robbery increase. Billy Graham tells a story about his British Crusade in 1954. One night, two men came supposedly to hear Billy preach, but their sole purpose was to heckle him and disrupt his presentation of the gospel. When he invited people to come forward to dedicate their lives to Jesus Christ, something incredible happened: one man turned to the other and said he was going forward! The other man responded by saying he was going too, and then added, “Here’s your wallet back—I’m a pickpocket.” This is not the way to get rich. What Jesus says is you should buy gold from Him, and new clothes for your nakedness, and eye salve for your blindness. In Psalm 50:9-12 God, the Father says to Israel, I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it. There’s the gold; knowing the Father. Those who believe in Christ Jesus are clothed in His righteousness, as we read in Galatians 3:26 and 27, You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There’s the white clothing; knowing the Son. When the Holy Spirit comes into a man he heals his spiritual blindness as John tells us in I John 2:10 and 11, Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. There’s the salve for the eyes; knowing the Spirit. By the way, the medical school in Laodicea became renowned for the so-called Phrygian stone which was ground to powder and made into an ointment used to heal eye diseases. Earlier in His ministry Jesus reminded the Pharisees that they were guilty because they claimed to be able to see even though they were blind in John 9:41 we read, Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains” An enormous amount of money is spent on prescription drugs in our culture. Jesus counsels us to buy from Him. However, silver and gold will not work. The price has already been paid by Jesus because we are not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold but by the precious blood of Christ, as a Lamb without blemish or spot. You can only buy from Jesus by repentance and faith in Him who paid it all.

II The Rebuke

Now that they realize the problem Jesus follows up with a rebuke in verses 19 and 20, Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 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. Rebuke and discipline are not things that we like. Adam and Eve disobeyed God in Eden and instinctively they tried in vain to hide themselves. We still do that because we are sinners and we do not like to be reminded of it. When Hernando Cortez and his conquistadors landed in Mexico, and when Caesar and his Roman legions landed in Britain, both of these military commanders made their men watch the ships that had brought them burn in the harbor. There could be no turning back, only advance and conquer. Obviously this required discipline. None of us are truly free to be Christ’s disciples until we break with everything that hinders our commitment to the Lord. Misplaced affections must be abandoned, for they bind us to that which is passing away. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” So Jesus said in Matthew 10:37–38, “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Jesus was using “coined expressions” well known by the Jewish people of His day to make it crystal-clear that all ties that weaken our commitment must be broken. We should also note that Jesus’ call to repentance includes a powerful play on words in the original Greek. The adjective “zestos” in verse 18 is translated variously as earnest or zealous. This is the same word that is translated “hot” in verse 16, So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Jesus tells them to begin being zealous or “hot” for Him. However the same One who rebukes also gives a tender invitation. Revelation 3:20 is probably the most often quoted verse from the book, 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. This is a classic middle-eastern invitation to intimate fellowship. Jesus says open the door and we will eat together. In the Eastern mind, hospitality at mealtime demonstrates the host’s trust in and respect for the guest, for the host has opened his home to the guest and breaks bread with him. But here it is Jesus who assumes the role of host, for he says that he will enter and dine with his guest for the main meal of the day. Most modern quoting of the verse centers on the need for people to open the doors of their hearts and lives to Jesus. Some Calvinistic preachers have disparaged and vilified that usage because they say Jesus doesn’t need to knock to claim your heart and life. That is true, but the Bible always teaches human responsibility together with God’s sovereign will. Thus Paul says to the Philippian Christians that they should work out their salvation for God is at work in them. In The Old Testament we read that Pharaoh hardened his heart. but we also read that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. It’s not either Jesus opens your heart or you open your heart, it’s both-and. You open it because He opens it, so it is perfectly correct and Biblical for you to talk about opening your life to Jesus. They were not doing that in Laodicea.

III The Right

After the realization and rebuke comes the right to sit with Jesus in glory and power as in verses 21 and 22, To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Here is a church that receives no praise at all, only criticism and rebuke and yet they are told that if they listen and obey and reform, they will sit in the place of highest dignity and power with Jesus. The culprit and criminal will become the judge and the jury. This is truly amazing grace. Many places in the New Testament we are reminded that the saints, undeserving as they are, will when glorified, have the honor and duty to judge the twelve tribes of Israel, the world, and angels; and they will rule with Christ. Our victory is Jesus victory over sin and death and judgment. Thereby, instead of being spit out, we will be swallowed in the marvelous grace of God.