Word of Salvation – Vol. 73 No. 08 – June 2023

 

The Living Lord And His Church At Laodicea

 

Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Revelation 3:14-22

Reading: Isaiah 55, Revelation 3:14-22

Suggested Songs: Here O my Lord I see you face to face (BoW.228)

                                    Give thanks to God for good is He (BoW.136a)

 

Theme: Christ condemns the indifference of a lukewarm church and seeks repentance.

 

Introd:  A young pastor arriving in his first congregation preached a rousing and impressive sermon.

The next Sunday he went to the pulpit and preached exactly the same sermon.

Most people were surprised but they thought: He’s probably had a busy week settling in.
And, of course, he’s a young pastor with no old sermons to fall back on.

On the third Sunday he started on exactly the same sermon once more.

A saintly older man in the congregation got to his feet and said:
“Excuse me Pastor, I believe we’ve already heard that sermon… twice.”

The pastor replied: “Yes I know, but I haven’t seen you put it into practice yet.”

Why is it that the Word of God doesn’t have a far greater impact on your life and mine?

    We hear a sermon on a powerfully challenging text… we think about… maybe even talk about it.
But nothing much really happens… we go on the same old way… we don’t act on it.

    We read a passage of Scripture… and it really speaks to our hearts.
Yet the very next day we do the opposite to what excited us 24 hours earlier.

I guess one reason is that we don’t always see a text as specifically addressed to us.
            It’s always easier to apply the message to others… rather than to ourselves.
            We say:  Wow, that’s a good text for old Joe Smith; ‘hope he’s listening.

So I wonder what would happen if Jesus sent you a personal letter?
One with your very own name and address on the envelope.
One that really laid your faults on the line… in minute detail.
What if the letter He sent was exactly like this one in our text?
            A letter that is quite different from the other six letters Jesus sent.

You see, there’s a pattern in these letters in Revelation 2 and 3.
            In all of them (except Smyrna) something negative is said about the church.
            In all of them the church is challenged to change… to act.
            In all of them rewards are promised to those who do take action.
            In all of them Jesus begins by first complimenting them on something good.
            Except here in Laodicea… here there are no compliments.
                        There is only rebuke… only a call for the church to change its ways.

So how quickly would you and I act to mend our ways… if… if we received a letter like this?

Well… let’s remember that this is still the Word of God to us today.
Sure, it’s addressed first of all to this problem church at Laodicea.
And yet… it was also recorded for us to learn from today.
Jesus calls us too… to measure our lives by His Word… also this part of His Word.

 

A]        THE LORD’S REBUKE TO HIS LUKEWARM CHURCH.

1.         Let me give you a little background.

Laodicea was a city known for its wealth….  a city of bankers and millionaires.

The local hot springs made it a retirement haven for the wealthy.

We could almost call Laodicea the Gold Coast of Asia Minor.

It was also a city known for its cloth trade… especially its wool.

On top of that it had a famous medical school that had pioneered treatment for weak eyes.

In short – Laodicea was a pretty good place to be… prosperous and self-reliant.

So well off that when an earthquake levelled the region they declined all government assistance.

Laodicea – wealthy and independent…  a rich city and a rich church.
                                                     a proud city and a proud church.
Their debts have all been paid off and they have money for everything.
Note Vs.17:   “We are rich… we have acquired wealth… we don’t need a thing.”
Laodicea is the church that has it all.

Unfortunately our Lord’s evaluation is rather different to their own.

Jesus even uses the very things Laodicea is proud of… to point out their failures as a church.

A rich city, proud of its wealth… but there is a terrible spiritual poverty.
You are famous for your wool and cloth… but before God you are naked.
You may well be renowned for your eye-salve… but you are spiritually blind.
You say:  I am rich… I have acquired wealth… I don’t need a thing.
            But you don’t realise you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, naked.

It’s sad… but it’s possible… for a church to have everything materially… but spiritually, nothing.

That is a real danger for churches like ours in our materialistic western society.

The church is a part of society…  it lives, moves and has it’s being in this world.

And, as we saw in some of the previous churches, we so easily conform to this world.
We get sucked into the materialistic way of life… it happens so easily.
            Sometimes so much so that it has a deadening effect on us spiritually.
            We think that just because we’ve got a lot… that everything is fine with us.
It seems that this is how it had gone in Laodicea.
            Nice church building… comfortable pews… and they thought they were rich.

 

2.         But notice how Jesus sees things: “You are neither hot nor cold… you are lukewarm.”
Like a cup of coffee that isn’t ice-coffee… but it’s not hot coffee either.
It might have been hot once… but it has stood too long… lukewarm!
The baby might like its milk that way but that’s not the way we like our coffee.
            Lukewarm… that word would not have been lost on the Laodiceans.
                        Their hot springs ran down limestone cliffs into lukewarm pools.
                        Not the most appealing or thirst quenching on a hot summer day.

A lukewarm church… not hostile to the Lord… but not very excited about Him either.

They were not opposed to missions… or evangelism.
After all Jesus commanded us to go and disciple the nations.
   But they never really did much about it either… lukewarm!

They were not against helping the poor and needy.
That’s certainly the Biblical thing to do.
   But they themselves weren’t very enthusiastic about it… lukewarm!

In a lukewarm church everyone still tends to go through the motions.

Elders and Pastor still make their family visits and pastoral visits.
But only because that’s the done thing… and the cake and the coffee’s always good.

People still come regularly to worship services.
But really only just to meet their friends and not the Lord.
            An unexciting, routine, ho-hum kind of Christianity.  Lukewarm!

The Lord Jesus Christ says:  I wish you were either hot or cold.

I’m sure most of us can really appreciate the first part of that comment.
How often don’t we ourselves wish for a little more fiery zeal in the church.
We long for more joy and excitement about our faith and our Lord.
We wish there was more enthusiasm to serve Jesus.
    I wish you were hot…!  Yes, we can identify with that wish.  That’s our wish too.

It’s the other part of our Lord’s words that surprise and disturb us.
I wish that you were either hot… OR COLD?  Amazing!
Is the Lord saying He would prefer these people to be outright pagans?

That’s not the way we usually think.
    When someone goes off the track or begins to backslide then we say:
            Well, at least she still goes to church occasionally.
     Or: At least he still mixes regularly with people from the church.
   We tend to think that lukewarmness is better than coldness.
   At least the lukewarm are not hostile to God and His church.

Jesus sees it differently…. lukewarmness is something He utterly despises.
It is a disgrace to go through the motions while it no longer really means anything.
It endangers your salvation to kid yourself you still belong while your heart’s not in it anymore.
Better then to be an open-minded atheist than a self-satisfied religious person.
It’s easier for a tax-collector to enter the K’dom than for a self-righteous Pharisee.

Let me add that lukewarmness is a real danger for those of us who have grown up in the church.
We’re so familiar with all that the Christian faith stands for.
We so easily take our worship and Christian fellowship for granted.
We can become so blazé about our Bible Study meetings.
We even become complacent about going to the Lord ’s Table.
We go thru the rituals, the routines, so we think everything is fine regarding our salvation.

 

3.         Jesus says: I wish you were hot… on fire for me.

But even coldness is better than your self-sufficient attitude.

And then there follows a statement about the Lord’s feelings towards Laodicea.

An emotion of Jesus… that is recorded nowhere else in Scripture.

Jesus, who is called the faithful and true witness, says, in effect: You Laodiceans… you make me sick!
Your lukewarm, ‘take it or leave it’ attitude nauseates me.
It makes me want to vomit.
It’s like drinking the lukewarm mineral water from your springs.
Sickening… I’m about to spew you out of my mouth.

Let’s not underestimate the way Jesus feels about lukewarmness in the church.

Some translations (NIV) make the words of Jesus sound nice and respectable.

I’ll spit you out of my mouth.
But the word is used in one place of a drunkard rolling around in his own vomit.
Laodicea is absolutely sickening to the Lord Jesus.

Think about that: the strongest words in all of these seven letters…
– they are not directed against Thyatira with its worldliness…
– and not against Pergamum with its false teachers…
– nor against any of the other problems in some of the other churches.

The strongest words of our Lord are reserved for lukewarm Christians…
against people who aren’t on fire for their Lord and their faith…
against people who complacently think they’ve got it all together.

Lukewarmness… are you taking your relationship with the Lord for granted?

Jesus says to Laodicea:
I am about to vomit you out of my mouth… you pastor… and elders… and congregation…!
Because of your nominal, routine Christianity with no zeal for the Lord Jesus.

 

B]        GRACIOUS ADVICE AND LOVING INVITATION.

1.         However, let’s not think that this is now the end of the line for Laodicea.

Jesus, as living Lord of the church, has not totally rejected this church.

This is a warning.  IOW: it is still the time of God’s grace.
                        There is still the opportunity for Laodicea to repent.
                        There is still time to change.

Jesus says:
I am ABOUT TO spew you out of my mouth.  It is not something He has already done.
True it will happen soon… but the opportunity to repent is still there.

In fact, notice how verse 19 spells out Jesus’ love for this church.
“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.”
What a beautiful reminder that is of our Lord’s patience!

Laodicea makes Jesus sick with its lukewarmness.

  Usually things that make us vomit are useless and rejected.

    We even tip a cup of lukewarm tea or coffee down the sink.

      Yet the Lord patiently and lovingly warns this sickening church.

That helps us understand these hard words.

They are words that flow out of Jesus’ immense love for His church.

The rebuke is there precisely because this church is still worth something.
He paid an extremely high price for the church… in love He gave His live for her.

So Jesus does not want the work of His hands destroyed.

He rebukes because He longs for repentance… He yearns for them to be hot instead of lukewarm.

Jesus knows that there is no place for lukewarm Christianity.

After all the enemy and the opposition are never lukewarm and we shouldn’t be either.

The early church didn’t turn the world down-side up by means of a ‘Ho Hum!’ attitude to their faith.
No! They had a hot, fiery passion for their Lord and for His Word.
And now Laodicea is called to have that same passion: Be zealous therefore and repent!

 

2.         So Jesus gives this congregation a two-fold remedy for its lukewarmness.

Probably because there are two things leading to their lukewarmness.

FIRST: He advises them to come to Him for things that will really make them rich.
Laodicea saw itself as rich… but counted its riches in dollars and cents.
– It saw itself as self sufficient in it’s own achievements.
– It had the same problem we often face in our society.
            We find our strength in our own resources and abilities.
            We’re able to solve our own problems… handle things our way.
            And it leads to spiritual lukewarmness towards Jesus and His Kingdom.
            Self-sufficient in what we have achieved and what we have accomplished.

Jesus says to a church like that what He already said thru Isaiah the prophet:
“Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;
 And you who have no money, come, buy, and eat.
 Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost
 Listen to me and eat what is good,
 And your soul will delight in the richest of fare.”

So Jesus is saying that the first remedy for lukewarmness is this:

    Take your eyes off your own self-satisfying material possessions.
I counsel you to buy from ME… gold refined in the fire.
The point is, brothers and sisters, that rue riches are not found in bank vaults.
True riches are stored up in heaven where inflation has no effect.
            Focus on the true wealth that is found in Jesus alone.
            It’s found in Him and in His saving work.

Jesus adds, ‘I counsel you to buy from me white clothes to wear to cover your shameful nakedness’.
You Laodiceans can talk about your great cloth trade…
And we modern society people can talk about dress and fashions…
But first make sure you have those white robes washed in Jesus’ blood…
            the robes of His righteousness, given to us by faith.

Furthermore Laodicea may pride itself in remedies for eyesight problems
and modern man glories in corneal grafts and cataract surgery by lazar beams…
            but what’s the point if you’re spiritually blind?
Only Jesus can make us really see.

So here is the perspective we need also in our self-sufficient society.

Come to Jesus for the treasures and possessions that really last… and that really count.

That’s the way to get excited about your faith… and to be on fire about your God.

 

3.         SECONDLY Jesus aims at the complacency that lies behind their lukewarmness.

That’s especially the problem for those of us who grew up in the church.

That happens when the things of Jesus and His Kingdom all become so terribly familiar.
Same old stories… same old hymns and songs… same old routines.
And we’ve been doing it this way for years.
And then the danger is that we take it all for granted.
            “She’ll be right mate… we’re God’s covenant people you know!
            And Mum and Dad taught us well… we know it all.
            So we’re fine… no worries… we’ll get there.”

I wonder how many of us here are lukewarm in our faith because we’ve become compacent?

Who of us here are just going through the motions of being Christians?

Years ago we made a Public Profession of Faith… because Mum and Dad expected it.

We still go to Lord’s Supper because others would be curious if we didn’t.
But to a large extent we’re Christians in name only.
There is virtually no meaningful relationship to Jesus Christ left to speak of.

That is why there is also in this letter that beautiful invitation.

In fact here in this letter where we find the strongest language used against any church
we also find the most beautiful invitation of this whole book of Revelation.
            Here I am! I stand at the door and knock.

            If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will go in and eat with him and he with me.

There we have the most beautiful answer to that nauseating lukewarmness.

Here’s the answer to insipid religiosity that robs a church of vitality.

What is needed first and foremost is a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not just having the name of a Christian.
Not just going along to church and Bible study… good as that is.
No!  That door has to be opened and Jesus allowed to enter in.
            Only then will the lukewarmness disappear.

Notice the beautiful way in which the relationship with Jesus is pictured.
It is pictured in terms of a fellowship meal.  The best fellowship is when we eat together.
And here it’s eating with Jesus… and He with me.
When you have that sort of communion with Jesus you can’t remain a lukewarm Christian.

Conclusion:

I began by asking whether the preaching of the Word really changes you.
Does reading God’s Word make you do things differently in your life?
Or does that Word go in one ear and out the other?

It that’s the case then you need to deal with lukewarmness.

In fact maybe you have never really accepted that gracious invitation of Jesus:
If anyone hear my voice and opens the door, I will go in an eat with him and he with me.

That’s an invitation that comes to you from the Living Christ?
An invitation from the One who is the Amen, the faithful and true witness.
What are you going to do with His invitation this morning?

Accept that invitation and Jesus says: you get to sit on a throne and reign with me in glory.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Amen.