"Laodicea" Sermon: Revelation 3:14-22 (manuscript)

 

“Laodicea”

Revelation 3:14–22

December 17, 2023 YouTube

          The final letter in the book of Revelation is to the church in Laodicea.  This may be the church we are most familiar with – at least in passing.  The images that come to mind of Jesus spewing, spitting, vomiting the church out, and of Jesus standing at the door and knocking, and of this church being the one that Jesus has no praise for are ones we may remember. There have also been songs written about the church in Laodicea.

          Laodicea is forty-five miles southeast of Philadelphia.  Laodicea is in the Lycus valley with Hierapolis and Colossae.  It was funded by Antiochus II and named after his wife, Laodice.  Laodicea was known for its extraordinary wealth.  It was located at the intersection of three highways, and it was the location of the regional banking center, boasted a first-rate medical center specializing in diseases of the eye, and was the garment center of the region.

          The only negative was that Laodicea didn’t have any natural source of water.  Hierapolis had hot springs, and Colossae had ice cold waters.  So, Laodicea had water piped in from Hierapolis, and during the trip, the water cooled down to become foul, lukewarm water.

          On to the letter:

          “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.’

          One more time in the letters to the churches, we are given additions to the picture of Jesus.

          Jesus is the Amen.  Jesus is the “so be it.”  Jesus is the confirmation of everything that has been and is and will be.  Nothing has, was, or will be other than what Jesus ordains in His Sovereignty.

          Jesus is the faithful and true witness.  As we saw last week, this language is referring to Jesus being an exact representation of reality – not just the opposite of false and unfaithful.

          Jesus is the beginning of God’s creation.  John tells us, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1-3, ESV). Jesus is Himself, God, the Sovereign Creator.

          “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.’

          Jesus uses the example of their water problem to describe them. Hierapolis has hot water.  Colossae has cold water.  When the hot water travels from Hierapolis to Laodicea, the water becomes foul and lukewarm.

Jesus tells the church in Laodicea that she is neither hot nor cold, and He wishes they were either hot or cold.  If they were hot – they would be “on fire” for Jesus.  If they were cold and dead, Jesus could raise them from the dead.  But they are lukewarm – what is Jesus to do with that?

Have you ever turned on the faucet to get a drink, and you have it in a position where the water comes out lukewarm, and you take a drink and then spit it out? The church in Laodicea wasn’t good for anything but spitting out.  Jesus, the Almighty God, says the only thing He can do with them – where they are – is spit them out in disgust.

Jesus knows the works of this church.  They have a high estimation of themselves.  They are satisfied in their sin and oblivious to it.

“‘For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.’

The church in Laodicea looked at themselves – they were rich, they prospered, they didn’t think they needed anything.  They were just like the culture around them. They thought if they were rich and prosperous that they didn’t have any needs.  God must love them and be satisfied with them, because they have everything anyone could ever want.  They had a church that reflected their city – wealthy, well-groomed, educated, acceptable, enjoyable people.  The church offered all the functions that the YMCA and the schools did.  They had a pool and a basketball court.  They offered a lunch program and after school care. And on Sunday, if there wasn’t a game, or if they weren’t too tired, or if they didn’t have something else to if, they gathered together to hear the Word of God which is the basis, they thought, for understanding that if everything is coming up roses, God must be pleased with them – very pleased in deed.  They were, in fact, self-righteous.

Peter writes, “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’” (I Peter 5:5, ESV).

Jesus tells them that they may have the best of everything the world has to offer, but they were oblivious to their spiritual needs.

“As far as your spiritual needs, you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”

What would the response be if you went to your elders and told them that the pastor is wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked as far as his spiritual understanding and life are concerned?  Especially if the church was wealthy, well-respected, and fit in with the culture perfectly.  What if you said that, even so, the church is wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked as far as spiritual understanding and life are concerned to your elders about the church?

The point is that the church is not to be like the world.  It should not try to be like the world.  That is not to say that the church cannot do some of the things the world does.  But if the church is not different from the world, separate from the world, a witness against the world and to salvation in Jesus Alone, we are not a biblical church.

It’s fine to be part of a band, or be in a choir, or be in a theater group, or play sports, or provide food for people, or help people get housing, and so on and so on, but if we are not preaching and teaching the Word of God Alone, praying, receiving the sacraments, evangelizing, and having fellowship and showing hospitality to the Christians in our local church, we are not a church, but a copy – and probably a poor one – of the world.  The church must be different and proclaim the message of salvation that she alone can proclaim.

Paul writes, “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, ‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty’” (II Corinthians 6:14–18, ESV).

The church in Laodicea made Jesus nauseous. Do we make Jesus nauseous?

Jesus tells them it is not quite too late for them to turn back to following Him faithfully. Jesus counsels them to do three things:

“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.”

Do we see how Jesus distinguishes between the church and the world?

Laodicea was a wealthy city, but it was not the wealth that is found in Jesus.  So Jesus tells them to buy from Him gold refined by fire – and in that you will be rich.  Not the riches of the world, but the riches of being in Christ.

Laodicea was the garment center of the area, but those garments were meaningless in being a Christian.  So, Jesus tells them to buy white garments – remember white symbolizes purity and holiness – and the shame of their nakedness will not be seen – because sin is covered in Jesus.

Laodicea had a world renown hospital with special treatments for the eyes, but those salves could not open a person’s spiritual eyes.  So, Jesus says to buy salve from Him, so they would have spiritual sight.  Once they were blind, but now they see.

“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.”

Notice, despite Jesus saying He was ready to spit them out of His mouth, He tells them that He loves them, and since He loves them, He reproves and disciplines them and commands them to repent of their sin and to become zealous for the Gospel – to become like the water of  Hierapolis – be zealous for Jesus – don’t just sit in the pews and be happy with the world and what you think of yourself – be hot, boiling – show the world that Jesus and His salvation is more important than anything and everything else in the world.

Then we have a very familiar text, and we may have even seen the painting reflecting this text.  I have heard it preached on in two different ways, both of which are wrong:

“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.”

Both of the wrong ways to interpret this text is to see it as an evangelistic text – that it is about Jesus at the door of the heart of an unbeliever asking to be invited into the unbeliever’s heart.

The first way is basically what we have just said – Jesus – wanting to save each person – goes to the door of that person’s heart and knocks, waiting and hoping that He will be let in – saving the person.

Thes second way – a way I have not heard as frequently, thankfully – is not like the painting, but it is the idea that Jesus is outside the door of the unbeliever’s heart.  Jesus is in ratty clothes and crying, hoping that the person will let Jesus in so Jesus will be healed by healing – saving – the unbeliever.

That is not what this text is saying.

The first thing to notice is that Jesus is not knowing at the door of an unbelieving heart – He is knocking at the door of the Laodicean church which is on the verge of having its candlestick removed.

Jesus is knocking at the door of the church --- having told them to repent and become boiling hot for Jesus.  Jesus is waiting to see who in the church will repent and become boiling for Him.  This is not a matter of their becoming Christians, but of their repenting and becoming zealous for Jesus and His gospel.

And, to those who open the door and repent and become zealous for Jesus, Jesus will eat with him and he with Him.

Commentators say that Jesus is saying He will eat the Lord’s Supper with them.  Jesus will be united to those – who are Christian but change the way they are living – through the receiving of the bread and the cup.  Jesus is spiritually present in the bread and the cup, and all true believers are united with Jesus as we receive the elements.  So, Jesus is saying that after they have been disciplined and repented for their sin, Jesus will reassert His spiritual union with them as they join together in eating the elements.

“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.”

Who is the one who conquers?  The one who has been loved by Jesus to salvation.  We will remember this familiar passage:

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39, ESV).

The believers in the church in Laodicea who repent of equating being right with God – being saved in Jesus – with wealth and being like the world – they are conquerors over sin because Jesus loves them. 

In the same way, Jesus loves us and tells us not to measure our being a Christian, and being mature in the faith, and being loved by any measure other than zealous faith and the reception of Jesus’ love through God the Holy Spirit.

And so, Jesus tells the Laodiceans that they will sit on Jesus’ throne, just as Jesus sits on the throne of His Father.  True believers will be given power and authority – under God – in the Kingdom that is to come.  The throne symbolizes kingship, power, and authority.

If we have a big church, a wealthy church, a church that is well thought of, a church that provides all kinds of programs, a church that believes it is so right in God’s eyes that He is blessing them hand over fist, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything about the church’s health spiritually.  We may be going through the motions and trying to be like the world.  We may be a church that Jesus is getting ready to spew out of His mouth.

Let us examine ourselves and our churches and see whether we are preaching the Word of God Alone and obeying all that God has said and believing savingly in Jesus, the Only Savior.

Finally, we end with a call to the church in Laodicea, the seven churches of Revelation, and all the churches throughout time and space.

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

          Let us pray:

          Almighty God, we can get quite satisfied with who we are in Your Sight.  Forgive us for believing our faithfulness is found in our approval before the world and in our feeling good about ourselves spiritually.  Help us to open the door so You would come in and share the bread and the cup with us.  Cause the Holy Spirit to set us on fire with zealousness for You.  And cause us to grow in faith and obedience now and until the day Jesus returns and brings us into the New Jerusalem.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.