Revelation 3
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Revelation 3:14-20, “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. 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.
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 that person, and they with me.
In chapter 3, John continues to proclaim the visions that Jesus has given him about the churches. Chapter 2 focused on Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, and Thyatira. This chapter addresses the rest of the churches of Asia Minor, including Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Since we focused on the structure and flow of the letters yesterday, I wanted to highlight the message to one particular church today – Laodicea.
For those who were in worship on Sunday, I actually preached on this passage. But I think it is incredibly important for all of us who are part of the American church.
Laodicea was a very wealthy city. It was on a main trade route and it had several prosperous industries. It was known for its banking. It was also known for a black dye that it produced which was used to make black wool, quite a luxurious commodity in those days. It also had a respected medical school which developed an eye medicine that was quite sought after.
But despite its wealth, the one really big problem that Laodicea had was lack of a water supply. Its northern neighbor, Hierapolis, had these amazing hot springs. It’s other close neighbor, Colossae, to the east, had a lovely refreshing cold water supply. As a result, Laodicea built an elaborate system to pipe the water from both those places into their city. But by the time it got there, it was not hot, nor cold, but simply lukewarm.
Jesus has harsher words for Laodicea than any of the other churches. He says that just like their water, they are lukewarm! Hot water heals, cold water refreshes, but lukewarm water is useless. They are spiritually lukewarm; they are spiritually useless!
The thing is that they looked good on the outside. They went through all the motions. They worshiped, read Scripture, and sang hymns. But it was phony piety. Their hearts were far from God. There was no passion for Jesus.
And they didn’t even realize this. In fact, because of their wealth and prosperity, they thought they were doing quite well. Largely sheltered from the persecution that other Christian communities in the area experienced, they were free to do as they pleased. And what they were doing was not pleasing to God. They were self-reliant, complacent, lazy, and passionless. Not good traits for a church.
But despite their spiritual mess, Jesus loves them and still yearns for them. He stands at the door and knocks, waiting for them to answer it. He wants a real relationship with them. He wants them to be passionate for his love.
Think about the American church. Think about our church for that matter. Are we lukewarm? Do we resemble Laodicea. In which ways? I’m not saying this to be critical but because I’m convicted. Do we serve God with passion? Are we simply going through the motions? Have we become stagnant? I asked these questions on Sunday but I think it’s worth a review.
Rate your passion level based on the following:
-Do you experience joy and excitement in your prayer life?
-Do you read Scripture with expectancy of hearing from the Lord?
-Do you have spiritual conversations with non-Christians?
-Do you actively seek out relationships with non-Christians so you can demonstrate the love of Christ to them?
-Do you look for ways to serve Jesus and reach out to those who are struggling/hurting in our community?
-What’s the last time you felt really excited about your spiritual walk with Jesus?
-As a church, are we passionate about making more and better followers of Jesus? Are our hearts close to God?
I’ll stop there but do take some time to let this all sink in a bit. God wants our whole heart and life, not just some of it. He wants us to be passionate as individual believers and a church.
Will we open the door for him? Will we sit at the table with him and be in meaningful, life-changing relationship? And will we bring others to the table as well?
Let’s pray…Lord, How we need you. Forgive us for being lukewarm. Forgive us for our lack of passion. Fill us with your Holy Spirit in a way we have never experienced it before. More of you, less of me. In Your Name, Amen.