In Luke 18:17 Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” This refers to the fact that God desires us to have child-like attitudes of trust in Him. An attitude that shows our desire to trust Him even we don’t understand all the details. A desire and eagerness to learn from His word and to get to know Him better. Many times maturity as a Christian can be a great detriment. Reading God’s word is about as life changing for us as reading the ingredients on the back of a can of dog food. Christians today and perhaps the believers at Laodicea fell into the habit of using Scriptures only for information and as tools to prove the different theological ideas that we have developed over the years. Too often Scripture is no longer the pattern to model our life after and path to becoming more like Jesus. The result? Being neither hot nor cold spiritually. Leaving us living a life that is respectfully mediocre. Inoffensive. Ho..hum. Or as the Lord puts it…lukewarm. They were useless to Christ because they were complacent, self satisfied, and indifferent to the real issues of faith in him and of discipleship. They were not all out on fire for Him and not ice cold against Him. They were somewhere in the middle. As we open this letter let’s discover the dangers of being in the middle.
I. Brief exploration of this ancient city and the surrounding area.
A. An extremely wealthy city that made the most of its most enviable location.
1. Laodicea was about forty-five miles southeast of Philadelphia and about one hundred miles due east of Ephesus.
2. Along with Colosse and Hierapolis, it was one of the cities in the fertile Lyous valley.
3. The great Roman road stretching to the inland of Asia from the coast at Ephesus ran straight through its center, making Laodicea an important center of trade and communication.
4. Several major trade routes converged in this fertile valley making it easy for the city to export its renowned agricultural products.
5. This region boasted glossy black sheep which produced high quality soft wool used in clothing and carpet.
B. The city boasted a famous banking system.
1. That the city's banking assets were noteworthy is evidenced by the fact that Cicero cashed huge bank drafts in Laodicea.
2. So wealthy was Laodicea that after the great earthquake of A.D. 17, which destroyed it, the people refused imperial help in rebuilding the city, choosing rather to do it entirely by themselves.
3. One other significant note from history was the world famous eye ointment that was developed by the city’s medical school.
C. Laodicea is difficult to describe because no one thing stands out. There were no excesses or notable achievements to distinguish it.
1. It was a city with a people who had learned to compromise and accommodate themselves to the needs and wishes of others.
2. A six-mile-long aqueduct brought Laodicea its supply of water from the south.
3. The water came either from hot springs and was cooled to lukewarm or came from a cooler source and warmed up in the aqueduct on the way.
4. For all its wealth, the city had poor water.
D. A brief look at Laodicea from a spiritual point of view.
1. Zeus, the supreme god, was also worshiped in the city.
2. A large and influential Jewish population resided there.
3. As for the church in Laodicea, it may have been founded by Epaphras.
4. The self sufficiency of the city has led the church to become self sufficient to the point they started to forget their need of pure love and faith in the Savior.
II. Using three titles Christ contrasts Himself to the lackadaisical church in Laodicea.
A. First, Christ says He is the “amen.”
1. The normal Hebrew adverb that is rendered by the Greek amen means the acknowledgment of that which is sure and valid.
2. It is a word of human response to the divine verity or action.
3. Jesus is the "Amen" in the sense that he is the perfect human, obedient response to the divine promises.
B. Second, Jesus is the faithful and true witness.
1. This title was probably added by Jesus to clarify the first one for the non-Hebrew reader.
2. Jesus response to God’s will was the perfect response of obedience and suffering: he is the "faithful and true witness.”
3. For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 1:20—NIV 2011)
4. In one sense, all Christians are called to be "little amens" after the example of Christ.
C. Third, Jesus was the beginning of the creation of God.
1. The "ruler" (arche, "source," "origin") further amplifies the Amen statement.
2. 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. (Colossians 1:15-18—NIV 2011)
3. When Christ addresses a church that is failing in loyalty and obedience, he is to them the "Amen" of God in faithfulness and in true witness, the only one who has absolute power over the world because he is the source and origin of all creation.
III. Christ’s description of the church at Laodicea.
A. The conditions the Lord sees in the church.
1. Their deeds were "neither cold nor hot." The expression neither “cold nor hot" probably refers to their lack of zeal.
2. If you consider their water supply we discussed earlier you will find that this is probably a fitting metaphor for the activities of the church.
3. The application of "hot" and "cold" to spiritual temperature, though familiar to us, would have been completely foreign to first-century Christians.
4. "Cold" could refer to the useful cool water located at Colosse, less than ten miles away. "Hot" would remind the Laodiceans of the beneficial "hot springs" to the north of Hierapolis.
5. Yet Laodicea, for all its wealth, had an insipid water supply—one that induced vomiting!
6. Christ detests a Laodicean attitude of compromise, one that seeks easy accommodation and peace at any cost.
7. The deeper problem in the Laodicean church was not simply their indifference. It was their ignorance of their real condition: "You say, `I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.'"
B. The Laodiceans excelled at meeting the minimum requirements of being acceptably Christian.
1. A little praying, a little Bible study and worship, a little evangelism, a little faith and a little love.
2. The result? A spiritual farce. Something so revolting that Jesus could not stomach it.
IV. Jesus’ advice, solution and application.
A. To some Christ’s words may seem too severe and His analogy too graphic.
1. It is probably safe to assume that the Laodiceans were stung by these words, perhaps even angered.
2. When we feel betrayed, hurt or angry we want to settle the score.
3. We can be thankful that it is Jesus’ nature to offer grace.
4. They are not, as they thought, rich and without need; they are pitifully wretched and in great need, being "poor, blind and naked."
5. Gold, a source of the wealth of the city, was to be bought from Christ and to become the spiritually poverty-stricken's true wealth.
6. Their shameful nakedness was to be clothed, not by purchasing the sleek, black wool of Laodicea, but by buying from Christ the white clothing that alone can cover shameful nakedness.
7. For those who were blind to their true condition, the "Phrygian powder" was useless. They needed to buy salve from Christ so that they could truly see.
B. There could be no recovery for the Laodiceans until they admitted that without Christ they were powerless.
1. The delusion of their lukewarm faith left them blind to their true condition.
2. The Laodiceans' repentance would come from a rekindling of their loyalty to Christ.
3. We all should be thankful for not only loving the Laodiceans but loving us in the same way.
4. His love and grace is our only hope and way to find freedom from the power of sin.
Closing:
MICHAEL CARD tells the story of a man named Joseph who came to Christ out of a Muslim background. One day walking a hot dirty African road met someone who shared Christ with him. Then and there he accepted Jesus as his Savior and the power of the Holy Spirit overwhelmed him with such joy that the first thing he wanted to do was go back and tell his own village. He went from door to door telling of the cross and the forgiveness for sin. He expected their faces to light up as his had when they discovered this wonderful truth. To his amazement they became violent: the men seized him and held him to the ground while the women beat him with strands of barbed wire. Dragged and left to die alone in the bush. He revived and made it to a water hole where he spent days recovering. He was confused and finally decided that he must have left something out or not told the story correctly. After rehearsing the message he returned. Stood in the circle of huts and began to proclaim Jesus. Again grabbed by men and beaten by women, reopening the wounds that had just begun to heal. Dragged unconscious again and left to die. TO have survived the first time was remarkable but to survive this beating was a miracle. Days later he awoke and determined to go back. This time he was attacked before he even opened his mouth. Before he passed out the last thing he saw was that the women who were beating him had begun to weep. This time he awoke in his own bed, the ones who had beaten him were now trying to save his life. The entire village came to know Jesus Christ..
