Today we will look at the final church of the seven churches of the Book of Revelation and the most loathe by Christ of the seven churches.
The seventh and final letter to the churches of ancient Asia Minor is to the church in the city of Laodicea. Laodicea was a wealthy, industrious city in the province of Phrygia in the Lycos Valley.
The message is from the Lord Jesus Christ via an angel or messenger (likely a reference to the church’s pastor): This was not simply John’s message to those in Laodicea; it was a message from the Lord.
• Jesus identifies Himself thus: “The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.”
1. These titles emphasize the Lord’s faithfulness, sovereignty, and power to bring all things to their proper completion (the “Amen”).
2. Today we are looking at the lukewarm church of Laodicea. We will compare ourselves personally and our Church to this self-deceived Church.
Let’s stand as we read God’s Holy Word:
Rev 3:14-22
14 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
21 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.
22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
witness, the ruler of God’s creation.
15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!
16 So, because you are lukewarm-- neither hot nor cold-- I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
17 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.
18 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.
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
20 Here I am! I stand at the door
(Prayer)
First, lets talk about the City of Laodicea:
Laodicea was the wealthiest of the seven Churches.
It was known for its Financial industry, manufacture of black wool, and a medical school that produced eye salve that was known in most the world of that day."
The city was so wealthy that when an earthquake destroyed it in 17 A.D., it refused imperial aid for rebuilding and did it entirely on its own. ( Let me just say often the status of a community with spillover into the personality or DNA of the church there.)
So now let's look at the Commendation or lack thereof:
Christ did not find anything on which to commend this Church.
Let's look at the scriptures again.
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.
Christ was giving witness to the Church that He did have the right and the authority to judge their works.
• Jesus spoke this world into existence and rules His creation.
Being a faithful and true witness from the very beginning of His creation until now gives Him the authority to rebuke and discipline the people that He loves.
The Condemnation:
15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!
16 So, because you are lukewarm-- neither hot nor cold-- I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
Christ saw a church that had become like so many churches today.
• He saw a church that was not productive.
Sure they attended services each week, but they did nothing to further the Gospel of Christ.
They were content to just sit back and watch the world turn as they enjoyed their luxuries.
The people of Laodicea had even built an aqueduct to bring water from hot springs into the city. By the time the water had reached the city, it was no longer hot, nor was it refreshingly cold. It had become lukewarm. Have you ever drank lukewarm water?
• If you have, then you know you feel like spitting it out of your mouth. This is how Christ felt about the Laodicea Church.
In contrast to the other six churches, the Laodicean church has nothing to commend it.
Jesus begins the message with condemnation: “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” (Revelation 3:15-17).
Jesus emphasizes their “lukewarm,” apathetic nature three times. ( any time he repeats it's important)
As a result of their ambivalence to spiritual things, Jesus would have nothing to do with them.
• That is scary -
Worse, He would “spit them out,” as the people of Laodicea would spit out the tepid water that flowed from the underground aqueducts to their city.
With their apathy came spiritual blindness; they claimed to be rich, blessed, and self-sufficient.
• Truthfully that’s not so unlike today.
This may offend some, but the whole having multiple campuses truthfully has no real Biblical basis.
Its more a self-serving, ego mechanism, that says look at us.
Look how many campuses we have.
(When we went through the split, we were called and asked to be campus for another local church.)
Perhaps they were rich in material things. But, spiritually, the Laodiceans were in a wretched, pitiful condition, made all the worse in that they could not see their need. This was a church filled with self-deceived hypocrites.
• I see churches today that more resemble the Mall of America in Minn. Than they do a humble place where believers come to seek the Lord.
Jesus calls the Laodicean church to repent of its sin: “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” (Revelation 3:18).
All 3 were possible become rich in what really matters, have the shame of our wrong thinking and living forgiven and covered, and again be able to see with eyes that see what Jesus desires.
Jesus notes His concern for His church in Laodicea: “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” (Revelation 3:19-20).
His rebuke is not born of animosity but of love. “The Lord disciplines those he loves” (Hebrews 12:6). The desired response to God’s reproof was zealous change and true repentance.
Their material wealth had no eternal benefit, nor does ours, so don’t be coveting those who have all the expensive toys.
Jesus commands them to come to Him for true, spiritual riches
Isaiah 55:1-2 1"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. 2Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare.
Only Christ can supply an everlasting inheritance, clothe us in righteousness, and heal our spiritual blindness.
John continues in his writing with these words from Christ to his church:
17 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.
These Christians thought by being wealthy, that they needed nothing.
When you process all the worldly items that you desire, then you become self-sufficient and have a false feeling of security.
You don’t care what is happening in the world around you. You have this false sense of security, where nothing can hurt you and there is nothing that you need that you cannot provide for yourself.
Most people like these are overachievers. The more wealth they have the more that they want.
Paul warned us about this. Let’s read:
1 Tim 6: 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 11 But you, man of God, flee from all this and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
When the love of money or status, supersedes our love for God, we become spiritually wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. We become an organization rather than a living organism.
We may go through the motions of worshipping God, but we are really worshipping our achievements.
Our money and processions becomes our god. The first of the Commandments tells us: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
God doesn’t urge us to be poor, but He does expect and deserves to be first in our lives.
We are to buy our gold from Christ. This refined gold that we purchase from Christ is our salvation.
What can be more valuable than that? It is worth more than all the gold in the world, and yet it is a free gift from God.
All we have to do is to purchase it through Jesus Christ by accepting Him as our Savior and Lord. The only cost is our repentance of our sins.
With this gift of salvation, we become rich in the Kingdom of Heaven. We are given new clothes bleached white by the blood of Christ to cover all of our sins. We are then given the Holy Spirit to open our eyes so that we can see the path of righteousness.
What a wonderful God we have that loves us so much that He would even give His only Son to suffer and die on the cross for us. Jesus was willing to do this because He also loves us. He cares for us so very much. Every Christian Church in the world should be hot for God.
Rev 3:19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
I have six children, as they were growing up I disciplined them because I loved her and wanted them to learn the difference between right and wrong.
God, our father, likewise loves us and He wants us to learn what is right and to refrane from sin.
If we are disobedient, God loves us enough to discipline us.
Verse 20 is often used as an evangelistic appeal, yet its original context communicates Christ’s desire for fellowship with His lukewarm church in Laodicea.
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him, and he with Me.
The church is nominally Christian, but Christ Himself has been locked out.
Rather than turn His back on them, He knocks, seeking someone to acknowledge the church’s need and open the door. I
f they would repent, Jesus would come in and take His rightful place in the church. He would share a meal with them, a Middle Eastern word picture speaking of closeness of relationship.
Jesus then makes a promise to the believers in Laodicea: “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” (Revelation 3:21).
The “overcomer” refers to any believer, and the promise is that he will share Christ’s future kingdom.
In summary, the church at Laodicea had become apathetic in their love for Christ. They were allowing “the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things [to] come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful” (Mark 4:19). Christ called them to repent and live zealously for Him, to “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). The Lord Jesus issues the same call to those who say they follow Him today.
Christ is standing at the door of your heart and knocking. He is asking to come into theirs and our life. He wants to have an everlasting fellowship with you.
All you have to do is to open the door and let Him come into your life as your Savior and Lord. It is just that easy. In doing so He will give you enormous treasures in heaven. He will give you a crown of life that all the money in the world can’t buy but it yours for the asking.
Jesus knows what we have to contend within this world. He lived here and was tempted just as we are.
But He overcame all temptation and lived a perfect sinless life. Because He did we can be cleansed from our sins by His shed blood.
We too can overcome the world. All we need to do is to sincerely repent & confess that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that He was born here on earth so that He could become a perfect sin offering for us. Believe that He was crucified on the Cross. And believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead on the third day and He lives and sits on the throne at the right hand of God. If you do this Jesus will give you the right to sit with Him on the throne.
Rev 3: 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Christ is warning us to listen to what He has told the seven Churches. Which church do you most resemble?
• The Church of Ephesus, who had left their first love.
• The Church of Smyrna, who endured suffering, but remained faithful to the end.
• The Church of Pergamos, who had allowed false doctrine to enter their beliefs.
• The Church of Thyatira, who had allowed sexual immorality into their lives.
• The Church of Sardis, who appears to be alive, but was actually spiritually dead.
• The Church of Philadelphia, though they were small, witnessed continually for Christ.
• The Church of Laodicea, who was lukewarm and despised by Christ.
I think a lot of our Churches today resemble the Church of Laodicea. As a Nation that is considered one of or the wealthiest nations in the world, we have closed our eyes to what is happening in our once Christian nation.
As each year passes we are falling deeper and deeper into sin. We murder over 4000 unborn babies every day.
We have taken prayer and the Ten Commandments out of all public establishments.
Pornography has taken over movie theaters, TV, and the Internet.
The homosexual lifestyle is now being taught to our school children as an acceptable way of life.
Now our scientists want to play God and create (clone) life. When will we as Christians open our eyes and take a stand for Christ and say enough is enough.
Are we already like the Church of Laodicea and are content with all that we process and care less what is happening to our once Christian Nation?
Today we need to recommit our lives to Christ. We need to come forward to the altar and tell Christ that we repent from our sin of apathy and not caring. We need to recommit our lives to the works of Christ.
You aren’t here today by chance. The Holy Spirit has led you here Come now!
