LAODICEA: THE WORLDLY CHURCH

#236b                               LAODICEA: THE WORLDLY CHURCH                                                 

Scripture  Revelation 3:14-22, NIV                                                                             Orig. 2/27/1966

                                                                                                                                 Rewr. 3/15/1989

Passage: 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. 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 and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.  21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Purpose: Teaching Revelation to adults in Church Training

Keywords:        Judgment                    Indifference                 Worldliness

Timeline/Series:           Revelation Letters        Laodicea

Introduction

            Story of little boy who had become a Christian and came to his pastor with a problem.  Had been invited to a party, and wasn’t sure how he should act if he went at all.  Parties were places to have fun and all that.  Alright to go and alright to enjoy himself.  “I had a good time, and nobody would have ever guessed that I was a Christian.”

            So it was at Laodicea: the people wanted to have a good time, and were not really interested in the way others saw it.

I.          The Worldly Church was Bankrupt. V17 “Because thou sayest, I am rich . . . and knowest not that thou art wretched, and . . . .”

            Three pieces of information: What they thought of themselves; what God knew about them; what they could do to focus their energy. V18.

            They perceived wrongly of themselves v17 “and knowest not that. . . .”   Chief banking center of Asia Minor, glorious cosmopolitan city, indifferent to God.

            God saw them for what they were.  We still try to mask truth:  Proverbs 16:25 “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”  Matthew 13:22 “deceitfulness of riches chokes the word, and he becometh unfruitful.”  Our society is not different: TV evangelists, presidential candidate, Tower campaign—how would Ted Kennedy fare?  For believers there is a way to forgiveness and repatriation.  V18 “I counsel thee. . . .”  Only the believer can invest.  Riches are in God’s providence.  I Peter 1:7 “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory.”

II.         The Worldly Church was Bare. V17 “poor, and blind, and naked.” 

            Had a strong clothing industry.  Barclay (P181) says they were famous all over Mediterranean world.  In this state of destitution, they were without honor.  V18 “buy of me.”  They had forgotten important things: Christ’s death; joy of seeking from the word; sustenance of Holy Spirit; neighbors lost without Christ.  Romans 12:1 “I beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice. . . .”

            Source of their garments was God.  Purification through God. MacBeth (Act II, Sc. II) attempted to wash Duncan’s blood away.  “All the water in Neptune’s  oceans.”  Such garments are personalized through faith.  Begins with repentance.  Repentance keeps us dealing honestly with the Lord.  V19 “As many as I love I rebuke and chasten: be zealous, therefore, and repent.”

            Central to all of this is that Christ has been shut out of their fellowship.  V20 “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.”  Important verse of witness.  Philadelphia of “open door”—door removed.  These have shut themselves in.  Christ is denied His bride.  Yet, they are given option to repent.

III.       The Worldly Church was Blind.   V17 “and knowest not that thou . . . art blind.”  Eyesalve industry.  Trench: “The beginning of true amendment is to see ourselves as we are.”  Blind but not sightless.  V18 “anoint . . . that”: Surgical; special lenses (Arcadia); miracle.

Conclusion

            Helen Keller “To have eyes and not be able to see.”

1 Barclay, W. (1960). The Revelation of John (2 volumes). (2nd edition.) London: The Westminster Press.