A warning against being luke warm

Text Revelation 3:14-22 Time 01/08/10 Place Childs Hill Baptist Church

We are looking at the seven letters to the seven churches found in Revelation 2 and 3. So far we have looked at six letters – those to the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis and Philadelphia. This evening I want us to look at the last of the churches – Laodicea.

We've done ESP-TSP- now it's just L. We've looked at Mixed, Praised, Mixed/Mixed/Mixed more Blame and Mixed mostly Praise. Now it is Blamed.

With Laodicea we have a loud blast against complacency and a call to wholehearted recommitment.

Once again we will look at the description of the church and consider ourselves as a church and as individuals in the light of it. Verse 14 says To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

Laodicea was the leading city of the region of Phrygia, about 40 miles south east of Philadelphia. It is almost due east of the first church Ephesus by about 90 miles. Situated where 3 important highways met Laodicea was in an ideal place commercially and became a rich commercial and financial centre. So wealthy was it that when it was damaged in an earthquake the citizens declined to receive aid from the Emperor’s coffers. Interestingly, its water was piped in from hot springs about six miles away. By the time it reached Laodicea it was luke warm. Also a famous medical school grew up not far away. It developed an eye medicine called Phrygian powder which brought fame to Laodicea. Again it was in a valley, the Lycus Valley. Just to the north was Hierapolis, where there was also a church and just 10 miles away was the church in Colosse. In Paul's letter to the Colossians he urges them to read his letter to Laodicea. That could be what we call the letter to the Ephesians, Paul having written the same letter to both churches. Paul had never been to Colosse or Laodicea. The church in Laodicea was founded by a man called Epaphras. Perhaps he founded the church in Laodicea too.

Clearly the church was in bad way by this time. It wasn't necessarily due to heresy as such or persecution but they had fallen asleep on the job there in Laodicea and they needed this very stern letter to wake them up. Perhaps we need something like that too. Let's hope not. So we say a number of things growing out of what is in this letter to ourselves as individuals and as a church.

1. Consider the character of Christ and the fact these are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness and ruler of God's creation

For the final time we have these words These are the words of .... This time it is These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. This again mostly taken from Chapter 1. Amen is, of course, a Hebrew word. It means “it is”. We are familiar with it ax the word we use at the end of our prayers or the prayers of others, meaning “it is so” or “I agree”. It is the word Jesus would often use to introduce something important that he was saying. We often translate “Truly, truly”. He is the one then who is true. That is what makes him a faithful and true witness. He is also the ruler over God's creation, the one through whom all was created and the one who sustains it all.

In Laodicea they had rather forgotten all this and they needed to be reminded. Perhaps we too need such a reminder.

2. Consider his word of condemnation for a luke warm church

In verse 15 we get that famous statement I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! Throughout the letter we get these statements – I know, I know. Whatever the state of a church it is something known to the Lord, whether it is something good or something bad. Here it is something bad. The church in Laodicea is described as being neither cold nor hot. The expression is sometimes misunderstood because we tend to think of being hot – being on fire for Christ – as something good and being cold as something bad. You could think that Jesus was saying better cold then luke warm. If you can't be on fire, do nothing. In fact the idea is of refreshment. On a hot day you want something cold to cool you down. On a cold day you want something hot to warm you up. What is never refreshing is something tepid or luke warm. Have you ever left a cup of tea too long. You go to taste it and it is tepid. Yuk! Or think of putting on the tap to get cold water and only getting tepid water. I remember as a boy making that mistake – going to the gym on hot day expecting cold water and only getting warm. Yuk!

What Christ wants is that we should refresh him. There are different ways to do that but somehow we must refresh him by the way we live.

A surely apocryphal story is told that in the days when Soviet Russia was under organised persecution there was an occasion when secret police turned up at a meeting and said ‘Okay anyone who is not really all out for Christ can go, the rest must stay’. No-one moved. ‘Good’ was the response ‘We are not secret police actually but fellow believers. We wanted to be sure there were no compromisers present.’ How would that work out here? Certainly when Israel went out to war anyone who felt afraid was actually encouraged to go home and not come – he may discourage others. Here the sentence has not been passed yet. There is time to change.

3. Consider his word of warning for a luke warm church

Once we get the picture correct in our head verse 16 makes sense So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth. That was the problem in Laodicea – not hot, not cold either, just tepid, luke warm. Just as a person getting a mouthful of tepid tea is likely to spit it out or someone after an ice cold cola will spit out the luke warm stuff, so Christ says he will react against such tepid believers by rejecting and ejecting them. They will have to go. He cannot stand such people. What a warning! Be hot, be cold, but somehow refresh the Lord. Otherwise, you cannot expect to draw near to the Lord.

4. Consider how it is possible to be self-deceived about your true state

How did they get to be so luke warm in Laodicea? It was a problem of not realising just how bad things really were. In their ignorance they had completely misread the situation. Verse 17 You say, I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. That was how they felt about themselves. In fact they were totally misreading the situation. Christ says But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Their situation was the very opposite of what they thought it was.

I remember haring a comedian say once that he had heard that to be popular with girls it was important to smile. So he went out smiling at every girl he met. It was only when he came home and looked in the mirror he realised he had a piece of dark green cabbage stuck on his teeth! We can all identify with such faux pas. But what about a man who is sure his job is safe and so organises his holiday and starts buying a car, etc, when the company intend to make him redundant at the end of next year? What about someone who is convinced all is well with him when in fact he has cancer and has only months to live? Like these men Laodicea had completely misread the situation.

They did not realise that they were

Wretched, pitiful – They were to be pitied rather than envied. They were sad and miserable not happy and glad. They were the opposite of Smyrna. The poor Smyrnans were told that despite their poverty they were in fact rich. The Laodiceans who thought themselves rich are in fact:

Poor. They had nothing at all to give. They were hardly able to keep themselves alive. Far from being the well taught Christians they thought they were they were paupers! There are many today like that. In some ways very rich but poverty stricken in truth – no comfort to share, no inward strength, no spiritual power.

Blind. They were blind. What ignorance there was. For all their claims to discernment they could not even diagnose their own parlous spiritual condition. Even the most intelligent in Laodicea knew so very little of what really counts. Again, how common that is – spiritual myopia, spiritual blindness.

Naked. Finally, they were naked. There was nothing to cover their exposed sin. They thought all was well between them and God but it was not.

Now the obvious thing not to do here is to say ‘Well, I’m glad I’m not like that’. Can’t we see the danger? We pride ourselves on our knowledge, our discernment, our strong sense of assurance – but are we fooling ourselves? Are we in fact wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked? Remember the Pharisee who (Luke 18:11, 12) stood up and prayed about himself: God, I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get. Rather let’s be like the tax collector who beat his breast and cried to God for mercy.

5. Consider what those who have fooled themselves need to do to get right with Christ

If we examine ourselves and we find that, even if only in a small measure, there is something wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked about us what should we do? The Laodiceans are left in no doubt. Three things come out.

1. Go to Jesus for spiritual resources. Verse 18 I counsel you to buy from me … says Jesus. Three things follow. These are to deal with the spiritual poverty, nakedness and blindness that have already been identified.

1 Gold refined in the fire, so that you can become rich. Some people talk about the riches of this particular tradition or that but real spiritual riches are found only Christ. Go to him. The gold he has is gold refined in the fires of his life of suffering and his death on the cross. There is none like it. Throw aside the gaudy baubles and imitation smack this world has to offer and find genuine treasure – knowledge, faith, hope, love – in and through Christ.

2 White clothes to wear, so that you can cover your shameful nakedness. All sorts of attempts are made to cover up man’s shameful nakedness but none of it works. It is Christ’s provision alone that cover us adequately. Laodicea was famous for its black wool and the garments made from it but what the Laodiceans was to be dressed in white, the white of holiness. Christ alone can provide such garments.

3 Salve to put on your eyes, so that you can see. As we mentioned the famous medical school near Laodicea had come up with Phrygian powder a great eye salve. Christ here calls on these Laodiceans to buy eye slave from him to enlighten them and clear their clouded vision. All who are outside Christ are spiritually blind. Those who come to him have their eyes opened to see their own sin and the righteousness that he alone can provide. You may wonder why it says I counsel you to buy. It is true that we cannot earn salvation but there is a sense in which it does cost. We need to give up on ourselves. We need to humble ourselves, recognising that by nature we are poor, naked and blind.
Have you done it? Do so now.

2. Be earnest and repent

Although this is a stinging rebuke for the church in Laodicea the Lord Jesus does not want to discourage them. He tenderly points out (19) Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. These words of rebuke and discipline grow out of his love for the Laodiceans. I punish my children from time to time not because I do not like them but because I love them. So with Christ and his people.

The proper way to react to rebuke and discipline is to repent. So be earnest, and repent. Waste not time but immediately turn from your sins. Don’t be half-heated about this, earnestly repent. That is the only proper response.

3. Open the door of your heart to Jesus

Then in verse 20 come those famous words 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. Now these words have so often been used to speak to unbelievers that it is easy to forget that they were first addressed to professing believers. The actual picture here is of the Laodiceans gathered together at one of their meetings. All are present and as they look round at one another they are contented with themselves – they are quite contented. ‘Well’ they think ‘we’ve got things going pretty well here – good numbers, good singing, good preaching, plenty of amens.’ But then there is he sound of knocking at the door. Who can it be? Who has been left outside? ‘It is me!’ says Jesus. It was the same when the people went home. Oh how good it all was - they thought. But at the doors of their homes and their workshops this knocking keeps coming. It is Jesus saying ‘Let me in’. Can they hear him? Can you hear Jesus speaking to you today? If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, he says I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. Oh what a feast there will be! All you have to do is just open the door.

Has the Lord Jesus been pushed out of your life? He is on the outside trying to get in? Open the door! Hear his voice today here in the Scriptures.

‘Behold me standing at the door, And hear me pleading evermore,

With gentle voice; O heart of sin, May I come in, may I come in?’ (Fanny Crosby)

6. Consider the promise here for those who overcome and the call to hear the Spirit

Finally as with the other letters there is a promise and a repeated command for overcomers – for those who take heed to what is said and repent.

1. The promise. John has already spoken of believers as those who have been made to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father (1:6) and in 2:26 the promise to the overcomer is authority over the nations. Here we read 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. The Laodiceans though they were rich but they were not. It is those who truly know Christ who have real riches. They share with Christ in his coming reign over the Kingdom of God. In one sense Christ already reigns and his saints with him but the final consummation is to come. We are still in the midst of mopping up operations following the great victory of the cross. Other New Testament verses teach the same thing.

Romans 5:17 For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.

2 Timothy 2:12 If we endure, we will also reign with him. What a glorious future lays ahead for the persevering believer!

2. The command. Finally, do not miss that concluding command. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. If you have understood anything of what has been said this morning it is the work of the Holy Spirit. Now listen to the Word and do what it says – repent from any tendency at all to complacency, to lukewarmness, to self-sufficiency. Look entirely to Christ, trust in him alone and know his abundant blessing.