The Lukewarm Church at Laodicea

Revelation 3:14–22 (NASB95)

14“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:

15‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.

16‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.

17‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,

18I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

19‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.

20‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.

21‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also 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.’ ”

Now There were three cities of the Lycus plain.

1. The first was Colosse

which was well known for it’s quality of water and they had lot’s of it! The water that it naturally supplied out of its mountains was clean and crisp and most importantly really cold and a great taste.

2. Now the second city was Hierapolis,

15 miles away on the hillside. It may have had drinkable water, but it was certainly not as tasteful as that in Colosse.

As a matter of fact, the primary purpose of the waters there seems to have been for the purpose of hot baths for those seeking relief and healing from ailments in there body.

3. The third was our city here of Laodicea.

Even though they were rich and prosperous, it had built up large mineral deposits in it’s pipes over the years which led to its water not tasting so well. Also, because of the distance to travel, Their water was neither hot nor cold to the taste.

The Lord says to the church at Laodicea that like your own water supply you are lukewarm and disgusting to my taste.

I wish that you were either a fresh, life-giving drink of cold water or else a healing, hot mineral bath.

But, because you are neither refreshing or healing, you are simply disgusting; and I will spew you out of my mouth.

The church is lukewarm, a condition that comes from mixing hot and cold.

It is a church with truth that has been diluted with error.

The tragedy is that this church is “rich” and doesn’t realize that it is poor spiritually

What a picture of the american church of today, with its prestige, wealth, and political power, yet all the while spiritually poor

v14b. Description of Christ to the Church

The Amen

We see here Jesus describes Himself as “the Amen”.

Now today when we hear amen we think of it as a traditional way to end our prayers, right?

A long time ago a Christian friend told me “never have an empty, Amen”. I was curious to what he meant and so I asked Him. He said always end your prayer in Jesus name, amen.

Now that I think about it, that makes a whole lot of sense according to this passage.

Amen means let it be so, an affirmination, in agreement to.

So saying in Jesus’ name amen is doing just that. It’s praying in agreement with Jesus as an affirmination in agreement to what He has promised.

So why does Jesus mention that He is “the amen” here?

I think it’s because he wants us to know that one of the characteristics of a lukewarm Christian is one that does’t taker prayer seriously.

b. The Faithful & True Witness

Jesus isn’t only the amen but He is also the faithful and true witness. It can be said that Jesus is the one who reveals the truth about God faithfully.

You see kids and even adults now who grab their phone and take selfies and post them online.

This is kind of what the text is saying here. That Jesus is God’s selfie.

You want to know what God is like, then look to the manifestation of God himself, Jesus Christ. We see how Jesus feed the poor, healed the sick, and showed compassion every where he went.

Jesus is the visible image of the invisible God

Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory

Jesus is the exact imprint of God’s nature.

That means Jesus didn’t just talk the talk but he walked the walk, right? God calls us to do the same. To be Holy as He is Holy.

c. The Beginning of the Creation of God

Jesus is not only the amen and faithful and true witness.

The text says in the kjv, nasb and esv that Jesus is the beginning of the creation of God which can easily be misinterpretated as Jesus being created but HE IS NOT!

It’s better translated in the nrsv and niv. In The original greek the word here is closely related as in ruler, authority and source.

So what it really says is that everything created has it’s beginning, origin and source in Jesus Christ.

Every breath we take, every opportunity we have to be awake, every second that we exist we owe to God because He allows us to by his grace.

Something we cant earn or deserve. God can take it all away in an instant and he wouldn’t be unfair, or unjust to do so because He gave it. He is the supreme ruler of all.

v15-17. Description of the Church from Christ

a. I know your deeds are not cold nor hot

because of this Christ will spit them out of his mouth

b. I know you are poor, wretched, miserable, and naked

i. Yet they say they are rich and wealthy. In need of nothing

v18. The counsel from Christ

a. buy from Christ gold refined by fire so that you may become rich.

The city of Laodicea was a a wealthy city. Christ told them to buy their gold from him and then they would have real spiritual treasures.

The city had become proud of it’s clothing and dyeing industries and became famous for it’s black wool that brought it a lot of profit.

Christ was saying here though that they needed to be refined by fire of purity of holiness.

b. buy from me white garments so you may clothe yourself so that your shame may be hidden

Although they had wealth in their clothing, they were naked before God. They were self-centered.

But Christ told them to purchase white robes (his righteousness) from him. That alone would keep the shame of [their] nakedness from being seen.

We see all throughout scripture images of taking off our clothing and putting on Christ.

c. buy from me eye salve to anoint your eyes so you may see.

Laodicea prided itself on its precious eye salve that healed many eye problems, but they were spiritually blind.

Christ told them to get salve from him to heal their eyes so they could see the truth

Some of us here today may need the same eye salve so we can see the truth that satan has blinded us from.

v19.-22- The call of Christ

a. be zealous and repent v19.

Christ says “as many as I love, I discipline”

God’s discipline is proof of his love.

Contrast that with a worldly love that calls us to tolerance which, really isn’t love at all.

So Christ calls the church to be zealous and repent

To be zealous means to have a vibrant prayer life

To be zealous means to be devoted to the word of God

To be zealous means to show some emotion in our worship instead of being a dead corpse.

To be zealous means to be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit who may call you out of your comforts.

b. open the door so christ can dine with you

Christ stands at the door and knocks

Many take this verse and allude it to unbelievers but Jesus is talking to the church here!

The Laodicean Church had become rich and comfortable. They have become self-satisfied and self sufficient which lead to a self- sabotage.

Jesus wanted to come and dine with them

I remember two other people Jesus dined with

Mary and Martha

Martha was busy getting everything ready and prepared

Mary though was at Jesus feet listening to every word He had to say.

c. he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.

God is speaking to us every day but, are we listening?

God is saying something different to us then he did 30, 20 or even 10 years ago.

Are we listening to God’s voice of yesterday of where he’s been or are we listening to the prophetic voice of God of where he is taking us tomorrow?

Application

Are we willing to be intimate with Jesus and let the cool living waters of the spirit flow through us

and...

allow the hotness of holiness make us clean and sanctify us through and through.

Intimacy with Jesus looks different.

It might look like raising our hands in worship when we’ve never done it before.

It may look like singing with confidence.

It may look like giving a testimony of God’s goodness.

Are we willing to answer when Jesus knocks and allow him to dine with us daily and allow Him to lavish his love on us?