Study of Revelation and End Times wk 13

Church at Laodicea wk 13

Last week we looked at the church at Philadelphia which was referred to as the faithful church.

Tonight we are looking at the final of the seven letters to the churches the letter to the church at Laodicea.

The church at Laodicea was also referred to as the foolish church or what most people know it as the lukewarm church.

Out of the seven churches the church at Laodicea is probably the most heard about church or the most references church.

In last weeks letter to Philadelphia Jesus did not rebuke the church, this week in the letter to the church at Laodicea He does not give a commendation or tell them anything good that they have been doing.

With that let’s look at the letter, starting in chapter 3 verse 14.

I. Destination:

Revelation 3:14 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:

We know that the angel of the church that Jesus is speaking to here or writing to is the pastor of the church.

Here He is writing the church in Laodicea: which was located on the southern bank of the Lycus River, a tributary of the Maeander River in the southwestern region of ancient Phrygia, in the area of modern Curuksucay in central Turkey.

The ancient town stood on a plateau nearly a hundred feet above the river.

Although it was undoubtedly a station on the caravan route from Ephesus to northern Syria.

Laodicea grew to wealth in prominence during the Roman rule, when it was a way station for the extensive shipments by which Rome exploited Syria.

Laodicea was also know for its manufacturing of special eye salves, as well as flossy black wool cloth.

About 35 years before this letter was written, Laodicea was destroyed by an earthquake, but it had the wealth and ability to rebuild, and it did so fairly quickly.

The Lord presented Himself as the Amen, which is an Old Testament title for God which is seen in Isaiah 65:16 where the word truth is the Hebrew word amen.

Isaiah 65:16 NASB95

16 “Because he who is blessed in the earth Will be blessed by the God of truth; And he who swears in the earth Will swear by the God of truth; Because the former troubles are forgotten, And because they are hidden from My sight!

The word truth there in the Hebrew is also translated Amen or is amen.

The Lord was about to tell the church at Laodicea the truth about its spiritual condition; unfortunately, they would not believe His diagnosis.

The Laodicea church was blind to its own needs and unwilling to face the truth.

Yet honestly is the beginning of true blessing, as we admit what we are, confess our sins, and receive from God all that we need.

If we want God’s best for our lives and church, we must be honest and let God be honest with us.

Jesus continues to identify Himself as the Faithful and true witness, the originator of God’s creation: as the originator of God’s creation - Jesus existed before God’s creation and is sovereign over it.

Colossians 1:15 NASB95

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

Jesus was preparing the people for the stern word of rebuke that He was about to give them.

II. The Rebuke:

Revelation 3:15–16 NASB95

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.

Jesus does not offer the church at Laodicea any words of commendation, He did not find anything that He could tell them they were doing good at.

They were pictured in Jesus’ eyes as utterly loathsome because they were lukewarm.

In the Christian life, there are three spiritual temperatures: a burning heat - that is on fire for God, a cold heart - that is lost, and a lukewarm heart.

The lukewarm Christian is comfortable, complacent, and does not realize his need.

If he were cold, at least he would feel it.

Both the cold water from Colossae and the hot water from Hieropolis would be lukewarm by the time it was piped to Laodicea.

If the church were cold, it would be a stranger to Christ, like the heathen, or even if it cherished a positive animosity against Him, He would not approach it in the character of a judge; it might yet become, hot.

But as lukewarm, it has just enough Christianity to come under condemnation, but not sufficient enough to attain to blessedness, for that reason that it is not hot.

In verse 15, Jesus says, I wish you were cold or hot, when you order coffee, you either order it as hot coffee or ice coffee not lukewarm coffee.

When sweet tea gets lukewarm it makes me nauseous, as I want it cold, or if I have a sore throat I may make me some hot tea with honey to sooth my throat, but not lukewarm tea.

Jesus says, because you are lukewarm I am going spit you out of My mouth, that is He is going to vomit them out of His mouth.

When you drink something and you are expecting it to be ice cold or hot and it is lukewarm, you want to spit it out of your mouth, because it cause you to have that moment of nauseousness.

Jesus says, you are not hot or cold, and therefore, I am just going to reject you, I am going to spit you out of My mouth.

III. The Cause of Lukewarm:

Revelation 3:17 NASB95

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,

The Laodicean problem, the reason they were lukewarm, was that they had gathered earthly wealth and instead of relying on God for their needs they had gotten to a point where they thought they did not need God any more.

They would say, I am rich, and wealthy and need nothing.

What happens is we get comfortable in church, in ministry, and things start to go good, everything is working and running smoothly, and we start to say and think, look what I have accomplished or what we have accomplished, look at how I am doing.

We begin to get content, and we forget about God, we think we can do it without God.

We forget that it is all about God, and that God is the one that put it all together, that has allowed that ministry to prosper.

And God can take that ministry, our life, our wealth, our health, anything He wants from us at any time He decides.

No matter what it is, God has control over it, and no matter what God is the reason it is going as good as it is, we better continue to seek Him for it and rely on Him, and thank Him for all that He does.

Do not get lukewarm, because without God, we are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.

With God we can be richer than we have ever been, but it is a different type of wealth, as Jesus said, in Matthew.

Matthew 6:20–21 NASB95

20 “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We must remember it is all about Jesus, we are just vessels to be used by Him to complete the mission and ministry that He has called us too.

IV. Exhortation:

Revelation 3:18–19 NASB95

18 I 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.

How were the Laodicean people to overcome their lukewarmness, well, Jesus gives them the solution.

Pay the prices to get true gold tried in the fire.

This suggest that the church needed some persecution; they were to comfortable.

Nothing makes God’s people examine their priorities faster than suffering!

The Laodiceans were blind, they could not see reality, they had lost their vision.

They got caught up in themselves, and what they wanted to do, they were proud of a church that was about to be rejected.

Peter teaches that when a believer is not growing in the Lord, his spiritual vision is affected, which we see in 2 Peter.

2 Peter 1:5–9 NASB95

5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.

Jesus said the Laodiceans had more or less lost their vision and now Peter gives us an idea of what that means - he gives us a list seven things that if not present in a believers life or a churches life then they have lost their vision.

The first thing in that list is Moral excellence - meaning = quality of life which made someone stand out as excellent.

Second, Knowledge = understanding, correct insight, truth properly comprehended and applied.

Third, Self-Control = holding oneself in, the Christian is to control the flesh, the passion, and the bodily desires, rather than allowing themselves to be controlled by them.

Fourth, Perseverance = patience, or endurance in doing what is right, never giving in to temptation or trial.

Fifth, Godliness = to be godly is to live reverently, loyally, and obediently toward God.

Sixth, Brotherly Kindness = brotherly affection, mutual sacrifice for one another.

Seventh, Love = patient, kind, not jealous, does not brag, is not arrogant, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (1 Corinthians 13).

Then in verse 8, of 2 Peter there it says if you have these qualities then you are neither useless nor unfruitful, but then in verse 9, he says for he who lacks these qualities is blind.

Therefore, we can see that Jesus possibly referring to this list of qualities.

As Jesus said, the Laodiceans needed eye salve so that you may see, He was telling them you are blind, you lack the qualities of a true Christian.

These people could not see themselves as they really were.

Nor could they see their Lord as He stood outside the door of the church.

Nor could they see the open doors of opportunity.

They were so wrapped up in building their own kingdom that they had become lukewarm in their concern for a lost world.

The solution to the problem of blindness to put eye salve on their eyes, this is not just some eye salve get from the local eye doctor, this is eye salve that come from the great physician.

This eye salve would help the people to see the spiritual situation that they were in, the spiritual needs that they have, and then it would bring them to be earnest and repent.

As Jesus says there in verse 19, He loves us and rebukes and disciplines us, so we need to wake up and repent.

V. Promise:

Revelation 3:20–22 NASB95

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.’ ”

Jesus dramatically pictures himself outside the church knocking on the door.

The appeal is for those who hear him knocking to open the door.

To whoever opens the door, Jesus promised, I will go in and eat with him and He with me.

With Jesus on the outside, there can be no fellowship or genuine wealth.

With Jesus on the inside, there is wonderful fellowship and sharing of the marvelous grace of God.

Many times we use this verse to call non-believers to salvation, but in reality Jesus is calling the believers at Laodicea to open the door and allow Him back into the church.

The people had gotten so full of themselves, they had pushed Jesus out of the church, and now He is calling on them to allow Him back in and promises that if they will He will come in and eat with them and they with Him.

In verse 21, Jesus tells them the one who conquers, in each letter, we have heard about the one who conquers, that is the one who overcomes the problem that He addressed in the letter, here is the problem of lukewarm.

Therefore, those who overcome, or conquer being lukewarm, He will give the right to sit with Him on the throne just as He also conquered and sat down with the Father on His throne.

Jesus tells us how to overcome lukewarmness in the letter, by facing persecution, being tried in our faith.

James 1:2–4 NASB95

2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

When we through trials and tribulations in this life, we must understand that we might not see how or understand how, but there is a reason for them, and God will use them to grow us spiritually, to strengthen our faith in Him, if we will keep our eyes on Jesus.

Verses 22, closes the letter to the church at Laodicea and the seven letters with a familiar invitation if your will: Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.

These letters just like the epistles and the rest of Scripture was passed from church to church in order that all believers would be able to learn from them.

These letters to the seven churches come directly from Jesus Himself, and they were relevant to the first century churches when He dictated them to John, and they are still relevant today for us to learn from.

We today need to list with our flesh ears and more importantly our spiritual ears to what the Holy Spirit is saying to the churches, and to us personally.

What is God trying to reveal to us in our personal life, that we may need to change, that we may need to adjust, or stop, or do.

Maybe we need to open the door in our life, because we have pushed Jesus out, and it is time to allow Jesus back in to sup with us.

Maybe it is time we put Jesus back in first place in our lives and on the throne and start serving Him and His will, instead of serving our wants and wishes.