“He Won’t Give Up On You”

Introduction

Have you ever given up on someone who just would constantly disappoint you? I mean, you give them chance after chance to get better and to improve, but they don’t. Maybe we’ve been in some relationships or friendships, where we’ve tried to give them chance after chance to change, but they would still disappoint us and not change. I mean, we can only take so much. They constantly disappoint us and we get to a point where we have to let them go.

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Now, what if that was God’s attitude towards us? Sometimes, we don’t pray as much as we should, we don’t read the Bible as much as we should, and sometimes we can kind of get caught up in the crowd and lean into the ways of the world, and this does not bring honor to God, and what if after all of that, God just let us go, forgot us, and gave up on us.

Well there is good news: even though sometimes we may not do what we’re supposed to do and disappoint God, he does not give up on us. He does not stop working in you and on you. He does not let us go and leave us, but instead he keeps us and holds on to us, so when you leave this place, I want you to leave knowing that even though we aren’t perfect and even though we may disappoint him at times, God will never give up on you. And allow me to tell you about that for a few minutes.

Text Context

The author of this book, John, makes it very clear what type of book he is writing. He calls this book Revelation. The book of Revelation kinda relates to the apocalypse. The word apocalypse means “describing the complete destruction of the world”. This has led people to look at this book as describing the end of the world as we know it. But in this case, that is not the case. The first sentence in Revelation reads, “This is a revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants the events that must soon take place.”

In chapters two and three of this interesting book, John is writing to seven churches in the region of Asia. Now keep the number seven in your head, because the number seven is a very meaningful number to John. This number is a symbol of completion, because it took God seven days to make the whole world.

The word “revelation” in this passage is the Greek word “apokálypsi” (ah-po-ka-lip-si). It basically means “a report or to make something known”, and what John is making known to these seven churches is that Jesus Christ is Lord. Let me paint this picture for you. John tells these people that he was banned and sent to the island of Patmos for preaching the word of God, and while he was on this island, he saw a vision of Jesus Christ, telling him to write a book to the seven churches. And he said that when he turned to see who was talking to him, Jesus was standing in front of seven candles, and John took these seven candles as a representation of the seven churches.

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In Revelation 2, Jesus starts addressing the problems of these churches. Each church had a different problem. Some churches just did not care because of how much money they had, some churches did not act right, other churches were faithful to Jesus, but they were hurting and facing harassment, and Jesus warns them that things are going to get worse. At this time, Christians are being harassed. Imagine being harassed because of what you believe. Harassed for going to church on Sunday, going to Bible study on Wednesday, going to Sunday School, singing in the youth choir. These Christians were being harassed for their belief, and so the option for them was to deny Jesus to avoid harassment or to join the Roman day in age, and so what Jesus does is he calls them to repent and come to faithfulness, that they may overcome all of what is going on.

In this third chapter of Revelation 3, Jesus is talking to these last three churches. He starts by talking to the Church in Sardis. He tells them to basically strengthen their faith and hold on to their belief. He then talks to the Church in Philadelphia. He gives them encouragement, telling them that he has open a door for them that nobody can close and that he will protect them from the time of testing that is coming. But in these few verses that we are in today, Jesus is talking to the Church in Laodicea (Lay-oh-duh-see-uh). Laodicea was a very wealthy and independent community. It was known for their good products and other things. This community thought that their wealth and all of their money meant that God had favored them, but John believed that their wealth was actually a sign that God did not favor them.

The thing about this group of Christians is that they claim to follow Jesus, but they aren’t actually following and trusting him with everything they have. He tells them that they are lukewarm christians, because they are neither hot nor cold. See, this does not mean that they are against Jesus, but it means that their faith does not mean a lot to them. They aren’t against Jesus, but they haven’t surrendered to him either. They’re doing the religious things like going to church and singing songs, and maybe they read the Bible, but their hearts aren’t in it. Maybe some of us can relate to this. Maybe we go to church and read our Bibles and we’ve sung in the choir, but there were times in our lives where our hearts weren’t in it, and we were just going through the motions. We were singing just to sing and reading just to read, and there was no feeling in it, but what we have to understand is that doing things out of religion is completely different from doing things out of a relationship with God. That means that it's one thing to sing in the choir just to sing, but it’s another thing to sing in the choir knowing who God is. It’s one thing going to church, but it’s another thing going to church and being excited to go and listen to the songs and hear the word of God, because you know who he is.

This text gives us good news. Jesus advises these christians to buy gold from him, that they would be rich, white garments, so that they would not be shamed for their nakedness, and ointment for their eyes that they may be able to see. Jesus tells them that he rebukes and disciplines those who he loves, and then he gives them the biggest encouragement. Instead of giving up on these lukewarm Christians, Jesus tells them that he is standing at the door of their hearts, knocking, and waiting for them to answer, so he can have a relationship with them. This chapter ends with Jesus saying that whoever has ears should hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Message

I believe that what Jesus was basically telling these Christians is that he won’t give up on them, and God says the same thing to us. Despite the things we’ve done or the mistakes we’ve had, God will not give up on you.

Body of Message

Instead of giving up on us, God does three things for us.

He gives us what we need.(v. 18)

The text says that after Jesus calls these Christians lukewarm, he advises them to buy three things from him. Each of these three things have three different meanings and have three different purposes. Jesus first tells them to buy gold. Gold in the Bible means true value. This community was filled with believers and unbelievers, and they might’ve been physically rich, but they weren’t spiritually rich. But with this we ask the question: What does it mean to be spiritually rich?? To be spiritually rich means to have a deep sense of peace, joy, and love that only comes from a relationship with God. That is the only way that they would become spiritually rich. When Jesus tells them to buy gold, he does not mean to give him some money and he will give the gold, but the way that they can get the gold and become spiritually rich is by having faith in him, trusting in him, and having full dependence on him, and building a relationship with him.

He then tells them to buy white garments. See, the Church in Laodicea (Lay-oh-duh-see-uh) already had their own wardrobe. Just like some of our elementary, middle, and even high schools have their own uniform, whether that is the white or blue shirts and the khaki or blue pants. In that same way, the Church in Laodicea had their own uniform. They wore beautiful, glossy black wool garments. They were like black robes, but Jesus tells them to buy the white garments. What is so special about these white garments?? Well, Jesus understood that these white garments meant righteousness and honor, and that wearing them will make these Christians acceptable unto God. They will not only make them acceptable, but they will make them look different. Jesus wants these believers to wear white garments, to not only be spiritually different, but to be physically different as well. You and I as young Christians are called to be both spiritually and physically different. The thing about this is that if we start off as spiritually different, we will then start to become physically different. When we go to church, pray, read our Bible, serve in the youth choir or the youth usher board, we will then start to become physically different. When you start off as spiritually different, then it will show in the way you walk, the way you talk, and the way you interact with others. But the thing is…IT STARTS WITH YOU.

EX: I am in an organization called Omega Lamplighters, which is a community service for young men in the Shreveport-Bossier area. I was in the Junior Lamplighters in middle school, but when you get to high school you become an Omega Lamplighters. My Dad recommended me to join it in the seventh grade, and I have been a member since them. We had our first meeting about two weeks ago at my church, and they split us up between middle school and high school and took us to breakout sessions. I went with the high school group and we went to a room and one of the mentors, who’s name is Mr. Myron, stood up and basically said “Young men, we as men and mentors to you are going to do our part to help you and teach you, but you have to do yours, because it starts with you.”

We have to understand that it starts with us. Sometimes we find ourselves looking at God and asking God why he hasn’t come through, and maybe the reason he hasn’t is because he is waiting on us to do our part, because it starts with us. We have to do our part and start off as spiritually different, then we will start to become physically different.

Jesus lastly advises them to buy eye salve. Eye salve is like eye drops. You drop it in your eyes when you have eye problems, so that you can see better. The eye salve that Jesus offers to the church in Laodicea symbolizes gaining spiritual sight and avoiding spiritual blindness. See, the Laodicean church were blind and could not see their spiritual condition. Only Jesus had a cure for their blindness. Their spiritual blindness could only be cured by the healing ointment that Jesus had. If the Laodiceans applied the eye salve, they would be able to see their lukewarm condition and repent of their sins. In their eyes, nothing was wrong. They had their wealth and their black uniforms and they were fine and they thought that all of that was proof that God had favored them and they thought that they were good. Let me let you know that you can have good grades, you can be involved, you can be popular, you be intelligent, and you can be athletic, but that does not mean that you will not have mistakes, falls, faults, and failures, because you are not perfect. God sees you and sees everything about you, even the things that you don’t see. So Jesus advised them to buy this eye salve to help them see their condition and see that even though they are well-dressed and even though they have their wealth, they still need Jesus and his cure. That is the truth for us today, even as young Christians. We need God. We need his strength, his love, his care, his support, his guidance, because we can’t make it without him. How do you think you made it out of the last grade with good grades? How do you think that one class didn’t trip you up? How do you think that one person didn’t cause you to go to violence? It is because of God, and we have to understand that we need him. Jesus advises these Christians to buy these three things because in order for them to become right, that is what they needed. All I’m trying to let you know is God will give you what you need. He’ll give us the resources that we need in order to have a mature relationship with him and in order for us to be accepted by the father. He will give us what we need.

He disciplines us.(v. 19)

Verse 19 says “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.” I like how Jesus first says “those whom I love”. This shows that despite the church’s condition, Jesus’ love for them didn’t change. And that is just like us. Despite our condition, Jesus’ love is unconditional. What that means is that there is nothing that can stop Jesus or prevent him from loving us. Despite our faults, our mistakes, and our sin, Jesus still loves us. But let me tell you, this does not mean that we should stay the same way. This does not mean that we should just act how we want to act and live how we want to live, because yes, God loves us and is a forgiving God, but he is also a God who is true to his word. The Bible says "He who keeps His Word, truly in him has the love of and for God been perfected By this we may perceive that we are in Him." The love of God is perfected in us, only if we keep his Word. God wants us to keep His Word in our hearts. Psalms 119:11 says “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” This means that we have to hide his word in our hearts and keep it and believe in it, so that we might not sin against God. Let me get back to the text.

God disciplines us. How does God discipline us?? It’s not like God is physically taking a belt and whooping us, so really…how does he discipline us?? Well, God can and does use different ways to discipline us. He may use trouble at home or adversity at school. God may allow us to experience loss, as David did. God may allow things to happen not how we wanted them too. That’s how God can discipline us, but let’s be honest here, we don’t like that word discipline. We don’t like it because when we hear the word “discipline”, we think of whoppings or yelling. But the idea of God disciplining us is not to punish us, but it is to train and grow and mature us. But why does God discipline us? Well, I told you earlier that Jesus says those that he loves, he rebukes and disciplines, and this not only tells us that God still loves us no matter our mistakes, but it lets us know that God disciplines us because he loves us. He loves us so much, that instead of letting us go our own way, he loves us so much that he will tell us when we’re wrong.

EX: I know I’m not i’m only young person in this room who used to get whoopings growing up, and I know I’m not the only person who used to hate getting them. I used to hate whenever my mom or my dad would get a bad call from my elementary school because if they did, then I already knew that I was getting a whooping. But the truth is..I know how my parents used to tell me that they are whooping me and disciplining me because they love me, and I didn’t believe that when I was younger, but as I get older, I realize that that is true. Our parents whoop us and discipline us and have hard conversations with us because they love us, and can I tell you that the same is true for God. He disciplines us because he loves us.

And because God loves us, he wants us to be more mature, he wants our faith to grow, he wants us on the right path, he wants us to grow in our relationship with him, and to make all of that happen, God disciplines us. And we may not see the outcome of that discipline now, but we oughta rest assured that we will see it later. I know it may not feel good right now and it may hurt a little bit, but it's good for your future. We might not see why God allowed us to experience loss right now, but we will later when he lets us get a win. We might not see why God allows us to face that hardship at school, but we will later when we see that our grades in some of those classes that were tripping us up are better. We might not see it right now, but later we will see it. It is good for our future. God disciplines us.

God gives us another chance.(v. 20)

Verse 20 says “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.” These Christians in the Church of Laodicea were just going through the motions. They were going to church and doing all of these things, but their hearts were not in it, but what Jesus does is he comes back in verse 20 to give them some really good news: instead of giving us on these christians, he says that he is standing at the door of their hearts, waiting for them to answer, and if they do, he will share a meal with them. Jesus is saying to them that he is standing at the door or the entrance of their hearts. This is a very encouraging promise. Instead of giving up on them, Jesus is giving them another chance. Notice though, he does give them a second chance, but instead he gives them another chance. See there’s a difference between a second chance and another chance. A second chance is used to describe an opportunity that is given after someone has made a mistake, but another chance is more used to describe an opportunity to try something again after failing. This means that in this case, even though these Christians have failed the first time, God is giving them another chance to get it right. Getting another chance is like taking a test and not doing well on it the first time, so you go back to your teacher and ask for a retake and he or she gives you a day and a time to come back and take your test again to do better on it. That’s another chance. In the same way, God gives these Christians another chance and another opportunity to trust him, love him, and have a relationship with him. Isn’t it amazon how God gives us another chance instead of giving up on us. He does not say, “Fool me twice, shame on me,” give up on us, and forget about us. No, instead, he affirms that we are his children and it doesn’t matter the many mistakes or failures we’ve had, he still loves us and gives us another chance. But we have to ask the question: Why does God give us another chance?? I mean, these Christians are just saying that they believe in Jesus, but their hearts are not in it and the Bible says in Romans 10:9 “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” So why does God give these Christians and us another chance? He gives them another chance so he can use them.

EX: I was watching my Pastor preach on Youtube on Friday, because I just like to watch sermons and I definitely love to hear to my Pastor preach. He had told us that he was preaching, and me being me, I looked it up and watched it. He was preaching at the National Baptist Convention, which is where thousands of preachers and pastors come together from all around the United States and hold a weekly convention. My Pastor was preaching and he said something that stuck with me. He was talking about how God chose us and how he saw something in us when he chose us. He said that the word choose means to take a good look at, that word means to look, it means to stretch, it means to pound on it, to see if it’s usable. Stay with me and let me help you out. When God made you, he already knew that you would have mess-ups. He already knew that you would have mistakes, but the thing is, God knows you’re not perfect, but he knows that you’re usable.

And I believe that that is the reason why God have us another chance. He gave us another chance because even though we have mess-ups, he can still use us. Even though we have mistakes, he can still use us. Even though we have some failures, he can still use us. You do not have to be perfect in order for God to use you. God gave these Christians another chance so that he could use them. In the same way, God gives us another chance so that he can use us. The idea that God gives us another chance so he can use us is based on the fact that God is merciful and forgiving, and that he is not finished with us even after we fail. That’s something to be happy about, even as young Christians, that God is not finished with you even after you fail. Even after you failed that one test, even after you didn’t do what your parents told you to do, even though you didn’t complete that assignment, even though you got in a little bit of trouble at school, I come to tell you that God is not finished with you. God gives us another chance.

Conclusion

And so, the essential question is: Instead of giving up on me, what will God do. God will give you what you need. That means that he will give you all of the essentials that you need in order to live and act right. God will discipline you, and that means that he will correct you, not to discourage you, but because he loves you. And then, God will give you another chance, and that means that even after you’ve made mistakes, God is not finished with you and gives you another chance because he can still use you. We oughta be glad as young Christians that despite the many mistakes we’ve made and despite the many failures we’ve had, God will not give up on us.