That’s Growth (2)

Intro:

I told you I jumped the gun, we are going to continue this series called “That’s growth”. Can you look over last year Jan 5 til now Jan 5th? Has there been growth? So, usually this is the time of year when pastors turn into motivational speakers! But, I felt led to take a different approach..

Setup:

We are going to be in the book of Revelation. Jesus is sending a message through John to 7 churches that were around at the time. Laodicea was the final church that Jesus is speaking to. All the other churches at least had something positive. So, this isn’t easy listening. This segment of scripture challenges us. Some scholars believe that the 7 churches represented different eras of the church leading up to the end times.. That could be the case. Either way, when we read this we can learn from their mistakes!

++Revelation 3:15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so 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 eat with him, and he with me.

Prayer

That is a shocking truth that Jesus is being pushed to throw up! We don’t want to do that!

Illustration: So, Rome had perfected the art of creating aqueduct systems in the ancient world. Since Laodicea had no natural water source of its own, it was piped in from other locations. To illustrate what’s going on, I am going to take a drink and pour it through this pipe.. Colossae was famous for the drinking water tasting nasty. There was a build up of certain minerals in the pipes that caused the gag reflex in humans..

To the north of Laodicea, Hierapolis had healthy hot springs, and to the south, Colossae had cold springs that were clean and refreshing to drink from. But Laodicea had perpetual problems with its water supply, which was brought by aqueduct six miles from the south. By the time the water reached Laodicea, it had become lukewarm. It was tepid, unclean, and undrinkable, the kind of water that makes you sick, that you might spit or vomit out of your mouth, as Jesus is said to do, metaphorically speaking, with the entire Laodicean church.

Good to Examine:

1. proximity to the source

— When it came to their relationship with Jesus, the Laodiceans were distant. The same as how they were distant from their water source.

— They had neither the healthy and healing hot spring of Hierapolis or the cool refreshing springs of Colossae

— “I know your works” meant not only that they had a weak personal faith. But that they were not a source of healing, and they were not a source of refreshing in their community.

— there wasn’t the fruit of a Godly life.. Maybe they looked and operated just like the World.

— So, we are in the beginning of the year. Hopefully, you want to grow. You might be setting some new goals.

— Here is the paradoxical truth. You want more outputs? You want to be better in certain areas, more disciplined, more loving, better work ethic, or work life balance, or make a difference in the world?

— There are all sorts of self improvement books and resources. I am not pointing you to that. Jesus points you not to try and output more, but get more input from HIM.

— You can’t be far from the source of Christ and expect to bring any value to your family, your church, your community

— We want to be a source of life and healing and refreshing to our community. We want the Spirit of God to move. We want leaders to be raised up etc.

— The danger is when we attempt to these things without Jesus in our own strength.

— John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

— Like the city itself, the church had a rusty precarious patchwork distant connection to their life source.

— Lately, I have been convicted about spending time in His Presence.

— ALL MY FOUNTAINS ARE IN YOU

— I want to encounter Him in a meaningful way.

— I just want more of JESUS. Do you need HIm? Does He satisfy?

— The message here is don’t be distant from Jesus. He is the one who refreshes like the springs of Colossea.. He is the one who brings healing, like the healing hot springs of Hierapolis!

— I am not going to get it 2nd hand. I need to get to Jesus.

— I am impressed with our older saints who are winning the attendance record at the moment. Some of them are going through physical stuff yet they are still here! “I’ve got to get to Jesus!” There’s no excuse for those of us who are younger.. There is something about the gathering. There is something about the preaching of the Word.

— If you seek Him, you will find Him.. But are we seeking?

— The reason they were far from the SOURCE is because they were RESOURCEFUL

2. the resources we are relying on

— The Laodiceans were known for three industries, A banking center for the province of Asia Minor, including a gold exchange; The textile center where glossy, black wool was woven into garments called trimata that were prized in the Roman world; The location of a major medical school known worldwide and where an eye salve called Phyrigian powder was made from a local stone.

— So, when Jesus says poor, He’s making a contrast their great wealth in the gold trade. When he says naked, He’s making a reference to the clothing trade, and when He says blind He’s referring to their medical school

— Buy from me.. They loved their wealth, they had great pride in it.

— Mark 8:36 what profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul?

— You want resource of ETERNAL wealth? Or do you want to settle for what is temporary?

— Clothes.. They were the influencers of their day for modern clothing, but spiritually they made heaven cringe.

— You need to Jesus as a source for the resource of His righteous covering

— They took pride in their resource of their medical breakthroughs in particular with their export of eye salve

— Jesus is saying you have spiritual blindness. You can’t even see your own condition, what the heart of God is.

— Come to the source who is Jesus who is ready to resource you with the things you really need

— How do you BUY? Psalm 51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

— The kind of buying God wants looks like David when he was broken and sorry for his sin

3. At the door

— Grace has come your way

— Your source, who is also your resource for all your needs has come to you

— Interestingly, Jesus is contrasting to the Roman soldiers in that time and place who would just barge in. Jesus but Jesus knocks. The Romans made you serve. Jesus is knocking and providing the meal..

— Proverbs 19:22 What is desired in a man is steadfast love,

— We tend to wander, like the hymn says

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it

Prone to leave the God I love

Here's my heart, oh take and seal it

Seal it for Thy courts above

— But God is steadfast

Lamentations 3:22-23

22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

23 they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

— Have you heard the knocking? Even when you’ve closed the door in His face?

— Story about being in the mission field, feeling distant

If you're lost you can look and you will find me

Time after time

If you fall, I will catch you, I'll be waiting

— God can even use Cindi Lauper to get our attention.

— Have you been wooed when you least deserved it?

— That’s the Gospel, that the Father sent Jesus to restore relationship when we were the ones that closed the door.

— THAT’s LOVE

— And having a meal in that culture and in ours, is all about relationship and connection:

— John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

— A church that is a resource to the world connects with Jesus through the disciplines

Being in the word— “Spending time with God and spending time with the Bible are not the same thing. The Bible is the Word of God, crucial to knowing Him, but it’s not God. We can study our Bibles till the 2nd coming & leave God completely out of it. We can grow in facts & never grow a whit in faith.” Beth Moore

Worship— or “worth ship” personally and corporately

Fasting— Denying our flesh appetites for a period of time

Prayer— A praying church is a hot church

Community — the one anothers

Sharing our faith

IT ENDED WELL

— Jesus challenged the Laodiceans because He loved them

— Love believes the best

— Archeologists found a thriving church culture in that city for many hundreds of years past this timeline about 20 church buildings were uncovered

— Sagar, a leader or bishop of the church in Laodicea was martyred in 175 AD

— The Council of Laodicea was a regional Christian synod of approximately thirty clerics from Asia Minor which assembled about 363–364 AD in Laodicea

Intro:

Psalm 27:4

English Standard Version

4 One thing have I asked of the Lord,

that will I seek after:

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord

all the days of my life,

to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord

and to inquire in his temple.

Psalm 84

10 Better is one day in your courts

than a thousand elsewhere;

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of the wicked.