When You Believe in God but Don’t Want to Go Overboard
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Series Review
Series Review
About 2-3 times per year I end up with a couple in my office wanting to get married, and they’re ready to begin premarital counseling. Let’s start the fights before we get married. Every once in a while a couple will ask if they can write their own vows: I’ve learned to address that before beginning the sessions. I tell them no. If they want to prepare some words they want to say to one another as a part of the ceremony, but I use the traditional vows (who remembers them?).
Maybe the “vows” the couple wants to write are good, but to me, writing your own vows is like writing your own terms for marriage. Setting your own standard of commitment. For a starry eyed couple barely in their 20’s, the traditional vows really summarized the commitment required, and they decided to postpone the wedding. You can’t enter into a marriage covenant thinking nothing about you or your life will change. Without thinking there will be some personal cost.
Believing in marriage, until you realize what it involves. (starry eyed couple, barely in their twenties, one session); marriage - romance, the giddy high of “falling in love.” But you can’t enter into a marriage covenant thinking nothing about you or your life will change.
something can sounds wonderful in theory, but you find that it is hard to put into practice;
The same with believing in God or becoming a Christian. How many people have made a profession of faith, a commitment to God, only to step back from that commitment when it requires too much of us. Or do we, like the young married couple, want to write our own covenant with God. Define Christianity on our terms.
This series has been about functional atheism: professing a belief in God but living as if there is no god.
Believing in God on a philosophical level, but not having a personal knowledge of God. We believe in a forgiving God, but we’re not sure he’ll forgive me (or help me to forgive). We believe in God, but wonder about his sense of justice. We worry as if God is not in control.
Do we want our lives to align with our stated beliefs? Are we ready to commit to being consistent?
Sermon Introduction
Sermon Introduction
That’s the question being asked to the church in Laodicea.
Are we going to go “all in” with Christ? Do we want our lives to align with our stated beliefs? Are we ready to commit to being consistent?
You believe in God but don’t want to go overboard: (football fan, season tickets, jersey, face painted; there are fanatical forms of everything: sports; comic books; political positions; religion. Christianity. I remember visiting NCSU, being given a tour of the campus and seeing a Christian preacher with an open Bible calling people to repentance. “He’s usually here at least 2x week. You can see him standing there.” He was a part of the tour. He wasn’t taken seriously. He was seen as a fanatic. Maybe Christians don’t want to be labeled like that. We want to be taken seriously, we certainly don’t want to be vilified for expressing our faith (read the news - seems to happen all the time). The danger is moving to the other extreme - you’re not a fanatic, but now you’re an undercover Christian. We’ve blended in with society. We’ve become lukewarm.
Are we ready to commit to being consistent?
Lukewarm: that’s the key word Christ uses to describe the church at Laodicea.
Book of Revelation is strange, mysterious and difficult at times - strange visions, bizarre creatures, so many interpretations out there. I would love to do a Bible study that works its way through the book.
The book begins with John being exiled on the island of Patmos, and has a vision of the resurrected and glorified Jesus. Jesus tells him to write letters to 7 churches; the letter Tom shared with us is the last of the 7. The Laodicean church, like so many churches today, like so many Christians today, aren’t fully commited.
You believe in God but don’t want to go overboard:
Jesus tells him to write letters to 7 churches;
4) Their water system came from hot springs miles away
Lukewarm = Christian Atheism. Willing to take the Christian label, but not the Christian life. Willing to
Laodicea. Wealthy - upper -middle class. (Gold)
3 things Jesus tells us about being lukewarm Christians
Our Satisfaction = God’s Sickness
Our Satisfaction = God’s Sickness
So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
Hot used for healing; cold used for refreshment; lukewarm good for nothing;
So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
The letter is not a positive one. God knows their works. Based upon their works, God concluded that they were neither hot nor cold.
Coffee: dislike cold. Temperature matters. Wash hands in warm water. Soothe burned skin with cold.
The letter is not a positive one. God knows their works. Based upon their works, God concluded that they were neither hot nor cold.
offee, dislike cold. Temperature matters. Wash hands in warm water. Soothe burned skin with cold
Like asking seniors about the days before modern comfort. People who lived through the Great Depression aren’t interested in a scratch on a new car.
What did you do for cold water? “Spring house.”
Water in Laodecia, piped in from miles away. There was a saying in the ancient world, cold quenches, heat heals, lukewarm water is useless; a rather blunt message to the church at Laodicea: I have seen your works: Not, “I have examined your statement of faith, I’ve noticed that your attendance is up. I’ve noticed you’re business is doing well; I like the new house. “I have seen your works, and I’ve concluded that your faith is useless.
What standards of measurement are we using? How we asses our faith, our walk, our relationship with God - might not be the same criteria God uses. I think the standard of measurement is pretty simple (and I don’t like to oversimplify things). Our standard is Jesus of Nazareth. The Jesus who humbled himself and became human, and accepted all of the limitations that come with being human. The Jesus who loved the unlovable. The Jesus who forgave without limits. The Jesus who sacrificed himself for our salvation.
That’s our standard - anything lower, anything less, is an insult to all that Jesus has done for us. Anything less is lukewarm, and it is useless.
are we becoming more like Christ? that’s the standard;
Not worldly standards - wealth, security; wisdom, appearance; religious activity.
Outlines on Revelation 9. The Laodicean Church (Revelation 3:14–22)
When one feels he has all that he needs, he is in great danger. Jesus said
The answer is repent: The problem is that we don’t know the difference between...
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Outlines on Revelation 9. The Laodicean Church (Revelation 3:14–22)
III. THE COUNSEL—vv. 18–19
A. Counsel—v. 18. Note the four-fold request of the Lord to the people at Laodicea:
1. Buy of me gold tried in the fire. This means faith (1 Peter 1:7).
2. Buy of me white raiment. This means righteousness.
3. Anoint thy eyes with eyesalve. This means enlightenment (Ps. 19:8).
4. Be zealous and repent. This means sorrow. (See Luke 13:3.)
External v Internal Repentance
External v Internal Repentance
Counsel
Counsel
First of all, what does that word “repent” even mean? To say “I’m sorry.” To feel sorry? To say a prayer? All of that is important, but these are short term things; they can happen in a day; repentance requires so much more of us.
The word means “to turn around. to change your mind. to change direction.” Repentance is a long term thing. It usually doesn’t happen overnight. It is a process. How do you know if you have repented?
If you are content, if you are satisfied with your walk with Christ. That could be a warning sign. Always desire to be closer. Always desire more holiness.
1) Wealthy, a According to Tacitus, a Roman historian, the city officials refused government assistance (Roman Empire) when the city was devastated by an earthquake
Jesus uses more local metaphors: Laodicea was known for their vast treasury, their wool industry and they were a huge medical center. Jesus says, buy gold from me - faith is a biblical symbol for faith. Buy your clothes from me. Buy white clothes from me - white clothing symbolized how God makes us pure and spotless before God. Buy medicine for your eyes from me: you are spiritually blind.
. 2) Prosperous - they were famous for the wool industry. 3) They were a center for producing medicine. These aren’t just historical notes, they are important to Jesus’ warning.
You lack gold (faith); You lack white clothing (righteousness). You need medicine for your eyes (you need spiritual sight - wisdom).
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
Outlines on Revelation 9. The Laodicean Church (Revelation 3:14–22)
When one feels he has all that he needs, he is in great danger. Jesus said
The church at Laodicea was growing. Prospering. Offerings were up. The buildings were impressive. But it was all external. Their success had blinded them - success can be our most dangerous enemy. Stop focusing on the externals and look for personal transformation.
You lack gold (faith); You lack white clothing (righteousness). You need medicine for your eyes (you need spiritual sight - wisdom).
Revelation
The church at Laodicea was growing. Prospering. Offerings were up. The buildings were impressive. But it was all external. Their success had blinded them - success can be our most dangerous enemy. Stop focusing on the externals and look for personal transformation.
If Jesus were to say to each of us, “I have seen your works...” How would he finish that sentence?
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.
Jesus pursues hypocrites.
Jesus pursues hypocrites.
Revelation 3:
You lack gold (faith); You lack white clothing (righteousness). You need medicine for your eyes (you need spiritual sight - wisdom).
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.
External - rituals (ex.)
Internal - change; conversion
This is a negative letter, but Jesus hasn’t given up. He’s waiting by the door. The first time I really pondered that passage I remembered vividly my days in the trailer park: the mormons would scour the neighborhood and knock on doors. We would just sit quiet until they left. (I’m not sure what we were afraid of). Jesus, the unwanted religious person standing outside the door.
But now when I read this passage, I remember a book I read when Julie was pregnant with our first, I started reading every book I could get my hands on. Anything from What to Expect when you’re expecting, how to change a diaper - I really did practice that - to how to parent teenagers. I read a book by Dan Allender - how Parents raise your teenagers.
When I read verse 20, I remembered a story he tells. His oldest daughter - then a teenager, came home very emotional, hurt, angry. He recalls asking her what’s wrong: his daughter screams at him, runs upstairs, goes into her bedroom closet and cries. The mom follows her, sits by the closet and doesn’t say anything. After sitting there for an hour, the daughter reaches out from the closet and grabs her mother’s hand.
Who reached out to who? The Jesus we’ve ignored. The Jesus we’ve not had time for because we had other things to pursue. The Jesus we’ve wounded by our sin and apathy - stands by the door, and is ready: not just to give us a good scolding (which we might need), but to have fellowship with us.
Jesus isn’t waiting by the phone.
Wounded relationships - we distance. Jesus isn’t just nearby, he’s right there. Pursuing, knocking.
Counsel
The image is a gentle knock -
hypocrites have discredited themselves - when
Outlines on Revelation 9. The Laodicean Church (Revelation 3:14–22)
III. THE COUNSEL—vv. 18–19
A. Counsel—v. 18. Note the four-fold request of the Lord to the people at Laodicea:
1. Buy of me gold tried in the fire. This means faith (1 Peter 1:7).
2. Buy of me white raiment. This means righteousness.
3. Anoint thy eyes with eyesalve. This means enlightenment (Ps. 19:8).
4. Be zealous and repent. This means sorrow. (See Luke 13:3.)
Chastening and Community
Discipline and Dining
Punishment