Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

There are many things that we naturally associate as belonging together:

Peanut butter and jelly

Chips and salsa

Chips

Apple pie and ice cream

In the same way, it is appropriate to associate the church with Jesus Christ himself.

He is the Lord of the church

He is the bridegroom, the church is the bride

He is the savior, the church is formed by sinners whose sins have been forgiven through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, it would be extremely unusual to consider a church without Christ.

Just consider the following statement: a Christian church that does not have an association with Christ.

Unfortunately, this is something that does occur.

It is possible for a group of people to call themselves Christians but ultimately have no relation with Christ.

Today, we consider the last letter written by the Lord Jesus to the 7 churches in Revelation.

We will focus our thoughts on the message to the church in Laodicea who was in fact: A Christ-less Church.

We will consider the message of the Lord Jesus to this church under three headings:

A prosperous city

The spiritual state of the church

The call to repent

I.

A prosperous city / Una ciudad prospera

Verse 14 tells us the location of this church.

This church was located in the town of Laodicea:

This town was a very wealthy place.

There were many thriving industries:

Banking

Medicine

Wool / clothing

Each of these industries will be in some way associated with the message the Lord Jesus writes to this congregation.

It is very common for cities to be a place of great sin and rebellion against God.

In fact, two of the first judgments from God that we see recorded in the Bible are directly tied to prosperous cities:

Babel - many of us remember that the builders were engaged in building a great tower that would reach the heavens.

What we may miss is they were also attempting to build a great city.

It was not God’s will for men to build great cities.

The command from God was no multiply and spread across the face of the earth.

Sodom and Gomorrah - these cities were filled with many immoral practices.

People lived as they wanted without giving attention to God’s will for marriage between one man and one woman.

I am pretty confident we would all agree that our large cities in the United States are not only known for their great wealth, entertainment, diversity, and progress but also for their great sin, greed, injustice, and rebellion against God.

Such was the case in Laodicea.

They were prosperous, they had great wealth, they had many advances in medicine, they had the best clothes (for that time) and yet their sin also abounded.

II.

The spiritual state of the church / El estado espiritual de la iglesia

One would think that a church living in a city with so much wealth, so many advances, a modern city, a city that was known throughout the ancient world - one would think the church would be strong, healthy, vibrant, alive!

One would think the church would be using their great wealth to advance the kingdom of God.

One would think they would be taking advantage of the medical advances to bring comfort to the sick.

One would think that a church that was living in such a prosperous place, without the immediate danger of persecution, would be working night and day preaching the gospel, reaching the lost, instructing the believers, and strengthening the local church.

Unfortunately, the church in Laodicea was in an extremely negative state:

A. The church was lukewarm / La iglesia estaba tibia

Jesus tells this church:

The Laodiceans lived near a source of hot springs.

The city had built aqueducts that would carry water over a long distance, from the source to the city center.

During this journey the water would gradually cool off, gather additional minerals in the aqueduct.

The result was that when the water eventually made its way to the city center it was lukewarm and tasted awful.

People that were not familiar with Laodicea’s water would drink and eventually spit it out.

The Lord Jesus also tells his church they were not cold (like the cold springs in the city of Colossae).

Cold water was good for refreshing oneself, removing stains, decreasing inflammation, soothing a tired aching body, and cooking.

The Lord Jesus also tells his church they were not cold (like the cold springs in the city of Colossae).

Cold water was good for refreshing oneself and reducing a fever.

In other words, the Lord Jesus tells the church you are useless.

You may call yourself a church but in reality you no longer serve any purpose.

You are simply a group of people that are gathering up on a regular basis but you make me sick.

B. The church was poor, blind, and naked / La iglesia era pobre, ciega, y desnuda

Rev.

Remember the three industries that were so prominent in Laodicea?

Banking

Medicine

Wool / clothing

Jesus used those prosperous industries to send a message to Laodicea to ensure they understand their awful state.

Jesus calls them poor, blind, and naked.

They were poor for they lacked a true spiritual life.

They lacked the word of God.

They had great wealth but spiritually they were poor.

It is possible they ate enjoyed great feasts, enjoyed great banquets - but spiritually they were starving, they were malnourished.

They were blind because they could not see their true state.

In fact the Lord Jesus tells the church that she does not realize her true state.

She is deceived.

She sees great wealth all around them, she sees the prosperity in Laodicea but does not realize she cannot even recognize her own spiritual ruin.

It very much like unbelievers who will tell us night and day they do not need God.

Basically, this church was acting like the unbelieving world.

Lastly, this church was naked.

Nakedness is associated with shame, nakedness is associated with humiliation.

This congregation was in an extremely deplorable situation that it should’ve felt shame for being in such a terrible situation but yet it did not feel any remorse whatsoever.

C. The church had run Christ out of the church / La iglesia había corrido a Cristo

This church was so worldly, so tied to this world, this world was so much associated with the traditions and ways of this world that it had separated itself from Christ.

We see this sad reality in verse 20.

Many have used this verse to speak about how Christ knocks at the heart of a sinner / unbeliever.

He knocks at their heart with the hope the sinner will come to their senses and repent of their sins.

I think this verse speaks of a much more serious matter.

Remember this verse is written to a group of people that call themselves Christian.

The Lord Jesus is telling them, “you call yourself a church, you call yourself a Christian church, according to you my presence is in your midst.

The reality is you have run me out of the church.

My presence is no longer with you.

You are alone.

You have removed me from your midst.”

This is the reason why the Lord Jesus is knocking at their door.

This church has literally locked the Lord Jesus out of the church.

They have decided to be a church according to their own thoughts, desires, beliefs.

They are not willing to submit themselves to Jesus’ authority.

Is there any hope for this church?