Sermon Tone Analysis
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Scripture Introduction:
I used to have a job at CarQuest delivering parts.
CarQuest is one of those manly places to work.
Where all day you get to talk about car parts and go visit mechanics and talk about tools and manly stuff like that.
And you get to lift a bunch of heavy stuff.
I’m not sure if you’ve noticed this or not but I’ve never won a weight-lifting contest.
Lifting heavy stuff is not something that I’m really known for.
Awhile back when Jason had a sermon illustration asking for people to come up and try to rip a phone book in half—I wasn’t even considered as one of the potential volunteers.
On one particular day I had to deliver a flywheel to the Mack Truck facility in Hannibal, MO.
If you don’t know what a flywheel is—or a flywheel on a semi—it’s a big ol’ mass of metal that weighs more than me and it has teeth all around it.
So it’s heavy and its awkward.
And I—little 140 pound frame me (that was a few years ago)—had to haul this thing into the shop.
I could barely get this thing out of the back of the little CarQuest car that I was driving.
Sensible people would have asked for help.
But I couldn’t do that because I would expose myself as not being all that manly.
So I did what any man would do.
I let my adrenaline kick in and picked it up and grunted my way a couple hundred yards and delivered the part.
Cutting into my hand, pulling muscles in my back, and probably taking a couple years off my life.
One guy could obviously see that I was struggling and volunteered to help ease some of my burden.
I just laughed at him.
“I’ve got this”.
And I had it….even if it was going to kill me.
I had to do this several times and I hated it every time.
Never once did I swallow my pride and ask for help.
I had the “I’ve got this…” disease.
The people we are going to be reading about today have the “I’ve got this” disease.
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Sermon Introduction
You will not be able to understand much of this passage until you understand a little more about the city of Laodicea and the church there.
Laodicea was one of the wealthiest cities of the ancient world.
It was in fact so wealthy that after a devastating earthquake in AD 60 they actually refused assistance from the Roman government.
“I’ve got this”.
But this was the wealth (and as we will see later the pride) of the Laodiceans.
They had gotten wealthy primarily from their thriving wool industry.
They were one of the leading producers of black wool, which they would export as well as furnish common and costly garments.
It was not only their wool industry which gained them wealth and notoriety.
They also had discovered ointment for treating inflamed eyes.
Because of this their optometry school became world famous.
As far as the church from all appearances it had been so soaked up into the world that its message was completely stripped of any relevance.
We know from historical works that there was a significant Jewish population in Laodicea as well as the various cults that were engaged in emperor worship.
There is no element of persecution from either the Jewish audience or the strongly pagan Gentiles.
Therefore, we can conclude that since “godliness will be persecuted” the church at Laodicea was empty of any influence in the community.
As one commentator noted, “The church accommodated itself to other religions, basked in material wealth, was content to live a life of ease, and failed to press the claims of Christ.”
So we have a letter to a church that has become complacent.
They are not persecuted severely from the outside, there seems to be no threat of false doctrine, yet they are the church that Christ delivers the greatest threat to—utter rejection.
What is so detestable?
It is simply this, their complacency, or to use another word their apathy.
And so here is the question I want to ask today and think about.
Is it possible that we are spiritual Laodiceans?
You may not even have material wealth.
But you’ve got 10 Bibles on your book shelf at home.
You hear anywhere from 5-10 sermons per week.
You faithfully attend church.
But deep down if you are being really honest you’ve grown apathetic.
To be apathetic means showing or feeling no interest, enthusiasm, or concern.
But it’s not just about feelings.
It’s about action.
It’s about not making a dent in your community.
It’s when the words we read on the pages of Scripture don’t impact our day to day lives.
There is a massive disconnect.
We’ve grown stale in our faith.
Our great passion now is to not make any waves.
And so we aren’t any sort of threat to the outside community.
We are content living a life of ease and at all cost we work to protect our safety, security and comfort.
This isn’t just materially speaking.
This is also about relationships.
We’ve just grown stale.
This is a sickness.
It is a spiritual disease.
And so today I want to look at this sickness, its symptoms, its causes, and its cure.
I.
The disease and the prognosis
Jesus begins every message to the churches in Revelation by reminding them of who He is.
He is proclaiming that He is who He says he is, therefore you had better listen.
Here he reminds them that He is the true one, the faithful and true witness, and the beginning of God’s creation.
This message that is being delivered has weight.
It is coming from the ruler of all creation and what He is about to say is faithful and true.
So, listen because these words are true.
Jesus’ first words to this church are, “I know your works”.
Oh, wow.
Wouldn’t you rather him say, “I know your heart” or “I know your intentions”?
But he doesn’t.
So we don’t get any sort of—well I’m basically a good person…I’ve got good intentions…at least my heart is right.
Nope, he cuts through the fog of that and says to the Laodiceans and to us—“I know your works”.
I wonder if that’s a comfort or if like in the case of the Laodiceans these would be words of judgment.
In their case they are neither cold nor hot.
Some people take this verse as if Jesus is saying, “I know that your works are neither good nor bad, so because you are not either sold out for me or completely turned off to me, I am going to spit you out of my mouth”.
Many really respected scholars and pastors have taken this view.
And perhaps it is the view that we should take.
But I do not see this as specifically what Jesus is saying.
I do not see Jesus as saying; I wish you were either totally against me or completely passionately for me.
And the reason I don’t see it that way is because of the context of the Laodiceans.
If you understand where Laodicea was placed you will understand what Jesus is saying here more clearly.
18 miles to the east of Laodicea was Colossae which was supplied with a cold mountain stream.
Their water was refreshing.
6 miles to the north was Hierapolis which had medicinal hot springs.
This is where Laodicea got their water supply; they lacked their own independent water supply.
All around them was either hot water that could be used for medicinal purposes or cold water that was refreshing to drink.
By the time any of this water got to Laodicea it had become lukewarm; useless.
It was not cool enough to quench the thirst nor was it warm enough to heal the body.
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