How We See The World Matters

Today we’re going to be studying the seventh and final letter from Jesus to the seven churches in Asia.

I’m a bit sad to be ending this section of the book.

In all my years of reading Revelation, never has the Lord shown me the things He is showing to us now.

Never has anything been so timely.

Go ahead and open your Bibles to Revelation 3:14-22.

Strangely enough, reading the letter to the church at Laodicea reminded me of something that happened in Junior High School.

Back in my day there was no kindergarten.

You started elementary school in the 1st grade.

You went to Junior High School in the 7th grade.

And you went to High School in the 10th grade.

I attended Lindley Junior High School in Mableton, Georgia.

On that fateful day, we were at lunch.

We sat at eight foot long rectangular tables that were placed end to end in long rows.

Our teachers ate with us and this day my teacher was surely enjoying her meal at the head of the table about 10 feet away from me.

We had rice that day - this is an important detail.

I was talking to my friends across the table when one of them said something that was hysterically funny.

The problem way, I had just stuck a mouthful of rice in my mouth.

Now you’ve been there right?

Just as you take a swig of a drink, someone says something unexpectedly hysterical and it’s all you can do not to spray them with whatever is in your mouth.

That’s where I was.

I remember plainly, fighting to swallow my rice and not shower my friends with a confetti of white rice.

I was mostly successful.

Mostly.

I successfully swallowed without launching a cannon of rice, but when I laughed, one tiny, single, solitary grain of white rice flew across the table.

One.

Old eagle eyes sitting at the head of the table locked onto that grain of rice and quicker than a bolt of lightning she was over my shoulder demanding to know why I was spitting food at the table.

She had me on a technicality - yes, food did come out of my mouth - a tiny, single, solitary grain of white rice and it did fly across the table.

However, I didn’t spit it out - not intentionally anyway.

She and I had an animated discussion over word definitions for a few moments as I desperately attempted to save myself.

Ultimately all she gave me was a rather severe tongue lashing combined with threats to take me to Mr. Dye and Mr. Campbell to have my transgression tattooed onto my backside with licks of their killer paddles.

And the memory of errant piece of rice, spewed accidentally from the mouth of a 14 -year-old teenager has lasted 50 years.

Revelation 3:14-22

Revelation 3:14–22 ESV

“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. “ ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 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. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 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. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”

We are going to talk about three things today: First we’ll talk about Jesus and the city of Laodicea, next we’ll talk about how we see the world affects the world and finally we’ll talk about what that means to us.

So Jesus and Laodicea

Verse 14 starts with a familiar formula, “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write,” and then the letter introduces the one who is writing the letter: “The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.”

As we have learned, the way Jesus introduces Himself has a direct bearing on what He is going to say.

“The words of the Amen.”

In Judaism - which is what they would be most familiar with - saying “Amen” was more than just saying “truly,” or “let it be.”

There was force behind “Amen.”

When you said “Amen” you were acknowledging that what had just been said was valid and binding.

So combine Amen with “the faithful and true witness” and what do you have?

Jesus knows how things really are and He sees things like they really are.

There is no argument - like I argued words with my teacher - there is no argument with Jesus.

He sees reality.

And then He says this:

“…the beginning of God’s creation.”

Now pay attention, words matter.

The word beginning means the originator or initiator.

He not only created something - originator, He set it in motion - initiator.

What did He originate and initiate?

Well, “God’s creation,” but don’t let that slip by you.

He certainly means the sun, moon and stars and trees, plants and animals - you and me.

But the word carries a little something more - includes the thought of all of creation’s systems.

Systems of governments, systems of economics.

This is a new thought to me and it might be new to you too - it’s easy to talk about God creating rocks and trees, but in this word creation, Jesus is saying He initiated all of the systems of humanity including how we handle money.

Therefore, He knows, because He is the Amen and the faithful and true witness, exactly how things are intended by God to run.

Jesus understands everything.

The city of Laodicea was an important city - it had been built where it was built on purpose.

Like Gray grew because the train came through, Laodicea grew because a major highway ran through it as well which was both good and bad.

Good because of travel and trade.

Everything we said about the other cities applies here too - they had diverse religions and idol worship - they had trade guilds that could cause all kinds of issues for a Christian, they had all of that.

But we’ve learned, haven’t we, that Jesus uses images the people in that area would understand.

He’s going to talk later about clothing - Laodicea was famous for a very soft, black wool, it was very unusual and very sought after.

Jesus is going to mention “salve to anoint your eyes,” - the city was famous for its medical community that produced an eye salve that was also well know and very sought after.

And Jesus talks about being “lukewarm, you are neither hot nor cold.”

About eight miles away in one direction was the city of Hierapolis which was famous for its hot mineral springs.

Have you ever been in a hot tub?

We had backpacked on the Appalachian Trail for 5 days and it had been unseasonably cold, and it had rained every day of the trip.

We got to Clingman’s Dome near Gatlinburg, we hitchhiked into the town, we got a motel room and by the grace of God, it had a hot tub.

I have never felt water that felt that good.

The hot tub had jets that pushed the water into our sore muscles and the heat of the water chased every memory of the cold away.

It was glorious - with is what hot springs are supposed to do.

You get in a hot tub, you go to hot springs, you ladies take hot baths with those things you put in the water for a reason - they make you feel warm and peaceful and content and tranquil.

About six miles away in another direction was a significant stream of ice cold water.

I know all of you have had a time when you were caught with not enough water.

Many times, maybe at work, on a ball field, on a trip and you get screaming thirsty.

And how does that ice cold water taste when you finally get it?

For you folks my age or older, remember water fresh from the well and scooping drinking it from a steel dipper?

It was the best water you’ve ever tasted.

It made you feel refreshed and renewed and alive again.

In fact, in very short order, you would completely forget about your thirst.

One was hot, one was cold.

Laodicea was six miles away from that water - that was the bad thing about the location of the city - they had no water source.

They built a six mile long aqueduct out of three foot pipe carved out of solid rocks.

That’s quite an engineering feet.

But the water had to run six miles from the creek to the city.

The pipes weren’t underground.

All day long, exposed to the sun the rock pipe would get warmer and warmer, warming up the water headed to the city.

All of the little things that grew in the water would grow in that pipe incubator and by the time it got to the city, it was lukewarm at best and at worst, it was putrid.

There are few reasons to spit something out of your mouth.

One is you are in Junior High School and a piece of rice gets ejected in moment of hysterical laughter.

And another is when you get something in your mouth that is nasty and quite possibly poisonous.

The water at Laodicea was known for making people nauseous.

They knew what it was like to get a mouthful of nasty.

So that’s Jesus and the city.

Let’s talk about how we see the world and why that matters.

Look at verse 17, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing...”

The first thing that jumps out at you is it’s all about “I.”

Their world revolves around “I,” but it’s more than that.

The words for rich and prosper are the same word.

What it is saying is, it’s not just that we worked hard and our hard work paid off, oh no.

We worked hard and made ourselves rich.

We don’t need anything.

When you say we don’t need anything, that also means, we don’t need anybody.

Now let’s talk about this for just a second.

If we have everything we need and we don’t need anybody, what does that say to the people we deal with every day?

See, I had to keep reminding myself as I studied this, Jesus isn’t speaking to me - He’s speaking to my works.

Verse 15, “I know your works...” he says.

I know what you do and, because I am the Amen and true and faithful witness, I know what good your works are supposed to do for the kingdom.

You act like a church - He addresses the letter to the “church” at Laodicea.

But when you deal with folks outside your church, you don’t affect them like a hot spring - you don’t make them feel warm and peaceful and content and tranquil.

And you don’t affect them like a cold drink of water to a really thirsty person, you don’t make them feel refreshed and renewed and alive.

You don’t help people at all - you do things - but nobody sees Jesus in what you do.

They simply see a bunch of satisfied people doing things to make themselves feel good.

How many people do you know, maybe, that have been hurt by a church and have never come back?

I know there are a lot of folks who use that as an excuse and I don’t have a lot of sympathy for them, but I know of a very good young man who was somewhat effeminate, struggled with his identity, and his church that he attended regularly and that his family was a part of called him out on a Sunday morning, humiliated him in front of the congregation.

He left the church and I suspect, unless the Lord is exceedingly gracious to him, this young man will be lost.

Because the church saw through the lens of “I.”

We have everything we need and we don’t need you.

And we can say those were just fundamentalist crazies, but I bet not.

I suspect they were good people who, as far as they were concerned, they had everything they needed.

And if you have everything you need, well, you don’t need anything else, now do you?

How you see the world affects the world, not just you.

How you see the world affects the world.

What does all of this mean to us?

Do you remember Jesus saying this? John 7:37-38

John 7:37–38 ESV

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”

Or how about this? John 4:9-10

John 4:9–10 ESV

The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”

How did Jesus view the world? What motivated His works? How satisfied was He with His situation?

Matthew 9:36

Matthew 9:36 ESV

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

All of these years, I thought this meant Jesus wanted me either on fire for him so I’d do things for him or he wanted me to be an iceberg so he could save me.

I thought he was telling us to choose sides.

But what he was really saying is, for heaven’s sake, could you just quit thinking about yourself long enough that you could see somebody else?

You think you are rich and that I made you that way - God is so good, look how He has blessed me.

Yet, watch this, Jesus says in verse 17, you are homeless.

You don’t live with me.

You are wandering the streets, using the bathroom on the sidewalk so everyone can see your shame, rooting through trashcans for your food, drinking putrid, lukewarm soft drinks to fill your worm infested bellies.

It’s obvious Jesus doesn’t like this, so what does He do?

Jesus reaches back to the Proverbs - written 3,000 years ago by the inspiration of an unchanging God who knows how everything is supposed to work.

Proverbs 3:11-12

Proverbs 3:11–12 ESV

My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.

Jesus tells the church at Laodicea and all of the seven churches and every church that has ever or will ever bear his name: “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline...”

What does that look like?

Hosea 12:8-9

Hosea 12:8–9 ESV

Ephraim has said, “Ah, but I am rich; I have found wealth for myself; in all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity or sin.” I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; I will again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast.

If He has to, Jesus will take everything away from us.

I believe He’s doing it right now.

Brothers and sisters, I say this as gently as I can, is the source of all of your problems, you?

Now here is the killer, Jesus loves us so much - church member, church member - Jesus loves you so much, that he will take everything away from you to get you back.

Listen carefully, Jesus WILL give you more than you can bear.

Jesus will cause you to suffer.

Jesus will allow you to suffer untold hardships.

Why?

Why would He do that?

Please pay attention - I almost guarantee you’ve learned this wrong.

Verse 20 is so well known, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me.”

We have used that a billion times as an invitation for lost people to come to Jesus.

That verse was not written for lost people - that verse is written for church people.

“I know your works, church...”

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock...”

I didn’t know that was reference to something in the Old Testament and I never dreamed it was a reference to the Song of Solomon 5:2

Song of Solomon 5:2 ESV

I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.”

The Song of Solomon is almost too intimate for me to talk about.

When you just read it, you hear of the love of a man and his wife in the most intimate of love language - they talk about body parts.

And Jesus quotes from it.

In this verse, the husband knocks on the door of his wife’s chamber because he wants to come in and be intimate with her.

But she hesitates - everything is not just right and she wants him as badly as he wants her, but for a moment she can’t get her mind off herself.

And when she finally does open the door, ready at last for his impassioned embrace, he was gone.

The opportunity for a night of blissful passion was thrown away because of how the bride was looking at her world.

What is Jesus saying?

That if the church will open the door, there is a love for us that is deeper than anything we have ever known.

A passion, an intimacy, and acceptance that is beyond our comprehension.

If we will open the door, He will wipe away every - thing - and we will see just how lovely we are in His eyes.

He will “eat with him and he with me,” this isn’t a 10 minute gulp down the burger from Dairy Queen.

If you are married or if you have dated, you’ve had that meal where the food really didn’t even matter.

You ate up each other’s attention, the conversation, the things said and unsaid.

The dinner lasted 30 minutes, it lasted 3 hours, you totally lost track of time.

Because all you knew was he warmth, the peace, the contentment of the moment.

The refreshment, the renewal, the excitement of being totally and fully alive.

That’s the love of the Jesus for us.

It’s the love that paid the price for sins Jesus never committed.

It’s the love that gave Jesus the fortitude to endure unspeakable horror.

It’s the love that conquered death and the grave.

It’s the love that was rewarded with the seat of honor in heaven right beside the Father.

It’s the love that Jesus longs to lavish on His bride, the church.

Knowing we are loved with that kind of love, we can overcome anything, we can conquer all life throws at us.

When we see the world through those eyes, we will be hot and cold and everything in between.

They will think us crazy, unconventional, maybe even a trifle reckless.

But with us, they will find warmth and peace and contentment and tranquility and refreshment and renewal.

And life - everlasting, never ending, forever and always life.

We will be just what Jesus needs for His shepherd less sheep.

Revelation 3:21-22

Revelation 3:21–22 ESV

The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”

Pray with me:

Invitation

There is a song by Cory Asbury that came out a few years ago.

He used a word in the song that I took umbrage with - he used the word reckless - the reckless love of God.

I took umbrage because God’s love isn’t reckless and yet, to those who know they need salvation.

To those who need restoration.

To those who have fallen so far down the well the sky is only a pinpoint above us.

A God who would love them when no one else would - well, that might seem reckless.

The song says: Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me You have been so, so good to me Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me You have been so so kind to me

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the 99 And I couldn't earn it I don't deserve it, still You give yourself away Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

I invite you today to experience a love so radical, so fresh and free that to some it would feel reckless.

But it isn’t reckless, God’s love for you is totally by design.

He knows He loves you and He knows that He purposed in His heart to love you at the Beginning.

I invite you to trust Jesus as your Savior.

I know you feel guilt for your sins and I beg you to cry out to Jesus so He can forgive you and clothe you in white.

Come tell me this morning, tell your small group leader, tell a friend.

Tell someone that for the first time in your life, you are alive and free.

And church, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock,” was written for you.

What are you going to do?