Warnings to a Self-Decieved Church
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
One great mercy God gives us in a fallen world is physical, bodily pain. I don’t mean the ongoing suffering of cancer or depression, although God can redeem even that, but I mean the automatic response of your brain to withdraw your hand when you feel that the stove is hot. While pain is not pleasant, pain is very good at telling us that something is wrong. Painful symptoms bring you to the emergency room with urgency because you cannot ignore your body telling you there is a problem. Feeling sick after eating can tell you something you ingested is not good to eat and maybe even toxic. In cases of injury, our body is usually good at telling us something is wrong.
The most dangerous diseases are those that have few if any symptoms at all. Certain cancers which are very curable early on are deadly if caught only when the symptoms start to show. There are illnesses that reside in a victims body for months before presenting themselves and severely damaging or killing the person. So it is unfortunately the case that the most deadly spiritual sicknesses are those which hide themselves from the Church. They are secret and thrive in a church where everyone is happy, healthy, and satisfied with their community. Sins like pride, greed, worldliness, passive lovelessness, self-righteousness, and spiritual deadness can exist and even thrive in a healthy looking congregation. As a church may seem to be doing well, a deadly virus lurks below the surface so that when it finally breaks out it may already be too late. This kind of dangerous spiritual malady is addressed in our text today from Christ’s own mouth to the church in a city called Laodicea.
The One who Speaks to his Church
The One who Speaks to his Church
The book of Revelation is given:
To give hope to suffering Christians.
To give warning to the unfaithful.
To display the glory of Christ through his Lordship over his people and victory over his enemies.
It is no mystery who is speaking to the church here, especially if you have a red-letter bible. But here is the description of this great speaker that John gave earlier in chapter 1,
and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.
Who is he who could have such divine appearance? He is referred to as the Son of Man, a figure mentioned in Daniel 7 who described him like this:
“I saw in the night visions,
and behold, with the clouds of heaven
there came one like a son of man,
and he came to the Ancient of Days
and was presented before him.
And to him was given dominion
and glory and a kingdom,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
should serve him;
his dominion is an everlasting dominion,
which shall not pass away,
and his kingdom one
that shall not be destroyed.
These sentiments are mirrored later in Revelation 5
And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
This is one who has conquered all, has all power, and died in order to purchase a people for God. This is none other than the Christ himself, the Lord Jesus. He alone is one who was slain and now lives again so that he may lead an everlasting Kingdom over all creation. The speaker in our text is none other than Jesus, and not Jesus in his meek and suffering form, nor Jesus in his humbled place as a babe in a manger, but Jesus as the great and conquering King. While in his coming Jesus revealed himself to the human eye in his humanity, he here reveals himself to John in his Divinity. He speaks to this ancient church, the church of Laodicea and is described like this:
“The Amen.” The New Bible Commentary says this about this title, “As the Amen Jesus is the embodiment of the faithfulness and truthfulness of God. The Christian use of ‘Amen’ adds the thought that he is also the guarantor and executor of the purposes of God.” He is the one who declares the beginning from the end, the one who holds sovereign control over all things. It is through him that our prayers appear before the throne of God, and so when we say “Amen” we are declaring that our prayers have been heard through him who has all power to answer them. It is to say, “truly, my prayers have been heard by God through my Saviour Jesus Christ, and truly they will be answered according to his will and good purposes.”
This is supported by his next title, “the faithful and true witness.” Being faithful and true as the Amen, he is a witness. That is, he is our undeniable proof of the faithfulness of God in fulfilling his promises. He is the irrefutable evidence of God’s holy love and divine justice. He is the incarnation of Mercy and so is to us a witness of all that God is. He is this by him being fully God and fully man so in him can we truly say, “God is with us.” He is this by his death and resurrection, and he is this by the power of the Spirit that remains with the church until this day.
Finally, he is the beginning of God’s creation, not that he was created, but he is the source and means of God’s creation.
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Through Christ, we receive every blessing, whether in the natural creation or the supernatural redemption of our souls. We can thus begin this text with a clear picture of who Jesus is to us and from where he speaks:
as our assurance of God’s faithfulness,
as our witness of God’s work,
and as our creator God and the source of all good for us.
Making the Lord Sick
Making the Lord Sick
Verse 15 begins with, “I know your works.” In other words, I know what you’ve been up to. I understand all there is to understand about your situation. This should make us consider:
Christ has
the knowledge to diagnose a church. There is no one who can better speak to and judge a spiritual situation. Just like you should not diagnose yourself with a sickness before you see a doctor, we must not trust our own spiritual diagnosis of ourselves without consulting the great physician.
the compassion to help a church,
I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
the authority to command a church,
“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
and the love to discipline a church.
for the Lord reproves him whom he loves,
as a father the son in whom he delights.
Jesus’ diagnosis of this church is expressed in two metaphors, the metaphor of hot and cold water and the metaphor of imagined riches.
Neither Hot nor Cold
Neither Hot nor Cold
Jesus accuses this church of being neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm. Verse 16 ends with Christ’s warning that he is about to spit, or more literally, to vomit the church out of his mouth. This is not a simple distaste, but a violent gut reaction that expresses not disappointment but disgust. This church literally wants to make Jesus throw up, but why?
“neither cold nor hot…you are lukewarm.” This has often been misinterpreted to mean that Jesus would rather they either be all for him or all against him, but this interpretation does not make sense. Later, the book of Revelation will describe how Christ will slay his enemies mercilessly and crush them violently. He does not wish for his church to be counted among his enemies. Rather, Jesus is referring to the useless nature of lukewarm water. Warm salt water in Laodicea was used as a therapeutic treatment, while cold water was used to drink. But lukewarm water that came through a very long aqueduct would often make people sick. No one likes room-temperature coffee, but cold coffee can be nice. No one wants room-temperature lemonade, but lemon tea is useful for a cold. Jesus does not require this church to be useful in every way, but as they are they are not useful in any way.
Thus, Christ is about to vomit them out. Nothing sickens Jesus more than a useless church. A sports team that signs a player contract worth millions expects a useful player, and Christ who bought his church with his priceless blood expects a useful church.
Rich but Poor
Rich but Poor
What has made the church so useless to Jesus? This moves us to the next metaphor of Christ’s diagnosis of this church: imagined riches.
For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
It’s likely that this church was indeed made up of wealthy people, which lays the foundation for the metaphor.
We see in this verse that there is a contradiction between how the church sees themselves and how Jesus sees them. Jesus’ view is objectively true, this church’s view is subjective and ultimately false.
They imagine the worth of worldly riches. The Laodiceans thought that their possession of wealth was a sign of God’s blessing, and they felt no need of anything. They had happy, easy lives and so the urgency of war with sin and the spread of the Kingdom was numbed. Idolatry was taking them slowly in their wealth, and with all their needs met and cares gone they had stopped relying on God, blind to the desperate state of their own souls. Many times our riches are a curse and poverty is a blessing. Thomas Watson said, “Blessedness is too noble and delicate a plant to dwell in nature’s soil.” Do you have enough to eat today? Enough for rent, clothes, and hobbies? Be slow to count yourself blessed, Augustine said riches are as likely to tear our souls as thorns are to tear our clothes. Riches may be a blessing, but they are often the opposite, so let us heed Christ’s warning.
They imagine outward success is a blessing. What makes a church rich? Is it a large budget? Increasing attendance? Baptisms? Programs? All these can be the secondary benefits of true blessing, but their existence does not prove it. Perhaps a church is full of people with lots of theological knowledge, faithful volunteers, great expository preaching, and an active social culture. It can feel like a warm and loving place with biblical teaching and not be as rich as they think. The people in the church do not have the ability to see what they are missing and so they are content with their position, but Christ is sick of them.
The Lord’s Counsel
The Lord’s Counsel
So what is it exactly that is lacking in this church? Thankfully, Jesus is not spitting them out just yet. Verse 19 implies his love for this lukewarm church, and so he comes to them with counsel. The language is reminiscent of that in
“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
Jesus is by no means being easy on them, but he is being affectionate for them. We can begin to see what exactly they were missing by what Jesus counsels them to do.
“Buy from me.” Jesus makes them aware of their true, spiritual poverty only to invite them to buy from him. This is important, because it tells us that Jesus is not telling them that they need to knuckle down and start doing something by themselves. This gives us a clue as to what they were missing, what was making them poor. What they are missing is with Christ, and Christ wants them to possess it.
What is it Jesus has for them? Pure gold, refined in a hot oven to be free of impurities. White garments so that they can be well clothed. And medicine for their eyes. They are poor, but Jesus wants them to be rich, clothed, and healed, but they don’t possess these things. Why is that?
Ignorance. They cannot receive what they think they already have. No one takes medicine if they don’t think they are sick.
Distance. They are away from Christ, not abiding in him. They are unable to come to him because of their idolatry. Just like the Atlantic makes it impossible to drive a car to Ireland, idols make it impossible to come to Christ.
They are not willing to pay the price for true riches.
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?
There is a cost to the next world, and that cost is leaving this one. To enter Canaan, Israel needed to leave Egypt. So preoccupied by the riches of this world, they are unwilling to give up those riches for an eternal reward. Their accumulation of enough worldly pleasures to satisfy them temporarily blinds them to a much more relevant need.
The Lord’s Loving Reproof
The Lord’s Loving Reproof
Verse 19 contain’s comfort for the church, although they make him sick Jesus loves them. Because Jesus loves them, he reproves and disciplines them. Love and reproving discipline go hand in hand in a few ways:
Reproving discipline shows a desire to keep a healthy relationship with the church. Christ has no intention of having tension in his relationship with his bride. This heavenly couple does not sleep in separate beds and give each other the cold shoulder. Christ is quick to lovingly reprove us so that any obstacle barring our way to him is quickly removed. There can be no healthy relationship with Christ if we are living in what James calls spiritual adultery, having as other lovers the cares, desires, goals, and treasures of this world. Christ will not let his bride doll herself up for other eyes but his, and so he reproves that we may abide in him and he may give us the joy of his presence.
Reproving discipline shows a concern for the church’s safety. Sin is a dangerous disease, one that will eat away at the soul of even the most respected and outwardly holy Christian.
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
The author of Hebrews urges a fear of sin rooted in unbelief that would disqualify us from the faith. He shows us this danger later on with this imagery
For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.
The rain is God’s grace given by his Spirit. The kind of crop that field yields will determine its end. So Christ rebukes our sin for our own safety that we may not end up being cursed and burned.
Reproving discipline shows the true nature of the church’s condition in the only way it can be effectively communicated. As fallen human beings, we have many sins we are blind to and unaware of. This is why God gave us the church so others may bring sins to our attention lovingly and patiently and we may be restored from them (Galatians 6:1). Christ uses this and various other means to show us blind spots. Church discipline as described in Matthew 18 is meant both to show us our blind spots of sin and rid the church of false converts in her midst. Christ desires a pure bride, and he does so by bringing sins to our attention. He then gives us the gracious humility to receive the reproof and begin repenting.
Responding to the Lord’s Voice
Responding to the Lord’s Voice
The ending of our passage is quite familiar to most Christians, but largely without its context. Now that you have seen what Christ’s message was to this church, maybe you will see this text a little differently. The proper response to Jesus’ reproof is found at the end of verse 19, “so be zealous and repent.”
The word translated “be zealous” means to be completely committed to something with all of your heart. Zeal isn’t always good. In fact, it can be very harmful if it makes us earnest ignorantly or for the wrong things. However, this zeal is justified by what the church is to be zealous for.
“repent”. This repentance is clearly not half-hearted, passive, or partial. It is fueled by a desire to rid oneself of sin and embrace Christ more fully and radically. To paraphrase this command, we could say “repent like there’s no tomorrow” or “repent like your life depends on it.” The seriousness of sin requires a zealous repentance. When a fire alarm goes off, it is a call for people to be zealous in leaving a flaming building. When an amber alert comes up on our phones, it is a call to be zealous in looking for a missing child.
So when we read verse 20, we need to read this alarming tone into it. “Behold I stand at the door and knock.” What kind of knock do you think this is? The sentence begins “behold” or “look! see what I’m doing!” It’s not that gentle, two knuckle knock that you’ve seen in paintings. This church, in this preoccupation with worldly things, with outward success, and with comfort and ease have erected a door between them and their Lord. He is knocking urgently because if they don’t answer he’s gonna leave and never come back. This is an urgent knock that requires running to the door, tearing off all the locks and bolts, and removing that obstacle before it is too late.
Only when the obstacle of their and worldliness is removed can they have fellowship with their Lord. They think they are doing well as a church, attendance is good, giving is good, programs are good, sermons are good, but somewhere in the mix they locked the one they are supposed to be worshipping outside.
The danger is clear: a church can become so preoccupied with everything they are doing, and so content with worldly success, that they forget that we exist to worship Christ. This can happen in so many ways.
When the church becomes a theology club.
When the church becomes a social group.
When the church becomes an exclusive club.
When the church becomes a community centre.
When the church becomes a humanitarian organization.
When the church becomes a concert hall.
At certain moments in time, the church will look like all these things. But when that becomes what a church is about, or if that becomes the reason you come to church, worship is not at the centre, and so Christ is not at the centre. When the church becomes about the people in it rather than the God of it, it becomes a dangerously poor place.
To the One who Conquers
To the One who Conquers
As we conclude, I want to end with our minds on the serious matter of what we can do to make sure we do not end up like this church, or if we are in some ways, how do we go about repenting. Verse 21 gives us a hint. The promise is given that the one who conquers will be granted to sit with Jesus on his throne, just like he sat with his Father on his throne when he conquered. Being with Christ is the goal of our repentance, and so sitting on his throne is the greatest honour and privilege we could possibly experience. But what does it means to conquer?
The conquering is likened to Christ conquering, and the idea is to follow in the footsteps of Christ, conquering as he conquered. While we cannot pay for sins by dying on a cross, we can follow him in how he conquered sin to an extent.
Conquering by resisting temptation and submitting wholeheartedly and humbly to God’s Word.
Conquering by denying ourselves the riches and pleasures of this world.
By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
Conquering through suffering with joy. The heart that sincerely cries, “the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord,” is a conquering heart.
Conquering by clinging to Christ. This is ultimately the point, the problem with this church was they had lost their closeness to Christ. They had stopped considering him valuable. It was not that they weren’t an accepting community, had bad teaching, or were not active in ministry. We don’t know where they were in these areas, but we do know that they didn’t think anything was wrong with their church. They were quite satisfied with where they were, but they had let worldly things draw them away from Christ and made them useless for the Kingdom of God.
He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”
To think of Christ, his glory and worship, and less valuable than the things we consider valuable in this life is to make ourselves utterly useless as Christians and as a church. Do we have an ear? Are we willing to take a deep look at our hearts? Are we willing to shine a light on the sins that hurt to expose? Are you actually worshipping Christ here, or are you here for something else? Does your Christian life feel comfortable, or like the war it actually is? The more you find yourself fighting your own sin, the more likely you are close to Christ and useful for his Kingdom. The peace of God is only beautiful to us when we find no peace in the world.
Let us seriously consider ourselves and our church. Are we close to Christ? Are we worshipping him so that everything else is expendable? Do we have true gold, or the fools gold our flesh craves? Can we truly say that all we do, we do for the glory of Jesus Christ? I hope this sentiment is more than words for you to agree with, may the Spirit work in our hearts. Let’s pray.