Sermon Tone Analysis

Well, you might have recalled some of those past purchases earlier that didn’t quite deliver on your expectations.

Or maybe you reflected on those really important things that you just need to work and do what they are supposed to do.

It may have ranged from a favourite toy, or to those crucial things like - an aircraft you are flying in, staying in the air.

Or the anaesthetist getting the mix of drugs just right to send you off to sleep and bring you back again before, during and after surgery.

I expect if we had time to do a quick look back on histroy we have seen some pretty spectacular fails.

Things that just weren’t fit for purpose.

Like the flying tank, developed by the Soviets.

Great for getting tanks from A to B other than over land, but completely hopeless without aircraft capable of carrying a fully armoured tank off the ground.

One of my other favourites is the Vacuum Beauty Helmet.

Promised almost a miracle in what it could do to bring a glow to your face - if you were able to survive the lack of oxygen long enough for the treatment to have any positive affect.

And what about the Phone Answering Robot.

Well, the term ‘answering’ was probably a bit of a stretch.

The robot could just about pick up the phone and put it back down again, but didn’t cut the mustard if you actually wanted the machine to speak to the caller thereby rendering you free to do other things.

Friends, as we pick up today’s reading from Revelation, Jesus turns His attention to the church at Laodicea - and it seems he has found them no longer ‘fit for purpose’.

A quick recap:

A quick recap:

The Apostle John has a vision of the ascended Lord Jesus.

A quick recap:

The Apostle John has a vision of the ascended Lord Jesus.

John is told to write to seven churches.

Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.

A quick recap:

The Apostle John has a vision of the ascended Lord Jesus.

John is told to write to seven churches.

The opening 3 chapters set the scene for the entire book.

4. John is given a message to a suffering church.

4. John is given a message to suffering, complacent or persecuted churches.

5.

The message, though addressed to specific churches, is meant for all.

4. John is given a message to a suffering church.

5.

The message though addressed to specific churches, is meant for all.

6.

It is a message to ‘overcome’, with words of encouragement for today and hope for the future.

What is experienced today, will not last forever.

The risen and ascended Lord Jesus will return and bring to fulfilment all that God has promised through the scriptures from Genesis onwards in one continuous unfolding revelation of truth.

Jesus’ Self - Description

When we say Amen to a prayer we are signalling our agreement to what has been said.

We do that, to some degree, because we trust what the person has prayered and we also affirm our belief that God will answer that prayer.

Jesus picks up the same designation we find in Chapter 1 verse 5

He is trustworthy and true because He is the Creator of all things and Sovereign over heaven and earth.

Yet there is a problem here… and it’s a problem that could be shared by any church in the 21st Century.

So, skipping over any encouragement on this occasion, Jesus goes straight to the point.

Can you spot the essence of their problem?

Jesus says their witness as a lampstand that shines forth the gospel - ‘tastes foul’.

It’s not like a refreshing glass of cold water on a hot day, nor is it hot enough to be of any use either - it is Luke warm and fit for nothing, except being spat out.

They Are No Longer Fit for Purpose

And the reason

Their Self-Sufficiency

has resulted in

Spiritual Arrogance

Of course, self-sufficiency isn’t a bad thing in and of itself.

I’m sure Chris and Kely, like all parents before them, will want Seb someday to become self- sufficient.

It would be a bit well bizarre if at the age of 25, Seb still needs them to attend to his every need.

But, seriously, the devastating affect it has had on Laodicea is that they have become misled into thinking that they don’t actually need Jesus.

Like the city in which they lived, they had access to many things that were the envy of other centres in the region; material prosperity, a rare and expensive black wool to trade and an effective ointment used for medicinal purposes.

But notice the exhortation from Jesus - ‘you would do well to come back to me for the things that really matter’.

Come to me for true wealth, the most precious sort, the refined sort, says Jesus.

The true and faithful witness.

The one who is the Amen to everything God has purposed and promised, concerning His people and His creation.

Come to me and be

Being Purified from sin - “gold refined in the fire”

Don’t be so like the surrounding culture that you are no witness to Jesus at all.

Come to Jesus for

White clothes to wear - garments ‘won for them’ through the saving death of Jesus

So you can witness that you are the People of God who have been rescued from sin and clothed with righteousness that cannot come from yourself, but only through the saving death and resurrection of Christ.

Jesus calls them to look to him, no longer blinded by their arrogance and pride, but with sight restored to discern the wisdom and guidance that only Christ, by His Spirit, can give.

Salve (ointment) - to restore their Spiritual Sight.

Yet again, in the midst of harsh judgement, did you notice the loving hand of mercy extended to the Laodiceans by the Lord Jesus.

Turn back to me, Jesus says.

I’m not just looking for words that fall easily from your lips, be earnest - repent and turn away from the path on which you are currently travelling.

And Look...

It seems shocking at first to think such is their self-satisfaction in themselves,

so far removed is Jesus from the life of this church,

that He stands outside their door.

They have no need for Him!

Friends, sorry to break it to you - but verse 20 has been grossly understated - it is not just meant to be read as saying that to be a Christian we need to let Jesus into our heart.

Not primarily at least - though it rings true on a much deeper level.

Jesus is here speaking to the church ‘body’, to those who are inside, who at least consider themselves to be Christians.

And His offer here is not future - when He comes at His final second coming to make all things new.

No, He is offering to come and be involved in their lives, in their mission, in their witness.

Because, can you believe it, at this moment he has John write to them, it is as if He is not welcomed in.

Imagine, us in here today and Jesus standing on teh other side of our church door.

He’s knocking, but we do not hear him and we cannot see him...

Yet here is grace once again., despite where they are and how they have pushed Jesus out of the picture, The Lord Jesus still offers to bring his blessings of fellowship and presence.

A fully restored and close communion between the Lord and His Church.

If anyone hears, says Jesus

Friends, as we begin Advent, we are reminded that we don’t just prepare to celebrate the coming of God in Jesus on that first Christmas in Bethlehem.

We are called to be awake to the coming of Christ a second time, as the reigning Lord of all.

When Christ appears - will he find us fit for purpose?

Will he find a diverse collection of individuals, of differing ages and stages in life, differing gifts and abilities - but nonetheless a united body of Christ, a church that is

Awake and Alert

to the will of God?

a body, a church that is a

Witness

to the good news of Jesus, that brings hope and reconciliation to a broken world?

a body, a church that

Remembers what it has received

in the gospel and the word of God in Scripture and above all in the grace of God - His unmerited and undeserved favour towards us His people in and through Jesus Christ?

Will Christ find a body, a church that seeks constantly to

Shine as a Lampstand

in this world, and more specifically to the local community in which this body, this church has been placed?

Advent invites us again to take hold of the incredible truth that God so loved the world that He stepped into it as a human child, as Jesus.