This is the last church addressed by Christ, and it is the worst church. Christ does not commend Laodicea at all. He doesn’t have anything good to say about them. This is a church that may as well have not existed. What made them so bad?
They were lukewarm. What does that mean? Indifferent, complacent, lethargic, self-satisfied, half-hearted, and neutral. They were only half way committed to Christ. So we need to heed Christ’s words and make sure we never become as such.
Once again, Christ holds the minister responsibility for the indifference and complacency. Jesus says in verse 14 “these are the words of the Amen.” What does that mean? Amen is used to close prayer. It basically means, “so let it be” to declare the truthfulness of a statement. It’s a term used to guarantee the truth. So Jesus is the AMEN, the guarantee of the truth.
So the lukewarm church can trust the promises of Christ because they are the truth. What He says will be. Verse 14 says that Jesus is the faithful and true witness. That means He is perfectly honest. He’s not going to hold anything back. In other words, Jesus is everything this church was not.
It goes on to say that Jesus is the ruler of God’s creation. Here is a wake up call for all churches. He is the one who sustains the church. No matter how prosperous the church, Christ is the one who creates and sustains. The church’s wealth and prosperity are meaningless and useless apart from being absolutely centered in Jesus Christ.
The complaint is in verse 15. It’s kind of shocking because it describes most church members. Lukewarm, complacent, indifferent. Let’s look first at how lukewarmness affects the church.
1. A lukewarm church is only half-committed to Christ. In addition to stressing Christ, it also stresses ritual, ceremony, and programs as a way to become acceptable and pleasing to God.
2. A lukewarm church is only half-committed to proclaiming that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. Ashamed?
3. A lukewarm church is only half-committed to teaching the Word of God. Activities, fellowship, pot luck dinners become more important than hearing the Word of God.
4. A lukewarm church is only half-committed to evangelism and missions. “Well I gave a dollar to that mission. Don’t ask me to get out of the comfort of these four walls.”
5. A lukewarm church is only half-committed to stressing holy and pure living for Christ. They are afraid to say anything to someone who is living in sin. If you are shacking up with someone and think coming to church once in a while is going to please God, you are wrong.
6. A lukewarm church is only half-committed to self-denial and sacrificial living, to stressing that its people must deny themselves and sacrificially die to self. They seldom stress that a person must give all he is and has to reach the lost and meet the needs of the world.
7. A lukewarm church is only half-committed to the church. You can take it or leave it. You go to church as long as there’s nothing of the world that will interfere. Sporting events.
8. A lukewarm is only half-committed to attending and staying awake and learning in the services of the church. Once again, Bible study seems to be a bad word.
9. A lukewarm church is only half-committed to supporting church. The biggest problem for churches in the one dollar bill. If the smallest increment of money was a ten dollar bill, would you give it?
A lukewarm church is only half-committed to witnessing. Let the preacher do that.
A lukewarm church is only half-committed to Bible study and prayer.
A lukewarm church is only half-committed to daily devotions. I’ll read my Bible just as soon as I finish my magazine. But that day usually never comes.
The list could go on and on. Do we have any lukewarm church members?
Then Jesus says it is better for one to be cold than lukewarm. Why? Because a lukewarm person doesn’t know that he needs clothing or heat. A cold person knows he needs something. A person has to be sensitive to his need before his need can be met.
Many people who profess Christ attend church only enough to settle their consciences, only enough to make them feel acceptable to God. Christ says that these would be far better off if they made no profession at all. There is our warning.
In verse 16 Jesus says, “I am going to spit you out of my mouth.” Pretty graphic. What this means is that a person who claims to be a follower of Christ is claiming to be a part of His body, claiming to be nourishment for His body, a part of the growth of His body. But when you are lukewarm, you are none of that.
So, in effect, the lukewarm make a false profession. They are just kidding themselves. You can tell by what Christ says that the church was a wealthy church. Read verse 17.
What happened is what happens to many churches. They equated wealth and prosperity with spirituality. What they did is that they focused on their capability, their ability, their resources instead of Christ. There was no hunger or thirst after God.
People come to church once a week and they feel they have completed all that is required. LUKEWARM. And they are rejected because of it. The church was:
• Wretched – that means they were afflicted spiritually. Spiritually inferior.
• Pitiful – Missing out on the presence and power of Christ.
• Poor – They were as spiritually poor as a church or person can be.
• Blind – They could only see what was in the world; money, human ability and effort. They didn’t look beyond to the spiritual need of a person.
• Naked – They failed to see their need for the righteousness of Jesus Christ. They believed they could be good enough and do enough good to become acceptable to God.
Note that a lukewarm person never witnesses for Christ. They always have an excuse. I can’t or won’t witness because:
- I want to be kind and not offend anyone.
- I am too shy.
- Because there is a place for professing Christ and that is in the church, not in the world.
Our news for today is that Christ will reject every one of you. He will spit you out.
In verse 18-20 we are given some counsel. Christ advises the church to do three things.
1. The church needed to buy spiritual gold that is purified in the fire. We have to remember that Laodicea was a banking center and a manufacturing center, extremely wealthy. Christ is teaching this church that their wealth is not true wealth.
What they need is spiritual wealth, spiritual gold. The gold represents spiritual riches—all the richness offered by Christ—all the spiritual things that make life rich and overflowing; love, joy, peace, goodness, faith, assurance, confidence, security, and hope. It is possessing the abundance of life.
Material possessions and wealth can’t give any of these things. Earthly riches cannot buy love, joy, peace, or happiness. Riches can’t keep a person healthy or keep them alive or fill the emptiness and loneliness. What a person needs is spiritual wealth. Jesus said, “Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”
2. Jesus said this church needed to buy white clothing. Remember this city was a clothing center. Christ is telling them that no matter how much clothing they manufacture, they lack the real clothing. The church needs spiritual clothing. So the shame of their spiritual nakedness will not be exposed.
To be acceptable to God, a person must be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And if a person is not clothed in the righteousness of Christ then he shall appear naked in the great day of judgment.
So Christ says to the lukewarm, buy me the white clothing of my righteousness. Put on my clothing so that you may be acceptable to God.
3. The church needed to buy eye salve. Remember again that Laodicea was well known for its medical school that concentrated on treating the eyes with a famous eye salve. Christ is telling them that no matter how much they treat their eyes, they are still blind and in the dark.
Why? Because they don’t spiritually see the Light of the world, Jesus Christ. They were fat and sassy and didn’t see that they needed Christ. Christ warns us all of being lukewarm
Christ counsels them to be earnest and repent. He says He loves them even though they are indifferent to them. He rebukes them not out of anger but out of love. You have to know you’re doing wrong in order to correct. This is our counsel today.
They are to be earnest in repenting. That means that they are to repent immediately. This is so serious a matter that a person must repent immediately. Because he is bordering on being spit out of the mouth of Christ.
And then we come to verse 20. We have more than likely heard this verse repeated many times. READ.
There are 5 scenes of Christ that are pictured here.
1. There is the standing Christ. This shows His readiness to enter the life of a person. He is the One who has walked over and come to man. He stands at man’s heart ready to come into his life.
2. There is the knocking Christ. This symbolizes the seeking Christ. He not only came into this world and walked over to man’s heart. But he knocks upon the heart of man. He doesn’t give up. He keeps on knocking and knocking for man to open up and let Him in.
3. Then there is the pleading Christ. He pleads for entrance. This shows the compassion of Christ. He pleads and begs for man to open his heart. How often people hear the voice of Christ yet they refuse to let Him in. They harden their ears and pay no attention to the pleading of the Lord’s voice.
4. There is the penetrating Christ. Imagine the Spirit of Jesus Christ living within the heart and life and body of a person. When a person hears His voice and opens his heart, Christ enters. He penetrates the life of the person. And when He enters a person’s life, He causes the most radical changes imaginable.
a) He causes the person to be born again.
b) He makes a new creation out of the person.
c) He makes a new person, a new self out of the person.
d) He changes the person’s perishable nature into an imperishable nature.
e) He gives the person a new divine nature, the very nature of God Himself.
5. Lastly there is the picture of the companion Christ. This symbolizes fellowship. When Jesus Christ enters and penetrates a person’s heart, He lives forever within the life of the person.
When Jesus enters a life there is no good thing whatsoever that is kept from the person. He has the richest fellowship possible, fellowship and communion with the Son of God Himself. And the person has it forever and ever.
In verses 21-22 we see the promise. And it is glorious. The one who overcomes the things of this world will sit upon the throne of Christ and of God. The person who overcomes the lukewarmness and half-hearted commitment to Christ, who repents and turns his life over to Christ, shall sit upon the throne of Christ and of God. That means:
- We will rule and reign with Christ forever and ever.
- That we shall be assigned certain duties in the new heavens and earth. We will be given the responsibility to oversee and manage the universe for Christ.
- That we shall rule and oversee the work and duties of angels.
And this is just a small portion of the rewards. Doesn’t that sound great? Does it sound like something you want to be a part of? Well you can. You can come forward and profess Christ as your Savior right now. Stay focused on Him and Him alone and all these things shall be added unto you.
