Lessons from Laodicea
The Seven Churches of Revelation
CCCAG 8-20-23
-Scripture- Revelation 3:14-22
Introduction-
Today we are tackling the last church in our Seven Churches of Revelation series.
When I was praying about doing this series, todays church is the one I didn’t want to have to talk about.
The reason is that it is the only church in which Jesus does not have any complements. It’s all bad.
I try to be very conscious of how many “hard” lessons or sermons I bring to you. A pastor should balance the hard with the encouraging.
However, there are several lessons that we can learn from them.
True wisdom is seeing the mistakes of others and then not repeating them, and that is what we are going to be doing today.
Because Even though they were an absolute mess and disgrace to the church,
Jesus STILL showed up and loved them enough to tell them the hard, cold truth.
His heart was always to bring them back out of the pit they had fallen and back to a life-giving relationship with HIM.
So, just like having to take medicine that tastes horrible but in the end will cure you, we have to take the hard parts of the scripture the same attitude.
So I would ask you today- listen with an open mind, an open heart, and a spirit that wants to hear what the HOLY SPIRIT would say to both us as a church family, and to you as an individual.
Scripture-
Rev 3:14-22 “Write to the angel of the church in Laodicea: Thus says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator of God’s creation:
(15) I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot.
(16) So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.
(17) For you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,’ and you don’t realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.
(18) I advise you to buy from ME gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see.
(19) As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous and repent.
(20) See! 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. (21) “To the one who conquers I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. (22) “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Prayer
Background
I’ve listened to a lot of well meaning sermons on this church, and until I started to study to bring this to you this morning, I didn’t realize all of the depth that we see in here to correctly see the why behind the words that Jesus uses to rebuke this church.
I’m going to provide a bit of background this morning as you can’t really understand why Jesus said what He said without knowing a few facts about Laodicea.
Laodicea was founded by Antiochus (Ant’ tie A Cus) Epiphanes II and named after his wife, who in an example of historical irony, poisoned him to death soon after.
You may have heard the name Antiochus before. During the 400 years between Malachi and Matthew, a descendant of this man, Antiochus IV committed what the bible calls the abomination that caused desolation when he defiled the Hebrew temple in Jerusalem by walking into the Holy of Holys and sacrificing a pig on the altar of God, and throwing that pig's blood all over the scrolls- in other words, their bible.
This is a foreshadowing of what the AntiChrist will do at the midpoint of the great tribulation.
Three things to know about Laodicea
The first thing this city was known for was its opulence and wealth.
Laodicea was built at the crossroads of the two of the busiest trading routes in that area of the world.
The people who lived there were among the wealthiest among the 7 cities we have studied over the last several weeks.
The citizens of Laodicea were so rich when an earthquake leveled their city in 17 AD, they refused any help from Rome and just rebuilt Laodicea themselves.
It was like the Beverly Hills of the ancient world- you’d have Elon Musk as your neighbor, and Jeff Bezos the next block over.
Keep that in mind- extraordinary wealth in every citizen.
The second thing it was known for-
A special wool, which only could be manufactured in that city.
Only Laodicea had that particular breed of sheep. The wool was jet black, and all of the citizens of Laodicea wore only black garments to show off their luxury lifestyles. Remember, dark clothing in the ancient world was very expensive to make, so the darker the clothes, the more money was behind the person wearing it.
So, dark clothing and robes were what they wore.
The third point-
There was one bad thing about living in Laodicea- they had no fresh water supply anywhere close to them.
Most of the time, a city was built near water, but in this case this city was founded where it was because of the trading routes that existed at that time.
The nearest source was a spring several miles away, and they created a largely underground aqueduct to carry this water to them.
As the water flowed through these pipes, it would be heated under the Middle Eastern sun and come out of the pipe in Laodicea lukewarm.
Not only that, but the water had so much sediment in it, it was largely undrinkable. It would cause people to reflexively spit it out or vomit if they tried to drink it. Therefore, they had to get their drinking and food preparation water from elsewhere.
Fortunately, Colosse was a few miles down the road, and they had a constant supply of ice cold water run off from the mountains. In fact, they sold this water to Laodicea for drinking water.
On the other side of Laodicea was Hierapolis, known for it’s healing hot springs, and they could get their hot water from there.
So, that explains every reference Jesus uses to speak to the Laodiceans- he is communicating truth in a way that was very obvious to them.
This is why if you are going to correctly divide the Word of Truth and interpret the bible correctly, you have to look at the world it was immediately written about.
Jesus is not saying, as I’ve heard some preach, he ever wants us to be cold toward HIM.
It was a reference that this church in this city would be very familiar with because of their water situation.
Jesus, being the master teacher HE is, used it to illustrate their spiritual condition. He did this in the Gospels-
talked about fish with fisherman,
farming with farmers,
money with bankers or rich people.
Jesus always contextualized the Gospel in such a way that it made sense to the audience he was speaking with.
Lastly, the city of Laodicea was known for having a specialized medical school that focused on treatment of eye conditions using a special plant that grew nearby to treat various eye conditions using salves that were reputed to treat blindness.
So remember-
They are rich
They are clothed in black
Their water is horrible
They have an eye hospital that uses salves to cure blindness.
Did anyone here ever know any of that before this morning?
Now verses 15-18 make perfect sense that Jesus uses these examples to get this church’s attention.
That’s why context matters, and why I spend so much time bringing that to you.
Now for the lessons we can learn from this church in this city, I’ve come up with 3 never statements.-
The first one is-
I. Never equate prosperity with God’s favor
This is a tricky one. If God chooses to bless us in some way we should be thankful for it and give HIM the glory and praise.
However, we should also understand that HE knows us better than we know ourselves.
Does anyone remember a children’s or teenager book series called “Choose Your Own Adventure”?
In these books, there would be a narrative, and at some point, it would ask you to make the decision for the main character.
If you chose this- turn to page 5 to see how your decision affects the main character.
If you choose that, turn to page 10 and read from there.
Life is like that- every choice we make will take us in a different direction.
Here is the point- since God exists outside of our space-time, He can see exactly what you are going to choose. Not only that, being all-knowing, HE can also see what happens if you choose the other thing, and the direction that will lead you.
Tie that in now with Prosperity. Financial wealth is an incredible blessing, but
It’s also one of the most deceptive tools of the enemy to draw us away from God.
But, its not just financial- the prosperity could also be fame- stoke the fire of our pride a little.
There was a survey among middle schoolers a few years ago, and the number 1 dream of an American middle schooler was to become a social media influencer.
In other words, to be famous, and if you couldn’t get fame, be at least notorious.
Maybe you are gifted with a high intelligence. You become so educated or “smart” you tell yourself there is no God.
Romans 1:22- Professing themselves wise the became fools.
That is where many in our nation are at the moment. Spiritually drowning in some form of prosperity.
And growing spiritually anemic and sick because of it.
There was a quote I heard recently that fits America today-
Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”
It’s very true, and many of us have seen this in our lifetime.
Early in my walk with Jesus I was at a prayer meeting which was being lead by a missionary to China, Peter Chun. During that meeting, one of the leaders prayed that the persecution of the Chinese Christians would stop and they could know the blessings of freedom that we all know.
Before that man finished the prayer, Peter Chun stopped him and instead prayed this- (paraphrasing)
“Father, may the persecution continue against Christians in China. It makes them strong in the faith. Give them the strength to endure, the courage to face it, and the resolve to remain faithful to you no matter what.”
Peter than looked at all of us and said, “Just so you know, the Chinese church prays for you in America. They pray that you have hardship like they do, so that you will know the full power of the Gospel and see many come to Christ Jesus.”
That’s was a wow moment for me as a young Christian.
I was going through bible college at the time, and Peter wanted to mentor me a little when he was stateside. During one of those times, he told me that the reason it was so hard to get people to come to Christ in America is they don’t think they need HIM.
He said America doesn’t have the full power of the Gospel in our nation today because we are so prosperous.
Because we are so prosperous- we feel as if God must be pleased with us.
See the trap of the enemy we as American Christians have fallen into here?
I wonder how many of us would still follow Christ if someone threatened to take away some of this prosperity- what if the government made us pay a fine of $2k per member per year to have our church?
Or, like in many places on earth- what if someone was pointing a gun at us telling us to deny HIM?
How many of us would stay faithful? Our how many are thinking right now, “Maybe I am a little lukewarm?”
That’s a question you need to decide right now.
You better have that answer set in stone in your heart.
That’s the first lesson of the Church of Laodicea- never equate prosperity with God’s pleasure or the lack of prosperity with God’s anger.
Sometimes we are better off poor in this world so that will will gain the true riches of heaven.
The next thing we learn from the church at Laodicea I just hinted at-
II. Never equate God’s discipline with God’s displeasure
(19) As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous and repent.
The most feared phrase my mom knew-
“You just wait until your dad gets home!”
The most feared thing my mom could ever say to me. Mom’s whacks on the butt hurt, but Dad had a whole other level of spanking.
Mom was the junior varsity, Dad was the professional. It’s still ingrained in me- the sound of me pulling my belt off causes my heart to jump a little.
I learned what it means to have a little fear of dad. Now, my dad wasn’t a brute, but he did instill in me respect for authority. And he was that authority.
Between my dad and a lot with my grandfather, I learned the idea of respect for authority.
Looking back on my teenage years, I also learned that even when my dad had to drop the boom on me, he wasn’t doing it just out of anger, but because he saw something in me that reminded him of himself when he was younger and was about to make a huge mistake, and he wanted to keep me from doing the same thing.
God is our Father. He feels the same way with us.
This is why we never should mistake God’s discipline with God’s displeasure.
A couple more bible verses to bring this into further clarity
Pro 3:11-12 Do not despise the LORD’s instruction, my son, and do not loathe his discipline; (12) for the LORD disciplines the one he loves, just as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights.
And this section of Hebrews really drives this point home-
Heb 12:5-11 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly or lose heart when you are reproved by him, (6) for the Lord disciplines the one he loves and punishes every son he receives.
Verse (11) No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
I wish I could bring you good news about our current world, but we are on the brink of very very hard times. We need God to rapidly mature us, and we have to be willing to let him rapidly mature us.
And hard times are that disciplinary process.
And that means we might have to be willing to accept some pain.
That brings us to our last lesson from Laodicea
This scripture teaches us-
III. Never have any other source for your peace, joy, or fulfillment other than Jesus.
Here is a truth bomb-
Everything in the devil’s toolbox is a cheap counterfeit of what Jesus has already provided for you.
Everything in the devil’s toolbox is meant to be a replacement for Jesus.
Everything in the devil’s toolbox is meant to mock God’s created order.
This is why Jesus started this letter saying-
Thus says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator of God’s creation:
Jesus, being our creator God along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, is an expert in what HE Has created, and what HE has created is designed to only find it’s ultimate
fulfillment,
joy, and
purpose in HIM.
A Lukewarm Christian is one who tries to mix the fire of God with the frozen death of sin, creating that lukewarm spirit that is apathetic and pathetic in the eyes of God.
Fortunately, our creator is so passionate for us-
He took that lash
He took that beating
He took the scourging
He took the nails
He heard the laughter of hell as he took his last breath on this earth. All of hell celebrated thinking they had defeated HIM.
The earth shook in a massive earthquake as all of creation screamed in horror watching the creator God die.
But then, but then
The veil was torn, removing the separation between the creator and the created.
All of heaven rejoiced as the stone rolled away revealing the empty tomb.
and satan and his kingdom was left in a pile of ashes.
We have a foe that is already defeated. He knows it. The bible says he comes now in the end with great wrath because he knows his time is short.
In Daniel it says he will try to wear out the saints of God.
But what satan doesn’t realize- is the very attacks he is using against the Christian is making us even more spiritually powerful than we would be if he just left us alone.
He is trying to wear you out.
Don’t let him. Press in.
We are going to do that right now with ending the service in Holy Communion.
