Stand & Read - Rev. 3:14-22
"And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: [15] ’I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I would that you were cold or hot. [16] ’So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. [17] ’Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, [18] I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. [19] ’Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; be zealous therefore, and repent. [20] ’Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me. [21] ’He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. [22] ’He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ "
“Mild, Medium or HOT!”
Prayer…
For Buffalonians…I know that most like their things HOT!
-I remember when we moved here to Buffalo, many of you were so kind that you all brought us things to fill up our pantry…and among those many items was one thing that I thought was an interesting addition…HOT SAUCE!
And not just a little bottle of Hot Sauce, but a BIG ONE!
-I must admit that for a moment, I thought to myself…”What is all this hot sauce for?” And, “Who uses this stuff?”
But then, after a couple of months I figured it out…”PEOPLE EAT THIS STUFF!”
-And I learned how to use it as well…and we have gone through that bottle ourselves…! J
What did I learn??? People in Buffalo like MOST of their food…HOT!
So I now know that the good people of Buffalo and God have something in common because God likes things hot too!
-God likes His Church to be hot too!!!
-God desires that you be Hot…On Fire for Him…and fervent!!!
Romans 12:11
“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord!” NIV
Many times over that Lord reveals His desire for us to be hot, or on fire for Him…
That we would be passionate, motivated and zealous for Him and good works…
-And today, Rev. 3, emphasizes the same sentiment…to be ON FIRE for God!!!
Let me ask you this question…”What would be the worse thing that could ever happen to a church???”
…if they had a lack of finances? No!
…if they had a lack of Church activities, or ministries? No!
…if they had no Pastor? No! (Keep your comments to yourselves! J )
…if they had no facilities? No!
…if they had no leaders? No!
None of these would be horrific…tragic, but not crippling…
-The worse thing that could ever happen to a Church or Group of Believers is if they began to feel as though they had need of nothing.
-Feeling as though they were self-sufficient and without needs of even God!
-Demonstrating apathy, indifference or even boredom…
My friends…this would be a true tragedy for any congregation to experience!
Thus, this message to the Church in Laodicea is very applicable to even us today.
-Why? Because it is all too easy, for any of us, to fall into an apathy and boredom with God.
-Possibly there are even some here today who are “bored” with God and have grown complacent with Him…BUT! I pray that that changes for you this morning!
No doubt…that when we are bored with God, or complacent, we wind up placing God on the outside of our lives looking in…rather than having Him within our hearts, as He should be...So that He is controlling, guiding and leading us!
Rev. 3:20 tells us…
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with Me.”
-We often use this verse to witness to people and tell them that Christ is knocking on their heart’s door, wanting to come into their hearts and live in them…
Though he does desire that for all people, there is more to this verse!
This verse was written to the church of Laodicea, remember?
This was written to a group of people who have grown complacent with God, CHURHC PEOPLE! People who have, in effect, placed God back OUT of their lives, so that He is now knocking on their heart’s door desiring to come BACK in…
-For those who have grown cold today…Jesus is knocking on your heart’s door today…
I am even speaking to the teens this morning who have once been VERY passionate for God, but have grown too busy for God, and cold to Him and His spirit…God IS knocking on your door today too!!!
Ask yourself…Am I Mild, Medium or Hot today???
(I am going to work from an acronym today concerning this subject,
so work with me on the word…W.I.N.G.S.!)
WEALTH…
I want to speak to what may have begun or helped to bring this “lukewarm” attitude to this church in Laodicea…
Laodicea was most likely THE WEALTHIEST city in the entire world in the first century…
-This city was well known for 3 major things that contributed to its wealth…
A vast and wealthy banking system…
A huge textile industry, whose specialty was black wool clothe…
A large and famous medical school; famous for eye salve known as Cellyrium…
-And all these things God speaks to and addresses…
Ironically, we are known as the wealthiest nation of the entire world now…
So there can be obvious parallels to us concerning wealth too…
-Because all this wealth means nothing to us in relation our relationship with God!
-In fact, though Laodicea was the wealthiest…they are the most condemned of all the 7 Churches addressed…(They couldn’t buy there way out of that one…)
No doubt, with all the great industries, banks, and businesses…there were professionals in the Body that any assembly would love to have within their group…
They probably could even afford to do any repairs, improvements and maintenance that was necessary to keep the church going…
-And yet, God makes NO exception for their spiritual condition…
-And when God took their spiritual temperature…He declared them lukewarm…and sick!!!
But, though they had wealth…it was of no benefit to their spirit man…
In fact, it attributed to their indifference towards God!
-How did this happen?
-They took great pride in what they possessed and forget whose possession they were!
While we often desire wealth, self-sufficiency, and independence…we grow over-reliant upon ourselves with it and forget to be dependant upon God, which we should be!!!
We can see how their wealth brought this church a condition that we have come to know as INDECENT here in the text…
Laodicea had one serious flaw, they had no natural water supply near by! Thus they constructed aqueducts to bring water to the city from 2 sources some distance from them:
-There were hot mineral waters from springs 6 miles away in Hierapolis…
…these waters were used for their healing properties…
-There were icy cold waters from springs 6 miles in the other direction.
…the cold waters fed the fountains in the middle of the city of Laodicea…
The problem was this…
The mineral hot spring waters cooled in their journey of 6 miles by aqueducts and by the time it arrived in town the minerals seeped out of the water and the temperature was only lukewarm -- thus the water was useless for the healing properties it originally had, and in fact, it was poisonous to drink!
The icy waters went through a similar fate over their 6 miles journey. The cold water warmed up as it passed through the 6 miles of aqueduct so that by the time it arrived at the fountains in the center of the city the water had become lukewarm too. So when a new visitor came to the city having traveled the hot plains, would be seen taking a big gulp of water from a fountain expecting cold refreshment only to be surprised by the lukewarm water, and they could be seen spitting it out in disgust!
The message in this statement by God was obvious to them! "So, because you are lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth." The application…LUKEWARM Christianity neither brings healing to the spiritually sick nor refreshment to those who are thirsty for God!
This lukewarm temperature that the Laodicean Church had acquired became indecent to God…so much so that he said that He would have to SPIT them out…literally He meant that He would VOMIT them out…
-That is a pretty strong statement, but I tell you that God is making a very strong statement to them about their condition and how it is unacceptable…!
And because of their lukewarm condition, God is also disturbed at their lack of usefulness…
-Though they may be existing just fine…they were not useful or helpful to anyone… How terribly sad that is!
-That is the real indecency of this condition of indifference!
Jonah had experienced this in his own life…
He had been indifferent to God. And he grew useless to God, by refusing to do His will…
-You know the story well of Jonah and the whale…
-And the story ends with Jonah being SPIT or VOMITED out by the whale…
My friends, I ask that you take inventory today and ask the Lord to show you your own condition of your heart that you would be useful and HOT for Him!
Their, and our own, indecency is also feed by NARCISSISM…
Narcissism is simply vanity, egotism, self-centeredness…ie. PRIDE!!!
With all that this town was…the people were and its accomplishments…
It was very easy to fall into the trap of being over-confident in self, and under-reliant on God!!!
-No doubt that they felt on top of the world, and they had every reason to feel this way, but the had fallen into some very distorted views…
-Instead of God getting all the credit for their abundance, they were taking the credit for it and relied upon it rather than God…
Psalm 115:1
“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, But to Thy name give glory because of Thy lovingkindness, because of Thy truth.”
-We must NEVER seek to get the glory for anything…we must send it straight to whom is worthy of it…GOD!!! It is His anyhow.
-So, we must live in such a way that we will not bring any reproach upon God, but give Him the glory that is due His holy name…
With all these things that would desire to take us away from God…we must do our best to avoid these detriments, so that we would be GENUINE before God!
God described the Church with three terms…
-Poor, naked and blind…
-They spiritually lacked the three very things that they had prided themselves on holding the key too…
They saw things one way, but God saw them in quite another…
They only had counterfeits to what was real and genuine…
And God held the key to the genuine!
How then do we obtain the genuine and real things…GO TO GOD!!!
God is the source of the truth, and the originator of all that is real and genuine! SO we must go to Him!
You see…while we may think that good things and easy times bring a closer relationship with God…it all too often only weakens our strength in God…because they are counterfeits, and not genuine…
ILLUSTRATION:
How many have muscles…
How many have muscles that have been lost because of a lack of use and exercise of them…
You see, you do have to use it or you will loose it! J
And those trials will bring strength to our lives…and they do teach us to lean upon the Lord. Growing closer to Him and loving Him more!
God tells the Church to buy a new Gold that is refined in fire…
He is telling them that He is the source of the genuine and satisfying things that they so desire…
-You have desires today too…but the sad thing about all that we try to acquire is that they are only temporary if they are not found in Christ!
-The Bible tells us that sin satisfies for only a season…and the false only satisfy for a moment as well…but what God gives is lasting and real…
Do you desire real wealth…go to God!
Do you desire real satisfaction and self-respect…God can give that to you!
Do you want have passion for something that will bring lasting joy…it only comes from God!
-You must come to Him and seek Him for it…
-It takes time, but He will give it! (talk of this this evening)
Then, when we find the genuine in God, we will know true SALVATION…
God says to them that He is dissatisfied in a very harsh way…
He does this in this fashion because of His love for them…
-Remember that God disciplines those whom He loves…
-Don’t think that He shouldn’t have yelled at them…remember when He yelled or got angry, it was because it was with those who were of the religious group…
And certainly this Church knew better, thus they needed an abrupt word to bring them to an awareness of their wrong…
And with this urging, God offers them salvation if they come to God and turn from their slothful ways…
God would provide a way out from their useless striving if they learn to tap into His power and strength…
-That would be salvation from this selfish striving and a hope in Him…
-Therefore, finding the genuine thing in God!
His final promise to them is that they would know rest and rule with Him in heaven…
All in all my friends…Jesus is demanding something of us this morning that we may not be willing to give…
To give the time and the energy to be HOT and ON FIRE for God…
To be useful in His Kingdom and serving other people…
And to find the true and genuine gifts in God, and not the false things that this world has to offer…
Are you finding that you too have grown cold to God?
Have you discovered this morning that God is knocking on your door today, desiring to come into your life and transform you?
Do you feel a desire within you that wants more of God, and you are not going to ignore that longing any longer?
I have some advice to you with morning…(W.I.N.G.S. thing again)
Welcome Christ back into your life…
Invest yourself in God, and let Him invest in you…
Neglect the flesh and its desires for the false…
Give ear to His voice, and not the world’s…
Strive for the goal without wavering…
If you like your wings HOT…
Like your life even Hotter!!!
If you like your wings mild or medium…
Like your life HOTTER still!!!
That is what God likes with you!!!
Do you see that you must be HOT again?
Do you know that you need to be HOT period…maybe never before, but you do now?
Put the second wing into action and seek the Lord in your life!
