THE CHURCH AT LAODICEA

Sermon of the Week – January 14, 2005

Text: Revelation 3:14-22. And unto the angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write: These things say the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. Jesus is the Amen. We use the term Amen at the close of a very important statement. It is the same as the word the Lord often used when He would preface a statement with Verily, Verily, I say unto you. Actually we could say Amen to everything the Lord ever said.

 The Bible reveals the Church of the first century. If you want to know what the Church of the New Testament was like, all you have to do is consult the New Testament. What was the baptism of the first century Church? Read Acts 2:38 for the purpose: Then Peter said unto them, “Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Then read Acts 8:38 for the method. And he commanded the chariot to stand still; and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him. Regarding this ordinance I have to say, Amen!

What about the frequency of the Lord's Supper? Consult the New Testament. Read Acts 20:7: And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech unto midnight. From this event we learn that the practice of the Church in the New Testament observed the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week. When it comes to what the scripture says about the Lord’s Supper I say, Amen!

  What about the teaching about speaking in tongues? Consult the New Testament. Go to the only place where an example of tongue speaking was done in the second chapter of Acts. When the Apostles spoke in tongues the audience said, “How hear we every man in our own language the mighty works of God.” Tongue speaking on the day the Church began was the ability to speak in a foreign language fluently, grammatically, and perfectly the way the Holy Spirit would do it without study and practice. Some say there are two kinds of tongue speaking in the Bible. I wonder why the Apostles did not use that other kind of tongue speaking on the day of Pentecost along with the kind they did use? Wonder why there is no example of what that other kind of tongues speaking was like? It looks like the Lord would have included a little sample of it for our edification. Could it be there was no other kind? When it comes to this Bible example I say Amen!

But not only does the New Testament reveal the Church of the first century, it also reveals the Church of the twenty-first century. Some students of the Bible believe that the seven Churches represent seven ages of time and that the Church at Laodicea is the Church of the last days. If Jesus intended no such interpretation, at least it reminds us of many modern day congregations. The Church at Laodicea pictures for us the Church of the twenty-first century and the Church as Jesus sees it.

There are several things that Jesus saw in the Church at Laodicea and He saw nothing good. There was no redeeming feature in the Church at Laodicea. Jesus said it was lukewarm.

LUKEWARM CHURCH

I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would that thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of My mouth. The Church at Laodicea was a Church that could not get excited about anything spiritual.

Someone asked a certain preacher if it is a sin to drink coffee? He said, “Not as long as it is black, hot, and plenty of it.” That is the way Jesus likes His Church. He wants it either hot or cold, or not at all. The threat of Jesus is to spew such a Church out of His mouth.

In that sense the Church must be in the mouth of Jesus before He can spew it out. The Bible message is preached by the Church, and there is not much He can say through a lukewarm Church. It seems that by implication there are some hot Churches and there are some cold Churches. Evidently it looks like the Lord can do more with a cold Church or a hot Church than He can do with a lukewarm Church and that is saying a whole lot about their spiritual condition. Remember the Lord said that in the last days the love of the many shall wax cold. Yet the Lord seems to say he can do more with a Church that is in the deep freeze mode than a lukewarm Church. There are some well-meaning folk who could be classified as hot religiously speaking. They are liable to knock on your door anytime and try to sell you on some bazaar doctrine contrary to the Bible. They may even have another book that makes claims of inspiration. If our folk had their zeal with the truth, or if they had our truth with their zeal, the Lord could do great things.  The Lord has a lot to say to the world about salvation. But what can He say through a Church that is indifferent to the word on the plan of salvation and that believes it doesn't make any difference what you believe just so you are sincere. Such a Church makes Jesus sick and He is ready to spew it out of His mouth.

Jesus has a lot to say to the world about contribution of money, but what can He say through a Church where most spend more on booze and tobacco, and other entertainment than the Kingdom of God. Such a Church makes Jesus sick and He is ready to spew it out of His mouth.

Jesus has a lot to say to the world about the contents of the Bible. But what can He say to the world through a Church that is composed of people who never read the Bible, and whose preacher never preaches it? Such a Church makes Jesus sick, and He is ready to spew it out of His mouth.

Jesus has a lot to say to the world about Christian unity. But what can He say to the world through a Church that is splintered and torn by division and each splinter claims that it is the one true Church? Such a Church makes the Lord sick and He will spew it out of His mouth.

Actually it is amazing that this church could be so indifferent when we note that Paul wrote to a nearby Church of the Colossians and told the Colossians after they read his epistle to cause it to be read also at the Church of the Laodiceans. It is in that epistle that Paul spoke of such matters of setting your affections on things that are above and not the things of the earth, also how we have been delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the Kingdom of the Son of His love. They must have read also how they were buried with Him in baptism and raised with Him through faith in the working of God who raised Jesus from the dead, and the results of their sins being blotted out and the bond written in ordinances against us nailed to the cross. If you had asked the Laodiceans if they believed all that Paul said in that epistle they would have said, “O yes, but there are other things that are more important than salvation, forgiveness, heaven and all that stuff.”

Tacitus a Roman historian speaks of the great wealth of Laodicea. A great earthquake hit the city in 60 AD and the city was rebuilt by the personal wealth of the population. It really was a rich city. In 79 AD a Roman stadium was dedicated to the Emperor Vespasian.  Such things as the programs of the bigger and better stadium where the Laodicean Leopards played may have been the great passion of the Laodiceans at the time John wrote Revelation. Times have not changed all that much. 

Such a Church makes Jesus sick and He will spew it out of His mouth. This is the Church as Jesus sees it.  We would not be out of line if we printed a sign that read, The Church of Laodicea, and placed it over the entrance of most of our Churches today. The motto of the lukewarm Church is not, where the Bible speaks we speak, or the Bible and the Bible alone; their motto was, we don’t, we don’t, we don’t give a hoot.   What can the Lord say or do with a Church like that? This is the Church as Jesus sees it in the twenty first century. Jesus saw the Church at Laodicea as a lukewarm Church, but the church at Laoadicea saw themselves as a rich Church.

RICH CHURCH

 They actually said, “I am rich and have gotten riches and have need of nothing.” Jesus did not agree. He said you are not only not rich, but you don’t know how poor, wretched, miserable, blind, and naked you really are.  There are a lot of cities, towns, and villages; all over America like Laodicea are poor rich, destitute, miserable, places that are more destitute than any third world country. Two of the most pitiable, destitute, miserable, places in the United States today would be Las Vegas and Hollywood. They think they are rich and don’t know how poor they are.

There are some things money cannot buy. A report in a national magazine gave the names of the forty richest men in the United States history. Only three are still alive. The average age at death of the thirty-seven was 72 years.  Every one of them was worth billions and yet with all that wealth they could not buy even one year of extra time. While I do not know their spiritual condition and relationship with the Lord, if they could not buy one more minute of life here on earth with all their billions what chance do they have of buying eternal life beyond the grave apart from the shed blood of Jesus Christ?

Use your money while you’re living, do not hoard it to be proud.   You can never take it with you there’s no pocket in a shroud.

And this is amazing. We live in the richest age of all times. There never was a time, place, or generation, where we would have been born and given more than the Church in this time, place, and generation. Some people used to live behind what was called the iron curtain, and some, like us live behind the plush curtain. Thou sayest I am rich, but Jesus says you are poor. 

Jesus looks upon the well-dressed twenty first century Church as a spiritual nudist colony. Jesus said, “Thou art naked.” He sees it as a naked Church. It was naked, in spite of the fact that it has every right and reason to be spiritually very well clothed. Jesus said, “I counsel thee to buy of Me gold refined by fire that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thy nakedness be not manifest.” Some might think that to appear naked on the Judgment Day as no big deal since others will stand there stripped naked also. But such is not the case. You may not be ashamed to appear in public today and show your belly button and let it all hang out, nor will it be all that big of deal with millions of other sinners on the Judgment Day just like yourself. But when you consider that you will stand naked before the gaze of the Holy angels, the Holy Spirit, the Holy Jesus and the Holy Father, it is then that the prophecy in the book of Daniel will come to pass, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt.”

Jesus died upon the cross, naked so that we might be spiritually clothed and not stand there naked before the holy angels. The Bible teaches in the book of Galatians 3:27: For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. When you were immersed you put Jesus on. God could no longer see the filthy rags of your own self-righteousness; He sees only the loveliness, purity, and perfection of Jesus Christ. He sees you as perfect as Jesus Christ Himself.

Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into Him, and will sup with him, and He with Me. To Him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His throne. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.

When Jesus said, “Behold I stand at the door and knock.” He was not talking about the person outside the Church; He was talking to the Church itself. The picture is the picture of Jesus standing outside His own Church trying to get in. The modern day Church is a Church where the Lord Himself does not feel welcome. He wants to come in, but because of what it is He doesn't feel wanted. They shut Christ out. But remember, even though He will not come in, He has not gone far away. He stands just outside and He continues to knock. Behold I stand at the door and knock.

Sweetly the tones are falling, open the door for me.
If thou wilt heed My calling I will abide with thee.
So open the door. The soul is like a house. It may have several doors, a back door, a front door and a side door. At which door does the Savior knock at the house of your soul?  He may knock at the door of intellect. If you think about it you know there must be a God. If you admit there is a God it seems logical that God would not leave us without instructions as to what He expects of us. What other instructions could there be but the Bible.   Again He may knock at the providential door. You get sick, have an accident, and have the death of a loved one. And you hear the knock on the door of your soul. Then again it may be that the Lord may knock on the door of conscience. You read the Bible, or hear a sermon, maybe this radio broadcast and you hear the knock of Jesus on the door of your heart. 

Sweetly the tones are falling,

open the door for Me,

 If thou wilt heed My calling,

I will abide with thee.

Although Jesus is standing at the door of your soul and knocks, He will yet stand there again and knock on another occasion. Let Luke tell us the words of Jesus on that matter. Let your loins be girded about, and be ye yourselves like unto men looking for their Lord, when He shall return from the marriage feast: that when he cometh and knocketh, ye may straightway open unto Him. At the Second Coming or at death you will open the door.

Behold I stand at the door and knock gives the impression that the Lord wants to get into His Church and yet there is the warning too, when we consider what James said, “Murmur not brethren, one against another, that ye be not judged:” behold the Judge standeth at the doors.

Behold I stand at the door and knock. The amazing thing about this statement is the way the next chapter begins. Think of it. Jesus said Behold I stand at the door and knock and then the very next statement in the next chapter is, “After these things I saw, and behold a door was opened in Heaven.” If we as a Church will open the door and let Jesus back in, He will open the door of heaven and let us in.  Did you know that when the scriptures were written there were no chapter and verse divisions? It was not until the middle twelve hundreds that the Bible had chapter divisions and not until the middle fifteen hundreds that there were verse divisions. Before that these verses would read like this: Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him and he with Me. He that overcometh I will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne, even as I overcame and sat down with My Father in His throne. He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches, "After these things I saw and behold, a door opened in Heaven."   So, when we open the door down here for Jesus, He will open the door up there for us. Behold I stand at the door and knock.

In the silent midnight watches, List thy bosom door!
How it knocketh, knocketh, knocketh, Knocking evermore!
Say not thy pulse is beating, Tis thy heart of sin:
Tis thy Savior knocks and crieth, rise and let Me in.
Death comes on with reckless footsteps to the hall or hut;
Think you death will tarry knocking where the door is shut?
Jesus waiteth, waiteth, waiteth, but the door is fast;
Grieved away thy Savior goeth: Death breaks in at last.
Then tis time to stand entreating Christ to let thee in;
At the gate of Heaven beating, waiting in thy sin.
Nay, alas thou guilty creature: hast thou then forgot?
Jesus waited long to know thee, Now He knows thee not.

He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches.