I. Introduction
Do any of these lines sound familiar
to you?
·
God
helps those who help themselves
·
All
you have to do is just pull yourself together!
·
If
you want something done right, you better do it yourself!
·
You
just have to believe in yourself and you can do anything!
·
Make
sure that you look out for number one!
Some
of these lines, if not all, you have heard at one point in time in your life
for whatever reason. These lines all deal with one theme—self. While ancient
pagans had hundreds of false gods/idols to choose from, modern pagans have one
false god that controls every part of their life—self. There are examples
everywhere: self-expression, self-confidence, self-worth, self-reliance and
many more. These concepts all revolve around the myth that human beings have an
inexhaustible source of strength within themselves to do anything that they
wanted too.
Sadly, Christians are guilty of
making this their god as well. When believers in Christ rely on their own
strength for good works, operating by the power of the flesh rather than the
power of the Holy Spirit, they produce useless and insincere works. When believers think they are sufficient in
their own resources, they glow with pride just like we heard this morning about
the Corinthian church. And when believers look to themselves to provide for
their own needs, they sin with self-sufficiency.
This passage is a message from Christ
to the 7th and final church He is speaking to: the church in
Laodicea. These 7 messages to the churches were Christ evaluating them, giving
an assessment of who they are. This last letter to Laodicea is about Christ rebuking
them over and over for their self-reliance, self-righteousness and
self-service.
In their inexhaustible wealth and
independent spirit the Laodicean’s were severely rebuked by the One who knew
them better than they knew themselves. In fact, the Lord did not commend them
for one good thing they were doing! Laodicea suffered from pervasive
self-reliance, hypocritical works done in their own strength and an apathetic
attitude toward the authority of Jesus Christ. Sadly once again, His harsh
words toward Laodicea resonate with complete relevance for many churches and
Christians today.
At the beginning of this passage, we
find out who is doing this evaluating which is very important throughout the
remainder of the message. It is from the “Amen,
the faithful and true witness” as vs 14 states. Christ is the Amen which
means that He is the truth and He speaks truth. He is the faithful and the true
witness of this truth. Unlike the Laodiceans, He is no hypocrite, He is the
person who is authentic, true and faithful. He is also the “ruler of all creation,” Knowing His creation so personally that
not a hair can fall from each one of their heads without God knowing that it
happened.
Now I want you to place yourself in
the shoes of the Laodiceans. Can you imagine hearing these first few words: “the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the
ruler of creation” who is speaking to you? What would your reaction be?
Would you be scared? Frightened? Happy? Heavy hearted? Encouraged? Dismayed?
Certainly only one thing is known: Christ was preparing to speak and to bear
the truth to these Laodiceans who were self-reliant, self-righteous and
self-serving.
II. Christ’s
Evaluation
Christ begins His evaluation of
Laodicea right away by talking about their deeds. He says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were
either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm, I am about to spit you
out of my mouth!” This image of hot, cold and lukewarm water was very
familiar to the Laodiceans because their water that they used in every day life
was lukewarm water. To the east about 10 miles was the city of Colossae which
was known for their cold refreshing springs. To the north about 6 miles was the
city of Hierapolis which was known for their hot springs which had medicinal
value.
Laodicea was located on a plateau where
water had to be brought in on aqueducts; therefore by the time it reached the
city, it was lukewarm—not hot nor cold. They knew exactly what Christ was
talking about because they used this lukewarm water every single day.
The Laodiceans professed their faith
in God, but their deeds did not reflect any of this. Christ’s warning to them
was that they would be spit out of His mouth if they kept being lukewarm. Their
deeds were neither cold nor hot, they were lukewarm and this gave Christ an
awful feeling!
Christ continues His evaluation of
them by evaluating them spiritually. He tells them they are “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”
No this had to be a shock to the Laodiceans because they did not realize that
they were being self-reliant, self-righteous and self-serving. They had
acquired great wealth and did not need a thing. But Christ tells them
differently. These words of the Laodiceans being “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” are all words that they
clearly understood. We can better understand what this meant by knowing a
little more information on what the city was known for.
We have already learned that they were
known for their lukewarm water, but they were also known for their wealth,
their clothing and their medical school. Their wealth was enormous; Laodicea
was destroyed in the year 60 A.D. by an earthquake. Rome offered financial
help, but they refused it because they wanted to rebuild it themselves.
Secondly, they were known for their black sheep’s wool clothing. D.A. Carson
calls their black sheep’s wool the jeans of the day—everyone wanted them!
Thirdly they were known for their medical school which specialized in the study
of the eyes. In Bible times, eye infections were common and Laodicea had been
known for this certain kind of salve to place on the eyes to heal the eye
infections
Once again it had to have shocked
Laodicea for the words they heard, that they were really wretched, pitiful,
poor, blind and naked when they thought they needed nothing. But remember who
these words are coming from, “The Amen,
the faithful and true witness, the ruler of creation” and He says that
their deeds were lukewarm. They were lukewarm because there was a difference in
what they thought they were and what Christ told them they actually were.
The Laodiceans thought their
spiritual life was right on! They thought they were all set and doing fine. But
these self-righteous Laodiceans didn’t realize they were wretched and pitiful.
They thought they were rich enough, not needing a thing, but their
self-reliance caused them to be poor. They thought their eye salve could cure
anything and their black wool could cover anything, but these self-serving
Laodiceans had no idea they were blind and naked. And due to their state of
being lukewarm, Christ wanted to vomit them out of His mouth.
We use this language all to often as
well saying—“That person just makes me want to throw up!”, “Wow, they just make
me vomit!” You get the image I think. When those words are said, there isn’t a
whole lot of communication between these two parties when this happens—they
don’t speak to one another. They can’t even stand the thought of this person.
But this is not what Christ has done for the lukewarm Laodiceans. He will not
set aside His grace and love for them in the midst of this rebuking—He is still
loving and is still gracious.
III.
Solution—Grace and Love
Christ offers them grace by giving
them advice. He tells them to buy from Him three things and these things are
only able to be bought from Christ: gold refined by fire, white clothes to wear
and eye salve. Do these sound familiar? These three things were exactly what the
Laodiceans were known for. Christ tells them that what they are known for
doesn’t matter, but why don’t they? Well, because their self-reliance on the
fame from these things was hindering their spiritual growth. In place of
dependence on worldly wealth that brought spiritual poverty, Christ offered
true spiritual riches. In place of relying on their outer appearance that left
them spiritually naked, Christ offered to clothe them in His own righteousness.
Instead of a physical salve to heal blurred sight, Jesus offered them spiritual
eye salve to cure their blurred spiritual vision. But how could they buy these
things if they were poor?
Well the cost has been paid; Jesus has
paid the bill in full and invites us to come with the words from Isaiah 55:1-2“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the
waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your
labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and
your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” Christ has paid the bill in
full! He invites us to come and buy from Him these things because they can be
found no where else! Will you accept the invite and come to Him?
Christ also reassures the Laodiceans
of His love for them by saying in verse 19, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.” These words are an echo
of Proverbs 3:11-12 which says, “My son, do not
despise the Lord’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord
disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in” God’s discipline
is like a parent to a child. It is not done out of hatred, spite or anger but
out of love and genuine concern for His children. The solution that is
commanded to the Laodiceans is two fold—to be earnest and repent. Because of
God’s grace and love shown to the Laodiceans, He allowed forgiveness if they
were zealous for Him again and if they repented of their lukewarm ways. Christ
continues to show His love by standing at the door and knocking, waiting to be
let in.
This is not a verse about evangelism; it
is Christ wanting to come into the hearts of men and women for fellowship. He
wants to be by us and to be with us. He desires and longs to fellowship with
all of us.
IV. Lessons From
Laodicea
We have learned a lot about the city
of Laodicea and the people who lived there, but the main three areas where
Laodicea struggled with was their self reliance, self-righteousness and their
self-service and people of God, we too as a church and individuals can struggle
with these three things as well!
We too can be self-reliant. Too
often we find ourselves and our churches being prosperous because of God’s
blessing, but really we are spiritually poor. We have to have the best of the
best in order to get us through this life, but really our finances end up
ruining us. We store up treasures on this earth where moth and rust destroy
because our treasure is where our heart is. Do you spend more time thinking
about finances than about ministry? Do you give generously or do you withhold the
gifts you have? When you struggle with temptations, sin or addiction—do you try
to conquer them by yourself or do you seek help? Do you think things in this
life will help you get through life better and smoother such as the newest car,
newest ipod, iphone, ipad, etc. It is not bad to have possessions or money, but
too often this is a danger because our heart and soul is placed in the trust of
our possessions.
Many Christians also struggle with
being self-righteous. They think as the Laodiceans did that their spiritual
condition is great, but really they are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and
naked. Our own sin covers our eyes and makes us naked before God. WE do this
all too often by pointing out the faults or the sins of others when we have not
examined our own life first. Do you compare your spiritual life and growth to
that of others rather than on the perfect standard of Christ? If we compare
ourselves to others, we will never be at peace and never be satisfied with the
result of who we are. Do you allow small sins to linger because they aren’t
really harming anyone? Well, these sins most likely are harming others, but
even more so, they are blocking our own spiritual evaluation of ourselves. We
become blind to our own sin.
We also look around and often see a
great need that should be filled by us helping a person or a ministry.
·
Like
the person who we saw broken down on the side of the road, did you stop and ask
if you could help or did you drive right on by?
·
Or
the person who was short money in front of us at Wendy’s, did you give them
that dollar and twenty-five cents they needed or did you stare at the menu?
·
Or
how about that man who had the sign that read, “Hungry.” Did you stop and offer
to buy him lunch or dinner or did you just drive right on by acting like you
didn’t see him?
·
Or
how about your sibling or roommate who always leaves the dishes dirty in the
sink, did you wash them or did you just wait for them to pile up?
·
Or
how about person who was struggling to carry their groceries to their car, did
you stop to help or did you walk right on by?
·
Or
how about your mom, who just got done mopping the floor and you come in with
dirty shoes, do you take the shoes off or do you just walk across it taking the
chance off no dirt falling off your shoes?
·
Or
how about that bulletin announcement in church about how a certain ministry
downtown desperately needs volunteers. Do you pass it by thinking others will
fill the roles or do you contact them trying to make a difference for them.
Most
of the time, I am afraid to say that we do ignore these chances to serve others
because of our self-serving attitudes.
V. Conclusion
In conclusion we can see that
self-reliance, self-righteousness and self-service all produce lukewarm deeds. We
become lukewarm because our evaluation of who we are is much different than
whom we actually are. We become lukewarm when our good works are half-hearted
and ineffective. Our security rests on our abundant riches. Our deepest
spiritual needs are filled by physical means. But the real problem is that
Laodicea didn’t even realize that they had a problem. They were oblivious to
their real condition.
Christ has given this church and all
of us this same message of being lukewarm. Is your church being self-reliant?
Is your church being self-righteous? And is your church being self-serving? I
surely don’t hope this is so, but maybe it is time for an honest evaluation.
Also, this not only applies to this church, but to each and every one of us here
as well. Are we being self-reliant, self-righteous or self-giving? If we are
any of these three things, then we too have become lukewarm. Lukewarm enough
that Christ wants to spit us out of His mouth.
The best example of a person who was
not lukewarm is Jesus Christ. He left His throne, becoming dependent upon the
Holy Spirit and the Father while on earth. He committed no sin therefore He was
found as a righteous man not by selfish means. He was not selfish, for He gave
up His position in heaven, gave up His whole life by dying on the cross for the
salvation of all those who believe that He is the Son of God and Son of man
sent to redeem the world of their sin.
Now, Christ is knocking at the door!
The Amen, the faithful and true witness and ruler of creation wants to come in
and have fellowship with you! Will you let Him? He wants to bless you with
eternal riches, provide you with true spiritual needs, open your eyes to your
real condition and clothe you with His righteousness and works empowered by the
Holy Spirit. If we are zealous, if we are earnest and if we repent by
overcoming this lukewarm condition—we too have the promise that we will reign
with Christ at the right hand of the Father in eternity!
What
an amazing promise this is!
“He
who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches”
