The Book of Revelation June 20-21, 2015 ****** Text: Revelation 3:14-21 When I came to Christ as a 17 year old in Belgium, I was not part of a church and had never been baptized. When I got to college, Linda (then my girlfriend) told me, You need to get baptized! I told her I didn t understand why I should. After all, we are saved through faith, not by being baptized. She replied, Because the Bible says to be baptized. She was right. Acts 2:38 tells us, Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit So, if you have made a commitment to Christ but have not been baptized, let s do it next week! Baptism is a great way to witness to your faith, so invite a friend! There are cards in your bulletin that you can give to someone you know and say, Come see me get baptized. And, there s pizza afterward, too! We re in a message series on the book of Revelation this summer. In chapters 2 and 3, Jesus in heaven dictates to a guy named John seven letters to seven churches of that day. Today we are going to look at the last of those letters, the one to the church in a town called Laodicea. Laodicea was located in what is modern day Turkey. What Jesus said to them is also a vital message to all churches and all Christ-followers everywhere. As we look at the letter to Laodicea, let s ask, What is Jesus saying to me? The main message of this text is that when we realize our need for Jesus, we will open our hearts to Him. At the end of this talk I m going to give you the chance to do just that. Linda and I were at home one night this week when both of our phones started making crazy sounds. They weren t ringing, they were blaring a repeated alarm sound that was impossible to ignore. We both grabbed our phones to silence them, and saw that it was an alert; a flood warning from the Emergency Broadcast System. It was raining hard and maybe you got the same warning on your phone or TV. In Revelation 3, Jesus sends an alert on the Holy Spirit Broadcast system to anyone who will listen. It starts like this: Revelation 3:14 To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God s creation. Jesus, now glorified in heaven, sent this alert to the Christ-followers in the town of Laodicea and to anyone else who will listen. 1
15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm neither hot nor cold I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Alert #1: Complacency repels Jesus Jesus told the believers in Laodicea that they were lukewarm - neither hot nor cold. The water in Laodicea was famous for being lukewarm. The town was located near the Lycus River. The river didn t give them enough water, so they got water from two other sources. There was hot water from springs in Hierapolis, which was to their north and there was cold water from Colosse to their east. The problem was, by the time the hot water was transported from Hierapolis to their town, it was no longer very hot. And by the time the cold water was transported to town, it was no longer very cool. So, people were stuck with lukewarm water. There are some things you just don t want lukewarm, like coffee, for example. It s good hot, some people like it iced, but no one ever orders a lukewarm cup. Or, you never see an ad that tries to entice you with Try our Lukewarm Steak! No, it s Check out our Sizzling Steak! So coffee, steaks and Christians are at least 3 things that are great hot, but are lousy when they are lukewarm. How could Jesus tell that the Laodiceans were lukewarm? By their actions. In verse 15 Jesus said to the Laodiceans, I know your deeds. Watching the Laodiceans in action, you wouldn t get the idea that they had passion for Jesus. They weren t spiritually hot. On the other hand, you could tell they weren t atheists, either. They weren t spiritually cold. They were complacent. They weren t bad people. They were probably very pleasant neighbors. They obeyed the law. They took care of their kids. If someone were to have presented the Gospel to them, they would say Oh yeah, Jesus, we know we already believe But Jesus watched their actions, and what he saw made Him conclude they were spiritually lukewarm - neither hot nor cold. Because of that, in verse 16 Jesus says, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Our Bibles cleaned up the language a bit when it translated the word spit --- the original meaning of the word is vomit. Literally, Jesus response to their lukewarm Christianity is, I m going to puke. Wow - imagine getting that alert on your phone! Jesus doesn t say this to any of the other churches - just Laodicea. Why? Maybe it is because Laodicea s circumstances were unique. Most of the other churches in that day were being persecuted, so they had to count the cost of following Jesus. The Laodiceans weren t persecuted; things were peaceful for them, so they could relax. 2
Most of the other churches of the day were poor and financially struggling, so they had to depend on God for their daily needs. The Laodiceans weren t poor; business was booming in their town and they were well off. They had savings in the bank and nice clothes in the closet. So they didn t have to worry about surviving. Most of the other churches wrestled with illness and disease, which was a reason to pray and to seek God s power. Laodicea was known for having a state of the art medical center. The town produced a special eye salve and people came from all around the known world to buy it. People flocked to their other treatment facilities. If they got sick, Laodiceans were confident their doctors could help. And so they became complacent and lukewarm. So Jesus gives the Laodiceans a reality check: 17 You say, I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Alert #2: Self-sufficiency shuts out Jesus The Laodiceans believed they were doing fine. They didn t think they needed any help. In fact, it was part of their heritage to be self-sufficient. The town of Laodicea was destroyed by an earthquake in about 61 AD. Normally when a city got hit like that in those days, the Roman government provided financial assistance to help them rebuild, like our Federal Emergency Funds do today. But when Laodicea was destroyed, they refused government assistance. They said, We re rich, we can rebuild without your help. And they did. They were proud of the fact they didn t need any help. We all like to say I ll do it myself, I can handle it! or I got this! When we feel like we have life mostly figured out on our own, we shut Jesus out of most of our lives. We don t renounce Him or become atheists. It s just that when we feel like we have life under control, like we can handle things ourselves, we don t really rely on God. We compartmentalize Him. We wouldn t want to get carried away. When we have a lot, the natural temptation is to keep God in a corner. You know, to have a reasonable amount of religious activity, whatever we decide that is, while most of our thoughts are consumed with our jobs, hobbies, homes, kids, and so on. Then we give God a little bit of life that seems reasonable. But all that goes out the window when there s a crisis. I ve always prayed for my kids. But the times I ve prayed the hardest for them are the times I saw they were in trouble and I couldn t fix it. Like years ago, when late one night I walked past one of my son s room and heard an odd noise. I looked in and saw he was having a seizure. That had never happened before. I rushed in and saw his body rigid and unnatural. I didn t know what to do. After a minute or so, which 3
seemed like a year, he relaxed. I woke him up and talked to him until I was satisfied that he was doing OK. Then I stayed with him until he went back to sleep and was doing alright. After I left his room, I went into the bathroom. I knelt down next to the bathtub and started pouring my heart out to God -- quietly so I didn t wake anyone else up. I still clearly remember the desperation I felt as I begged God to heal my son. There was nothing lukewarm or complacent about my prayer at that moment. I knew we needed God. We re grateful that God did answer that prayer. He was only on medication for about a year and he never had any problems again. Kneeling on the bathroom floor at 1am praying is not usually considered reasonable religious activity. But my son was in trouble, and I needed God to be big right now. When we realize our need, we seek Jesus. We are not lukewarm because we know we can t afford to be. That s why Jesus gives the Laodiceans a reality check. They think they re just fine and, by material measures, they are. But by God s measure, they are not, and Jesus lets them know it. In verse 17 Jesus says, You do not realize that you are - Poor (they saw themselves as rich.) - Wretched/pitiful (they were proud to have the Laodicean zipcode! Yet Jesus says, You re from Laodicea? I m so sorry for you since it s so wretched and pitiful. ) - Naked (even though their town produced high-quality textiles cloth and carpets made from black wool.) - Blind (even though they were famous for eye salve, they were blind to spiritual realities.) Jesus says, You do not realize That tells us we might not see ourselves as God does. We can tell from this letter that the Laodiceans were missing two main truths about themselves. And I notice that most people today are missing these truths, too. Here is how Tim Keller states these two truths together: The gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed in ourselves than we ever dared believe, yet at the very same time we are more loved and accepted in Jesus Christ than we ever dared hope. The truth is that I am both more sinful and more loved than I can imagine. Almost everyone sees themselves as basically good. Hardly anyone says, You know, at heart, I m really bad. No, most of us will say that even though we aren t perfect, we are basically a good person deep down. Here s the truth: we re not good. Every book of the Bible declares this. We might think we are because we compare ourselves with other imperfect people. That s like copying off of an F student s test paper. You might get the same answers, but they ll be wrong answers. 4
God s standards are on a whole different level. Maybe we haven t murdered anyone, but Jesus said, If you are angry with someone you are guilty of murder. Maybe we haven t committed adultery, but Jesus said, If you look at a woman with lust you have already committed adultery with her in your heart. When we see God for who He is, we will realize this truth. One day the prophet Isaiah saw God and said, Woe is me, I m an unclean man. And it s why, in Revelation 1, when John sees the glorified Jesus, he falls at his feet like a dead man. We are not basically good. We re wretched and poor. And yet, at the same time, we are immensely loved. The Laodiceans didn t realize how much Jesus loved them, so He had to remind them. Yes, Jesus spoke bluntly to them, but it was out of love. 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Jesus didn t have to dictate this letter to Laodicea. He could have just let them go on their own self-satisfied way. But He didn t. He reached out to them trying to get their attention, telling them they were lukewarm. He spoke about vomiting and told them they were poor and naked because He loved them and was trying to keep them from wasting their lives falling away from Him. That s love! Some years ago I was getting ready to head go into a service and one of the staff pulled me aside and said, Your fly is unzipped. I said, Wow, thanks! I was a little embarrassed, but mostly I was grateful he told me. That s what a friend does not sit in the back and laugh at you! Jesus gives a reality check because He loves us -- He sees what we can t see! Know this today: You are loved - deeply and eternally. If you could only see how much Jesus loves you, it would overwhelm you. You would be staggered. You would never again hedge your bets in obeying Him, you d never doubt his good purposes for you. God loves you, and He loves you enough to arrange for you to hear this today. He loves you enough to intervene in your life and make you and call you to Himself. And Jesus makes us an offer: 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. Jesus offer is life together Jesus knocks on the door of our lives, and when we open ourselves to Him, He comes in to eat with us. In John s day, to eat with someone was to share life with that person. It meant you accepted that person and lived life with them. That s why Jesus got criticized by religious types for eating with people who ignored God s laws. Those religious leaders saw his eating with sinners as saying that He actually accepted them and considered them friends. And they were right, He did. 5
Jesus is saying, Invite me to lead every part of your life, and I will accept you, I ll be your friend, I ll bless you forever. Then everywhere you go and in everything you do, he will be with you, empower you, encourage you, guide you, heal you, send you with power and love to extend his kingdom. 21 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Not even death will interrupt his connection with you. You ll live with Him forever in a reality more amazing than you could ever imagine. 22 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Jesus is offering that invitation to everyone here today to all who have ears to hear. He is knocking on the door of your life. For many here, He is saying Open your life to me. Maybe some of us have become lukewarm. We haven t realized how much we need Him, and so we sideline Him. We ve believed Him, but not followed Him, and have cooled off in our passion for Him. But Jesus loves you, and He is knocking on the door of your heart. Will you open it today? You can tell Him, I invite you to lead every part of my life. Others of us here may never have really opened the door of your life to Him before. Here is how you can receive Jesus offer: Admit that you sinned and you need Him. You have been created by God, and He loves you. You are meant to live every day of your life under his direction and power, and then, after this earthly life is over, be with Him forever. Romans 3:23 says, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That means you and I have a need that we can t meet ourselves. We are not self-sufficient. We can t be good enough to measure up to God, and we are apart from God whether we feel like it or not. Admitting this is true is the first step toward wholeness. Believe that Jesus died and rose for you. We ve each sinned and deserve God s punishment, but God loves us so much that he sent his son Jesus to die so that we wouldn t have to. The Book of Revelation shows Jesus in heaven as the lamb that was slain - the ultimate sacrificial lamb. Jesus chose to die on the cross because you and I are poor, blind, wretched, pitiful and naked before God. Jesus took our place. He was nailed to a cross, naked so that we could be clothed and not ashamed before God. He was ridiculed and called wretched and pitiful so that we could share his glory. He was called poor and He opened blind eyes. Call Jesus as Forgiver and Leader. Romans 10:9 says, If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (NLT) If you believe God raised Jesus from the dead, 6
and you are willing to open the door of your life to Him, and invite him to lead you, He will! You will be saved! Your sin will be forgiven, His presence will take up residence in you, and you will start a new life with him that will last forever. You will know His love. So Jesus knocks at our door today you can open it to him through a simple prayer with me, Lord Jesus, thank you for loving me. Thank you for dying on the cross for me. Please forgive me, fill me with your Holy Spirit, and help me to follow you. Amen. 7