HOTMAIL FROM HEAVEN Letters to the seven churches TO THE LUKE-WARM CHURCH (Laodicea) I stand at the door and knock (Rev. 3: 14-22) 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. 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. 17 You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so that you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so that you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so that you can see. 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 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 him, and he with me. 21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I 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. We don t hear much about the fear of God these days, even in the churches do we? Not many people now use the term God-fearing to describe someone devout and morally up-right. In our society at large the essential categories of sin and holiness have been forgotten or disowned even in the church God is to often seen as convenient, comfortable, even harmless. That, however is not how he is seen in the Bible or how he reveals himself in the scriptures. There the holiness of God is his chief attribute or characteristic, his infinite difference, his burning purity, his white hot zeal for righteousness. It is this which threatens the entire world with judgement and which brings even his own people to their knees in awe and self-abasement. In the O.T., confronted by the true God, even heroic Job said My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes (42:5,6), and Isaiah cried out Woe is me I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty (6:5) In the N.T. too with have this, but very significantly, we find it in certain encounters with Jesus, the Son and image of God. At one time Peter over-awed by a glimpse of his greatness fell at his feet and said Go away from me Lord: I am a sinful man (Lk 5:8) Saul the persecutor of the young church was blinded by the light which radiated from the glorified Christ (Acts 9) and even John, the beloved disciple when he saw him in his Glory, the glory of his holy God-heard, fell at his feet as though dead (Rev 1:17) It is the same encounter with the divine in both O.T and N.T. 1
Nothing convenient, comfortable or harmless about all that, is there? We must never try to domesticate God Father, Son or Spirit. A god shorn of the greatest attributes is not God at all. We must never allow the spirit of the age, the fashion of the times, to diminish our understanding of God as evangelical believers. We must never allow His word to be buried under other words, His voice to be drowned out by other voices. There is nothing tame or predictable about our God and his Christ as these letters show: this one to Laodicea especially! The church at Laodicea has the grim distinction (Barclay) of being the only church of which the Risen Christ has nothing good to say. They lived in one of the greatest commercial and strategic centres of the world. The road from west to east, from Ephesus to Syria, lay right through Laodicea. It seemed to be a favoured church in a favoured city but the penetrating judgment of the Christ of God saw in it only failure and decay. They are in the worst condition of all the churches in the letters [Beale p.302]. The letter is utterly uncompromising and the warning is urgent and clear. At the start of each of the letters the risen, glorified Christ announces himself in terms that are as much divine as they are human: 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. These are the words of the Amen. In Isaiah 65:16 God is called the God of the Amen (our version translates it the God of truth) who will create a new heavens and a new earth in which his people will live. Here, as so often elsewhere, the titles of God are given to Christ. He is, as Paul says, the beginning of the first creation and he is the first-born from the dead he is the head of the new creation (Col. 1:18). His resurrection is viewed as the beginning of the new creation and he is its ruler [G.K.Beale p.298]. Jesus is the source of creation here rather than its first sample [Keener Revelation 162]. As Paul says in 2 nd. Corinthians chapter 5, if anyone is in Christ they are already a part of that new creation which his resurrection has inaugurated and will be among its heirs; in him it has come already: If anyone is in Christ there is a new creation, the old has gone the new has come (2 Cor. 5:14-17) He is the amen, the faithful and true witness. God s Old Testament people were to be witnesses to the coming new creation as he himself would be. In Isaiah 43:10 God had said You are my witnesses and my servant whom I have chosen. In the Greek Old Testament, the Septuagint which most of the hearers would know God says You are my witnesses and I am a witness [Beale p. 300). Here Christ stands as the fulfilment both of true Israel and of God in his work [Beale p.300]. Amen was a term used to signify or emphasise the truth of a statement. God is called the God of the Amen to show that his word is true and absolute, the final court of appeal and the reliable ground of truth and obedience. Usually the word Amen was put at the end of a statement or a psalm and spoken by the people as a response to the truth of what has been said. Jesus, however, in his public ministry did an unusual, even perhaps unique, thing. He put his Amen before, not after, his solemn sayings, doubling it and saying Amen, Amen, I say to you. In the KJV Verily, Verily, I say unto you. It was his way of saying, You may rely on this because I am saying it His word was as God s word, it was true because he was true the way, the truth and the life. In his life on earth Jesus Christ said he had a unique relationship with God, a unique knowledge of God (Mt 11:27), and was the only way to God ( John 14:6). He said he had come forth from God and from life with his Father in glory before the world was made (John 8:42, 47; 17:1). 2
When you are tempted to doubt your faith remember that you have believed and put your faith not in yourself or in your own ideas or in faith itself but in the faithful and true witness. He is strong even when your faith is weak; he is true, even when your critics are too clever for you. Knowing where He is and what He has done in our world for our salvation must surely call forth from us our highest praise, our deepest devotion, our foremost loyalty. This must determine our priorities like nothing else. But alas! It was not like that in the church in Laodicea. What follows is in stark contrast with all that. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are luke warm neither hot nor cold I am about to spit you out of my mouth (Rev. 3:15 & 16) We may be surprised that he says I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. We might have expected him to say I know your feelings that they are neither cold not hot. But we would be wrong. We imagine that if someone has strong feelings they have strong faith or that being hot, cold or lukewarm is all about feelings. Instead the Lord reminds us that he is more concerned with the life we lead than the songs we might sing and that our deeds not just our feelings are the indicators of the true state of our hearts. Christ says as a once popular song says if you re in love, show me. Emotion is part of it, but a part is no substitute for the whole. Our faith is meant to make us more caring, more loving, more generous, more reliable, better neighbours, workers, friends, husbands, wives, parents, children. One old preacher used to say that when a person was converted even his dog should notice the difference! I am about to spit you out of my mouth is powerful language on any understanding but I think you ll be interested to know the likely back ground to this choice of words in this particular letter. Six miles north of Laodicea was the city of Hierapolis, famous for its hot springs. They rose within the city itself, flowed across a wide plateau and spilled over a broad escarpment directly opposite Laodicea. Dr Robert Mounce writes, The cliff was some 300 feet high and almost a mile wide. Covered with a white incrustation of calcium carbonate, it formed a spectacular natural phenomenon. As the hot, mineral-laden water travelled across the plateau, it gradually became lukewarm before cascading over the edge. Another writer imagines the congregation at Laodicea hearing these words for the first time and asks,: Did the eyes of listeners seek through door and window the distant view of the lime and sulphur-encrusted cliffs under Hierapolis, where the plumes of steam told of hot pools and sickly insipid water, seeping over the slimy rock, water rough with alum which the unsuspecting visitor drank only to spit upon the ground? Such was their Christianity [E.M. Blaiklock in Mounce p. 125] As some pampered Laodiceans might complain that their water made them sick, Jesus tells the pampered Laodicean Christians that this is just how he feels about them...spitting out may even imply, as John Piper suggests, that eternity is at stake when we lose our desire for God. [Keener Revelation 163] But why does Christ say I wish you were either cold or hot? One reason may be that while Hierapolis had its hot, medicinal waters, the other nearby city of Colosse had it s own cold, pure clean water supply. Each had its use, but the church at Laodicea had no use at all; it provided neither refreshment for the spiritually weary, nor healing for the spiritually sick (Rudwick and Green q. in Mounce 125). Here is a warning for any church which has lost its real reason for being in the world and which has become a religious club instead of a spiritual force. It is a warning too, to preachers and the leaders of churches. 3
The uncomfortable fact is that very much harm has been done in the churches by preachers and leaders who do not believe their own gospel, and who are unable to give a clear moral lead to society. Young followers are mislead by them, the newspapers mock them and Christ says of such churches as are corrupted by them: I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Craig Keener is right when he says In that therapeutic mode of modern Western Christianity, we do not want to hear from a God who will speak harshly to us [Keener 163] There could be no more dramatic way for Christ to disown a church than that. But it was still the last thing that this church expected. Verse 17: You say, I am rich; I have required wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind & naked. Those last words are vivid enough in any context but here again we need to know something about the city of Laodicea to get the full impact of this on the original congregation. Laodicea was a great banking and financial centre. It was one of the wealthiest cities in the Roman world. In A.D 61 it had been devastated by an earthquake but it was so confident of its resources that it proudly refused financial help from the government back in Rome. It s citizens were so rich and independent that they were determined to re-build their city at their own cost. And they did! They said in effect, we are rich and don t need help from outside. Here it is the church which is saying we are rich and don t need a thing. But what, from a worldly point of view, might have been heroic in the city s past was shameful in the church s present. The city was rich, but the church was poor: wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. That last word naked too carried a particular sting for Laodicea which was famous for its clothes: it was a great centre of clothing manufacture. The sheep which grazed around Laodicea were famous for their soft, violet-black, glossy wool rather as the Shetlands are famous for their wool pullovers today. Yet, while the population of the city was well-clothed, the church was in rags, worse naked, and destitute of real spiritual power and quality. We must never forget that a church can be numerically strong and socially impressive with every appearance of success while in the sight of Christ it is a grief and a disappointment. The American scholar Craig Keener in a fine and well-applied commentary on the Book of Revelation says Comparing the church in North America with churches in many other parts of the world, I fear that the problems of Laodicea s Christians are most like our own...our material abundance can, if we are unwary, prove a source of spiritual poverty...as in Laodicea, our prosperity may blind us... our materialism and wealth have deafened our ears and blinded our eyes to the cause of the poor...we do not think of ourselves as arrogant or uncommitted, yet as our own brothers and sisters in Christ suffer and die for their faith in many lands, we share little of our resources to help them and most north Americans do not even pray for them. [Keener Revelation p. 164-5] There is an old story told that once the great mediaeval theologian Thomas Aquinas was being shown around the treasures of the Vatican by the current Pope. As you can see murmured the Pope, quoting Acts 3 and the story of Peter healing the crippled beggar, the Church can no longer say Silver or gold I do not have. No your holiness replied Thomas Aquinas and neither can it say Rise up and walk. Our greatest concern as churches must be for the presence of our Lord, the truth of our doctrine, the devotion of our hearts, the integrity of our lives, the warmth of our relationships and the care we show to those outside including those who are far off in privation, suffering and persecution. These are the marks of a church which Christ delights in and blesses with further service and fruitfulness: the love of God and of our fellow men and women. 4
We must always feel the urgent need to progress in these things. The Laodicean church did not. I do not know what substitutes they had but it is clear that those substitutes were not currency in heaven. So Christ says v18: I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so that you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so that you can cover your shameful nakedness, and salve to put on your eyes, so that you can see. (v18) Here again something is referred to for which the city was famous but which showed up the pitiful condition of the church there. Laodicea was a highly regarded medical centre. It had a medical school and some very celebrated doctors. The medical school was famous for its eye salve, an ointment for the eyes which was exported all over the world. Christ s call to the church to come to him for eye ointment so that they could see implied a heavy irony. The city was famous for its eye salve but the church in the city was blind. It all adds up to a startling contrast between what the church here thought it was and what it really was. Here was a church that thought it had it all when it had nearly lost it all! What an irony. We smile at the thought of a bald man recommending hair restorer, we raise an eyebrow or two at a chronically sick herbalist dispensing the secret of a healthy life, and we may even wonder at the much-married marriage counsellor or the counsellor who has problems of their own. But in all the world, there is no sorrier or more contemptible sight than a spiritually blind church or church leadership. When we come to the last verses, however, we find an unexpected thing. The Lord hasn t finished with them yet. He actually says he still loves them and that his words of rebuke and his disciplines area sign of that love. And then he uses a picture that is well known as any in the Bible: 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 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 him, and he with me. Here I am. I stand at the door and knock. Two things about this picture however are often missed. The first is that Christ is not speaking about the unbelievers but about the church in this city; the second is that he is outside the church, knocking for entrance, calling for repentance. The concept of Christ, the Son of God, once crucified for sinners, standing in the road outside the very church for which he died, and which is his true home, would be staggering if it were not too familiar. That he should be outside the unbeliever s heart is no surprise, but that he should be exiled from the church which is called by his name is an appalling wonder. In their blind self-sufficiency they had, as it were, excommunicated the risen Lord from their congregation. In an act of unbelievable condescension he requests permission to enter and reestablish fellowship (Mounce Revelation p. 129) Tell me: can that be happening here this evening on the individual level. Have you excluded him for years and is now knocking, calling, warning, inviting you. Can it be after years of backsliding that in one step he could be over the threshold and in the centre of your life again. Listen to what he says in v20, even to this Laodicean Church. 21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I 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. If any individual in that church opens to him they will not be snubbed or discarded; he says; I will come in and eat with them. There, he uses the Greek word for the evening meal in Greek and Roman society, the meal for family and guests, the time for close and unhurried fellowship. 5
Here is the difference between rebuke and discouragement; the Holy Spirit often rebukes but never discourages. Some preachers, strong in denunciation but soft in re-assurance, need to learn this. Even the fiercest letter of the seven ends in love, invitation and hope: To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Rev. 3:21) Scholars tell us that the eastern throne was [often] more like a couch than a single seat (Barclay 188). Certainly here there is room besides God s King, the glorified, reigning Christ. The promise is orientated to God s future, an eternal never ending glory and joy. This is the direction in which we should look every Sunday when we meet, and every day when we work in a cold and cynical world. William Wilberforce was the greatest social Reformer of his day and tireless campaigner against the slave trade in Parliament. Once an aged member of the House of Lords said to him, early in his career, So you intend to be a reformer of men s morals, young man. That and he pointed to a picture of the crucifixion that is the end of reformers. Is it? the young Wilberforce replied; I have read in an old Book this, I am he that liveth and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen. And I have the keys of hell and death. That, he continued Is the end: not death but dominion. And if we are faithful, doing our duty, the end shall not be exhaustion but sit with me on my throne Well, here they are, the churches of Revelation: Ephesus a church which had lost its first love, called to renewal. Smyrna a church much loved and warned of hard times ahead. Pergammum a church with an enemy within. Thyatira - a church with outstanding qualities and a fatal flaw. Sardis - a church asleep to its danger and Laodicea a church whose doors were closed to the real thing. Now let me ask, Which church are we? Which of these churches is nearest to our own church? That is a hard question perhaps one which you feel you can t answer. Very well, then let me ask you this: If our church were you multiplied - which church would it be? Ephesus correct but cold. Is that your church, is that you; is that us? Smyrna little Smyrna; fearful but faithful, much tried but much loved. Is that you? Pergammum harbouring an enemy to its real spiritual life. Is there an unaddressed danger in your church or in your life? Thyatira is that your church: eagerly active but seriously compromised? Is that your life? Sardis are you a church at ease; are you a member of the church asleep? Philadelphia called to world mission. Is your church fulfilling its missionary calling? Are you? Laodicea the lukewarm church with Christ locked out! Where is he in your church? Where is he in your life? 6