A Walk Through Revelation - Part 10

Letter #7
To the Church in Laodicea  
Revelation 3:14-22

Laodicea-creative commons image

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 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.

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 that person, and they with me.
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. ²² Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 3:7-13

 Jesus begins this letter by introducing himself as

 "...the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation."

I've never heard Jesus referred to as the Amen before so,  of course, I went running to the internet to find a good definition of the word amen to see the significance of Him using the term.  This is what I found...

The term “Amen” is common to both the Old Testament and the New Testament, and it has a variety of uses, depending upon the context in which it is found.

The Hebrew word, amen, means “surely, indeed, truly.” It derives from a root form, aman, which signifies “to be firm, steady, trustworthy, faithful” (again, the context can suggest which of these shades of meaning is most appropriate in a particular setting).  Dig a little deeper into the meaning of the word.

Jesus is saying that you can rely on him - on his testimony to be solid, trustworthy and faithful...Amen!

 Then comes the scary part! Notice that for the first time, the Lord has good to say about this church, nothing to commend them for...how sad!

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.

Jesus chastises them for their lukewarm apathy.

Apathy

lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern. indifference, lack of interest, lack of enthusiasm, lack of concern,

This sickens Jesus so much that he says he's about to spit them out of his mouth. (Ever take a drink of water you expected to be ice cold or a sip of coffee you expected to be steamy hot?)

This is the passage that should make us sit right down and do a thorough examination of the state of our faith and relationship with Him!  Are you on fire for Jesus or have you let your relationship with him grow cold.  Worse yet, are you one of those people who travel the middle road, just coasting along?  Are you surprised that God says he would rather you be speeding down the highway or come to a dead stop, rather than just coast?

This reminds me of a great song by Steve Camp from back in the 80's. Take a minute and listen to this soul-challenging song and pay attention to the lyrics...

Living in Laodicea - Steve Camp

Well, what did you think? (leave a comment)

Let's go on...

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.

Not only were they in pitiful spiritual shape - they were too dumb to know it. Ok, it's not nice to say dumb, but really - they thought they were rich (whether financially or spiritually, I don't know), that they had gained all the wealth there was to be had (again I'm not sure they are referring to material wealth or spiritual knowledge) and that they did not need another thing. No reason to look to God, to depend on Him for anything.  They were so blinded by self-satisfaction and complacency that they didn't didn't realize they were wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

Jesus calls them to repentance. To come to him to have the fires rekindled, to become spiritually rich and washed clean, to have their sins covered and healing salve put on their eyes so that they could clearly see the truth about their spiritual state of being.

His next words are very reassuring - there is hope...

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 that person, and they with me.

Don't be distressed when you find that you are being rebuked and disciplined by the Lord. If he didn't love you, he wouldn't discipline you. He encourages the folks in Laodicea to sincerely repent - in earnest, not half-heartedly.

He promises that he is at the door, waiting to be invited in. He will not barge into your life, but if you will open the door, he will come in, and just look at this promise...

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. 

 What an encouragement to stir up our faith fires, to remain red-hot in our pursuit of a deeper, ever-growing relationship with God, to be busy doing His will and fulfilling His purposes for our lives...to be V-I-C-T-O-R-I-O-U-S to the very end!

²² Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

So, how's your spiritual life?
Are you satisfied with the status quo or are you pushing forward in your journey?
Have you been "living in Laodicea?"

Introduction to Laodicea

(video starts at the 12 second mark)

 

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A Walk Through Revelation - Part 8

Letter #5
To the Church in Sardis
Revelation 2:18-29

Sardis Synagague Ruins - creative commons image

3 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. ² Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. ³ Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

⁴ Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. ⁵ The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. ⁶ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Revelation 3:1-6

Did you notice that the tone of this letter is a little different than the others? Jesus cuts straight to the chase with...

I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 

I'm afraid that statement could be made about many churches in America today. I don't know about churches outside America, because I've never traveled abroad, but here in America I've sat through many services that thought the mighty power of God, of prayer and of living a powerful Christian life, yet the service was flat. No undercurrent of excitement, no life, just going through the motions.

Please don't misunderstand. I'm not condemning these churches. I'm sure the Pastors are overwhelmed with the burden of stirring the people to action. Pastors so their best, week after week to inspire their congregations to bring the word of God, to inspire listeners to greater worship, spiritual growth, service and sharing the gospel.  I imagine sometimes that's like trying to stir thickening concrete.

Jesus says to His church...

² Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. ³ Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

This is our wake up call, folks, because he's not just talking to the church at Sardis, he's talking to all churches everywhere. It's time to wake up, get up and do something! Breathe in the life-giving Word of God, exercise our atrophied spiritual muscles, actively pursue a vibrant relationship with Christ, be on the lookout for opportunities to serve and step forward, not waiting to be asked.  It's time to anticipate opportunities to share the gospel and be prepared to do so with wisdom and love. And lest we think, "Yeah, it's time the church comes to life," look how quickly Jesus brings it right down to the individuals in the church...

⁴ Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. ⁵ The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. 

Jesus looks at his church and sees individuals, for that's who makes up the church. Individual believers, each responsible and answerable for the depth of their own walk with Him - their own spiritual growth - their own deeds. We can't wait for the Pastor to tell us what we should be doing. We can't make him responsible for stirring us into action. That's something we must do for ourselves...and when we do - when we are actively living out the name and ministry of Jesus Christ, he promises that we will walk with Him, worthy, dressed in white, victorious. He promises that he...

I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.

What a wonderful promise! What incentive! What motivation to shake ourselves awake, stir ourselves up and launch ourselves into action!

⁶ Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Have you let yourself grow lax in your relationship with Jesus?
Do you depend on others to stir you up?
What can you do today to breathe life back into your stale relationship with Him?

Introduction to the City of Sardis

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