[Originally preached 16 March, 2003]
Revelation 3.14-22
This morning we come to the last of the seven churches, the church at Laodicea. And, as we’ll see, it is a sobering ending to this section of Revelation. This is the only church that Jesus doesn’t commend at all. Even the other churches that were soundly reproved at least had something good that Jesus could point to. This church has nothing. That is incredibly sad. We need to consider this church carefully lest we fall into the trap that it did and there be nothing good that Jesus can say about us.
Let’s start where Jesus does. ‘I know your works.’ Jesus begins this way with five of the seven churches. Let’s look at this a bit. Why does Jesus refer to their works? Why not their hearts? After all, it’s the heart, what is going on within, that’s important. And, surely, Jesus knows their hearts. But Jesus points to their works for their sake. Knowing the state of our hearts can be difficult. But a careful examination of your works will reveal what is going on in your heart. A man may say with complete sincerity that he loves his wife with all his heart. But what are we to think if it comes out that he rarely spends any time with her? His works reveal the truth. Jesus knows our hearts but it is often hard for us to comprehend what is going on in them. Remember Jeremiah’s words.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9
But what a person does is out in the open. It can be a more objective witness to what is going on in the heart. A careful examination of the works can disclose the disguised attitudes of the heart. So, for the sake of the Christians at Laodicea Jesus says, ‘I know your works.’ It’s a way of pointing them to examine the true state of their hearts. This has an important role to play in assessing the situation in this church.
Let’s move on to consider the state of this church. Let’s start with the church’s evaluation of itself. ‘For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing…’ [Verse 17a]. But what was Jesus’ evaluation? ‘… you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.’ [Verse 17b] There’s a big difference of opinion here. Why? The problem is not that the church was being rebellious. Rather, it was just fooled. We have here what we have seen in some of the other churches. This church has been deceived. They honestly thought that all was well when all was not well, not even close. Deception is one of Satan’s key tools. And he used it successfully in this church.
Consider how some of the other churches were deceived. The church at Ephesus was vigilant when it came to defending the faith from those who would introduce error. But they went too far in a good thing and forgot to love. The church at Pergamum stood firm in the face of persecution, giving no ground. And yet, the teaching of Balaam was coming in the backdoor. The temptations of Satan are not usually the big, obvious frontal attacks. He is much more subtle than that. Remember the Garden. ‘Now, the serpent was more crafty then any other beast of the field.’ [Genesis 3.1]And the Apostle Paul warns us,
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6:11
This congregation in Laodicea had been fooled. And Jesus tells them so.
Now, let’s take a closer look. How had they been fooled? When the question ‘Is all well?’ was asked, what did they look to in order to provide an answer? How did they decide the state of their church? ‘Look. We are a prospering congregation. We have money in the bank. We have no needs. All is running smoothly.’ The basis of their evaluation is a superficial look at their material well being. But what does Jesus do? What does He look at to make His evaluation? He looks at what is going on in terms of the things of God, things like their walk with the Savior, the quality of their discipleship. That’s why He comes to a very different assessment. This is a church with great needs. They have been fooled because they were looking at the wrong criteria of what makes a healthy church. Satan has succeeded quite well here. And what is the fruit of this deception? How does Jesus put it?
I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Revelation 3:15-16
This is one of the worst things that Jesus could say about any congregation. ‘You are tepid Christians.’ There is a profession of faith but there isn’t the faithful life that should go with it. And did you notice that Jesus would even prefer that they were cold to their being lukewarm. If hot is being zealous for Christ then cold is the opposite of zealous for Christ, being opposed to Christ. Jesus is saying that it is better to be opposed to Him rather than to be lukewarm! And the reason is obvious. If you are cold at least the issues are clear. You are opposed to Jesus. That at least leaves the possibility of evangelism leading to conversion. But when you’re lukewarm, evangelism seems unnecessary. After all, you profess faith. You’re already a Christian. All is well with your soul, isn’t it? But the lukewarm are fooled. They are lulled into a false sense of security. And off they go to hell. Jesus, in mercy, says, ‘If you’re not going to be hot, then at least be cold. Anything but this lukewarm mush.’
But that’s where this congregation was, lukewarm mush. And so, Jesus warns them.
So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Revelation 3:16
The NKJV is more literal and graphic. ‘I will vomit you out of my mouth.’ Just as the body rejects poison by vomiting it out, Jesus will reject the poison of this church by vomiting it out. The issues of this church are not something minor. What we have here are matters of life and death.
We’re back to the question that has come up before in the other letters to these churches. We are again confronted with the matter of Jesus’ expectations. What does He want? What does He expect from us? What does He require of those who claim to be His disciples? He tells this church exactly what He wants.
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Revelation 3:19
Jesus is clear. He wants a major change here. He wants zeal. Being a nice, lukewarm church with a polite Christianity is not acceptable. Jesus wants zealous Christians and zealous churches.
It’s here that some become a little afraid. ‘Surely, Jesus isn’t expecting us to become extremists, people who just respond emotionally to situations, people who act without due consideration of the subtleties of the situation. Certainly, Jesus doesn’t want us to become thoughtless fanatics, does He?’ Rest assured. Jesus isn’t interested in thoughtless fanatics. No, what He wants are thoughtful fanatics. He wants people to be extremely zealous, yes, fanatical, but with good reasons. Consider the church at Smyrna. This is the church where the people were dirt poor. And do you remember why? They weren’t allowed to work. To work in one of the guilds required this little ceremony. You had to offer a sacrifice to Caesar and profess, ‘Caesar is lord’. The Christians at Smyrna refused to do this and so they weren’t allowed to work. And they suffered greatly because of it. Can you just hear their friends? ‘What? Are you nuts? Just offer something on the altar and mumble the words. We all do it. No one takes it seriously. What’s the harm? Think of your kids! What’s going to happen to them? Come on, just do it. I’ll even give you something to sacrifice.’ What would you call one of those Christians? Fanatic? Zealot? Oh yes, but they weren’t thoughtlessly so. What they were doing was well thought out. They knew enough of the Scriptures. They understood Jesus’ call to discipleship. And these things lead to what, I am sure, appeared to others as a fanaticism. It was a fanaticism that was willing to bear a cross. That is the zeal that Jesus requires. Thoughtful fanaticism.
The Christians at Laodicea were not like the saints at Smyrna. They had no zeal for Christ. There was nothing fanatical about them. Theirs was a nice, polite kind of Christianity, a lukewarm Christianity. And because of that Jesus was about to vomit them out.
Down through the history of the Church there have been lukewarm Christians and lukewarm churches. They have had the appearance of being disciples without any of the fire. And if they were asked, ‘Is all well?’ The answer would have been a confident, ‘Absolutely!’ And how would they know. They would have their list of proofs. ‘Our congregation has grown in size for each of the last four years. Our budget has never been bigger. We have a real influence in the community. There’s something going on at the church just about every day. There are no conflicts. Everything is running smoothly. Our church is doing just fine.’ Are any of these things necessarily evil? No. But consider how Jesus asks the question. He goes beyond, ‘Is all well?’ His question asks, ‘Are you hot? Is there a zeal for Me? Is there enthusiasm for the Gospel?’ And He isn’t content with a confident though thoughtless ‘Absolutely!’ He wants to see it in what is happening. He wants to see the works to back up the claim. Remember, the works reveal the heart. That’s why He calls the church in Ephesus to remember their first love. Zeal for Jesus will show in the good works of love to the saints. That’s why He commends the believers in Smyrna. They had a zeal that showed in their willingness to suffer for Jesus’ sake and in their refusing to compromise even though it meant extreme poverty. That’s why He tells the church at Sardis, ‘Remember how you used to receive and hear.’ True zeal will show in a hunger to hear from Jesus in the preaching and reading of the Word. And that’s why He opened that door of opportunity for the saints in Philadelphia. True zeal shows in the good work of being eager to spread the Gospel by life and by word. Jesus wants fanatics, thoughtful fanatics who are zealous for Him, fanatics whose lives show that zeal in what they do.
I would think that the application of all of this is obvious. We need to understand well what it is that Jesus expects of us. He expects zeal. We need to take seriously the danger of being fooled. We need to remember that we are up against a devious adversary. Can it be that we have been led to think that all is well when it is not? That really is a frightening question. The prospect of being fooled when it comes to eternal matters is nothing to ignore. We need to take that seriously. But what shall we do? The first step in this, as always, is prayer. We come to Jesus who ‘searches mind and heart’ [Revelation 2.23]. We come to Him as the gentle and faithful Savior and ask that He would search our hearts and that He would reveal to us whether we have been deceived by the evil one. We ask Him to guide us as we examine our lives, our works, to see whether there is true evidence of the zeal that He has called for. And then we take a good look at our lives. What do the things that we give ourselves to say about us? What do our works reveal about our hearts? Are we hot? Are we cold? Or are we just lukewarm mush? Bear in mind that none of us will find the kind of zeal that we would like. And that stands to reason. We are in the midst of a war with sin and our opponent is not yet defeated and removed. In the age to come we’ll see perfect zeal. But what we should find is evidence that we are really working at it. There should be evidence that we are trying to be thoughtful fanatics, disciples who are faithfully following Jesus wherever He leads even though others may seriously question what we are doing or even make life more difficult for us because of our decisions. But God forbid that we should not find sufficient evidence of real zeal for Christ in our works. God forbid that any of us would be lukewarm, maintaining only the appearance of Christian discipleship without the works to prove it. But even if that should be the case, all is not lost. Jesus didn’t say even to this congregation, ‘It’s too late’. This letter was a warning, maybe even a threat, but one that still offered hope.
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Revelation 3:19
Here, Jesus gives even the lukewarm hope. What did they need to do? Repent. They needed to acknowledge their sin, their lack of zeal, their lukewarmness, their failure to be faithful disciples where it really mattered. If any of them would have but repented and then resolved ‘in humble reliance on the grace of the Holy Spirit to endeavor to live as becomes a follower of Christ’, He would have forgiven and changed them. And the same hope is still extended today. All is not lost. There is still hope in Jesus. We all need to pray that He would search our hearts and reveal to us what is really going on in there. We all need to pray that He would keep us far from Satan’s deception lest we also become lukewarm. We all need to pray that Jesus would give us grace to be filled with zeal for Him since He will accept nothing less than that. And as we come to Christ in this way I am sure that we will all be amazed at how He will answer those prayers.
Revelation 3.14-22
This morning we come to the last of the seven churches, the church at Laodicea. And, as we’ll see, it is a sobering ending to this section of Revelation. This is the only church that Jesus doesn’t commend at all. Even the other churches that were soundly reproved at least had something good that Jesus could point to. This church has nothing. That is incredibly sad. We need to consider this church carefully lest we fall into the trap that it did and there be nothing good that Jesus can say about us.
Let’s start where Jesus does. ‘I know your works.’ Jesus begins this way with five of the seven churches. Let’s look at this a bit. Why does Jesus refer to their works? Why not their hearts? After all, it’s the heart, what is going on within, that’s important. And, surely, Jesus knows their hearts. But Jesus points to their works for their sake. Knowing the state of our hearts can be difficult. But a careful examination of your works will reveal what is going on in your heart. A man may say with complete sincerity that he loves his wife with all his heart. But what are we to think if it comes out that he rarely spends any time with her? His works reveal the truth. Jesus knows our hearts but it is often hard for us to comprehend what is going on in them. Remember Jeremiah’s words.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9
But what a person does is out in the open. It can be a more objective witness to what is going on in the heart. A careful examination of the works can disclose the disguised attitudes of the heart. So, for the sake of the Christians at Laodicea Jesus says, ‘I know your works.’ It’s a way of pointing them to examine the true state of their hearts. This has an important role to play in assessing the situation in this church.
Let’s move on to consider the state of this church. Let’s start with the church’s evaluation of itself. ‘For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing…’ [Verse 17a]. But what was Jesus’ evaluation? ‘… you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.’ [Verse 17b] There’s a big difference of opinion here. Why? The problem is not that the church was being rebellious. Rather, it was just fooled. We have here what we have seen in some of the other churches. This church has been deceived. They honestly thought that all was well when all was not well, not even close. Deception is one of Satan’s key tools. And he used it successfully in this church.
Consider how some of the other churches were deceived. The church at Ephesus was vigilant when it came to defending the faith from those who would introduce error. But they went too far in a good thing and forgot to love. The church at Pergamum stood firm in the face of persecution, giving no ground. And yet, the teaching of Balaam was coming in the backdoor. The temptations of Satan are not usually the big, obvious frontal attacks. He is much more subtle than that. Remember the Garden. ‘Now, the serpent was more crafty then any other beast of the field.’ [Genesis 3.1]And the Apostle Paul warns us,
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6:11
This congregation in Laodicea had been fooled. And Jesus tells them so.
Now, let’s take a closer look. How had they been fooled? When the question ‘Is all well?’ was asked, what did they look to in order to provide an answer? How did they decide the state of their church? ‘Look. We are a prospering congregation. We have money in the bank. We have no needs. All is running smoothly.’ The basis of their evaluation is a superficial look at their material well being. But what does Jesus do? What does He look at to make His evaluation? He looks at what is going on in terms of the things of God, things like their walk with the Savior, the quality of their discipleship. That’s why He comes to a very different assessment. This is a church with great needs. They have been fooled because they were looking at the wrong criteria of what makes a healthy church. Satan has succeeded quite well here. And what is the fruit of this deception? How does Jesus put it?
I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Revelation 3:15-16
This is one of the worst things that Jesus could say about any congregation. ‘You are tepid Christians.’ There is a profession of faith but there isn’t the faithful life that should go with it. And did you notice that Jesus would even prefer that they were cold to their being lukewarm. If hot is being zealous for Christ then cold is the opposite of zealous for Christ, being opposed to Christ. Jesus is saying that it is better to be opposed to Him rather than to be lukewarm! And the reason is obvious. If you are cold at least the issues are clear. You are opposed to Jesus. That at least leaves the possibility of evangelism leading to conversion. But when you’re lukewarm, evangelism seems unnecessary. After all, you profess faith. You’re already a Christian. All is well with your soul, isn’t it? But the lukewarm are fooled. They are lulled into a false sense of security. And off they go to hell. Jesus, in mercy, says, ‘If you’re not going to be hot, then at least be cold. Anything but this lukewarm mush.’
But that’s where this congregation was, lukewarm mush. And so, Jesus warns them.
So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. Revelation 3:16
The NKJV is more literal and graphic. ‘I will vomit you out of my mouth.’ Just as the body rejects poison by vomiting it out, Jesus will reject the poison of this church by vomiting it out. The issues of this church are not something minor. What we have here are matters of life and death.
We’re back to the question that has come up before in the other letters to these churches. We are again confronted with the matter of Jesus’ expectations. What does He want? What does He expect from us? What does He require of those who claim to be His disciples? He tells this church exactly what He wants.
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Revelation 3:19
Jesus is clear. He wants a major change here. He wants zeal. Being a nice, lukewarm church with a polite Christianity is not acceptable. Jesus wants zealous Christians and zealous churches.
It’s here that some become a little afraid. ‘Surely, Jesus isn’t expecting us to become extremists, people who just respond emotionally to situations, people who act without due consideration of the subtleties of the situation. Certainly, Jesus doesn’t want us to become thoughtless fanatics, does He?’ Rest assured. Jesus isn’t interested in thoughtless fanatics. No, what He wants are thoughtful fanatics. He wants people to be extremely zealous, yes, fanatical, but with good reasons. Consider the church at Smyrna. This is the church where the people were dirt poor. And do you remember why? They weren’t allowed to work. To work in one of the guilds required this little ceremony. You had to offer a sacrifice to Caesar and profess, ‘Caesar is lord’. The Christians at Smyrna refused to do this and so they weren’t allowed to work. And they suffered greatly because of it. Can you just hear their friends? ‘What? Are you nuts? Just offer something on the altar and mumble the words. We all do it. No one takes it seriously. What’s the harm? Think of your kids! What’s going to happen to them? Come on, just do it. I’ll even give you something to sacrifice.’ What would you call one of those Christians? Fanatic? Zealot? Oh yes, but they weren’t thoughtlessly so. What they were doing was well thought out. They knew enough of the Scriptures. They understood Jesus’ call to discipleship. And these things lead to what, I am sure, appeared to others as a fanaticism. It was a fanaticism that was willing to bear a cross. That is the zeal that Jesus requires. Thoughtful fanaticism.
The Christians at Laodicea were not like the saints at Smyrna. They had no zeal for Christ. There was nothing fanatical about them. Theirs was a nice, polite kind of Christianity, a lukewarm Christianity. And because of that Jesus was about to vomit them out.
Down through the history of the Church there have been lukewarm Christians and lukewarm churches. They have had the appearance of being disciples without any of the fire. And if they were asked, ‘Is all well?’ The answer would have been a confident, ‘Absolutely!’ And how would they know. They would have their list of proofs. ‘Our congregation has grown in size for each of the last four years. Our budget has never been bigger. We have a real influence in the community. There’s something going on at the church just about every day. There are no conflicts. Everything is running smoothly. Our church is doing just fine.’ Are any of these things necessarily evil? No. But consider how Jesus asks the question. He goes beyond, ‘Is all well?’ His question asks, ‘Are you hot? Is there a zeal for Me? Is there enthusiasm for the Gospel?’ And He isn’t content with a confident though thoughtless ‘Absolutely!’ He wants to see it in what is happening. He wants to see the works to back up the claim. Remember, the works reveal the heart. That’s why He calls the church in Ephesus to remember their first love. Zeal for Jesus will show in the good works of love to the saints. That’s why He commends the believers in Smyrna. They had a zeal that showed in their willingness to suffer for Jesus’ sake and in their refusing to compromise even though it meant extreme poverty. That’s why He tells the church at Sardis, ‘Remember how you used to receive and hear.’ True zeal will show in a hunger to hear from Jesus in the preaching and reading of the Word. And that’s why He opened that door of opportunity for the saints in Philadelphia. True zeal shows in the good work of being eager to spread the Gospel by life and by word. Jesus wants fanatics, thoughtful fanatics who are zealous for Him, fanatics whose lives show that zeal in what they do.
I would think that the application of all of this is obvious. We need to understand well what it is that Jesus expects of us. He expects zeal. We need to take seriously the danger of being fooled. We need to remember that we are up against a devious adversary. Can it be that we have been led to think that all is well when it is not? That really is a frightening question. The prospect of being fooled when it comes to eternal matters is nothing to ignore. We need to take that seriously. But what shall we do? The first step in this, as always, is prayer. We come to Jesus who ‘searches mind and heart’ [Revelation 2.23]. We come to Him as the gentle and faithful Savior and ask that He would search our hearts and that He would reveal to us whether we have been deceived by the evil one. We ask Him to guide us as we examine our lives, our works, to see whether there is true evidence of the zeal that He has called for. And then we take a good look at our lives. What do the things that we give ourselves to say about us? What do our works reveal about our hearts? Are we hot? Are we cold? Or are we just lukewarm mush? Bear in mind that none of us will find the kind of zeal that we would like. And that stands to reason. We are in the midst of a war with sin and our opponent is not yet defeated and removed. In the age to come we’ll see perfect zeal. But what we should find is evidence that we are really working at it. There should be evidence that we are trying to be thoughtful fanatics, disciples who are faithfully following Jesus wherever He leads even though others may seriously question what we are doing or even make life more difficult for us because of our decisions. But God forbid that we should not find sufficient evidence of real zeal for Christ in our works. God forbid that any of us would be lukewarm, maintaining only the appearance of Christian discipleship without the works to prove it. But even if that should be the case, all is not lost. Jesus didn’t say even to this congregation, ‘It’s too late’. This letter was a warning, maybe even a threat, but one that still offered hope.
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Revelation 3:19
Here, Jesus gives even the lukewarm hope. What did they need to do? Repent. They needed to acknowledge their sin, their lack of zeal, their lukewarmness, their failure to be faithful disciples where it really mattered. If any of them would have but repented and then resolved ‘in humble reliance on the grace of the Holy Spirit to endeavor to live as becomes a follower of Christ’, He would have forgiven and changed them. And the same hope is still extended today. All is not lost. There is still hope in Jesus. We all need to pray that He would search our hearts and reveal to us what is really going on in there. We all need to pray that He would keep us far from Satan’s deception lest we also become lukewarm. We all need to pray that Jesus would give us grace to be filled with zeal for Him since He will accept nothing less than that. And as we come to Christ in this way I am sure that we will all be amazed at how He will answer those prayers.
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