Letters to the 7 Churches: Laodicea - Revelation 3:14-22 | Pastor Daniel Reese

Welcome to 563 Church. Today Pastor Daniel Reese

shares the final message of Jesus to the seven

churches in Revelation. From Revelation 3 verses

Revelation 3:14–22

14 through 22. Do we see the need for God in

our life or are we relying on our own abilities?

Seventh church of the seven churches that we've

been studying throughout the last few weeks.

We're going to finish chapter 3 and as well finish

up this series. beginning here in verse 14 of

Revelation chapter three here in just a minute.

Before we jump into the text, I'd like to read

you a story that might help set the scene of

what is potentially happening in this church

in Laodicea. So the story goes, Jambu arrived

just as the meeting was starting. It had been

a hectic day of wheeling and dealing at work,

but he pulled up. put all that behind him as

he slipped into one of the few remaining seats

at the back. The church was always busy, but

tonight it was packed. Nobody wanted to miss

this evening. They'd been looking forward to

it for weeks. At last, it was their turn for

the reading of the letter. As the choir was singing,

Jambu reflected on what might be in store for

them. Some of the other churches had been on

the receiving end of a right royal roasting.

But as he looked around, he thought that they'd

probably be okay. He wasn't aware of any sexual

immorality, unlike those guys in Pergamum or

Thyatira. They'd had a really big telling off,

but Jambu was sure that his church would be spared

of that. And there wasn't much danger of false

teaching with this lot. They weren't really the

types of people to get excited about new fads

and movements. No, Jambu was pretty sure the

sermons at his church were harmless. Definitely

not the exciting type that would lead anyone

astray. Of course, there was a touch of anxiety

at the prospect of the church facing suffering.

The Smyrnans had received a stern warning that

they would be persecuted, that they would be

thrown into prison, that they might even have

to give their life. Jambu was ready to resign

his church membership if it came to that. No

sense in jeopardizing his career after all, but

it didn't seem very likely, to be honest. Laodicea

really wasn't the sort of place that got fanatical

about persecuting and imprisoning people. No,

on the whole, Jambu was looking forward to hearing

the letter. After all, look at what they had.

The biggest and most beautiful church in the

area, the best dressed choir, and all the right

sort of people in the congregation. How could

the Lord not be pleased with them? They had achieved

so much. I expect we'll get much of the same

as the Philadelphians got last week, he thought

to himself. That was some pretty encouraging

stuff. And with a start, Jambu realized that

the pastor had begun to read the letter. The

words of the amen, the faithful and true witness,

the ruler of God's creation. Hey, not a bad opening,

he thought. The pastor continued, to the church

in Laodicea, I know all about you. I know exactly

what you are like. And frankly, you make me sick.

You think you are so great, but you are useless.

Your self -satisfied attitude just makes me want

to throw up. The stunned silence held for a moment.

And then people started glaring at one another.

Indignation began to rise. How dare he they whispered

ferociously to one another After all we've done

What does he know anyway? Jambu just sat still

and silent reeling from the blow He was one of

the few still listening as the clearly shaken

pastor went on Now I'll pick up the rest of the

story here in just a bit, but I hope it kind

of sets the scene for you as we read this letter.

And so if you're willing and able, I'd love for

you to stand and honor the Lord's word as we

read about the church in Laodicea. We'll start

in verse 14 and go through 22. So, because you

are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will

spit you out of my mouth. For you say I am rich,

I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing

that you are wretched, pitable, poor, blind,

and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold

refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and

white garments, so that you may clothe yourself,

and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen.

And salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may

see. Those whom I love I reprove and discipline

so be zealous and repent behold I stand at the

door and knock if Anyone hears my voice and opens

the door I will come into him and eat with him

and he with me the one who conquers I will grant

him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered

and sat down with my father on his throne He

who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says

to the churches. Let's pray father. I thank you

for your word I thank you for the people in Laodicea

that received this letter. I pray, Father, that

we will be a congregation, that we will be a

people that hears what you have to say to us

and to our church. I pray, Father, you move at

this time. It's your name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Thank you. Now, like always, the writer of Revelation

who is John, is going to let you know as he's

writing this letter that this is not his words

but he is speaking on behalf of Jesus, right?

And so Jesus spoke to John while John was exiled

on the island of Patmos because he was preaching

the gospel. So these are the words of Jesus to

the church in Laodicea. Now, in order to completely

understand this text, I need to give you some

background on this city of Laodicea. So if you

can picture with me, in your mind's eye, the

Hollywood Hills. Like in California, maybe you're

anti -California, I don't know, but think about

that picturesque thing. How there's this place,

there's this hill above everything else. There's

these gorgeous views. You got the mountains,

you got the ocean, it's just a really... picturesque

place. They have the best food. They have the

beautiful homes. They have this wall of protection.

They got the best drink, the best clothes. They

have the best of everything, if you will. This

is the church in Laodicea. They are the self

-sufficient city that never asks for help from

anybody. In fact, there are two times in recorded

history where Laodicea and other cities in the

region were demolished by earthquakes, and while

all the other cities in the region asked for

and received government assistance from the Romans

to help rebuild and survive, Laodicea stood alone.

They didn't want it. They didn't want help from

the government. They denied the help, and instead

they used their own money, they used their own

resources, and pulled it together and helped

rebuild their town. This is a people group of

immense wealth and pride. So if you think about

it, if there was FEMA back in the day, Laodicea

would have turned it down. They don't want any

government oversight. They want to do things

on their own. It's by their own merit, their

own work ethic. This is how they operate. Now

in a lot of ways, that's admirable. That's a

good quality to have. This is a people taking

care of their own, right? This is them joining

together with a common goal, a common mission,

and they're pooling their resources together,

and they're gonna rebuild their town. They're

not relying on anybody else. That's an admirable

trait. But if you noticed, as I read that text,

that this is the first and only letter to the

churches where Jesus does not say anything good

about them. He doesn't encourage them in any

way all of the other letters up to this point

mentioned something good that they were doing

Jesus giving them praise for how they were operating

in some specific ways how they were persevering

in hard times against persecution But but not

here not here in Laodicea Jesus starts off by

saying you were neither hot nor cold He says

I wish you were either one Right? I wish you

were a cool cup of water or I wish you were a

hot cup of tea. You know, I wish you were either

one. So because you are lukewarm, I'm about to

spit you out of my mouth. Now, I'm sure we've

heard this text before. If you've grown up in

church, you've heard this text before. Now, the

reason Jesus uses this imagery of different types

of water is because of where Laodicea was located.

So Laodicea was located amongst the trade route.

So think interstates passing those corners like

there's a lot of business in and out of Laodicea.

But Laodicea did not have a source of water.

Now that's a problem. That's a major issue. Maybe

we don't think about it. because we can just

go to our house and turn on the tap and just

water magically comes out from somewhere, right?

But if you did not know this, not having a water

source is detrimental to survival. You need to

have water. So what they did is they engineered

this elaborate system of aqueducts to run from

the city of Areopolis, which was known for their

hot springs. You can go there today and you can

have a nice spa day in the hot springs and enjoy

yourself. And so they would bring in this hot

water from Areopolis. And then they also connected

another system of aqueducts from the city of

Colasse, which was known for their cool springs

because of the snow melt that would run down

the mountain. That water was refreshing. It's

good. It's good for drinking. If it was back

in the day, this is the type of water bottles

you would buy, right? You would bottle the water

from Colossae. And so Laodicea, they had this

intricate water system, but because of the distance

between the three cities, by the time the hot

water was received from Areopolis, and by the

time the cold water had arrived from Colossae,

the water was tepid. It wasn't any good. And

not only that, but they didn't have water softeners.

They didn't have filter systems. It was just

this terrible water that was coming to Laodicea.

Now I heard a story earlier after first service

that Long Grove has horrible water. I live in

Long Grove but thankfully I'm in a well. I've

never experienced it but I've heard the water

in Long Grove is a horrible situation. Like don't

move to Long Grove because of the water. That's

what I've heard. But the issue is, the water

that was coming from the hot springs was full

of minerals. It left all the sediment behind

in the aqueduct system. And so by the time it

got to Laodicea, not only was it tepid, but it

had this weird smell because of all the minerals

that were in it. And so if you were going to

cook your dinner by boiling this water and you're

going to cook your meat or your vegetables in

this water, it would ruin your dinner. If you

were going to boil the water to kind of purify

the water, the steam would just make your house

smell horrible. If you just drank it straight

from the system, it'd make you sick, you'd want

to spit it out. By the time it got to Laodicea,

the water was useless for the most part, until

a lot of work went into it, and that process

wasn't a pleasant process. So it wouldn't have

been hard, if you can imagine, it wouldn't have

been hard for the church to understand what Jesus

was saying. He's saying, I wish you were like

the hot springs coming from Areopolis, or I wish

you were like the cooling springs that were coming

from Colossae. But instead, he's saying, this

church reminds me of your water, tepid, disgusting

to the taste. In fact, he is essentially saying,

you make me sick. like your water makes you sick.

And going through the other six churches, this

one, Laodicea, the seventh one, this seems to

be the strongest rebuke of all of them. He hasn't

encouraged them. He doesn't point out one thing

that they are doing well. He goes straight for

the correction. Like almost every church got

corrected, but this one, this one got nothing.

It got no encouragement whatsoever. And so it

begins to make me wonder what in the world is

going on in this church that Jesus couldn't give

them any sort of encouragement. He couldn't say

anything nice about them. Now, I've heard this

text taught many times. Maybe you have as well

done a Bible study on it. But we need to understand

what Jesus is not saying in this text. Because

if you think about the water sources, They both

have beneficial properties. Hot springs are good

for healing. Cold mountain water is good for

hydration. It's good for being refreshed. What

Jesus is not saying in this text is, I wish you

were like the hot springs, meaning I wish you

were on fire for me. I wish you had a passion

for me. You need to find your passion for me

and you need to get after it. Now that's true

like like that is a good goal for us to have

in our Christian walk We should be passionate

about the things of God, but this is not what

Jesus is saying in this text He's not saying

I would rather I would rather you pick a side

I would rather you be one or the other if you're

gonna be passionate about me You're going to

be on fire for me. You're going to be hot for

me. Great. But if you can't be, then I just wish

you were indignant to me. That is not what this

text is saying. This is not what Jesus is saying

to this church. This isn't a call to do more

religious things. This is not a call for you

to read your Bible more, to serve more, to give

more. This is a call to this church to be useful.

The people of Laodicea, they were wealthy. They

were rich. They were able to make or provide

anything that they needed. Too many people associate

wealth with God's favor, with God's approval.

And if you have that mindset, or when people

have that mindset, it can make it very easy to

stop relying on God for anything. Because I can

go earn more. I can buy that. I can fix that.

never thinking that it is the Lord providing

for us. Now I have a perfect example of that

from my own life. When Sine and I were first

moved to Ohio many years ago, and we were going

to work with a church plant, we were newly married,

we were in our early twenties, we had no kids,

we had no assets, we had nothing. This church,

this organization that I was working with was

going to pay me $600 a month. That was it. Now

they provided a place for me to live so I didn't

have those expenses, but I had $600 a month Seeing

I had $600 a month to for everything else from

food to clothing to insurance to all those things

600 bucks and so when it came time every month

for me to write a check as my tither offering

to the church or to wherever that $60 check was

painful Because that was a lot of money to us.

That's that's what we had but but looking back

Years later, I see that our reliance on the Lord

was so much stronger than it is now. Now, I'm

not wealthy, but I make a lot more money than

I did back then. But now I have a mortgage. Now

I have children. Now I have these larger bills.

And at times, I can forget that the Lord provides

everything I have to pay for those things. And

there have been times that I've just worried

myself sick. of how am I gonna pay for this medical

bill? How am I gonna pay to get this car fixed

before I ever stopped to remember to pray and

ask God for what would seem like a miracle to

me? God, I don't know how we're gonna pay for

this thing, but I need you to come through. Now,

so I can see, and I'm sure you can too, how Laodicea

got to be where it was because these people,

Grew up in a culture grew up in a town where

they didn't rely on anybody. They didn't need

anybody including the Lord They begin to think

of the Lord's favor as his approval for how they

were living Now I've lived in several different

parts of the country throughout my throughout

my life But each part of the country each city

that I've lived in has both positives and negatives

when it comes to effectively Using the gospel

to change people's lives In Ohio, the town we

were in, it was just poverty. And so we had to

learn how to share the gospel by meeting needs

of the people that we were doing life with. By

walking the fine line of meeting needs but also

not being taken advantage of. By not them just

coming and getting all this free stuff that we

had, we had to learn how to navigate that in

a way that honored the Lord. In La Mesa, the

town we moved here from, It was fighting the

cultural Christianity, because everybody claimed

to be a follower of Jesus, but not many lived

it out. I mean, it was the Bible built, right?

They'd put on their Christian hat when they were

around other Christians, but then they would

put on their worldly hat when they weren't around

other Christians. We had a difficult time getting

people to understand that just because their

parents were Christians, just because their parents

brought them to church did not mean that their

parents' salvation was just transferred to them

automatically. Just because you grew up in Texas

does not mean you're automatically saved no matter

how many times you call that God's country. This

is what we were fighting about constantly. They

elevated church attendance. They elevated doing

churchy things and learning the language. They

elevated those things over a life submitted to

the Lord. That's the cultural battle we had.

What I found to be difficult here in North Scott

and people trusting the gospel. The struggle

that I've had here is fighting against the immense

wealth. that keeps people from seeing their need

for Jesus. We live in a wealthy community. Now

I'm not saying there's not poverty, I'm not saying

all of y 'all are just crushing it financially,

but I'm saying overall we live in a very wealthy

community. There's good paying jobs, there's

large homes, there's the lack of worry about

how things are going to be paid, like that constant

struggle. And it's proven to be difficult for

some to see their desperate need for Jesus. Laodicea

reminds me of our area and it makes me realize

Jesus is not saying get on fire for God. That's

not what he's saying. He is showing them their

need to be useful and their need to rely on him.

Like the city relied on Colossae or Areopolis

for water, they need to learn how to rely on

him. The reason I know he's not saying pick a

side is because of verse 17. In verse 17 he says,

for you say I am rich, I have prospered and I

need nothing. Not realizing that you are wretched,

pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Now, like I mentioned

earlier, Laodicea was destroyed by earthquakes

multiple times, and the people of the city refused

assistance from the emperor. They were not going

to go to Rome. So Jesus is relating that to them

here. He says, you say you are rich, but you

are poor. Do you remember the antithesis of that

when we were talking about Smyrna? Even though

they were physically poor, Christ calls them

rich. They had soul. Wealth. The opposite is

true of Laodicea. They're physically wealthy.

They have all the material possessions you can

want in the world, but Jesus is calling them

poor. I mean, these people are so wealthy, they

don't have to work because they can just hire

people to do it for them. So they have a lot

of money, they have a lot of convenience, they

have a lot of downtime, they have a lot of resources,

but Jesus still calls them poor. Then He calls

them blind. Now, it's interesting because Laodicea,

during this time, in this culture, it was known

for their medical breakthroughs. It was known

for their research. And so people from all over

the region would flock to Laodicea to get this

salve that they had, the salve that they made

that you would rub on your eyes and would help

with blindness. It would heal blindness. But

he still calls them blind. Then he mentions that

they are naked. This would have been another

attack on their culture. Because Laodicea was

known for their black wool and clothes. Because

in this area there was this rare black sheep

that they would raise. And they'd raise them

and they used the wool to make clothing. And

so textiles were very important in the business

life of Laodicea. And still Jesus calls them

naked. So Jesus has completely dismantled their

security. dismantled their convenience and said,

you have all this stuff, you have all this wealth,

you have all this security, all this pride, but

at the end of the day, you have absolutely nothing.

You have nothing. But here's where we get to

see the grace of God, because he calls them all

these horrible things. He doesn't give them any

sort of encouragement, but he doesn't destroy

them either. We see that in verse 18. He says,

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by

fire, so that you may be rich. and white garments

so that you may clothe yourself and the shame

of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve

to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those

whom I love, I prove in discipline. So be zealous

and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,

I will come into him and eat with him and he

with me." So Jesus is standing outside this door.

He's standing outside this church. And he's saying,

listen, if anybody wants to hear what I just

said, if anybody wants to be made right, if anybody

wants to stop pretending, he's saying, open the

door and let me in. If you want to hear what

I have to say, just open the door and let me

in. Repent of what you have done wrong. He's

saying, come back to life. Come to me for life.

Now I think sometimes we forget about the grace

of God. We forget about that, that He is standing

at the door knocking. That He is standing at

the door knocking. He's not knocking us over.

He's not destroying us. He's not abandoning us.

He's standing at the door knocking. We have so

many voices in our head all the time that we

listen to. And because of that, we've either

tuned Him out or we confuse His voice with others.

We are influenced by the news. We're influenced

by the books we read. We form factions with people

that agree with us. And we fail to stop and consider,

what does the Lord want of me now? What is he

asking of me in this situation? And so sometimes

we forget that God is knocking on the door. He's

trying to speak to us. But have we tuned him

out? Have we closed ourselves off from Him? Are

we able to hear and discern and tune in to what

He is saying to us? Now let me finish the story.

There was practically a riot when the pastor

had finished reading the letter. People were

storming out left and right. But Jambu didn't

move. He and a handful of others that were scattered

across the church just sat silently with their

heads bowed. Lord, I'm so sorry, he prayed quietly.

And for the first time in his life, he was really

praying. Lord, I had no idea. Please forgive

me. Please come into my life and make it your

own. I want to learn to do things your way, not

mine, but I need your help. Oh, how I need. your

help. Thank you for not giving up on us." Now,

that story isn't biblical. It's just a story

I found, but I believe it to be useful because

at the end of every letter here in Revelation

that ends with those words, it says, those who

have ears, let them hear what the Spirit is saying.

I believe there are times where we hear words

being said like you hear my voice right now.

You can audibly hear it. But we don't have any

intention of actually listening to the words

that are being said. We've all felt that conviction

from the Lord. We've heard his voice. But we

never have any intention of doing what he's called

us to do. Now, if you have children. You know

what it's like My children in particular They

say all the time they say well I forgot I Forgot

now I understand that once or twice like I'll

give you a lot of grace when it's once or twice

I forgot that you said that I forgot that you

wanted me to clean my room I forgot that you

wanted me to do the dishes. I I forgot But but

when it has been a constant theme your entire

life of I forgot I begin to actually doubt that

you forgot I Don't think you forgot you just

had no intention of following through what was

being asked of you You never stopped to consider

what we were asking you to do now because of

that. I don't kick him out of the house I don't

say okay. You're on your own now. You're not

listening to me. You keep forgetting. Maybe you'll

remember if you're on your own I don't kick him

out of the house because that wouldn't be loving.

But what I do is I begin to amp up the pressure.

I begin to amp up to the pressure to make sure

that what is being asked of them is being understood

and applied. And I love them through those things.

In Laodicea, the pressure just got intense. The

warning of discipline came. The use of language

that detailed how Jesus felt about them just

got exposed. There's no more secrets. They had

a choice. You have a choice. They had a choice

to become offended by his words or listen to

what he is saying. And I have no doubt that so

many people walked out of that church when that

letter was read. Because that's a hard reality.

And so many times we let our offense take priority

over what the Lord is actually saying to us.

We think that we know what's best. We let our

emotions dictate how we're gonna respond and

act. I think the story could totally be an accurate

representation of what actually happened in Laodicea

because I've seen it so many different times

throughout the country and throughout churches.

Laodicea did not recognize their need. They didn't

remember that they were dependent on other cities

to provide them the source. of life through the

water. They didn't realize that. They had all

the money in the world. They had all the willpower

in the world. They could rebuild their city over

and over again. But what they didn't understand

is that if one of those cities, whether it be

Areopolis or whether it be Colossae, if one of

those cities decided to shut off the source of

water, it would dry up their city. and they would

cease to exist. They didn't see their dependence

for the source of life. Jesus is saying to them,

Jesus is saying to us as his followers, he's

saying, I am the source of life. He says, recognize

your need for me. Because without me, you don't

have life. You might have existence. You might

have some nice stuff. You might have a fat bank

account, but you don't have life. You're just

existing. This is what Laodicea was doing. They

were just existing. They were comfortable with

what they had. They were denying the source of

life that came from others. They were denying

the source of life that came from Him. And so

Jesus saying, you're making me sick. You're playing

the game. You're playing the religious game,

but you don't recognize that I am the source

of life. This is why it makes him sick. Because

he doesn't want us to play religious games. He

doesn't want us to learn the religious language.

He doesn't want us to learn the Christian culture.

He wants us to recognize that everything we have

comes from Him. Everything we have, we are dependent

on Him. Every breath we take is because of Him.

That's what Laodicea missed. And so here's my

question. Do you have the courage? Do you have

the courage to pray that God would change your

life? That's a bold prayer. God, I see me going

down this path. But I want you to change my life.

If anything is robbing me of you, if my wealth

is robbing me of you. If I'm not dependent on

you, God, change my life, whatever, that's a

bold prayer. Do you have the courage to pray?

Do you have the conviction to pray for forgiveness?

Do you have the courage to pray for forgiveness?

All of us are sinners. All of us mess up. All

of us fail. But it's so much easier to point

out everybody else's faults instead of realizing

our own. Do you have the courage to pray for

forgiveness? And do you have the humility to

ask him to help you? Or are you so self -sufficient

that you don't need to? Do you have the courage

and the humility to pray that God would help

you through this, whatever it is? And so my prayer

throughout the series for our church, for you

has been, God, let us be a church that has ears

to hear you, that has ears to hear what you're

saying to us. What is he calling you to do? How

is he calling me to respond? How is he calling

you to walk in obedience? You hear the words

But do you hear the words So that's my prayer

God give us years to hear what you were saying

to our church Because the reality is my biggest

fear I said this last week my biggest fear is

that we turn into Sardis As a pastor, that's

my greatest fear. But what I see, just because

of our community, I see Laodicea. I do not see

a people that is desperate for him. I see a people

that has self -reliance. So how do we reach out

into a community and share with them the need

that they have for Jesus if we haven't embraced

that ourselves? If we haven't recognized that

we are in desperate need of a Savior, we are

in desperate need of the source of life. And

so that once we finally understand those things,

we can go into our community and show them the

need they have for Jesus. Help us not be Laodicea.

Let's pray. Father, I pray that as we close out

the service, as we close out the series, as we

just have a moment to... respond to you. I pray

that you will free us from distraction. I pray

that you will make us aware of our desperate

need for you. God, I pray that you will give

me ears to hear what you have to say to me. I

pray the same for our people. that we will all

have ears to hear what you were saying to us,

whenever that looks like. So Father, I pray that

you move in this place. I pray that we'll walk

in obedience as we seek after you. Have all these

things to say in Jesus' name, amen. So as we

respond, I think it's important to understand

that we are, this is the time, right? This is

the time where we can, contemplate and ask the

Lord to speak to us. Because there's nothing

I can say to change your heart. There's nothing

I can say to change your mind. We're totally

completely dependent on how God moves in this

place. So we have this time to respond so that

you can walk out of here changed. You can walk

out of here different than how you walked in.

And so maybe that'd be your prayer. God, give

me ears to hear you and give me the courage to

walk in obedience. So we're going to sing, feel

free to sing, sit, stand, however you do that.

Thank you for listening today to 563 Church,

a production of Cornerstone Church, Eldridge,

Iowa. For more information about our church or

just getting right with God, please visit us

at 563church .com. You can also find us on Facebook

and Instagram. Have a great week.