The Church in Laodicea

Well, so we're reading in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 14.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

So 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.

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.

I wish you were either one or the other.

So because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I'm about to spit you out of my mouth.

You say I'm 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.

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire so that you can become rich.

And white robes to wear so that you can cover your shameful nakedness.

And salve to put on your eyes so that you can see.

Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline.

So be earnest and repent.

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.

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.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

It seems a shame that the final church that we're thinking about tonight is the one church that there is very little encouragement for in terms of what the risen Christ says to it.

Criticism is, as we'll see, bitingly relevant, but rather anxiety creating, I would think, in the recipients of that letter.

And you remember, those of you who were here last week, that I explained probably far too briefly for you.

What is the dispensationalist framework of the letters to the seven churches?

Dispensationalists are people who divide the history of the church up into certain eons, periods of time.

And of course, I mean, it may be instructive, but there is not a huge amount of kind of evidence for them to do that.

I think it's a kind of framework for trying to understand.

And the dispensationalist framework of the letters to the seven churches, rather conveniently, is it has, there are seven churches and there are seven eons, periods of time.

And so we find in Laodicea, if we can have to slide up James, just go through the lot, will you?

Thank you.

And we get to Laodicea.

It's the apostate church.

And that's a word that may be familiar to some of you, but will not be familiar to many of you.

Apostasy means abandonment.

It means abandonment of a previous loyalty or defection.

And in relation to the church, it is sometimes used in terms of politics.

People talk about our party being apostate.

But in the church, it generally relates to a change in teaching or values that moves the church away from its kind of stated, inherited beliefs.

So the apostate church, if you know your Bibles, you will know that St. Paul spends quite a bit of time trying to make sure that churches remain faithful to God rather than unfaithful to God.

And I think there are three, sorry, two big questions that the apostate church brings to us, which seem to me to be bitingly relevant in the 21st century.

The first question is, how do you engage with a subculture without surrendering to its values?

I think this has been a central kind of problem for missionaries, certainly throughout the 19th century and into the 20th century, and particularly in the 21st century.

I say that question, how do you engage with a subculture without surrendering to its values?

I say subculture because I think now in most of the communities in which we find ourselves, though there very likely will be one dominant culture,

at the same time there will be lots of smaller subcultures.

And Jesus encourages us in Matthew chapter 28 to go into all the world.

Matthew 28 · chapter mention

Actually, the word that we translate world in Matthew 28 is actually the word ethner.

It means cultures.

Go to all cultures and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teach them all I have commanded you.

So we have a mandate as the people of God to engage with all these cultures.

And the idea behind that, I assume, is that when the church engages with a culture,

the idea is that our Christian culture will kind of remodel, remake, influence the culture that we're seeking to engage with.

It seems to be, since probably the middle part of the 20th century, that in fact exactly the opposite has happened.

That we've tried to engage with these cultures to the point where I think in many churches we've almost given up on that.

But more sadly, we've allowed the cultures to influence us more than we've influenced the cultures.

Second question is, how do you decide which parts of the Bible's teaching are a product of the prevailing culture of the time,

and how much of them are unchangeable truths?

And you say, well, I'm a Bible person.

I don't compromise anywhere on that.

And, you know, if that's your position, I have a great deal of respect for it.

But I think more main line is we do recognise that there are some cultural issues in the New Testament,

which probably we don't feel a great need, most of us, to adhere to.

For instance, the concept of women not entering a church without covering their heads.

That seems to be more a product of the culture of the time than it does an unchangeable truth,

which if you didn't put a covering on your head when you entered the church,

it would seem a little harsh for you to be condemned to eternal damnation.

So we do recognise there are bits of the Bible which we can kind of reinterpret in a kind of culture.

But there are truths that are unchangeable.

You will, some of you will remember, made headline news that a bishop of Durham,

who was called David, what was his name?

Jenkins, thank you.

Terrible thing, age, isn't it?

You know, you can't even remember who you're talking about.

So David Jenkins stood up and basically declared in Durham Cathedral on Easter Sunday

that the physical resurrection of Jesus never took place.

And he referred to it, he actually said this,

we cannot believe in a conjuring trick with bones.

Now, you have to make your own mind up about that.

But what I would say to you is, in my Bible, I would suggest

that is surrendering what is an unchangeable truth to modern culture.

David Jenkins, I should explain, and sort of slightly in his defence,

was a philosopher rather than a theologian

and was trying to grapple with how did he influence

the philosophy faculty of the University of Leeds for the Gospel.

And his idea was to engage with it in a way

which I think surrendered too much ground.

The third thing, I should have said, sorry,

it's because my slides were split to keep the type big enough.

The third thing I wanted to say about the apostate churches,

the third question that arises is,

how do you ensure that all God's people are biblically literate?

And the answer is, you do it by teaching.

I realise in saying that to you lot,

I'm kind of preaching to the choir.

But the bottom line is,

certainly in the church that I've served for 50 years,

the level of biblical literacy

amongst your average member is pretty low.

When a lady comes up to me and says,

what was it Jesus said, a rolling stone gathers no moss?

You know you're in deep water.

And there's only one way that,

and we've dropped a lot of those incredible ways

that we used to learn by.

I mean, I remember in my church,

you know, it's common in young people's groups,

so I wasn't converted to the Christian faith,

I was in my late teenage years.

And even then, on Sundays in my church,

we were given a memory verse every Sunday.

All the adults had to learn it.

We'd go back the next week,

and we'd all repeat it like parrots.

And, you know, was that a bad thing?

I don't think it was, to be quite honest with you.

So, you know, it's where we are kind of thing.

But generally speaking,

and of course the way this plays into the apostate church

is if somebody says something very outrageous

about the Christian faith,

trying to unstitch the sowing of a timeless truth,

if you are not biblically literate,

you would not even realize

that you may be dealing with somebody

who's uttering a heresy.

There's a principle in English law,

I hope I've got this right,

there's a Valenti non...

Sorry, I'm saying the wrong quote from the law.

There's a quote in English law

which was ignorantist,

non...

something excuse at.

In other words, ignorance of the law

is no excuse.

You can't kind of punch somebody's head in

and then say,

I didn't know that was wrong.

The law makes it wrong.

And I think that

the same's true in a way

in our walk with God.

You know, it's not that we're saved by our knowledge,

but my goodness,

knowledge of the Bible is going to help us.

And the fourth thing is,

how do you challenge in a way that can be heard

dangerous ideas

that arise within your culture?

I think one of the big issues

for the church today is,

I don't know if it's a courage issue

or whether we've lost

a way of appropriately challenging

some of the wrong-headed ideas

which prevail in our society today.

But by and large,

it seems that

churches would rather engage with

issues that they feel comfortable with

rather than those issues

that make them

really uncomfortable.

I picked up a book

a couple of weeks ago

which is

somebody who's researched

very carefully

the impact of therapy

on children.

and actually

it's a rather

condemning

peace.

And

she

is an American

and so

you're talking primarily about

American culture

but one of the things

she says

in her book

which

incidentally

is

the book

has been kind of endorsed

by some of the best minds

in the circles

in which she

moves.

one of the things

she goes on about

in that book

is

so

some of the therapists

have told children

to go home

and spy on their parents

and write up

you know

the things that

have been said

in the home

and then to write down

what you felt

about what

you heard your parents say

or what they said to you.

I don't know

what you make of all that

and I'm not qualified enough

to kind of pass

erudite comment

on the subject

but I would suspect

that most parents

wouldn't want

their children

going back to school

and saying

my dad said

to my mum today

I don't think

they'd like that

and is it doing

the child any good?

It's kind of

almost franchising

the kind of area

of their life

and one of her

things in the book

it's a woman called

Abigail Shreer

incidentally

one of the things

in her book

is that

she finds

talking to the

therapeutic community

that the kind of

default is

that all children

are traumatised

and a lot of that

trauma is laid

at the feet

of their parents

bad behaviour

so how do you

challenge ideas

like that

in a way

that can be heard

so you can shout

and my problem

with people

when they're angry

is I usually

try and stop

people in their tracks

you know

when I was

doing the bishop

thing

mostly

the kind of

attacks

that I received

were

I wonder

if any of the

church leaders

in the room

recognised this

but the one thing

I used to really

hate

was a letter

handwritten

pushed through

my door

at midnight

with shaky

writing on the

front

I knew

it was going

to be an

exocet missile

in a

conqueror

envelope

but occasionally

people have

come

tearing up

to me

and have a

real go

at me

I used to

say

hang on

you know

you're shouting

and all I

get from you

when you

shout

is your

anger

I'm not

really listening

to what you

say

I'm just

responding to

your anger

so let's

try and

turn down

the volume

a bit

and see

if we can

get to the

bottom

of what

seems to

have upset

you

so to

go to the

church

in Laodicea

what do we

know about

Laodicea

has anybody

been there

by the way

I've been

there

John Angle

has been

anybody

else been

there

it is an

amazing

site

it has to

be said

archaeologically

and I

think is

reckoned to

be one

of the most

unexplored

archaeological

sites there

is

they have

on us

two

theatres

in Laodicea

by theatre

it means

coliseum

like buildings

and I

remember the

first time

I went

there we

had a

clergy

person who

had a

very strong

Cockney

accent

and he

went down

onto the

stage of

the amphitheatre

there

stood

and sang

my old man's

a dustman

and it

brought the

Turkish

people in

the place

to a

standstill

and they

loved it

and I

don't know

whether this

is true

but I

had been

told in

these brilliant

amphitheatres

that they

built back

in the day

that somebody

could stand

on the

stage and

whisper

and a

person on

the highest

row of

the terracing

could hear

what was

being said

I went

to the

old Vic

in Bristol

the other

day

I won't

tell you

what I

thought of

the performance

but I

went there

and everybody

there is

mic'd up

like I

am

I still

couldn't

hear some

of it

I'm like

you know

bring back

the amphitheatres

so what we

do know

about Laodicea

was it's

in the

region of

Phrygia

and was

the wealthiest

city in

that area

it was an

important

commercial

centre

on three

coinciding

trade routes

in AD

61 it

was destroyed

by an

earthquake

and unlike

the other

cities that

were destroyed

by earthquakes

which as

you know

not uncommon

the city

of Laodicea

was able

to pay

for its

own

rebuilding

without any

money from

the Roman

Empire

it was that

wealthy

wealthy

it was a

banking

centre

and it

was known

for its

deposits of

gold

there was a

strong linen

and wool

industry there

and it was a

medical centre

insofar as

anybody was a

medical centre

back in the

day

and they

mixed the

paste up

of the

alluvial mud

that was

in the

two rivers

which bounded

Laodicea

and made a

paste out of

it which

was said

if it

was put

on your

eyes as

a poultice

would bring

healing to

your eyes

a bit hard

to believe

that's what

it was called

cholerim

what we'll

see

incidentally

in a few

moments I

hope is

that when

we get

to the

charges

that the

risen Christ

made against

the church

in Laodicea

we will

understand

that the

character of

the city

played a

large part

in the

kind of

condemnations

of the

risen Christ

the charge

against

Laodicea

next slide

please

and note

that there

is no

commendation

whatsoever

for the

church there

it is all

hard going

for the

people of

Laodicea

and the

only hope

in the

message of

the risen

Christ

is that

he gives

them the

opportunity

to repent

and I

like to

think that

the opportunity

to repent

is open

to anyone

in any

period of

history

any time

it amazes

me that

more people

don't take

up the

offer to

repent

but it

is there

and what

that means

is the

Laodiceans

could have

repented

could have

come back

to Christ

come back

to the

things that

were important

and the

risen Christ

would have

welcomed

them

so the

risen Christ

lays the

charge that

they are

lukewarm

in verse

16 of

chapter 3

you're neither

hot nor

cold

because of

that I

will spit

you out

of my

mouth

Nick Lucas

always says

at that

point that

he remembers

when he

was a

boy and

you know

his parents

were trying

to broaden

this kind

of diet

darkness

and he

said I

put things

in my

mouth

that I

wanted to

spit out

immediately

but he

said I

was also

taught by

my parents

that public

spitting is

not the

done thing

but that's

the strength

of the risen

Christ

condemnation

I will

spit you

out of

my mouth

now the

reason why

this charge

has a

particular

focus

is that

in order

to supply

Laodicea

with water

there was

an aqueduct

aqueduct is

a thing that

carries water

usually to

heights some

of it was

underground

to the city

and by the

time it

got to

the city

the people

all complained

not only was

the water

loaded with

minerals

which you

had to

get kind

of used

to

but it

was lukewarm

so charge

of the risen

Christ

you're lukewarm

these people

knew what

lukewarm

was

they didn't

have a

fridge back

then

the water

was lukewarm

the second

thing about

these people

is that

they show

us by

their

charges

of the risen

Christ

that they

were totally

deluded

verse 17

you say

I am rich

I have

acquired wealth

and do not

need a thing

I mean

that kind

of autonomy

that kind

of

self

satisfied

view

of life

we've got

everything

we need

you see

if you've

got everything

you need

where's God

going to fit

into your

life

you know

the Bible

is not

I know

I've got

some

Christian

socialist

friends

who

would

differ

with me

on this

I don't

believe

Jesus

ever

taught

that

wealth

was

intrinsically

wrong

what I

think

Jesus

taught

was

that

wealth

is

not

good

for most

of us

because

it's

a

distraction

in our

faith

journey

with

God

I am

very

clear

honestly

and if

you knew

my mum

you'd

understand

the import

to this

comment

I

am

I

know

why

God

didn't

allow

me

to

become

a

wealthy

man

because

he

knew

it

would

take

too

much

of

my

attention

in fact

I have

a confession

to make

to you

when I

retired

I'd

never

lived

off a

pension

before

and I

found

in the

first

six

months

of

retirement

I

couldn't

think

about

anything

but

money

haven't

been

like

that

all

my

life

but

I

know

that

if

I

had

been

wealthy

I

would

have

been

distracted

by it

and the

only way

this is

terrible

news

for you

the

only way

the

Bible

knows

that

you

can

break

the

hold

of

mammon

in

your

life

is

to

give

it

away

which

is

a

shattering

truth

isn't

it

especially

in a

time

where

we

feel

you

know

the

days

are

economically

uncertain

these

people

thought

they

had

it

all

deluded

talked

about

delusion

before

you

know

how

it's

such

a

kind

of

sad

thing

when

you

meet

somebody

who's

deluded

I

mean

the

trouble

is

delusion

is

very

easy

to

spot

in

another

person

a

bit

less

obvious

in

ourselves

you

know

George

Bernard

Shaw

it

was

a

wonderful

quote

of

his

said

that

you

can

tell

when

an

Anglican

churchgoer

likes a

good

sermon

because he

thinks it'll

do his

neighbour

good

I

mean

if you

ever

thought

that

you

might

be in

the

club

called

deluded

the

self

satisfaction

of

verse

17

is

almost

well

it's

just

really

sad

but here

are three

further

indictments

that

the

risen

Christ

charges

Laodicea

with

they're

poor

this was

a

banking

city

with

great

reserves

of

gold

and

the

risen

Christ

says

to

them

you're

poor

second

thing

is

you're

naked

so

they

weren't

naturalists

but the

reason why

this

charge

has such

a

poignancy

is that

Laodicea

have these

still do

today

in fact

when I

went there

I saw

a great

flock

of these

black

sheep

with this

wonderful

silky

wool

which they

used to

shear

and make

this

wonderful

cloth

out of

black

cloth

and

to

say

to

a

town

that

regards

itself

as a

kind

of

you know

the

front

runner

in

textiles

you're

naked

was

biting

and the

third

thing

he said

is

talked a

little

bit

about

this

you're

blind

this

was

the

place

that

thought

they

had

the

answer

to

people's

eyesight

problems

all right

it was

a bit

primitive

smearing

mud

in your

eyes

there

isn't

Christ

says

to

you

you're

blind

I think

there's a

kind of

note of

brilliance

in the way

the risen

Christ

expresses

himself

to the

church

in

Laodicea

actually

taking

what they

thought

were their

strengths

and turning

it

upon

them

you think

you've

got

everything

and I

think

the most

indicting

phrase

in this

is where

the risen

Christ

says

to them

you say

I'm

rich

I've

acquired

wealth

I do

not

need

a

thing

and go

back to

if you

don't

need

a

thing

where's

God

going

to

fit

into

your

life

do we

see

some

of that

in

today's

church

largely

criticized

for its

kind of

middle

class

ethos

etc

etc

have

we

learned

to

live

with

that

kind

of

compromise

and

delusion

and the

risen

Christ

in

the

light

of

these

condemnations

says

this

one

come

and buy

from me

your

traders

risen

Christ

is

saying

don't

get

caught

up

in

the

world

and

it's

trading

but

come

and buy

from

me

I

take

it

what

the

risen

Christ

means

that's

an

invitation

to

do

something

which

I

think

the

risen

Christ

would

probably

say

to

many

of

us

include

myself

in

that

comment

and

that

is

dear

people

you

need

to

reframe

your

priorities

I

don't

know

whether

you

know

it

worries

me

about

our

world

today

that

it's

so

fast

moving

that

you

know

we

have

little

time

to

kind

of

sit

down

and

think

about

serious

things

and

even

those

of

us

who

are

retired

always

sound

like

we're

busy

either

that

or

bored

and

watch

daytime

television

but

do

we

ever

think

about

you

know

is

the

Lord

asking

me

to

reframe

my

priorities

I

wonder

if

you've

ever

asked

yourself

that

question

it

might

be

some

decent

homework

for

you

then

there

is

in

crisis

if

you're

going

to

come

and

buy

from

me

first

of

all

you

need

to

buy

some

gold

which

has

been

purified

well

the

bottom

line

is

you

can't

get

gold

without

heating

it

up

to

big

temperatures

and

removing

all

the

elements

in

it

that

would

rob

it

of

its

values

that's

how

gold

is

refined

in

the

refiner's

fire

interesting

phrase

buy

gold

from me

that's

been

through

the

refiner's

fire

I

think

the

risen

Christ

thought

that the

people

of

Laodicea

needed to

go through

the

refiner's

fire

second

he said

wear

white

clothes

you make

all this

lovely

black

cloth

but

actually

in

the

kingdom

the

wearing

of

white

robes

we've

talked

about

this

is

very

significant

it

speaks

of

purity

of

people

who've

been

through

the

refiner's

fire

who know

what it

is to

be

faithful

and to

follow

God

faithfully

and

then

he

says

buy

salve

for

your

eyes

from

me

so

that

you

can

see

I

mean

I

don't

think

he

was

referring

to

the

people

who

got

eye

issues

when

he

charged

them

with

the

people

who

couldn't

see

I

think

these

people

had

lost

their

vision

for

what

they

were

in

Jesus

Christ

and

I

think

they

lost

their

vision

for

what

God

intended

for

his

church

it

couldn't

be

anything

more

sad

than

that

you

know

on the

one

hand

people

who

just

kind

of

lost

their

vision

and

I'm

not

one

of

those

who

thinks

that

you

know

the

work

of

the

church

is

finished

once

you've

got

your

vision

statement

I

don't

think

that

at

all

but

I

do

think

that

we

do

need

our

eyes

opened

by

God

and

I

don't

think

that

just

happens

once

I

think

I

have

had

to

have

my

eyes

open

on

several

occasions

to

my

inadequacies

to

my

sin

to

the

things

that

are

wrong

in

my

life

so the

risen

Christ

then goes

on

and says

to those

whom I

love

how about

this

I

rebuke

and

discipline

see

see if

you go

to

church

and

all

you

hear

about

you

know

is

God's

a

kind

of

love

thing

you

know

San

Francisco

1967

the

problem

is

you

will

never

understand

that

the

God

who

loves

you

might

need

to

discipline

you

occasionally

you

ever

thought

about

that

it's

not

my

idea

that's

what

the

risen

crisis

to

this

church

is

ratified

in

Hebrews

twice

chapter

12

and

verse

2

the

Lord

disciplines

those

whom

he

loves

and

if

you

think

that's

a

kind

of

mad

idea

how

would

anybody

who

is

loving

ever

discipline

me

then

if

you're

a

parent

if

God

has

blessed

you

with

children

say

that

through

slightly

clenched

teeth

God

has

blessed

you

with

children

you

know

that

you

don't

discipline

your

kids

because

you

hate

them

you

discipline

them

why

because

you

love

them

and

what

you

want

to

do

is

I

mean

your

hope

is

that

they

will

grow

up

to

be

some

kind

of

responsible

Christ

loving

human

being

it's

an

unbelievable

assignment

isn't

it

when you

think

about

that

and

you

know

with

my

own

children

five

of

them

I

mean

I