The Seven Churches in Asia...Laodicea

Here we are at the end of our study of the seven churches in Asia. We have carefully examined the churches in Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis and Philadelphia, and now we come to the church in Laodicea (Rev. 3:14-22). The Laodicean church was made up of lukewarm Christians who were lifted up with pride and weighed down by materialism. It is my humble opinion that many, many congregations today are just like the Laodicean church...

Revelation 3:14 contains Christ's description of Himself: "These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God." The term Amen in the Greek literally means "trustworthy, sure," and Thayer's defines it as "faithful." So you might say that the expression is akin to that which follows it in verse 14, "the faithful and true witness." As we have established in the past, Jesus Christ is the epitome of truth. John 1:1 defines Jesus as "the word" and we are told in John 17:17 that the word is truth.

The phrase "the Beginning of the creation of God" is somewhat controversial in nature. The Jehovah's Witnesses use this statement to teach that Jesus was the first of God's creation, thus making Him a created being and consequently denying His divinity. The JWs argue that Jesus is merely an angel and not God. But that is not at all what Jesus here is saying. The point is not that Jesus was a created being, but that He was the source of the creation (this point is confirmed in Colossians 1:16-17).

As we continue our examination of the Laodicean church, we find Jesus' condemnation of the unfaithful church in verses 15-16, "I know your works, that you are neither cold not hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth." Their first problem was lukewarmness (is that even a word???). In other words, they were not on fire for God; they were not spiritually strong. They lacked zeal and fervor. One might say that they were indeed apathetic.

Christ says that they were neither cold nor hot. Some today argue that the term cold represents complete unfaithfulness while the term hot represents spiritual zeal and fortitude. If this is the correct intrepretation, then Jesus is basically saying that we need to have an "all or nothing" attitude. If you're not going to give God your best, you might as well live in sin. The other interpretation is that both cold and hot represent ideal temperatures while lukewarm represents te unideal...the unacceptable. I tend to take the former position, for it is less redundant. Indeed, if we are not goingto give God our whole heart, if we're going to be lazy, apathetic Christians, we might as well give it up because we're not helping God any and we're not helping ourselves any (see Lk. 14:26-33).

It is hard to believe that an entire church could consist of lukewarm Christians, but I don't think that it's all that uncommon. In the materialistic world we live in, there are countless Christians who have a greater love for the things of this life than they do for the things of God. Sure, people may go to church two or three times a week, and they may have all the right positions on the major issues of controversy, but they neglect personal evangelism, ignore the fruit of the Spirit and they live for self. If we are falling short in these areas, it does not matter that we go to church. Having the fruit of the Spirit is just as critical to our salvation. Having a servant's heart is no less important than faithful church attendance. To be on fire for God is to give God our best in every area of spiritual service!

In Revelation 3:17, we see another one of the Laodicean church's problems: materialism. Jesus told them, "Because you say, I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked," and then He goes on in verse 18 to remedy the problem, "I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fie, that you may be rich; and white garments that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see." The saints in Laodicea were materialistic, which is perhaps why they were lukewarm. They had all that they needed and desired physically, and this caused them to be complacent, and it caused them to be lifted up in self-reliance and pride. Historically speaking, when people become rich, when they have all that they want in this life, they forget about God.

This reminds me of what Christ wrote to the church in Smyrna: "I know your works, tribulation, and poverty (but you are rich)..." (2:9). The Smyrna saints may have been poor physically, but they were rich spiritually. From man's perspective, this is not desirable, but from God's perspective, this is the superior way of life...to be spiritually rich even if one is physically poor. It saddens me to say that many Christians today are more concerned about material wealth than spiritual wealth. They stress the value of a college education more than they do the value of spiritual training. We are willing to work overtime in our secular jobs but we are not willing to put in the extra hours studying God's word. We get more excited about a new TV than we do about overcoming temptation or learning some new biblical truth. Do you get the point? I think to some degree we are all guilty of this at times, but let us resist it with our whole hearts!

Ultimately, true riches come from Christ, and the greatest riches of all await us in heaven (Mt. 6:20). Let this be our focus.

In the final verses of Revelation 3, Christ reminds the Laodicean Christians that there is still hope. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me." In other words, it wasn't too late. Christ was knocking on the metaphorical door of their heart. If they would only turn from their wickedness, open the door, and invite Christ into their life, they would be restored to Him! Likewise, when we sin, Christ is knocking. He wants us to let Him in. He wants to have fellowship with us. Yes, even though He boldly chastized the Laodiceans, He still loved them.

The lessons we learn in Revelation 2-3 are many in number. We learn that faithfulness is hard to come by. We learn that when problems arise within the church, we need to repent and make correction ASAP. We learn that sin and error cannot be tolerated, but we also learn that our personal faith and love for the Lord must not be lost in our zealous opposition of error. But most of all, we learn that we must overcome the trials of this life if we hope to spend eternity with Christ. He is there. He is listening. And He wants to have fellowship with us, but we must not forsake Him.