The Church of Laodicea

I know that I already did a post on this subject, but I feel that it wasn't as clear as it could be. Some people who read and commented on my last post about this (Laodicea and Love) didn't quite get the message that I was hoping to bring up, so I decided, why not do another post about it?

So, here I am.

Obviously, the best place to start is the passage depicting these Laodiceans:

Revelation 3:14-22: "And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, These things say the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:

I know your works, that you are neither cold nor 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.

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 -

I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in fire 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.

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 name and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also 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."

Now, I've always known this passage. Ever since I had gotten interested in the Biblical prophecies (which was for pretty much my entire Christian life, even though I have only recently been able to decipher what they mean), my father and the rest of my church family has said that we are living in the years of the Laodiceans. Christians in America have grown soft--most Christians think that if they go to church twice a week, sing some hymns, talk to other believers, things will be all right. Then they turn around and go back to their comfortable lives, with all the luxuries imaginable, not even trying to reach the lost out there that need Jesus Christ.

So, I suppose the fact that I grew up with the verse gives me an advantage over those who are reading this and don't know what on earth I am talking about.

Let's go through each verse (or two) at a time, shall we? That makes it much easier for me to organize my thoughts, and then put them in a--hopefully coherent--closing argument. 

Revelation 3:14-15:

I don't think I need to go over these verses again. Verse 14 is simply proclaiming that Jesus Christ, the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, has said these things about the church of the Laodiceans. It is, at its heart, a pleading to this church to change their ways, for either the better or worse.. 

Jesus, the Messiah, knows everything we do. He knows what we do every moment of every day. He knows our heart, our thoughts, our works. He can see what every single one of us is doing at any given time, regardless of whether we're still in our mother's womb, an infant, a toddler, a child, a teenager, or an adult. For the years humanity has been on Earth (coughcoughsixthousandIMOcoughcough), He has known our works. In this passage, Jesus Christ is looking at the Laodiceans, who are neither cold nor hot.

When they are cold, they are dark--they have turned away from Christ. They think they can live without Him and His forgiveness. They turn to the material things, like sex, drugs, and alcohol, turning to each other or themselves for protection that only the Lord can give them. Admittedly, for a while, they may be happy with this route, but it doesn't last. These people do not care about knowing the truth of Jesus, and constantly push Him away when they need Him the most.

Then there are the hot. They are the Light and Salt of the World. They are contagious Christians. They are on fire for the Lord. They go out and live godly lives as best as they can. They go to church, but then they don't just forget about it as soon as the next best thing comes around. They meditate on the sermon, read their Bible, and pray to the Lord. They don't concentrate on hating anyone--they concentrate on being nice to everyone in the hopes that they can bring them to the Lord. And they don't just try to shove the Gospel down their throat like so many people do--they want to make those people around them that do not believe the difference in their lives. They want to be on fire. They are those who try to revive their churches, try to bring people to Christ, and are, at their essence, some of the best sort of people us humans can possibly hope to be.

And, finally, there are the lukewarm. They are directly in between these two extremes. These lukewarm people go to church and claim that they are Christians, but do they live it? No. They go to church every Sunday, then go to bars, getting drunk, partaking in sexual immorality, swearing, disobeying their parents, and do everything that God has told them they shouldn't do. They think "oh, I'm saved. It doesn't matter. The people around me don't know I'm a Christian, and I can do whatever I want." These are the people that do not lean on God's Word to protect them. They lean on themselves. They do not realize that what they are doing is wrong, and then turn around and say that God is the Savior, that He will save them from their sins. They don't bother setting an example, like we were commanded to do. They do nothing to further the kingdom of God and, as such, are repulsive in God's eyes.

Revelation 3:16:

Have you ever drank lukewarm water? 

If so, you know how repulsive it takes. It has an odd sort of metallicy, warm taste in your mouth that makes you want to vomit it out.

What lukewarm water is to us perfectly describes lukewarm Christians in Christ's eyes. Lukewarm, bland things are never appealing. Jesus Christ doesn't like seeing those people proclaim to be Christians and yet not live it. He doesn't like it when they go to church, proclaim themselves to be Christians, and then partake in those terrible sins that He has cut off from us. This lukewarm-ness causes Christ to want to vomit us out, to get rid of us forcibly.

Vomit.

That is what lukewarm Christians are.

And I doubt that any of us want to consider ourselves to be vomit, but that is exactly what we are. We have the appearance of holiness for a while just like lukewarm water has the appearance of a refreshing thirst-quencher, but as soon as we get in close proximity with them, we realize that they are frauds, that those things are not what they say they are.

Those people who are lukewarm and don't want to be can bounce back from it, obviously. I am the prime example of that. I was a lukewarm Christian, and I am continually ashamed of that. When my brother-in-law gave me a lesson similar to this a few weeks ago, my life changed. I made a vow to not become a lukewarm Christian. I have grown to be so passionate for Christ. I want to further His kingdom so much that I don't care if I'm shunned, like I have said numerous times before. I am changing my life for the better, and frankly, I couldn't be happier.

However, some lukewarm Christians do not realize what they are doing and, if they do, they don't care, as said in the next verse.

Revelation 3:17:

In today's day and age, we are constantly pushing any sort of supernatural events out of our sight. We try to explain things through naturalistic processes, constantly pushing Christianity out of our schools, TV shows, books, and numerous other places. From the atheistic worldview, things can only come out of processes that we can know and observe today. The only thing that exists are material things. This cuts out God entirely--even Christians are steadily growing to depend on material things instead of those spiritual things that God gave us so that we may make our way through this sinful world as best as we can.

This what this verse is saying. Christians say "I have all I need--I am rich, popular, and wealthy. I don't need to believe in the Bible. I don't need to believe that it is true. I don't even need to believe the Genesis account of the Bible. As long as I have my riches, my expensive house, and my friends, nothing else matters." They think that they no longer have to listen to what God instructs them to do, when in reality, in their hearts of hearts, they are yearning, wretched, miserable, poor and blind from the truth. Even though they see the Bible being preached each Sunday they go to church, it doesn't register. They say that they don't have to take the Bible literally, and end up growing lukewarm. They think they don't have to do anything to further the kingdom.

As we can probably expect, He is quite repulsed by this. Here are His people, the ones who claim to be like Him, acting exactly like the rest of the world.

Revelation 3:18:

Okay. I am not claiming to know what this verse means, because it is confusing even to me. However, I can interpret this the best as I can. This first part of the verse is talking about God's gold refined in fire and the white garments God clothes His people with--this seems to be talking about God's gifts, and seems to be an allusion to the very first story of sin, where Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, grew aware of their nakedness, and needed God to give their clothes so that their sin may be hidden.

Now, this seems to be the exact opposite. The people of Laodicea are clothed in these pure white clothes, but this is only an illusion. They think that they are holy, and they cannot see their nakedness. They cannot see how unpure they actually are, and they think that they can do whatever they need to do on their own. They say "I'm saved, so I can do whatever I want. After all, I know I'm going to heaven, right?" God, who never likes to see His people stray, urges them to come back to Him so that He may open their eyes (which have been blinded), but they don't want to see the truth.

So most of them run and live under the illusion.

Revelation 3:19-20:

Thankfully, however, we serve a kind and gracious Lord. Jesus Christ may love us, but He's not about to pass by all of our faults just because of that. Jesus Christ will awake this lukewarm church, whether through the words of someone we love, like what happened with my brother-in-law's lesson, or with a harsh wake up call from one of our enemies. He is calling us to repent, to grow in Him and to be on fire for Him. He doesn't want us to be lukewarm. He doesn't want anyone to be separated from Him.

Therefore, Jesus is always there.

He is right behind the door. He is knocking, trying to get our attention. Some people hear His call, but some people are seemingly not able to. For those people that can hear His call, however, and will open the door of their heart for Jesus Christ, He will come in. He will be with them, and He wil make them whole once more. However, he could never do this for those who are unwilling. Unfortunately, there are many people who are unwilling, with all the sin and the darkness pervading the world we currently live in.

Revelation 3:21-22:

Verse 21 says that there is a reward for those who get through this harsh world, trusting in Him, and being on fire for Him, instead of being lukewarm. For those people who are confronted with these sins, with this terrible prospect of God spitting us out of His mouth, there is a reward for those who overcome it. He grants us the amazing privilege to be with Him in heaven, to sit with God on His throne. 

And verse 22 states that this amazing opportunity is open for everyone. Anyone who is able to hear this message is eligible for the prize--being close to our God. God is giving us His Word so that we may hear. So many people don't, and the consequences are great, for those who do hear, the rewards extend from this life to the next one... and even beyond that, whatever the future of humankind holds.

Now, I know that some of you may not get this message, whether it's because of the fact that I am not being clear enough or that you are simply not willing to understand this message. The thought of being a lukewarm Christian is... well, only people who have been there can truly understand what it is like.

Like I said in my last post about this, we are called to witness. In the first three gospels, it is stated.

Just look.

Matthew 28:19-20: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Mark 16:15: "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature."

Luke 24:46-47: "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem."

Though the wording differs in each of these verses, the basic meaning is the same: Christians are called to preach the gospel. We aren't just called to go to church, sing a few songs, and then get on with our lives. We aren't called to be tolerant of everything. We are called to tell people the good news of Christ, regardless of whether they accept it or not.

Except merely saying the words "Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, called Himself the son of God, died for our sins and was risen on the third day" isn't enough. We have to live it. We can't just say it and expect it to make a difference. There should be a difference in Christians from anyone else in the world. We shouldn't just say this and act like everyone else.

Christians are supposed to love. They are supposed to be kind, accepting, and loving. They are supposed to be the Light and Salt of the earth. They must show people to Christ without pushing, live a godly life, and make a difference. We are supposed to be potent, we are supposed to be passionate. We aren't supposed to be lukewarm. We are supposed to be so much more than everyone else.

There is something different in Christians.

It is just our decision to bring that to light. For those lukewarm Christians that aren't doing this and may be reading this post right now, I urge you to make that difference. One Christian can make a difference. One person can help so many people come to Christ. Being a lukewarm Christian won't do anything. It will just make Christianity out to look hypocritical, and I urge you not to do that.

For the Christians reading this, we must make a difference. I know I will, but it is up to everyone else to help as well.

And, for those nonChristians in the group, I know that some of you couldn't disagree more with what I'm saying. I'm not sure what you're thinking, but if you disagree, please try to keep it to yourself. I hope that this study of the Laodicean church impacted you, even though i'm not sure how, and I hope you keep it in your thoughts.

But, since this post is long enough, I'll stop now.