Revelation 3:14-22

The Lukewarm Church: Laodicea

May 05, 2021

The Revelation of Jesus Christ Revelation 3:14-22 – (The Lukewarm Church: Laodicea)


Commission Revelation 3:14

  1. Laodicea
    1. The Apostate Church
    2. The Putrid Church
    3. The Lukewarm Church
  2. 1900 – Tribulation
  3. 40-50 miles SE
  4. 17,000 people
  5. Major Trade Route – Ephesus to Sardis
    1. Unique breed of sheep
      1. Glossy black wool
      2. Great and expensive clothing
    2. Medical School
      1. Eye salve for curing eye diseases-
      2. Borax
      3. Collyrium
    3. Banking
      1. Money exchanging
      2. Minting own coin
    4. Extremely wealthy area
    5. Very self-sufficient
  6. Founded by Antiochus II
    1. Named after his wife – Laodice
  7. Major earthquake demolished it – 60AD
    1. Roman government offered to rebuild
    2. They refused
    3. Didn’t need the financial help
  8. Horrible water – needed to pipe in usable water
    1. Cold water from Colossae
    2. Hot water from the hot springs of Hierapolis
      1. Lukewarm by the time it got there
  9. Not sure how the church started
    1. May have been by Epaphras
    2. Paul was aware of them (Colossians 2:1)
    3. Sent his greetings (Colossians 4:15)
    4. Asked that the letter to the Colossians be shared with the church of Laodicea (Colossians 4:16)

Character Revelation 3:14

  1. The Amen
    1. Reliable and true
    2. So be it
    3. Hebrew root word
      1. Certainty or truth
    4. The divine standard of truth
    5. His word regarding the church and their spiritual state is truthful and reliable
  2. The faithful and true witness
    1. Revelation 1:5
    2. Accurate
      1. Endured temptation
      2. Shared truth with all people while facing adversity
      3. Endured suffering and the cross
    3. Therefore, His assessment is not dilated, diluted, distorted or double tongued
  3. The beginning of the creation of God
    1. Colossians 1:15-17
    2. John 1:1-3

ZERO COMMENDATION


Strongest Condemnation Revelation 3:15-18

  1. Lukewarm
    1. Not cold
      1. Not having salvation, spiritual knowledge or unresponsive to spiritual things
    2. Not hot
      1. True believers – received Jesus as Lord with spiritual fervor
    3. Lukewarm
      1. Putrid, gross, not palatable, make you sick
      2. Vomit, spew it out
        1. To spiritually straddle the fence
        2. Conscience rarely touched
        3. Doesn’t take Jesus or Bible seriously
        4. Doesn’t take sin or the lost world seriously
        5. Erratic or sporadic with fellowship
        6. Doesn’t let the Bible serve as a guide for living life
        7. No witness to others
      3. Some sense of duty but severely lacking conviction
    4. Some might say this congregation was mainly lost
    5. Some might argue they were believers without the deep commitment – no doing, no being
    6. I will vomit you out
    7. Paul’s example – Pharisee to soul winner

“Perhaps none of the seven letters is more appropriate to the church at the end of the twentieth century than this. It describes vividly the respectable, nominal, rather sentimental, skin-deep religiosity which is so widespread among us today.”

John Stott (Walvoord, 49)

  1. Self-sufficient
    1. No to Roman aid
    2. No need for God
    3. But you are
      1. Wretched – oppressed with a burden from the wealth you have built
      2. Miserable – pitiful and complacent being seen by all
      3. Poor – beggarly and spiritually bankrupt
      4. Blind – nearsighted because of your massive wealth
        1. Ironic with them developing the salve
      5. Naked – costly garments should be replaced with the white garments of righteousness
    4. Their spiritual poverty, blindness and nakedness made them wretched and miserable
    5. In John’s writing, blindness generally portrayed lostness (John 12:40; 9:30-31)
    6. Nakedness illustrates a lack of righteousness (Revelation 7:13-14; 22:14)
  2. Gold
    1. Resembles faith
    2. Priceless gospel
    3. Those who possess it reveal lives which glorify the Lord
    4. So, you may be rich but really you are poor
  3. White Garments
    1. Christ’s holiness and righteousness
    2. Acceptable in God’s sight
    3. Irony
      1. Sleek black wool
      2. Major income
      3. Wonderful clothing
      4. Still naked before God
  4. Sight healed
    1. Blind
    2. Irony of the salve
    3. Only Jesus can truly heal spiritual blindness

Challenge Revelation 3:19-20

  1. As many as I love
  1. I still love you
    1. Phileo – affection with less depth
      1. Disciplinary
      2. Believed to only be used with believers ii. Agape – self-sacrificing love
      3. John 3:16
  2. There is always hope and opportunity for repentance
  1. Be zealous and repent
    1. Passionate, committed, resolved
    2. Turn from sin and self to God
  2. Revelation 3:20
    1. Popular Gospel presentation
      1. Context – you are here/there is where I want you
      2. Invitation more than a reproof
      3. Parallel to John 14:23
    2. Also an invitation to believers
      1. Not just an appeal to nonbelievers
      2. Overall principle
    3. Whose responsibility to open the door
      1. Mine
      2. William Homan Hunt – 1854
        1. Painting of this verse
        2. Did not include an exterior doorknob
        3. Friends thought he had messed up
        4. Shared the reasoning

Reward

  1. Overcome
    1. Share the throne
    2. Relationship with Him and the Father
    3. Share in the inheritance

20th century Introduced the idea that God is too narrow minded We know better Leaving sound doctrine

Henry Emerson Fosdick – 1922 – sermon to the Northern Baptist Convention

Christians did not need “the intolerance of fundamentalists but rather the tolerance of diverse belief practiced by enlightened modernists.”


Overall summary 1). The local church is important – mentioned repeatedly in the Revelation of Jesus 2). Seven messages for all to hear 3). Warnings and indictments are to both believer and unbeliever 4). Promises to overcomers relate to salvation - Kingdom and eternity