In this portion of John’s revelation, Jesus has commanded John to put to paper His dictation, addressed specifically to seven churches in Asia Minor, the easternmost portion of the Roman Empire, and an area where Paul highly focused his missionary efforts (today, Asia Minor is mostly comprised of Turkey). Laodicea, a particularly wealthy and self-sufficient city, was the destination of the last of these letters.
And so Jesus begins, “The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.” To 21st century, Western-thinking folks, these titles might seem a bit inflated, if not just outright confusing. However, to the church in Laodicea, they would make perfect sense. Acts tells us that there were a significant number of Jews who called this area home (Acts 13,14). The “Amen” is a Hebrew term of confirmation (Jeremiah 11:5; 28:6); even today, we use “amen” as a term of confirmation after a prayer or theological assertion, so as to establish a connotation of “so be it” or “that’s right” (heck, sometimes the assertion doesn’t even have to be theological in nature; i.e. Guy #1: “Dude, he needs to mind his own business!”. Guy # : “Amen!”). The second title, “faithful and true witness” is just a more conspicuous assertion of the first title. In other words, it suggests an assurance of the validity of what is said. The third title, “beginning of God’s creation”, is a bit more tricky. Some have, in the past, taken this to mean that Christ is a created being who was simply created before everything else. However, solid exegesis and word study shows this position to be both false and heretical. In fact, Jesus has always existed with God and is himself the agent of creation (John 1:1-3). Thus, the titles here with which Jesus begins His exhortation are basically His way of saying, “Look. This is the Lord talking. This stuff that I’m about to say…it’s right from the horse’s mouth; you can take it to the bank.” Perhaps Jesus chose to introduce His exhortation in this way so as to distinguish it from John’s exhortation, leaving its hearers less apt to dismiss it or take it lightly on the basis of its being “written by humans”. Funny - we still have this exact same issue with inspiration today.
Jesus begins His exhortation, “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” Jesus wants the Laodiceans to know that He is not only aware of their works, but that He is displeased with them. Now, this is the part where the preacher asserts his metaphorical interpretation of this passage to the congregation (I admit, I’ve done this); it generally goes something like this: “Jesus is being metaphorical in His usage of hot and cold. Hot represents being spiritually alive or “on fire” for Jesus. And cold represents being spiritually dead or, still worse, an unbeliever. Thus, being lukewarm represents straddling the fence between the Kingdom and the World - and Jesus says this is worse than either one.” Well, despite the massive temptation to arrive at this conclusion (it is really fun, isn’t it?), Jesus probably has different things in mind. In order to understand Jesus’s metaphorical rendering here, you need to know some things about Laodicea. Despite Laodicea’s self-sufficiency and bolstering city pride, it is a well-documented fact that the city did not have access to a satisfactory source of water. It didn’t have access to cold water that ran down from mountains, nor did it have hot water generated in hot springs (like nearby Hierapolis). In fact, it’s own source of water was heavy with sediment. So, in order to get healthy drinking water, it had to pipe it in from surrounding cities (yes, they had pipes). And by the time this water actually reached Laodicea, it was lukewarm. This meant extra work either heating up the water via a small fire or cooling it down by placing a bucket of it in the shade. It was this constant drudgery about which the Laodiceans consistently complained. And it is this exact geographical feature that Jesus is exploiting in His metaphor. Hot water is good for something (bathing, cleaning, some drinks). Cold water is good for something (drinks, refreshment). But lukewarm water is absolutely useless. Thus, in effect, Jesus is saying here: “You Laodiceans are just as useless as the lukewarm water you’re always complaining about!”. Concerning the “I will spit you out of my mouth” part, I don’t quite think that Jesus is threatening their salvation (this is, after all, directed toward a church, not just one person). Rather, I think He is basically asserting that He would just as well have no church at all than have one that is useless in His name.
Jesus continues, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, 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.” Jesus asserts here that the apparent source of the Laodiceans’ uselessness is their collective dependence on worldly security. Laodicea was very abundant in natural resources, resulting in a city that was not just stable economically, but prosperous. The city functioned as a wealthy banking center. It hosted gladiator games. It boasted a theater. There was no shortage of civic pride. Thus, it seems that the Christians in Laodicea were useless in that they were just like their surroundings…prideful, self-sufficient, and therefore unable to realize their need for Christ. Thus Christ characterizes them as “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” As a remedy, therefore, Christ counsels the church to buy from Him “gold, refined by fire”. “Gold” symbolizes many things in the Bible, but when used in the context of being refined, it generally refers to faith that is being tested (Malachi 3:3; I Peter 1:7), often by a difficult circumstance. Perhaps the difficult circumstance here is sacrifice. His second remedy is “white garments” which will cover the shame of their nakedness. To be naked in the ancient world (especially among the Jews) was a very shameful thing. Nakedness is often used in the Bible as a metaphor for the exposure of evil or sin. The comedy in Jesus’s offer of “white garments” is that Laodicea was famous for its textile production, mainly clothes derived from black wool. This metaphor is clearly intentionally ironic, as is His final offer, that of eye salve. Laodicea was home to a medical school, a famous 1st-century eye doctor, and likely Phrygian powder, a substance used to manufacture eye salve. The contrast here, however, is that despite these wonderful optometric resources, the church is still blind and in need of the anointed healing that only Jesus’s eye salve can provide.
Jesus then cautions, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.” Lest the Laodiceans be misinformed, Jesus asserts that his seemingly harsh demand for their sacrificial obedience is not for kicks and giggles. Rather, He does this in order to discipline them. He does it because He loves them, not the opposite. In fact, to put it like one of my high school football coaches, “it’s when I stop being so hard on you that you need to be worried”.
Jesus continues, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to 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.” Jesus employs a familiar ancient image here, a meal in fellowship. It is perhaps one of the most intimate things in antiquity that platonic friends can do. And it is this very intimacy that stands at the doorstep of the Laodicean’s lives. All they have to do is answer. If the meal, then, stands as the image for intimate faith, then the image of conquering must represent steadfast obedience, for Jesus’s relates it to His own experience in conquering death and sin through obeying the will of the Father. Notice here that this is one of the few places where Jesus “sits” with the Father. Most of the time, he’s standing. Sitting is the position one takes when his work is finished. Thus it was finished when Jesus conquered, and so it is for those of us who conquer through Him. This particular passage has been used by some, however, to assert that, because this passage speaks of humans co-reigning with Christ, humans can achieve the status of godhood. This interpretation is nothing short of retarded and ignores ALL other biblical scripture that presents clear evidence to the contrary.
Jesus concludes, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” In other words, though these words might have penned for a particular place and time, EVERYONE can benefit from understanding and applying their message.
So, speaking of application, how can we apply these timeless truths into our lives today? Alright, here come your four points (boy, am I Baptist or what?)…
1.) Our actions, individually and collectively as a Church, WILL represent our Father no matter what. The question of whether they do so accurately or not might well be another matter, but they do represent Him. It is this very disease of being useless as a church that has all but rendered Christians absolutely voiceless when it comes to addressing the important matters of our world. The Church has forgotten her purpose: to serve as the loving, transformed community of believers through whom God redeems the world. But, currently, the Church is way too concerned with others things to fool around with telling folks about Jesus. If we do actually tell folks about Jesus (outside of the much louder message we send with our actions), we often do so in such a condescending manner so as to alienate those to whom we “present the Gospel”. Still more criminal, we expect that people buy into the change that Christ can bring into their lives when there has been no change in our own. We need to learn what it really means to be Christians (little Christs) and live lives that truly reflect the heart and passions of our savior.
2.) The American church and the Laodicean church have so much in common. So much! The prosperity. The self-sufficiency. The arrogance. We’ve bought into these “securities” hook, line, and sinker and have somehow forgotten the much more important issue of God. Let’s be honest. We don’t depend on Him. We run church like a business. We make decisions based on worldly principles or our own selfish desires, throw an “I love Jesus” t-shirt on them, and let them run wild. Like the Laodiceans, we’re just like the filth that surrounds us. Maybe worse - at least unbelievers live up to what God expects of them. We live down to that same standard…and somehow think that we’ll change the world. It’s funny. History has always shown us that it is under persecution that Christianity flourishes. Is it any wonder? It shouldn’t be. For it is under persecution that we truly realize the worthlessness of wealth juxtaposed with the eternal riches found in faith in Jesus, obedience to the will of God, and dependence on Him. Isn’t it interesting that most of us consider the prosperity of America a blessing?
3.) I hate to bad-mouth prosperity or health/wealth theology (not really), but let me just say this: when did our culture become so dang wussy regarding the difficulty in living as a Christian? It seems like Christians are always looking for the easy way out - avoiding the very process of refining through which God tries to take us. Don’t get me wrong; there is nothing wrong with affirming that God is loving. It’s just that our concept of love is so dang inadequate. Discipline IS part of God’s love. Dare I say it…GOD LETS “BAD” THINGS HAPPEN TO HIS CHILDREN ON PURPOSE. And why? Because, to God, developing us to be more like Christ in our character, compassion, and love for God and others far outweighs God’s desire to protect us from what we’ve gotten ourselves into through our sin.
4.) Jesus stands at the door, desiring intimacy with ALL of His children. And yet, we settle for going to church a couple of days a week and begrudgingly dragging ourselves into the presence of God through prayer. How sad that God offers this whole world…no, this whole universe of intimacy and understanding, and we settle for a closet.
In Christ
SRay
P.S. I used the NIV Application Commentary on Revelation for all the historical and theological background for this sermon.
Disclaimer: I realize this sermon has a lot of generalizations in it. That is mostly because it is addressed toward a Body, and not an individual. If you feel that you are an exception to most of its exhortation, then you should probably start at the top and read it all over again.
