Rev. 3:14-22
Have you read the Covenant Home Altar this week? It was based on Jesus’ words in Mark 7 where he was criticizing the Pharisees for emphasizing their traditions in place of God’s commands. Jesus said, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is devoted to God—then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
Obviously the Jews were being legalistic and using those traditions for their own advantage. More recent legalism isn’t exactly the same. But one statement in the devotional book got Kathy and I talking after reading because it was about the way churches used to be, you know the legalistic rules we grew up with like “Don’t drink, smoke or chew and don’t hang out with people who do.” The church has come a long way from two Sunday services, mandatory weekly Bible study, and prohibitions on important things like card playing, movies and dancing. We are surely not that legalistic anymore.
But the writer of the devotional mentioned that probably every generation needs to sort through their own collection of the “traditions of men” that develop in any community and seek to discern what we are doing today that is more traditional than biblical. That’s what Kathy and I started talking about. If we are not a legalistic church and we have gladly left behind such strict and unfriendly, inhospitable rules, does that automatically mean we are a God honoring church, or could it be that other traditions have snuck in that set us free from the more rigorous demands of true discipleship and take the place of truly biblical Christianity, so that we also in our own ways are just paying lip service to what God really wants. Do we do many things like that?
What if the pendulum has swung too far the other way now and we are way too relaxed about how we approach God or what kind of living he expects of us? What if the traditions that we live by now treat God too much like a good buddy and not enough like the holy God he really is? What if our current traditions are not even recognized as traditions because they are more like habits of behavior that we just live by without ever thinking or questioning? What if we are just assuming everything is fine because we know we are not legalistic?
Surely something like that is what was happening in the Church at Laodicea, even so soon after Jesus’ resurrection and Paul’s ministry in the area. Their performance review didn’t go well at all. Jesus said, “These are the words of the Amen (I have the final say in all things.), the faithful and true witness (I never get it wrong.), the ruler of God’s creation (I have the right to make the judgements I make.). 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 am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”
This rebuke is filled with images they would readily understand. The city of Laodicea was indeed very wealthy in material goods. They were so rich that when an earthquake struck the area, they were one city that did not take the Roman government handout to rebuild. It was like refusing to accept federal disaster relief funds! Is there any city in America that would think itself that rich? The city was also famous for its garment industry, though they mostly produced clothing made of black wool, which is one reason why Jesus offered white robes in contrast. And they also boasted an important medical center for good health and healing. The one thing they didn’t have was a good water supply. It had to be piped in from a distance and that is why it was neither hot nor cold by the time it got to them. It also got to be so filled with sediment that it didn’t taste good. They really did want to spit it out if they couldn’t flavor it with tea or coffee or something.
Jesus highlighted all the material blessings to emphasize that the Laodicean church was caught up in the same pride as the pagan citizens and was focused on the wrong things. He was telling them that he feels like they think they don’t need him! Jesus related to their complaints about the real water they had to drink to highlight his disgust with how they were towards him.
What these images were intended to convey to them is that the biggest part of their problem is that they did not realize what a mess they were in or how far they had strayed from the thing God really wants for them. He says he knows their deeds, so we can assume they were busy doing something. But apparently being busy doesn’t necessarily and automatically mean that you are doing the right things or that God is pleased that you are busy.
Whatever they were busy doing had already blinded them to the true condition of their spiritual work. They called themselves a church and they worked at it. But Jesus said they were lukewarm, wretched, pitiful, poor blind and naked! And they thought they were just the opposite! They were so proud of themselves. They were self-righteous, just like the self- righteous Pharisees who had set up all their own traditions that actually created loop holes that lead them away from true obedience to God’s commands.
And for all their busy-ness they are judged by Jesus to be lukewarm in their devotion and love to him. They congratulate themselves for all their effort and don’t hear Jesus’ voice that would guide them better. We do well to heed this warning. We may think we can’t possibly be as bad off as the Laodiceans because we know we are not rich! We know we do not have a lot of resources. We know we are poor and we constantly pray for Jesus’ help. But as I said in the beginning, what if we are blind to what Jesus really wants from us because we like the way we already do things? What if we subtly worship our own comfort zone and are unwilling to make whatever sacrifice God may ask of us so that we become a people used of God to reach the lost?
In a book about modern evangelism, the author, who happens to be a pastor of a Christian Reformed church in Byron Center MI, (Kevin Harney, Organic Outreach) says that he always asks 3 questions of any congregation who say they want to reach the lost. A definite “yes” to all three questions will mean fruitfulness. A “no” answer to any one of the three will mean that congregation is not really interested in reaching the lost for Christ. So here are the three questions. See how you answer: 1. Do you believe the Bible to be the true word of God, worthy of our devotion and containing the only hope of salvation? 2. Do you love the lost sinners around you with the love of Jesus Christ so that your ministry cares about outreach and has outreach programs, are you actively trying to reach the lost?
Before I ask the final question, I want to point out that in almost every case, any group of church leaders and any congregation that calls itself Christian will answer the first two questions resoundingly yes and amen! That’s the kind of church we want to be! I’ll bet you feel that way too. Now the final question: Do you love the Lord so much that you will do anything for him and for the lost even if it means changing the way you do church, the places you do church and the times you do church? Can you throw out everything you call church and keep just the Bible as the only non-negotiable?
When Jesus says, “buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich, and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness, and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.” He is really telling them that they should remember that what he has to offer is far superior to anything they could possibly acquire from the broken and sinful world that treasures merely material things. But how are they supposed to “buy” these things from Jesus? Isn’t salvation supposed to be a free gift?
What could we possibly offer to Jesus in exchange for the gift of salvation? We already know nothing can pay the price Jesus paid for us. So then, let us make a distinction between the free gift of salvation by grace that is ours just by believing that Jesus paid it all, and the journey we begin the day we are saved by that grace, the process of discipleship and sanctification that is ours when we accept Jesus’ challenge to take up the cross, run the race marked out for us, do the works prepared in advance for us to do and work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
Romans 12: 1-2 asks us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, a spiritual act of worship. But if we become willing to make such a sacrifice, pouring ourselves out like drink offerings because we want to be used of God to reach and save the lost, how will we know which behaviors we must change? How will we see which things about the ways we worship are just traditions of men and stand in the way of the real commands of God?
How do we avoid both extremes of legalism and laxity? Jesus gives us the answer in his message to Laodicea. There is a love connection! Jesus said, “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 that person, and they with me.” Jesus is not really ready to spit them out of his mouth and walk away. He loves them and his rebuke and his appeal are his expression of tough love designed to rock their world and produce the repentance he asks of them.
Then Jesus puts the focus on intimate fellowship. He does not stand at the door of an unbeliever’s heart and knock. In spite of how this verse has been used in evangelistic efforts, surely you can now see that Jesus was really talking to his bride! The church he loves has put him out in the cold and he wants back in! He loves her! Let him in. Spend time with him. Prayerfully listen for his voice and he will guide and direct. This love connection solves the problem of figuring out how to behave. Jesus said if we love him we will obey him. Obedience is his love language.
Have you heard about the five love languages? Humans want to be loved and for most of us the ways that we know we are loved come in one of five ways. Some people crave words of affirmation. (Please tell me I am doing a good job! That’s one of my love languages.) Say nice to things to them and they will really believe you love them. Other appreciate gifts. The writer of the song that says, “You don’t send me flowers anymore,” probably felt most love when receiving gifts. The other three love languages are acts of service, time and attention and gentle and meaningful touch.
A lot of people feel God loves them when he speaks these love languages for them. For example you might hear someone say, “If God really loves me he will make sure I get a good job.” That would be an act of service that they expect God to perform for them so they feel loved by him. Some people want to feel God’s presence when they worship. That would be sort of like the touch love language. And so it goes. It is so easy to get disappointed when we find out that God doesn’t seem to speak our love language the way we want him to. We may feel like he doesn’t love us.
But really, at the cross, Jesus expressed all five love languages in one place. First of all he came to earth as a man, to really be with us and spend time with his human creatures. He spoke words of affirmation like, “God so loved the world,” and “Father forgive them.” His sacrificial death on the cross was both the greatest gift anyone could give and a loving act of service. His ministry touches all of us in a far deeper ways than just a pat on the back, or even a warm reassuring hug.
As we think of how much Jesus loves us, first we would be very happy to let Jesus go on loving us. Pour on the blessings! But the question becomes, are we using his love language of obedience to let him know that we love him in return? And now we turn to the Lord’s Table to taste and see that the Lord is good. See he has spread a feast before us and invited us to be his guests. He has come in to sup with us in picture and graphic form through this sacrament. But he has truly come in to sup with you if you have opened your heart to receive him. He loves you! If you can grasp that, you will love him back and serve his world
To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Amen.
Have you read the Covenant Home Altar this week? It was based on Jesus’ words in Mark 7 where he was criticizing the Pharisees for emphasizing their traditions in place of God’s commands. Jesus said, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is devoted to God—then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
Obviously the Jews were being legalistic and using those traditions for their own advantage. More recent legalism isn’t exactly the same. But one statement in the devotional book got Kathy and I talking after reading because it was about the way churches used to be, you know the legalistic rules we grew up with like “Don’t drink, smoke or chew and don’t hang out with people who do.” The church has come a long way from two Sunday services, mandatory weekly Bible study, and prohibitions on important things like card playing, movies and dancing. We are surely not that legalistic anymore.
But the writer of the devotional mentioned that probably every generation needs to sort through their own collection of the “traditions of men” that develop in any community and seek to discern what we are doing today that is more traditional than biblical. That’s what Kathy and I started talking about. If we are not a legalistic church and we have gladly left behind such strict and unfriendly, inhospitable rules, does that automatically mean we are a God honoring church, or could it be that other traditions have snuck in that set us free from the more rigorous demands of true discipleship and take the place of truly biblical Christianity, so that we also in our own ways are just paying lip service to what God really wants. Do we do many things like that?
What if the pendulum has swung too far the other way now and we are way too relaxed about how we approach God or what kind of living he expects of us? What if the traditions that we live by now treat God too much like a good buddy and not enough like the holy God he really is? What if our current traditions are not even recognized as traditions because they are more like habits of behavior that we just live by without ever thinking or questioning? What if we are just assuming everything is fine because we know we are not legalistic?
Surely something like that is what was happening in the Church at Laodicea, even so soon after Jesus’ resurrection and Paul’s ministry in the area. Their performance review didn’t go well at all. Jesus said, “These are the words of the Amen (I have the final say in all things.), the faithful and true witness (I never get it wrong.), the ruler of God’s creation (I have the right to make the judgements I make.). 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 am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”
This rebuke is filled with images they would readily understand. The city of Laodicea was indeed very wealthy in material goods. They were so rich that when an earthquake struck the area, they were one city that did not take the Roman government handout to rebuild. It was like refusing to accept federal disaster relief funds! Is there any city in America that would think itself that rich? The city was also famous for its garment industry, though they mostly produced clothing made of black wool, which is one reason why Jesus offered white robes in contrast. And they also boasted an important medical center for good health and healing. The one thing they didn’t have was a good water supply. It had to be piped in from a distance and that is why it was neither hot nor cold by the time it got to them. It also got to be so filled with sediment that it didn’t taste good. They really did want to spit it out if they couldn’t flavor it with tea or coffee or something.
Jesus highlighted all the material blessings to emphasize that the Laodicean church was caught up in the same pride as the pagan citizens and was focused on the wrong things. He was telling them that he feels like they think they don’t need him! Jesus related to their complaints about the real water they had to drink to highlight his disgust with how they were towards him.
What these images were intended to convey to them is that the biggest part of their problem is that they did not realize what a mess they were in or how far they had strayed from the thing God really wants for them. He says he knows their deeds, so we can assume they were busy doing something. But apparently being busy doesn’t necessarily and automatically mean that you are doing the right things or that God is pleased that you are busy.
Whatever they were busy doing had already blinded them to the true condition of their spiritual work. They called themselves a church and they worked at it. But Jesus said they were lukewarm, wretched, pitiful, poor blind and naked! And they thought they were just the opposite! They were so proud of themselves. They were self-righteous, just like the self- righteous Pharisees who had set up all their own traditions that actually created loop holes that lead them away from true obedience to God’s commands.
And for all their busy-ness they are judged by Jesus to be lukewarm in their devotion and love to him. They congratulate themselves for all their effort and don’t hear Jesus’ voice that would guide them better. We do well to heed this warning. We may think we can’t possibly be as bad off as the Laodiceans because we know we are not rich! We know we do not have a lot of resources. We know we are poor and we constantly pray for Jesus’ help. But as I said in the beginning, what if we are blind to what Jesus really wants from us because we like the way we already do things? What if we subtly worship our own comfort zone and are unwilling to make whatever sacrifice God may ask of us so that we become a people used of God to reach the lost?
In a book about modern evangelism, the author, who happens to be a pastor of a Christian Reformed church in Byron Center MI, (Kevin Harney, Organic Outreach) says that he always asks 3 questions of any congregation who say they want to reach the lost. A definite “yes” to all three questions will mean fruitfulness. A “no” answer to any one of the three will mean that congregation is not really interested in reaching the lost for Christ. So here are the three questions. See how you answer: 1. Do you believe the Bible to be the true word of God, worthy of our devotion and containing the only hope of salvation? 2. Do you love the lost sinners around you with the love of Jesus Christ so that your ministry cares about outreach and has outreach programs, are you actively trying to reach the lost?
Before I ask the final question, I want to point out that in almost every case, any group of church leaders and any congregation that calls itself Christian will answer the first two questions resoundingly yes and amen! That’s the kind of church we want to be! I’ll bet you feel that way too. Now the final question: Do you love the Lord so much that you will do anything for him and for the lost even if it means changing the way you do church, the places you do church and the times you do church? Can you throw out everything you call church and keep just the Bible as the only non-negotiable?
When Jesus says, “buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich, and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness, and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.” He is really telling them that they should remember that what he has to offer is far superior to anything they could possibly acquire from the broken and sinful world that treasures merely material things. But how are they supposed to “buy” these things from Jesus? Isn’t salvation supposed to be a free gift?
What could we possibly offer to Jesus in exchange for the gift of salvation? We already know nothing can pay the price Jesus paid for us. So then, let us make a distinction between the free gift of salvation by grace that is ours just by believing that Jesus paid it all, and the journey we begin the day we are saved by that grace, the process of discipleship and sanctification that is ours when we accept Jesus’ challenge to take up the cross, run the race marked out for us, do the works prepared in advance for us to do and work out our salvation with fear and trembling.
Romans 12: 1-2 asks us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, a spiritual act of worship. But if we become willing to make such a sacrifice, pouring ourselves out like drink offerings because we want to be used of God to reach and save the lost, how will we know which behaviors we must change? How will we see which things about the ways we worship are just traditions of men and stand in the way of the real commands of God?
How do we avoid both extremes of legalism and laxity? Jesus gives us the answer in his message to Laodicea. There is a love connection! Jesus said, “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 that person, and they with me.” Jesus is not really ready to spit them out of his mouth and walk away. He loves them and his rebuke and his appeal are his expression of tough love designed to rock their world and produce the repentance he asks of them.
Then Jesus puts the focus on intimate fellowship. He does not stand at the door of an unbeliever’s heart and knock. In spite of how this verse has been used in evangelistic efforts, surely you can now see that Jesus was really talking to his bride! The church he loves has put him out in the cold and he wants back in! He loves her! Let him in. Spend time with him. Prayerfully listen for his voice and he will guide and direct. This love connection solves the problem of figuring out how to behave. Jesus said if we love him we will obey him. Obedience is his love language.
Have you heard about the five love languages? Humans want to be loved and for most of us the ways that we know we are loved come in one of five ways. Some people crave words of affirmation. (Please tell me I am doing a good job! That’s one of my love languages.) Say nice to things to them and they will really believe you love them. Other appreciate gifts. The writer of the song that says, “You don’t send me flowers anymore,” probably felt most love when receiving gifts. The other three love languages are acts of service, time and attention and gentle and meaningful touch.
A lot of people feel God loves them when he speaks these love languages for them. For example you might hear someone say, “If God really loves me he will make sure I get a good job.” That would be an act of service that they expect God to perform for them so they feel loved by him. Some people want to feel God’s presence when they worship. That would be sort of like the touch love language. And so it goes. It is so easy to get disappointed when we find out that God doesn’t seem to speak our love language the way we want him to. We may feel like he doesn’t love us.
But really, at the cross, Jesus expressed all five love languages in one place. First of all he came to earth as a man, to really be with us and spend time with his human creatures. He spoke words of affirmation like, “God so loved the world,” and “Father forgive them.” His sacrificial death on the cross was both the greatest gift anyone could give and a loving act of service. His ministry touches all of us in a far deeper ways than just a pat on the back, or even a warm reassuring hug.
As we think of how much Jesus loves us, first we would be very happy to let Jesus go on loving us. Pour on the blessings! But the question becomes, are we using his love language of obedience to let him know that we love him in return? And now we turn to the Lord’s Table to taste and see that the Lord is good. See he has spread a feast before us and invited us to be his guests. He has come in to sup with us in picture and graphic form through this sacrament. But he has truly come in to sup with you if you have opened your heart to receive him. He loves you! If you can grasp that, you will love him back and serve his world
To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Amen.
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