This passage this morning is one of the more well-known letters
here in Revelation. We loved this one growing up because it talks about
vomiting people up, images that most young boys, and some girls, find
fascinating. Last week we looked at the letters written to Sardis and
Philadelphia calling us to repent and wake-up and now this morning, we’re at
the last of the 7 letters, a letter to the church in Laodicea. The angel of the
church in Laodicea is told to smarten up otherwise Jesus is going to vomit them
out because they’re lukewarm. Uggh!
How does a church get to a place where Jesus talks about
vomiting them out because they taste horrible since they’re lukewarm? It’s easy
when you’ve been in a relationship for a long time to take the other person for
granted. It’s not that you love them less, but you stop showing it, you allow
other things to take your attention away from them, and you slowly drift apart,
allowing your love to grow less hot. This creates lukewarm relationships, even
with God. Laodicea was wealthy, but was destroyed in 62 AD by a powerful earthquake.
The people of Laodicea completely rebuilt the city without a single drachma
from the government. Their wealth came from the excellent wool that their black
sheep produced, wool deeply coveted by the wealthiest Romans. This led to a
sense of self-satisfaction and pride in themselves that resulted in a lukewarm
spirituality.
Jesus tells the angel, “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.” This is about their deeds, the things they
do, that has gotten Jesus’ attention in a bad way. Their deeds are neither hot
nor cold, they don’t help anyone or make any difference. As the letter is being
read in the church, the people could see the city of Hierapolis in the distance
where there were famous hot springs used to soothe sore bodies, ease the aches
and pains of growing older, relaxing the body. Down the road the other way is
the city of Colossae, known for its clear cold fresh water. This water was
refreshing and energizing. Laodicea received its water from Hierapolis through
an aqueduct and by the time the water reached the city, it was lukewarm and the
minerals clouded the water, giving it a foul taste. It had to be run through
purifiers before it was fit to drink. This is what Jesus is saying they’re
like.
The problem when you can
take care of yourself and
don’t need help from anyone else is it becomes easy to think that we don’t need
God. Hosea faced that attitude hundreds of years earlier. Hosea 12:8, “Ephraim boasts, “I am very
rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any
iniquity or sin.” It’s not unusual to
begin to believe that because you’re a good person, you don’t really have any
need to be forgiven, after-all, what have you done wrong? You keep the law, so
you’re fine. Life is good, so let’s enjoy what we have, after-all, it’s been
given to us by God. If I do something wrong, I’ll just give a little more at
church and it’ll be fine again. You do just enough to figure you’re still good
with Jesus.
Jesus has a sarcastic
streak in him that he uses to grab their
attention. “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.” Jesus then calls us to “buy gold refined in the fire, so we can be rich; and white
clothes to wear, so we can cover our shameful nakedness; and salve to put on
our eyes so we can see.” Jesus is poking at their pride, the call to
wear white robes that symbolize righteousness in contrast to their black wool,
the eye salve that the medical school in Laodicea was famous for refers to
their spiritual blindness, the gold is spiritual wealth that has passed through
the refiner’s fire and been found to be trustworthy, referring to the eastern
philosophies popular at the time.
Jesus is saying that just
because the outside looks good, that
doesn’t mean the inside’s in great shape. That’s so true of so many parts of
our lives. I think of all the relationships we have: spouses, parents and
children, bosses and employees, friendships, and more. So often there is a
difference between what others see and what actually is happening. So many
people live with disappointment, with lost dreams and hopes, living with
relationships that could hold so much more. For many different reasons, we’ve
learned to live with less, we’ve accepted was is and no longer strive to live
for more. Life hasn’t turned out the way we had hoped or planned and we live
with regrets and disappointments. When someone asks us how we’re doing, we say
we’re doing fine. We do lukewarm because it’s safe.
We’ve learned to hide our
struggles and hurts really well from
each other. A good friend who’s an actor once told me, “The church is filled
with hypocrites,” and while I have to confess this can be true, I leapt to
the church’s defense, but he stopped me and said, “All I meant was that most
people come to church wearing masks, in Greek theatre, an actor wearing a mask is
called a hypocrite because he’s not who he appears to be.” Part of the
reason we wear masks is because we’re afraid people won’t accept us for who we
really are; that they might look at us differently and judge us because we’re
not doing as well as we could be.
This is the church in
Laodicea. On the outside they look
good. They easily meet their budget, they help out when asked, they show up for
worship on Sundays, but inside it isn’t coming from a place of following Jesus,
but it comes from a place of self-sufficiency where they believe they don’t really
need Jesus. They don’t recognize their own need for Jesus, their own need for
healing in themselves and their relationships with others. They believe they can
handle everything themselves just fine. They don’t want to do the hard work of
examining their hearts and souls, of taking the chance for more: for deeper
together, for inner health and wholeness, instead settling for simple wealth
and getting by.
Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s
handiwork,
created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us
to do.” Did you hear that? We’re
created to do good works. These are the deeds that Jesus is talking about, the
deeds that they do in a lukewarm way. The Greek actually reads, "which God prepared in advance, so that we might walk in them."
The image of walking was used to describe living or engaging in a certain
lifestyle. The good works are not religious activities that we sprinkle through
our life. Rather, the good works involve everything we are as a follower of
Jesus, doing everything for Jesus’ purposes. Ephesians 2:10 sees all of life as
lived through and for God. Romans 12:1 says, "I urge you ... to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and
pleasing to God." This offering takes place in our everyday
ordinary life. In the same way, Colossians 3:17 says, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in
the name of the Lord Jesus."
How do you change lukewarm? Jesus tells us, “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.” These letters are a call to respond to Jesus again and repent
of our self-centeredness. When Jesus calls us to be earnest, he’s calling us to
be enthusiastic, to regain our excitement in Jesus, to do his good works. When
you get lukewarm in your relationship with someone else, doing good for them is
the start of changing your heart back to them. The more good you do for them,
the softer your heart gets.
Jesus calls us to remember
that what we have been given
is a gift to be used to grow the influence of Jesus into our community, to care
for those needing a hand up and helping them to use their gifts and talents to
grow the community. These are the good works prepared
in advance for us to do. A community of Jesus followers investing in
others and inviting them to join us in following Jesus changes hearts, changes
lukewarm into hot and cold, which brings healing, hope, refreshment and energy;
giving us a glimpse of the coming kingdom of heaven and renews our passion for
Jesus again.
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