On Sunday August 11th, 2019 I preached at Soutside Baptist Church in Florida. Here is the transcript of my sermon below.
Introduction Last week we began looking at the letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation (or Apocalypse) written by the Apostle John from the isolated island of Patmos. We are looking at the letters from both the historical perspective (What Jesus said to the actual historical church), a modern perspective (What does this letter say to the Church today) and a personal perspective (How can this apply to you personally). The structure of the all seven letters are very similar as they follow a consistent pattern; each letter begins with an address “To the angel of the church of [the city].…” They are always followed by the identification of Jesus Christ as the sender of the letter. In the seven letters, three of the churches receive commendation and criticism from Jesus. Two receive only praise from Jesus and two receive only criticism. Last week I talked about the Letter to the Church in Ephesus. In this letter Jesus commends the church for not tolerating false teaching (especially the teachings of the Nicolaitans) and for persevering and enduring during times of trials and persecution. However, He did criticize the church because they had lost their first love. Jesus encourages them to remember where they had fallen, repent from their sins and return to Him so that presence of Jesus would remain in their church. This was also our takeaway for ourselves and as a congregation. Today I want to go all the way to the final letter of revelation as we look at the words Jesus spoke to the Church of Laodicea. City of Laodicea Laodicea was also located in Asia Minor and it was a prosperous city; probably the wealthiest in the area due in part to the banking industry which was one of the features of the city. Their wealth was so great that it has been recorded that after an earthquake in 607 AD the city rebuilt without any financial assistance from Rome. Another contributing factor to the city’s wealth was that the countryside was perfect for raising sheep and they gained great wealth from the sale of the soft black wool from their sheep. There was also a well-known medical school established in Laodicea and physicians followed the teachings of Herophilos who believed compound diseases require compound medicines. He would create mixtures of medicines including ointment for ears, and an eye salve made from a mixture of power and oil. The city was located in an area where there were not many natural resources, so they had to bring water to the city from springs about six miles away through a system of stone pipes. During dry seasons it was not uncommon for the city to be left in a vulnerable and dangerous state. The Letter to the Church of Laodicea The Church of Laodicea, like the Church of Sardis, receives no word of praise or commendation from Jesus. Verse 14: “The words of the Amen…” – This is a reference to Jesus. Amen – So be it, trustworthy, firm. It is an expression of absolute confidence and trust. When used at the beginning of a discourse it means “truly, truly or of truth”. At the end means, “So be it, so it is, may it be fulfilled.” When we use this word (generally at the conclusion) in our prayers we are declaring that we put absolute trust and confidence in the one we are praying to. The word is almost identical to Hebrew word that means “believe” or “faithful”. “the faithful and true witness” – This is a reference to Revelation 1:5 where it declares Jesus as the faithful witness. “the beginning of God’s creation” – (The Alpha) – This is a reference to Colossians 1:15, 18 where Paul writes that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation and He is the Beginning. In Revelation 22:13 Jesus declares, “I am the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, beginning and the end.” Jesus is beginning and He is end and he is the absolute trustworthy, faithful and true witness. Nothing exists before him and nothing can exist after him and nothing is more trustworthy or deserving of trust than Jesus. He is all… He is eternal. Verse 15: “I know your works…” Once again Jesus declares (as with the letters to all the churches) that he is familiar with their works. He is actively watching their deeds. Unfortunately, in Laodicea’s case their works are not pleasing to Jesus at all. In fact, they are repulsive as we will soon see. “you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!” The Church of Laodicea was an ineffective church at best. They didn’t do anything for the continuation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They were seemingly just a church in name only. They were neither hot nor cold. Both hot and cold water can be useful, but lukewarm water rarely is.
Verse 16: Lukewarm – Tepid or ineffective. Since the city got its water from springs nearly six miles away the water of Laodicea was usually tepid and gross. So, the Laodiceans knew what Jesus was saying in his words. It is certainly symbolic to the faith of the Laodicean church. The lukewarm water was essentially ineffective as it came out of the pipes and Jesus states that the church is ineffective as well because of their lukewarm state. “The adjectives “hot”, and “cold” are not necessarily to be taken as describing spiritual fervor (or lack of it) of the people.” The contrast is between the hot medicinal waters of Heiropolis and the cold, pure waters of Colosse. However, the church in Laodicea was ‘providing neither refreshment for the spiritually weary, nor healing for the spiritually sick.’”[1] Because they were lukewarm Jesus’ response is much like ours when we partake of something that is lukewarm (especially when you are expecting a hot or cold item). “I will spit you out of my mouth” - Spew, vomit or throw up. Their sluggish and ineffective faith made Jesus want to vomit. These are very graphic words (and a very vivid). Because they were spiritually ineffective this was repulsive to Jesus and it made him sick. Verse 17: (Their perception) “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing” – Since the Church was in a prosperous city it is believed that the church was probably a wealthy church. Unfortunately, the people thought that since they were experiencing prosperity that God was ok with them (a common fallacy even today), maybe even blessing them. They believed he was blessing them, and they weren’t even seeking the counsel of God at all. This seems all to true of people and churches of great financial wealth today. So many churches believe that all is good, and God is ok with them or maybe even blessing them because of their prosperity. They all but forget about God and their attitude becomes more like this, “He doesn’t need to be active here because there are so many other churches that are struggling and need his assistance. Don’t bother with us Jesus we got everything under control.” (The reality) However Jesus was telling them different. “not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” In their prosperity they failed to see the truth… “We are not all we thought we were. We may be rich financially, but Jesus isn’t pleased with us at all. In fact, we are making him sick.” Verse 18: (What the Church needs to do) “buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich.” Because of their spiritual depravity Jesus counsels, them to take their eyes off of their physical wealth and invest in Spiritual wealth. The purchase, so to speak, is to be made from Jesus himself because only he can provide the true wealth and health they need. If they do this then they will become truly rich. “and white garments so you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen.” Certainly, the individuals were well dressed because of their wealth. This may have given the illusion that they had everything together spiritually. However, Jesus says they are naked and pitiful. The white robes symbolize righteousness and the covering of their nakedness is symbolic of judgment. Jesus tells them to invest in these garments of white so they will be clothed in righteousness and escape judgment. “and salve to anoint your eyes.” This is a reference to the school of medicine and Herophilos. The Laodicean church is spiritually blind. They cannot see the spiritual state they are in. Jesus counsels them to get eye salve from him and anoint their eyes. Quit trusting in the remedies of man and trust Jesus. When this happens then you will truly see. Verse 19: Jesus is not turning his back on this church. He loves the Church of Laodicea; yes, he is not pleased with them, but he tells them, “I am telling you to do this because I love you. You may think I am being harsh and mean, but I am telling you this for your own good.” Overall, Jesus is admonishing the Church of Laodicea to wake up from their spiritually dead and ineffective state and seek him so they may be a church that is pleasing to Him and who will share in his glory. He tells them to be zealous (desire earnestly or strive after) for Him and repent. Verse 20: “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.” Jesus is addressing the believers in this congregation. The text suggests that Jesus has been at the door for some time. It also implies that he is continually knocking, patiently waiting to be invited in. He is at the threshold of their lives and church calling for them to open the door of repentance so that he may come in and have true fellowship with them once again. “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me.” If the believers at Laodicea will heed to his knocking he will then enter once again and sit at the table of fellowship. Jesus will be the guest and not the host. In the Middle Eastern culture eating a meal together is a sign of intimacy and trust. I believe the main idea behind this passage is Jesus’ desires to restore fellowship with the Laodicean believers and him. This can only happen through repentance, heeding to the call and responding to the knocking of Jesus that would ultimately lead to them being effective followers of Jesus Christ and of his Kingdom. Verse 21, 22: The continued promise to those who conquer or are victorious as they participate with Jesus in his sovereign rule. This is the promise given to all the churches (and individuals) who heed the words of Jesus in the letters to these churches. The Church of Laodicea for Us Today The one thing a church does not want to be known for is their ineffectiveness and spiritual poverty. The Church has a glorious calling to be the light of the world, to represent Jesus to the nations and to be the hands and feet of Christ. For a church to be considered tepid or ineffective by Jesus should be cause for concern not only for the Church of Laodicea but should be a wakeup call for many churches today. As a Church body I feel it is necessary to evaluate where we stand in the eyes of Jesus according to this letter. Are we cool waters that bring refreshment to the spiritually weary? Are we hot medicinal waters that bring about spiritual healing? Are we warm tepid water that is essentially useless and ineffective and infected with germs that cause harmful results? How about you personally? How would you evaluate your personal relationship with Jesus in comparison to his words to the Church of Laodicea? Are you under the false impression that you have everything you need when in fact you are blind, poor, wretched and naked? Are you spiritually bankrupt? Is Jesus standing at the threshold of your life calling you back to fellowship with him? Bring your spiritual destitution to Jesus be zealous and repent. Personally, I believe Jesus stands at the threshold of our lives and desires to come and dine and fellowship with him. He wants intimacy with you. He desires for you to commune and converse with him. The fact is Jesus loves you and wants to restore or resume fellowship with you once again. He desires to sit and sup with you at the table of fellowship. As a follower of Jesus, how will you respond to his knocking? [1] The New International Commentary on the New Testament: Revelation (1977) Mounce, Robert: Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman’s Publishing. P. 125
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On August 4th, 2019 I preached at Soutside Baptist Church in Florida. Here is the transcript of my sermon below.
Introduction Revelation is an extremely difficult book to understand. I will admit if it weren’t true it would make for great science fiction reading. It is a difficult book to understand because it is heavy in symbolism and there are also many ways people have interpreted it. Regardless it is a wonderful book and a general reading may confuse the average reader, but the gist of the story is clear “God wins”! Today I would like to look at a small portion of the Revelation of John as He encounters Jesus in His full glory. The word Greek word for Revelation is translated as Apocalypse. When you hear this word, you may think of the end of the world. It is thought as the conclusion of all things. However, the word itself simply means “unveiling of something hidden.” Revelation is a letter to seven churches that unveils God’s plan for history and His Church. Revelation is written by the Apostle John from the island of Patmos. This was a rocky island located in the Aegean Sea. It was an exile island where people were sent who banished for religious or political reasons. The Apostle John was sent there for preaching the Gospel. In the vision described in chapter one John is commanded to write down all that he sees and is told and then send the scroll to the churches in these seven cities. The Seven Churches - The cities/churches mentioned were both postal and administrative centers. It is believed that the highest concentration of Christians was in these cities. The Seven Letters of Revelation In the next few weeks we are going to look at several of the letters sent to the churches of Revelation and we will look at how they can apply to us individually and to the church today. We will look at them first from a historical point of view (What was Jesus saying to this church at this time in history) and from a modern point of view (What does this letter say to the Church today). The structure of the all seven letters are very similar as they follow a consistent pattern, beginning with the address, which is always “To the angel of the church of [the city].…” This is always followed by the identification of Jesus Christ as the sender of the letter, usually (though not in every case) describing him in some of the terms drawn from the vision of chapter one. Jesus’ first message to each church is acknowledging their works: “I know your works.” The churches’ works are sometimes commendable, sometimes requiring chastising and sometimes both[1] Three of the churches have commendation and criticism. Two churches have only praise and two have only criticism. Ephesus – The City Today we will look at the letter to the Church of Ephesus. The city of Ephesus was one of the largest and most important cities in the Roman province of Asia. It was a main import and export center for Asia. There were believed to have been about 250,000 people living in this area. The temple of Artemis (Diana) is one of the Seven Wonders of the World was in Ephesus. She was originally a fertility goddess, and under the influence of Greek culture she had become the focus of an extensive religious cult. It is also a city of great political importance. It had been granted by Rome the right to self-government. [2] Ephesus – The Church It is believed the Christian faith came to Ephesus with Aquila and Priscilla around AD 52. The church was planted in Ephesus by the Apostle Paul and he ministered there for two years. Some amazing things happened in Ephesus during his time one of which was a riot that Paul unintentionally instigated as a result of his preaching (Acts 19:21 – 41). Timothy (the one Paul wrote both 1 and 2 Timothy) was a resident of Ephesus and tradition states that he may have either been an elder or the Pastor of the church of Ephesus when Paul wrote his Epistles to him. According to some traditions the Apostle John and Mary the mother of Jesus resided in Ephesus. Mary may have died in Ephesus and it is believed John lived in Ephesus up to the point where he was banished to Patmos. Ephesus – The Letter Verse 2: Jesus acknowledges that he is familiar with the works of the church of Ephesus. He commends the church because they had been faithful in enduring hardships, they did not tolerated people who have an evil agenda and they exposed false teachers and Apostles. The false teachers Jesus speaks of are probably the Nicolaitans as He references them by name in verse 6.
The Church of Ephesus maintained integrity by denouncing and exposing the heretical teachings of the Nicolaitans. This is commended by Jesus. Verse 3: Jesus also commends the church of Ephesus as they patiently endure for the sake of Jesus. The Ephesians not only turned away and exposed false teachers but they also patiently endured persecution and opposition. They did not grow weary and walk away from the faith during their trials and persecutions, instead they stayed true to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Verses 4 – 5: However, Jesus did have something against the Church of Ephesus… They had abandoned their first love. Jesus is not specific in detailing what this first love was, but it was probably their lack of loving one another and/or their lack of loving God. Ultimately the two are directly related. Lacking love for God eventually leads to lacking love for others. The command of Jesus has always been very specific “Love God and love one another” and apparently the Ephesians had forgotten this, and they had abandoned their first love. All is not lost though… Jesus gives them a remedy to fix this abandoning love problem…the Ephesians are to remember, repent and return. Jesus tells the Ephesians to heed his warning but if they do not do as he instructs then He will come and remove his lamp stand (His Spirit) from their midst. This means that if things don’t change soon the church will die; which unfortunately it did. The Church of Ephesus no longer exists today. This should remind us that a loveless Church is a Christless church and a Christless church is a dead church. Verse 7: The promise – To the one who conquers I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. To those who endure persecution and remain faithful they will be given permission to eat of the tree of life which means eternal life and ultimate victory over death. Church of Ephesus Today As I mentioned before there is no Church of Ephesus today, but this does not mean the letter has no relevance for us today. This letter does speak to us today just as it did to the Ephesians nearly 2000 years ago. Good works cannot save us. The Gospel explicitly states that those who are believe are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This is the truth of the Gospel. Jesus provided salvation to us through his death and resurrection. We have eternal life all because of the Gospel. However, this does not mean our good works do not matter. What we do individually AND collectively as a Church matters greatly to God. Our works are an evidence of Jesus Christ in us. Our works do not save us, but they do reveal the Jesus we serve. God has called the Body of Christ to be the Light of the world. I think it is important for us to use this passage as a score card of sorts for the church of Jesus Christ and more so for Southside Baptist today. These are questions we should be asking…
If you are feeling hopeless, conflicted or convicted at this moment that is good because God is at work in your heart. As I was preparing for this message, I felt all three. However, I am encouraged because verse 4 doesn’t end with the problem. Jesus gives us a solution…
The key here is you cannot return if you skip steps 1 and 2. Remembering and repentance is necessary for you to return to the place where God desires for you to be. We all have ears and we must hear what the Spirit is saying. May God have mercy on us, and may we be faithful in responding. [1] Gregg, S. (1997). Revelation, four views: A parallel commentary (Re 1:20). Nashville, TN: T. Nelson Publishers. [2] The New International Commentary on the New Testament: Revelation (1977) Mounce, Robert: Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman’s Publishing. P. 86 |
Jeff has been in full-time ministry for thirty years. He currently serves as Executive Director at Anchor House Ministry at SeaPort Manatee in Palmetto, FL and he is a part-time Campus Pastor at West Bradenton Southside in Bradenton, Florida.
Jeff Has authored A Lent Devotional (A Spiritual Journey to Lent) an Advent Devotional (The Advent of Jesus) and a devotional on the book of James (James: Where Faith and Life Meet). All three are available on Amazon. He is married to Carrie and they have four children, Micaiah, Gabe, Simon, and Berea. Preview or purchase Jeff's Books
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