Church in Laodicea
Author: Pat Aman
““To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 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. I counsel you to 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. 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. 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.””
Revelation 3:14-22 NIV
There are many in the world who are completely cold to the things of Christ. The gospel leaves them absolutely unmoved. It arouses no spiritual response. They have no interest in Christianity, no interest in the church. They make no pretense. They certainly aren’t hypocrites. They don’t even go near things that have to do with Christ. They are lost and they could care less. They don’t want to hear the Word of God at all.
On the other hand, believers are marked by a response to spiritual truth and they’re zealous and they’re fervent. And He’s saying metaphorically, I could take it if you were like Hierapolis because then you’d be real. I could even take it if you were like the cold water of Colossae. That’s better than being the foul water of Laodicea, lukewarm. Who are they?
Professing Christians, go to church, claim to know the Lord, but aren’t saved. They’re content with self-righteous religion. They’re hypocrites playing games.
They’re the kind of people described in Matthew 7 where Jesus says, “Many will say unto me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and I will say unto them, ‘Depart from me, I never knew you. You may have done many works in my name and prophesied and cast out demons, but I don’t know you.’” They’re like those in 2 Timothy 3:5 who have a form of godliness but without power.
They’re like the Jews in Romans 10 who have a zeal for God but not according to a true knowledge.
They’re just hypocrites, touched some way by Christianity but not belonging to Christ. And there is something obnoxious about them. They nauseate Christ. They make Him sick.
There’s much more hope, frankly, for one who has been untouched by the gospel. There’s much more hope for one who has made no pretense of knowing Christ – do you understand that? – than there is for the one who makes the pretense but his life illustrates that he’s not really honored Christ at all. In fact, I would say there’s no one farther from the truth in Christ than the one who makes an idle profession without real faith. He is really in Satan’s hands. They had bought a satanic lie about Christ. They were in religion up to their neck. They called it Christianity, they said they were a church. Satan was in control.
In the history of the church and in my experience, no one has been harder to reach for Christ than a false Christian. Satisfied with the measure of his good works, satisfied with his attitude toward God, and they sit in churches across the world. It would be easier to win a sinner deep in sin. It would be easier to win a criminal, it would be easier to win an agnostic or an atheist, it’s easier – Jesus certainly said – to reach the Publicans and the harlots than it is the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
There’s more hope for the salvation of an atheist than a spoiled, half-hearted, conceited hypocrite who thinks he knows the truth and pretends to accept it. Like the Pharisees, they don’t feel their need.
They have that lukewarmness of religion. They sense no chill. If they were cold enough to feel the bitterness and the severity of their sin, they would be more readily brought to the knowledge of Christ. But these conceited, self-deceived hypocrites, this lukewarmness made Christ sick.
But there was even something worse than being lukewarm and that was their self-deception. Look at verse 17. Here’s the second condemnation. Because you say I am rich and have become wealthy and have need of nothing and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Look at that, first part of – “Because you say.” Do you remember the study we did in Matthew chapter 7 and we talked about the “if we sayers” and the “if we doers”? If we say – if we say – if we say, Jesus said doesn’t mean anything. What matters is if we do, if we do, if we do. It’s not the people who say, it’s the people who do the will of my Father.
Salvation is the gold that makes people spiritually rich in faith. Salvation is the white robe that covers our sinful nakedness. Salvation is the eye salve that gives us the knowledge of God and of His truth. What’s He offering? An abiding faith, an abiding righteousness, an abiding understanding. You are poor, you are blind, you are naked. Let me fix that.
All that comes together when the sinner offers the price which is himself and when he repents to follow Jesus Christ.
Friends, there is so much more history in each of these seven churches. The history of each location had important roll to the status of these churches and their surroundings.
I wish I had more time to share with each of you every detail of the seven churches.
Devotion Written By: Pastor Pat Aman Book © 1996/2020, “Coffee With Pat Daily Devotionals” and Westbow Press a division of Thomas Nelson
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