Revelation Chapter 3: 14-22

“And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: ‘I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

“Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.

“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore, be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”

A couple of weeks ago, we looked at the church in Philadelphia. This church had a small amount of strength and an open door to move the Gospel into the Far East. If we are to be honest, we all have just a small bit of strength to take on the tasks and open doors that come into our lives just about every day. I love to share the Gospel, but still wonder every now and then how people will take it once they hear the truth.

Today, we will look at the last part of the church age, the Laodicean age. As I have mentioned before, all of the seven types of churches mentioned in these chapters existed all the way through the church age; but there is dominant church in each age and in our time, the time just before the Rapture. The dominant church is that with the characteristics of the Laodicean church.

We first meet the church at Laodicea in Colossians 2. The apostle Paul mentions her in chapter 2:1, and says that he has a conflict for the church at Colosse and for the church at Laodicea. The church at Laodicea had not seen the apostle in the flesh; and he appeared to be in a conflict, a struggle really, with himself or his schedule to try and get to them. The letter to the church at Colosse was written in the mid-50s of the first century; so when the apostle John writes this letter to the church in Laodicea, they would have been in existence for some 50 years, or close to it.

Thus, the Lord Jesus was not addressing some new struggling work who was trying to find her way in a morally challenged society. She was a seasoned church who was where she was by choice.

Parents have a way of trying to make sure that their children do not go through the same struggles that they did; and in so doing they rob their children of great blessings and strength. We tend to try to replace character with things, and this is not possible. It is the struggle that makes us strong; it is the hardships that build drive and determination; it is the failures that build a strong mind and calloused shoulders. We don’t have a lot of this in churches today.

The Contrast

The church at Philadelphia was weak; she had just a little strength. In contrast, the church at Laodicea had a lot of stuff; they were ‘rich and wealthy’ and in need of nothing. The church at Philadelphia had to depend wholeheartedly on God; only He could open the doors that needed to be opened. And as such, the church would know that they were doing the will of God. The church at Laodicea could simply open any door she wanted without asking God. She has money and power and simply did as she pleased. But let us be clear that, even in this state, she is still addressed as a church by her Lord and Master.

There are no perfect churches. There are churches that are better than others and maybe do more than others, but each church will answer to the Lord as an entity. There is no Universal church. There never has been one; and when there is one, we will be in the Millennium when all the churches are united in one body to the Lord. But until then, each church is a local, autonomous body that is wholly answerable to the Lord for how she executes His work.

Jesus, the standard for us, Revelation Chapter 3, verse 14

Jesus will present to us a stark contrast to the church at Laodicea. Their witness is not true; they present themselves as blessed by God with their material possessions and business. They look to be very alive and active, but they are really near death, and their activity is not led by the Lord. In contrast, Jesus is the “Amen” – the ‘so be it.’ His word is final and cannot be altered. Jesus is also the “Faithful and True Witness” – what you see is what you get. There are no ulterior or deceptive motives with Him. Jesus, unlike the church at Laodicea, was and is faithful. He can be trusted to do exactly what He says He will do. He is also the ‘Beginning of Creation,’ not that He was the first created, but that He is the Creator.

The word that is used for beginning in the Greek is used for the word Ruler or Source; thus, Jesus is the source of the Creation; He is not created. Jesus was establishing His position to be able to judge this church. He was the contrast to all that they were at this point. They needed to take note and to be reminded of who he was and is.

Sometimes as a church we need to get back to the basics of the fundamental doctrines of the Lord and the Bible:

Jesus is the Creator; Sustainer; Provider; the First and the Last; the Author and Finisher of our faith; the First Fruit of the resurrection; the Alpha and Omega; the Life; the Truth; the Way. He is both the Lamb of God and Lion of Judah; He is the King of Israel and the Master of the Universe. Jesus is the ‘I AM’ of the Old Testament and the Vine to whom all the branches (saved) of the world at this present time are connected. He is our indwelling Holy Spirit, and He is our Advocate in Heaven. Jesus is God in the Flesh and the God that cannot be contained at the same time.

We need to get back to a clear and unabridged vision of Jesus in all His glory. Every other truth will flow out of this correct vision. The Bible will make more sense; the world will make less sense. And when we seek to live, we will seek to live by His words and ways.

Verse 15 is a sobering reminder: “I know your works.” As we approach the end of the church age, there is this reminder that we will all give an account of our lives after salvation to the Lord. We will stand and answer to Him for the life that He redeemed for us. What did we do with it? This truth should challenge us to live correctly before the Lord and others as well. We do not like to be held accountable for things, but we will be. We should be running a moment-by-moment diagnostic on ourselves, our motives and our desire before the Lord, checking them against the revealed truth of the Bible as best we can.

The Lies we tell ourselves, Revelation Chapter 3, verses 17

We will look at the lukewarm attitude in a bit; but right now we need to see the idea of how the people saw themselves. This perception is what festers the attitude.

When we look at the commentaries on this, we find that Laodicea was a wealthy town; it was the or at least one of the towns for the worship of Caesar. Also, it was the center of healing with the temple to Asklepios and the medical school attached to this worship. In AD 60 when the city was devastated by an earthquake, they refused help from Rome, stating that they did not need help from anyone. The church in Laodicea had the same attitude with regards to God’s help.

See a quote from the Roman historian Tacitus.

After an earthquake devastated the region in A.D. 60, Laodicea refused Imperial help to rebuild the city, successfully relying on their own resources. They didn’t need outside help, they didn’t ask for it, and they didn’t want it. “Laodicea was too rich to accept help from anyone. Tacitus, the Roman historian, tells us: ‘Laodicea arose from the ruins by the strength of her own resources, and with no help from us.’” (Barclay)

This city was a self-made and self-redeemed city, and the local church was filled with people of the same mind and mentality. Now you will understand with more clarity the attitude in the Lord’s church. The attitude of ‘we are rich and don’t need your help’ was around them all the time. Prosperity was perceived as strength and poverty as weakness.

Today, many people walk into a poor church with no band, no PowerPoint system, no large screen TVs, and a rented or borrowed facility, and they cannot imagine that this church could be used by God. So, they go and look for the prosperity that looks like spiritual success. This is not to say that all ‘rich’ churches are like Laodicea, but many are. If a poor church sees an opportunity to minister, they have to seek the Lord’s guidance and obvious help to do it. They have limited resources; and as such, God has to clearly make the path open for them. He almost has to be overly obvious for them. But a rich church can simply walk into any door they want without asking for God’s guidance.

In Acts 16:6-10 we find that it is God who opens and closes doors; and when we see an open door, God decides if we are to enter it or not.

“Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. So passing by Mysia, they came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’ Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.”

Notice that the apostle and his crew sought to go into Mysia but they were not permitted to do so. The reason was that God wanted them in Macedonia, and then God showed them that. This is very important for us to know; the ministry of the Gospel is the Lord’s ministry. He will send us where He wants us to go at the time He wants us to go. This dependency was lost on the church at Laodicea, and it is lost on a lot of our churches today, and even a lot of us as followers of Jesus.

We, both as individuals and churches, are simply vessels who serve at the behest of our Master. Any self-reliance is idolatry, and self-reliance was rampant in the church at Laodicea.

Lukewarm, Revelation Chapter 3, verses 15-16

Most people who have spent any time in the Bible or have heard a sermon about making a decision have heard about the lukewarm church. The idea of Jesus vomiting out these people is a hard visual reference to omit. Some of the people in this church were obviously saved, obviously trying to serve the Lord. Jesus addressed them as a church, His church. Jesus loved these people; He says so in verse 19. The only reason to “rebuke and chasten” them was because He loved them. The issue here was not worldliness as many want to preach, but that of reliance. This church was self-reliant and did not need Jesus to make it happen. They could do it on their own.

They probably had good intentions. They were doing the work of a church, maybe even evangelizing, feeding the poor, caring for the weak, and on and on; but they were doing it in their own power and without the leadership of the Holy Spirit. This is the lukewarm attitude that Jesus hates. If you are going to be a philanthropic organization, then do so and stop pretending to be a church. If, however, you are going to be a church, then let Jesus in so He can run the place, since He is the Head of the local church anyway.

You see, all of the good works we do without the leadership and Lordship of Jesus is just ‘wood, hay and stubble’ and will burn up. But whatever we do by, through and of Jesus is forever and will stand up to the judgment of God.

Jesus encourages the people in Laodicea to “be zealous and repent;” and obviously some did – as we, the Lord’s churches, are still here doing the work. We need to make sure that all we do is led by Jesus, called by Jesus, empowered by Jesus, and all for Jesus. There are no self-made Christians. Those who think they are self-made are lost. They are without Jesus.

A church is made up of people that could not save themselves, cannot sustain their salvation apart from Jesus, and should be sold out to Him in every endeavor.

Colossians 3: 16-17 “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

Following Jesus is not just about being saved; it is the beginning of a lifelong journey of us simply following Him and surrendering any power over our lives. This same attitude should flow into the Lord’s churches. Even the rich ones should be careful to make sure Jesus is leading the way as we follow. Remember: He is the Head, the Power, the Life, and the very Breath of each New Testament church.

Missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca

 

Revelation Lesson 10 : Little Strength, Big Job, Bigger God

Revelation 3: 7-13

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens:

“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

“Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Last week we looked at the church in Sardis. We saw a picture of a church that had some issues, a lot of them to be honest, and that was warned by Jesus to “stand fast and repent.” Well, obviously some of them did, and the Lord’s churches continue to exist until the churches we have today. The Lord is able to preserve His people. And as we look at the church at Philadelphia, we will find that the command to “stand fast” given to the Sardis church has resulted in strong, obedient and vibrant churches about whom our Lord has nothing bad to say.

What a turnaround; what a testimony to the Lord’s judgment and grace; what courage in the people of the Sardis church to first of all “stand fast,” and then to repent of their misdeeds and to allow the Lord to right their ship, so to speak! For all of us it is imperative that we seek repentance all the time and that we listen to the correction of the Lord. The book of Hebrews tells us that the Lord corrects the ones He loves:

Hebrews 12: 5-7 “And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: ‘My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, or lose heart when He rebukes you. For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises everyone He receives as a son.’ Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?”

God’s chastening, meaning to discipline or punish, is designed for our purity and to help us to grow in Christ. It is also a sign of ownership. God owns us; we are His children. And as His children He is required to chasten us to show His genuine love and care. Let that sink in.

We live in a time where the world says that if you love someone then let them be, even if they are wrong and doing harm to themselves, but true love must call out wrong actions and call for a change to what is right. This not popular today, ‘live and let live’ is not a Biblical rule for living. We are called to “stand fast” for the truth and to repent ourselves first, then call the world around us to repent.

Today we will look at the church at Philadelphia. This is a unique church in a unique city, given a unique promise from Jesus that he will keep them from the “hour of trial.” Let us look together and learn from the Lord.

Philadelphia, Revelation 3:7

Most of us in North America are familiar with the name Philadelphia, the city of Brotherly Love. The city in our lesson today was named after its founder Attalus the Second, who was nicknamed Philadephos. The city was a prosperous city that sat on the main highway from Europe to the East. It was an important city; it was originally founded to be a ‘missionary city’ for the Greek language, culture and Hellenist culture of ancient Greece. The city housed many temples and was the gateway to the East. It had frequent earthquakes and was often evacuated according to historical scholars. It was here that this church found its home.

Jesus has the keys of David, Revelation 3:7

Once we have met Philadelphia, we can now meet Jesus. He describes himself here as “He who is holy, he who is true.” These qualities are necessary for the Lord to reveal to us so that we can discern who we are listening to. Holiness and Truth do not describe Jesus’ activities but the very essence of who He is, and as such clearly declares that he is Yahweh, since only Yahweh is Holy.

In a city that was filled with idols and ‘religious’ worship, it was very important for the church there to be sure about whom they were listening to: from whom they took instruction and for whom they were working. This is still such a necessity today. There are so many ‘religions,’ many even that name the name of Jesus. But when we look at the Bible, the Jesus they worship is not the Yahweh of the Bible.

Some say he is a god, but not Yahweh. They are wrong; Jesus is Yahweh. Islam says he is a prophet, but Moses said He would be a Prophet, but he is first Yahweh. Some say he is Satan’s brother. No, He made Satan since he is the Creator Yahweh, and one day Satan will be eternally destroyed. The Pharisees accused him of being Satan; but no, He is Yahweh. In fact, to be saved one must come to the realization that Jesus is God, Yahweh and the holy Living God. There can be no salvation without this realization.

Then we see Him describe himself as “He who has the keys of David.” So, not only is Jesus Yahweh in the true sense, He is in complete control.

David was the king of Israel for 40 years; as such he was the absolute authority. He could bind and loose, he could spare a life or take a life without fear of judgment, and he did not require a vote to act. In the most perfect sense, Jesus is the Sovereign Ruler of the earth, the universe and each local church. He can do as He pleases, and no one has the right or the power to question Him. He goes on to say that He opens doors that no one can shut and shuts doors that no one can open. I am reminded of the Great Flood in Noah’s day:

Genesis 7:1-3, 16b “Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation. You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female; two each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female; also seven each of birds of the air, male and female, to keep the species alive on the face of all the earth. For after seven more days I will cause it to rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy from the face of the earth all living things that I have made…’ And the Lord shut him in.”

God told Noah and his family to enter the ark, then He left the door open for 7 more days. And at the end of the seven days, the Lord shut him in. No one could have closed the open door and no one could have opened the closed door. I cannot imagine what it was like to hear the cries of his neighbors clawing at the door, and there was nothing he could do. I shiver just thinking about it. How long did it take before things went silent outside and people stopped banging on the door?

We like to think that this current age of grace will go on and on forever and mankind can keep on denying and defying God and that God will take it. He is patient, NOT dead. One day the door on this age of grace will be closed, and no one else will be able to come into the New Testament church. The work of salvation will revert to the nation of Israel, and the billions of Gentiles will fall for the delusions of the Anti-Christ and his minions. Jesus is an Absolute God; He does not need counsel to make decisions, and he is never wrong. He is Holy and Truth.

A little strength, Revelation 3:8

David killed Goliath. Actually, God killed Goliath, but He allowed a young man to be used in His plan. As I was driving in today, I heard a song entitled “Dream Small” by Josh Wilson. It caught my attention as most of the time you hear about dreaming big, but the premise of the song is that the small things in God’s hand made big differences. A small stone in God’s hand killed a giant. This church in Philadelphia only had a little strength, but with that little strength they had ‘kept His word and not denied His name.’

Wow! What if this could be said about all of us? That we kept the Lord’s word, we obeyed and we did not deny Him in word or action. God is our power, and all we have is little strength, but we should use it for the Lord. Give all we have. Let us get to heaven spent for the obedience to the Lord and in standing fast for His name.

They had been persecuted by the Synagogue of Satan, a group who say that they are Jews but are not Jews at all. This is important to know that even Satan has ‘churches,’ places where people gather to worship him. These can often appear to be true churches; they have the pomp, use the Bible or a Bible, they sing the same songs we sing, and look very true but they are not. They are the enemies of the Lord’s churches. They deny Jesus; they have no spiritual connection to Abraham and are not true Jews.

One cannot love Jesus and hate Jews. In the same manner, a truly converted Jew cannot hate the Lord’s churches. One day these pretenders will come to worship Jesus; they will bow before the Lord’s people, not to worship them, but the Lord that we represent.

“I will keep you from the hour of trial” (verse 10). This is a prophetic look at the Tribulation that is coming on those that dwell on the earth. This church will be kept from that trial. This is also a reminder that the church age is coming to an end. None of the other churches had to be warned about the coming Tribulation. But this one was warned as we come closer to the end of time and the signs of the end begin to converge.

Like it was in the days of Noah, Jesus warns us, the people of the earth were “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage” right up until the flood hit. No amount of preaching, not even the sight of the ark being built could sway them. Just Noah and his band of 8 were saved.

The Lord’s churches have been through some ‘baptisms by fire’ down through the ages; they have been killed, persecuted, cheated, chased and imprisoned for the last 2,000 years. These treatments continue unabated even today in areas all around the world. But THE TRIBULATION is not for the Gentile church; it is for the people of the world and then at the end for the nation of Israel. But there is more to come about this as we move ahead. Just to restate, the church will be kept from the hour of trial that is coming.

An open door, Revelation 3:8-11

Jesus tells this church to “hold fast.” He tells them they have an open door that no one can shut. The city of Philadelphia was originally built to be a ‘mission work’ for the Greek language, Greek culture and the Greek Hellenist lifestyle. They were supposed to expand the influence of Greece into Asia Minor, but Jesus had other plans. This very conduit of paganism was going to be used by God to funnel the Gospel from Europe into Asia and beyond.

I am blessed to work with a group of churches that takes missionary work very seriously, as do other groups. The Biblical church associations, through the collective work of our churches, have missionaries in many of towns, cities, countries and continents. Next week, I have a friend who is going to South America with his brother to do some mission work. They will drive from Indiana to Toronto to fly from here to their destination. All they needed was a place to safely park a car, and we were able to help. Even that bit of help relieves one stressor so that he is free to work.

Do what you can, and let God do the rest; Dream Small.

You see, mission work is the lifeblood of the New Testament church. God has given us many open doors in this world: some to our neighbors and some to countries near and far. But they are open doors and no one can close them; however, we are required to do the work. The call to be ‘fishers of men’ will continue long after the church is raptured. After that, Jewish men—some 144,000, will become ‘fishers of men’ to the lost Jews all around the world.

God is always on the hunt to save men (women too). Two of the many things to overcome in our present age are fear and apathy – fear of reaching out and being rejected, and worse, just plain apathy, no longer caring that people are going to Hell. We stop preaching that sin is real, death is near and Hell is hot. For many of us that has become the problem; the door is open, salvation is free, and we are simply not interested in being ‘fishers of men.’

This church in Philadelphia was interested. Jesus had nothing bad to say about them.

Finally, we are challenged to hear what Jesus is saying—hearing, not for the sake of hearing, but to be obedient and right before our Holy God.

There is a lot more that we can explore about this church and any of the churches in these letters, but suffice it to say that this church had come out of a bad situation. The previous church age was fraught with false doctrine and compromise, but they had come out of it and left a legacy that was almost perfect for the final church age to follow. We will look at that next time.

Missionarybaptistchurch76@yahoo.ca