Revelation 3:15
"I know thy works, that thou art neither
cold nor hot: I would thou wast
cold or hot."
The church of Laodicea portrays the apostate church of the last days (A. D. 1900---present). Laodicea has the grim distinction of being the only Church of which Christ has nothing good to say. The words of Christ comes directly from the prosperity and the skill in which Laodicea took so much pride in. In their minds the citizens, and even the Church, eliminated the need for God. Of all the seven Churches Laodicea is most unsparingly condemned; because in it there is no redeeming feature.
The condemnation of Laodicea begins with a picture of almost crude vividness; because the Laodiceans are neither cold nor hot, they have about them a kind of nauseating quality, which will make Christ vomit them out of His mouth. The one attitude which Christ unsparingly condemns is indifference. The problem is that to so many Christianity, and the Church have ceased to have any relevance to social issues, and men regard them with complete indifference. This indifference can be broken down only by the actual demonstration that Christianity is a power to make life strong and a grace to make life beautiful.
The one impossible attitude to Christianity is being neutral. Jesus Christ works through men; and the man who remains completely detached in his attitude to Him has by that very fact refused to undertake the work which is the divine purpose for him. The man who will not submit to Christ has necessarily resisted Him. Amen!!
The tragedy of Laodicea was that it was convinced of its own wealth and blind to its own poverty. Humanly speaking, anyone would say that there was not a more prosperous town in Asia Minor. Spiritually speaking; Christ declares that there was not a more poverty-stricken community. The Church of Laodicea was not burden with debt, but it was burdened with Wealth.
The trouble with the Church of Laodicea was that it's "Gold" was not the right kind, so they were told to buy of the Lord "gold tried in the fire" (v-18. What kind of gold is that? My friend, it is a gold that has no taint upon it, and was not secured by fraud. They were not only poor , but blind and naked as well. They were "near sighted," they could see their worldly prosperity, but that were "short sighted" as to heavenly things, so Christ told them "and anoint their eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see" (v-18). However; they possessed no salve that would restore impaired Spiritual Vision, only the Unction of the Holy One can to that.
Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth; therefore, despise not the chastening of the Almighty" (Job. 5:17). "We are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world" (1Cor. 11:32). "For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is testing you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons" (Heb. 11:6; Heb_11:8). It is, in fact, God's final punishment to leave a man alone. "Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone" (Hos. 4:17).
In Rev. 3:20, we have one of the most famous pictures of Jesus in the whole New Testament. "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: We see the pleading of Christ. He stands at the door of the human heart and knocks. The unique new fact that Christianity brought into this world is that God is the seeker of men. No other religion has the vision of a seeking God. The promise of Christ is that the victor will sit with Him in His own victorious throne. We will get the picture right if we remember that the eastern throne was more like a couch than a single seat. The victor in life will share the throne of the Victorious Christ.
Every letter finishes with the words: "Let him who has an ear hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches."This saying does two things. It individualizes the message of the letters. It says to every man: "This means you." It generalizes the message of the letters. It means that their message was not confined to the people in the seven Churches nineteen hundred years ago, but that through them the Spirit is speaking to every man in every generation. We have set these letters carefully against the local situations to which they were addressed; but their message is not local and temporary. It is eternal and in them the Spirit still speaks to us. My friends, this is the most startling thing recorded in the New Testament; that it is possible for a church to be outwardly prosperous, and not have Christ in it's mist, and be unconscious of the fact. This is a description of some of our churches today; "A Christ-less Church."
Amen!!
Reading: (Rev. 3:14-22)
Ref: (HGSB; BSB)
(C. Larkin)
The one impossible attitude to Christianity is being neutral. Jesus Christ works through men; and the man who remains completely detached in his attitude to Him has by that very fact refused to undertake the work which is the divine purpose for him. The man who will not submit to Christ has necessarily resisted Him. Amen!!
The tragedy of Laodicea was that it was convinced of its own wealth and blind to its own poverty. Humanly speaking, anyone would say that there was not a more prosperous town in Asia Minor. Spiritually speaking; Christ declares that there was not a more poverty-stricken community. The Church of Laodicea was not burden with debt, but it was burdened with Wealth.
The trouble with the Church of Laodicea was that it's "Gold" was not the right kind, so they were told to buy of the Lord "gold tried in the fire" (v-18. What kind of gold is that? My friend, it is a gold that has no taint upon it, and was not secured by fraud. They were not only poor , but blind and naked as well. They were "near sighted," they could see their worldly prosperity, but that were "short sighted" as to heavenly things, so Christ told them "and anoint their eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see" (v-18). However; they possessed no salve that would restore impaired Spiritual Vision, only the Unction of the Holy One can to that.
Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth; therefore, despise not the chastening of the Almighty" (Job. 5:17). "We are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world" (1Cor. 11:32). "For the Lord disciplines him whom he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is testing you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons" (Heb. 11:6; Heb_11:8). It is, in fact, God's final punishment to leave a man alone. "Ephraim is joined to idols; let him alone" (Hos. 4:17).
In Rev. 3:20, we have one of the most famous pictures of Jesus in the whole New Testament. "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: We see the pleading of Christ. He stands at the door of the human heart and knocks. The unique new fact that Christianity brought into this world is that God is the seeker of men. No other religion has the vision of a seeking God. The promise of Christ is that the victor will sit with Him in His own victorious throne. We will get the picture right if we remember that the eastern throne was more like a couch than a single seat. The victor in life will share the throne of the Victorious Christ.
Every letter finishes with the words: "Let him who has an ear hear what the Spirit is saying to the Churches."This saying does two things. It individualizes the message of the letters. It says to every man: "This means you." It generalizes the message of the letters. It means that their message was not confined to the people in the seven Churches nineteen hundred years ago, but that through them the Spirit is speaking to every man in every generation. We have set these letters carefully against the local situations to which they were addressed; but their message is not local and temporary. It is eternal and in them the Spirit still speaks to us. My friends, this is the most startling thing recorded in the New Testament; that it is possible for a church to be outwardly prosperous, and not have Christ in it's mist, and be unconscious of the fact. This is a description of some of our churches today; "A Christ-less Church."
Amen!!
Reading: (Rev. 3:14-22)
Ref: (HGSB; BSB)
(C. Larkin)
May God Bless You
And Your Family
Minister Robert A. Lail Sr.
The Cross Life Ministry
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