Seven Churches in Revelation - Laodicea

[00:00:21] These are the words of Jesus to the Apostle John and we read in verse 14

[00:00:51] For you say, I'm rich, I've prospered and I need nothing.

[00:00:57] Not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.

[00:01:06] I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich and white garments

[00:01:13] so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen and sav

[00:01:19] to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

[00:01:23] Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline so be zealous and repent.

[00:01:28] Behold, I stand at the door and knock.

[00:01:31] If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and

[00:01:35] he with me.

[00:01:37] The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered

[00:01:43] and sat down with my father on his throne.

[00:01:47] He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

[00:01:52] This is the Word of God.

[00:01:54] Let's pray.

[00:01:57] Dear Lord Jesus from heaven, you're looking down upon us today and we're hearing your

[00:02:02] words that you spoke to John and they have an effect on us.

[00:02:07] Let them take hold in our hearts today and never leave it.

[00:02:12] Help them to have an effect on our lives as we leave this place

[00:02:17] and nurture our faith as we always yearn to grow in you.

[00:02:21] We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[00:02:27] He was a brilliant general rising through the ranks with unparalleled tactical genius.

[00:02:35] His early victories earned him widespread admiration and respect

[00:02:38] as he led his forces to triumph in battle after battle.

[00:02:43] His ambition knew no bounds and soon he set his sights not just on military success

[00:02:48] but on personal power and glory.

[00:02:51] His early campaigns were driven by a noble desire to protect his homeland

[00:02:55] and secure peace, but over time the taste of conquest grew intoxicating.

[00:03:03] He became consumed with expanding his empire,

[00:03:07] but as his power grew so did his arrogance.

[00:03:11] He began to believe he was invincible, that nothing could stand in his way.

[00:03:16] He stopped listening to his advisors and dismissed the needs of his people.

[00:03:22] In his final years he launched one last ambitious campaign,

[00:03:26] but this time his overreach led to disaster.

[00:03:29] His army exhausted and stretched thin was decimated.

[00:03:35] Defeated and exiled, he looked back on his life and realized that

[00:03:38] in his pursuit of power and domination he had lost focus from his original mission.

[00:03:46] The noble one of securing peace and stability for his people.

[00:03:53] Napoleon Bonaparte had been a great leader, but he lost sight of what was most important.

[00:04:03] He did not care about the same things he used to.

[00:04:06] He became blinded by the cares of the world, like his own personal glory.

[00:04:12] And he lost focus of what had once driven him, which ultimately led to his downfall.

[00:04:22] My friends here today we've come to this church in Laodicea,

[00:04:26] the last church on the list, a church which had also lost sight

[00:04:31] of what was most important and it may well have led to their downfall.

[00:04:38] They let the cares of the world, those personal pursuits get in the way of

[00:04:42] their initial righteous pursuit of following Christ and it became about themselves.

[00:04:53] Let's go back to verse 14 where Jesus says to John,

[00:04:58] And to the angel of the church in Laodicea writes,

[00:05:02] The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.

[00:05:08] As we read these letters, we remember that Jesus always introduces himself in a certain way,

[00:05:13] in a particular way to a particular church. And here he says, I'm the Amen,

[00:05:18] the faithful and true witness. He's the Amen. This is, I think it's the only place,

[00:05:25] maybe there's a couple of places in scripture where this title is used,

[00:05:29] Old Testament, but here in the new, he says I'm the Amen. Well, that word Amen,

[00:05:35] that's what we say at the end of our prayers. Amen. It's a Hebrew word that means so be it.

[00:05:43] Let it be so. Jesus is the ultimate one who determines what will be.

[00:05:50] And if you're taking notes today, your first note says there is no authority higher than Jesus

[00:05:55] that we should appeal to. He's it, he's the top. Now he knows that this is the

[00:06:03] last church on his list. He's making the list. And perhaps he is sealing this prophetic word

[00:06:09] with the ultimate Amen himself. I've said what I've said and again, the number seven

[00:06:17] denotes completion, perfection, fullness. I've said what I've said to all these churches

[00:06:21] and throughout all time there'll be churches like these churches. And at the end,

[00:06:26] I'm sealing it with me, the Amen. He calls himself the faithful and true witness

[00:06:33] and Jesus is considered to be the faithful Israel in scripture. What Israel, the man,

[00:06:38] could never be Jesus was faithful and true. You know, Israel was not just a nation.

[00:06:44] He was a man, the man Israel, Jacob, same person. The Lord changed his name,

[00:06:51] but Jacob, Israel, same person became a nation of many people who did not follow the Lord

[00:06:56] faithfully. They were up, they were down. They were spiritually adulterous going after idols.

[00:07:02] Then they would come back. Jesus is the faithful Israel, the faithful witness.

[00:07:09] He's also considered the faithful Adam in scripture in 1 Corinthians 15. We hear

[00:07:13] about the second Adam. Adam was told to cultivate the earth, be plentiful, multiply

[00:07:21] and probably in about five minutes he sinned. It was not faithful.

[00:07:26] The Lord Jesus is the faithful Adam, the second Adam. The one that did what Adam was supposed to do,

[00:07:31] completely obey and honor God in all things. And so he's also considered Jesus calls himself

[00:07:37] the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega. He's the bookends of all things

[00:07:43] that God does, what he says, he's the beginning and the end. And they're both referred

[00:07:48] in this passage in Revelation. Moving on to verse 15, he says to this church now,

[00:07:53] after the introduction, I know your works. He knows what's going on in all churches.

[00:08:00] And this is, remember a real church with real people like you and me in Laodicea.

[00:08:04] He says, I know your works. I know what you've been doing. I know what your church is about.

[00:08:10] And before we go on, Laodicea is the only church that does not receive a commendation at all.

[00:08:16] He doesn't say you're doing a good job over here at all. Some churches he'll say, look,

[00:08:21] like Ephesus, you've got doctrine right. You've got it down and you're strong on doctrine,

[00:08:25] but you lost your first love. You're not passionate for me. Here he just condemns.

[00:08:34] Laodicea, he says, you're neither hot nor cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot?

[00:08:41] So because you're lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

[00:08:50] It's not a great way to start a letter from your Lord Jesus if you're getting a letter.

[00:08:55] It's not what you want to hear. It's convicting. Remember in summary about these last six churches,

[00:09:06] on the one hand you have Ephesus. They lost their first love and think of it as not only

[00:09:12] a church but as a personal walk. Maybe you lost your first love. Maybe you grew

[00:09:16] further away from the Lord for a while. Maybe for a long time. On the other hand,

[00:09:21] Smyrna, the next church was faithful and was persecuted and was told keep the faith.

[00:09:26] I know you're being persecuted but you got to hold on. I'm with you.

[00:09:30] Pergamum had compromised with the ways of the world. Anything goes.

[00:09:35] They looked like the world. There was no distinction between Pergamum and the world.

[00:09:41] Thyatira was comfortable tolerating sin even in the church, even in church leadership.

[00:09:47] Where does that all lead? Well, the church in Sardis

[00:09:51] looked like they were alive but they were dead. That's one way you could go. Then there's Philadelphia.

[00:10:01] Small church, feeble church, the one that was always picked last, remember?

[00:10:06] They were faithful to Christ in the midst of a treacherous world, one of persecution.

[00:10:11] They were faithful to Christ and in their letter they were not condemned at all.

[00:10:17] And lastly, we have Lea D'Isia. Lukewarm church, what does that mean? What does that mean to us?

[00:10:25] Jesus says to them, I would rather you either be cold or hot, be one or the other.

[00:10:30] But you're neither. You're lukewarm. You're tepid. Your room temperature.

[00:10:41] We have to remember that the people reading this letter had so much more cultural context

[00:10:46] than we do today. We're separated here in Minnesota by time, a couple thousand years.

[00:10:51] Space, culture. We don't understand the way the reader, the initial reader would understand this

[00:10:58] passage so we want to learn more about it. The more we do, the more we'll understand and the

[00:11:03] more we'll cherish God's word and it'll affect our hearts. So we'll look a little deeper.

[00:11:08] A couple more pieces of information about this city where this church was located. It was a

[00:11:14] prominent city, wealthy city and it was located between Philadelphia, our last church in Colossi

[00:11:20] which is where Paul wrote the letter to the Colossians about 10 miles down the road.

[00:11:25] It was named after Leo D'Is, which was the wife of Antiochus, the second king of Syria,

[00:11:33] which he later divorced but the name Lea D'Isia was stuck to that church's or to that city's name.

[00:11:41] The city was also involved in the trading market of dyes,

[00:11:45] dye wool and also dark wood and also a dark wool that they would make sturdy clothing from.

[00:11:54] It was highly in demand. Prosperous city, a city that was on the fringe of Asia Minor

[00:12:01] and Greater Asia and so when people would come to Leo D'Isia a lot of times either they were

[00:12:06] going east to west or west to east they would exchange their currency. A lot of banking in

[00:12:10] Leo D'Isia and the money was literally flowing in this city, rich city,

[00:12:17] city known for their expertise also in dealing with eye concerns, sight, vision. They would make a

[00:12:26] SAV that was also in high demand and ointments for the eyes. They had a medical school there

[00:12:33] that was very well known throughout Asia Minor. They had all the life's comforts and all the sustenance

[00:12:40] they needed, really didn't need anything else, very fruitful, very wealthy city. Your next

[00:12:46] note here says we would do well to identify where we find our comforts in our lives.

[00:12:53] Where do we find comfort? Because in this city they found comfort in wealth.

[00:12:58] They had really no needs. Great trade, the banking system was very profitable.

[00:13:04] They had money that could heal things. They had a great reputation in the medical industry

[00:13:15] and so you've probably heard of Leo D'Isia once or twice and you've probably read the words of

[00:13:19] this Bible commentator Matthew Henry whether you know it or not he's very famous Bible commentary.

[00:13:24] He said this about Leo D'Isia. He said Leo D'Isia was the last and worst of the seven churches.

[00:13:34] I know it was the last but it was the worst. Well what about Pergamum you might say? We might

[00:13:40] say don't you remember Pergamum? They compromised with the world that's pretty bad. Well haven't

[00:13:45] you heard of Thyatira where they were tolerating sin even in the church? How much worse can you

[00:13:51] get from that? Or Sardis we might say to Mr. Henry what about Sardis? That church was dead.

[00:14:01] Was this church worse than that church in Leo D'Isia? What could be worse than that?

[00:14:08] According to the Lord Jesus a couple of things could be worse than that.

[00:14:13] When your church is like Leo D'Isia a church of non-believers when you're in a church where

[00:14:20] Jesus isn't but you call yourself a church when your church is a postate when your church is a

[00:14:32] church of tears you know tears are where the the wheat and the tears grow together and you can't

[00:14:37] really tell the difference until harvest time well they all look like believers they all look like

[00:14:41] wheat but at harvest time they show their true colors the believers are here the wheat

[00:14:46] non-believers here the tears what's worse than being a dead church?

[00:14:50] A church without Christ in it according to Jesus and what do these things breed?

[00:15:02] Apathy for the things of God indifference to holiness a place where we don't take a stand

[00:15:13] we don't care we're lukewarm on all those things we're not over here we're not over there

[00:15:19] we're just kind of getting along the attitude about the faith that when pressed says

[00:15:28] I don't care I really don't care could go either way take it or leave it as long as everyone's happy

[00:15:39] I don't want to offend anybody here at this church for a church what's worst in compromising

[00:15:46] with the world what's worse than tolerating sin what's worse than promoting false teachers

[00:15:51] within a church where Christ is left outside well you still gather and you sing songs and you have

[00:16:01] potlucks and everything but Christ is nowhere to be found I told someone this past week

[00:16:08] I've said it before if you can't find Christ in a sermon it's not a sermon

[00:16:12] and if you can't find Christ in a church it's not a church I don't know what it is

[00:16:20] what's worse than these things

[00:16:25] where the passion for the things of man

[00:16:29] is at the center it's a man-centered church not a christ-centered church

[00:16:35] where there's apathy for the things of God what could possibly be worse than those other churches

[00:16:42] when you have Jesus name on the door but he's nowhere to be found inside

[00:16:50] how many churches are out there with Jesus name on the sign

[00:16:53] and he's nowhere to be found in the church talk about everything else

[00:16:57] he's not at the center they might sprinkle his name over here or there for looks

[00:17:03] but he's not anyone's heart he's not at the center of their worship

[00:17:05] he's not at the center of anything they really do he's an add-on if we'll have time we'll get

[00:17:10] to that and if you come to anything where you're going to be convicted about taking a stand

[00:17:15] for Jesus or the word of God or his words his truth but we don't take stands here

[00:17:21] we don't really care that much we just want to get together every Sunday it's fun getting

[00:17:25] together with friends and family isn't it great but when christ comes to you through his word and

[00:17:31] it says my people live this way and we brush that aside are you a church or not what are

[00:17:38] you doing churches like that and there are many they have made god in their image

[00:17:54] they have this god that they worship in their mind that they've created

[00:17:57] that loves everyone and never disciplines anyone doesn't really take stands either

[00:18:05] and that's who they worship is that the true god they've made this god in their mind

[00:18:11] what church is worse than those other churches a church where Jesus isn't

[00:18:16] they care about other things they worship other things than god's people do

[00:18:21] like themselves maybe without even knowing it in his book christless christianity think

[00:18:28] about that title christless christianity and the subtitle the alternative gospel of the american

[00:18:34] church he gave a stark glimpse of the state of the american churches and i think even

[00:18:42] broader than america dr michael horton says this Jesus was not revolutionary because he said

[00:18:49] we should love god and love each other that's not a big idea moses said that first so did buddha

[00:18:57] confucius and countless other religious leaders god loves you but that doesn't stir the world's

[00:19:05] opposition no one has a problem with that however start talking about god's absolute

[00:19:13] authority and holiness and christ's substitutionary atonement and salvation apart from works and the

[00:19:20] necessity of being born again and repentance and baptism and communion and the future judgment

[00:19:25] and sin and the mood in the room changes considerably oh we don't talk about that here

[00:19:37] these churches would say we don't talk about sin here we don't take a stand on that

[00:19:44] Jesus says you're lukewarm and i'll spit you out of my mouth your note here says

[00:19:53] there will be many in hell that were passionate about the wrong things while on earth

[00:20:01] and indifferent about the right ones so you don't have to be passionate about the right things

[00:20:09] you can just be indifferent about them i don't care i don't want to get involved i don't want to

[00:20:15] ruffle feathers no this isn't a call to ruffle feathers for the sake of it but when the christian

[00:20:23] is pressed you take a stand you may have heard this comparison that jesus makes to water has

[00:20:31] something to do with people's spiritual temperature i need you to be hot for the lord what do you

[00:20:37] do with the cold part i think this is one of the most misused passages in scripture that we

[00:20:42] have because people will equate this to being hot for the lord or the people say on fire for god

[00:20:48] what about the cold part if you understand it that way are you saying then that he'd rather have

[00:20:55] you be cold for the lord than lukewarm i don't think that's what he's saying here already in

[00:21:02] verse 15 he says you are neither cold nor hot would that you were either cold or hot

[00:21:07] be one or the other so because you're lukewarm and neither hot nor cold i'll spit you out of

[00:21:12] my mouth if here he was talking about spiritual temperature how excited you are about jesus

[00:21:20] then he would it would be safe to assume that he'd rather you just be uh you know an atheist

[00:21:27] and but but that doesn't really jive with how i understand scripture i want to tell you what i

[00:21:31] mean here what he's saying is that and i believe you can relate to this i can do something with

[00:21:39] cold water cold water can be in demand i can use hot water that's something we we need to

[00:21:48] search out and find because i can use that for something but what can i do with room temperature

[00:21:53] water whereas room temperature water really in demand in our culture in your lives what's

[00:21:59] that good for no one wants to after a long day of mowing the lawn 100 degrees outside you

[00:22:06] finally come in and you're looking forward to that long tall glass of lukewarm water

[00:22:12] no no one wants that you're looking for that ice cold water i can use that

[00:22:18] after a long day at work and you're beat and you want to come home and just take a

[00:22:22] a long hot bubble bath no it's lukewarm i want to take a long lukewarm bubble bath

[00:22:29] long lukewarm shower room temperature perfect who says that you've never heard anyone say that

[00:22:36] i can't use room temperature water for my bath he says he's telling the church this is about utility

[00:22:47] usefulness effectiveness he's telling the church you're useless to work in my kingdom

[00:22:51] unless you're hot or cold be one or the other i can't use you because you're nothing

[00:22:56] you're indifferent you're apathetic you look warm what are you good for i can't use it

[00:23:01] take a shower i can't use it to refresh myself you're just there i'd rather dump you out or spit

[00:23:08] you out because you really couldn't care less about my kingdom that's what he's saying he's just

[00:23:15] telling the truth i know your works i know how your hearts you're not hot you're not cold you're

[00:23:20] just there because you don't care you care about your things you care about you and but not my

[00:23:26] kingdom so i'm gonna spit you out of my mouth he's saying you're useless to me you serve

[00:23:31] no purpose not for me you're serving your own purposes and that's fine with you but i'm building my

[00:23:39] kingdom and i i can't use you to do it because you don't want to be used you don't care some

[00:23:47] translations say or you were using the esv today and it says i will spit you out of my mouth but

[00:23:52] some translations say i will spew you out i will vomit you out it's like he's saying you

[00:23:56] make me sick i put you in my mouth i spit it out you make me sick and if you look into

[00:24:05] the water in leo dicea it had what's called i believe it's called an emitic property and if you

[00:24:11] know anything about what that root word means it means vomit means to make you sick literally if you

[00:24:16] drank it you'd throw up the people in leo dicea this was hitting home for them they knew their

[00:24:21] water supply was bad he said if i drink your water literally and spiritually it makes me sick

[00:24:30] your next note says in this letter being hot or cold is about being useful

[00:24:35] and being effective for the lord's purposes not our own because you can be a very effective

[00:24:41] businessman and be in a church where there aren't any believers but you're effective at home you're

[00:24:47] affected in your business but you're useless to the kingdom he wants us to be useful to him like

[00:24:56] salt what happens with salt if it loses its flavor it becomes no more useful than sand

[00:25:02] you're not going to sprinkle sand on your steak the people of leo dicea could relate to this

[00:25:10] and remember the city like i just mentioned was renowned for having the worst water in the area

[00:25:16] they had to pipe it in through stone pipes from miles and miles away just to have decent water

[00:25:23] kolasi just to the south was known for their plentiful fresh running cold water

[00:25:28] hyroplas their neighbors just to the north was known for their therapeutic hot springs

[00:25:34] people would come there from all around useful but leo dicea's water was the worst around

[00:25:41] it was essentially really of little use if it wasn't of any use they wouldn't

[00:25:46] had to pipe it in their own water so jesus continues in verse 17 he says for you say now this is

[00:25:54] what they're saying you say i'm rich i've prospered and i need nothing that's what the church would

[00:26:01] say we don't need anything we're rich we're propris prosperous we have a medical institute here

[00:26:06] we sell dye and wool and clothing we're doing great we don't need anything can you imagine

[00:26:12] saying that we need nothing but then he says not realizing you don't realize this that you are

[00:26:20] wretched you're pitiable you're poor blind and naked it's like the church and sardis he said

[00:26:29] you look alive but you're dead he says you say you need nothing you say you're prosperous

[00:26:36] but you're wretched you're to be pitied you're poor you're not wealthy you're blind

[00:26:43] and you're naked they were well to do they misappraised themselves and leo dicea as

[00:26:58] an as in sardis looks can be deceiving jesus speaks to these things that they claim about

[00:27:07] themselves he speaks to them in particular wealth and success from their tradecraft and dies

[00:27:13] and wolls he speaks to that he says you're wretched pitiable and poor now leo dicea had a lot of money

[00:27:22] but that doesn't necessarily mean they were rich because god measures richness differently than we

[00:27:28] do they were renowned for their eye ointments remember the sav their medical knowledge

[00:27:33] regarding sight and vision he says you're blind you know those words hit home to the leo diceans

[00:27:41] we read this and maybe if we didn't know the background we'd say oh he's blind okay we get it

[00:27:46] but when they heard these words from jesus they knew he was cutting right to their heart

[00:27:52] you had all this vision medical practice expertise you can't even see they dealt in

[00:28:01] particular darker wool used to make that sturdy clothing he says you're naked i'm sure they

[00:28:08] had all the different what are they called things made of like garment material uh now it's gonna

[00:28:17] bug me what's the word textiles i'm sure they had warehouses full of it and people coming and

[00:28:22] going and paying for it and just loads of it everywhere everyone knew about this he says all

[00:28:27] those clothes could never clothe you with the spiritual clothing you need that wedding garment

[00:28:33] the white robe of salvation those are all gonna do nothing for you you're naked as good as

[00:28:38] naked jesus here in his letter decimates the particular things that they're proud of in their church

[00:28:46] in their quote-unquote church where they find their strength and their comfort and their pride

[00:28:51] those things that comfort them he's getting right to the heart of each of them

[00:28:56] and should make us ask the question of ourselves where would he decimate what would he decimate

[00:29:03] in our lives we find comfort in a lot of things that really are meaningless to the kingdom

[00:29:15] i joked with a few friends here this week today's a national holiday the packers are playing the

[00:29:20] Vikings but for some people watching football is an idol and it's a god it comes before

[00:29:30] anything else they do i like football i love football but somebody once said

[00:29:38] it's okay if you have material possessions but don't let your material possessions have you

[00:29:44] know right so if we keep the things that god has given us as blessings and i think football is a

[00:29:51] blessing okay you can quote me on that but but it's in its right place i pray in my life

[00:29:58] these people have their things a lot of place what would he come into your home and your heart

[00:30:03] and decimate and say this needs to go this needs to be bounced down a few rungs because you have it

[00:30:09] way too high maybe it shouldn't even be on the list we know those things and god knows those things

[00:30:15] so deal with that your next note says we need help from the lord in evaluating our godliness

[00:30:23] we need help determining how well we're doing because obviously we're not very good at being

[00:30:28] fallen human beings we all think we're doing fine this church thought it was doing great didn't

[00:30:33] need anything but we're falling human beings and apparently we're not very good at assessing

[00:30:38] our own godliness our own holiness because we would say i'm doing pretty good i'm doing better than so

[00:30:44] and so we need help from the lord evaluating how we're doing and christ is coming to these

[00:30:52] churches and telling them how they're doing and some are good some are bad and some are kind

[00:30:58] of in between like the heart of all christians all too often we think we're being like jesus

[00:31:07] but we're not we always give ourselves the benefit of the doubt we think we've got it all together

[00:31:16] when we don't and we think we can make it one more day or one more hour without leaning on jesus

[00:31:24] but we can't jesus goes on to inform or remind or counsel this church about where they can find

[00:31:34] their true treasures he says in verse 18 i counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you

[00:31:43] may be rich with the true riches and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of

[00:31:50] your nakedness may not be seen you're talking about this way of life that they have this trade

[00:31:58] with this dark wool it's interesting that the wool was dark over there because he's talking about

[00:32:03] these white garments and in this uh this greek word here for white it doesn't mean just white like a cloth

[00:32:09] like a tablecloth it means like brilliant or dazzling white like a light like a sun and he goes into the

[00:32:19] sav he says and sav to anoint your eyes so that you may see they knew what sav was they made it

[00:32:24] they sold it they were experts at it he says i'll give you the real sav so you can really

[00:32:29] see what's important he says in verse 19 those who might love i reprove and discipline so be zealous

[00:32:36] and repent those who might love i reprove we hear that out of hebra's as well god love god disciplines

[00:32:45] those he loves will you discipline your kids right why because you love him if you didn't love your

[00:32:49] kids you'd say well he's lost cause just let him go i don't really care you love your kids so

[00:32:55] you discipline your kids it's for their own benefit in the long run and in this verse here in verse 19

[00:33:02] this word love it's that filial love it's that brotherly love that strong fondness he's saying those

[00:33:08] who i'm strongly fond about and it says i reprove again in english it's a little different

[00:33:15] but this word reproved really means to correct with contempt like a teacher would correct you

[00:33:22] shouldn't be doing that or a principal no you're not doing that it's not like a friendly reproof

[00:33:26] it's more of a judge reproving a convict i'm telling you what's right now you better do it or else

[00:33:33] kind of a thing he's telling this church you better repent again jesus addresses these topics

[00:33:44] and these are topics that leo dicea cherishes the prosperity they're so proud of it in fact in

[00:33:54] 60 80 60 there was an earthquake in the area and roam had to loan money out from its treasury

[00:34:01] to the towns to rebuild their cities and leo dicea says we don't need any money we can do it ourselves

[00:34:05] and they were proud of it the historian tacit this says they didn't take a penny they rebuilt

[00:34:11] themselves and they were proud of it they like showing off their wealth that's where christ comes

[00:34:17] in and hits them you're poor you're pitied they also love their fine garments they made boy that was

[00:34:24] really in demand he says it's as good as naked they can't clothe you they can't help you and the

[00:34:33] whole vision and eye ointment and incite medical expertise he says you're blind above all you're

[00:34:38] blind everything you think you have decimated by the lord when it comes down to it that eye

[00:34:47] ointment's not going to save you you can sell all the black wool you can possibly sell and you're

[00:34:54] still spiritually naked you have all the eye ointment and sav you could possibly want and you can't see

[00:35:01] without jesus that's how we are oh i got three homes i got one on the lake i got five boats

[00:35:08] i got all the stuff my bank account i can't even count how much money's in there he says

[00:35:12] you're as good as broke without christ he's telling them where to find real prosperity it's in him

[00:35:25] he's telling them where to find the genuinely fine garments it's through his gospel it's in

[00:35:30] his righteousness that's what those garments are his righteousness he's telling them where to

[00:35:36] find the authentic spiritual sight it's by the sav and the ointment of his gospel

[00:35:45] jesus says that he reproves and disciplines those he loves and i want you to know and you

[00:35:50] know this already but discipline is different than punishment because he is faithful to punish all sin

[00:35:56] and evil but he disciplines us along the way because he loves us doesn't a shepherd do that

[00:36:03] hey come here come here with the staff you got the hook on the end the other what's the other

[00:36:08] end for to poke them or beat them smack them once in a while am i going too far i don't want to

[00:36:14] take a stand on that here but but a good shepherd you know bring him in bring him in you're going

[00:36:19] too far get over here it's for your own good we should appreciate that god disciplines us

[00:36:27] when a child grows up i think if he's healthy emotionally he will be thankful that his mom

[00:36:34] and dad disciplined him if you feel god's discipline in your life it means that he loves you

[00:36:42] and he also says so be zealous be zealous and repent be zealous he's saying i want you to care

[00:36:48] be zealous have some zeal take a stand he's saying care what's a zealot a zealot is someone

[00:37:01] who's very zealous someone who really cares a lot for their purpose for their cause well he says

[00:37:06] i want you to care be zealous for the things of god we should care about the things of christ

[00:37:13] and we should even be zealous about those things we should take a stand when it comes up

[00:37:20] not just say i could go either way on that your next note says god's people care

[00:37:28] about the things god cares about it just happens it's just our nature we care about

[00:37:33] the things god cares about and if we don't care about the things god cares about

[00:37:37] well where does that lead us to surmise that maybe we're not really as close to god as we think we are

[00:37:47] we should care about right doctrine like Ephesus did

[00:37:52] we should care about building our faith we should care about not tolerating sin we

[00:37:57] should care about not compromising with the world we should be zealous against false teachers

[00:38:03] and about loving our neighbors and about keeping the faith and about not losing sight of what's

[00:38:08] really important we should care about those things jesus says to his church i want you to care

[00:38:19] and people might say to you well you care too much about your church you care too much about Jesus

[00:38:23] you're too religious but you know god can use zeal in a way that he can't use indifference

[00:38:34] he can use zeal in a way that he can't use apathy you can use a person that says let's go

[00:38:40] where we go on coach put me in you can use that person it's hard to use that person that

[00:38:45] says hey come on it's time to go it's time to you're playing your your it's first down get in there

[00:38:49] and the quarterback says i don't care i'm on the bench i don't care there's a game right now whatever

[00:38:58] how are you gonna get that guy to run through a brick wall he doesn't even care about the team

[00:39:04] let alone if you have that kind of person in the church

[00:39:08] what can god do with that he can say repent or else care okay so how his people should care so how

[00:39:20] do we care what do we do what does that mean i think you can start by identifying the things

[00:39:25] that are important to god and make those things important to you i watched a movie 10 years ago

[00:39:31] i don't even remember what it was called but it was about this down and out semi-retired police

[00:39:37] investigator who was an alcoholic he's about to throw it all away lose his job and just go off

[00:39:43] into oblivion and one person said about his new case but he really didn't care about

[00:39:50] he said well so what are you gonna do he was at a turning point go off into oblivion or try to

[00:39:56] get back on the wagon and he said i don't know what i'm gonna do i don't care about anything

[00:40:02] and his friend picked up the file of the new case and he said he said nothing's important to me

[00:40:07] and his friend picked up the file and he said here's your new case make it important i think we

[00:40:16] have the decision the choice to say god i don't really care i don't really know i i'm kind of lost

[00:40:23] and i walked away from here for a while lost my first love but i want to come back

[00:40:31] what do i do god says with this bible make this important to you make it important and after you

[00:40:43] make it important it'll start becoming important on its own because it's going to get into your heart

[00:40:48] and it's going to change your mind that word repent means it's meta no yeah it's really a

[00:40:53] change of your mind i changed my mind i care now make it important how do we care

[00:41:03] we identify what's important to god we make those things important to us

[00:41:08] and we have the heart of god pray that the lord helps you see the world the way he sees it pray

[00:41:15] that you would see yourself the way god sees you god give me your eyes to see even for a few

[00:41:22] moments for a week for a day for an hour help me to see what you see in this person in my life

[00:41:29] like that song says break my heart for what breaks yours because boy my heart's callous

[00:41:37] i really don't care what anybody i just care about myself pray that the lord would break your heart

[00:41:45] we're not broken for our sin the way we should be our sin should break our hearts and we should

[00:41:53] come to our knees pray that he would do that for you and you'll start caring and we'll be like that

[00:42:03] that person on the way to christ that we read in the beatitudes that says

[00:42:07] that hunger is in thirst for righteousness hungry for it i'm thirsty to be more holy

[00:42:14] i need more of that i care about that through these words he's asking his people today are you

[00:42:21] hungry for righteousness are you thirsty for more holiness in your life or do you just not care

[00:42:30] he would ask you today do you even care he's asking his people do you even care

[00:42:38] we took communion a few minutes ago he hit on that cross for hours bleeding to death and

[00:42:44] hard to breathe and i believe that and i've said this before in his omniscience as the son of god

[00:42:50] on earth i'm not sure if he did this or not but he had the capacity to think about each one of you

[00:42:56] personally about himself dying for his people maybe you went through his mind for that split

[00:43:03] second do you even care verse 20 says behold i stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice

[00:43:23] and opens the door i will come in to him and eat with him and he with me another one of those verses

[00:43:30] i think is misused and i'll tell you why the context here is not of jesus in a metaphorical

[00:43:37] sense standing out the outside the door of someone's heart he's writing to a church a real church

[00:43:43] in a real moment of time and he's saying hey guys i'm outside here anyone let me into the church

[00:43:52] has my name on it let me in i'll come in and i'll dine with you and i'll eat with you if you'll have

[00:43:58] me the church in leah dicey was on the brink of having so much faith in themselves

[00:44:08] that jesus here shows us a picture of him outside knocking on the door of his own church

[00:44:13] hey guys can i come in you're doing your own thing you're calling yourselves a church

[00:44:22] you're calling yourselves a christian church but i'm left outside there's nothing about me going on

[00:44:29] in there i'm here if you want me but they didn't want him it's like he's not even within their

[00:44:41] walls anymore but he had to go outside and knock imagine having your father some of our fathers

[00:44:50] are with us some aren't if you're having a birthday party for your dad and everybody's there a little

[00:44:56] early surprise party and dad's coming up the sidewalk and he's about ready to come in

[00:45:05] i need to say you know what we're having enough we're having a good time here dad's out there

[00:45:09] knocking hey guys can i come in it's my party yeah dad he'll get over it he can wait

[00:45:17] we're having too much fun in here let's leave dad outside for a little while how disrespectful

[00:45:23] how dishonorable what would dad think what does our heavenly father think that he has to

[00:45:33] his son has to knock on his own church's doors to be let in because people don't want him in there

[00:45:37] we got this jesus don't we don't need you right now when we need you we'll come get you

[00:45:43] it's leah dicey a a church of non-believers they lost sight about why they were even

[00:45:51] gathering at some point they pushed jesus so far out of the center of what they were doing that he was

[00:45:55] now outside of what they were doing they made him an afterthought and whether he was with them or not

[00:46:04] in their gatherings yeah at some point either way is fine we're only going to be here for about an

[00:46:09] hour we talk about jesus if we do we don't if we don't we don't we really don't care

[00:46:16] they were apathetic about jesus whatever we'll be fine if you went to leah dicey you might feel

[00:46:23] like the most important thing there was you but not christ not christ christ was not being elevated

[00:46:33] there he was not at the center of what they were doing you were what do you need how can you

[00:46:38] like your customers at a church like your consumers at a church what can we do to make you happy

[00:46:42] what songs can we sing to make you happy you feel good you you you're amazing you're great

[00:46:50] which would make the people believe well i'm amazing and i'm great and i don't really need a

[00:46:53] savior i'm happy i'm healthy i'm wealthy i got sad ointment i don't really need jesus i guess

[00:47:00] and i'm awesome too i love this church oh jesus says you're blind you're naked you're bankrupt

[00:47:10] you're wretched you might hear the world's gospel message of believe in yourself don't you hear that

[00:47:18] all the time believe in yourself you might feel yourself being elevated and even exalted at

[00:47:25] the church in leah dicey you might be at the focal point at the center of their worship man

[00:47:32] centered worship we talk about you your day your week how you are supposed to get along

[00:47:37] through life well jesus can tell you about that too but let's put him at the center

[00:47:45] god considers that man centered church like leah dicey to be useless to him i can't do anything with

[00:47:53] that because once you leave these doors all you're going to be thinking about is what you

[00:47:56] just worshipped in there was yourself i can't use that you know what i can use it as an example

[00:48:04] about what not to be you're like a tall glass refreshing lukewarm water like a long bubble

[00:48:19] bath you're waiting to get home to the bubble bath and it's room temperature how refreshing

[00:48:27] he says no you make me sick leah dicey was a church but it was a church in name only

[00:48:38] is a church where christ himself had been kept outside your next note here says if anything

[00:48:46] other than christ is the focal point of your church you'll become distasteful and useless

[00:48:52] to the lord and he'll spit you out anything other than christ becomes the focal point the focus the

[00:49:02] center the the reason of your church he's gonna spit you out the last two verses verse 21 the one

[00:49:13] who conquers i will grant him to sit with me on my throne as i also conquered and sat down with

[00:49:17] my father on his throne he who has an ear let him hear what the spirit says to the churches

[00:49:22] he wants us to know are we listening to this message because it's for us

[00:49:27] it's not just for this church leah dicey it's for you this message was sent to the church in leah

[00:49:36] dicey a real church real people like you and me and if this message was sent to us here today we

[00:49:41] could use it how many churches like this are in our country in our city there's thousands

[00:49:47] and thousands and thousands of churches like this that care about themselves more than the

[00:49:51] message of jesus when it comes to our church when it comes to the things of god his message his

[00:50:02] gospel his doctrine his church we better care about those things we better stand strong for them

[00:50:10] take a stand when it comes to your faith take a stand for those things and be zealous about them

[00:50:17] don't just have an opinion be zealous about it or he'll spit us out too

[00:50:24] we're no different we're no more special than leah dicey because even if we have our worldly

[00:50:31] comforts and we're meeting our own needs and we lose focus in christ we're going to become

[00:50:39] fruitless we're just going to be meeting here and enjoying each other's company but christ won't

[00:50:44] be elevated he won't be exalted and will become of no use to jesus i want to read a loving

[00:50:56] warning out of the gospel of mark chapter four the same passage where jesus talks about the different

[00:51:03] soils in mark 419 we read the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires

[00:51:13] for other things enter in and choke the word and it proves unfruitful but those that were

[00:51:21] sown on good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit napoleon's military

[00:51:29] conquests lasted 12 years just 12 years when you think he realized he'd gone too far when you think

[00:51:40] he realized this isn't about what it used to be about for me we're going to change maybe he

[00:51:50] never realized that but if you realize today then you still have time to make jesus the

[00:52:02] center again and don't ever take him out of that elevated place in our church in our hearts

[00:52:09] keep them there forever because it is easy for you to take that spot of being at the center

[00:52:14] in your own heart or in a church it's easy don't let it happen have you lost focus has this church

[00:52:25] lost focus of what's important we should ask these questions the focus should be as paul said in first

[00:52:33] granteans jesus christ and him crucified paul says i determined to know nothing else among you but jesus

[00:52:40] christ and him crucified his saving gospel that changes hearts and transforms lives forever

[00:52:47] if you have lost focus fix it there's time you're still here breathing today fix it put him at the

[00:52:53] center and let's have the church bringing jesus back in if he hasn't left already bring him

[00:53:00] back in it starts in our hearts to take his rightful place as the focal point of our lives

[00:53:05] as a focal point of our church every year year after year sunday after sunday hour after hour

[00:53:14] even minute to minute if we need him that reminder is christ the the lord of my life this minute

[00:53:24] for an in him it is in as acts as x-17 it's in him that we live and move and breathe and have

[00:53:32] our being he's there are sustenance that's why we come to church not to enjoy each other's company

[00:53:38] which we do we come to church not to be entertained not to consume a sermon or a message like a

[00:53:45] customer we're not selling anything here at church your god's people you come and you dine on his

[00:53:52] word and you feast on his word that sustains you that's why you come not to be entertained

[00:53:57] not to be a customer there's nothing to sell here the gospel is a proclamation the kingdom is at

[00:54:03] hand crisis king believe repent there's nothing for sale it's a message and we need it every week

[00:54:11] and that's why we come that's why we come and it's all to his glory so that he can be find us

[00:54:19] useful for his kingdom amen please stand with me as we close in prayer your heavenly father

[00:54:30] we've just come through a series about these seven churches and i pray that at the right

[00:54:36] moments you have shown us where we could be better for you better witnesses better stewards of what

[00:54:41] you've given us we can grow in you and that we're warned not to be a church that has kicked you out

[00:54:50] lord living us richly i pray that we go and your light will shine through us in our community

[00:54:56] to bless this city and others wherever we may live be king in our hearts take your rightful

[00:55:01] place at the center of your church here in the center of our hearts as well all to your glory

[00:55:07] and we pray in jesus name amen