DIGGING DEEP NO. 872 – MaARCH 2, 2021 CHRIST AND THE CHURCHES (PART 7) THE FOOLISH CHURCH Rev.3: 14 – 22.

As with some of the previous churches, the Lord adapted His words to something significant about the city in which the assembly was located. In this case, Laodicea was known for its wealth and its manufacture of a special eye salve, as well as of a glossy black wool cloth. It was also located near Hieropolis, where there were famous hot springs, and Colosse, known for its pure, cold water.

The Laodicean church was blind to its own needs and unwilling to face the truth. If we want God’s best for our lives and churches, we must be honest with God and let God be honest with us.

The Lord demonstrated four areas of need in the church at Laodicea:

They had lost their vigor – Rev.3: 16- 17. In the Christian life, there are three spiritual temperatures: a burning heart, on fire for God Lk.24: 32; a cold heart Matt.24: 12; and a lukewarm heart Rev.3: 16. The lukewarm Christian is comfortable, complacent, and does not realize his need. If he were cold, at least he would feel it.

They had lost their values – Rom.3: 17. The church at Smyrna thought itself poor, when it was really rich Rev.2: 9; the Laodiceans boasted that they were rich, where in fact they were poor. The reason why this church declined spiritually is because they had become proud of their ministry and had begun to measure things by human standards instead of by spiritual values. They were in the eyes of the Lord wretched, miserable, and poor.

The solution – Rev.3: 18. They need to pay the price to get true gold tried in the fire 1Pet.1: 7.

They had lost their vision – Rev.3: 17. The Laodiceans were blind; they could not see reality. They could not see themselves as they really were; they could not see the Lord as He stood outside the door of the church, and they could not see the open doors of opportunity. They were living in a fool’s paradise, proud of a church that was about to be rejected. They were so wrapped up in building their own kingdom that they had become lukewarm in their concern for a lost world.

The solution – apply the heavenly eye salve. They need to seek the Lord, the Great Physician who opened the eye of the blind in the scripture.

They had lost their vesture – Rev.3: 17. These Christians thought they were clothed in splendor when they were really naked. To be naked meant to be defeated and humiliated. The Laodiceans could go to the market and purchase fine woolen garments, but that would not meet their real need. They needed the white garments of God’s righteousness and grace Rev.19: 8.

The Lord closed this letter with three special statements:

1. Rev.3: 19 as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. He still loves these lukewarm saints, even though their love for Him had grown cold. He planned to chasten them as proof of His love Prov.3: 11- 12; Heb.12: 5- 6. God permits churches to go through times of trial so that they might become what He wants them to become.

2. Rev.3: 19 be zealous therefore and repent. The church at Laodicea had to repent of their pride and humble themselves before the Lord. They also had to stir up that inner fire and cultivate a burning heart 2Tim.1: 6.

3. Rev.3: 20- 22 there is an invitation as He stands outside the Laodicean church. He spoke to the individual “if anyone” and not to the whole congregation. He appealed to a small remnant in Sardis Rev.3: 4- 5, and now He appeals to the individual. God can do great things in a church even through one dedicated individual.

Jesus is knocking to come in and dine with us; when we invite Him in, the dining room becomes a throne room. It is through communion with Christ that we find victory and become overcomers.

The letters to the seven churches are God’s X-rays, given to us so that we might examine our own lives and ministries. Judgment is going to come to this world, but it first begins at God’s house 1Pet.4: 17. In these letters to the churches, we find encouragement as well as rebuke.

In Conclusion – may the Lord help us to hear what the Spirit is saying today to the church, and to the individuals in the churches! Will you be that individual that will stir up a revival in your church?