Letters to the Seven Churches in Asia REVELATION

Letters to the Seven Churches in Asia REVELATION 2 – 3

Review Some churches had only good comments, some had good and bad, some had only bad We can expect this from churches today ◦ Repentance was required from the churches with negative comments ◦ They were all still called churches, but some were on the verge of being removed as one of Jesus’ churches ◦ There were some individuals that were pleasing to God in churches who weren’t pleasing ◦

The Letter to Laodicea REVELATION 3: 14 – 22 3

Consider the description of Jesus in Rev 3: 14. Do you see any connection with this description and the church at Laodicea? The Faithful and True Witness ◦ Reflection of God The church at Laodicea was not a true witness ◦ They were earthly focused and not focused on God 4

What does “the Beginning of the creation of God” mean in verse 14? Greek word: arche ◦ (abstract) a commencement or (concrete) chief (in various applications of order, time, place, or rank) ◦ Beginning, corner (the, at the), first (estate), magistrate, power, principality, principle, rule Same word used in ◦ Rev 1: 8; 21: 6; 22: 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End Verses to consider ◦ John 1: 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made ◦ Col 1: 15 -18 All things were created through Him (vs. 16); that in all things He may have the preeminence (vs. 18) The meaning of ruler, source, or origin of creation fits with other verses we read about Jesus and creation. First in prominence, not first in order 5

What does Jesus say about their works? Why does He wish they were cold or hot? Can look at this in a couple ways 1. Food and drink are often more pleasing either hot or cold instead of lukewarm ◦ Generally, people like either a hot drink or a cold drink (we want our coffee hot and our coke cold) ◦ Generally, people like their food either hot or cold (hot hamburger and fries and cold salad) ◦ The church at Laodicea was not doing anything to be pleasing to God, they were just there ◦ They are not condemned for sexual immorality and eating things sacrificed to idols like Pergamos and Thyatira, but they also weren’t doing anything to be commended for like most of the other churches

What does Jesus say about their works? Why does He wish they were cold or hot? 2. If we take the approach that hot is good and cold is bad ◦ If they were cold, their error could be clearly seen and rebuked to bring them back to God ◦ I Cor 5 sexual immorality in the church at Corinth For either case, the church in Laodicea doesn’t recognize there is a problem They claim the name Christians, but they have no zeal in their service (verse 19) Cold or hot could refer to zeal (either is good), or… One could refer to be doing pleasing things for God and the other to clearly sinning with the idea that they would see the need to repent

What is Jesus going to do because they are lukewarm? What does this mean? Verse 16 spew you out of My mouth ◦ ◦ The church is so displeasing that Jesus will cast them away from Himself They will no longer be His church 8

What does verse 17 mean? Is this a connected thought or a separate thought? Because you say ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’ ◦ ◦ They had become self-reliant Luke 12: 16 -21 parable of the rich man building new barns ◦ ◦ Matt 19: 23 -24 hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven Matt 19: 26 with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible I Tim 6: 17 -19 command those who are rich not to trust in uncertain riches ◦ ◦ Was reliant on himself because he was wealthy Let them do good works…storing up for themselves a good foundation Because of their self-reliance, they don’t see any need for God ◦ They have become earthly focused

What does verse 17 mean? Is this a connected thought or a separate thought? And do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked ◦ ◦ They were focused on material things, and didn’t lack for any of these Because of their comfort, they didn’t recognize their spiritual deficiency wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked ◦ ◦ ◦ Matt 6: 19 -21, 24 ◦ Lay up treasures in heaven where moth and rust don’t destroy ◦ Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also ◦ Cannot serve God and riches Be content and focus on God ◦ ◦ ◦ Very graphic visualization of their spiritual state Phil 4: 11 -13 learned to be content; I can do all things through Christ I Tim 6: 6 -12 godliness with contentment is great gain; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness Use your wealth to help others ◦ I Tim 6: 17 -19 don’t trust in uncertain riches, rather trust in the living God ◦ Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share

What does verse 17 mean? Is this a connected thought or a separate thought? I read it as connected to why they are neither hot nor cold, instead of being a separate thought The reason they were neither hot nor cold is because they were rich and felt they had need of nothing ◦ They were comfortable and had no motivation to do anything Note that this is different than the contentedness we saw in Phil 4: 1 -13 and I Tim 6: 6 -12 ◦ ◦ Being content in these verses is being content in whatever situation you are in so that you can focus on serving God and doing good works Here they had so much wealth that it led to inactivity

What does verse 18 mean? Jesus is using material terms to express spiritual needs ◦ Think of Matt 6: 20 lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven ◦ How? pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness (I Tim 6: 11) This is a wake-up call for the church to recognize its spiritual state and to give their entire focus to fix it ◦ Become hot (or cold); still connected to their rebuke I read that Laodicea was a very wealthy city, possibly known for its trade in the things listed in verse 18 12

What do we learn from verse 19? As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten ◦ We learn that Jesus still loves the church at Laodicea ◦ The chastening is to make them acceptable ◦ Hebrews 12: 5 -11 ◦ ◦ ◦ Whom the Lord loves, He chastens No chastening seems to be joyful for the present…afterwards it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it Jesus wants the church at Laodicea to come back to Him Therefore be zealous and repent ◦ Jesus is telling them what to do in response to the chastening ◦ ◦ They must be zealous still linked to their rebuke of being neither cold nor hot They must see their wretched spiritual state due to their comfort in material things and feeling that they need nothing, which leads to doing nothing, and become zealous for good works and action 13

How is verse 20 connected to the previous verses? 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 This is what Jesus is doing he is chastening them and waiting for them to respond ◦ ◦ Whoever responds and changes from being lukewarm will be with Jesus in heaven Jesus is letting them know that He is calling for them to come back to Him and He will reward them 14

How do we practically apply the Laodicean letter to make sure the church at Northside is pleasing to God? We should take special note of this letter we can easily fall into the same situation ◦ ◦ We live in a very wealthy society We’ve been trained to be self-reliant We have material distractions all around us Our physical needs are all met abundantly Things to ask yourself ◦ Am I using the material blessings I have to help others? ◦ How is my zeal for God? ◦ Am I doing something for God every day ◦ Am I on fire compare with my excitement for hobbies/entertainment ◦ Do my co-workers know I’m a Christian

Overall applications from the foundational study and the seven letters We must strive to keep the unity of the faith ◦ It is Jesus’ church He determines how we worship and serve Him ◦ For questionable items, we can worship together and not condemn each other We must be active in our service to God ◦ Do not compartmentalize our Christianity it must be a part of every aspect of our lives ◦ Just showing up to meet with the church is not enough We cannot let things from the world taint our worship to God ◦ Keep ourselves and our worship pure We must immerse ourselves in God’s word ◦ Keep our mindset in being pleasing to God ◦ Surround ourselves with Christians