Introduction

“The Church of Laodicea!”

This was the church of indifference and foolishness, as they thought they did not need Christ. They thought they were good when they were really bad, and they were sad, as they had no enthusiasm for Christ. Jesus was just a nametag—an idol they pandered to but were neither “hot” (worshipful) nor “apostate” (hateful or misleading others). Jesus is LORD; He is faithful and is in control. He was there in the beginning creating and sustaining (John 1), yet these Laodiceans thought they were above Christ, that He was just a stepping-stone. They thought they had graduated and no longer needed a Lord or Savior. Jesus knew of their deeds; He saw that they were unresponsive and uninterested in His precepts and the work of the Spirit. Thus, they were not taking hold of the faith that was given them, but were countermanding His work by selling out to the world’s work. Jesus was so upset that He wished they would at least do something, either go all the way and be apostate, or revive in Him to be productive with their faith.

He called them on their unfaithfulness. And, since they were betraying His trust, they let down the Lord and their Savior, so He declared He would vomit them out! They thought they had no need for Christ, but oh how wrong they were. (How wrong we are when we have this mindset, as it is a violation of our trust in Christ.) He goes on to call them blind, poor, wretched, and naked—some of the worst things for a person in the ancient world to be called. Jesus was not doing this just out of anger; He was labeling them as they were. They were on the road to apostasy and they did not care. Yet even in His anger, Jesus was calling them back to His arms of love and care. Even when we are at our worst, He wants us back. Only our stubbornness can keep us from Him and place us in judgment. Judgment is something we do to and for ourselves. He wants us to buy His gold, to be His and His alone.

Jesus stands at the door of our souls and of our churches and asks us to open ourselves to Him and His ways. Yet, as with these Laodiceans, we can be hard and ignore Him. He wants us to hear Him and then obey Him, yet we so often place other things in the way so we cannot hear and thus do not obey. He will come into our church even when it is dead; He will eat with us, and share the ministry, rebooting and rebuilding. It is never too late to acknowledge and grow in Him while we still have breath in us. But, Jesus’ point was that we should not wait, but get busy in Him now! He wants us to be victorious for His glory!