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"MAD ENOUGH TO SPIT!"
TEXT: Rev. 3:14-22
INTRO:
What is the worse
thing that can happen to a Church?
a. lack of finances?
b. lack of Church
activities?
c. lack of a
Minister? (sounds like a possible answer ... if you are a Minister!)
d. lack of
facilities?
e. lack of committees
... on second thought!
It is none of the
above! The surprising thing is this: the greatest problem a Church can
have is to feel that it needs nothing, thus it is self-sufficient.
The reason is simple,
the Church that has no needs becomes complacent. God thus ends up on the
outside of the Church knocking to get in, the very picture we find in
Rev. 3:20! (this verse is often
misquoted by Christians for salvation, it is a picture of Christ and His
Church, with Christ on the outside hoping to be let back in!)
PROP. SENT:
The text will teach us that God wants us to guard our personal and
corporate life as His people from feeling so self-satisfied that we
become spiritually lukewarm! "Lukewarmness" makes God mad enough to
spit!" Remember Jonah's lukewarm response to go and preach at Nineveh,
even the large fish "spit" him out!
I. TEMPERATURE OF THE CHURCH
Rev. 3:14-16
A.
"No Good!" 3:14-15
1. Laodicea was
probably the wealthiest city in the world in the first century!
a. Since we live in
the wealthiest country today the parallels are likely to be strong.
b. Its wealth was so
great that in A.D. 60 when the entire city was leveled by a huge
earthquake it was entirely rebuilt without any financial help from Rome
or any other outside source ... it was rebuilt with its own wealth!
2. The city was known
for 3 major things:
a. It had a vast and
wealthy banking system (A New Testament Wall street!)
b. It had a huge
textile industry whose specialty was black wool clothe.
c. It had a large and
famous Medical school which was famous for an eye salve that was world
known called "Cellyrium."
3. All 3 of the
things they were famous for and proud of are used by God to address the
Church's spiritual needs.
4. The Church itself
no doubt was also extremely wealthy, it is stated so by God Himself!
5. Yet, in spite of
all its advantages this Church is the most condemned of the 7 Churches!
a. It had a wonderful
facility no doubt (Archeological digs have uncovered 3 buildings of
early Christian churches)
b. It certainly
operated in a most business like fashion, and did well financially! (the
text stated that they needed nothing materially!) The financial prowess
of this Church was such that any Minister or Board would envy it!
c. With all the
bankers in town and businessmen it was a Church that no doubt was top
notch run, YET …
d. God takes great
exception to this Church's spiritual condition!
6. When God took
their spiritual temperature He pronounced them SICK!
ILLUS:
In ancient
China the people were sick
of the raids from the barbarians to their north, so they built a great
wall! They spent much energy and resources building what would be one of
the great wonders of the world, a wall thousands of miles long and so
wide and tall that it could not be climbed or battered down! However,
during the first 100 years of its existence China was still invaded
successfully, was the wall a failure? NO, it was never successfully
climbed, nor broken through, it had never been run around, it was too
long, how had the barbarians succeeded? They had simply bribed several
of the gatekeepers along the wall and marched right through! Human
nature was the flaw, enough money in a bribe let the enemy through! The
fatal flaw in the Chinese plan was placing too much reliance on the wall
(things) and not putting as much effort into building character in the
gatekeepers!
a. The Church in
Laodicea had put great pride in what they possessed and not as much in
being God's possession!
b. The fires had
dimmed in the light of self-sufficiency and an over-reliance on material
things.
c. While they weren't
yet cold they weren't hot either, they were lukewarm and thus NO
GOOD, they of all people understand how useless LUKEWARM water was,
consider the following:
ILLUS:
Laodicea had one serious
flaw, no natural water supply near by! Thus they constructed aqueducts
to bring water to the city from 2 sources some distance from them: The
hot mineral waters from springs 6 miles away in
Hierapolis, these waters
were used for their healing properties; and icy cold waters from springs
6 miles in the other direction. The cold waters fed fountains in the
middle of the city of Laodicea. The problem was this, The mineral hot
spring waters cooled in their journey of 6 miles by aqueducts, by the
time it arrived in town the minerals seeped out of the water and the
temperature was only lukewarm -- thus the water was useless for healing
properties, and in fact, poisonous to drink! The icy waters went through
a similar fate over their 6 miles journey. The cold water warmed up as
it passed through the 6 miles of aqueduct so that by the time it arrived
at the fountains in the center of the city the water had become
lukewarm. A new visitor to the city having traveled the hot plains would
be seen taking a big gulp of water from a fountain expecting cold
refreshment only to be surprised by the lukewarm water, and they could
be seen spitting it out in disgust! The message in this statement by God
was obvious to them!
"So, because you are
lukewarm--neither hot nor cold--I am about to spit you out of my mouth."
LUKEWARM
Christianity neither brings healing to the spiritually sick nor
refreshment to those who are thirsty for God!
7. Their spiritual
temperature was NOT GOOD!
B.
Nauseating! 3:16
1. The word
translated "Spit" is literally
"Vomit." God used a pretty
strong word picture to make His point to this Church!
2. Jonah knew this
experience quite well! His lukewarm ended with a giant fish "vomiting"
him out also.
3. It was their
usefulness … or lack of it that God was upset about. They were existing
just fine, but they were not useful!
ILLUS:
In
Hawaii
on the northbound Pali Highway you can get off on Park street and then
travel one block and you will wind up on EASY STREET! So many Christians
try and find this "EASY STREET" life ... but if you continue down easy
street you will come to another sign labeled, DEAD END!
3. The Church seemed
quite impressive; good finances, good business practices, good name,
probably well organized, board members were probably locally successful
business men, or perhaps students from the medical school, and the well
educated. But looks were deceiving, their self sufficiency and arrogance
had cooled their spiritual temperature!
ILLUS:
How deceiving is the child's
rhyme and play we all grew up with: "Ring around the rosies, a pocket
full of posies, a tishoo! a-tishoo! we all fall down!" This rhyme
arose around 1665 in the streets of London to teach the warnings of the
deadly black death plague that struck at that time: "RING AROUND THE
ROSIES" were the red rash like spots on the skin; "A POCKET
FULL
OF POSIES" had to
do with the belief that evil spirits were associated with bad smells and
that if fresh smelling flowers were put in the pockets of the sufferers
these evil spirits would have to flee! "A-TISHOO, A-TISHOO" is
the familiar sound of those infected when sneezing! "WE
ALL FALL DOWN"
is the final note of death! It was not a pleasant fun childhood rhyme,
it was a story of horror and death!
Laodicea's
Church may have sounded fine ... but the real story was death coming!
II. TROUBLE OF
THE CHURCH 3:17-18
A.
Narcissistic! 3:17
1. The bottom line of
their problem stemmed from over-reliance on material things! (not the
"things" themselves ... their security from those things however!)
2. Like the town,
this Church had through their 25-30 history acquired great wealth and
great influence. With banks everywhere, and a huge textile plant, as
well as a great medical university this Church must have been full of
business men, bankers, college students and professors, supervisors,
etc.!
3. No doubt they felt
on top of the world ... they were the Church all the others could envy!
a. They couldn't see
how distorted their values had become.
b. Instead of their
abundance being accredited to God, they were taking the credit for it
and relying on it instead of God!
ILLUS:
Like Dr. H.A. Ironside who
confessed one day to a friend that he felt he wasn't as humble as he
thought he should be. His friend advised him to take some wood and make
a sandwich board with the plan of salvation written on it and walk all
day through downtown
Chicago. Ironside did this, the humiliation was great, all day he was
humiliated by those passing by but as he got home he caught
himself saying to himself, "There's not another person in all Chicago
that would be willing to do what I did today!"
B.
Necessities 3:17b-18
1. God tells them
they lack the very necessities of spiritual life in terms they would
well understand!
a. they were
"poor!"
b. they were
"naked!"
c. they were
"blind!"
2. They lacked the
very 3 things they were most secure in, just in a different sense!
3. So they are
counseled to open up their accounts and BUY NEW:
a.
"Gold refined in fire" ... spiritual wealth that comes only
from going through trials!
b. White clothes vs.
the black clothes they were famous for! (purity) Also, to cover their
nakedness ... nakedness was considered the most shameful thing that
could happen to a person. (this says something about Christ's nakedness
on the cross!)
c. Eye salve was
needed to correct their blindness problem, obviously a spiritual
awakening so they could see spiritual things. The Holy Spirit is a
healer!
d. If they saw no
need they got lazy ... so God offers them what they DON'T
possess!
ILLUS:
Years ago a major American
company had trouble keeping employees working at a plant in
Panama. They were paid cash
and paid pretty well. The problem was finally discovered, they had cash
but nothing to spend it on so they didn't care to get more than they
could spend! No motivation speeches would work, they didn't want to cut
salaries lest they got mad ... finally a solution was found to motivate
them to work more ... they gave each man a SEARS catalog! Now they
wanted things they didn't know they could have before ... and they
worked!
5. This is what God
was doing with Laodicea, offering them a different kind of wealth, the
kind they were sorely lacking!
6. These were the
real necessities, not what they already possessed!
Ill. TEST OF THE
CHURCH 3:19-22
A.
Nudged! 3:19
1. God explains His
reason for such a harsh word to them … He loves them!
a. Love does not sit
by while some one ruins their life ...
b. this is why
Parents discipline their children!
c. God would not sit
by and let them sink deeper into sin, their values were taking them away
from God
2. By loading up on
this world's stuff they were setting the stage for their own demise!
ILLUS:
Years ago a great ship
struck a reef and began to sink, on board was a great hoard of gold and
other valuables. It soon became clear to the passengers that they had
very little time to get into the lifeboats for safety. One man ran to
the hold and began filling his pockets with as much gold as he could
cram into them. He then put on his life jacket and ran to-the edge of
the boat and jumped for safety ... however as you might have guessed the
heavy weight of the gold pulled him under like a lead weight and he sank
right to the bottom and died ... he had his gold, but no longer his
life! When the ship begins to sink in the world we need to remember what
will really keep us afloat!
3. God's Word to them
was 2-fold:
a.
"be earnest!
3:19b (not half-hearted)
b.
"repent"
3: 19c (turn around and head the other
direction!)
B.
Notice 3:20
1. This verse has
been so misinterpreted through the years, often used as a salvation
appeal for the individual, its context however is quite different from
this!
a. the context is the
Church in Laodicea ... not just individuals.
b. the context is
about the Christians in this Church ... not unbelievers.
c. the picture is of
Jesus who is OUTSIDE the Church trying to gain entrance! ... how
far this Church had drifted!! Their wealth had crated a self-sufficiency
so great that it was as if Jesus was OUTSIDE the Church trying to gain
entrance again!
2. Jesus will not
force Himself upon them, He knocks seeking entrance.
ILLUS:
Holman Hunt's famous
painting of Jesus standing at a door knocking when unveiled caught one
critic's attention, prompting him to ask Holman Hunt this question,
"Mr. Hunt, you have painted a masterpiece, but you have made one very
serious mistake. You have painted a door without a handle." "That is no
mistake," replied the artist, "the handle is on the inside!"
[The painting hangs
in St. Paul's
Cathedral in London.]
3. If the door is
opened, Christ promises to enter and share a meal with the Church … or
even an individual.
a. This is
interesting in that the meal spoken of here was the evening meal, the
last and most important meal of the day.
b. It was the last
call for dinner before the darkness of night set in, a possible
reference here to the end time Tribulation period.
c. Notice the promise
includes mutual sharing, real fellowship with God.
d. Mealtimes are one
of the great places of sharing between people, it is here families share
their mutual struggles and praises with each other, the events of the
day and their lives together as family ... context being the Church.
Great symbolic meaning here for the "communion" time.
C.
Nobility! 3:21-22
1. The final promise
is that of RULERSHIP & REST
a.
"on my throne"-- rulership.
b.
"sit ..." -- idea of completion or
rest.
c. The picture is of
a Church that will rule with Christ, finally their work complete!
2. Though we live as
servants now ... we shall be rulers with Christ then!
3. After all we are
King's Kids, our great inheritance awaits our rapture, so store up your
treasures where moth and rust will not corrupt them.
4. We need to invest
in HEAVEN'S SECURITIES & LOAN BANK ... they are FDIC approved! (Forever
Deposited In Christ!)
5. This Church had
settled for earthly security and had fallen into mediocrity, nothing
will rob the Church or the believer more than this. This is evidenced by
the fact that this was one of the most condemned of the Churches!
a. A lukewarm Church
can make God sick to His stomach!
b. There was no "ALL
TEMPERATURE 'CHEER"' in God's kingdom ... hot or cold, but not lukewarm!
CONCLUSION: There is no middle ground between heaven and
hell, nor is there between commitment or no commitment to Christ! God's
call is to be "hot" or "cold"… to be saved or not saved! There is no
category of "sort of saved" or "sort of lost"! God finds warmness
unacceptable ... enough to make Him spit! |
