The Laodiceans may have only received a condemnation, but they also received a call to repentance. This devotional reading looks at Audio Man’s response to their sinning.
Nuggets
- The Laodiceans thought they didn’t need God – that they were prosperous enough on their own.
- Jesus loving calls us to come back to Him in obedience.
This grew very, very long, so I am cutting it into two parts.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the The Letters to the Congregations series
Laodicea’s Condemnation, cont.
“For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” (Rev. 3: 17 ESV)
The Laodiceans thought they didn’t need God – that they were prosperous enough on their own.
Let’s look back at the last two verses for a second. We don’t want to miss something just because we changed devotions.
“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Rev. 15-16 ESV).
That looks like a big about face, doesn’t it? From lukewarm to “… I am rich …” (Rev. 3: 17 ESV).
But is it?
For You Say
The self-complacency the Laodiceans were experiencing, in Mackennal’s estimation, was because the congregation contained rich, self-made men. They thought they needed nothing besides their wealth. The wealth they had was earned because of their skill and hard work.
Focus was on the self-made, which implies anything but God-made. How do we know that? Read all the I statements. There are three of them.
There are no God statements. He is totally out of the picture.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? We think we gain spiritually by our own efforts. We study, we talk. We focus solely on what we have to do to get spiritual fulfillment.
But we don’t get spiritual fulfilment on our own. We only do that through God’s Plan of Salvation. That is only through Jesus (Ac. 4: 12).
Besides that, the Laodiceans thought they were the best Messianic congregation around — and they weren’t afraid to tell you. They were really boasting.
Yes, they were probably doing what they were doing without realizing they were doing it.
Culross said they were sounding an awful lot like the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. They were full of themselves, too, and knew exactly what God had intended. Even if these sentiments were only thoughts in the mind, as Marten believed, they are incriminating enough.
Resources
We have to realize that the Laodiceans weren’t thinking only in terms of money. They were thinking they were rich in possessions, also.
The prosperity gospel says that if we are worldly successful, God is blessing us for our obedience to Him.
Wrong.
“Ephraim has said, ‘Ah, but I am rich; I have found wealth for myself; in all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity or sin.’ I am the Lord your God from the land of Egypt; I will again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast” (Hos. 12: 8-9 ESV).
Ooo, baby! That would have been a slap. Not only would everything good be gone, but they would also go back to the bad times in their history.
Ephraim represented the Northern Kingdom (Israel). These tribes are today called the Ten Lost Tribes.
The Laodiceans also thought they were morally rich. They thought they were being an inclusive congregation.
Look what the Homilist had to say. Their sermon said, “In morals, the richer a man thinks himself to be, the poorer he is.”
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That is one reason we do not get to Heaven by being good people alone.
What is God looking for from us? Crosby gave us a list.
- Belief and trust in His promises.
- Daily, deep communication with Him.
- Hope and faith for our future.
- Humble ourselves before Him.
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God doesn’t care about our bank account or our moral condition. He cares about our spiritual condition.
Not Realizing You Are
Instead, of being in a good place, the Laodiceans were seeing things the exact opposite of what they were.
- They were wretched and pitiable because they didn’t have God.
- They were poor because they didn’t have the richness of God’s grace.
- They were blind to their need because they thought things in this world were their reward.
- They were naked without the white garments of righteousness.
Culross made a good point. The Laodiceans would have been shamed by physical nakedness. We would hope they were equally shamed by the spiritual nakedness.
I wonder if they were. Are we?
The sad part is, they thought they were totally within God’s will. They thought they were worshiping God without acknowledging God‘s provision.
But they weren’t even close. They were shallow in their faith.
They were complacent in this world. Things were good in their neck of the woods.
We can’t get an inflated ego.
Oh, yeah. Satan is going to try to puff us up. He is going to put thoughts in our heads to get us away from God.
It isn’t that we have those temptations. It is what we do with them. Do we plant and root them, or do we plant and root God’s Word?
Our churches are not to be social clubs.
Many think we are entitled in this world. It has a lot of privileges into which we buy.
But that pales to a life with God.
Call to Repentance
“I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see” (Rev. 3: 18 ESV)
Jesus loving calls us to come back to Him in obedience.
Wait a second. Audio Man was just telling the Laodiceans they were depending on themselves.
Where are the consequences? Where is the gloom and doom?
That isn’t Jesus’ standard operating procedure. He is loving and kind. He is tender and compassionate.
Some might say that Jesus doesn’t love us if He corrects us. Disciples know that it is because He loves us that He corrects our sins.
I Counsel You
Instead, we get a call to repentance.
Audio Man says He is right there. The fire, the garments, the salve — Jesus has them in His back pocket.
The big takeaway we get from this is that Jesus does not give up on us. He is always there to forgive those who are genuinely seeking Him.
Another big takeaway is that we can trust Jesus’ counsel. He is not going to steer us wrong.
Jesus will always steer us to God. He will guide us to believe and act according to God’s Will.
Buy from Me Gold
When Jesus loves us, He will be right there when we call on Him to save us.
Spurgeon suggested that the former practice was a barter system among themselves. That is logical.
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What Spurgeon also said was that there was probably a lot of comparing going on there. That is exactly what Jesus doesn’t want us doing.
Jesus doesn’t want us to compare ourselves with each other. He wants us to compare ourselves with Him.
Is this still the plural you or singular? We had said several times that we were talking about the Messianic congregation – and the Church as a whole eventually. Before, we hadn’t been talking about individual people.
We even started that out at the beginning of this letter.
But salvation isn’t a group salvation. I know it sounds like the Philippian jailer and his whole family were saved based on his profession of faith (Ac 16: 31) – but they weren’t.
Salvation is an individual decision. Your spouse, your parents, not even your church can make it for you.
I know that brings up something that some are not comfortable with. You can disagree with your church.
In fact, if we see the church going off the Sanctification Road, we are to correct those in the church.
We said the Laodiceans were rich, self-made men. They more than likely kept to their elite group and worked together.
If salvation is free, why is Jesus telling us to buy from Him?
- Gold eliminates our poverty.
- Clothing covers our nakedness.
- Salve is used to heal our spiritual blindness and discernment.
The gold that is to be “bought” is salvation. We buy it with the only currency that we can – acceptance and submission because the price has been paid.
Goodacre looked at it another way. Would we really want a salvation that didn’t “cost” anything? Probably not.
Goodacre advised that, though salvation is free, it doesn’t cost us nothing. It costs us our obedience.
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Many would think that turning away from their sin doesn’t have a cost involved. We may lose friends and family. Wealth and prestige may go.
We buy into all that when we ask Jesus to be our Savior.
Refined in the Fire
God’s Word has talked several times about being in the refiner’s furnace.
Culross described what is being discussed here. He wrote, “The fire-purged gold represents those spiritual possessions in which the true wealth of a Church consists.”
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That is logical. It wouldn’t be something physical like gold – even though that is described.
The gold would be symbolic of the best, wealthiest, and worthiest here on earth. The gold is the love and joy found in Christ.
Think about it. All the -est words in that last paragraph.
The Laodiceans were just being actors on a stage. Some might call them deceivers.
And they didn’t even know it.
Be Rich
Spurgeon bought up a great point. If the Laodiceans aren’t rich, how are they going to buy the gold?
That’s the thing. We can’t rectify it.
We don’t need gold.
The true wealth of this world is not true wealth. You can have all the money you can and still be poor. The only way to be wealthy is to have Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer,
Only Jesus could purchase our salvation. Only He is the unblemished Lamb.
Grace is free to us. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph. 2: 8-9 ESV).
What Jesus purchases for us is the best of everything.
It isn’t even about the “money” used to purchase salvation. It is about the purity salvation brings.
Jesus didn’t want them to be poor. He wanted them to be rich in Him.
White Garments to Hide Your Nakedness
We’ve talked about white garments before. The white garment is a symbol of the righteousness we are given at salvation.
It is a good visual. We are putting on saintliness.
We cover our nakedness by believing our sins are covered by Jesus’ blood. Because He covers our sins, we have white garments of righteousness.
Salve to Anoint Your Eyes
We get that we are blind when we do not see Jesus as our Savior and Redeemer. We already talked about comparing ourselves to Him, not other people we know.
This might be a little more than that.
Culross reminded us that we have to look away from ourselves. We can’t have self-reliance any more than we can rely on others.
We have to look in the right place – where Jesus is.
Don’t get me wrong. Jesus rebuked the Laodiceans. He doesn’t just give them a free pass.
No, Jesus doesn’t scold them. There isn’t even a don’t-make-me-come-over-there threat.
But did you notice all the rebukes are about their spiritual condition? He wants them to be morally pure as He is.
Maclaren said it best. He wrote, “… He rather speaks to men’s hearts, and their reason, and comes to them as a friend, than addresses Himself to their fears.”
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Jesus love us and loves us back into the fold. All the Laodiceans had to do was open their eyes and become obedient to Him.
Making the Connections #1
The Laodiceans had all these good things going for them, but they were not in God’s Will. They couldn’t even see that they were out of sync with God.
What is the quickest way to slow down our growth in God’s doctrines?
- Be happy with what we’ve got.
- Think, if we don’t know everything, that we are still smart enough.
That is what God has been telling Pastor Steve. His church is missing Jesus, and we don’t even know it.
Making the Connections #2
The worldview promotes wealth, reputation, and power. It is built on self reliance.
God wants us to rely on Him. He gives us “… the faith, the love, the joy, the peace, the hope, the meekness, the piety, the holy zeal, the beneficence, the martyr-spirit, the self-forgetfulness and self-denial, in which the true wealth of a Church consists …”
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Culross said we say that we see, but we are ignorant of gospel truths. We don’t really know the doctrine.
Flavel agreed. He said that we think the common works found in believers and non-believers alike are good enough.
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God isn’t looking for common works. He is looking for us to become mature in Him. That is how we navigate the Sanctification Road toward perfection.
Any works that doesn’t have God in it and for His glory is dead.
We have to know the difference.
Making the Connections #3
Martin made a great observation. He wrote, “Every Church by its worship and communion and fellowship and work is, according to this text, saying something perpetually into the very ear of God.”
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We think we communicate with God only through our prayers. We can stretch that to include worship, but we think that is a one-way street most of the time.
Oh, we know God sees everything. But do we really see fellowship and works as communion with God?
We see fellowship more as the potluck/carry in we have occasionally with each other, but God isn’t there. He doesn’t need to eat.
Work is our job we do for God. We’ve got that covered. He just blessed our efforts.
But that isn’t right. We are talking with our actions and our thoughts.
We talk to God through our hearts.
Making the Connections #4
Some think we are entitled because God made us so great. He gave us the minds and the intellect.
Then, He doesn’t want us to use them?????
No, that isn’t what God is saying. God wants us to reason out and determine what He has to offer for us.
Then, it is our choice to accept God’s grace.
Making the Connections #5
Do you know fellow disciples who think they should only be patted on their little heads and told they are doing everything exactly right – all the time?
Not going to happen.
It is easy to say, “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives” (Heb. 12: 6 ESV). Scripture does say that.
- “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (II Tim. 3: 16-17 ESV).
- “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights” (Prov. 3: 11-12 ESV).
If we expect to have a relationship with Jesus, we will be rebuked.
We have to be.
We are not like Jesus now. We are supposed to be growing to be like Him, but face it. Sometimes, we make a different choice.
Hence, rebuke.
Making the Connections #6
God’s Church has to begin seeing clearly – seeing Him clearly.
We have to give up these delusions of grandeur. This world has nothing of lasting except family.
But family will mean nothing is we aren’t part of the Family of God.
Making the Connections #7
Martin gave us a really good description of how Jesus pulls His lampstand from His church.
- Remove His Spirit.
- Don’t use them for kingdom purposes.
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Oh, yeah. Jesus can turn His back on churches that have already turned their backs on Him.
Making the Connections #8
Maclaren made a good point. The Laodiceans were already supposed to have the gold, white garments, and salve.
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But they didn’t.
Do you?
How Do We Apply This?
- Make sure we have gold, white garments, and salve.
- Repent to get back to Jesus.
Father God. We want true salvation through Your Son, our Savior and Redeemer. We want to have obtained the gold, white garments, and salve. We want to be correctly navigating the Sanctification Road. Help us to grow close to You. Amen.
What do you think?
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