The Church in Laodicea

14“To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: “The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of God’s creation, says these things: 15“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot. 16So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of my mouth. 17Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing;’ and don’t know that you are the wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked; 18I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich; and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see. 19As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent. 20Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me. 21He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.”

While the beggar Lazarus lay at the rich man’s gate, begging for food and starving to death, the rich man was dressed in purple, the clothing of kings, and was holding a feast. He wore purple and fine linen and pretended to live a good life of faith, but he was enjoying a life lived only for himself. He received God’s grace in abundance, but because he was not thankful for that grace, he lived in luxury like a king. The rich man was very stingy about giving and sharing. Even while the beggar Lazarus was begging for something to eat, he was absorbed in eating and drinking. Lazarus tried to eat even the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, but the rich man’s dogs got in his way, so Lazarus could eat nothing at all.

A hard heart will not share even the tiny crumbs that fall from the table. In the same way, when those who are first spiritually do not fully understand God’s will, they grow hard, and so they become proud. The word and every possession in the world alike were given freely by God. If people show a stingy heart even so, in the end they will receive God’s wrath and rebuke.

Lazarus lived in poverty, but because he kept his faith to the end, he came to rest in Abraham’s bosom. But the stingy rich man died and fell into Hades. Every person’s afterlife, where they will live forever, is decided the moment they put off the body. That is why we must keep our faith well while we are alive. While we live there may be a gap between rich and poor, but salvation is not decided by possessions. It is decided by faith in Jesus Christ. That is why we who have set our hope on heaven must keep our faith whatever situation we are in.

When the rich man saw Lazarus held in Abraham’s bosom, perhaps he felt he had been wronged. For all along he had thought that God had given him great wealth because he lived his life of faith well. But once he had put off the body, he found himself fallen into Hades, while the beggar Lazarus was held in Abraham’s bosom. Tormented by thirst, the rich man realized that he had fallen to a wretched place where he had to beg the Lazarus he had so despised for just one drop of water.

The rich man now recognized Abraham. That is probably evidence that he was someone who believed in God. The rich man who now longed desperately for one drop of water had lived richly in the world, lacking nothing anyone could envy. But when he was in a position to give, he did not reveal God’s glory. And Lazarus kept his faith even as he suffered. That is why their places were reversed.

The pain of his thirst was beyond words, a pain he had never once known while he was alive. The rich man asked Lazarus for just one drop of water. But Abraham told him to remember that in his lifetime he had received and enjoyed many good things, while Lazarus had suffered. Abraham meant that the rich man had received much from God and enjoyed it, but had been a hard-hearted man who did not share with his poor brothers and sisters.

And he meant that Lazarus, though he suffered a life of poverty, never once resented God and did not complain even when the rich man would not share his food. Abraham said that by their faith in God they were now divided between heaven and hell, so even if Lazarus wanted to give him water, he could not go to him. Once people have put off the flesh and entered the eternal world, they cannot cross over to one another, and there is not even a chance to move to the world of light where Abraham is.

While he lived in luxury in the world, the rich man would never have imagined that he would one day long desperately for a single drop of water in Hades. Of course, living like a beggar in the world is not in itself a condition for being saved. Lazarus lived a life so hard that he had to beg, but he did not let go of his faith, and he lived with his hope set on heaven. That is why he was saved.

God gave wealth in abundance so that the grace received would be shared with the weak and the poor, to save them. That is God’s command, and for believers it is a mission. But the rich man lived only for himself and mocked the poor and the weak. That is why he did not help Lazarus even when Lazarus was suffering at the hands of the dogs he kept. The same evil the rich man did to Lazarus was happening in the church in Laodicea.

Many rich people attended the church in Laodicea, so it was well off financially. But rather than doing the work of salvation, they decorated the church building to make it ever more splendid and grand, and they made that their faith and their boast. The members adorned themselves with pride and luxury to exalt themselves, and they liked being waited on by the poor believers. With the wealth they had received from God, they exalted their own name rather than God’s name.

Revelation 3:15

15“I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot.

The word that faith must be hot means this: anyone who knows God’s will must carry out their mission in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. If a believer looks to God alone and is faithful with a hot and full faith, God helps that believer do even more.

And when he says that faith must be cold, he means this: this world is a place of formlessness, emptiness and darkness ruled by Satan, so when we meet greed, lust and temptation, we must have the resolve to cut them off, coldly and firmly. Unless we cut off our own righteousness and greed, coldly and firmly, with a full faith, we can never keep our faith.

People with a lukewarm faith say they believe in God, but because they love the world too, they stand halfway between God and the world. In such a heart the resolve of faith is easily shaken, and they live lives of constant regret. On the other hand, they want to go to heaven too, so they cannot leave the church.

But for a believer who has received Jesus Christ there is no middle. There are only two: the black that loves the world, or the white that serves God. Even so, such people hold on to gray and insist that since they are both black and white, they can fit in anywhere. God said that people who stand in the middle like this, saying they love both God and the world, disgust him, and that he will vomit them out.

Which side are you standing on? The hot and cold side? Or the lukewarm side? If you hesitate between the world and heaven with a faith that is neither one thing nor the other, God will rebuke you severely. People who stand in the middle like this will think to themselves that they have succeeded in the world and have devoted themselves to God too, so everyone needs them, and they will be satisfied with themselves. But God never uses such people.

Heaven is where believers go who have been born again by the grace of Jesus Christ and are full of it. But if lukewarm people in gray clothes are among the believers in white clothes, God will pick them out, as one picks out weeds. Of course, living by the word in the world is never easy. But a believer is someone who strives to live by the word. That is why we must not strive to live by human strength; only when we strive to live clothed in God’s grace can we live as believers.

Hard iron does not break in one blow. We ought to break our greed for the world in one stroke, but we cannot, so God will save even a heart like hard iron, even if he has to melt it in a furnace. Now, you who have been called as God’s children and holy believers, I hope you will live a precious life of sharing grace and sharing the word with a mature faith.

Revelation 3:17

17Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing;’ and don’t know that you are the wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked;

Like the rich man who fell into Hades, the believers of the church in Laodicea thought they lacked nothing in the world. They also believed that this blessing would last as long as they lived. They had built a huge church building with the offerings they gave, and many people with wealth and power flocked to them, so they could not help being proud. But they did not understand at all why they were going to church, or why God had entrusted so much wealth to them. The believers of the church in Laodicea never suspected for a moment that God would rebuke them, when they had received so many of the world’s blessings. But to God, having much or little wealth has nothing to do with faith. So he sees blessing differently from the way people do.

God saw that the believers of the church in Laodicea were satisfied only with what could be seen. Because they had forgotten Jesus’ atonement, they were living for the world. Of course, it is true that when people are faithful and devoted to God, he gives them the world’s wealth and ability so that they can take on more of his mission. But they took fleshly boasting, rather than spiritual fullness, for faith, and so their life of faith had left the truth. It is sin not to think of the suffering of the cross, as they did not, and it is sin to defile one’s own heart, the temple where the Spirit of God dwells.

Until Jesus, the light, came into the world, sinners were shut up in darkness. He gave light to human beings who could see nothing in the dark and opened the eyes of their spirit, but people could not give up the cravings of the world, and they shut their eyes again. Though the rich man had met God, he did not live by the will of the Lord, the water of life, and so he fell into Hades, where there is not a drop of water. In the same way, the church in Laodicea also cast off God’s will and pursued only human satisfaction, so it was not much different from the evil the rich man had done.

The same thing happens in churches today: the more people own, the more they think they have received great blessing from God because they have faith. Then have the believers who go to faraway places as missionaries and are martyred there not been blessed? Are the believers who endure in order to live by faith in countries with no religious freedom people God has not blessed? Do the believers doing their utmost in newly planted churches to expand the kingdom of God and keep the word have no faith?

Just as the rich man held a wrong faith, I believe corrupt pastors have all this time zealously brainwashed believers into a faith that seeks blessings. That is what has produced this situation. Now that believers have taken up this faith that seeks blessings, the faithfulness that gives of its own possessions is disappearing.

What is sadder still is that pastors of newly planted churches build church buildings as a choice for survival rather than teaching the word, and people do feel the burden of that. They should believe that if they preach the word, even if only one person is saved, God will work out everything else, but they do not. As this kind of faith has spread, they pay no attention even though the most precious believers are stumbling.

Ironically, when putting up a church building is dressed up as faith, people once again give offerings with everything they have and serve faithfully. Of course, such outward things help with evangelism, so you must evangelize, and when many people gather you must build a sanctuary too. What I am saying is not that you must never do these things, but that you must set God’s will at the center, act by that will and grow.

Revelation 3:14

14“To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write: “The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of God’s creation, says these things:

Jesus Christ introduced himself this way to tell them to live with an unchanging faith, like the Lord who works to the end to accomplish the purpose for which he created. Only when the church knows what Jesus Christ considers important now can believers know how they must live in this world.

The church in Laodicea was founded by Epaphras, and along with the church in Colossae it was guided by Paul. Yet this very church is rebuked for having a lukewarm faith. The apostle Paul had cast off his distinguished family, his education, his knowledge and his wealth in the world like rubbish, and he lived by the words of Christ. Yet even though he taught them the word, the church in Laodicea could not let go of the world’s thinking, the world’s knowledge and its own righteousness. Through the church in Laodicea we could see that however much the word of truth is taught, if the hearers themselves do not accept it and change, even that word is thrown away. Though the apostle Paul, who was faithful to death, taught them the word, they loved the world’s riches more than spiritual fullness, and so in the end they were not recognized as believers.

Like the rich man, the church in Laodicea received much and enjoyed much. If it had understood the truth, devoted itself and cared for its brothers and sisters, God would have given it even more grace. The church in Laodicea was established as a tool to accomplish God’s great purpose and was given the chance to give glory to God, but it did not do so. Because they lived only for themselves, they were not faithful, and because they did not take part in God’s work, they did not live as believers.

Revelation 3:17

17Because you say, ‘I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing;’ and don’t know that you are the wretched one, miserable, poor, blind, and naked;

The only fruit God received from the rich man and from the church in Laodicea was rotten fruit: spiritually poor, lacking, wretched, miserable, blind and naked. Rotten fruit does not sprout even when it is planted, so it cannot yield more fruit, and there is nothing to do but throw it away. The believers of the church in Laodicea thought they had done much for God, but God found not a single fruit worth receiving.

This is how important it is for the church to know God’s will. God’s will is to know Christ. Believers who know Christ know that they are sinners, so they obey the word to the death and do not betray God. When believers love God and devote themselves to him, rather than using God to prosper in the world, God entrusts them with a mission. Only by receiving this blessing can they keep from being robbed by Satan, have the shame of their nakedness covered, and move to a place of spiritual riches.

I hope you will receive this blessing. When you devote yourself not to clinging to the world so you can do well in it, but to exalting God, God will exalt you in your humility and give you glory.

Revelation 3:20

20Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.

When God created human beings, he must have given them a heart that longs for his grace and earnestly wants to meet him. You can see this in the way even people of the world want to lean on someone and want someone to protect them. To fill that empty heart, people worship idols whose names they do not even know, and they even go to fortune-tellers.

People long to be filled spiritually, but a heart already branded as with a hot iron cannot hear the voice of the Lord calling its name, and cannot see the Lord knocking at its door. However much Jesus Christ knocks at the door and asks to be let in, if a heart is full of greed and self-righteousness, there is no room to bring him in, so it cannot receive him. Such people cannot open the door of their hearts, afraid that the moment they do, the righteousness and merit they have piled up until now will collapse; so they stop their ears and do not listen. Only when Christ is in the most precious place in your heart can Satan not attack you, and only then can you love brothers and sisters who are weak in faith.

You must not misunderstand this: Jesus does not mean that he will save only the poor and cast away all the rich. God does not care at all whether someone’s wealth is great or small. The standard by which God judges faith is whether a person lives with the heart of one who is in God’s debt.

The church in Laodicea, too, was probably not a hardened church from the beginning. But as its wealth grew and the church became larger, they would have wanted to be waited on by people. And to raise themselves still higher, they would have come to covet the world’s power rather than Jesus. Seeing this, those of you who hold church offices must always examine yourselves. For once the faith the Laodiceans had offered in purity and the prayers they had offered in thanks all came to exist only for their own happiness, their once-hot faith grew cold.

As we look at the church in Laodicea being rebuked by the Lord, we must examine whether our church too is going the wrong way, and if it is, we must turn back from the road we are on. The Lord promises to dine with anyone who simply opens the door of their heart. That means he will be with believers whatever circumstances they are in now. Believers who have opened their hearts like this are spiritually full, so the hardships of the world are never a shame to them.

We have now looked at the seven churches. There were believers who fought against Satan’s schemes even while suffering, and there were churches that betrayed God though he had entrusted them with many possessions so that they would devote themselves to him. Jesus commended or rebuked them according to what they did.

Despite hard circumstances, holy believers bought gold refined by fire and were full of faith; they overcame Satan and wore white garments; and they had bright spiritual eyes that could see the work of Satan. Their faith grew according to their effort and their choices, and that growth in faith brought them the commendation of Jesus Christ and overflowing grace. The final blessing for believers who make good choices like this is salvation.

Revelation 3:19

19As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.

Jesus Christ said that he reproves and chastens those he loves. Chastening here does not simply mean punishing; it means training, or putting them through the fire to refine them. So he wants the church in Laodicea to repent and be faithful. Just as no parent simply stands by and watches when their child does wrong, he showed his will to stop by force those who are going wherever Satan leads them toward hell, with the stripes of the children of men and the rod of men. No one rejoices at being put through the fire or chastened. But because he loves us, he puts us through the fire to train us so we can go the right way, and that fire yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness, so it is for our good.

If believers go forward trusting the way Jesus Christ made by the cross and the resurrection, they can surely win. Just as Jesus defeated Satan and sat down on the throne, all believers who overcome will enjoy the glory of heaven that Jesus Christ gives. But if a believer does not properly receive the training and runs off to the world, Christ will probably not stop that person from becoming a servant of Satan. For that person was loved, yet threw away the love of God.

Through the church in Laodicea you will have learned how proud a heart is that is not thankful for God’s grace, and how severely God rebukes such a heart. It is God who gives and God who takes it all away, so a proud heart will in the end lose everything it owns, even its life. The Creator God has entrusted us with wealth and power worth less than dust. If we are not thankful for them and use them for our own pleasure, then not only the world’s wealth and power but even our souls will fall into darkness. We must not be fools who cling to this vain, vain world; we must repent while God gives us the chance in this life.

Through the rebukes and counsel Jesus Christ gave to the seven churches, I have come to realize that they are the hope he is giving us now. The words to the seven churches are Jesus Christ’s words to every church in this world. And they are the heart of God, full of love, teaching us in detail what kind of faith we must have to come to heaven.

If the Lord had meant to cast the seven churches away as he pointed out their evil, he would not even have exposed their sins. He wanted them to hear the words of Jesus Christ and turn back; he wanted them to repent and regain their first love. That is why he promised each church that if only they repented, he would give them much grace. Now we too have received that promise. So if we repent of what we must repent of and carry out our mission with a full faith, Jesus Christ will be with us with even greater grace.

May you know how to be thankful for what you have received from God, and may you live devoted to the kingdom of God. I bless you in the name of Jesus Christ.