A Cocktail of Blessing and Judgment Part 3: The Means of Grace at Laodicea

The light of the gospel had not been removed or allowed to go out at the Church of Laodicea (cf. Revelation 2:5). She could still be represented by a ‘lamp stand’ with a bright light or ‘star’ (Revelation 1:20). She is still the object of the Lord’s devoted attention (Revelation 1:10-14).

The Church at Laodicea had a ‘preacher’. This is the best way to understand the word ‘angel’ or ‘messenger’. The ‘messenger’ was the person who would receive Christ’s letter (Revelation 3:14) and proclaim its corporate message to the Church. The Christians were obviously still meeting together in such a way that this letter could be read to everybody.

In material terms, it seems that the Church at Laodicea was fairly affluent. They were rich. They had no sense of being in need (Rev 3:17). They may have celebrated this as a measure of God’s blessing and favour. In contemporary terms, they would probably be the kind of Church with modern buildings and technology, a high proportion of graduates and wealthy business people in the congregation, and the means to sustain an extensive outreach programme.

We have to assume that the Church at Laodicea also observed the sacraments. At least there is no suggestion that they were not keeping these ordinances. There is no indication at all that anything was amiss in the necessary formalities of Christian worship. Nothing that was going on gave the impression that anything was wrong.

How deceptive appearances can be! Their material prosperity masked a spiritual poverty. They were content with life even though Jesus was being excluded. He was not being actively opposed - they were not ‘cold’. It was more a case of neglect. They were indifferent. They were lukewarm. They were insensitive to the progression of their spiritual sickness and their accumulating shame.

They were content with Church. Nobody noticed that anything was wrong. It is likely that they would have looked shocked if you suggested that they were less than the spiritual cream. They were going through all the religious motions. But they were doing it without Jesus. He was not attending their Communion meals. While they were feasting He was outside the Church ‘knocking on the door’ offering to come in and ‘eat’ with anyone who would listen and let Him in.

The Laodicean Christians were so pleased with themselves in the way they were ‘doing church’ that even the appointed means of grace had become more of an obstacle than a help to true religion. They had ceased functioning as means of grace because they were instead functioning as means of keeping sinners self-satisfied. They ‘did Church’. They did not love Jesus.

What is the real blessing then? Their money? The surface appearance of being a good church? No. The real blessing is that Christ loved them in spite of their indifference and sent them this rebuke. The real blessing is that Christ gave them a messenger with the spiritual insight to ‘know the times’ and bring an authoritative message calling them to turn back to Him.

“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline...” (Rev 3:19a).

What does He want of them? Some fire. Some heat. Some passion. Some devotion.

“Be zealous and repent” (Rev 3:19b).

Jesus wants lived-out adoration not lifeless apathy. He does not reward Christians because they ‘do Church’. He rewards Christians who are determined to be with Him and like Him because they love Him:

“The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with Me on My throne, as I also conquered and sat down with My Father on His throne” (Rev 3:20).

He is, in effect, calling them back to the very first things of the faith: love, repentance and a turning from the world to pursue the Kingdom of God, trusting in the promise of fellowship with the Lord en route. (Perhaps this is one reason why Revelation 3:20 works so well as an evangelistic preaching text. Jesus is calling these professing Christians who have ‘gone off the boil’ to come back to Him. And this is more or less the same as what He says to unbelievers who are coming to Him for the first time).

We have lived through several months in which the Sovereign Lord has used a virus to shut the doors of church buildings. He has allowed Parliaments to regulate when Churches can reopen. Is the Lord not speaking to us in similar terms to those He sent to the Church at Laodicea?

We cannot meet freely in person and regulate our own affairs without political interference. I believe this is the Lord’s discipline. 

He has allowed us to continue preaching using online means and to reach many people who would not otherwise be listening. I believe this is the Lord’s gracious, undeserved blessing.

We have experienced a temporary and limited restriction of the means of grace. I believe this is the Lord’s gentleness, and patient restraint. 

We have had a small taste of what would happen if the Lord decided to ‘remove the candle-stick’ completely. I believe this is the Lord’s warning.

Have we not also been forced to revisit some of the first things of the faith? There is a good chance that the last time you went more than 3 months without meeting other Christians was before you were converted. We have realised more of our need for fellowship with other Christians which is so easy to take for granted in the normal run of things. One of the things that excites us when we learn that people are being reached by the gospel is the way it reminds us of how God first broke into our lives to show us the frailty of our existence, the problem we have with sin, and the wonder of the Salvation He holds out to us uniquely in Jesus Christ. We have had to rethink from scratch things which we have taken for granted for years: what can we do online, how do we do it, and what do we lose by doing it this way? In other words: what is really essential?

We might summarise the application in this way: 

“Do not be satisfied with Christianity without Christ or doing church without loving Jesus! Go back to the start and work out what’s essential. Be zealous and repent. Why? Because He doesn’t need or want your money. He doesn’t need or want you to just ‘do church’. He loves you with a jealous love that must be reciprocated or insulted. He wants your whole heart. He wants all your love and devotion. He wants heat and fire; He wants white-hot Christians. He wants to see you fighting against sin with all your might and determined to overcome in the spiritual battle at any cost. In short He wants you - all of you”.

See previous posts here and here.