1. Introduction:
With the Church which is located in Laodicea, we close out the overview that makes the Lord of the seven churches of Asia, overview, which we have seen, is both an overview of the development of the Church in history since its birth, but also an inventory of all the evils which the Church, locally or in whole, may be afflicted.
In the inventory that stands the Lord, we want to remind us that the evils that follow are not alike. If some evil has its source outside the church (the persecution) most of them come as one who knocks here Laodicea inside: the loss of first love (Ephesus), false doctrine (Pergamon), false prophet (Thyatira), spiritual death (Sardis). It's more about what is happening inside the church that comes to it by the danger that comes from outside.
The warning of Paul to the Ephesian elders in his farewell along the same lines: "I know myself that after my departure s'introduiront ferocious wolves among you not sparing the herd, and that between yourselves will arise men who will say things perverse result disciples after them: Acts 20.29 to 30. "
Another finding, which also applies to Laodicea, which we have done in this study is that, almost always, the ills afflicting the churches in question are related to the environment (cities) in which they are located. It is a fact that is true not only here but sometimes for the churches to which Paul wrote in the New Testament: the example of Corinth.
Direct application that can be drawn from this observation that emerges in the study of letters by the Lord to the churches of the Apocalypse is that, without us realizing it, we are much more permeable and influenced than we think the moral environment, cultural and ideological context in which we swim.
Example: for a Christian from a highly religious culture, the fact of going to worship does not even arise. Just as he went to the mosque on Friday, a Christian from a Muslim background naturally join its meeting on Sunday. For us French, heirs of secularism and free thought, which has made us one nation above all marked by individualism, this obligation does not appear too restrictive. One can certainly go to worship is good! But we can also do without it from time to time: we do not fall sick! Personal considerations are as important if not more, than those which are communal. These differences do not arise only from the opinion or conscience. In large part, they reflect the principles of the culture in which we grew up.
The same parallel can be drawn as to the style that marks the churches. Not for nothing if we, French, are sometimes so rational in our faith, or the Germans if square, or the Italians or the Anglo-Saxon so exuberant. The overview is that Jesus church should make us aware of this reality. All local churches that are in the world reflected, to some degree, the mentality, culture, values of the environment in which they are located. For us to ensure that these standards and this influence does not prevail in point, as has already happened, to lose to the Church which makes its particularity and identity first: it belongs to Christ, her Lord .
2. Laodicea :
As it is for other churches, we can not understand why the words and expressions used by the Lord to speak to the Christians of Laodicea without knowing the history and characteristics of the city in which the church is located.
first feature of Laodicea: his wealth. Renowned for its textile industry, Laodicea was one of the richest cities in the province of Asia. It was faith a mall for the entire region and a major banking center. Historians report that the wealth of Laodicea was such that after the earthquake that struck in 60 AD, the city refused the assistance that would give him the Roman government for its reconstruction. Thanks to their banking, Laodicean felt they had enough money in their coffers to be autonomous and not needing anyone.
Parallel with the feeling that Christians lived: I'm rich, I do not need anything: Rev. 3.17.
second feature: In addition to its wealth Laodicea was famous for its hot springs that attracted many patients. A Laodicean, we could find water at all temperatures possible: hot, cold or warm. Knowing this, we better understand the allusion made by Jesus to the Christians of Laodicea on the temperature of their spiritual state: Rev. 3.15.
third feature finally: In addition to its wealth and its thermal waters, another thing was the reputation of Laodicea: its medical school where they cared for the sick especially the eyes, using eye drops that famous one manufactured on site using a powder called "balm of Phrygia. Again, we better understand the reason for the reference of Jesus in eyedrops to cure the blindness of the Laodicean: Rev. 3.18.
3. Lessons from the letter:
A. The name by which the Lord speaks to Laodicea: v 14
We have seen the name under which the Lord comes to the different churches is directly related to the particular difficulties which have to do facing the community in which it is addressed. The church of Laodicea is no exception to the rule.
These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness ... In light of the Bible, three specific meanings can be given to the word Amen, we speak so often, but maybe we account for his Range:
first meaning: Amen = Truth. Although not reflected in this way in the Bible, the word Amen is one of the words most often used by Jesus. It is found particularly when, wanting to support one of his statements, Jesus introduced by the expression: Verily, verily ... The word translated as truth in our Bibles is written in the original writings Amen. The Amen is the truth spoken by God.
second meaning: we find in 2 Corinthians 1.20 . Paul, speaking of the promises that God gives us, we said that we utter the Amen as a desire for their achievement, is found in Jesus. The idea here is voiced by Paul regarding the Amen and that, in terms of God's promises, nothing is possible outside of Jesus. Everything must pass through him!
The purpose of the Lord by attending Laodicea in this expression is clear. He wants to remind the church that whatever comfort and complacency in which she lives, only he is the guarantor of the spiritual treasure that it really has. Jesus warns the church here that it should not confuse appearance and reality. The truth about the richness of a church does not lie in its property: beautiful rooms, sophisticated equipment, lighting, sound system ultimate ... She is in her ability to rely on God and Christ to live and be the benefit of the promises He made in His Word.
third meaning: the Amen is the conclusion, the end of everything: Rev 22.20 : virtually the last word in the Bible! Since Jesus is the Amen, He is both the beginning and end of everything, the church of Laodicea, like any church would do well to guide the choices she made on the basis not of present moment but this last end to which it inevitably will one day face.
If, according to what one might think, the message that the Lord in the church of Laodicea is the development of the Church in its terminal phase, which precedes the return of Christ, by Him riaosn the use of the name under which it occurs becomes very clear:
Two lifestyles may exist for the Christian end-time :
- the first is that adopted by the church of Laodicea. It's a lifestyle centered on man, satisfaction, comfort and well-being of the moment. It's a lifestyle that, contrary to what can be confessed in the church, shows that it does not end the Lord and eternity, but the man and his development into the present. Is the lifestyles of those between the prosperity gospel, health, welfare, wealth which, for those who join as many marks the blessing of God: the Gospel of Human Rights!
- the second is that which the Lord calls Laodicean. It is a lifestyle where they are not things present, but he, Jesus, who is the ultimate end, a style of life centered on Christ, where what is sought, is not primarily success here, but approval the Lord and the final reward. It is a more austere lifestyle that requires both a detachment (admittedly, it is in the world, but we do not live as if the world was essential) and a concern, translated by Paul in Phil 3 , 13 , with these words:
"In my case one thing counts: Forgetting what is behind and tending towards what is ahead, I press toward the mark for the price of call of God in Jesus Christ. "
Such is the appeal of Jesus to the Church of Laodicea ... and we Christians the twenty-first century, perhaps, represent the!
B. Symptoms of a Laodicean Christian life: they are threefold:
first symptom: the warmth : v 15 and 16
When spoken by the warmth of the Lord evokes not only a question of temperature. He alluded to the taste as it leaves the mouth Christians of Laodicea. I do not know if you're like me, but warm water, whether natural, is not pleasant to drink. In general it enjoys a nice cold drink when or where it is hot. You can drink an iced coffee or hot coffee with pleasure, but pleasure is spoiled when the coffee is lukewarm. Who is surprised, the reflex can be up to the spit.
The question arises: are we to the Lord a source of heat or cooling, or taste it feel to contact us is it the same as we feel in contact with a warm drink .
"Like the coolness of snow at harvest time is a faithful messenger for those who send him. it restores the soul of his master Prov 25.13.
"If I say I will not make mention of Him, I will speak in His name. There is in my heart, "said Jeremiah, who is a consuming fire shut up in my bones. I try to contain it and I can not: Jeremiah 20.9.
In what state is our heart to the Lord this morning? The Lord wants to contact us feel both cool and heat! Let us know that it is impossible to please the Lord if we do not drive, nor zeal or fidelity to Him!
second symptom : adequacy: v 17
You say ... the Christians of Laodicea, felt like the city authorities, not needing anything. They were sufficient in themselves, they were deceived by their apparent wealth. There is nothing worse for the spiritual life than to have no more thirst, no feel no need to be with the Lord, to feed on His Word, to progress.
Sufficiency in the Christian life is always a sign of warmth, of spiritual poverty and blindness (3rd symptom!)
C. The remedy recommended by the Lord to Laodicea:
signs or symptoms of a Christian life Laodicean is triple, the Lord prescribes for the cure of this state a threefold remedy:
first remedy: to cure her of her spiritual poverty, He recommends buying gold purified by fire v 18
that this gold? Peter gives us in his first epistle the definition: 1 Peter 1.6 to 7. This gold tried by fire is a faith-quality, similar to that of gold when passed through the fire, he is stripped of all impure materials which were associated. God's desire is that our faith, like gold, is a pure material, it is removed in what is his expectation of anything that does not correspond to what God has promised us.
Let us always remember that if God lets us down, this is not due to the fact that he would not honor his promises to us, but only the fact that we had expectations to Him why He never committed. God did not promise success in this world or life easy or without trial. What He has promised us is to be with us in everything we live for us to keep the day of salvation!
second remedy: for the issue of his nakedness, he advised him to buy white clothes.
It is likely that being rich, members of the church of Laodicea stood out from others by their clothing neat and refined. Behind the appearance, the Lord knew the true state of each, especially the appalling poverty of heart in which the majority was.
Jesus therefore advised to buy white clothes. The white robes in the Apocalypse, is both the works and the kind of Christian character which adorn the saints before God Rev. 19.8; cf 1 Peter 3.4 to 5. Our real beauty before God is not in our or our physical appearance, but in our sweetness and our love for Christ.
third remedy : For the issue of his blindness, he advised him to buy eye drops
eye, said Jesus is the lamp of the body. If all your eye is good, your whole body will be illuminated: 6.22 Mat. First remove the plank in your eye, "said Jesus again, and you will see clearly to remove the mote in thy brother's eye: 7.5 Mat.
A church that has diseased eyes is a church that sees more clearly, who can no longer discern truth from error, the most important accessory, the secondary priority. This disorder Video makes it inevitably vulnerable to seductive that certainly can put him in full view, but make it even more blind than it was. What the Church needs is not the view of human things, but the clear view that the Spirit gives to one who submits to Christ: cf 1 John 2.26-27 .
A faith centered on the essential human elements removed which are foreign, white garments of the character and works of Christian discernment given by the Spirit are the three treatment prescribed by the Lord remedy the state of lukewarm Laodicea.
With the two key promises:
- for this: the return to intimacy with Him: 3.20
- for eternity: the promise winner of the world and its spirit of sharing the kingdom with Christ 3.21
the Lord gives us to apply every day in our life prescribed treatments here to keep the corruption of the world !
I am coming soon!
