The Seven Churches: Laodicea

Listen in as we wrap up our series looking at the seven churches of Revelation.

Notes//Quotes:

Revelation 3:14-22

2 Cor 1:20-22

Its wealth was based on three things. First, it was a banking center. The banking arrangements for that part of the world were made there, and coins were minted there. It was a combination of Wall Street and Fort Knox. Second, it was also a garment center. The hills around Laodicea were famous for a certain breed of black-wooled sheep. From this wool, garments and carpeting were manufactured in Laodicea. Fashions were created there, in this mixture of a Paris salon and New York's Fifth Avenue.Third, it was a medical center. There was a medical school there, which had a worldwide reputation for two locally produced medicines. One was an ointment of nard, which was used to cure sore ears. But above all, it was famous for a certain eye powder. It was exported in tablet form, and the tablets were ground down and applied to the eyes as a cure for ophthalmia. It was a Johns Hopkins Hospital and Mayo Clinic to the ancient world. Money, fashion, medicine-these three successes brought the Laodiceans affluence and prosperity. They were so completely successful in these material blessings that they quite forgot about any other aspects of the world or existence. They were anesthetized by their affluence, and they lost all sense of God.  They were lukewarm.Lukewarmness is the special fault of the successful. Those who have achieved or inherited are particularly prone to it. It is a basic threat to our church and our Christian faith in these times. - Eugene Peterson

What does Jesus mean by rejecting the “lukewarm” Laodiceans and wishing for hot or cold? Koester suggests that the imagery has to do with hospitality. Chilled and warm wine were both popular drinks. When a guest arrived, his host might offer him wine chilled with snow, or wine mixed with warmed water. To be offered lukewarm wine was an insult to the guest and a mark against the host. In short, “The Laodiceans are unlike the hot or cold drink that a banqueter might desire. They are tepid, objectionable, and something to be vomited out of the mouth.” That fits with the overall imagery of the message to Laodicea, which ends with an explicit reference to a banquet. The Laodiceans have not welcomed Jesus as an honored guest. Even when they don’t leave Him outside the door knocking to get in, they haven’t been good hosts. - Peter Leithart

Counterfeits of Repentance (Tim Keller)
Blame Shifting
White Washing
Self Pity
Self Flagellation

What repentance is:
Confessing Sin
Forsaking Sin

In Proverbs 28:13 we read: “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.” First, we must “confess”—a word that is helpfully contrasted in the proverb with the word conceal. To confess is to make a full, clean admission of what you have done wrong, without qualification or excuse, without minimizing or relativizing. It is to take full responsibility. The Hebrew word “yadah”, translated here as “confess,” always has the sense of praising and thanking God. So confessing a sin is not merely telling the truth, nor is it an abstract “I deserve punishment of some kind.” Rather, it is admitting that you have been failing to love and honor God, and at this moment you begin to glorify him by admitting how you have wronged him and others.
However, Proverbs 28:13 moves on and says it is not enough to confess or admit a sin—you must also forsake it. To forsake is to make a full renunciation of the sinful behavior, both in your heart attitude and in practical action. When John the Baptist led people to the brink of repentance, they asked, “What then shall we do?” He answered, “Bear fruits in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3:8), and by that he meant practical action that reversed their wrong behavior. - Tim Keller

What is received in repentance? 
Free grace which leads to joy.

“In summary, repentance begins when blame shifting, white washing, self-pity, and self-righteous despair end. It begins when confession, renunciation, and the acceptance of free grace take place. Then the clouds of guilt and shame can lift—and we can sing: Finally, there is one thing to receive. After repenting must come rejoicing—rejoicing in the free mercy of God. Repentance without rejoicing leads to despair.” - Tim Keller

Nor will God force any door to enter in. He may send a tempest about the house; the wind of his admonishment may burst doors and windows, yea, shake the house to its foundations; but not then, not so, will he enter. The door must be opened by the willing hand, ere the foot of Love will cross the threshold. He watches to see the door move from within. Every tempest is but an assault in the siege of love. The terror of God is but the other side of his love; it is love outside the house, that would be inside, love that knows the house is no house, only a place, until it enter home, but a tent, until the Eternal dwell there. George Macdonald