Christ’s Love for the Lukewarm

*The sermon manuscript below was generated from the recording by AI…

Well, brothers and sisters, we’ve been journeying our way around 7 different churches, haven’t we? 7 churches, and today we draw into Laodicea, into Laodicea. And if you’re the messenger, you’ve left Philadelphia and you draw into a city which is very striking. It’s a very striking city because of its richness, because of its opulence. It’s one of the richest cities of the general area. We talked about some of the other rich towns, but none of them compare to the glory of Laodicea.

Laodicea was so rich, was so rich that in A.D.61 when an earthquake flattened the city, they said to the government, “We don’t need your money. We can rebuild it ourselves.” They had all of the major banks. They had all of the major trade guilds. If you wanted it, you found it in Laodicea. They needed nobody else. They were completely self-sufficient, completely self-reliant, rich, and had some of the most amazing medicine, which is why they were rich.

You see, in Laodicea, they were able to craft a medicinal ointment using a particular type of dust that they farmed there, and they would make salves. They would make salves for eyes, salves for wounds, but it was particularly the eye salve that they made that was particularly good. And so they had a temple devoted to healing, and they were known by all to be able to help you, and to be a place where you could grow prosperous in your life.

And as you draw into the city, and as the messenger you draw nearer to the church, one of the things you notice in marked contrast between this church and every other church is how incredibly well-to-do it is. They’ve got a lovely building. And as you draw in, you notice that there are lovely drapings on the wall, and the minister is, is dressed in, in fine black woolen gowns. You see, the area of Laodicea farmed some of the most expensive and fancy goats that you could find, and they produced a black wool that would shimmer and shine in the sun, and it was pure black. and, and what you notice is you look around the room and that the majority of people are dressed in opulence and richness, and they’ve got these lovely gowns. And, and, you know, they have shared lunch that Sunday and, and it’s all beautiful food. There doesn’t seem to be any hardship in the church in any direction. They are blessed physically in every way that you could desire.

And it’s to this church that this letter now comes, and the messenger gives it to this minister, clad in his opulence, and the minister stands up and he reads of churches like Ephesus who had lost their love. He reads of churches like Smyrna that had faced tribulation and were very poor, and Pergamum and Thyatira. And as the congregation listens, you can imagine them beginning to think, “Well, I wonder what he’ll say of us. We’re very successful. We’re very rich. We’re very capable.”

And Jesus speaks to them, and the first thing he says is, “This is a message from the sovereign Lord of all.” That’s the implication of the words, the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. It is the strongest introduction out of any of the 7 epistles. It doesn’t come from one who is near to them in comfort, like some of the others. It doesn’t come to them from one who is a king, or one who is righteous, or one who is a judge, but it comes from the Amen, the Lord of all, the Lord of glory. There’s only one other place that uses this “the Amen” similarly, and it’s in the Book of Isaiah to describe Yahweh. And when it says that he is the beginning of God’s creation, 2 things are implied here. Firstly, he’s the one that began creation, and secondly, he is the one that began the new creation through his resurrection. And so what he is presenting before him is, before them, is himself robed in splendor and glory and praise and majesty and authority. “There is no one higher and more glorious than me,” says the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings that speaks to this church.

And he’s going to write to them, and we’re going to see 5 things. Firstly, we’re going to see Christ’s loving letter. This is really important to see Christ’s loving letter. Thomas Manton, the Puritan, said these words, “God has no illegitimate children, but he does have degenerate ones.” You know the difference, children, between illegitimate and degenerate? Illegitimate means they’re not real children. Degenerate means they’re naughty children. And so Manton says God doesn’t have any non-real children, but he does have lots of naughty children. And he says, to go on, “He uses affliction to bring them home.” He uses affliction to bring them home.

One thing you have to see in this letter is that this is not the letter of an angry Lord or king who wants vengeance upon his people, but it is the letter of a loving Lord who longs for the restoration of his people. This is why he says to them in verse 19, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline.” The reason I’m writing this to you, Laodicea, the reason I’m writing this to you, RBC, is because I love you. And if you lose sight of that, you will lose sight of the whole message. And so often, our problems in the church, in the way we view God, and God’s word, and God’s commands are because we lose sight of the fact that God writes to us in his love. And instead, we see him as a god of terror, rather than a god of kindness.

You see, this epistle, this letter has some savage words in it, doesn’t it? In fact, probably the most direct and brutal words in the New Testament directed towards a church, and they come from the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And we must beware of the lie of the devil which says, “If God really loved you, he wouldn’t do that.” Haven’t you heard an unbeliever say to you before, “I could never worship a God who does that”? It’s ’cause they have no idea of the way God works. That God in his love and providence will lead us into painful prace- places in order to reprove us and correct us and to make us into the image of Christ. And that’s what he’s doing for the church.

You see, Christ loves us way too much to leave us in our degeneracy. To leave us broken. And, and we should understand this, because we know this as parents, don’t we? Whe- when you go to the supermarket and you see a brat whose parents just let them go psychotic everywhere, do you think to yourself, “Here is a parent that truly loves their child”? You know, and you talk to the parent and they say, “Oh, no, I don’t believe in disciplining children. That’s not loving, to discipline a child. Smack a child? That’s not kind. I mean, you need to ask them for permission before you change their nappies. That’s not love, is it?” No, you think to yourself, “This parent truly doesn’t love their child. Because if they loved them, they would smack their child, because they want what’s best for their child, and they would discipline them, and they would give them rules and structure.”

I can remember one of my children learning this lesson quite painfully one day, not physically, when they had been particularly rude to their mother. I mean, particularly rude and disrespectful. And I took the child and I led them to the door and I opened the door and I said to them, “People in this house do not speak to their mother that way. If you would like to speak to your mother that way, you can leave.” Now, you might think that’s a bit of a gamble, ’cause what happens if your child stubbornly walks out the door, but of course, we parents know our children, don’t we? The child immediately recognized that they had crossed a boundary that was very costly. And I guarantee you, if you ask that child, they would not say, “My father doesn’t love me.” No, it was love that drove me to do it, because love wanted my child to live in harmony and peace with its mother. And the same is true of our God.

And so Christ writes to us in love today, and he writes to the church in Laodicea, and it begins with Christ’s loving assessment of the church, Christ’s loving assessment in the church. You know, self-assessment can be quite difficult, can’t it? I don’t know if you’ve ever had that experience where you go to a job interview and then the interviewer says to you, “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” It was always the bane of my existence, that question. I could deal with any other one, but, “Tell me what your strengths and weaknesses are?” It’s like, “No, I don’t know, and I don’t really wanna answer it, because I’m likely to get it wrong.” it’s, it’s hard, right? When someone says to you, “What are you good at?” It’s like, “Well, I’m not really sure.” “Where are you struggling?” “Well, I don’t know.” “How are you doing in life? How are you as a mother? How are you as a father?” It’s very difficult to self-assess.

You know, one of the things I love to do with people in, in marital counseling is to ask them to assess themselves, and then after they’ve assessed themselves, ask the cup- the partner to assess them back. And it’s always striking to see the enormous difference between the 2 assessments, because we see ourselves very differently than other people see us, correct? Now, that’s not always right or wrong, by the way. but Laodicea has a terrible self-assessment, a terrible self-assessment.

Have a look at it. Jesus says, “You say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered and I need nothing.’ I am rich, I have prospered, I need nothing.” They are exactly like the city they dwell in. They are exactly like the people they dwell in because they have imbibed the spirit of the world around them, the spirit of the age which loves riches and comfort and opulence. The self-assessment is blind. The self-assessment is, we are useful to the Kingdom of God and achieving great things because of our riches.

Now, you do need to pause for half a second here, and I do just need to comment, riches are not wrong. Money is not wrong. There are plenty of rich people in the Kingdom of God who are glorifying God and thriving in holiness. The problem is not money. The problem is what we do with it and our attitude towards it. When money becomes our god, we have a problem. And yet, the funny thing is, that problem can exist in both rich and poor alike. The rich person just happens to have it, the poor person wishes they had it, but the same idol is present in both of them. And so, this message applies to all of us, not just to those who are currently wealthy. It applies to every one of us.

So what’s Christ’s assessment? Well, firstly, he says, “You are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot.” What’s going on here? Now, previously, in previous generations, this was often interpreted to say Hot is good, Cold is bad, and I wish you were at least one of them. If you were good, that’d be great, but at least be evil, but don’t be neither. But that’s not the point here.

You see, one of the interesting things about Laodicea is, in spite of its richness, there was one resource they lacked which meant they could never be a military city and they could never defend themselves: water. There was no fresh running water in Laodicea. They had to pipe it in via an aqueduct. The problem is, they didn’t have underground pipes like we do, do they? And so, aqueducts were above the water, and so, it was a, a concrete formation effectively, like a drain that would flow the water in. All of the surrounding areas, there was a city called Colossi and Hiero- Hierapolis. One of them had hot water, one of them had cold water. Laodicea, in the middle, have neither, so they piped in warm water from the surrounding area. Well, hot water actually. By the time it got to them, it was lukewarm. It was so insipid that it made people nauseous when they drunk it, but they had no option but to drink it ’cause it was the only water they had.

Jesus’ point is not, “I wish you were good or bad,” “If you were hot, you would be useful to me. I could cook with you. If you were cold, I could refresh myself. But you’re good for nothing. You produce nothing. Though you’re rich, though you think you’re self-reliant, you are actually of no use to me and the Kingdom of God.” That’s a serious assessment, isn’t it? Can you imagine hearing that as the church? Can you imagine if Jesus said to us, “You know, you’re actually good for nothing? You produce nothing. You’re, you’re literally good for nothing.” But that’s Jesus’ assessment of this church.

Christ speaks the truth with love to them, and he carries on. He says, “You say you’re rich, you’ve prospered, that you need nothing, but you’re actually,” what? “Wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” Now, you need to picture this. You need to picture this in your mind. A person that is wretched, pitiable. Uh, you know what a pitiable person is, right? Someone that should be pitied and that’s it. You pity them because of the state they’re in. It’s not a compliment. Pitiable. A person that is dressed in poorness. They’re blind, stumbling around, and they’re naked. You don’t get a much more degenerate description of that than that, do you? Most homeless people in Auckland are better than that description. But that’s Christ’s assessment of the church. They’re worth nothing, they’ve got nothing, they stumble around blind, and they contribute nothing to the Kingdom of God.

And, and, and the savageness of this is striking, right? It, it doesn’t stop. He could’ve just said the first thing, but he carries on going, and he, and he lays it on thick. He could’ve just said, he could’ve just said, “You’re wretched.” like C.S. Lewis says, if, if a doctor really loves you, he doesn’t give up from cutting when you plead with him for mercy, does he? You might cry out to your surgeon, and, you know, this is olden days when you didn’t have anesthetic. You might cry out to the surgeon, “It hurts. Stop cutting. It hurts.” But if the doctor truly loves you, what does he do? He goes on cutting. Why? Because if he doesn’t remove the cancer, you’re dead. And so Christ in his savageness keeps on cutting.

You know, I think this reminds us, brothers and sisters, that it’s very, very easy for us as believers to hide behind veils when we come to church, isn’t it? Can’t we come to church and, and we put on our church clothes, and we come to church, and we walk through the door, and Brother Rob greets us with a smile, and he says, “How are you?” “Oh, I’m great, thanks.” And we walk in, and we sit down, and we behave well, and we speak respectfully. And as parents, we hope our children don’t betray us and say something that would allude to reality because it’s all false, when deep down we’re broken, we’re poor, we’re wretched.

We need true assessments of ourselves, brothers and sisters. You see, one of the things the devil will do is he will convince us by building us up in order to destroy us. He will exalt us and make us appear good in order to destroy us. But Christ in his love will humble us in order to exalt us, won’t he? And so Christ in his love assesses this church.

And yet he doesn’t just assess them, does he? For Christ also gives them wonderful counsel. He says to them in verse 18, “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.”

You see, Christ, as I said, tears down in order to rebuild. Because Christ comes to us in love, he doesn’t just rebuke us and leave us in misery, but he chastises us and invites us and provides for us what we need to be restored and right with him. And so he comes to the church, and this is a really gentle, loving touch. He says to them, “I counsel you. I give you advice.” Have you ever thought about God giving you advice? It sounds strange, doesn’t it? We think of God commanding and God speaking and you listening. But what about God advising you?

And one of the things I’ve noticed as my children have gotten older is that the relationship changes. When your children are, are young, you don’t give them advice, do you? You don’t say to them on Sunday morning, “You know, I- I’d like to give you some advice that you, uh, get dressed nicely and come to church with me.” No. You say, “You get dressed nicely and you put the clothes on that I tell you and you come to church with me.” That’s the way it goes. My rules, my house. But as they grow older, it begins to change. And just recently, I was speaking with one of my children about a decision they were gonna make, and I didn’t say to them, “This is what you must do,” even though I had an opinion on the matter. I said to them, “You’re old enough to make your own decision. This is my counsel. This is what I suggest you do. But you honor God. You do what’s right before the Lord.”

And, and Christ comes to this church which is claiming to be mature and right and he says to her, “I give you counsel.” But it’s also, it’s a picture of tenderness, isn’t it? It’s a beautiful picture of the tenderness with which our Savior treats us. He so often doesn’t come to us with a rod, does he? But he comes in gentleness and kindness, and he counsels them. He offers them advice in 3 ways. He offers them advice to buy from him 3 things.

Firstly, gold. He says, “Buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich.” You remember? What did they say? “We’re rich. We’re rich.” And Jesus says, “No, you’re poor. But you can be rich if you buy from me.” You see, self-dependence always ends in poverty in the spiritual kingdom of God. If we rely upon ourselves, we always end up in poverty and brokenness. But if we come to Christ, we’re made rich indeed. This is why in Isaiah 55, the Lord can say to Israel, “Come. Come to me. Buy from me milk, honey, bread, without money, without gold, without silver.” Jesus is taking up those very words. He’s saying, “Come to me and buy gold that you may be rich.” What is this gold but salvation? So come and buy salvation from me. Not that you can buy it with your money. You know that. But obtain what only Christ can provide.

And secondly, he says, “Come buy from me white garments so that may y- you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness, so that it may not be seen.” Do you remember those, th- that moment in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve rebelled? What are the 2 first things that take place? Shame and hiding, right? They eat, they realize they’re naked, and they hide. And God says to them, “Why did you hide?” They says, “Because I realized I was naked and I was ashamed, and so I hid.” And some of us know someone that has exposed himself accidentally, and I can assure you, it is the most shaming experience you can ever endure in your life. And Jesus says to them, “You are naked in your sin and ashamed, but I will clothe you.” What will he clothe them in? Well, white garments. What are white garments but the righteousness of God? He says, “I will clothe you so that you will never be ashamed again.” This is the goodness of Christ. They said, “We’re rich,” and they were dressed in what? In lovely black garments made of lovely wool from Laodicea. He says, “No, you’re not dressed in opulence, you’re naked, but I’ll dress you in a garment that will never be taken away.” You see, the devil wants us to look to ourselves to provide, but only Christ can provide.

And then lastly, he says, “I will provide you with eye salve.” Have a look here. “Buy from me salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.” It’s striking, isn’t it? What did they produce in Laodicea? Eye salve. “We can fix our own eyes,” they said. “We don’t need God. We don’t need the gods of the other nations, because we’ve got our own eye salve. We’re fine.” And Jesus says, “You may physically see, but you are spiritually blind, and therefore dead in your sin. And what you need is my eye anointing. You need me to open up your eyes, and if you come to me without money and buy from me, I will give it to you. I will grant you to see. Buy without cost.”

In order to do that, you have to recognize what you are, don’t you? As, as long as As long as we sit here and say, “No, I’m rich. I’m well-to-do. I’m successful. I’m self-dependent. I can sort my own life out,” as long as we say that, we will never come to Christ for help. Coming to Christ for rich gold salvation and righteous garments that never fade and eye-opening salve is only possible when you acknowledge spiritual bankruptcy. It begins by saying, “I have nothing.”

There is one thing that you bring to salvation, brothers and sisters. Remember we sung, “Nothing in my hands I bring”? It’s only partially true. You do bring something. It’s your sin, and it’s your sinful nature, and you bring it to the cross, and you heap it upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and you walk away with his righteousness. I mean, what a deal, right? You buy Christ with sin. You bring your sin and you give it to him. It’s the trade of a lifetime, but you’d be a fool not to take it, wouldn’t you? I mean, who would be so foolish as to be freely offered eternal salvation, perfect righteousness, and eyes that truly see in exchange for your blindness, your poverty, a- and say, “No. I’m fine just the way I am”? And yet, don’t we know so many people that do that?

Oh, brothers and sisters, may you be granted eyes to truly see that. May none of you sit here in poverty, thinking you don’t need God when judgment is coming, but may each and every one of you purchase from Christ that which lasts forever.

And so he gives this loving counsel to come to him. And all of this ultimately is Christ’s loving rebuke, isn’t it? Have a look at verse 19 and 20. “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

Christ calls his people to repentance. Now, it’s really important this moment that you stop and realize, these words are not written to pagan outsiders, because it’s very easy for us to take these words and go, “Ah, yes, the church down the road needs to hear these words,” or, “The people in the pool need to hear these words,” or, “Outsiders need to hear these words.” Brothers and sisters, these words are written to you. Christ rebukes and reproves and disciplines all those who have imbibed the spirit of apathy, lukewarmness, and self-dependency, because Christ loves you too much to leave you there. He’s calling you to repent. He’s calling each one of us to repent of whatever apathy there is in our life.

you might want to ask yourself the question, well, “How do I know if there’s apathy in my life? How do I know if I’m lukewarm? How do I know if I don’t have zeal?” Because he calls us to zeal, doesn’t he? He calls us to a taking things seriously, you might translate the word. Repent of your apathy and take this seriously.

Sometimes parents, don’t you want to say that to your children? You’re trying to do something, and they’re just clowning around? Especially when they’re teenagers. Well, I didn’t tell you how many times I used to say this at Boys Brigade in Arawa here. They have all these little boys clowning around, and all of a sudden I’d just kind of lose it, and I’d shout at them and say, “Would you take this more seriously?” That’s what Christ is saying to us. This is not a game, brothers and sisters, that you can just take it or leave it. This is eternity that we’re talking about, life and death. And there are people around us going to hell, and their eternity is at cost here. We don’t have time to play games, and yet we’re filled with apathy.

And how do you, how do you know if you’re apathetical, you ask? You could ask yourself a little question. When you’re doing your hobbies, when you’re doing your hobbies, how often do you think about the things of Christ? And when you’re doing the things of Christ, how often do you think about your hobbies? Have you had that moment where you’re sitting, whether it’s in a prayer meeting or a church service or an extended shared lunch Sunday, or the idea of coming a second time, and you think to yourself Of course, this is internally, you’d never admit this to anyone, but you think to yourself, “If I go to that I can’t play computer games. If I go to that I can’t read my book. If I go to that I can’t go play golf. If I go to that I can’t go to work.” Whatever it is. How often while you’re doing your hobby do you think to yourself, “Oh, if I do my hobby, I can’t read my Bible. I can’t talk to my neighbor. I can’t seek God. I can’t minister Christ to my children”? Isn’t it a striking mark that so often when we are in religious exercises we are drawn to worldliness, but when we are in worldly exercises we are not drawn to godliness? Isn’t that a sign of apathy, small or great, within our lives?

Christ is calling us to put it to death. To put it to death, and to live with fervor. As C.T. Studd would say, “Only one life, ’twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

L- I’ll never forget a, a, a, a young Maori woman in Huntly. I, I met her in church, in, uh, in the local Baptist church that I was preaching in. And, and I went around and visited her and her husband. Her husband was an ex-gang member, uh, bikey, rough as anything. We went around their place and, and had coffee with them. And I s- I said to, said to her, “Well, what do you do in your spare time?” You know, just trying to have small talk and “What do you do in your spare time?” She said, “I read my Bible.” I said, “Oh, lovely. So what do you do after that?” She said, “What do you mean?” I said, “Well, after you’ve read your Bible, what do you do after that?” She goes, “Well, I read my Bible.” I said, “Yeah, but when you’re not reading your Bible.” Uh, she said, “Well, you know, I’ve got work and I’ve gotta look after the kids, and I go to church and other things.” I said, “Yeah, but what of, for fun?” She went, “I read my Bible.” And I remember just thinking to myself, “This woman’s nuts.” Why? Because she’s just not like me. Why? Because I’m so much like the world. I mean, that’s the reality, right? Why does my heart and mind immediately object to someone who lives their life completely sold out for Christ? Because it’s a quiet rebuke on my own.

And it’s a challenge for us, isn’t it? It’s a challenge to live a life that’s worth living. Not for the things of this world, which are gonna fade and, and rust and rot. I mean, once you’re dead what are you gonna do with your money? But to live for something that never perishes, storing up riches in heaven.

I know this is a hard word, brothers and sisters, but it’s Christ’s word to us. I remember the words of George Whitefield, where he famously said, “I would rather burn out than rust out.” Now, how many of us are in danger of burning out versus rusting out? Let’s be honest. Be honest with yourself before the Lord. You don’t need to tell me.

I remember this struck me with power one day when I preached at the installation of a minister, and I took up the words of Paul, “We toil, laboring, striving with all our might.” And I preached about what the congregation needed from their minister, and I basically said they need the minister to pour himself out every day unceasingly until the return of Christ. That would be the greatest gift he could be to them. And I was rebuked by someone after the service. They said, “Logan, speech like that will make the people overdo it and burn themselves out.” I didn’t know what to say, so I just said nothing, which is always a safe thing when you don’t know what to say.

But isn’t it true that that is so much the spirit of our church? I can’t tell you how many ministers’ conferences where they have a session on not burning out in the ministry. But you know what they never have a session on? Burning yourself out for Christ. Self-care and self-help is the spirit of our age, isn’t it? And sometimes we are tempted to imbibe it.

And yet notice how Christ invites us to fix this. It’s really important that you don’t miss this. Christ doesn’t invite us to fix this by, by girding up our loins. He could’ve said that, right? He could’ve said, “Now, gird up your loins and get to work!” But he doesn’t.

Do you know how Do you know the solution to apathy? The solution to lukewarmness? The solution to apathy and lukewarmness is fellowship and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. It is treasuring and delighting Jesus. That’s why he says to them, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me.”

Do you know this isn’t an evangelistic text? I know it gets used by preachers in evangelism all the time, but that’s not the point. Jesus is not knocking on the door of an unbeliever. He’s knocking on the door of the church. The church is gathered, the door is shut, and Christ is not even in the church. He’s outside the church. And then, but he knocks on the door and he says to them, “Open up. Let me in so that we may sup together.”

Now, why sup? What happened before Jesus died? What did they do? They reclined at table, and they supped together. They had fellowship together. They communed together. The solution to apathy is not doing more and trying harder, but knowing Christ more intimately. Sharing intimacy and fellowship with Christ.

Why? Why is that the answer? Because that which you treasure is that which you will live for, right? You know, it was just may- uh, maybe a month ago, Ming can chastise me if I’ve remembered the dates wrong, but about a month ago Ming and Jess got engaged. And what did Jess do when she came to church? The first thing she did. “Hi, everyone. Can I help with morning tea?” No. What did she do? “Look at my ring! Look at my ring!” And she went around all the ladies in church and all of the children, and, “Look at my ring. I’m engaged,” and, “Ming finally got around to it, and we’re here.” It’s the heart cry of every fiance, isn’t it? My love finally proposed. It’s finally happened, and I’m gonna go to work and I’m gonna tell all my work colleagues, and I’m gonna show it at the café. And every time I pay for something, I’m doing it like this so that they can see it, because I want everyone to know. Why? Because you delight in the man that gave you the ring, right? It’s not ’cause of the ring. It’s just a ring. Coulda been an onion ring, and you’d still do the same thing.

Now, you come and you’re face to face in intimacy with Christ, and you find the one who truly loves your soul. You find the true delight and longing of your heart, and you walk out of your prayer closet, you walk out of church. You leave your Bible, and you go to your wife or child or mother or workplace, and what do you do? Oh, I found a friend. Oh, such a friend. He loved me ere I knew him. He drew me with the cords of love and tightly bound me to him. And you walk into work and someone says to you, “Oh, your face has changed. Why, why are you different today?” Oh, because I met the lover of my soul this morning.

The solution, brothers and sisters, to our apathy is not hard work. It’s what they used to call rapture. Not the premill version, the real version. Being enraptured with one whom you love. I- I hope, likewise for you, you never get tired of, husbands, you never get tired of seeing your bride walk in the room. It just never gets old, does it? I’ve been married for over 21 years now, which compared to John and Carol is just the beginning. But doesn’t it delight you when Carol comes in and sits on John’s lap at prayer meeting? And with such joy they do it. And I’d be willing to guess that if we went up and asked John, he would tell us that when Carol walks in the room, his heart still smiles, because she is the love of his life.

Well, we have one in heaven far more intimate than a husband or wife, brothers and sisters. Far more loving than a parent, children. Far more tender than a child. Far closer than a best friend. We have the lover of our souls, and this one briefly comes to us and he, he offers us a loving reward.

Have a look. Verse 21. “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.” I said to you at the beginning that this letter comes with one of the strongest introductions out of the 7 epistles. Do you know it also comes with one of the strongest and greatest rewards, too? The worst church, Laodicea, not one positive word is said about them. Not one. the others get something. They get nothing. It’s all bad, and Jesus offers them the greatest reward. It’s striking. It’s just if, if you conquer, which means if you do as I’ve said, if you embrace my message and you hold onto me until the end, if you do as I say, if you let me in, if you open the door and we fellowship together, I’m gonna grant you to sit with me on my eternal throne.

That’s a striking picture, isn’t it? Can you imagine for a second someone from Laodicea? You know, you’ve had Pergamum and Sardis who had no blame cast upon them. And in walks someone from Laodicea into glory and walks up and sits down on the throne of Jesus Christ. Wouldn’t you be scandalized? You’d go, “Well, that’s a bit rich. Come on, Laodicea. We all heard what you were like.” Yet this is the promise of the lover of their soul.

Now, I hope I h- I trust you know that he’s not saying they’re physically going to sit on Jesus’ throne. It’s a, it’s a metaphor, right? Jesus says, “I conquered and I sat victoriously upon my father’s throne. You conquer, you will sit victoriously in me on my throne.” Why? Because if we fellowship with Christ, we are one with Christ. And in union with Christ, we do sit upon his throne. This is why Paul can say in Ephesians 2, “You have been seated in heavenly places.” Today. It’s also a place of power and honor. Remember those words of Jesus where he says, “Anyone who confesses me before men” What does he say? “I will confess before my Father in heaven, and the angels. If you live in fellowship with me, for me, I will acknowledge you in glory. You will sit with me.”

There’s one last word, and it’s really a word which has echoed through all the letters, and yet I haven’t spoken of it. And that is, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” It’s not just make sure you listen. It’s a prophetic word that comes from the Book of Isaiah. It’s a prophetic way of saying, “Those who hear, will hear and receive more. Those who don’t, will harden themselves to death.”

And so the question for each and every one of us as we finish up these 7 letters, the question that sits for us is, will we respond to the letter of Christ to the churches and yield a harvest, or will we harden our hearts and be given over to death? Because this is a word for you, as an individual today, as well as us as a church today. May God grant us zeal to hear and seek our Savior.

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