Spiritual Health Check

So I'm now gonna read, from Revelation 3, chapter 14.

To the angel of the church in Leodicea Wright, these are the words of the amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either 1 or the other. So because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am going to spit you out of my mouth. You say I am rich.

I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire so that you can become rich and white clothes to wear so that you can cover your shameful nakedness and salve to put on your eyes so that you can see. To those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline, so be earnest and repent. Here I am.

I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me. To the 1 who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne. Just I just as I was victorious and sat down with my father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the spirit says to the churches.

Thank you, Emma. Morning, everybody. To see you. My name is Tom, and, I'm 1 of the pastors here. And, we are coming now, or we are now at the end of this series that we've been looking at in the letters to the churches in Revelation, And so as we come to this last letter, let's bow our heads and pray.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the spirit says to the churches. Lord Jesus Christ, you are the risen, reigning ascended lord. And we thank you that through your word you speak to your churches, and you command us to listen to you when you speak. And yet lord we're conscious that in order to hear, we need your help. We cannot do the thing that we have been commanded to do by ourselves.

We we need your spirit to give us ears so that we can hear what you're saying to us. And so we pray please that you would give us those ears and speak to every single 1 of us here this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, as, as I just said, and as Phil said earlier, this is the, the last in this series of letters that we've been working through. And, unfortunately, we are not ending on a good note, but not ending on a high.

Last week, we looked at the letter to the church in Philadelphia. And in some ways, that really is the jewel in the crown. Of all the letters that Jesus wrote to his church. He was so warm and positive and commended so much about them and their life together, but this letter to the church in Leodicea is whatever the opposite of jewel in the crown is. I mean, it's It is a it is, and you picked it up, I'm sure, in the reading.

It is a tragic letter. There is nothing good here. There is nothing good. There is nothing that Jesus highlights and commends and is positive about in this church. Nothing.

According to verse 16, this church has the same effect on Jesus as a big glass of salt water would have on you. It makes him sick. That's what he says. This is a vomit inducing church. I mean, that's something, isn't it?

This is a vomit inducing church. And to do this justice, we have to know and feel what had gone wrong and to spend proper time looking at what had gone wrong in this church. That had made things so bad. But before we do that, will you look with me at the heart behind the letter? It's there in verse 19.

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. In Hebrews chapter 12, god says my son do not make light of the lord's discipline and do not lose heart when he rebukes you. Because the lord disciplines, the 1 he hates. Doesn't say that. The lord disciplines the 1 he judges.

The lord disciplines the 1 he cares nothing about. It's not what god says. The lord disciplines, the 1 he loves, those whom I love. I rebuke and discipline. And so without a doubt, this is a very hard hitting letter and it's meant it's meant to hit hard.

But please please don't miss verse 19. Those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. It's gotta be right, isn't it? The lord Jesus Christ loves his church. He loves his church.

And if you sat here this morning or a Christian, he loves you as part of his church. If he didn't, He would not say hard things. See, sometimes we can get that very wrong, can't we? We think that the opposite of love must be anger or the opposite of love must be indifference. But it's not true.

The opposite of love is I just I just don't I just don't care at all. I don't care at all what you do. I don't care at all what you say. I don't care at all what kind of people you're you just go and do you and I don't care. That is the opposite of love.

If you don't love, you don't care. And so how could Christ? Who died for his church? Who loved her so much that he gave himself for her? How could that Jesus tolerate those things which dishonor him and damage us.

How unloving would it be for 1 who had given himself for us to not care at all. How we lived or what we did. Verse 19, those whom I love, I rebuke and discipline. 3 headings this morning. Firstly, we're gonna see a vision of Jesus.

I'm gonna stay with him. See a vision of Jesus. Secondly, we're gonna see a painful diagnosis. And thirdly, we're gonna look at a healing word. A vision of Jesus, a painful diagnosis, and a healing word.

Let's have a look. A vision of Jesus verse 14. These are the words of the amen. Now as you might know, that is a Hebrew word. Armen is a Hebrew word, and it basically just means what what what you've just said, or what he said, or what she said, is absolutely true, and I agree with it, and I want that as well.

So when you pray, like Craig just did, and we all say, amen together, if we've listened and we agree, what we're really saying is what he just prayed I think is right And I want those things to be true as well. I want that to happen and I want what he said or she said to be established in the world. Our men lord. It's true lord. Establish it.

Make it make it so. And so to call Jesus the amen is really to affirm that everything he is and everything that he does and everything he promises in his word and that his very nature is truth and that we want him to be established. Jesus Christ is the amen of God. When the people of God say that, they say, father, establish Jesus in the world. Let his truth be known, and may people come to appreciate him as way and truth and life.

Jesus Christ is the amen of God. He is truth all the way down. And verse 14, these are the words of the amen, the faithful and the true witness. All of that sentence is saying to us that Christ is truth. He is truth.

His life corresponds to truth because he's faithful and his words point to truth because he is a faithful witness. The amen of god who lives the truth and speaks the truth no matter where you cut him right down the middle is a golden core of truth. Truth emanates from him. He's the source of truth in the world. But verse 14 is more.

Jesus is also the ruler of god's creation, which can mean that Jesus Christ is the is the spring of all life, or as 1 translation has it, the Christian standard Bible. Jesus is the originator of life. He's the originator. He rules over it. But also from him Life Springs, he's the origin of all life.

And so this is similar to what John said back in the first chapter of his gospel, if you're familiar with these words. In the beginning was the words, and the word was with god, and the word was god, and then he goes on in him was life. That's what John tells us. In him was life, that every living thing that there is owes it sustaining and it's creating to Christ. There is nothing alive in this whole universe, which doesn't draw from a need Christ in order to live.

And so you can see in the introduction, we've got Jesus Christ as way and truth and life. And I want you to notice that none of these descriptions about Jesus are coincidental or or accidental. They are perfectly designed to speak into the issues of this church. Because here in Leodicea, we find a church that is saying or at least believing verse 70, We do not need a thing. We don't need life because we've got it.

We are a self sufficient people. We can sustain our own lives in this world. We don't need Christ, the our man, or the truth because we, we have the truth. We know how to live. We know what's right to do.

We know what's wrong to do. And so do you see these descriptions are designed already to speak into the problems that there are into the church? Jesus is saying to them, no, my people. No. No.

If you lock me outside of the building, which it seems that they had done, because Jesus is knocking on the door, trying to get into the church, They're inside. It's very arresting image that, isn't it? They're inside doing church and taking the lord's supper and having their baptisms and singing. And Christ is knocking at the door of the church. They've locked him out.

And so Jesus is saying with this introduction, my people, if you lock me outside, then the truth that you claim to have is a lie. And the live life that you claim to have is death. And that is what you have done. You have taken truth and life, and you have locked it outside of your church. It's very interesting, isn't it?

That in most of these letters, Jesus mainly draws attention to what he has or to what he does. He has the double edged sword. Remember that. He has the 7 stars in his right hand. He is the 1 who rose from the dead.

That's something he did. But in verse 14, the focus is completely on who Christ is. Now why would that be? Well, surely because the greatest need in laodicea and in every church really is a clear vision. Of the glory of Christ.

So you can spend your whole life as a pastor of a church or as an elder or as a church member just trying to problem solve, you know? Make that thing more efficient. Make that area of ministry less clunky. Make that the way that works a little bit more effective. But the greatest need that we have is a growing sense that truth and life are in Jesus.

On Wednesday night, I was at a commission staff focus. Commission is the network of churches which we belong to. And, once a year, we go away, as staff members within those churches. And Bart, who's the pastor of emmanuel. Not emmanuel, hope church.

I need to get that right. It's a Freudian slip. Is the pastor of hope church. He was being interviewed about hope, which is Phil said is starting today. And during that interview, he was asked, how can we pray for the team?

How can we pray for your team? And he responded by saying, please pray that as a core team, we would know and love Christ as much as we can. And on 1 level at a Christian conference, that is a very safe answer, isn't it? And yet, Jesus seems to think that is exactly what is needed. The first thing that he does to address the problems in the church is to say, look at me.

Look at me. Look at who I am. I'm truth and I'm life. And you've locked me out of the building. See that?

He starts to address the problem by saying eyes on me. Secondly, let's look at the painful diagnosis. There's the vision of Christ. Now let's look at the pain for diagnosis. First 17, you say I am rich, and I have acquired wealth, and I do not need a thing.

But you do not realize. That you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. And in a tragic sentence, The end of verse 17 has has got to be the worst part of it. Well, that little bit halfway through. I do not need a thing.

I do not need a thing. Historians tell us, and as far as I can see, this is quite well documented because it's in all the, you know, study vials and things. Says that Leodicea was famous for for 3 things. It was famous for banks and therefore money. It was famous for textiles and therefore clothing.

And it was famous for medicine, and therefore their hospitals and their treatments. So you've got to imagine that in Leodicea and in the church, if we're gonna get into the setting of this church, We've got to understand that the people here and the Christians here had what so many people dream of and work towards their whole lives. They had good health and good money and good clothes. Isn't that what most of people just spend their lives going after good health, good money, good clothes. To be better off, and to be better dressed and to be better living than our neighbors is like the western dream, isn't it?

I wanna dress better, have more, and be healthier. Than my neighbors. That's what many of us, even at a subconscious level are are dreaming of and aspiring to. And actually not just in this part of the world because Leodicea was in the Middle East. It was in Turkey.

And so there is a sense in which this is a global ambition To have more, to be better, to live longer, to be better off than other people. But look at verse 17, what does the r men think about that? You do not realize that you are poor. I mean, here you are and you talk about your riches and you go down to the high street and you pay into the bank and you withdraw from the bank and your whole balance and finances are looking very, very healthy. But what have you done my people with the pearl of great price?

And what have you done with the riches of fellowship with me? No my people. For all of your wealth, you are poorer than you could ever know. Well, okay, lord, but we do have our textiles, don't we? And when we go to the shops, and when we go to the bars and the marketplaces and the restaurants, at least we look we look great.

Don't we? We look pretty good. But Christ says, no, my people. You you're naked. You tell me.

Where are your Christian textiles? Where is the robe of righteousness that you ought to be wearing? And where are those garments? Of faith and humility and trust and joy in me. You think you're well dressed, but you're like Adam and Eve after they ate the fruit.

You're naked. But unlike them, you feel no shame. Well, okay lord, but look at our hospitals. I mean, all over the world, people come to us. We're famous for our healthcare.

We can cure the lepers with the skin disease. We've got balms and salves that we can rub on to blind eyes, and it can bring back sight and even regenerate their eyesight. But Christ says, no, my people for all of your technology. You've gone blind. I don't know what it is that you think that you're looking at, but it's not me.

Charles Virgin in his sermon on this letter says this about them and the quote will appear across 2 screens behind me. It was the general unanimous feeling. From the minister down to the latest convert, that they were a most wonderful church. That they could look back upon years of great prosperity and progress in their past history. And at that present time, if they were not absolutely perfect, they were getting close to the edge of it for they had need of nothing.

They did not know of anything which the church lacked. They had the best deacons, the best elders, the best members, always ready to do anything and everything that was proposed to them. They were rich and increased with goods and had need of nothing. The present was alright. The past was eminently satisfactory, and they had reached a point of all but absolute perfection for they needed.

Nothing. As the church in Laodicea looked at their banks and looked inside their wardrobes and looked inside their medicine cupboards. They began to ask the question. What do I really need? Is is there anything that I actually need?

I mean, I know as a Christian, I'm supposed to feel poor in spirit. And I'm supposed to pray, give me this day my daily bread. Jesus taught me to do that. But I just I just don't feel that need. I have.

I have everything. I don't I don't really need a thing. And so as they all got together, can you see this church just had it figured out? With the right strategy and with the right education and with the right finances and with the right church growth kind of model, then it really does seem that we can do life and that we can do church with Christ on the outside. Now did they say that?

Did they actually verbalize that? Perhaps not. Whoops. Something's exploding. Is that me?

I don't know whether they actually said that out loud in their meetings, but you can see can't you that that really was the growing feeling in every heart. We can't do it without him. Materialism had blinded them to their need. That was the sort of surface issue. But the root I think is there in the middle of verse 17.

This seems to be what is so vomit inducing about them. I don't need a thing. Last week, we had a terrific time sending off the hope church crowd. And, during the service, we watched a video. If you remember Laura Robson had put together a video from various members who were now going to serve the lord over in Tollworth.

And 1 of the things that they were doing in that video was highlighting those things in the church, which have been a blessing to them over the over the years, in which they're gonna be sorry to leave behind, really. And they identified between them all kinds of things. They talked about the music and the bands that they'd served in. They were thankful for the, the children's work and the youth work program that we have. They were thankful for the teaching that they'd received over the years.

They wanted to be thankful for the family atmosphere that the Lord has given us here. They drew attention to the growth in the international work and how wonderful it is to have so many nations gathering to us every Sunday. And look, you hear that. And I I really do believe and not me, the elders. I'm sure we all believe that those are real strengths about our church.

That those are really good things that god has done and that god has given to us. But how tragic it is or how tragic it will be if we forget that god has done this. Or if we start to think that we can now just sort of carry all of this in our own strength. But because we've got the people and the strategy and the finance, that we really do seem to have the ability and the foresight in and of ourselves to grow this thing and to sustain this thing by ourselves that we have with our techniques, a kind of life giving energy that we can provide across all these different areas in the church. How tragic it would be if those real strengths became a cause for self trust.

And self reliance without this vital felt need for Christ to give truth and life to everything that we are or how tragic it would be If we looked around 1 day and we thought, you know, it's pretty full in here. I'm not sure we need to really reach Kingston anymore because we've sort of done it. I mean, it's it's full enough. We don't we don't really need to think about that anymore, or at least I don't. Somebody somewhere will need to think about it, but at least I don't because there's no free spaces next to me.

Last week, Philadelphia was a weak church but they were holding on to Christ. They had a felt need for Christ. But Leodicea couldn't have been more opposite. They were a strong church. And they were a big church, and they could run life as a church.

But Jesus says you've lost your grip on me. Lost him. Lost me. Lock me outside. And so friends, the question for us, is is there any of this self sufficiency in us?

You see, to be honest, and I'm not just, exaggerating this to to make a point, but I I really do think that if my diary was converted and it could speak to me, It would say Tom, you you are quite a lot of the time, dangerously self sufficient. You seem to believe that you can navigate most of your problems. And prepare your bible studies and prepare your sermons and be a husband and be a dad, and you can do these things that you need to do without really feeling that you need me. Because you've sort of learned how to do things. Haven't you Tom?

You've sort of learned how to do things. You've you've got an ability, you know, and a way of planning and preparing and thinking about things, and you sort of know, and you've you've sort of started to believe that whether you pray about something or not, basically the same thing sort of seems to happen feels like it roughly, whether you pray or whether you don't. And so you just get on without me. Jesus says to they Odusia, and to any church or to any Christian like them, be earnest and repent. Be earnest.

And repent. You see I know that within this room, there will be people with very real financial concerns and there will be people with very real health turns, and I know that in other parts of the world, it is a very different story. Lots of our brothers and sisters in the world don't inhabit a materialistic culture like like we do. But broadly speaking, here in London, Don't you feel that this letter perhaps more than any other goes from page to pew straight away? This is us, isn't it?

And so the question is, has the world that we live in and all the stuff that we mostly have blinded us to the desperate daily need that we have for Christ. And look we have to we have to ask that question. We have to ask that question, and and here's why. Look at verse 17 again. You do not realize.

You don't realize. It's that. We'd sort of think we would realize, wouldn't we? Oh, yes. Yes.

Right. I am blinded by materialism. I am self sufficient. I do think I can do my days without Christ. We'll realize when that happens, won't we?

Jesus says you don't. You don't realize. You're like the frog in the water. And the temperature has been slowly rising, and you think you've got it under control, and it's not happening to you. But you boiled yourself in materialism, and self dependence and pride, you boiled yourself alive.

Without even realizing. You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked, but as the amen of god, I see bang into your heart and to your life. And I see what you don't see, and I realize what you don't realize. And therefore, we've gotta let god's word sound the alarm here. And we have to decide and make a decision today to pray with David in Psalm a hundred and 39.

Lord, know my heart, and see if there is any offensive way in me. See if there is any blindness in me. See if there is any pitiful, naked wretchedness in me. See it lord in me. And please, will you then lead me?

In the way everlasting. Painful diagnosis and 1 that we have to take seriously. Lastly then, let's look at this healing word. Pain diagnosis. Healinging word.

Alongside the, the banks and the hospitals and the, and the textiles, There was actually 1 other thing that Leodicea was known for, and that's its water. Or actually really more accurately, it's lack of water. So you've gotta try to imagine this city of Leodicea if you can just picture it in your mind, if you went 10 miles east of Laodicea, 10 miles east, you'd arrive in Colosse. And Colosse was a place that was known for very cold, pure drinking water. It was a city that was located at the source of cold water springs.

But if you were to go 6 miles north of Laodicea, 10 miles east is colossae. That's cold water. If you were to go 6 miles north of Leodicea, you'd be in Harryapolis. And, Harryapolis was known for the opposite. It didn't have cold water, but it sat upon hot water springs.

And so there was a place that was famous for its water with healing properties. People would go there to bathe and to get well in the hot springs of Minneapolis. But where it was, Leodicea had no water supply of its own. And so the solution was to pipe in water from those places. They would pipe hot water in from Minneapolis, and they would pipe cold water in from colossae.

That's how they got their water. But as you can imagine, after 10 miles in a pipe in Turkey, cold water is not so cold anymore by the time it's reached you. It's lukewarm. And you can imagine that after 6 miles in a pipe, hot water from Minneapolis is no longer hot. It's lukewarm.

All the water that is coming to you From north and east, the Gan Cold or hot and ends up in your taps and fountains and wells as lukewarm. And so Leodicea, for all of its wealth, had very poor water. It was not hot. It was lukewarm. It was not cold.

It was lukewarm. And actually after miles and miles in a pipe, it was also contaminated. This water was water to make you sick. First 15, I know your deeds that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were 1 or the other.

So because you are lukewarm neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. And I think of all that has been said so far about this church. That image must have landed with the most force. You see, after reading that, how could you as a member of the church in Laodicea? Have a drink or go to a well or open a tap without having that water and looking at it and saying, Jesus says that's me.

That's me. You know, imagine you open the tap and the water is coming out. Jesus says that's me. As you wash it around your mouth after brushing your teeth, and you taste the lukewarmness and the contamination, Jesus says that's me. That's what he thinks of my Christianity.

It is lukewarm and it is contaminated like the water I drink. But when you look at it and this is really, really important thing. Jesus is not actually saying to them. I wish you were cold like a worshiper of Zeus, for instance. I wish you a cold like an atheist.

I prefer you to be an atheist. And he's not saying to them, I wish you a hot like the greatest Christian that you can think of, and you need to just fire yourself up. He's not saying I wish you were an atheist or the greatest Christian in the world. In fact, the passion that you have or don't have is really just a symptom. The problem is much deeper.

The problem is that this church is miles and miles and miles away from a source. Is miles from a source. Do you see that? The reason that your witness has so little power in the world is because you are miles and miles away from the source. The reason that in your church, lukewarm parents raise lukewarm children who raise lukewarm children is because you are miles and miles away from the source.

The reason that your worship in church feels disinterested and distracted and cold is because you are miles and miles from the source. The reason that you have learned how to do church without me and have begun to just trust yourselves is because you are miles and miles from the source. You see, sometimes if we're going to address our lukewarmness, which is a very good thing to do, we go about it all the wrong way, don't we? I'm gonna make myself hot for Jesus. We say.

I can do it. If I just give out more leaflets, read a bit more, and read a bit longer, and have more conversations, then I'm gonna make my I'm gonna make myself hot for Christ. I can do that. I can address my lukewarmness and make myself boiling if I will just do these things. But Christ goes further and he goes deeper.

And he says, my people, if you are not living close to me, And if you are not leaning on me. And if you aren't enjoying communion with me close to me, then all of those attempts will just fizzle out into the same old pride. It's down to you again, isn't it? When Jesus says, I wish you were either 1 or the other. He's saying my people, I don't want you to become cold pagans or atheists, and I don't want you to fire yourselves up in your own strength.

I just want you to come back to me. I just want you to be back with me. At at the source. Come back to the source. Come back to me.

And everything good will follow. It's the same in verse 18, isn't it? Look how he says I counsel you to buy from me. Gold refined in the fire. I don't want you to have the sort of wealth that rusts and corrodes.

I want you to have true riches So come to me. Come back to the source, and I'll make you rich with all the gospel treasure that you could get your hands. I counsel you to buy from me white clothes to wear. I don't care about your textiles. Really?

I don't care about how you look. It's all gonna end up in a charity shop or in the dump 1 day or moth eat. I don't care. I want to dress you in something beautiful that makes heaven say, wow. What a gorgeous Church, and you're gonna get it from me.

So just come back to me. Come back to the source. I counsel you to buy from me salve to put on your eyes. I'm all for your medicines, and I love your technology. But I don't care about it.

If you won't come to me, I wanna I wanna help you to see again things that matter and things that are beautiful. And so come to the source and I'll make you see again. Can you see his heart? And can you hear him knocking? Come back to me.

In the lord Jesus Christ, there is no unwillingness at all. To provide what we need. No unwillingness at all. The unwillingness is only ever in us. Jesus stands at the door of this church knocking and he says, come to me.

You know? If you won't come to the source, the source will come to you. I'll even do that for you. You you you don't even have to walk 10 miles that way. The source is gonna come to you.

I'll come to you, and I'll knock on the door. So I just want you back with me. And so be earnest and repent. And so back where we started. If Jesus Christ did not love our church, he wouldn't bother to say any of these things.

But we know that god has demonstrated his own love for us in this. But while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, The sin of self sufficiency. He paid for at the cost of his blood. He died for us on that cross. Knowing how self sufficient and proud we are.

Christ died on that cross for our blind obsession with materialism. He hung there with the nails in his hands, knowing I know they're gonna love that more than me. But I'm gonna die for them anyway because I love them. And he hung there for our spiritual lukewarmness refusing to be lukewarm himself because he paid for us and he wanted to shed his own blood to cleanse us of all sin. And all of that he did because he loves his church.

He loves his church. And that is why this morning in the presence of his people, Jesus Christ lives and he knocks at the door and he says come on now. Come on now, my children. It's all paid. All that rubbish we've looked at this morning, it's all paid for now.

I'm knocking at the door. I just want you to open up and we'll eat together. Okay. Let's take a moment. Of quiet.

And just to give you an opportunity now, reflecting on this letter to hear Jesus knocking. And in whatever way seems appropriate to you, given what we've heard, to be earnest and repent. For Jesus Christ, we thank you that you are the amen. You are the faithful and the true witness. You are the ruler and the source of all creation life and you know our deeds.

Not only the things that we do with our hands, but how we are in our hearts. And lord Jesus, we want to say sorry as a gathered people for our blindness and our self sufficiency and our self belief. And sometimes we do not even realize that like a creeping shadow, these things have come up over our lives. And so thank you for loving us enough to bring us together. To hear the words of the amen speaking to us.

And we thank you lord Jesus who died and rose because you love your church. That you give us the grace that we need to hear and to repent. And so help us to take these words seriously, both as a gathered people. And as individuals sat in this room, that we would be earnest and repent that we would not delay in our repentance, that we would not prioritize something else over our repentance, but that we would earnestly repent. And we thank you.

That whenever we do, we find the huge embrace of a loving savior. Ready to wash it all away and welcome us back and to reconnect us to the source. Life, truth. In Jesus name, Ahmed.