The Seven Churches of Asia: Laodicea

As we wrap up the seven churches written to in the book of Revelation, we finally come to the church in Laodicea.

Revelation 3:14-22
And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

The Negative:
Christ has nothing good to say to the church in Laodicea. They are lukewarm. Not warm or cold, just lukewarm. In other words, they just are, without any real zeal. Much like those in the days of Isaiah, they are going through the motions of serving the Lord, but it's simply by rote and not from the heart. We must be careful not to allow our service to God to become habit, but must always remember why we're doing good works.

Because they are lukewarm, the Lord warns them that they will be spit out. They will be rejected. God does not want service by habit and rote. He wants service because we want to serve. If we are to be acceptable to God, we must serve from the heart.

We also say that they see themselves as rich, even though spiritually they are poor. Materially they had much. They lacked nothing physically. However, the Lord tells them that they are “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.” We must always remember what is more important. While they were willing to rest and feel secure based on what they had physically, it was what they lacked spiritually that was more important. We must always remember to keep the proper priorities.

We also see that in their wealth, they were giving credit to themselves. We must remember, when we prosper, that it is not ourselves that has earned the wealth, but to give credit to the Lord.

At the end of rebuking the church in Laodicea, the Lord tells them to be zealous and repent. If we fall into the same traps as they did, we too must grow in zeal and repent of our wrongful ways. We must not put the physical things above the spiritual. And we must not take credit for ourselves that rightfully belongs to the Lord. And if we repent when we do so, we learn and important lesson from this passage. That the Lord will take us back and forgive us when we turn back to Him

Hopefully these short articles on the seven churches of Asia have been beneficial.