Day Twenty Five

Revelation 3:14-20

14.) "And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: 'The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.

15.) "'I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!

16.) So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

17.) For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

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.

19.) Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

20.) 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.

    If you are familiar with the Book of the Revelation you are aware of the letters to the seven churches. If you are of the Premillennial point of view, you see the seven churches as representing the seven church ages to come. If you are of the Postmillennial point of view, you see the seven churches as prophetic history that has been fulfilled. Whichever you hold to, these churches did exist and everyone who seriously believes the Scripture believes that the Laodicean church is a precursor to our church age. 

    So what would cause a church to be lukewarm? What would cause a church to be wishy-washy in the works they do? How can a church exist without passion?

    Well, what is the church? The church is the people. Apparently, the people of the Laodicean church were weak and ineffective, and apparently by choice. What would make them like that?

    The Greek word 'Laodicea' means 'justice for the people.' That is something we hear a lot of today. Justice for the people. Under that umbrella shelters the LGBTQIA community (and I did look that up since they add letters every once in a while), climate changers, Black Lives Matter and several other such groups. Justice so they have equality, so long as they are equal and all others are not equal. When you live in that attitude, you tend to go along to get along. 

    And this is where our churches are today. There is very little courage to stand for the right. I ran into a female minister I knew at a hospital once. She had a Doctorate in Theology from a liberal seminary. She was headed up to see a woman in her church who was dying of cancer. The patient was a lesbian. My minister friend was frantically leafing through her Bible in the waiting room. I saw her and walked over. We exchanged greetings and she told me that she was looking for a passage that supported homosexuality, but could not find such a passage. I told her that was because the Word does not support homosexuality. In fact, it speaks against it. She replied that was only Old Testament, the New Testament never mentioned it. I stared at her. A Doctor of Theology who didn't believe the Old Testament sin was still sin and who didn't know where the New Testament speaks against homosexuality. I showed her, in her own Bible. She read it three times, then snapped her Bible shut and said she didn't care. She headed up to the room.

    It doesn't matter how committed to social issues a church is, it will never make up for adherence to the Word of God. Verse eighteen from above, 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. It is interesting that the Lord uses the word 'buy.' When we buy something, we pay a price. If we stand for the Word of God, if we live the Word of God, if we honor the Word of God, we will pay a price. Now it is merely mockery, but the day will come when the price we pay will be serious. Will you stand firmly for the Lord?

    Today's prayer is that our churches will dust off their Bibles, turn their spirits to prayer and become the people who shaped this country. For this, we start with our selves. Hebrews 11:6, And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.

    The proof of your faith is that you believe in the power of God.