The First Church of the Casual Christian — part 3

This is the third and final segment of this treatise on the church of the Laodiceans in Revelation 3, and is arguably the most important. But before we continue on with this vivid portrayal of the general condition of professing Christianity just prior to Christ’s return, it is interesting to note that there is nothing positive said to this church at all; everything is negative.

In all of the proceeding six churches, Christ has at least one thing for which to praise them for, and there are two for which he has nothing negative to say at all, but Laodicea stands alone as the church for which Christ has nothing good to say, even though he loves them. And this is significant in that this is what our current generation clamors for: zero negativity. Ours is the generation of those who look for self-esteem, but for this church, Christ gives none.

Moving on, then, we come to the fourth and final descriptor of this church: its wealth. In verse 17a, and in their own words, they are rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. Looking back historically, the ancient city of Laodicea was so wealthy that when their city was leveled by an earthquake in A.D. 60, they refused an imperial subsidy and instead chose to rebuild their city themselves; quite the different attitude toward subsidies than in our own day.

Now concerning this church, the issue of wealth and poverty, per se, is not in view. Wealth or poverty alone are not fundamental indicators of where any particular church stands in relation to Jesus Christ. However, what is significant is that this is what they say of themselves; this is what is most important to them. And what is most important to them are the physical things they possess.

Yet, despite the great wealth they possess, Jesus says of them that they are actually very poor. Listen to what he says: “thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (vs. 17b). What Jesus is saying here is that this church is spiritually impoverished, and so much so that they in truth are lost. I am sorry, folks, but there is no easy way to say this; this is a church that is made up of people who call themselves Christians, but they have never been born again. There has never been a day when they have repented of their sins and turned to Jesus Christ for the saving of their soul.

And we can validate this assessment at least twice. In verse 18, Jesus counsels them to buy from him two things, the second of which is white raiment to cover their nakedness. If you will study this out, what you will find is that this white raiment is indicative of salvation, but that they are naked means that they are lost. Furthermore, that they are blind means that they cannot perceive their lost condition (II Cor. 4:3-4), like the emperor and his “new” clothes.

We also see this in verse 20 with Christ standing at the door and knocking. Simply put, Christ is not in this church at all. What’s more, there is virtually no hope that this church will respond, so Christ calls to individuals to open the door to a personal relationship with him.

Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. There is no issue more important than where you will spend eternity. At the end of your life, you will die, and long before they dispose of your body, your soul will open it’s eyes in its final abode. For those who have never repented of their sins and turned to Jesus for the salvation of their soul, this place is called hell, and it will be worse than their worst nightmare, and it will last for the rest of eternity.

For those of you who don’t want to go to hell, you need to understand that Biblical salvation demands change in the direction of God’s word. This change starts prior to salvation when you agree with God that your sin is wretched, and is called repentance. After salvation, this change continues as you forsake your worldliness and surrender to the authority of the written word of God.

And lastly, we need to understand that not all churches out there are the same. According to our text, the average church just prior to the rapture will actually be leading their membership to hell. If this were my church, I’d be thinking of a change in membership.

Ron Hamman is pastor of Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla. Contact him at 357-4229 or rghamman@mtaonline.net.