The city of Laodicea was at the intersection of three important
roads. It was strategically located to control any approach to the region
of Phrygia. The most important road in the region from Ephesus to Syria went
right through Laodicea, as did the roads from Pergamum to Pisidia and from
Caria to central and west Phrygia. The commercial value of this location is
obvious but it was less strategic militarily. The city’s water source
came from springs six miles away that were only accessible by means of an
underground aqueduct. This made the city impractical as a fortress against
siege warfare. With the Pax Romana in place however, the problem of military
vulnerability was solved, creating an extremely wealthy city.
Laodicea was a banking and financial center. Its fertile environment
in the Lycus valley provided excellent grazing for a special breed of sheep,
famous for soft glossy black wool. Out of this arose a distinctive textile
industry. In addition, there was a world famous medical school associated
with the temple of Men Carou—a god of healing, specializing in treatment
for ears and eyes. Their signature products were the eye-salve made from so-called
“Phrygian powder” and an ointment made from spice nard, for the
ear.
Six miles north of Laodicea across the Lycus valley was the
city of Hierapolis, famous for hot springs. These springs arose in the city
and flowed across the wide plateau and spilled over a white lime encrusted
cliff in full view of Laodicea. As this hot water flowed toward the cliff
however, it cooled off and became lukewarm. This tepid, mineral-laden water
was nauseating in both its smell and taste and disappointed some travelers
who might have mistaken it as drinkable water.
The city of Colossae was ten miles east of Laodicea. It lay
along the banks of the Lycus river, which facilitated the refreshment of weary
travelers in its cool, soothing waters. Laodicea then had two neighboring
sister cities one with hot mineral springs which served a therapeutic purpose
for the sick and infirm, and the other which provided soothing waters for
weary travelers.
The letter to Laodicia was the final of the seven letters, bringing
to culmination the series of messages from the resurrected Christ to His real
but representative churches in Asia. The content of the letter addresses itself
as is now typical to the “angel” of the church and identifies
the sender as “the Amen” the “faithful and true witness”
and “the ruler of God’s creation” (v. 14). None of these
titles are found in the inaugural vision but together they convey the ultimate
finality, reliability, and authority of the speaker: the risen Christ.
The body of this letter constitutes an unmitigated condemnation
of this church. The works of the church, which are not described, are nauseatingly
neither cold nor hot. This condition brings the church to the brink of being
spewed from the mouth of the risen Christ. Against the background of Hierapolis’
healing mineral springs and Colossae’s cold soothing waters for the
weary, the imagery of being lukewarm seems to be one, not primarily of tastelessness,
but of uselessness. Their works are spiritually useless and therefore sickening
to the resurrected Christ. This view is reinforced by the reason they are
regarded as lukewarm—because “you say ‘I am rich; I have
acquired wealth and do not need a thing” (v. 17). However, they do not
realize they are in reality “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked”
(v. 17). Their misguided opinion of self-satisfaction and self-sufficiency
belies their real situation: destitution, desperation, and despicableness.
There seems to be a more than coincidental reference to their
lack of spirituality in terms of their abundance materially. The church in
this banking center was invited to acquire from the risen Christ gold, so
that they would really be rich. They, who are in this famous textile-producing
center, should acquire white clothes to cover their nakedness. They should
also get eye salve for their blindness although they are in this city with
the famous eye salve (v. 18).
The risen Christ explains the redemptive intent of this harsh
rebuke and indicates His readiness to engage in intimate fellowship with His
beloved, if sickly useless church. The call to be open to His fellowship becomes
decidedly personal in the context of these letters that have until this point
consistently been corporate in their address. The words are: “If any
one hears my voice” (v. 20). The final call to repentance is coupled
with a call to earnestness. The problem that required repentance seems to
be a lackadaisical, self-sufficient complacency.
The letter closes with the promises of the risen Christ to the
overcomer cast in apocalyptic terms. In this case, the risen Christ offers
the ultimate honor: “to sit with me on my throne just as I overcame
and sat down with my Father on his throne” (v. 21). The Spirit again
partners with the risen Christ in the message and the church is urged to give
heed to what the Spirit is saying.
The need indicated in the text is for the church in general
and individuals in particular to recognize their absolute dependence on the
resurrected Christ. There is the need to be disabused of false, self-deceptive,
smug, ignorant, self-sufficiency and to place all of one’s hope and
confidence in the all-sufficient provisions of Christ.
God in Christ responds to this human need by acting true to
His character as the “final word” (the Amen), the absolutely reliable
and trustworthy witness and the ultimate sovereign power in His loving confrontation
of the condition of a self-sufficient church. The disclosure of the need is
met by God with the offer from Christ of each and everything that will supply
the deficiency that is evident in this church. He will be the adequate supplier.
God’s willingness to provide what is needed is appropriately matched
by His patience and persistence in pursuit of an ongoing intimate fellowship
with the members of His church.
The text calls for us to respond by engaging in an intimate
relationship of absolute dependence on the risen Christ here and now. This
will be experienced as a shared fellowship in which the risen Christ promises
to share power and authority together with His beloved church in the ultimate
celebration of victory: sitting together on His throne.
(For the full manuscript of this sermon
go to www.preachersmagazine.org and click on “Sermons.”)
The resurrected Christ challenges the self-deceived, self-sufficient,
arrogant church to choose either rejection or real provision from Him. He
offers to exchange their shameful deficiency for His adequate supply. His
sufficiency includes an eternal relationship beginning now, of the most intimate
fellowship, and offers the highest possible position of honor as the ultimate
prize.
The function of the sermon is to seek to enlighten the self-deceived of their destitution. It also challenges to repentance and passionate humble dependence on an all-sufficient Christ.
