Revelation 3: 14-22
This doesn’t have to Happen to Your Church…
14: 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;
15: I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16: So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17: 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:
18: 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.
19: As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20: 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.
21: 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.
22: He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
What is going on here?
What has happened to this Church?
They’ve become lazy; they’re too caught up in the World. They don’t want to offend anyone so much, that they are willing to offend the very person they should be revering.
But they think they’re doing just fine. They say the same words they always have and sing the same songs they’ve always sung. But there is no life in them. Christ is not in them. He’s just the name on the door. And unfortunately, it’s the door Christ is knocking on.
I’m sure we’re all familiar with verse 20:
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.
And we all think of this verse as Christ knocking on the door of a sinner’s heart and it can be thought of that way. But go back up and read the context. Jesus is knocking on the door of a Church. A Church that has His name on it but has not let Him come into it.
It breaks my heart to think of a Church that has forgotten what it’s there for.
Forgotten Who it’s there for.
Churches like this have money coming in each week, they have their programs, and they sing their songs and pat each other on the back, telling each other what good Christians they are. They dress nice, they look nice, and they even act nice, at least at Church. But they don’t realize something, something that Christ knows because He knows their hearts. They don’t really know HIM…
Members come to these Churches each Sunday dressed in fine clothes, sit in their normal pews and for the first time since last Sunday, think about God. And after the service most of them put God out of their minds almost as soon as they walk out the Church door. And they don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. God and Christ and the Bible are for Sunday mornings after all, or at most when something so bad happens in their lives, that praying to God seems like a good idea.
It saddens me, and God, to think of His people acting like this.
Don’t they realize what God through Christ has done for them?
How Much He Loves them?
What Jesus did for them on that Cross?
How much He wants to be a part of their lives?
But no, like the old song, they want to “do it my way.” Other than Sunday and times of real need, they don’t want God to be any part of their lives, “I can do it on my own,” they think. And they are missing out on so Much that God wants to do in their lives.
Each and every one of us has a purpose for which God created us. A calling if you will. We are made for Him, not the other way around. And God is willing, eager in fact, to show us what that calling is and to move us down the path that He has planned for us. This life is so short, and we have so little time here on earth, compared to eternity this life is over in a moment. Doesn’t it make sense to get to know the one who made us for His good Pleasure? And with whom we, if we except Him and believe, are going to spend that eternity with?
Churches like this are so concerned with pleasing people, they forget to please God.
But it’s NOT TOO LATE. It’s doesn’t have to be this way. Buy from Christ the Gold of His saving work here on earth. Put on the white robes of forgiveness that He offers through His Grace and work on the cross. Take the sand of the world out of your eyes, and see how much He has done for you, how much He wants to be a part of your life. Open that door of your heart and your Church to Christ and let Him come in and eat with you, talk to you and share with you all the wonderful plans He has for your life as a person and as a Church.
There is so Much He would do through You and through that lukewarm Church you might be in, that you can’t even imagine what it could be like if you just opened the door and let Him in.
Jesus Christ is Coming Back, and the days are getting shorter and shorter. Don’t be left wanting; don’t miss out on what He will do, if you would only let Him in.
I don’t care what the World thinks of you or your Church; I care What God Thinks of You and Your Church.