The Seven Lost Churches of Revelation
12/12/2004 - Keeping the Eye of the Tiger
One of my all time favorite movies is "Rocky" with Sylvester Stallone. Has anybody else ever seen "Rocky?" I thought so! It's a classic. In fact, in that movie Rocky Balboa does what the legendary Benjamin Franklin and even the Mummers couldn't do. He puts Philadelphia on the map.
After it was released, for the very first time in my life, I can remember being proud to say that I was from Philadelphia, the home of Rocky Balboa! And even though the original "Rocky" movie is almost thirty years old the theme song still fires up sports teams and whips crowds of Philadelphia fans into a frenzy whenever it's played.
And, of course, the huge success of "Rocky I" led to the making of Rocky II and Rocky III and Rocky IV and Rocky V until Rocky just got too old to fight anymore. But in Rocky III, Rocky Balboa, has been the heavyweight champion of the world for several years. And he's enjoying the good life, living in a mansion surrounded by wealth and fame and self-indulgence. He's no longer the underdog fighting to survive on the mean streets of Philadelphia. He's arrived and ready to retire. And on the day that he plans to announce his retirement on the steps of the art museum he's challenged to one final fight by the indignant Clubber Lang aka Mr. T.
Rocky accepts the challenge against the advice of his manager and begins to train in a circus style atmosphere. He kisses babies and smiles for the camera and signs more autographs than he hits punching bags. In the meantime, Clubber Lang is all alone in a meat locker pounding sides of beef and turning into a killing machine.
And when the fight finally comes you wonder, "Can Rocky somehow reach down deep one more time and pull off a victory even though he's no longer at the top of his game?" You don't have to wonder very long because in just two rounds Clubber Lang takes Rocky apart. He destroys him.
Humiliated and dejected, Rocky tries to figure out what went wrong. Then one night Apollo Creed, his opponent in Rocky I and Rocky II, finds him alone in the gym and says, "Rocky, I know what went wrong. When we fought you had the eye of the tiger. You had the edge. And now you got to get it back. And the way to get it back is to go back to the beginning. You know what I mean."
What he means is that Rocky used to be hungry to win. He used to be willing to pay the price and train hard. He used to make sacrifices. He used to fight with reckless abandon. He used to, but not anymore. Winning had led to fame and fame led to affluence and affluence led to self-indulgence and self-indulgence led to weakness and weakness led to defeat.
So Apollo Creed convinces Rocky to move back to a tenement slum, workout in a run down inner city gym, and recapture the eye of the tiger. And at the end of the movie Rocky defeats Clubber Lang and regains the heavyweight title of the world and yells, "Yo Adrian," one more time!
And what's the moral of the story? The moral of story is to watch out. Watch for the dangers of excess that come with a life of comfort and ease because self-indulgence can lead to weakness and weakness can lead to costly defeat. So do whatever it takes to keep the eye of tiger and stay focused on the things that are most important in life.
And what can happen to a prizefighter like Rocky, can happen to anyone of us, and can happen to churches too. Churches can become successful and affluent and comfortable and can forget their mission and can lose the eye of tiger. That's what happened to the church we're going to look at today as we conclude our series on The Seven Lost Churches of Revelation with a final teaching that I've called "Keeping the Eye of the Tiger."
If you have your Bible turn with me to Revelation 3:14-22 as we look at the last of the seven churches, the church in Laodicea.
Revelation 3:14-22, "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them, and they with me. 21 To those who overcome, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.22 Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
The harshest words of Jesus to any of these churches are reserved for the church in Laodicea. He doesn't have one good thing to say about them. Instead he says, "You make me sick. You make me want to throw up! I've just about had it with you." Strong words from gentle Jesus. Tell us how you really feel! What was it about the church in Laodecia that turned Jesus' stomach? What was about these believers that had him so upset?
Well, as with all these churches, in order to understand the rebuke we need to understand the city in which the church was located. Laodecia was located in the fertile Lycus Valley about 90 miles due east of Ephesus. As you can see, it completed the circle of these seven cities in Revelation.
It was one of the most affluent cities in that part of the Roman Empire. History tells us that Laodecia had a highly developed commercial banking industry. It was a major producer of wool and had a thriving textile industry. Clothes were made there. It was home to a world famous medical school known for the ear and eye ointments they had developed using mud from nearby hot mineral springs.
This was a proud, sophisticated, wealthy city. It was well run, tightly organized, affluent, self-reliant, and self-sufficient. In fact, when an earthquake hit the city about thirty years earlier and a lot of rebuilding had to be done, the city council didn't even petition Rome for imperial help. "We can rebuild this city all by ourselves," they said. And they did.
Laodecia was a comfortable community. It was an ideal place to live and work and raise a family. People wanted to move there. But the proud spirit of that city eventually seeped into the church. Not overnight, but over time the church in Laodecia became comfortable, self-sufficient, and proud. It happened so slowly that nobody even noticed. But like Rocky, they had lost the eye of the tiger. They lost their edge. They were just going through motions, just doing church. They used to be fired up about their mission to help seekers become fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, but now most of them didn't even know that the church had a mission.
They weren't growing, but they weren't dying either. They weren't taking faith risks, but they weren't denying their faith either. They were just there, having meetings. There were no false teachers to silence, no divisive leaders to confront, no persecution or other traumas to deal with. The Laodecian church was just a safe, comfortable place to attend church and raise your kids.
They weren't hot, but they weren't cold either. Call them tepid. Call them lukewarm. Call them disgusting in the eyes of Jesus. And now he's had enough. It's time to talk.
And listen to what he says in verse 14, "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
As in all these letters Jesus begins with a unique description of himself. Here he's called the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. The word "Amen" is a Hebrew word that we often use at the end of our prayers. It literally means, "so be it or let it be true."
Jesus is saying, "I'm the Amen. I know what's true. I'm the faithful and true witness. I know exactly what's going on in this church. You may think everything is fine, but I know it's not. And I'm going to tell it like it is. And besides that, I have the final word because I'm the ruler of God's creation."
Jesus isn't about to pull any punches here. The stakes are too high. He's looking for people whose hearts are either white hot or ice cold because he can deal with them. But he can't deal with lukewarm. It makes him sick to his stomach.
C. S. Lewis once described lukewarm Christians as those who have been vaccinated with enough of the disease to keep them from catching the real thing. Lukewarm Christians know Jesus Christ as Savior. They've trusted in him for their eternal life, but that's about it. He's not number one in their life, he's number six or number eight or number ten. Lukewarm believers don't pray a whole lot, don't care much for the Bible, don't give, don't serve, don't seem to do much of anything except maybe attend church meetings. They're not bad people. They just have a lot of things going on that are more important than Jesus. He's there when they need him, but that's about it.
This analogy would have really connected with the people in Laodecia. They knew all about lukewarm water. Laodecia's water supply came from two sources. Their cold water came from mountain streams and their hot water came from mineral springs both miles away from the city. And in order to get that water into Laodecia an elaborate system of aqueducts and cement pipes had been constructed. And they worked. They got the hot water and the cold water into town. But by the time cold water had traveled down from the mountains it was lukewarm and by the time the hot water arrived from the mineral springs it too was lukewarm and had such a high chemical content that it was putrid and nauseating to drink. You wanted to spit it out of your mouth! And that's what Jesus wants to do with these lukewarm, half-hearted believers.
"I wish you were one or the other," he says. "I love to work with believers who are passionate about me and white hot in their love." Around here we call them fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ and this church is full of them. They are what make Valley View what it is. They provide the spark and the energy. They make things happen and are contagious with their faith. They aren't perfect people. They mess up every single day. And they'd be uncomfortable calling themselves fully devoted followers of Christ, because they also know how far they have to go.
But nevertheless they've arranged their lives around some core values, which are very important to them. We call them our five core values, which define a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. They value worship, the word of God, loving people, serving people, and reaching out to those who have yet to encounter Christ's love. Jesus loves to work with people like that and direct them and empower them and bless them. He loves when they see life the way he sees life and when they take faith risks because they're on the same mission that he's on. He wants every Christ follower to be hot!
But he also likes to hang out around those whose hearts are stone cold, those who aren't yet believers and who are still cold towards the things of God. Jesus is a friend of sinners and people with cold hearts have a much better chance of encountering his love than tepid Christians who are complacent about their own spiritual condition.
People who are ice cold spiritually usually have some sense that they're off base. They say things like, "If I ever walked into your church the roof would cave in." You know anyone like that? Maybe that's how you felt the first time you came to Valley View. They know who they are. They're like the Roman centurion who didn't feel worthy to meet Jesus when he wanted someone healed. Or like Zaccheus who climbed up a tree to see Jesus and was stunned when Jesus said, "I'm coming to your house for lunch today." Jesus loves to deal with cold hearted people who are in touch with their sin and brokenness. At least they're honest about the condition of their own hearts and not self-deceived.
But lukewarm Christians are a different story. They're often self-deceived. They think they're fine and they can't see their compromised commitment for what it is. But the great Amen, the faithful and true witness, Jesus Christ, isn't deceived. He sees things the way they really are and tells it like it is.
Look at verse 17, You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.
This is scary because the truth is that at anytime the temperature of the heart of even the most passionate believer can become lukewarm. I know mine can. I know I can get into funks like that too. I can easily lose my passion for Christ and for the cross and for the church and for the lost. And still feel pretty good about the way I'm living. "I'm okay," I think. But Jesus says, "No. You're not okay!"
I also know what it's like to be around Christ followers who are white hot. I get inspired by their energy and motivated by their commitment. They humble me and refresh me and challenge me to go to another level in my walk with Christ. It's exciting to be around fully devoted followers who really want to obey Jesus no matter what the cost.
I also can understand why Jesus loves to be around those who are ice cold, those who don't yet know Christ, who are confused spiritually and are seeking answers. There's nothing more exhilarating than sharing the good news of the gospel with someone who doesn't know Christ and see the light come on in their eyes. You sense the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in those situations like at no other time and it makes you feel fully alive. It's fun to mix it up with ice cold people who are on the verge of coming to Christ.
Jesus would rather have us hot or cold than lukewarm. But even when I'm lukewarm, even when Jesus isn't happy with my behavior and my priorities and the condition of my heart he doesn't stop loving me. He loves everybody, even the lukewarm Christian. And he loves them enough to tell them the truth and to give them another chance.
Look at verse 19, Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them, and they with me.
Verse 20 is one of the most amazing images of Jesus in all of Scripture. Often this verse is used in the context of evangelism. But this is not an evangelistic verse. This is a picture of Jesus being locked out of his own church. He's longing to have fellowship with us, longing to be in community with us. He's standing at the door of our hearts longing to come in. Which is amazing!
After all that's been said in this letter lukewarm Christians should be standing at Christ's door begging him for forgiveness. But instead Jesus with nail scared hands is knocking on the door of our hearts asking us to come in. Jesus always makes the first move for reconciliation and restoration. That's called amazing grace! What a picture of hope for all of us who go through times of lukewarmness. Yet even in those times we can't stop Jesus from loving us and from coming towards us. He's always ready to give us another chance. That's amazing love! Maybe you hear him knocking right now. Let him back in. He wants to have first place in your life.
The letter ends with the promise of reward in verse 21, To those who overcome, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.22 Those who have ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Jesus is eager to share authority in his kingdom with those whose hearts are his, with those who open the door and invite him to be priority one in their lives. They will be handsomely rewarded.
"Rocky, I know what went wrong. When we fought you had the eye of the tiger. You had the edge. And now you got to get it back. And the way to get it back is to go back to the beginning. You know what I mean."
So how we do keep the eye of the tiger or get it back? How do we stay white hot for God? We go back to the beginning. Which brings us full circle in this series. We go back to the lesson of the very first church, the church at Ephesus and never leave our first love. You see as long as we stay in love with Jesus our hearts will stay hot and the door will always be open to him. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and the rest is details.