A Wake-up Call

Why don't you stand with me today as we conclude our series today. Grab your Bibles and go with me to Revelation chapter 3. We've been in this series called The Future is Ancient. Wisdom that Jesus gave to the ancient churches in Revelation. There were seven of them that he gave addresses to. In your Bible, if you have a printed Bible, often it's in red. And if it's in red, that means Jesus spoke it. And so these are actually words from Jesus to the churches. We've looked at Ephesus and Smyrna and Thyatira and Pergamum and Sardis and Philadelphia. And each time Jesus spoke, it was the responsibility of the church to listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. He encouraged, he rebuked, he challenged each of them in unique ways. You know, the more sophisticated church becomes, the more tools that we're supposed to have and online platforms and apps and all the extra little things that we got to throw in, the more AI becomes a part of the world and everything else going on, the more we are going to find our way forward by looking back over it at the words of Jesus. The more education and technology we see improved, the more we need trusted advice rooted in tested wisdom. Today, we're not looking at the, you know, sometimes we think of Jesus saves the best for last. This may not feel like the best for last today, because Jesus has the most blunt, pointed judgment for Laodicea, but I think we're going to find words of hope in it. All right, Revelation chapter three, starting with verse 14, it says this, write this letter to the angel of the church in Laodicea. This is the message from the one who is the amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's new creation. I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other, but since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

You say I am rich, I have everything I want. I don't need a thing. And you don't realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. So I advise you to buy gold for me, gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments for me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness and ointment from your eyes so you will be able to see. I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference. Look, I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will share a meal together as friends. Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne. Just as I was victorious and sat with my father on his throne. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to Emmanuel. Come on, somebody. Father, we pray today that the words of God would become living and active to us. And that, Lord, yes, you would do surgery, cut between the joints and the marrow, the soul and the spirit. But, Lord, you would do it to bring life. And that we would find hope in your words, challenge in your words. And we pray, God, that your church would look like the church you want it to be. We pray it today in Jesus' name. Amen. Go ahead and grab a seat. This particular message I've entitled, A Wake-Up Call. A Wake-Up Call. How many of you have been deep in sleep? And you've hit that moment where the alarm you set the night before is filled with demons?

And it goes off and you're not ready to get up. And you want to rebuke it in Jesus' name, right? There are some times that we are moving along, we've been lulled to sleep. We're in cruise mode. We don't realize what else is going on in the room, what else is going on in the world. And we need a wake-up call. This is what Jesus is doing to the church at Laodicea. He is bringing... a wake-up call to believers. People who, even those that had served him for many years, still have to get up in the morning. Turn to the person next to you and say, get up. I'm not meaning like get up and walk out of church today, but Jesus looks at the church and he says, I know all the things you do. What does he see in Laodicea? One of the things that I do when I can, and I'm not tied to Sunday morning preaching from Spring Lake Park, is I love to go visit our other locations. So I'll go up to Elk River, or I'll go to Lakeville, or to Maple Grove, and I'll go to those various locations so that I can see them. And when they know that I'm coming, if they know, because I like to surprise them, they actually clean it up a little bit more. It's on the, they put their best foot forward because the pastor's coming. And our location pastors wanna put a good presentation.

They wanna represent their location well. And so I kind of get the best picture of them. If they know I'm coming, they'll clean it extra. I want you to think about Jesus inspecting his church. What does he see? When he comes and he's looking, what is he looking for in verse 15? He says, I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other. But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. We're getting like serious right away. Because the language that Jesus uses, he kind of gives the headline up front. The church is lukewarm. So when he comes and he visits that church, he finds a lukewarm church. And the result of that is he says, I would rather you be one or the other, or I'm gonna spit you out. Now to understand what he's saying here, we need to look at the geography of where Laodicea is. And I've got a map that I wanna use today. And you'll see it's the Lycus River Valley. And up on that map, there are many different things that you'll see. But mostly what I want you to see is Heropolis is on the top. That would be there.

And it's kind of elevated and into the mountains there. And then on the bottom is Colossae. Colossae from Colossians. Paul wrote a letter to Colossians. There's only about 10 miles difference between Colossae and Laodicea. But there's something significant about each of those locations. Colossae has water coming down from the mountains around it, and it's cold water. And that cold water is something that is brought all the way to Laodicea. They had an aqueduct system, and it made its way to Laodicea. Now Heropolis is at the top. That's in a more of a thermal springs area. They had what we know. In fact, they have modern day spas built around it now because of all the earthquake activity. And now there's all these thermal vents that come up. And they actually come up, and there's liquid that comes up with that. And then minerals come from the earth. And people go to those places, even to this day, to find refreshing. They vacation there. They get it on their skin. And it's something that's important. Now Laodicea is in the middle of it. Laodicea, at this time, is the wealthy city.

This is the city with all the bougie shops. This is the city that's got all of the wealth and the nicest cars and vehicles. Everything is great. They're in the middle. And they have the warm, hot springs water piped in from Heropolis area, and the cold water from Colossae, and it's coming in. Now Laodicea's water, as it arrived, the hot water from Heropolis, the minerals that once restored and healed when you're in Heropolis, they lose their value over a distance in time. It becomes less hot, and it loses its minerals the closer it gets to the city. And then the cold water from Colossae, the cold potable water, had a mineral taste as it got warmer, and you wouldn't even wanna drink it. It became undrinkable as it was warm. Somewhere along. Along the way, the church had lost its potency. The time and distance had lowered their impact. I've seen this happen in every part of life, a marriage that loses its love and its purpose over time. I've seen it happen to believers who serve faithfully, some of them for many years, maybe even decades, as their family grew and their kids were in the kids' ministry, and they sacrificed in building campaigns, and they served on worship teams,

but now it's been there, got the T-shirt. I'm not really excited about going to church anymore. I'm not, there's nothing to the faith. I'm just going because I know I should. I know it's the right thing to do. Now, come to church, even when you don't feel like it, right? I grew up in a house where when I didn't feel good, my parents said, let's go to church to get healed. So I had no excuses, right? I couldn't come up with a good enough excuse. That was pre-COVID, by the way. Now, the lukewarm water that Jesus is talking about symbolizes a loss of usefulness. Jesus threatens rejection, I'll spit you out of my mouth, if the church becomes useless. His desire for the church was to be hot or cold is not about how on fire we are, our emotional fervor. It's more about our functional effectiveness. Lukewarm equals a church neither healing nor refreshing. It's just meh. And the church in Laodicea had become useless and they didn't even know it. The mindset of the church was identical to the mindset of the rest of the town. In verse 17, he says, you say, I am rich. I have everything I want. I don't need a thing. And you don't realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. The Laodicean attitude was self-sufficient.

They had everything they needed and they were proud of it. In fact, after a devastating worldwide, in that area of the world, earthquake at one point, the emperor, Roman emperor Caesar Tiberius wanted to send money from Rome to all the affected earthquake areas. And Laodicea refused imperial funding and rebuilt on their own money. They even built a coin out of it. And back in those days, a coin was like a newspaper because it just proved we are good enough on our own. Now I want you to think about the most dangerous place to be is when you think you have it all and you don't need help from anyone. That's the most dangerous place to be. What does he say in verse 12? If you think you are, oh, excuse me, 1 Corinthians 10 verse 12. If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. That all began with, if you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. Turn to the person next to you and say, wake up. Everyone faces this challenge.

This is a human thing, y'all. I'm not like pointing out there's good Christians, bad Christians. I'm just saying we all hit those moments in our story. We face challenges and sometimes our greatest moments of temptation are after our biggest victories. If each of us catch on to something, we begin to say to ourselves, I have everything I want. I don't need a thing. We need to watch out. The church here in Laodicea was not facing persecution like all those other churches we've already heard the address from Jesus to. They were kind of blending in because the church wasn't really any different than the world. They didn't have anything different so the world around them didn't persecute them. They weren't a threat. And because of this, they were not salt and light to the community around them. And Jesus said to the Laodiceans. in church, you don't realize that you are wretched and miserable. They think they're happy and satisfied. He says you're poor. But they had so much help, they rejected Rome. He says you're blind. But even in that area, there was a therapeutic practice where they had Phrygian powder that people would put on eyes

that they believed would take away cataracts. And people would come from all over the world just to be there. They were known like Rochester, the Mayo Clinic. Everybody goes and they've got everything covered. He says you're naked. But they were proud, they were the mall of America. They had more clothing than everybody else. The fertile soil around them gave them the best of the cotton and their lambs and the wool that came from it was the best in the world. And people would get their materials. They were proud of things and Jesus said the opposite. You actually are not what you think you are. You got the best house, you got the best experiences, you got the cabin, you got everything that you want. But I see you differently. You don't even realize it. All the things that Jesus mentioned, targeted that they were proud of, pride is really at the core of it. James four, as the scriptures say, God opposes the proud but gives grace to who? The humble. Now we can all reach that stage of life where we no longer need anything. At different phases of our story where we don't need anything. We got everything that we need. In Minnesota, we got the basics down.

We've got healthcare systems everywhere. We've got shopping available. We can even have whatever we buy delivered to our homes for free. We've got everything that we want. We got money for trips, even though we think we're broke. We've got money to go on Starbucks runs and go to concerts and we got recreation and pickleball and camping and jet skis and beaches. We can complain about the economy while drinking a frozen caramel macchiato, talking on our iPhones, driving to pick up our drive up order at Target or Walmart. We got everything we need. And all the while, we are oblivious to the fact that our co-worker needs the light of Jesus to change their dark inner world. Or our children need to develop a faith that is strong enough to carry them into the difficult challenges in their future. When we're blind, we're even blind to our own family's needs. A faith that works for us. A faith that works when everything else fails is what we need to train the next generation to experience. A love for broken people who Jesus sends us to. Now, Jesus doesn't stop with diagnosis. I didn't wanna stop there today where he's like, you're wretched and blind and naked and you're horrible. All of you people that have a backdrop of negative words spoken over you,

I just want you to know, Jesus never just gives a direct word like that without coming back with something else. He doesn't just stop with you, this is what you are as a diagnosis. He's a good doctor. He gives you a prescription, okay? So what does he say next? He says, so I advise you to buy gold from me, gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. I correct and discipline everyone I love, so be diligent and turn from your what? Indifference. I almost titled the message, Turn From Indifference, because this is the core of what Jesus is addressing. He's really focused on the mindset and the heart and the sensitivities of his church to not become indifferent. And so as he begins to talk to them, he addresses the fact that they are going every other place than to God as their source. You see, when he... He says, buy gold for me, gold that has been purified by fire. He's saying, listen, you're going and you're participating in the marketplace, and you're trusting in the wealth systems around you, but you aren't even trusting me for it.

You're not coming to me. And what I can offer you is gold that's been refined by, it's not tampered with, it's not polluted, it's pure. What I can provide for you lasts forever. And by the way, later on, you know, you think about the images of heaven, the heaven is lined with streets of gold. We're talking about heaven's pavement is what we value on earth. And Jesus is saying, get your mind off of just the temporary things and where your 401k is and all those, those are all good things. You need to be good stewards of them. But if you're only looking to all of those other things, you're missing out on what I have to offer you. As you get your job and you got the pay raise and you've reached the point in your career where you have money to do something with, as you gain more of those things that you once prayed for, don't forget the gold comes from me. He says, buy white garments from me. And there's a whole lot of imagery wrapped in, I can't go into right now, but I would just say this, the wealthy of that era, when they would have white garments, it proved that they were wealthy because they would be washed in the kind of soap and water and that kind of thing that of the day that would keep it white. The poor didn't have access to that and they actually used urine to clean their clothing. It became stained. And so, the marker of wealthy and poor in those days was the color of the clothing that you wore. And here they are, they're wearing the wealth. But Jesus says, no, no, no, I want to give you a different kind of purity that outsiders aren't going to recognize, but I see it in you.

He says, ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. Their pride had kept them from seeing things around them. I hope you can see not just God and all of his beauty. And by the way, I pray that God opens your eyes to see him in a fresh, in a new way at this point of your story. But not just that, I pray that God would enable you to see the people around you. See, the big thing for Jesus was the indifference. They were walking by people and not noticing that they needed Jesus. So, we need our eyes opened. Jesus' statement, I correct and discipline everyone I love is the church in Laodicea needed to hear this first. I discipline those whom I... I discipline those whom I... When you go through discipline, it's not a sign that God is mad at you. It's a sign that he loves you. And you need to understand that he loves you, like a coach that can see so much more in a team, like a parent who has the responsibility to train a toddler. You think about it, a toddler learns the word no almost first, and nobody had to teach them. So, a parent has to teach them to obey, train them to obey. That's what Jesus is saying. Listen, just because you're in a place that I don't want you to be doesn't mean I'm going to let you remain where you are. I want you to grow up. Leaders and parents, don't let your desire to be liked prevent you from correcting and disciplining. This generation is kind of the wild, wild west, and there's all kinds of parenting techniques out there, things that are, like, foreign to me. Letting kids, like, talk back to adults and authority and stuff like that. I'm like, hello, you let them do that as they're young and when they're teenagers,

and their boss isn't going to go for that, they're going to get fired later on. You've trained them if you allow that to happen. Come on, somebody. Sometimes we're afraid, and we just want the kid to figure out on their own. There is a point at which they learn to fish for themselves, but you train them to fish, and there is a point at which they learn to swim, but on their own. but you train them to swim. But listen, you don't just parent a child so that they like you. There are gonna be moments that your children don't like you. Parent them anyway. Love them anyway. Discipline them anyway. I didn't believe it. I remember my dad, he would say things to me. Like, son, I'm disciplining you because I love you. I didn't feel that at the moment. You gotta be willing to be the kind of parent that will raise up a kid that can be a world changer, that can thrive in difficult situations. And if they get to do whatever they want to do whenever they want to do it, they're gonna have a rude awakening in the rest of the world. Come on, somebody. I've left my notes somewhere along the way here. Too much is at stake for Jesus and the church. He wants them to wake up from indifference.

The Holocaust survivor Eli Weisel said this, the opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. And I believe that. We cannot be indifferent. Jesus uses language that is shouting, wake up to the church to care about what he cares about. Turn from your indifference. That's repentance language. And he's ready, ready for us to turn. What does he say there in verse number 20? He says, look, I stand at the door and what? If you hear my voice, he says, you're on the other side and open the door, I will come in and we will share a meal together as friends. Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne just as I was victorious and sat with my father on his throne. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches. Jesus says, I'm on the outside. Who has to answer the door? Turn to the person next to you and say, you do. You're the one that opens the door and there's a great promise if you do open that door. Behind door number one, there's a beautiful moment. Jesus says he'll come in and be with you, fellowship with you, share life with you if you will just open the door. I stand at the door and knock. For 2000 years, the Laodicean church

has had the worst reputation. Their Google reviews did not look good. And Jesus had ripped them up with a scathing critique. No one knew what the church did with this letter. It was like, all we had is a few hundred years later reports about the church in the area, but we don't know what the church that received this letter heard. There's only traditions and we could ask the question, what did this indifferent church do? Did Jesus spit them out? Did they answer Jesus' knock at the door? In March, when a group of us from Emmanuel went to Turkey, we went to Laodicea. And as we got in there, our instructor took us through this massive excavation that's going on right now. Our guide, Jeremy Stein explained that COVID changed everything in 2020. The tourism had halted and archeologists expanded their work. And they discovered subtle Christian markers the further down they went, further back in history that they went. And the early secret symbol of the church was a fish, the ichthys. That's Greek for fish, by the way. And on the ground, you just see the picture there, he put a bottle of water around it, is an early Christian ichthys marking a spot. Now, as the excavation continued,

it went lower and further back in time. And they found a block path that had houses. In 2022, 2023, on that block that I just showed you, that there was a marking of an underground church or home. They found that. found right before the doorway, this symbol, suggesting a clandestine Christian marker prompting further excavation into the home. And the second century BC villa was a hidden house church. It was a wealthy villa with central courtyard, a dining room, a kitchen, living areas, and that there was a hidden layout. Immediately right after you go in the entry, it goes down to what looks like a storage closet. And beyond it is a concealed room deep within the house, a church. And it meant that the church there was under persecution. They were different around than the world was. And they did answer the knock from Jesus. The church turned from indifference. Now, there was a moment once we turned the corner, we're there, where I pulled out my phone, and I said, Jeremy, can you tell us the story? Because I want to share it with my church. So here it is. Now, so we're standing in a church here in the city of Laodicea. And this church is very unique because it's inside a house. In fact, it's hidden away in a back corner of the house. And this area was just found about 2023

when archeologists were excavating as a result of COVID, keeping the site pretty free from tourists. And so as they're excavating, they found a symbol of early Christianity. What we identify as an early Icthus. Outside the house, they started making their way into the house. And little by little, they found this church. And this raised a big point of celebration because when we look at the New Testament, the city of Laodicea is well-known for the church that appears there, not just in Paul's writings, but more importantly, inside the book of Revelation, which receives the most scathing letter to any of the seven churches where there's nothing good to be said about them. And this has left the church for 2000 years asking, well, what happened to this church? How do we know how they received this letter? But here we see this church that is dated to only a few years after this letter is received, showing us that the church now was being persecuted. The church now was being identified as a threat to the pagan communities here. And so it shows us that unlike the church that's living in the moment that they received those letters, unseen or unknown to the local community simply because they lived amongst them,

now they're being identified truly as the church of Jesus Christ. They're being persecuted as such. And so it gives us the evidence of what we need to know that this church received this letter and they took it to heart and they changed, showing us that the story is not written, but there's still so much more to come about with those who are willing to submit and humble themselves to the correction of Jesus. Come on, come on. We started clapping. You can hear it in the video a little bit because that's the promise. It's not just that God points out things. It's that if we repent, change comes. You're like, oh, that doesn't feel any better. They had to hide out and they were being persecuted. Yes, because when they were persecuted, that's when the gospel spread. More and more people came to Christ. They didn't just blend in with the world around them. They were different. Even the worst church can become a powerhouse when it follows Christ's rebuke and repentance. What is the spirit speaking to you today? If you hear him knocking, Jesus will come in and he will meet with you. Is there anything you need to wake up and do?

Is there anything he would talk to you about? Jesus loves you and that's why he corrects any disciplines. Remember the opportunity from Jesus. He says, so I advise you to buy gold from me, gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see. I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference. Look, I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will share a meal together as friends. He alone can help us buy the gold, have the garments, the ointment for our eyes to see. All it takes is answering the door, turning from indifference and he will come in and meet with us. Would you stand with me today? Thank you, Jesus. Alleluia. Ah, church, if you can, with me, just lift your hands to the Lord. Just open up and just, here we are, Lord. Middle of summer, middle of life, middle of things going on. And you're knocking. I pray, oh God, that we would

not hit the snooze button. Lord, get up to wake up. And I pray, God, as we wake up, Lord, that we would not hear the challenge of your word, the directness of your words as an indictment against us that we're somehow being shamed. But Lord, rather, we would see you as a parent who believes in us. That your purposes and plans are still in motion. There's no expiration date on the mission of God through our lives. There's no moment, Lord, where it's out of date. So today, Lord, as we come before you, we say, even as a church, me representing Emmanuel, representing Spring Lake Park and Maple Grove and Elk River and Lakeville, all the people of our church, oh God, we just say, oh God, we don't wanna be indifferent. We don't wanna be, Lord, lackadaisical. We don't wanna be lullabied to sleep. But Lord, we desire to be the kind of church that hears what you are saying to us. That we would, Lord, not look only to our normal sources that we go to for everything else, but our eyes would be focused in on you and we would look to you, the author and the finisher of our faith.

You're the one that knows best how to handle life at this part of our story. You know how to awaken love in a family. You know how to, Lord, stir the hearts of people. You know how to have a boldness to care for a community around us. And Lord, and to not give up. Some of us are tired and we've been there, done that, got the T-shirt. But Lord, I pray, God, that there'll be a new day, a new vision, a new dream, awakening in our souls, a new group of people that you whisper into our hearts about, oh God. And we would not be afraid of being different in this hour, God, for you have called us to be salt and light in the middle of darkness. And I pray, God, that you would anoint the people of God to be full of the spirit and that our eyes, as we're focusing on you, Lord, I pray, God, that we would not only see you, but you would give us eyes to see the people around us and the faith, oh God, to lay hands on the sick and see them healed, Lord, to touch and love and listen to the people that are around us that are bothered by the things going on in their life. And there'll be an anointing on your church in this hour, God, that you would look at Emmanuel and we would not be the kind of people that you would spit out of your mouth, oh God, but Lord, we would find that we are getting the things

that we can only get from you. Let our prayer life, our worship life, everything that we are be, Lord, filled with who you are. And I pray that this would be the best week of our lives in this sense, oh God, because we begin to answer the call and that the anointing would be upon your people. Lord, we thank you for that. Let your words go in all week long and may you speak to the church and may we respond to the knock at the door and may we see you active in our lives. We thank you in Jesus' name, amen, amen, amen.