Good morning. Happy Labor Day Weekend. Wasn’t this series awesome? If you hadn’t had a chance to hear the whole thing, go to SoundCloud, or iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts and check out the entire sermon series. It will cause you to pay attention to your faith so you don’t DRIFT from God but cling hard to the hope we have in Jesus Christ.
We’re going to wrap up this series in Revelation 3:14-22. This passage is especially offensive to anybody who ever achieved anything, overcame any difficulty, or straight up, just works to make a living in this country. But it’s also so comforting. So let’s pray God will allow us the wisdom to hear what he is saying to us.
Father, today we gather to conclude our study on the 7 churches of Revelation. I ask that you reach into our hearts and minds and unleash your Spirit on us. I ask that this prophetic message from 2,000 years ago will do more than just convict us. That it will mightily transform our lives and our way of living.
Lord, we pray for Drew, who has courageously led your people in singing through the summer. As he begins a brand-new journey, I ask that you anoint the calling on his life and multiply his work in reaching people who are far from you. Lord, we give ourselves to you. Thank you, in Jesus name. Amen.
Revelation 3:14-22
14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” – Revelation 3:14-22 ESV
Some historical context about the city of Laodicea. This is the last church addressed in Revelation, the city is at the end of the courier route that started in Ephesus.
In Turkey – 400k Christians and 81 million people – extremely persecuted.
Laodicea was one of the wealthiest cities in the entire region of Asia-Minor. It was situated between two major trade highways, one highway went from Rome and into Asia Minor, the other went south through Laodicea toward Egypt. Because it was situated at the crossroads of trade, the banking industry became big and powerful. It was so big and powerful that when there was a major earthquake that demolished the city, the city refused aid from the government, they rebuilt it on their own, with their own money.
The city was also super hip. Wearing black to look good, that was invented in Laodicea. True story, the city was known for producing glossy black wool. Historians say that the quality of the wool was indisputable, and Laodicea had a monopoly on black wool. That’s how it became a distinctive, egalitarian fashion city.
The city also had some of the most renown medical schools in the world. So associated with that hub of medicine—a huge pharmaceutical industry. Laodicea was known for producing a special type of medical ointment that would cure certain kinds of eye diseases. People came from all over to buy medical treatments from the city.
But here’s what is most interesting to me about the context of Laodicea: Their water supply was horrible. In fact, they had to pipe the water in from two different cities, Colossae and Hierapolis and by the time the water got to the city, it was lukewarm. Colossae, which was about ten miles away had ice cold mineral water springs that was refreshing and clean. And Hierapolis, about six miles away had volcanic hot springs that could heal the body.
Historically, cities that don’t have a good water source usually died early or did not thrive. But Laodicea thrived. Despite the horrible water, the city became a very prosperous financial, intellectual, and cultural exchange center.
The title of our sermon today is: The Sickness of Self-Reliance
So, what does all of that have to do with self-reliance? Well, the city grew and prospered despite the horrible water because they had an attitude of being able to scrap by and thrive. The city was prosperous, affluent, and so self-sufficient that did not need anything from anywhere to be a vibrant place. That attitude was so ingrained in the people of Laodicea that it became an accurate metaphor for the church there.
Doesn’t that sound familiar? To scrap by and thrive? Isn’t that the theme of every success story or comeback story? I mean, it’s the psyche of every single pop, rap, and country song: be self-sufficient, you don’t need the guy or gal that just dumped you: so we’re never, ever, getting back to together or And when you feel weak / you feel like you want to just give up / But you gotta search within you / you gotta find that inner strength / And get that motivation to not give up…
Yes, there were times, I’m sure you knew / When I bit off more than I could chew / But through it all, when there was doubt / I ate it up and spit it out / I faced it all and I stood tall / And did it my way”
Yes, the attitude that the people of Laodicea has, we also have. A successful life is a self-reliant one. But what if I told you that self-reliance is a farce, and that what it really is, is a dangerously vicious cycle of covering up one’s own vulnerabilities? Instead, what if I told you that being vulnerable requires much more courage and that it is actually much more transformative? The big idea that we want to walk away with today:
A self-sufficient church makes Jesus sick
Just like the city of Laodicea, the church there was self-sufficient. That may sound like a good thing, but Jesus takes no pleasure in a self-sufficient church. God has been preaching this sermon to me for the last 10 months and now, and this sermon is essentially what he is teaching me.
Michelle and I have been in Michigan for 10 months now and God has been teaching us that we are too self-reliant. So we live in the suburbs, a great change of pace from where we were born, raised and lived 30 years of our lives in New York City. We have this nice little ranch house with a front and back yard. Great. Here’s the only problem to that: the lawn and the animals squatting in my yard. The lawn needs to be mowed every week otherwise it grows ankle high. And it doesn’t matter how much grass and weed killer I pour onto it; it just grows thicker and richer.
And then there are the animals. Its mind boggling that the same animals whose pictures are on my child’s board books are outside my windows. The only animal we haven’t encountered yet is the famous Michigan wolverine, although I’m certain that’s just skunk that’s rolled around in the mud. So our yard is home to: skunks, deer, possum, groundhog, turkey, hawks, and all sorts of insects.
If that wasn’t crazy enough, God is teaching us through our daughter, Kate, who at almost 5 months, is showing us that we are far from self-sufficient. Bedtime and nap time doesn’t apply to her and she is going to be both an early bird and a night owl. It’s like every time we want her to sleep, we have to get on our knees and beg God to send an army of angels to rescue us.
I need Jesus to save me every single day because without him, all I can do is numb the agonizing anxiety that comes with my vulnerability of not being self-sufficient with my yard, and my baby, and therefore my family. I just don’t have enough talent, IQ, EQ, money, time, or influence to get my baby to bed, to get rid of these animals or to keep my lawn from looking like a jungle… why does the grass grow so quickly here?
Self-sufficiency means we are relying on ourselves and not trusting Jesus with our security, power, and hope.
A self-sufficient church is a church that doesn’t need Jesus. It is a church that doesn’t need God. It’s a church whose people are prayerless and whose worship is spiritless. A “self-sufficient” church is where people come together for the sake of coming together and lives don’t change because nobody is expecting life to change.
A self-sufficient church makes Jesus sick because the people of the church don’t actually want the power of Jesus flowing through them. They have no need for a savior. Family, is that us? Are we so self-sufficient that we don’t need Jesus in our lives? Are our cabins up north the only thing we need God’s power and provision for?
I want to share with you three reasons why a self-sufficient church makes Jesus sick and what we can do about it right now.
First reason self-sufficiency makes Jesus sick is this:
1. Self-sufficiency makes us ineffective with the gospel
What does that mean? The gospel is hoping in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who emptied himself, to be a man, and walked sinless, was crucified for our sins, past, present, and future, and was resurrected for people who didn’t deserve it or knew to want it.
Self-sufficiency says we don’t need Jesus Christ, as our savior, as our hope, as our reason for being. If we don’t need Jesus because we’re self-sufficient, then why do we need the gospel? We wouldn’t. But we know that we need him. We know that even on our most flawless day, we are mired with shortcomings and imperfections.
Let’s go to verse 14. 14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.
Do you see how Jesus identifies himself here? Jesus is specifically speaking against church. His declaration of being “the Amen, the faithful and true witness” is a contrast to the faithlessness of the Laodicean church that he is accusing them of.
When he says, the “words of the Amen” – this is a direct reference to Isaiah 65. I want to encourage you to read it on your own because you’ll see that the passage has Laodicea written all over it. This was written 700 years prior. The word Amen can be translated to “truth” or as “so it shall be…” If you focus on Isaiah 65:16, you’ll see God tell Isaiah, “he who blesses himself in the land shall bless himself by the God of truth, or the “God of the Amen” and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of truth…”
Jesus is saying that he is the words of truth and that truth is at the beginning of God’s creation. The way Jesus is using that word “beginning” ack-kay is the same context used by Paul in his letter to the Colossians: And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. (Colossians 1:18).
Jesus introduces himself as the words of truth that confronts his people, the church. He says in verses 15 and 16, he says: 15 “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.
Jesus picks up the geographical weakness of the city itself and uses it as a metaphor to describe the spiritual condition of the church itself. The reference to “hot” or “cold” is not a reference to their zeal for the gospel or to himself, but rather, the uselessness of the church’s faith in him.
Faith isn’t really faith if you can do it on your own. We weren’t meant to do church on our own. The mission of the church is too impossible for us. We can’t save people from sin. Shame on us if we dare limit God’s church to what we can do on our own, without faith in Jesus.
What that means for us as a church is that whenever we come together, we need to be expecting God to do far more for his glory than we can ever do for him. When we pray, sing songs, read our Bibles, we need to expect God to do more than we can imagine. Don’t limit God to our abilities, our planning, and our finances. He is far greater and stronger than our limited imaginations.
That’s exactly what the church in Laodicea was doing. They were piping in faith from other places with no faith of their own. We can’t allow our self-sufficiency to make us ineffective when we have the unlimited and uncontrollable power of the gospel! We don’t have fancy programs, we only have Jesus Christ crucified and resurrected from the dead. It’s what we hear as adults, it’s what your teenagers hear, what your children hear, and your toddlers.
Family, we don’t meet together on Sunday mornings because this is some awesome social event. No, we meeting together because gospel radically changed all of us and will continue to do a powerful work in us.
God did the impossible and bridged the gap between us and himself and that can’t be achieved by our self-sufficiency. We didn’t do it. Don’t think for just one second that your goodness or success bought you any favor that didn’t come through the blood of Jesus Christ on that cross.
It’s when we start thinking that we don’t need God that we DRIFT to self-sufficiency, and like it says in verse 16, that makes Jesus so sick that he’s going to spit it out.
The second reason a self-sufficient church makes Jesus sick is this:
2. Self-sufficiency blinds us to our true condition
I think we drift away from Jesus because our culture tells us to be self-sufficient and we become blinded to our true condition.
Let’s go to verse 17. “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”
I love this because Jesus goes right after the things the Laodiceans should have pride in. Undoubtedly the people in the church engaged in the industries that the city was known for. They became so blinded by how they perceived themselves, that they failed to see what they needed. I’m guilty of this.
What is the point of having impressive finances, if you’re looking wretched and pitiable? Likewise, what’s the point of a bank account if you’re poor? What’s the point of having eye ointments if you’re not going to use them on your own blind eyes? What’s the point of having a great fashion sense if you’re just going to walk around naked? Jesus, as the truth teller and leader is calling out this church and is calling us out because we drift away from the truth of our condition when we become self-sufficient.
My true condition is that I’m a relentless fixer. I said earlier that self-sufficiency is a vicious cycle of covering up one’s own vulnerabilities instead of giving those vulnerabilities over to the one who can actually do something about them. Well, it’s worse if your natural tendency is to be a fixer.
When I got to Michigan, I had to fix our family’s vision of suburban life because Michelle and I were honestly thinking white picket fences, and nicely manicured lawns like Pleasantville, not Dances with Wolves. Not being able to fix the lawn and wildlife situation had me spiraling with anxiety, it consumed my thoughts and my time and it started causing me to DRIFT away from Jesus as my savior, to Jonathan, savior of self and the Kwon family.
I was offended when God started preaching this in my life because God is telling me that my rest is not in my little ranch home. My rest is in him. Every single morning, I must remind myself that I need Jesus today because I’m wired to be self-sufficient fixer. Where is your rest?
Look, the truth of the matter is that most of us are in debt, fighting some type of food issue, addicted to social, Netflix, or whatever else you can be addicted and medicated on to actually numb our true condition, or rather, our vulnerability. This is what was happening in Laodicea. They were “rich and needed nothing” but it was just them numbing their vulnerability as wretched, pitable, poor, blind, and naked.
I’m sharing this with all of you, so that you will have the courage to be vulnerable with each other and admit that your self-sufficiency blinds you to your true condition. Are you covering up your vulnerabilities in a vicious cyclical manner? Or are you giving them up to Jesus?
It’s okay to be imperfect, having faults is okay, having made mistakes is okay. Embrace that vulnerability, whatever it is and don’t cover it up and don’t pretend it’s not there. Needing Jesus for your everything is okay.
We need Jesus. We need to do life with people who need Jesus so we can be have freedom in our vulnerability. Do you know how liberating to have brothers and sisters to walk with in your vulnerabilities? So join a group! If you’re in a group, stop ghosting them, show up and plug in hard and share your life with them.
Jesus doesn’t just point out our true condition, he gives us himself, and offers himself to us. Look at verse 18, “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.”
Jesus’ provision for them in each of these very real needs is eternal. The gold he provides gives true wealth. The garments of righteousness he clothes with cover from the shame and guilt of sin. The ointment he provides makes one able to see clearly. This is so beautiful because this is a reference to Isaiah 55 where it says buy without money and without price. Jesus is offering this freely. Take him up on it.
But it doesn’t end there. Let’s go to verse 19. 19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
Jesus knows he is the only one who can remedy our broken lives and fix our wayward hearts. He knows that every other offer out there will fail to satisfy us and fall short of its promise. So, he is pursuing our hearts and he’s knocking. Respond to him!
Here’s my third point on why self-sufficiency makes Jesus sick.
3. Self-sufficiency separates us from fellowship with Christ
You see, if you’re self-sufficient, you don’t have time to fellowship with Jesus because you’re so busy being self-sufficient—you don’t hear his voice, you ignore his pursuit of you.
The way we remedy this is to repent and invite him to the table. We need to repent and say, “We are nothing, we have nothing, we can do nothing without you Jesus.” No amount of money, food, medication, social media, clothing, things, can fix our brokenness.
Numbing our vulnerability by pretending to be self-sufficient, because you never achieve it because there will always be a next thing, it’s a dangerous cycle. Be vulnerable to Jesus and open the door for him because he wants to be with you. He wants to take whatever you’re numbing yourself with and supplant that with his being.
Jesus left the comforts of heaven to come and be with us. He took our sin and our self-reliance upon himself, and as he died on the cross bearing our sins, he felt the punishment of being separated from God. He experienced the pain of that distance, and yet faithfully endured and “loved [us] to the end” (John 13:1). He died because we had chosen our own self-reliant, self-sufficient way.
Death was not the end of the story; through his death he conquered the very self-sufficiency that leads to our death! When we believe that he was resurrected to pursue us and bring us to his table and to welcome us into his family, that is when we conquer.
Look at verse 21 and see what happens when we open the doors of our heart to him: 21 The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
He invites us to fellowship in his presence forever. He takes care of us and then some. We must believe and trust in him. We must depend on him as our provider, savior, and King.
Open the door of your lives to Jesus and be a true conqueror… having him at our table is far better than the endless cycle of trying to be self-sufficient. Jesus’ throne is greater than anything we can ever attain on our own!
Family, we need to live vulnerably to Jesus. We need a faith to fuel powerful prayers that ask God to do something far greater than we can imagine or ask for. We need to worship Jesus with the reckless abandon that makes our faith in Jesus an unstoppable force that will not be shunned and that will not DRIFT away no matter what.
Let us pray.
Father, we are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked when we are trying to be self-sufficient. It makes you sick when you see that in our lives, as we try to fill ourselves with meaningless things and place our value and worth in things that do nothing but numb our vulnerabilities.
It sickens you because it’s futile, because you are offering something better and we don’t take it. Lord, we want to open those doors because you are knocking right now. Allow us to open our hearts to you so we can conquer and be unleashed with a power that only you can give. Thank you for relentlessly pursuing us. We love you. In Jesus name. Amen.
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