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Episodes
Weekly sermons and Bible studies led by a retired pastor of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Episodes
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Thursday Nov 16, 2023
Sermon for the 24th Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Sermon originally delivered November 11, 2023
We Will Always Be with the Lord
We are now in the last three weeks of this church year, and the Scriptures turn our thoughts to times of the end of the world and the return of Christ on the Last Day.
Paul was inspired by God to write the words of our text because there was confusion and uncertainty among some about what would happen. Some seemed to think that Jesus was coming back very quickly, within their own lifetime. But now, some of their loved ones, who were believers, were beginning to die. What would happen to them? Would they be OK, even though Jesus hadn’t yet returned?
Paul writes, “We do not want you to be uninformed (to not know), brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Paul uses the term “sleep” here, referring to “death.” That does not mean sleep as we know it, though. We can’t explain how all this works, but other Scriptures describe death as the separation of the body and the soul, or spirit, of a person. An Old Testament passage says, “The body goes to the ground, but the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7). Paul described death as “departing and being with Christ, which is far better” (Philippians 1:23).
Jesus Himself said, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to Myself, that where I am, you may be also” (John 14:3). We also heard last week of John’s vision of countless believers, saints, already in heaven, enjoying its blessings, with Christ, the Lamb of God. The spirits of our loved ones who have died are clearly already in heaven, with its blessings.
We grieve at the death of loved ones because of our being separated from them and the pain that brings to us, but we do not sorrow as others do who have no hope. As Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “the ones who have no hope” are those who lived and died, “separated from Christ” and are “without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:12).
As Paul goes on to say in our text, we have absolute confidence about our loved ones and ourselves, “since we believe that Jesus died and rose again” for us (1 Thessalonians 4:14). Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for all our sins and to forgive us for all our sins and failures that would otherwise separate us from God.
And, Paul says, Jesus also “rose again” from the dead, in a bodily way. The grave was empty on Easter morning. Not only the spirit of Jesus was alive, but His body, too - and His body was raised and changed and glorified, and He ascended bodily into heaven to prepare a place for us.
And since Jesus is God the Son, along with being a true man, to do His saving work, He is also able to be with us in this life and give us what we need to sustain us as His people. Paul put it this way in 1 Thessalonians 5:8-10, not long after the words of our text: We have “the breastplate of faith and love” as a gift from the Lord, “and for a helmet, the hope of salvation” - the certainty of our eternal future. “For,” Paul writes,” God has not destined us for wrath (though we do deserve it because of our sins) but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep, we might live with Him.”
The souls of our loved ones are already enjoying the blessings of heaven, and we, still alive on earth, have Christ with us, too, through His Word and Baptism and the amazing gift of His Body and Blood in the Lord’s Supper. We are all united in our Savior’s love.
What happens then on the last day, with the return of Christ? Look again at our text. Paul writes, “For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep” (1 Thessalonians 4:14). The souls of all those who have died in Christ and have been in heaven will now come along with Jesus. As Paul said earlier in this same letter - this will be “the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints” (1 Thessalonians 3:13). Why do they need to come along, too?
Paul writes, in our text, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.” This will be the day of the resurrection of the bodies of all believers! Their bodies and souls will then be reunited.
But what happens to believers who are still alive at the return of Christ? Paul answers that question, too, in our text. He says, “For this we declare to you by a Word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord will not precede (go ahead of) those who have fallen asleep… The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17). If we are still alive when Jesus returns, we won’t have to die. We will simply be raised and changed to our heavenly body and soul.
This is what was described by Paul also in 1 Corinthians 15:51: “Behold! I tell you a mystery... we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised, imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” God will do all this for us, in the twinkling of an eye. And Paul then ends our text with the statement, “Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thessalonians 4:18).
We need that encouragement always, don’t we? We live in such a troubled world, and we face lots of challenges and difficulties and even death itself, with the loss of family or friends and our own illnesses. Sometimes we have doubts and questions that we struggle with, and we hear people's voices and ideas that are very different from what you just heard from Paul.
As I was beginning to work on this sermon, a few weeks ago, I saw a list of best-selling books in our local newspaper. #7 on that list was a book called The Great Disappearance: 31 Ways to be Rapture Ready, by a fairly famous preacher, in some circles. I listened to a sermon of his on the internet to see what he really said, based on the same Scripture text we just looked at. He says that this is not about the second coming of Christ at the end, but about a “secret rapture” when all Christians on earth will suddenly disappear, to escape seven years of great trouble on earth (even though Jesus said that we would have tribulation in this world in John 16:33 and Revelation 9:14). This preacher also says that our loved ones who died have never yet been in heaven, but are sleeping in a sort of hotel of the resurrection and won’t be awakened until this “rapture” happens. He even predicts that he will still be alive when this “secret rapture” happens, very soon.
I don’t have time to go on and on with this, but watch out for misleading ideas about a rapture and talk about several comings of Christ in the future and a millennial kingdom when Christ comes back to reign on earth in Jerusalem, etc. Ignore such talk and just trust simple, straightforward Scriptures like the one we just looked at, with a focus on Christ as our Hope and Savior and His one return on the last day.
We say with Paul, “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15:57). Let us rise for prayer. “Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep our hearts and minds safe (only where they can be safe) in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Philippians 4:7). Amen.
Monday Nov 06, 2023
Monday Nov 06, 2023
We are now in the last three weeks of the Church Year. There is a lot of focus on the “end times” and the return of Christ. We see that already in our readings for this Sunday.
The Old Testament lesson is from Amos 5:18-24. Amos warns the people of Israel that “the day of the Lord” could be a day of judgment and “darkness and gloom,” if they are just going through the motions of worship and offerings and actually are following false gods and false ways. Amos calls them back to God’s ways of “justice “ and the “righteousness” that comes only from Him and trusting His mercy and truth and forgiveness, ultimately in Christ Jesus.
The Psalm is Psalm 70. David’s life is in danger from his enemies. He prays that the Lord would “make haste” (hurry) to “deliver and help” him. He is confident that the One True God is “great,” and he “loves” and trusts His “salvation” through the Lord, even though he is “poor and needy” as he writes this psalm. All can “rejoice and be glad” in the Lord and His mercy for them.
The Gospel lesson is a parable of Jesus from Matthew 25:1-13. Ten virgins were assigned to wait for the coming of the Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ, at an unknown time. Five were foolish and unprepared, without enough oil for their lamps. Five brought extra oil with them and were prepared and welcomed the Bridegroom. They went into the marriage feast, but the door was then shut, and it was too late for others to be allowed in. The fact that Jesus says to those left outside, “I do not know you,” indicates that they did not have the saving gift of faith in Jesus. Jesus calls His followers, then, to watch and wait for His return with confident faith and trust in Him and to keep listening to His voice, in His Word. (Jesus said, in John 10, “The sheep hear His voice, and He calls His own sheep by name… The sheep follow Him, for they know His voice" (v.3-4)... "I am the Good Shepherd. I know my own and my own know Me" (v.14).
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Paul speaks about those who have already “fallen asleep” (died) in faith before Jesus returns on the last day. Do we still have hope for them and their eternal future, too? Absolutely, says Paul, “since we believe that Jesus died and rose again,” for the salvation of all believers. When believers die, their souls, their spirits, depart and are with Christ in heaven (Philippians 1:21,23). Their bodies return to the ground. When Jesus returns, “God will bring with Him the souls of those who have fallen asleep” (died) in faith. Their bodies will be raised first and changed and glorified and reunited with their souls. Then, the believers who are still alive on earth at that time will be “caught up together with them” and changed and glorified, and we will always be with the Lord in eternal life. This is a message of great encouragement and hope for and about all believers, past, present, and future.
Our future is secure in Christ. And until Jesus returns, on that last day of this existence, there is still time for more people to be brought to faith in Jesus. As Paul says, in 2 Corinthians 6:2, “Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
Monday Nov 06, 2023
Monday Nov 06, 2023
Last week, we heard words of “reproof and discipline” from Jesus to the church at Laodicea. He speaks this way because He loves the people there and wants them to stop being “lukewarm” believers and return to Him as “repentant” and “zealous” believers. That is His wish for us all.
Jesus follows up with a famous, often quoted portion of God’s Word, Revelation 3:20: “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.” This is a passage often used by CRU (Campus Crusade) and many other churches and groups to call people to make a decision for Christ. This passage is often used with a picture of Jesus outside, knocking on a door that has no doorknob on the outside. It can only be opened from the inside, when a person makes a choice, as an act of his own will, to follow Jesus, as the true beginning of his life as a Christian. In other words, we must make the first move toward Christ, and some would say we cannot be saved without being able to identify our “moment of decision” and opening the door for Christ.
Using this passage this way takes this passage totally out of its context and creates other problems in the perspective of the Bible, though. First of all, Jesus is writing this letter to a church, to a group of believers in Laodicea, some of whom had come to faith many years before. Certainly, some had become weaker in faith, over time, and needed to repent and be renewed. Jesus is not talking about initial faith in Him, though.
Secondly, the Scriptures say that we cannot decide to become a Christian by our own power and will. I often refer to Ephesians 2:1-3, but it is worth looking at again and again. Paul begins by reminding us that we were “dead in our trespasses and sins” because of our sinful nature. We “all once lived that way in the passions of our flesh” and were “by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” And how much can a dead person do, on his or her own? Absolutely nothing. We cannot open the door to Jesus on our own.
Then, Paul says, “God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5). Paul goes on to define that grace as His undeserved love and favor for us, His gift to us. “For by grace you have been saved through faith.” And even faith “is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus.” Our good works follow, but they are enabled by our Lord and are only a thankful response to His saving work in Christ.
Think also about another passage, John 1:13, often linked with Rev. 3:20. “To all who did receive Christ, who believed in His name, God gave the right to become children of God.” Some would say that we must first receive Jesus and believe in Him, on our own, and then God will follow up with making us His children, etc. However, the very next verse, John 1:14 says, “…children of God, who were born, not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” We did not give birth to ourselves physically or spiritually but by God’s miracle and blessings. Jesus says, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.” It is by the Holy Spirit, working through the water of baptism and the Word of God that we are born again (John 3:3-5, 8 and 1 Peter 1:3, 23, also). It is not by our flesh and will.
Remember the story of Lydia, too, in Acts 16:14-15. She did not first open her heart. “The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.” Soon she was baptized, and her household, as well, and a church was begun in her house. See Paul writing, in 1 Thessalonians 1:3-5, and speaking of the faith, love, and hope, of the people of this church. He also adds, though, “For we know, brothers, loved by God, that He has chosen you, because our Gospel came to you, not only in Word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction.” God was at work, in all that happened. Listen also to Philippians 2:12-13. Paul says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” That makes it sound as if it is our work and effort, but then Paul adds, “For it is God Who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” It is His Word and will at work, above all.
A better way to look at Revelation 3:20, then, is to see it in light of Luke 12:35-40. Jesus is encouraging His believing people to be ready for His return on the last day, by continuing faith in Him (12:40). We do not know when He is coming, so we need to be spiritually awake (12:38-39). When the Master comes home from a wedding feast and knocks on the door, we can then “open the door to Him at once” (12:35-36). Surprisingly, then, Jesus says that when He returns, He will dress Himself for service and have His people recline at table, and He will come and serve them” (12:37-38). Twice Jesus says they will be blessed by Him if they wait for Him in faith and trust.
That is just what Jesus promises in Revelation 3:20. When He returns for His people, waiting in faith in Him, on the last day, and they hear His voice and eagerly open the door, He will come in to them and he will eat with them and they with Him. It is part of the continuing joy from that time forward with the Lord Jesus in everlasting life.
In Revelation 3:21, Jesus again speaks of the ones who conquer (and as we have heard, we conquer only through Christ and His power and final victory over sin and Satan and death, described near the end of Revelations). Jesus even promises that believers will, in a certain sense, reign with Christ and be blessed by His victory for us. (See Revelation 3:21, Matthew 19:28-29, and 2 Timothy 2:12, for example.)
I suspect that when we reach heaven, whether it is at the moment when we die or when Christ returns, if we are still living then, we will not care just what our place will be. We will just be amazed to be in the perfection of heaven and the presence of our Lord Jesus and all His blessings, though we deserve none of them. We will just sing our praises and thanksgivings to our Lord, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with great joy. May the Lord give us His grace and strength to stay firmly in Christ all our days through His Word and Sacraments. May our confidence be not in ourselves and our decisions, but in Christ and His faithfulness to and forgiveness for us. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 3:21-22).
Monday Nov 06, 2023
Monday Nov 06, 2023
Sermon for All Saints Sunday, based on:
Sermon originally delivered November 6, 2011
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
In many of our churches, “All Saints Day” will be celebrated in our worship this coming Sunday. Some churches may be using alternate readings. I will list them at the end but only comment on one of those readings.
The first lesson is from the New Testament again, as last week, from Revelation 7:9-17. John sees another vision of heaven, where an uncountable number of people of every people and nation and language, stand before the throne of God and the Lamb (our risen Lord Jesus) and sing praises for the salvation brought to them. They wear white robes, having been cleansed by the blood of the Lamb. The tribulations of this life are gone, and they are saints, in perfect peace and joy, in the presence of the One True Triune God.
The Psalm is Psalm 149, as God’s “humble” people praise their “Maker and King,” who has “adorned them with salvation” and “takes pleasure in them.” His people make melody and dance and give “high praises” to God, in return. They will be present with Him on the day of “judgment” of all unbelievers and will be honored as His godly ones.
The Epistle lesson is from 1 John 3:1-3. Before the visions given to the Apostle John in Revelations, he speaks of the certainty of who “we now are,” the “beloved children of God,” through “the love given to us by God the Father,” through Jesus Christ our Savior. (See 1 John 4:11-13 for the great certainty of this for us who believe in Christ Jesus.) We do not know just what we will be in heaven, but we will be sinless and purified and able to “see Jesus as he is.” In the meantime, we try to be “pure,” but are so only by the grace and forgiveness of Christ and His counting us as righteous by faith in Him.
In the Gospel lesson, Matthew 5:1-12, the beginning of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” Jesus tells us that we are blessed only if we know that we are “poor in spirit” and “mourn” that we are sinners and “hunger and thirst for righteousness" that comes only from God and is credited to us through the saving work that Jesus did for us. Seeing the meekness and mercy of Christ Jesus, we then try to be “pure in heart” and “merciful peacemakers” toward others, and willing to be “reviled and persecuted” in standing with Christ (though we sometimes fail).
The alternate readings for this weekend are:
- Micah 3:5-12
- Psalm 43
- 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
- Matthew 23:1-12
In 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12, Paul reminds his fellow believers how they “ought to walk in a way that pleases God.” He especially encourages them to “abstain from sexual immorality,” which was a very serious problem in the ancient world and still is often today. He calls believers to “love one another with brotherly love.” They do not have to be spectacular as Christians. Rather, he says, “Aspire to live quietly and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands… that you may walk properly toward outsiders (those who do not believe) and be dependent on no one.” Again, we are still “poor miserable sinners” and live finally by the grace and mercy and forgiveness of Jesus our Savior.
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
Last week, we worked through Revelation 3:14-16, and heard that the people of the church at Laodicea were saying proudly of themselves: “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.” In contrast, Jesus knew them and their works and saw them as “lukewarm” Christians.
In v.17, Jesus says that they did not realize that they were wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked, in a spiritual sense. Jesus had taught, at the beginning of His “Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” People need to know how spiritually poor they are on their own so that they can see how much they need Jesus as their Savior. The people in the church at Laodicea were saying, “I…, I…, I…,” focused on their accomplishments, and Jesus used the set of words in Revelation 3:17, paralleling some of the pride the Laodiceans had in their city, to show how “wretched” they were, in spirit.
Jesus “counsels” them to “buy” some things from Him, in v.18. He is using words we find in other places. What He wishes them to have is actually free, a gift. See Isaiah 55:1-3. “Come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to Me; hear, that your soul may live.”
“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 3:22). See a similar statement in Revelation 22:17: “Come… Let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” Remember also that we heard last week that a real weakness of Laodicea was that it did not have an adequate water supply. The people said, “I need nothing;” yet they really needed so much, in a physical and in a spiritual sense, with their continual need for the water of Life (John 4:13-14 and John 7:37-39).
They thought they were “rich,” in terms of “gold,” but Jesus says, in Revelation 3:18, that they really needed “gold, refined by fire, so that they might be (spiritually) rich.” See 1 Peter 1:7, where Peter speaks of “the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire.” They needed faith in Christ, which “results in praise and glory and honor” of Jesus, at His revelation” on the last day.
The Laodiceans were proud of the beautiful garments produced in their city with bright colors and black wool. What they really needed was to be covered with “white garments” (Revelation 3:18) provided by Christ Jesus Himself that would cover the shame and nakedness of their sins. (See the “garments of salvation” and the “robe of righteousness” provided by God in Isaiah 61:10; the new, clean garments provided to Joshua in Zechariah 3:3-5; “the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, which cleanses us from all sin,” in 1 John 1:7-9; and the vision of the believers in heaven, “clothed in white robes… white in the blood of the Lamb (Jesus), in Revelation 7:13-14; etc.)
The Laodiceans were proud of their medical school and an eye salve that was developed or produced there and was widely used. What they really needed was God’s “salve to anoint their eyes,” so that they might truly “see” what they needed to see and believe, in Jesus as Savior. See, for example, Psalm 146:8, which says that “the Lord opens the eyes of the blind,” physically and spiritually; Isaiah 35:4-5, where the blind (and the deaf) can see and hear when Jesus the Savior would come (Matthew 11:2-6); and John 9, where Jesus healed a blind man physically (9:1-7) and then spiritually (9:35-41).
Then Jesus says in Revelation 3:19 that He is speaking all these words of “reproof” (rebuke, disapproval) because He “loves” the people of the church at Laodicea and wants to help them “repent” of their sins and be more “zealous,” rather than “lukewarm" about their faith. “Jesus says He is providing some needed “discipline” for this church, showing people their sins, through the Law of God, and turning them away from trust in themselves to trust in Him and His Word of true Life and hope. See Scriptures about “discipline” such as Psalm 94:12, where the psalmist says that people are “blessed” who are disciplined by the Lord; Proverbs 3:11-12, where discipline is a sign of the Lord’s love, “as a father disciplines the son in whom he delights;” 1 Corinthians 11:32, where Paul says, “When we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world;” and Hebrews 12:5-11, where the writer to the Hebrews says that God disciplines us “for our good;” it may seem painful, but “later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.”
Jesus speaks harshly in some of this letter; but He speaks in love, for the good of this congregation. This is an important message for us all. Are we sometimes “lukewarm” in our own faith and need to be called back to a more “zealous” Christian faith and life? Are we sometimes too focused on ourselves and forgetful of Christ and His good gifts? That’s why we have a time for repentance for sins and renewal in our life in Christ, week after week, in our worship, as a “discipline” and reminder to us all.
I will stop here, as I want to spend a little more time on the closing portion of this letter, next week. A proper interpretation is important. The Lord’s continued blessings.
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
Wednesday Nov 01, 2023
Sermon for Reformation Sunday, based on:
Sermon originally delivered October 30, 2011
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
This Sunday is celebrated in many of our Lutheran churches as Reformation Sunday. The Scriptures focus on key passages that were important for Martin Luther in discovering and emphasizing what he saw as at the center of our Christian faith. I will list each passage for you to read, with only a brief comment.
The first lesson is from Revelation 14:6-7. The eternal Gospel (the good news of Jesus as Savior) is a message to be shared with all people everywhere. God created all things, and He will come again in judgment, but we are ready by faith in Christ Jesus.
The Psalm is Psalm 46, the inspiration for Luther’s hymn: “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” “God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present Help in trouble… Therefore we will not fear… The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our Refuge.”
The Epistle is Romans 3:19-28, describing the central teaching of the Scriptures. The Law of God shows that we are all sinners, and that no one can be justified in God’s sight by keeping the Law well enough. The righteousness of and from God is received only by faith in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ for us. “We are justified by faith apart from the works of the Law… through God’s grace as a gift.”
The Gospel reading is John 8:31-36, where Jesus reminds us to “abide in belief in Him and in His Word,” for only then will we know the truth, the truth that sets us free from “the slavery of sin.” Jesus, the Son of God, sets us free by His saving work for us, and we remain forever as God’s children, now and to eternity.
(Some churches may use a different set of readings, if they do not celebrate the Reformation. Here are those readings:
- Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18
- Psalm 1
- 1 Thessalonians 2:1-13
- Matthew 22:34-46
I will comment only on the Epistle, since 1 Thessalonians 2 is part of a series of readings from this letter of Paul, and Paul also talks here of key Reformation teachings, in Chapter 2. Paul and others had “declared the Gospel of God in the midst of much conflict.” They had been “entrusted with the Gospel, not to please man but to please God.” They acted “gently, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children” and at times, “like a father with his children, exhorting and encouraging." Finally Paul speaks of the Scripture alone as the source and norm for what we believe. In 2:13 he wrote, “We also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the Word of God, which is at work in you believers.”
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Our study this week is on the last of the seven specific letters to churches in Asia Minor, sent from Christ Himself in Revelation 2-3, through the apostle John. This letter is to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:14-22. It follows the same pattern as the other letters. It is addressed to the “angel,” the pastor, the “messenger” and leaders of the church.
These are the words, again, of Christ Jesus Himself. He is called “the Amen” (Revelation 3:14). The word “Amen” means “truly,” “true,” and “most certainly true.” This word is tied in with God in Isaiah 65:16, where one blesses himself by “the God of Amen.” (This is what it literally says, though many translate it “the God of Truth.”) When Jesus says in the Gospel of John, “Truly, truly, I say unto you,” He is literally saying, “Amen, Amen, I say to you.” (See examples of this in John 3:3, 5:24-25, and 8:51-54, etc.) Paul then says of Jesus that “in Him it is always yes. That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for His glory” (2 Corinthians 1:19-20). Therefore, Jesus is also “the faithful and true Witness” to what is true. Revelation 1:1-2 tells us that John “bore witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Jesus Christ is “the faithful witness,” though, John says (Revelation 1:5, 3:14).
Jesus is also called “the Beginning of God’s creation” (Revelation 3:14). This does not mean that He was the first created being, as some heretical teachers have tried to say, in the past. It means that He, as God the Son, with His Father and the Holy Spirit, existing as the One True God from all eternity, was the Source of God’s creation. (See John 1:1-3: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” Jesus Himself prayed, predicting His ascension and return to heaven: “And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with glory that I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:5). See also the very detailed words of Paul about Christ in Colossians 1:15-20 and in Colossians 2:1-3.)
Did you notice in Colossians 2:1 that Christians at Laodicea were mentioned, as they also are in Colossians 4:13 and 4:15-16? This is because Laodicea was only about 11 miles from Colossae and about 40 miles southeast of Philadelphia. Paul wrote his letter to the Colossians from Rome about 60 AD, and it was to be passed on to the Christians at Laodicea and Hierapolis, too. The “letter from Laodicea” (Colossians 4:16) was probably Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians, written about the same time, with the intent of its being circulated also to the other churches. That is eventually what happened with all of the letters of the apostles, along with the other parts of the Scriptures.
This means that the church in Laodicea had had solid Biblical teaching available to it in the past. This is now about 35 years later, assuming that this letter was written around 95 AD. From what we know about the city of Laodicea itself, it may have greatly influenced the thinking and attitudes of the church members there. Laodicea was the wealthiest city in this area. It was a center of business and commerce and banking; had a strong textile industry, producing cloth and clothing goods; and had a respected medical school and produced a famous eye salve. The city seemed very proud of itself and self-sufficient. There had been a bad earthquake earlier, but the city was able to bounce back and rebuild, without needing much help at all from Rome. One major weakness was not having a good water supply.
The people in the church seemed to have developed a self-centered, self-sufficient attitude, too. Jesus says that He knows their works: that they are “neither cold nor hot, but lukewarm,” presumably in their Christian faith and life; and Jesus is about to “spit (literally, to spew or vomit) them out of His mouth,” like a drink that is at the wrong temperature and can’t be tolerated or makes one sick (Revelation 3:15-16). The church members are saying, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,” while they are really in a “wretched” situation, and cannot see their many spiritual problems (Revelation 3:17). They need to “be zealous and repent” (3:19) and receive again the blessings from the Lord and see again their genuine needs.
Next week, we will look at Christ’s response to them in more detail. We’ll also talk about “discipline” from God and the famous passage in v.20 which is often used and misused by people. Think about how this passage applies to churches today. The Lord’s blessings on your week.
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Wednesday Oct 25, 2023
Sermon for the 21st Sunday after Pentecost, based on:
Sermon originally delivered October 16, 2011