Living as an Overcomer: Jesus’ Messages to the 7 Churches in RevelationSample

Day 7 – Reflecting Authentic Christianity: The Church in Laodicea

If Philadelphia was the church whose members accessed God’s kingdom authority through faith, commitment, and obedience, the Laodicea church was the opposite. This church can best be described as an inauthentic church comprising people who are in it for themselves. They obey when it brings them glory, but they just as quickly turn their backs on God when it doesn’t.

To say that Jesus is disappointed with the church would be a gross understatement. This neither hot nor cold church, made up of lukewarm members, makes our Lord want to vomit, not just shrug His shoulders or turn His head in sadness. This church makes Him want to “spew” them out of His mouth.

Laodicea was a wealthy community. There was a banking industry equivalent to Wall Street, a comparison we also made for Ephesus. It had a medical center, businesses, and everything else to give the illusion of security and success. Yet the kingdom of God isn’t dependent upon the kingdom of men. Earthly success and wealth don’t mean much to God and His standards. While there’s nothing wrong with achieving business success as long as we don’t translate that success into independence from God in the church - it’s not a direct correlation to spiritual success.

LIVING A FAKE LIFE

Of all the churches we’ve looked at in these pages, Laodicea may reflect American culture most closely. With all of our progress, programs, and megachurches, we far too often wear a façade of what it means to be a Christian authentically committed to Jesus Christ. The church in Laodicea has the right externals—they look good, speak well, and raise their hands in worship. But they have the wrong internal motivation, conviction, and authenticity. Wealth flows, clothing is made, and hospitals thrive with the latest techniques and advances in medicine, but true spirituality languishes in the background of so-called more important material pursuits.

Jesus knew all this, and what He knew made His stomach sick.

WE NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT JESUS IS KNOCKING

Christians who are not all in for God and His kingdom agenda—those who want a little religion to help offset their worldliness, like drinking a diet drink with a pizza—have made themselves both blind and deaf to God’s voice. They’ve cut themselves off from Jesus’ invitation to fellowship closely with Him. We see this in the next part of His message to this church (Revelation 3:20): “Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him.”

Jesus stands at the door of our hearts, knocking and hoping to come in. But He’s not pounding on the door. He’s not banging on it. It is a gentle knock you can easily miss if you’re living a lukewarm Christian life. If you choose not to prioritize growing your relationship with God, you may miss hearing His knock.

When Jesus says He will come in and dine with you, He’s referring to intimate fellowship. He’s referring to getting to know you and your getting to know Him on a greater level.

This fellowship supplies what you need to overcome. As Jesus says to the church in Laodicea in verse 21, “He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” Meaning he who overcomes spiritual death, just as Christ overcame physical death.

Jesus overcame Satan and his tricks to overpower Him. He remained strong because He remained tied to the truth of the Word and His relationship to God and His will. You and I can similarly overcome Satan’s schemes if and when we remain tied to the truth of God’s Word and His presence in our lives.

So stay close to Jesus, aligned underneath His rule and tethered to His Word. When you do this, you can truly overcome every challenge you will face.

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We hope this plan was helpful to you. You can read more from Tony Evans in Living as an Overcomer, available here.