Have you ever had a moment where you're so deeply enthralled with a task, you forget to drink your tea? And then when you remember, you have a happy moment of 'I've got tea', only to take a sip and spit it out or cough because it's lukewarm - not quite hot and not quite cold, but now tastes disgusting and not at all hitting that 'tea' spot for you? 

If you always remember to drink your tea, good on you! If you're like me and forget when you're in the zone, you'll know what this feels like! 

And this is exactly what I think of when Jesus says to the church in Laodicea, 'because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth' - literally vomit them out. What a warning!
This is a church prone to the idolatry of wealth and self-reliance. A church potentially similar to many in our context today when it's so easy to think of ourselves as independent and self-sufficient, having everything we need at the tip of our fingers. 

Jesus wants them to open their eyes to their own spiritual state: You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. Revelation 3:17

It's an easy step to think that because we have all we need, we're saved. But Jesus' words remind us that no material or monetary thing or idol of success will save our souls. Only Jesus can do that. 

For a people who pride ourselves on our independence in the western world, how are you going at depending on God in your personal & spiritual life? 

And how are we going as a church I wonder? 

Over the last few weeks as we've been going through these letters together, I wonder what has stood out to you? What have you been thinking and praying about? What have you been challenged by? What have you been convicted to do personally? What are you excited by? What do you think God might be saying to us as a church community? 

To recap the letters, Jesus challenges them and calls them to action:

• In Ephesus, they'd forsaken their first love and needed reminding to put Jesus first.
• In Smyrna, they were warned about upcoming persecution & encouraged to remain faithful.
• In Pergamum, they were challenged to stop compromising their faith and remain loyal to Jesus.
• In Thyatira, they'd grown tolerant of sin & false teachings and Jesus called them to repent and hold tightly to the truth of the gospel.
• In Sardis, they'd grown spiritually dead from complacency in faith and Jesus called them to 'wake up'!
• In Philadelphia, they kept God's word and Jesus encouraged them to keep enduring and remain faithful to the end. 
• Finally, this week, we see the Laodicea were lukewarm, becoming useless from their idolatry of wealth and independence from God. Jesus calls them to be earnest in the faith and depend on the Lord for salvation. 

Which one of these rebukes and encouragements speak to you/us? Or is there something different you think Jesus wants us to hear? 

I encourage you to pray over these things in the next few days and ask God to reveal what he wants to say to our church. 

On Sunday, we'll have a time of testimony and sharing and we'd love you to be brave and share how God has been working in your life and what he might be calling us as a church community into. 
May we be a church who hears what the Spirit wants to say to us. 

Amy

​In the letters to the Churches in The Revelation, we have God's word speaking to us, warning, correcting, encouraging and comforting us. This Sunday we look at the letter to the Church in Philadelphia (the city of brotherly love).  This Church loved Jesus and pleased him. It was a small (weak), faithful Church which endured through suffering and opposition. In a world full of idolatry they listened to Jesus alone. That was their greatest achievement.
The call to listen to Christ's voice is still God's call on the Churches of today. We are called to listen to and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who is holy and true. He's the one who has the key of David. God had told David that he would establish his kingdom and his son would reign on the throne forever. Jesus is that Son who takes the seat, the eternal throne. Jesus is the one who has been given all authority and the keys of the Kingdom. He can open doors that no one will shut, and shuts doors that no one opens. It's comforting to know He is sovereign and powerful.

There's some debate about the open door in the text (see Rev 3:8). Often in the New Testament, an open door is a way of saying God is providing an evangelistic opportunity. Some think that’s the meaning here. But there is another meaning of “door” in the New Testament: entrance into the kingdom of God. Jesus refers to himself as “the door” in John 10:9, “I am the door of the sheep... If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.” So Jesus is the doorway into salvation.

In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says, “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” The door symbolises the need for a decision. It’s the entryway into Christ. So, the door in this context seems to be entrance into Christ’s kingdom.

The little church in Philadelphia had entered the door. Even though they had little strength, and had suffered, Jesus saved them. Despite outward circumstances of being small and weak, the Church was the inheritor of the kingdom because Jesus opened the door for them, and no one can shut it. Nothing could shut the believers out. No amount of opposition could suffer them away. The world can't take away what Jesus gives! Jesus holds them.

Is this reassuring for us? Our salvation is secure through faith in Jesus Christ. No matter how weak we feel, Jesus holds our future in His hands. Our salvation and commendation from Him is not based on the great things we do but on the great things Jesus has done. All He’s asking of us is to humbly keep His powerful word and He will do the rest in and through us.

May our faith in Christ cause us to rise above our struggles and lay hold of God's strength, which is made perfect in our weakness. May the strong word of God and the mighty hand of Jesus hold us firm when everything else feels as if it’s falling away. No one and nothing can snatch us out of His hand.

Rest in this assurance today and always.

Rev. Tanya