The Compromising Church - Part 2

The Compromising Church

 Part 2

“I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 18-22  

      Continuing from last week’s Blog about the Laodicean church:  We ended with verse 17, “Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing; and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”    As in the world today, our hearts have become hardened to the things of God and we can’t see it. 

      I read this quote and although it was meant for a health change, I believe it really fits a spiritual meaning.  “IF YOU ALWAYS DO WHAT YOU ALWAYS DID, YOU'LL ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU ALWAYS GOT.” There are hungry hearts longing for a closer relationship with the Lord, but in order to have that something has to change.  That something is YOU and ME.  Just because I have studied the Bible and taught on it for over 30 years, doesn’t mean that I am a spiritual person.  It doesn’t assure me a place in heaven!  WHAT?  It’s simply a matter ‘of the heart’.  Our heart has to change in order to love God more.  He already loves us to the maximum; He doesn’t need to change – we do. 
    As in verse 17, we must recognize we all have a great need for God.  Without Him we are lost and He is waiting for you to realize it and call on Him for help.  How do we know what to do?  In verse 18 he tells us what to do: 

1.               God counsels us to buy His gold refined in fire.  This means when we accepted Jesus as our Savior, this ‘gold’ already went through the fire with his death on the cross, which paid the price for our sins to be blotted out forever.  Then when we do that, we become spiritually rich.

He gives us ‘white’ garments so the shame of our nakedness won’t show.  What are these ‘white’ garments?  Years ago we sang a chorus in church: “I am covered over with a robe of righteousness that Jesus gives to me. I am covered over with the precious blood of Jesus, and he lives in me. What a joy it is to know, my Heavenly Father loves me so, He gives to me my Jesus, When He looks at me, He sees not what I use to be, but He sees Jesus.” I guess I can’t explain it any better than that song does.

2.               It says to ‘anoint your eyes with eye salve’.  There was a medical school located nearby Laodicea that made an eye salve to treat eye diseases.  This salve was greatly sought after in those times.  I doubt this scripture referred that, but was to point out the fact that a person could be spiritually blind which was worse than physically blind.  With modern medicine we don’t see as much blindness as was in earlier times, but spiritual blindness is on the up rise today.

3.               In verse 19 we see the clear ‘Father’ image of God:  “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.”  Let me put it in modern language the words ‘rebuke and chasten”.  Rebuke means to scold sharply for something we have done wrong.  Chasten means to then punish for what we have done.  Earthly fathers love their children enough to not want them to be hurt, so when they are naughty, they scold the child and then punish them by not letting them watch their favorite TV show, or not ride their bike the rest of the day.  Our Heavenly Father shows his love to us through Rebuking and Chastening.

4.               Now comes the wonderful words of Hope and Promise in verses 20-21. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.  To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.”  I still marvel each time I see a picture of Jesus standing at a door and knocking, because there is no handle on the outside of the door!  What a story that picture tells; Jesus cannot come into the house unless the person on the inside opens the door.  That door represents our earthly body and no one can come inside if we don’t open the door. 

 ‘Come into my heart, Lord Jesus’ are only words.  Something has to happen on the inside of us in order to open that door and let Jesus in.  When we do that, he will step right in and from that moment on we will be promised heaven and eternal life.  However, it does say, “to him who overcomes”.  That means there may be many obstacles put in our way as we try to become more like Jesus.  Will we ever become perfect – no?  But with repentance when we get off track, comes purity. 

      

5.               “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”  Jesus is saying in our words, “Listen, come back to me; take off your blinders and repent.  I am waiting for you!”  When you read this you may think it was written for sinners and unbelievers.  No!  This was written to Believers, not just in Laodicea, but for all generations to come.  It was written for YOU and ME!

It’s time for a heart transplant!  Psalm 51:10 says it best.  “Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me.”