The Church That Left Jesus on the Porch | Dear Church

In this message, Pastor Cameron opens Jesus' letter to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3 — a wealthy, self-sufficient congregation that had quietly arranged its life so it didn't need Him. Walking through the striking image of lukewarm water and Christ knocking at his own church's door, he invites us to name the places we've been getting along fine without Jesus, and to open the door to the One whose rebuke is love.

Revelation 3:14-22 | additional: 2 Corinthians 7:10

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Cameron: 00:05

We are in our our very last sermon for this series. So many of you have asked, what's with the lamps? And I recognize that we haven't talked about the lamps as much each week as we had... Or as we did the first week, because we were reading in Revelation about where the vision at the beginning of Revelation occurred, right, and Jesus is said to be standing among seven lamps, which signified the seven churches that he was about that these letters were about to go out to. And, you know, every every...

Cameron: 00:47

Has anyone ever been to a different church other than Conduit? K. Has... How about this? Has anyone only ever really attended this church?

Cameron: 00:58

Let's go. Okay. A few of you. I love that. Well, I'll say for those of you who have never attended another church, your search is over.

Cameron: 01:13

But honestly, you will know that each church a little bit has its own kind of culture and identity, and the way in which just like spiritual life happens in it. No lamp looks the same. No lamp puts out the same kind of light. Right? No lamp kind of has the same function.

Cameron: 01:39

And so we we didn't really have any, like, super special plans with these other than to demonstrate and to illustrate that vision that John got of Jesus among the lamps. And we've had quite a few verbal altercations over who gets what lamps after this series is over because these these are all... These were all purchased or brought here for specific thing. You can all can fight me over this one because this one's going on my desk afterwards. So, but today is our last, our last sermon in that series, and we're going to be talking, about the letter to the church in Laodicea, which is a really often quoted portion of scripture.

Cameron: 02:32

There are really two portions of this letter that are quoted quite a lot in the history of Christianity and even just in our own use of the scripture. There's talk about, about the church being lukewarm. Right? And Jesus spitting them out of his mouth. We hear that a lot.

Cameron: 02:50

Right? I don't want be a lukewarm Christian. Right? There's, probably one of the most... I don't know...

Cameron: 02:56

One among the most famous or most used scriptures for, evangelism. Revelation chapter three verse 20, I stand at the door and knock. Right? And we see the the classic, art piece of Jesus, like standing at the door that doesn't have a handle on the outside, right, and knocking, getting ready to be let in, wanting to be let in. So we have, like, these two things that are like, oh, yeah.

Cameron: 03:23

Those are really familiar images. We talk about them a lot. But like many other pieces of scripture, we sometimes forget that they exist within a specific context and in a specific reason. And for... And so let's take a look at those and look at this this letter today and see exactly...

Cameron: 03:43

Maybe if we can get some, deeper understanding of what those things mean. Because Jesus and, and Laodicea are not on really good terms in this letter, but there still is hope. Even in Jesus' rebuke, there is a there is a gentle invitation to reenter intimacy with him that's beautiful. So let's, let's read the letter here. Revelation chapter three verses 14 through 22.

Cameron: 04:20

And to the angel of the church and Laodicea write, the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. I know your works, you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot, So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pittable, poor, blind, and naked. 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.

Cameron: 05:18

Those whom I love I reprove and discipline, so 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 eat with him and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on the throne as I as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.

Cameron: 05:52

Now this, letter follows the same general format as the other letters have followed. That in the beginning, Jesus, kind of describes some titles of his. In this particular letter, says that he is... He... These are the words of the amen.

Cameron: 06:11

Amen meaning... Ultimately just meaning true. Like, when you you ever, you... Like, you know, you're... Not not not not this pastor, but another pastor who's preaching really well.

Cameron: 06:22

Right? And someone in the congregation says, amen to that. Right? They're... What they're...

Cameron: 06:28

Like, the literal meaning of amen is true. Like that... That's that's true. Affirming that's true. Right?

Cameron: 06:36

And so Jesus is calling himself the the amen, the foundation for all truth, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. And then he goes right into this commendation section or what would be a commendation section for a church that was experiencing a lot of spiritual health, like we talked about last week, the church in Philadelphia. But Jesus says something much different here. He says, I know your works. You are neither cold nor hot.

Cameron: 07:10

Would that you were either cold or hot? Basically, I wish that you were either... You're one or the other. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

Cameron: 07:27

Let's talk about this verse a little bit here, because there's a there's a lot of application that this verse has been given or has been used for in our lives. And, you know, by by all accounts, you know, I think many of them are appropriate in a general way. Right? That that lukewarm Christianity or living kind of this mediocre form of complacent spiritual pursuit of God is not a healthy place to be and not something that Jesus is really pleased with. So he spits lukewarm people out of the mouth...

Cameron: 08:04

Out of their mouth. But in order to have kind of that, like, that kind of understanding of this passage, you have to accept some things that, are really a little bit suspicious theologically to to accept. And so I want to talk about them, and I want to talk about the context of the city of Laodicea and the other cities that lived around them, and what perhaps Jesus was referring to here. So we all kind of generally understand that when he... Jesus talks about being hot or cold, that there's some kind of reference to, the church's or the the individual's spiritual state.

Cameron: 08:47

Right? Cold meaning bad. Hot meaning good. Right? If you're spiritually cold, that's bad.

Cameron: 08:58

Right? But if you're spiritually hot, that's great. But if you're spiritually lukewarm, that's even worse than being cold. K? That's kind of like the traditional, like, typical way we've come to understand this.

Cameron: 09:13

Now... So if we understand or if we have a, like, an idea of of cold being spiritually dead and hot being spiritually alive, then it seems kind of odd both in the whole context of the gospels and of scripture, it seems kind of odd that Jesus would rather have the church in Laodicea be spiritually dead than have any spiritual life in them at all by being lukewarm. Right? We would have to come to accept that the, that the preferable alternative of a church's spiritual life is for them to be completely dead spiritually in order to adopt this idea that it is lukewarmness that upsets the Lord the most. Because...

Cameron: 10:07

And so if we have this idea, we have to we have to at least kind of wrestle with what that what that means here. Like, you saying, does this really mean that Jesus would rather have me be absolutely spiritually dead than have even, like, a halfway, like, spiritual fervor or aliveness in me? That seems strange to say, and I would agree. That seems strange because what I see in the gospels is Jesus encouraging the faith of those who are like lukewarm, who who have had a little bit of spiritual faith and fervor added to the coldness of their hearts and are being sanctified in the Lord in the process of their lives. Right?

Cameron: 11:01

So if it doesn't mean, like, if it doesn't mean what we've always thought it means, then what possibly could it mean? Well, let's let's just, think about this for a minute. And what what is lost really here in the letter to Laodicea, is is not lost in what we know about the history of the city and the surrounding cities or its neighboring cities. There was two main cities that were near, Laodicea, the cities of Hierapolis and the city of Colossi, which is where we get the letter to the Colossians. Both of these cities were known for having a particular type of water in them.

Cameron: 11:48

Hierapolis was the source of many, many hot springs that were seen as like having tremendous medicinal value for people. Meaning people in that area in Asia Minor would go to Hierapolis, and they would bathe themselves in the hot springs because they believed that that hot water was medically cleansing to them if there had some kind of physical or even spiritual ailment. There was something special about that hot water. Colossi was the exact opposite. They had a lot of fresh springs feeding their city that produced this, like, ice cold, beautifully crisp, clean water that was, like, perfect for drinking.

Cameron: 12:39

Like, it was just, like, the most awesome source of fresh cold water that you could have. Now Laodicea stood kind of like as a neighboring city to both Hierapolis and Colossi, but Laodicea was famous for a lot of things. One of the things that they were famous for is not having their own water supply. There was no source of water that fed that city, meaning there was no natural place where they could go and have their city residents fed by either hot water or cold water, and so one of the engineering and financial marvels of the city of Laodicea is that they would build, they they build aqueducts, kind of like modern day pipes, that would funnel water from other cities and regions around it so that they could have, that they could have a water supply. And now if you can imagine in what is now modern day Turkey, building aqueducts or pipes or conduits or whatever you wanna call them, from other cities to Laodicea to feed the city, that whether the water started out hot at its source or whether the water started out cold at its source, by the time that it made its way through, those aqueducts and got to Hierapolis...

Cameron: 14:10

Or got to... I'm sorry, got to Laodicea, it was what? Pretty lukewarm. It was neither hot nor was it cold. It was what one, commentator said was, tepid with huge amounts of calcium deposits in it.

Cameron: 14:30

Meaning, was like... It had kind of... By the time it got there, it was not good for medicinal use in bathing, and it was not really good for drinking either. It was just kind of like... It was just like the best that they could do with the resources that they had in the situation that they were they were in.

Cameron: 14:53

It didn't show up hot. It didn't show up cold. It wasn't like the water in the cities around it. It was both notoriously bad. It was notoriously bad for both healing and for drinking.

Cameron: 15:06

Now what was, good for healing in one place in Hierapolis and good for drinking in another place was not found to be very good or useful when it hit Laodicea. Most people were... Had this sense of like, oh, what do we even use this water for? And that was a known cultural reality in the city. It was like the it was like the life of everyone in Laodicea.

Cameron: 15:33

Everyone was well aware of the quality of the water. It wasn't a secret. Right? It was something that they dealt with every single day. And so Jesus, when he writes this letter to this city that has this historical issue with water coming from hot springs and cold springs to mix and come up pretty useless when it got there, certainly knew about this.

Cameron: 15:57

And as he's writing to these people, he would have known, oh, I can talk... Like, if I talk about water, it's obviously gonna be appropriate to their particular situation. So Jesus here, we've... I I don't believe that Jesus was actually commending the Laodations to, hey, just be cold for crying out loud. Just be just be spiritually dead over being lukewarm.

Cameron: 16:22

Jesus was was using... What he was... What he he was saying, he was using their geographical location and their known water issues to make a striking metaphor for them to understand the perp... Their own purpose in the building of the kingdom and their own purpose to be on mission in the place that they are in the right spirit. See, it appears that the spirituality and the actual, like, way in which the church in Laodicea went about ministry to their city, their spirituality had become, Jesus says, like their water.

Cameron: 17:01

Disgusting and not really useful for anything. It's not hot. It's not cold. It's just kind of this lukewarm, tepid, calcium filled, deposit filled nothingness. There's this sense of like, what do we even use this water for?

Cameron: 17:26

Well, we can't really use it for anything. It doesn't have purpose or usefulness in either way, shape, or form. And Jesus is saying, like, the church in Laodicea, you have become like your water. Not useful in this direction and not useful in that direction. Useless in the worst direction.

Cameron: 17:48

You're missing something. Something is wrong with what is happening here. Now the rebuke that Jesus gives the church here is more severe than most of your translations put it. My translation here in the ESV says that, so because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. The NIV says the same thing.

Cameron: 18:13

I will spit you out of my mouth. But, well, I want you to be I want you to be aware here that it's not like this casual, like like you're spitting out a watermelon seed. Like, you got something in your mouth that you didn't mean to have there, and you just kinda, like, spit it out nonchalantly. That's actually not the word that's used here at all. The word that's used here that the...

Cameron: 18:35

Is the word emaio from which we get the word emesis, from which is another way to say vomit. Right? And so what... So so the... Like the force of what Jesus says here is like, I...

Cameron: 18:53

Like your... Like your spiritual life has become like vomit in my mouth. It's a pretty strong rebuke for the church. And so the question is, well, what could possibly lead to such a strong rebuke about their... And and, like, uselessness?

Cameron: 19:16

And it come it come... It all comes down to where the Laodicean church put their put their hope and put their strength and put their power. Right? Jesus says it in the very next verse here. He says in verse 17, well, in verse 16, it's like, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

Cameron: 19:43

Verse 17, he quotes them. For you say, I am rich. I have prospered, and I need nothing. I am rich. I have prospered, and I need nothing.

Cameron: 20:04

Now Jesus goes on to say, But you don't realize. You are actually wretched and pitiable and blind and naked. Laodicea was not just a place that had a bad supply of drinking water. It wasn't all bad there. Leo DeCita was...

Cameron: 20:32

Actually had a lot of strengths and a lot of things that they were known for beyond their water situation. They were known for three things in particular in a positive way. Number one is that they were a significant banking center in Asia Minor, meaning, like, a tremendous amount of financial currency flowed through, like, the... Their their version of banking centers. They were very, very, very wealthy.

Cameron: 21:00

They were so wealthy, in fact, that in AD sixty, their city was destroyed, and they instead of receiving, receiving aid from the Roman government to help rebuild it, they said to Rome, no. No. No. No. We don't need aid.

Cameron: 21:18

We're fine. We have enough money over here. We will rebuild our city under our no... Under our own finances, and they did. So they were very, very wealthy.

Cameron: 21:28

So they were known as being a banking center, but they were also known for producing a very rare form of black wool. This black wool that could be used for clothing and textiles and something that was really, really... I mean, like, we don't... Black wool is... Like, naturally black wool, very, very rare.

Cameron: 21:51

And the third thing that they were really known for is that they had a a really significant medical school in the city that was known mostly for for developing a form of figurine... Don't ask what it is. Figrean eye ointment, meaning, some some type of substance that could be used to bring healing to the eyes when put in it. So these are the three things that they were really known for. Tremendous banking institutions, the production of of, really rare black wool for textiles and clothing and all of these things, and for having a medical school that focused on health of the eyes.

Cameron: 22:36

And, these were things that the Laodiceans took really significant pride in, not just as a cultural value of the city, but it seems as though some form of that pridefulness had seeped into the culture of the church. That there was a some sense of like, almost diluted sense of independence. And Jesus in this moment comes and and abruptly exposes the whole thing by saying like, listen, you do not realize that even though you're holding up yourself as like rich, capable, independent, needing nothing, having the ability to heal others, you are actually wretched. You are actually you are... How does he say it here?

Cameron: 23:40

He says, wretched, pittable, poor, blind, naked. See, in their sense of spiritual and prideful superiority, they had become they had become absolutely blinded to their true spiritual condition. And and and their own their own sense of usefulness as a center for usefulness around the world centered more around their own resources than it did with Christ's power. And so the Laodiceans were sitting in this place of like, have all these things going for us. Why do we even need the power of Christ?

Cameron: 24:23

No. No one ever says that. Right? We would never show up here on a Sunday morning and be like, hey. Hey, fam.

Cameron: 24:32

We're doing this thing without the power of Jesus this morning. We're just vibing. Like, it's gonna be a great day. We don't ever say that. Right?

Cameron: 24:41

Because who would say that? But how often does our... Does our... The actual practice of our lives, the practice of our ministry, the work of our hands, the words of our mouth. Right?

Cameron: 24:55

How how often does it actually display that, hey, man. I'm just trusting in my own strength, my own resources, my own ability, my own power, my own calling, my own know how. And if Jesus shows up, great. Jesus, yeah, come bless the things that I'm doing, Jesus. That would be great.

Cameron: 25:12

But it it doesn't happen the other way. No, Jesus. It is only by your power. It is only by your strength. It is only through you that I am useful, that I have anything to offer.

Cameron: 25:23

The Laodiceans were like, mom, we basically just, like, kinda don't need Jesus because we got all these useful qualities to us. We're useful. And Jesus is like, you're actually not useful. You don't realize you're not useful. You're lukewarm.

Cameron: 25:40

You're neither hot nor cold. Good for either thing. See, God had blessed the Laodiceans with tremendous financial resources and other resources. The issue is not that they were wealthy and had a lot of things, it's what they used their wealth for and how they viewed their wealth in terms of their, building of the king... Of God's kingdom.

Cameron: 26:08

They used their wealth essentially as a way to eliminate their need for faith and trust in God. Like, we're just trusting in this over here. And instead, they simply trusted in themselves. They relied on themselves. They lost all sense of pursuit of God's active presence in their life.

Cameron: 26:34

They kind of sat back on what they had gained, sat back on what they had accumulated, sat back on their reputation in the world. They just feel like, well, this is... It's really good to be us, and had abandoned this sense of, like, pursuit of God's hope... Of of whole... Like, Jesus, no.

Cameron: 26:52

Like, we need you every moment. We need you every hour. We need you every day. We need you in every situation. Without your power, without your strength, we are empty.

Cameron: 27:01

We we we are... It is hopeless. And so Jesus said, but, you know, you are all these things, but you don't realize you're actually not those things. And perhaps the scariest thing is not realizing when you are spiritually blind or naked or wretched or pittable or poor. Often, I will often say...

Cameron: 27:35

You've heard me say it before. I've actually said a lot in this series that it is a... If we let him, right, if we allow him, Jesus will do the grace filled thing of pointing out the gaps between maybe people's perception of who we are and the actual inward reality of our hearts. We often feel that like, oh, being exposed is a... I don't wanna be exposed.

Cameron: 28:11

Like, that's a bad thing. It's actually like a... Being being exposed in this life is a grace filled and gentle way that Jesus draws your soul, your heart and soul to him so that you're not you're not eternally blinded and hardened and darkened and destroyed. When when God when God goes to work exposing the sin of our lives, no matter how painful and ripping and tearing it feels, it is actually his grace and gentleness that does that work. Saving us not just...

Cameron: 28:53

Not from temporary consequences, but from eternal consequences. And so for a church and for a people who are sitting in this place of being like, yeah, we don't, like, you guys don't even realize what kind of shape you're in. You don't even realize how wretched you are, how poor, impitable, and blind, and naked, and shameful you are. And so even in this significant rebuke that Jesus gives the church in Laodicea, there is a grace that is put upon them when Jesus says, let me expose exactly who you are, because then at least you'll have an opportunity to see it and repent. Paul says in second Corinthians chapter seven verse 10, he says that godly grief produces repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

Cameron: 29:53

We often we often come, to this place of having our hearts and our sin exposed and being like, oh, that... Like, this is painful. I feel I feel shame. I feel guilt. I, I feel embarrassment.

Cameron: 30:08

And there is a sense where, like, listen, God's not trying to adduce shame upon you, but there is a form of godly grief in the midst of our sin that God uses to draw us into repentance. When I am not grieved at my sin, I am in danger. When I am not grieved and and not afraid, and when I am playing... Like holding hands with my sin in comfort, that is when I am in danger. But godly grief, when conviction comes upon my life, and and grief happens because the exposure of my sin, it produces something positive.

Cameron: 30:56

It produces repentance, and that leads to salvation without regret. Whereas worldly grief just produces death. Right? So that there is a there is a grace and a gentleness even to the hard rebuke of Jesus for the Laodicean church because he's exposing and bringing a grief that leads to repentance and salvation. Because he has called them some things that I would not want to be called by anyone, let alone Jesus, wretched, pitiful, poor, blind.

Cameron: 31:27

Wretched is being miserable or distressed or in ruin. Jesus says, you're in ruin. Pitable, like deserving of sympathy because of your... Because of a pathetic condition. Spiritually poor, blind and naked.

Cameron: 31:44

Now these are both these are both metaphors for a spiritual condition. When scripture talks about someone being blind, not being able to see the reality of their spiritual condition. When someone talks about, or when the scripture talks about someone being naked, it talks about how the the shame of their life and the sin of their life is exposed before everyone. This goes all the way back into the garden. Right?

Cameron: 32:08

Adam and Eve, they were naked, and they ate of the tree. Right? They ate of the fruit. And immediately when they ate of the fruit, they realized they were what? Naked and they what?

Cameron: 32:21

They felt shame. Like, was this sense where sin brought on this awareness of a naked condition and shame. Right? And then God did what for Adam and Eve? He clothed them.

Cameron: 32:38

Right? Sacrificed an animal, skins covered their nakedness. And the first description of what God does in Jesus Christ is Adam and Eve in the garden had their shame caused by their sin covered, not because of something that they did, but because of something God did for them. I will cover your shame. I will cover your nakedness.

Cameron: 33:08

See, all of the... If you if you recognize something, if you connect... If you can connect two points here, the things that Laodicea was known for and had strength in, a banking center, black hole, and, the medical school, specifically, for eyes. All of the areas that Laodicea was strong in and independent in, Jesus Jesus, like, I don't wanna say he attacks, but he goes after him. Like, talk about calling calling a place blind that prides themselves on healing blindness.

Cameron: 33:53

Calling a place naked that prides themselves on producing wool for clothing. Okay? And so Jesus continues this line, of reasoning in verse 18 and further. So what do you do in in response to all this? This is the invitation of Jesus to come back into intimacy with him to the Laodicean church.

Cameron: 34:15

He says, I counsel you to buy gold from me refined by the fire, so that you may be, I would say like parentheses, actually rich. Forget about your banking centers, buy gold from me that is refined by the fire that you may be rich. And then remember black wool? What does Jesus say to get from him? White garments.

Cameron: 34:47

White garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen. And it's like one last pointed thing. Also, get from me salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. So Jesus struck at the heart of all of their independence, all of their contemporary usefulness, all of the things that they prided themselves in, all of the places where they thought they were superior and everything. And Jesus is like, you need to get all of those things from me.

Cameron: 35:22

All... Everything that you feel about those areas of your life that bring you strength, they actually need to come from me. Otherwise, you don't realize you'll just continue to live this wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, naked spiritual state. So where does that kind of leave a church? Everything that Jesus said.

Cameron: 35:51

Well, he goes on to say in verse 19, those who I love, whom I love, I I reprove and discipline. This is, again, going back to, like, this is the grace of Jesus here. Those whom I love, I reprove, and I discipline. Okay? So what is Jesus saying to the Laodicean church as he's rebuking them for their spiritual blindness?

Cameron: 36:16

I love you. I love you, church. I love you. If I didn't love you, I would not be reproving you. I would not be disciplining you.

Cameron: 36:29

I love you. And so because I love you, I'm going to say to... I mean, listen. The world needs this truth. Reproof and discipline is a form of love.

Cameron: 36:41

K? It is a form of love that is demonstrated most fully in the heart and actions of our lord and savior. K? But Jesus says, I reprove and discipline those who I love, so be zealous and repent. See, it would be easy to hear this letter and assume that Jesus is kind of like done with the Laodicean Church, but when he says, listen, those I love, I reprove and discipline.

Cameron: 37:15

Everything we've heard up until this point, the lukewarm water, the vomiting, the wretched, the poor, the blind, the naked, it it... All of these words are coming from the mouth of someone who puffs them, just loves them. So Jesus doesn't bother rebuking people that he's given up on. The rebuke is the love. The discipline is the love.

Cameron: 37:48

Just like the doctor who tells you what the scans show even though they don't want to, Because because if they kept quiet in a moment like that, it would be harmful. They'll just let you die comfortably. Then comes, like, one of the most famous verses in all the Bible, three Revelation three verse 20. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and eat with him and he with me.

Cameron: 38:17

Now we very typically will... You know, we might put that verse on a on a gospel track or something like that. And and truthfully, it's not wrong to use it that way. It's a beautiful verse. It speaks a lot to the heart of the savior.

Cameron: 38:31

But, listen, who is Jesus talking to here in this letter? He's talking to a church. He's not talking to people who don't know him. He's talking to a church, those who have already expressed in some way shape or form faith in him. It is not a letter to unbelievers, it's a letter to a church.

Cameron: 38:55

Jesus is standing outside his own church knocking on the door. Laodicea had its banks, it had its black wool, it had its medicine. They had they had built a church that ran just fine, it seems, without Jesus. And somewhere along the way, they became blind to even notice that, Hey, what's Jesus doing on the porch? Why is he outside?

Cameron: 39:27

But I want you... We need to notice here what Jesus wants when he gets inside the church. I stand at the door and knock. Right? What does Jesus want?

Cameron: 39:45

Jesus doesn't come in to start tearing the place apart. He's not coming in to flip tables. He's coming in to sit at a table. I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I'll come in, and I will eat with him and him with me.

Cameron: 40:06

Jesus does not, or he he comes into in to eat, and in that culture, sharing a meal wasn't just something that was casually done. It meant friendship, it meant fellowship, it meant belonging. The same Jesus who rebukes them wants to sit at their table. And then he goes even further, and he says in verse 21, the one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne. Jesus does not give the church in Laodicea this kind of seat in the corner where they're gonna be punished for keeping him on the front porch.

Cameron: 40:41

He gives them a seat literally beside him. The picture here is a picture that we see almost nowhere else in scripture. A throne is meant for how many buts? One. Right?

Cameron: 40:54

And what Jesus uses here is he uses the term for double throne, besallium. A throne not that's just... That is just his and only he sits in it and the church stands off in the corner, but he says, no. No. No.

Cameron: 41:07

No. This is a double throne because it's for me and you. Come and sit with me as I have sat with my father. The invitation of Jesus is not just, hey. I'm going to come in and it'll be okay, but you're going to be punished over here in the corner.

Cameron: 41:27

He gives them a seat beside him, so the letter in Laodicea moves from rebuke to a knock on the door, to a table to eat at to a throne. And that truly is the same path that Jesus offers every heart that is just content in their own self sufficiency. I don't need nothing from no one, especially Jesus. It's an invitation to stop pretending, realize that we need nothing. Open the door and let him in.

Cameron: 42:08

The question this morning that I want to leave with you is, what part what parts maybe it's what part maybe it's what parts what parts of your life or of our life together as a church have we quietly arranged so that we don't need Jesus at all, actually? You just stay on the front porch. The beauty here is that Jesus is not threatening to leave. He's standing at the door in gentleness and grace, knocking. If you let me in, I'll fellowship with you, and you with me, all the way into glory.

Cameron: 42:56

He who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we thank you for these letters to these churches. And although, Lord, we know that there's no letter to Conduit here in Revelation, we still receive the truth of what you have offered to us in a way, that brings conviction and truth into our lives. Lord, may we be a church that honors and glorifies you in all that we do, trusting in you, Lord, and not in ourselves.

Cameron: 43:39

In Jesus' name, amen.