Beware of
the Rich Churches:.: The
Laodicians Capt. Kelly
Durant
Rev 3:17-19
17 Because thou
sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and
knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked:
18 I counsel
thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white
raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do
not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I
love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent
2. Have you ever watched that show about remodeling
homes? The DIY Network or one of them? The people on the show think they got a
good buy getting an old house to fix up and resale but then after they start
tearing down the walls they find rotten wood and leaky pipes. What seemed good
at first only needing a touch up is later revealed to be rotten and in great
need of repair. This analogy we can apply to a government, a church, or even to
each individual person. What is under the surface of the exterior? Appearances
do often deceive!
An observer may see the outside as painted and only
in need of light repairs, but once inside you and I can see the reality of the
flaws in the internal structure. History is always repeating itself with the
cycle of people starting out poor and oppressed under an old and rotting
structure to achieving freedom to build a new system, but then after the prosperity
and wealth, they degrade and rot as well. Britain became greedy and oppressive
after it became wealthy from colonization. Those who wanted freedom realized
they had fight for it, the price was high, but freedom from oppression is
always worth it! The men in the Revolution War established the United States of
America to build the new to replace the old but that they were in always in danger
of losing their lives. They lived by the code of “Give me liberty or give me
death”. Christians always still have this plight! If not free from sin and oppression,
it is not of God!
With the first church in Acts 2, the disciples that
got the fire of the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room were so on fire for God that they
got persecuted by the ones trapped in the web of the rotten, failing
hypocritical systems of their day. Many of them later got martyred for
preaching Jesus Christ, for establishing a new way with Jesus, for bringing the
Kingdom of God to us in real life. The first generation who fights has the zeal
and power, while the second and twentieth generations live enjoying the comforts,
wealth, freedoms, and security they fought for! The second generations sadly
seem to always degrade into unthankfulness from not having lived at the time to
know what blood it cost to set up the new system.
3. Everything is a work in progress. Have you ever
asked yourself, how does God see our church? How is our Corps doing in God’s
eyes? Is God content with me and you in what we accomplish here? A church, in
the end, is only a reflection of the spirit of the collective members, the ones
who build, lead, and show up to do what needs to be done.
So does God judge and evaluate his people and his
churches? The conclusion by reading Revelation is a resounding yes! Over time I
will be doing a series to study one by one each of the 7 churches mentioned in
Revelation. Let’s take a closer look at Revelation, chapters 2-3, books where
Jesus compliments each body of believers for the good they are doing, but also He
rebukes them for their faults. I am not covering verses 15 and 16 about being
hot or cold, that needs to be a whole separate message! But for your info the
cold water would become lukewarm in the sun aqueducts. So, in general,
lukewarmness is a common sin of the rich!
It is in these chapters Jesus Himself calls out the
sins of the different churches in the region. Six out of the seven had some major
flaws! When did this take place? It was in the time of John when he was old, so
around 70 AD. Only 70 AD! The church was just beginning and only one generation
away, or 40 years, past it’s founding in 30 AD when Jesus preached the Kingdom.
Knowing how Jesus rebukes a body of believers, an
important thing to ask Jesus is what are my personal faults? You, and each of
us, are a reflection of God’s work and each person here is of an important
influence. So depending on your dedication to do God’s will or not reflects on
the greater Kingdom of God, Christianity, and the Salvation Army. Your
individual influence is extremely important. No one is an island and you are
making waves that others are watching.
4. Many churches in the Western World today I
believe could be compared to the Laodicean’s church as described in the
scripture of today’s focus. Many Christian churches in the U.S.A. are very
blessed to have a lot of material wealth but material riches does not reflect
how spiritually wealthy they may be! As St. Augustine told the Pope in his day
after he showed him the basement of the Vatican full of gold artifacts and
boasted, “We cannot say as Peter, silver and gold have I none,” but Augustine
replied, “But then that you cannot say in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth
rise up and walk!” Sadly, riches have
proven to corrupt even many of the chosen. God’s power leaves at that point!
Jesus in Matthew 6:24 “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate
the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the
other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon”. Wealth
and comfort, as suggested in Rev.3 vs. 17, will greatly interfere with a person
or church’s spiritual walk. Ironically there are some churches that preach a
doctrine that God is in favor of the rich only and that He will bless you or me
with wealth if we attend their church, giving them money, and following their
leader! Again I repeat today as I have said in the past, we are observing too
many examples of rich churches with an impoverished spirituality!
Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor”? God cares not for rich temples, he cares for
the heart! Acts 7:48 Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with
hands; as saith the prophet,
The misguided prosperity preachers always ignore Rev. 3. Many churches
ignore Revelation altogether as it is too convicting! Who being rich wants to
entertain the idea that they may be poor spiritually? If you step foot in one
of the opulent mega-churches, and you are a poor nobody as you and I are, you
will be judged contemptly as a worthless unblessed nobody! You will be
considered as a sinner who needs to repent because being poor means you are in
sin!?
5.
In modern day Laodicean Churches a church member is looked upon as a product, or
a piece of merchandise which must be generating for them tithes and riches. Read
2 Peter chapter 2 later! These condemned abusers which will abound in the last
days want to reap your riches for their exuberant lifestyle! When the Salvation
Army was founded in the 1800s, many churches had a discriminatory attitude
against the poor and you and I witness a resurgence of this today.
What a contrast to the Salvation Army where we are
theologically required to welcome and serve the poor! We are a rather poor
church compared to many others in the U.S but I would defend that as long as we
are reaching out to those who are in need, and as long as we preach Jesus, then
this obedience will make us rich spiritually.
Proverbs 13:7 There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing:
there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches. But also I believe it is
possible to have some wealth and yet stay humble and close to God. Moderation
is the key. However, there are very few examples in history of the wealthy fully
sharing all to help others as Jesus commanded the rich young ruler.
6. Here is a challenge for you: to love the poor! Proverbs
14:20 “The poor is hated even of his own neighbor: but the rich hath many
friends” Well, some rich have few friends because they are so mean! In Bolivia
I was angered and shocked many times by how the rich class mistreated the poor
class. One lady, whom I had as a landlord, owned a store that produced great
wealth for her; she went from rags to riches. She told me she grew up very poor
but later in life she worked her way up in wealth. She was proud and arrogant
and proudly proclaimed belonging to the predominant church (which obviously
never taught her to share her blessings with the poor, but only with them!). I
taught English and guitar to several millionaire families in many private
mansions and the coldness, paranoia, and fearfulness of the rich is disturbing!
I would get disgusted by my landlord as she would
run the beggars out of her store yelling at them as if they were stray dogs.
She could have easily given away .05 cents to each one and only be giving away
$1.00 by the end of the day and could have made them all happy, but no, she had
forgotten her own suffering and poverty and was cold and hard-hearted.
God says that people who close their ear to hearing
the poor will one day cry themselves, and God will refuse to hear them!
Proverbs 21:13. If you or I are able to help a person in need, someone poorer
than us, why not? God will bless the giving soul! Proverbs 11:25 The liberal
soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.
7. We all need to be careful as semi-wealthy
Americans to not become corrupted and spoiled by our own riches. What you and I
see going on today internally in many churches is that the rich people want
things to be their way using their money as a leverage. What misery it brings
when people think their money should buy power and position and they want
others to do what they say! If a person gives money to God, it was for God’s
work as needed, not to buy influence as in the political world!
Also, often the rich prosperous and pampered people
are too quick to criticize things they don’t like, because it gives them the
excuse to change things to their way, and to not have to be committed to
actually sacrificing or doing anything for the Lord in the way the church needs
it! We are saved to serve but we must be doing everything God’s way, never
thinking money has any influence in the matter.
The church is where you and I come to get
spiritually enriched and enjoy fellowship, but it also is a place where you
serve and work and do your part to obey Jesus laying down your life for the
brethren to win lost souls! Those who come to be served don’t last too long in
this church! As a matter of fact, there are many people that the reason they
move on from church to church is because they don’t want to stay long enough
for anyone to figure them out, to see through their selfish motives for showing
up. Jesus said to take up your cross and follow Him (Luke 9:23) but not too
many Christians ever pick up His cross! Those who want all the privileges
without the responsibilities will be in for a big shock one day when facing
Jesus. Heaven cost Jesus life on the cross and He expects us to give our life
for Him!
8. What
we see in certain churches today can make you disappointed and angry. It is a
carnal human nature to want benefits without the responsibilities of obedience.
Sadly, more and more, the current corrupted Christian culture is designed to
cater to people who would prefer to be surrounded by a huge wealthy building
listening to a poor Biblically teaching rather than to be in a more poor and
humble church but with more excellent teachings serving others in obedience!
When
people see rich preachers on TV with $3,000 gold Rolex watches they think that
is the norm, and that is the life for me. How ridiculous it is to dream for
money, spiritual power, and a congregation to worship and serve you when that
is the antitheses to Jesus teachings. A Christian can forget Rev 3:18 “I
counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and
white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness
do not appear”. My wife on a flight one time actually met a team member of a
mega TV church and instead of talking about Jesus to her he wanted to talk
about his expensive Rolex watch!
Power
and wealth appeals to the desires of the flesh, but real service to God is a
cross, a crucifixion to one’s self, a cross which has no praise or glory, serving
the dirty poor sinful abused souls who long to see Jesus in you! A clean white
robe is what we need; in Laodicea the people were producers of fine robes from
the abundance of sheep, but often the robes were of black wool not white. The
rich people of this world need to clean the clouds off their eyes so they can
see the need that is out in the community! Laodicea was also known for its
medicines and eye salves. Misguided Christians today are choosing entertainment
in plush buildings over God’s service and preaching Jesus in impoverished neighborhoods!
They have lost the vision for what their purpose is!
9. The Salvation Army has done an amazing job of
serving the lowest of the low in society and truthfully that is why not so many
people are attracted to us! It is because we are not rich people catering to
the whims of the rich members but rather we are composed of a majority of moderately
poor people reaching out to the poor spiritually serving them materially with
needs.
So decide what kind of Christian you want to be, one
that is ashamed and naked, or one that is dressed in pure raiment. Have you
ever seen a person arrested with no clothes on? Most people naked are not so pretty!
Nakedness is comparable to the people who have done nothing for God and in the
verses the rich are described in this context… of being shameful creatures.
God does take each person individually into account
and He also collectively does it concerning the church; the evaluation, rebuke,
or blessings come as individual and collective. Are you willing to be obedient
and have His blessings in your life and in our church? Let’s pray we are always humble and that we
do not have any of sins of the Laodicians displeasing God to the point He will
rebuke us and we will not be purified as gold worthy of inheriting robes of
white to cover our nakedness when we face Him. We can only be clothed in His
righteousness!
Rev. 3: 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten:
be zealous therefore, and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any
man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with
him, and he with me.
21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with
me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his
throne.
22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith
unto the churches.
Let’s pray….
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