What Condition Is Your Condition In?

By John Stallings


You’re stale, you’re stagnate, you make me want to vomit.—Rev.3:16—The Message

A great Bible scholar was appointed by his denomination to be in charge of quality control for his organization’s educational ministries.

He would drop in unannounced at local churches & attend children’s Sunday classes.

One day he was in a class for boys when he decided to ask one of his standard questions, this one about Jericho. He blurted out, “Who caused the walls of Jericho to fall down?” There was dead silence for several seconds. Finally a little boy spoke up: “I don’t know but it wasn’t me.”

The visiting dignitary about lost it all. He was horrified. He turned to the teacher in the presence of the kids & asked: “What have you been doing in this class? I asked who caused the walls of Jericho to fall, & the only response I get is, I don’t know but it wasn’t me.”

The teacher looked thoughtful for a few seconds, & then she said, “Well, I’ll tell you. I’ve known Johnny all his life if that boy says he didn’t do it then he didn’t do it.”

The visiting expert was doubly distressed to see that this terrible ignorance existed even on the church educational staff. After the Sunday service he took his case to the pastor & told him the whole story. The pastor called an emergency board meeting. After it was over he called the expert & said, “Well, here’s what we’ve decided. We’ve known Johnny & his teacher for a long time & we don’t think they’d lie to us.

To be frank we don’t really believe Johnny did it either so we’ve decided to charge the walls off to “miscellaneous building expenses” & forget it.”

Kind of a cute little story but it’s built on a basic reality pointing up the lack of Bible knowledge many people have, even some who sit in church Sunday after Sunday.

Like the song Kenny Rogers sang, once in a while we need to ask-“what condition our [spiritual] condition is in.” What about the verve & zest of our daily walk with God?

LESSONS FROM LAODICEA

In the closing verses of the Epistle to the Colossians, Paul speaks of the church at Loadicea. He asks that when his letter is read, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans.

We know that the Laodiceans heard & likely treasured this letter. It’s a credit to them that they understood apostolic revelation. That’s good because a more majestic picture of Christ can’t be offered than the one found in Colossians 1-2. A clearer statement on biblical sanctification & Christian growth can’t be found than Colossians 3-4.

Yet for all of the spiritual blessing heaped on them some 30 years later they had grown smug, arrogant & self-dependent. Numbed by materialism, they met with the sternest rebuke of Christ in the letters to the churches in Asia Minor.

In the book of Revelation there are letters written by John to “seven churches which are in Asia.” But of course the words were Christ’s words. These weren’t denominations but rather separate local churches. John wrote to these churches regarding “things which must shortly come to pass” & events that would be “hereafter” These churches are identified as Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia & Laodicea. Each of these churches is addressed in chapters two & three.

Two of the churches are commended without any rebuke or indication of resident sin, Smyrna & Philadelphia. Five had sin & repentance was needed. Absent repentance, their “candlestick” or light would be removed. These seven churches are selected because they seem to represent every possible condition of local churches & the instructions given them applies to all churches in like conditions.

The Laodicean church is undoubtedly in the worst condition of all the churches, although outwardly it appeared to be in great shape.

Laodicea was the wealthiest of the seven cities known for its banking industry, & its manufacturing of black wool & a medical school that produced eye ointment. So rich was this city that when an earthquake almost destroyed it in 60 AD, its wealthy citizens refused imperial help in rebuilding the city, choosing rather to do it entirely by themselves. The people of Laodicea were well heeled & flaunted it.

The only downer about the place was their lack of good water.

The city of Hierapolis was only seven miles away & they were famous for their hot springs. The city of Colosse was about ten miles away & they had cool mountain water. Loadicea had to build a six-mile aqueduct & by the time the water arrived it was lukewarm & insipid, filled with minerals & chemicals. The water was noted to make people gag when they tried to drink it & sometimes they vomited.

Slowly over the years the culture of this city became the culture of the church & because of their riches, they became comfortable & complacent.

LET’S DROP IN FOR A VISIT THE NIGHT THE LAODICEANS RECEIVED THEIR LETTER FROM JESUS.

The letter as heard for us through the ears of a church member named Robert.

Robert arrived just as the meeting was starting. It had been a hectic day at work but he wasn’t going to miss this evening. The church was packed because everyone knew there would be the reading of “the letter” tonight & they were all looking forward to it.

Robert had heard about the letters the other churches had received & some of them had gotten a royal roasting. But as he thought about it, he felt they’d be O.K. He wasn’t aware of any sexual immorality in the fellowship, at least not like those guys in Pergamos & Thyatira. They had the riot act read to them but Robert was sure his church would be spared.

There wasn’t any false teaching here & the people didn’t get excited about every new fad that came along. The sermons weren’t all that exciting but at least they weren’t going to lead anyone astray.

The Smyrnans had been warned that they’d be persecuted & maybe even sent to prison but Robert knew he’d leave the church if it came to that. He wasn’t going to put his career at risk over religion. But, not to worry, Laodicea was a peaceful town & wasn’t the sort of place where that kind of thing happened.

No, nothing negative was going to happen tonight, not at this church. After all they had the biggest & most beautiful church in the area, the best dressed choir & the people of the church were all upscale folk. He thought they’d probably get about the same letter the good folk at Philadelphia got last week; that was rather encouraging stuff.

The pastor is starting to read… “The words of the Amen, the faithful & true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.”— “hey not a bad start” Robert thought.

The pastor continued. “To the church at Laodicea! I know exactly what you’re like. And frankly you make me sick. You think you’re so great but you are useless. Your self-satisfaction just makes me want to throw up.”

You could have heard a marshmallow fall on a carpet. The stunned silence held for a minute & then the people started glaring at each other.—“How dare He!”—they whispered ferociously to one another. “After all we’ve done.”

Robert just sat in silence, reeling from the blow. After all, there were no false teachings that are mentioned in the letter. It may not have been an alive & excited church but it certainly wasn’t a dead church. It wasn’t thriving neither was it dying.

We’ll come back to Robert a bit later.

The Laodiceans weren’t “risk takers” but they weren’t comatose either. The church was well within the range of evangelical respectability. You might say it was sort of normal. It was a safe place to have your membership. No big high-risk plans were on the drawing board in Laodicea. Nothing dynamic was in the offing, just a warm group of people meeting together to share middle class values & a Christian orientation to life in general.

They were just a group of benign believers content to cocoon together with other believers for an hour or so each week. They weren’t frozen & they weren’t fried. They weren’t hot, neither were they cold. Call them tepid, call them lukewarm, [call them irresponsible,] &, Oh, did I mention; call them disgusting in the eyes of Christ.

Jesus literally said, “I’m about to vomit. What’s going on at your church makes me sick to my stomach.” Unlike most of the other six churches, there are no words of commendation for this church. Once we get over the initial shock at what the usually meek & mild Jesus said to these folk we’ll proceed to learn why He felt that way. Before I go further with the Laodiceans, I’d like to ask you a question;

WHAT’S YOUR CONDITION WHEN IT COMES TO SPIRITUAL PASSION?

I’m not asking if you like pizza or Haagen-Dazs ice cream.. I’m asking “what is your passion?” What pulls you out of bed & keeps you going when there’s very little in the outward circumstance to encourage you?

What can make you burn the midnight oil? What would you do if you didn’t get paid? What would you sacrifice blood sweat & tears for? I’m talking about hunger, thirst, fire, passion & a drive for meaning & achievement in life.

One dictionary defines passion as; “Intense, driven, overmastering feeling of conviction, ardent affection, devotion to some activity, deep desire or interest.”

PASSION comes from the Greek word Pascho which means “to suffer” or “to sacrifice.” Passion is a requirement if we are to be truly successful at any enterprise.

When you think of successful people in any field you automatically think of passion. The truly great ones are always the ones who burn with passion for their sport. There’s Mohammad Ali who made me want to watch every fight. There was something about his enthusiasm that captivated me.

Basketball legend Michael Jordan is another man who has a passion for his sport that makes him a “star.” These athletes are people of passion & when you watch them you feel as though they’d play even if they weren’t so handsomely paid.

When we think of Bill gates certainly passion comes to mind. A man of mega-bucks but not only that, we think of a man possessed by computer software & how to make it accessible to as many millions as possible.

PHINEHAS

In Malachi chapter two, the prophet speaks highly about Levi and a covenant God made with him. Yet, when we look at Genesis or in the death poem of Jacob there is nothing complimentary to Levi. So, what is Malachi talking about? Who is Malachi talking about?

Malachi is clearly talking about a descendent of Levi by the name of Phinehas. We meet the exceedingly zealous Phinehas at Shittim, on the opposite side of the Jordan River from Jericho, after Israel has wandered through the wilderness for 40 years.

Settling in a land populated by pagans, the Israelites were being drawn into a web of idolatrous practices represented and symbolized by cultic prostitution. Spiritual adultery, not merely physical adultery, is at the heart of this story.

It was at Shittim that the daughters of Moab succeeded in seducing the sons of Israel to indulge in the sexual immorality associated with the worship of Baal Peor.

The Lord brought judgment and destruction upon Israel and all the people of Israel repented and stood before the Tent of Meeting weeping with sorrow for their sin.-Numbers 25.

While this act of penance was going on, Zimri son of Salu did something that can only be described as brazen. He brought a Midianite woman to his tent. He did this openly, boldly, right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel.

When Phinehas, son of Eleazar, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and followed Zimri into his tent. He caught Zimri and the Midianite in the act of sexual immorality and drove the spear through both of them .The Bible tells us this was "credited to Phinehas as righteousness," because he was zealous with and for God Num 25:11. Ps 106:31

Zimri’s action was designed as part of a plot to draw Israel into the Midianite religious cult. This act of apostasy wasn’t a covert affair. It was done to provoke those who had gathered at the tent of meeting to mourn Israel’s deteriorating spiritual condition and the plague that had come as a consequence of it.

Have you ever heard a sermon on this story? To be frank, very few have ever been preached and many who’ve preached on it have gotten its meaning wrong, making it a warning against intermarriage rather than God’s judgment on sin.

This is definitely an Old Testament story, but Phinehas goes down in the sight of God as blessed because of his zeal to do that which was right in God’s eyes and his linage was blessed because of his selfless act.

John 2:17 says that Jesus was literally “eaten- up “with zeal. The word zeal is another word for passion. It’s defines as “eagerness & ardent interest in the pursuit of something.” When Jesus went into the temple to run the money changers out, He wasn’t mad as some have supposed. He sat down & weaved a whip of cords before going into the temple. A man freaking out with a temper fit doesn’t take time to do that. Jesus no doubt was disturbed but the scripture says it was His “passion,” or more literally: He was eaten-up with zeal & passion for His Father’s house.

Passion isn’t the temporary surge of joy a person gets when he/she has just been hired for a new job that will give them more money. Too often when this kind of job has been taken, the good feeling quickly dissipates when the reality of what the job entails sinks in. I’ve heard people say they hated their job so much they got physically sick on Sunday night because they had to go back to work Monday on a job they hated, even though the pay was excellent.

Maybe you left the small job you had because it wasn’t showing the flash you felt you needed but in truth it involved something you were passionate about. Now you may have a good paying job but the passion isn’t there & you hate every minute of it. I’m not deprecating good pay or any kind of work, or saying we have to be giddy & in love with every task we do. Gainful employment is necessary & a person must work to exist. However the truly happy person is the one who has found their life’s work & is so passionate about it that it really doesn’t seem like work.

LET’S LOOK AGAIN AT THE CONDITION OF THE LAODICEAN CHURCH

In Revelation 3:15-16 Jesus said, -I know your works that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other. So because you are lukewarm—neither nor cold, I’m about to spit you out of my mouth.

Unlike Colosse, whose water was cool & refreshing, & unlike Hierapolis, whose water was hot & healing, the water at Laodicea was lukewarm & hard to swallow. I don’t believe Jesus was saying that He’d want anyone to be openly hostile to him—although at least that would mean they had some emotion.

What Jesus was saying was; you’re all the wrong temperature, you’re passionless & indifferent & don’t take a stand for anything. You’re a group of half-hearted self-sufficient Christians & you’re making me ill.

The church at Laodicea was singing “standing on the promises,” but they were only “sitting on the premises.” They were “so satisfied they were petrified.” They were singing “throw out the lifeline” when they never made it any further than the “close line.” They were probably singing, “I surrender some.” And maybe, “Take my life & let me be.” And the ever beautiful “My hope is built on nothing much.” At the end of their services they’d probably stand & sing “Asleep in Jesus” & pass out.

But before we get too critical of these Laodicean folk, let’s ask ourselves if we’re familiar with any churches that are lukewarm. Most churches are filled with nice people are they not? They are meeting their budget. They are seeing some growth.

THE LAODICEANS DIDN’T SEE THEIR CONDITION

They “didn’t know what condition their condition was in.”

In Revelation 3:17---They say “I am rich; I have acquired wealth & don’t need a thing! ---But Jesus evaluates them & says,--you are wretched & pitiful, blind, poor & naked.

“There is none so blind as he who will not see.” Not only was this Laodicean church indifferent, they were ignorant of their true condition.

Have you ever looked at yourself from the side in a mirror & not been delighted with what you saw? I have. It feels awful, not to mention how it looks. You thought you were okay in the weight department until you got a gander at yourself in that big mirror. You didn’t realize the condition your condition was in until you turned sideways & got that side perspective. You’d been kidding yourself all that time. I hate those mirrors. That side-view never fails to put me back on my diet.

JESUS OFFERS SOME ADVICE TO THESE PEOPLE

“I COUNCIL YOU TO BUY FROM ME GOLD REFINED IN THE FIRE SO YOU CAN BECOME RICH; AND WHITE CLOTHES TO WEAR SO YOU CAN COVER YOUR SHAMEFUL NAKEDNESS—and salve to put on your eyes so you can see.

In a city that had plenty of gold as a source of its wealth Jesus says,

It’s not enough. You need gold from me. In a city known for its manufacture of black wool “You need to get clothes from me. In a city renowned for its manufacture of eye salve Jesus said, come to me for divine vision. You need a renewed spiritual vision so you can see life & eternity for what they are. Your eyes have been blinded by the light of culture but my eye salve works. Come to me realizing that you have no resources of your own you need my salvation & my power to be what you need to be.

JESUS ALSO SAYS, ACCEPT MY DISCIPLINE

Whom the Lord loves He disciplines. Jesus still loves this lukewarm church even though their love for Him has grown cold. Christ wants them to repent & rekindle their love for Him & replace complacency with a renewed zeal.

Revelation 3:20 is one of most graphic pictures of Christ in the Scripture. It’s the picture of Him standing at the door knocking asking to be allowed inside. By all rights, this picture should be reversed & we should be knocking on Jesus’ door, but here He is, in all His grace & mercy, knocking on our door.

We generally use this as an appeal to sinners but as we can see, the context here is lukewarm Christians. It seems Jesus is saying, “I’m the offended, the wronged party. You should be pursuing me but here I am again, seeking you out. I’m extending myself to you, I’m knocking at your door, and I’m taking the initiative.”

What is most astounding about this scene is; Jesus has obviously not even been asked into this church. He isn't included here. He's standing on the outside knocking. This isn't a den of iniquity where Jesus requests to come in to show His love & mercy to the unsaved & unchurched. Rather, this is a church where Jesus is seeking to gain admission.

Though it grieves me to say it, I've been in churches where Jesus' presence wasn't anywhere to be seen or felt. But still He stands desiring to be welcomed in. Though this statement seems ludicrous, just think what some of these churches who seem to be doing so good without Him, could do if they ever actually welcomed the Lord into their midst.

IT’S NOT TOO LATE FOR THE LAODICEANS

All they had to do was open the door, to be sincere & repent.

Back to the meeting where the letter has just been read & to Robert our eye & ear witness.

There was practically a riot when the pastor got through reading the letter. People were storming out left right & center. It almost reached stampede proportions. But Robert didn’t move. There were just a handful of people scattered across the church sitting quietly with their heads bowed & some were softly crying.

“Lord I’m so sorry.” Robert prayed quietly. And for the first time in his life he was really praying. “Lord I had no idea. Please forgive me. I hadn’t seen my condition until now. Please come into my life & make it your own. Thank you for not giving up on us!”


That night the church was reborn.


Blessings,


John