To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel 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.

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! 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. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I 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.” (Rev. 3:14-22, NIV)

This is seventh of seven articles on the seven cities mentioned in Revelation 2 and 3.*
Part I: Ephesus
Part II: Smyrna
Part III: Pergamum
Part IV: Thyatira
Part V: Sardis
Part VI: Sardis

Above are the powerful words of Jesus as recorded by John, the “disciple whom Jesus loved” to the church at Laodicea.

Laodicea is located in the Lycus River Valley in southwest Turkey, in an area that was once the Roman territory of Phrygia. It was on the Roman mail route with the other 6 cities addressed by Jesus through John in his Revelation; Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis and Philadelphia.

Water

One of the keys to understanding the letter to Laodicea may lie in understanding its water situation.

Approximately 12 miles east of Laodicea was the city of Colossae, whose church was addressed by Paul in the book of Colossians. The city of Colossae was well-known for its refreshing cold waters, which came down from melted ice and snow and rain from Mount Cadmus, which towered above it. These waters were valued for their purity and cooling abilities, and drew in many visitors and dignitaries for just this reason.

About 7 miles north of Laodicea was the city of Hierapolis, a large Roman city with centers dedicated to the worship of Apollo and, later, Caesar – Domitian, in particular. Probably its most famous feature was its hot baths, fed by hot springs (reminiscent of Yellowstone’s hot springs), which were used to cure ailments of its visitors, many who relocated there specifically for that purpose.

And there, between Colossae and Heirapolis sat Laodicea, where the streams of cold water from the west and hot water from the north met. The mixing of the mineral-rich hot water and the cold water created a lukewarm water which tasted awful and could make the people of the town sick. It was a constant source of irritation.

In addition to the taste and the health effects, the water, which was brought into the city via an aqueduct and distributed through clay pipes, had such high mineral content that it was frequently plugging the pipes it flowed through with deposits, resulting in frequent need of repair (see the picture to the right).

And so, it is interesting that John wrote:

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Without the context of Laodicea, the reader is left to supply their his or her own context, which (for me at least) went something like this: I wish that you were either totally good/correct/passionate (hot) or evil/sinful/apathetic (cold), but because you’re somewhere in between (lukewarm), I don’t want anything to do with you.

What if what Jesus is saying is actually contextual to the people He is saying it to?

In the context of Laodicea, the most valid interpretation of this scripture would be to say – I wish you were useful – either hot, like the water of Heirapolis that heals those who bathe in it, or cold, like the water of Colossae that refreshes those who taste of it. Instead, you are a lukewarm mess like your own water that makes those who drink it want to throw up!

But why are they lukewarm? There are clues further in the text and in the context of what we have learned about this city.

We need of nothing…

In 60 AD, Laodicea was destroyed by an earthquake. When Nero offered them assistance to rebuild their city, the Laodiceans wrote back to him, telling him that they were wealthy, they were in need of nothing and that they could rebuild it themselves. After all, they were a large banking center, proud that their bankers were known to exchange pure, unadulterated gold. They were also famous for clothing made from black wool produced by their sheep, and for their great medical school, which specialized in using mineral deposits from the area to make an expensive eye salve.  They had no need for Caesar’s riches (and no desire to be in his debt).

And so we read from John:

You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel 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.

Once again, Jesus hits them in their own context, skewering their sin: pride in their own self-sufficiency. He tells them that despite their wealth, they are not rich. Desipte the purity of their gold, His was purer. Despite their clothing, they needed white clothes from Him to cover themselves. Despite their famous eye salve, they needed His to see.

And so it is that the sin of pride is revealed as the sin of Laodicea, with their own sense of self-sufficiency making them un-useful for service!

In this vein, as the ruins of Laodicea have been excavated for reconstruction the past 5 years, an interesting discovery came to light recently – the door to the synagogue (which was also the Christian church**) opened directly into the Agora – the marketplace of Laodicea (see the photo to the left).

And so the question may also be raised? With the agora being the key cultural center, was the Laodicean church impacting the culture or was the culture impacting the church? Were they so caught up in the wealth game that their church sat smack-dab in the middle of Wall Street?

From the text, it would seem so.

What is the Solution?

Jesus gives the Laodiceans the solution to their sin of pride – complete repentance, demonstrated by a humble heart:

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! 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.

Repent! He tells them. And how do they demonstrate this repentance? Jesus stands at the door to his own church and knocks, requiring them to admit that He is needed there before He will come in – demonstrating their humility by admission of their spiritual poverty.  The doorknob is on the inside of the door – he will not force his way in.

The lesson of Laodicea isn’t about churches ‘watering down the messages’ from the pulpits – it is about churches failing to act in the work of the kingdom.  It is not about being “lukewarm” by accepting and integrating cultural styles and art forms into the church, but it is about being “lukewarm” by being irrelevant to the culture.  It is not so much about having a Harley on the church stage, but rather what the rider of the Harley does to serve the kingdom when his bike isn’t on stage.  It’s not so much about purity of doctrinal distinctives as it is all about effective, useful orthopraxy.  It is not at all about the ‘circus church’, but all about the church which lives out its belief in the circus of the world.

The question you must ask yourself – and I must ask myself – Has God provided so well for me that I have come to believe that I need for nothing – that I am providing for myself out of my own doing? In doing so, have I ceased to be useful (hot or cold) for Him?  Have I forgotten the admonition given by God at the end of the shema:

When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

Please, Lord, if I have done this, let me acknowledge now that I need You – and that I always will.
Grace & peace,

Chris

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*Thank you again to Rev. Ray Vanderlaan, Dr. Tim Brown, and John (from Verum Serum), who all provided information used in this and the additional Revelation lessons.

**Something amazing we saw in April 2006 in Laodicea was a restored pillar with an inscription pictured below. Increasingly, evidence is showing that in Asia Minor, Christians and Jews worshiped together in the same house of worship until about the time of Constantine (early 4th century). My question for another day – what, if anything, should we take from this?