Revelation In Overalls
Bible Prophecy Speaks To Century 21

Part II: "Does Church Make Jesus Sick?  (What To Do When Religion Is As Appealing As Warm Pop)"

Sermon by Pastor Dale Wolcott

November 10, 2001

(Scriptures quoted are from New King James Version unless otherwise noted)

Let’s open our Bibles to Revelation chapter 3. Jesus is sending messages to the seven churches. Starting in verse 14, He speaks to the last church, Laodicea. Note what He says in verses 15, 16: "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth."

These Laodiceans, whoever they are, this one church, makes Jesus sick! In the original language, it says that He's about to throw up.

I suspect some of you may be saying, I can identify with that.

I remember sitting in a preaching class at Pacific Union College, at the age of 19. The professor was a marvelously godly man. Wisdom flowed from his mouth. I sat near the front of the room every class period, drinking it all in. Then one day I raised my hand, asked what I thought was an important question -- and he very abruptly cut me off, cut me down, put me in my place, and went on with his lecture. Like an icy knife in my heart; I went home feeling sick. I don't know whether he'd had something sour for breakfast, or what. It probably took me a week or so to get over it, and I deeply respect him to this day; but that day, church made me sick.

Has it happened to you? Of course it has. All of us have stories we could tell of painful experiences at church, or with church people. And for every one of us who is sitting here this morning in spite of painful things that have happened, there are probably three or four or maybe ten who aren't sitting here -- people who have sad, sometimes bitter stories of the tragic things that have happened in their lives in the name of Christianity.

Sometimes, of course, the sickening truth hits the papers: We recall the televangelist scandals of a few years ago; and more recently, the multiple millions in lawsuit settlements because little boys have been molested by men of the cloth.

And not everything makes the morning news. Just a few years ago a prominent Christian leader was invited to be speaker at a men's conference (not a Seventh-day Adventist group). Several hundred pastors and men from their churches gathered at a large convention facility. The keynote speaker made a point to be friendly with the manager of the convention center, and was able to speak to him about the claims of Christ. On the evening before the final morning of the meeting, this Christian leader invited the manager to accept Jesus as his Savior. The man was very close to inviting Jesus into his heart; but he said, "Let me think about it overnight; I'll see you in the morning."

The next morning the evangelist stopped by to say good-by to the manager, thanked him for everything and said, "What are your thoughts about giving your life to Christ?"

"Well," the man said, "this morning my assistant reported to me that this weekend our hotel broke all records for x-rated movie showings in our rooms. If that's how Christianity works, it doesn't have anything to offer me." How do you suppose the evangelist felt? Sick at heart!

And how do you suppose Jesus feels when He sees every such incident whenever it happens in any Christian group around the world? No wonder He says, "I'm about to vomit."

Let's go back to Revelation 3 and ask three questions:

1. Who were these Laodiceans anyway? (or, who are they?)
2. Why did that particular church make Jesus sick?
3. Most importantly, what do you do when religion is as appealing as warm pop – when church makes you sick?

Remember, our series title is "Revelation in Overalls." Our goal is to discover the practical truth of the Bible's book of Revelation for everyday life in the 21st Century. Let's pray:

Dear Father, You whose very name is Love and also Truth, I pray that in these next few minutes we'll be able to see Your church as You see it, and see ourselves as You see us, and I pray that someone here this morning will find a great joy in taking to heart the practical counsel given here in Revelation by Jesus, the True Witness, and acting on it. In His name, Amen.

At the close of the message this morning, I'm going to have what we call an "altar call" – an opportunity for you to publicly respond to what Jesus says to you in Revelation. Of course, I hope everybody responds, but the altar call will speak specifically to two situations: 1) If you've had a bad experience with church, and it has pulled you away from Jesus, this will be an opportunity for a new start. 2) If you've been in church but not fully surrendered to Jesus, this will be your opportunity to change that. If the Holy Spirit calls you, I hope you'll respond.

Let's start in on our 3 questions:

1. Who were these Laodiceans? Or who are they?

Remember, Chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation are seven letters written to seven churches. These were real groups of Christians in seven Roman towns back in the first century, at the time of John who wrote Revelation. There's some evidence that the seven are actually listed in the order that a postal carrier would deliver them on a route through the Roman province of Asia. (Some of you may have a Bible with a map in back that shows where they were.)

But Revelation is a book of prophecy, and woven through these seven letters are hints that those seven churches were symbolic or typical of God's people, His church, all down through the centuries from the time of John to the return of Jesus (our time). We won't take time to study all the evidence for that, but let’s just note one example:

Revelation 2:10 predicts "ten days" of persecution for the Smyrna church. In the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation a day stands for a year. From approximately 303-313, two successive Roman emperors tried to stamp out Christianity. This is known in history as the "Diocletian persecution." The great church historian Eusebius, who lived through that persecution, specifically says it lasted for "ten years." [Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, 15.1, in Seventh-day Adventist Bible Students' Source Book, entry 1198].

Now let’s go to the seventh church, beginning at 3:14 – Laodicea. This was the city at the end of the Roman road, so to speak. Laodicea was a famous banking center. It was a wealthy city, partly because of its exports, especially of its famous black wool. Note that our Laodicean [mannequin displayed] here has some rather classy black overalls. That was Laodicea.

One of the things the Laodiceans had done with their money was to build a huge stone aqueduct that brought fresh water down from the nearby hills. But by time the water got to town, it was kind of semi-solar-heated -- lukewarm.

There’s something else very important about Laodicea, found in its name. It’s not obvious in English, but if we knew Greek we would know instantly that "Lao-dikeia" means "judging of the people," or "people of judgment." All the great prophecies of Daniel and Revelation end with the judgment. The prophecy of the seven churches is no exception. So this Laodicean church is the church at the end of time. John knew very well that in Daniel chapters 7 and especially 8, a pre-advent judgment time is foretold; this began in 1844.

Now note this: The past 150 years -- judgment time for planet earth -- have seen wealth unparalleled in human history. Revelation predicted it!

David and Holly Lackey have been missionaries with Adventist Frontier Missions for the last ten years or so. They planted the church in a remote area of Papua New Guinea, and now they’re working in a rather secular, rather poor country in the Balkans of South Europe where there are virtually no Seventh-day Adventists. While they were on furlough in the U.S. this past summer, Holly made an observation in the October, 2001, issue of Adventist Frontiers magazine:

"I have noticed that here in the States we have come to expect a high standard of living. We expect an income that allows us to live in a lovely home, drive a good car when and where we want to, take exciting vacations, wear fashionable clothes, eat the best of foods, and the list goes on. I am not saying these things are bad, but these past few weeks have starkly reminded me how much our society pursues the highest standard of comfort."

No wonder Jesus says to these Laodiceans, this church of the judgment time (verse 17): "You say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.'"

Revelation wears overalls! Revelation is not just a book about a guy on an island 1900 years ago. It’s not just a book about some scary antichrist that's going to do some bad things some time in the future. Revelation is about me!

So it's time for our next question:

2. Why does this wealthy end-time church leave such a bad taste in Jesus' mouth? -- so bad that He says He's about to gag! I mean, isn't it good that the church has money; that we're able to send missionaries all over the world? Is it a sin to live comfortably?

Jesus gives two reasons why Laodicea makes Him sick, and wealth is not one of them. Note verses 15, 16: "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth."

An Adventist high school student went on a mission trip to build a church in Latin America. She sweated and swatted mosquitoes and slept on the floor and hugged raggedy children, and she saw God answer prayers, and when she came home somebody said "What's your best memory?" and she bubbled about what a wonderful experience it had been and she couldn't even pick a best memory, there were so many. Then the interviewer said, "And what's your worst memory?" and without batting an eye she said, "Warm pop." No refrigeration meant no refreshment. After the first mouthful, the rest went on the ground. Not even Jesus likes warm pop!

He says He's looking for a church that's out of the norm, hot or cold. Christianity has got to be counter-cultural in order to be pleasing to God. Folks, one of the reasons not too many are attracted to the church today is that all too often there's not much difference between the church and the rest of world. Sometimes we feel it's not fair that non-Christians judge the church so harshly. After all, every human organization has its problems. People in the media and even in government can do all kinds of dishonest and immoral things and nobody seems to care, but the minute there's a taint of scandal in the church, everybody is talking about how sickening it is. But the fact is, the world has a right to expect the church to be different.

Let's note the other reason Jesus gives for feeling sick about Laodicea. 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…." When Jesus was here, did poor people make Him sick? No, He fed them. Did blind people make Him sick? No, He touched them and healed them. Did rich people make Him sick? No, He even hung out with some of them, like Zacchaeus and Nicodemus. Did sinners make Him sick? No, He hung out with them too. What makes Jesus nauseous about Laodicea is that Laodicea doesn't know she has a problem, even though she could know.

Laodicea is content with the status quo, because she's been drinking from the same insipid stream as everybody else in town. Laodicea has not been listening to Heaven's description of how they could be living far above the norm, by God's grace. When the world lives that way, God expects it. But when He sees His church living that way, His stomach squirms and He looks down at us and He says, I think I'm gonna be sick.

3. So what do you do when going to church feels like trying to drink a warm pop?

Doug Batchelor wrote a book a few years ago that he called How to Survive in a Dead Church. It was recently reprinted with a nicer title, How to Survive and Thrive in Church. The first chapter is, "Why Join a Church?" Here’s how it begins:

"You can be a Christian without joining a church if:

…you can be a bee without a hive.

…you can be a soldier without an army.

…you can be a salesperson without customers.

…you can be a you can be a politician who is a hermit.

…you can be a football player without a team." [p. 15]

This Laodicean church is Jesus' church! Even though Jesus feels like throwing up, He doesn't! He takes some Alka-Seltzer and hangs in with this church. In fact, notice the first part of verse 19, " As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent." Jesus loves this lukewarm church, this people-of-the-judgment-hour church, this rich-and-increased-with-goods church. He loves it and He hasn't given up on it!

And neither should you, my brother, my sister. There are a lot of nice churches out there, and you can probably find one that suits you pretty well if you look around, especially if you don't mind worshiping on Sunday. But I want to say something about this Seventh-day Adventist church: There's not another church organization on the face of the earth today that has the courage and the scriptural insight to look at this part of Revelation and say, "That's talking about us."

Adventists have been saying that for almost 150 years. We haven't got it all together yet, but God isn't finished with us yet either! And things are starting to heat up! (Or chill down, whichever way you want to say it.) So be assured, you're in the right place. As we go on through Revelation, you're going to see Revelation identifying God's last-day remnant church more crystal-clearly than you've ever seen before.

This leads us to the answer to our third question: What to do about lukewarmness in the church.

This prophecy to Laodicea ends with some really good news. It’s Jesus' "Rx for insipid religion." What Jesus has to say here is very personal. You can't wait for everybody in the church to shape up -- but you can listen to Jesus for yourself. Notice verse 22, "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

And what is it that the Spirit is saying? Go up to verse 18: "I counsel you" (King James Version says "thee," singular) "to buy gold…white garments…eyesalve." Jesus has everything you need. You won't get it by going to the church. You get it by going to Jesus. This symbol of the robe of Christ's righteousness is so powerful – we could spend a whole sermon on it. Thanks to Nancy and Wil for picturing it here for us, by this drape we have to cover our mannequin dressed in fashionable black. Brother, sister, young person, don't wait for the whole church to get its hands out of its well-to-do pockets and step into Jesus' better robe – just do it.

So, how to do you do it? Verse 20 uses another picture to help us understand what this really means: "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."

"Hears my voice." What voice do you listen to most? Is the radio? TV? Rental videos? The voices of the world? The only way you’ll hear His voice is to be in His word. This morning you're hearing Jesus' voice, aren't you? He's knocking at your heart. If you let Him in, religion will never be boring again!

"Opens the door." How do you "open the door"? Every morning, on your knees, invite Jesus into your heart. You can do it right now. Tell Him you realize that the way your life has been has been making Him sick, and you're sorry. Ask His forgiveness and tell Him He's welcome in your life from now on.

And if you do that, what will He do? He’ll "come in and dine" with you. He doesn’t want to be just a casual guest; He wants to be part of the family, so that He has a place at our table. We live our everyday life with Jesus involved in it. We think of Him often, in everyday situations. We take Him with us to work; we take him with us to the supermarket or the WalMart; we take him with us to the beach and to the bedroom. He becomes our best Friend!

The Bible says that when we dine with Jesus, our food is His Word. You'll find that the Bible gives guidance that will really heat up your daily routine! Every day becomes an adventure!

As we sing our closing song this morning, I invite you to make a personal decision to open your heart to Jesus. If the Holy Spirit is calling you, come meet me here at the foot of cross as we sing.

Maybe you've felt hurt by lukewarm Christians in past. This morning you’ve realized it's only Jesus that can heal those hurts, and you need Him to do that, and you want Him to do that. Come!

Maybe you've been in church but you know you've been a lukewarm Christian -- not only making Jesus sick, but maybe other people too. You realize you need to repent of that, open the door to Jesus, ask Him to build a fire in your heart. Come!

Maybe you've known Jesus but hesitated to become a member of His church, His body, and this morning the Holy Spirit has convicted you that this is His church and you want to become a part of it.

Whatever decision you need to make today, just come as we sing hymn #303, "Beneath the Cross of Jesus."