No Need for Compromise

 September 4 2022

Revelation 3:14-22

         I have heard it said that if you want God to teach you to be patient he most likely will do so by putting you in situations where your patience is tested, kind of like a long line at the grocery store where the cashier is in training. So much for getting in and out quickly! As I stood in the line which did not seem to move, the man ahead of me spotted some made up salads in a cooler across the room. He darted across the room and picked up a couple containers and then as he came back to the line he saw that I had saved his spot. He seemed surprised and smiled and then asked, “Did you save my spot? I said that I had and he jumped right back in to the same spot he had been in. He thanked me and then for some reason I blurted out something to him to the affect that I had done what I had done because this is the kind of world that I wanted to live in, which, I think, caught him more off guard than letting him back in line. Well, after that we ended up chit-chatting as we waited for the line to progress something that doesn’t seem to happen much anymore.

         You see, the kind of world that I want to live in is a world where grace abounds, where life is more about how much you can give instead of how much you can get, a world that’s more about us and less about me. This is the world that Jesus insists is the world we should desire to live in, in fact, it is the world which he came to make possible. Jesus came offering grace, this notion that gifts are given simply because that is who we are supposed to be, givers and the worthiness of those who receive the gift is not even to be considered. This means that all are equal, all are worthy, all are those who have been given grace and therefore all are those who are to be treated by us as people worthy of our grace. Grace understands that we are all unworthy of the gift, this gift of God where he invites us to share life with us solely because God would have it no other way. As God has so done for us this wondrous act of giving then we too are to give the gift of sharing life with those around us even if it would be easier to not have some people be part of our life. This means that our life has to be one of extending mercy and forgiveness and love to everyone even people that are ahead of you in line at the grocery store because this is the world we are supposed to want to live in because it is the world that Jesus tells us is coming and is already here. Jesus tells us that we are to be people who seek to watch out for the poor, to make sure we understand that those who are unseen and forgotten by many are yet still as equal as everyone else. We are to live knowing that Jesus is the judge who sides for those who do not have enough and this means that we should be righteous in how we care for them. We are to live at the point where the world suffers, to unite ourselves with those who weep, to comfort and strengthen the hurting. We are to live only to seek the honor and respect of our Heavenly Father which is ours when we serve him as his priests, carrying our cross day by day. So, is this the world you want to live in? I hope it is because this is the world that Jesus says is coming and is already here if we but live it out in the here and now.

         I want us to think about the world we want to live in so that we might ask ourselves just how strongly do we believe that this is the world that is going to be here when the dust settles? Are you convinced that a world where grace prevails is the world that will be here when at last it is all said and done? You see, if we are persuaded that this is the life that is going to be victorious in the end then shouldn’t we be living like people who know the power of grace? You see this is what is meant when we say that we are saved by faith in grace, that what will be saved in the end are those who believe and who live as people for whom grace is the only way of life worth living. Now, as strange as it may seem at first, I believe that this faith in grace, this is what is the core issue with the church at Laodicea.

         The church at Laodicea is probably one of the more well known churches that the living Christ addresses because let’s face it, it has two remarkable pictures of the living Christ, the first is the picture of him spewing lukewarm water out of his mouth and the second, much better suited to be painted is the living Christ standing at the door, knocking, hoping that someone on the other side will open the door and let him in. Where we must begin is with this pretty strange image of the living Christ which begins this address to the church at Laodicea. We hear the living Christ tell them, “ I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you would be either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”  To say that this is a really weird piece of scripture is an understatement! What helps us to make sense of what is going on here is discovering that the Hebrew word for lukewarm water is mayim poshrim. This word is closely related to the Hebrew word for compromise which is peshara. We have to put our thinking caps on to figure out the connection between lukewarm water and compromise but the answer is that a compromise is when two parties try and reach a mutual agreement. The Hebrew people who spoke in concrete images saw that a compromise was like two streams of water flowing together much like when one fills the sink. We don’t want the water to be scalding or frigid but rather it should be some compromise of the two. Once we begin to wrap our heads around this way of thinking about compromise, what the living Christ is telling us begins to make sense. What he is saying is that he absolutely will have nothing to do with a church which is compromised. The living Christ in graphic terms, makes it clear that the church at Laodicea with their compromised beliefs is enough to make him sick to his stomach. So, we are left wondering just how have they compromised what they believed in? The answer is found in something the church at Laodicea said about themselves, that they were “rich, they had prospered and had plenty, they were a people in need of nothing.” This is identical language as what we find in the twelfth chapter of the book of Hosea, where the nation of Ephraim confidently boasted saying, “Ah but I am rich; I have found wealth for myself.” This is pretty much the very same notion that the church at Laodicea had but we need to read further as to what is said about Ephraim in this verse that they also boasted that in “all their labors no one could find in them iniquity or sin.” This too appears to be the feeling of the church at Laodicea because they too could not see anything wrong with storing up a few treasures here on earth even though they were a church under the watch of the living Christ. To those reading this who know the teachings of Jesus the problem is crystal clear. I mean listen again to what Jesus says in the sixth chapter of Luke, “Woe to you who are rich for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you when people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.” Now, you would think that a church which followed the teachings of Jesus would have, upon remembering these warnings, pumped the brakes on their desire to be rich but apparently it didn’t have any effect on them. Even so, we also might wonder just what the big deal is with the whole being rich, having a way of life full of plenty. The answer is as we find in the sixteenth chapter of Luke is that as Jesus teaches us, “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Is is becoming clear as to why compromise just isn’t an option for those who serve God? We have to decide just which voice we are going to listen to, the voice of God or the voice of riches. The reason it all matters is that the voice of God is calling into existence a world governed by grace, a world that is about how much we can give not how much we can get, a world where we are called to suffer with the suffering, to share with those in need, to seek the respect and honor of God alone. In other words, the world governed by grace is just polar opposite of a world that is governed by just how much you can get, a world where people in their pleasure isolate themselves from the pain and suffering all around them, a world where what matters is what everyone but God thinks of your success. 

         When we understand just why it is that the living Christ violently rejected any ideas of compromise that the church at Laodicea had, we still are left wondering just why they thought being rich was such a good idea in the first place. The answer I believe, is found in the description of the living Christ, that this address to the church at Laodicea was the “words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation.” The God who is the Amen is a title for God which is only found in the sixty-fifth chapter of the book of Isaiah, where we read  that the one who blesses himself in the land shall bless themselves by the God of Amen and he who takes an oath in the land shall swear by the God of Amen. The meaning of the word “amen” that is implied here is faith, certainty and steadfastness. In other words, when Jesus teaches us that blessed are the poor for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, we have a God who will make this a certain reality. When Jesus teaches us that blessed are the hungry for they shall be satisfied, God will be faithful to make this happen. When we are taught that blessed are those who weep now for they shall laugh we can know that God will be true to his promise. When we are told that blessed are we when people hate us, when they exclude us and revile us and spurn our name as evil on account that we are in a covenant relationship with the Son of Man, we can rejoice in that day, and leap for joy for behold our reward is great in heaven. We must know that this is a true statement that we can take to the bank. 

         Yet not only is the living Christ the faithful and true witness, the God of Amen, we are also told that he is the beginning of God’s creation. This is a strange statement, isn’t it, and we have to wonder just what is meant by this? The answer, I believe is that Jesus as the Son of God is the perfection, the glory to which God’s creation has always aspired to be and with his coming, now is. The risen and ascended Jesus, truly man, part of the creation, is now in perfect communion with his Heavenly Father and this is what gives us the faith that one day this is where at last all of creation will be, earth and heaven in perfect communion.

         All of this points to the problem the church at Laodicea had which was that they weren’t fully certain that this world where grace prevails was really going to be victorious in the end. They just didn’t have the faith to fully give their all to this glorious vision of Jesus that one day the poor would be treated with righteousness, and the hungry would be satisfied and the weeping people would at last laugh. Really Jesus, is such a world going to be what’s here after the smoke clears? Or is this vision of yours just some pipe dream too far disconnected from reality? You see, the only reason that this church at Laodicea would have thought storing up riches on earth was a good idea even though they had been warned that it is in fact a very wrong way to go, is that they simply did not have full confidence that the way of Jesus was going to succeed. You see, the truth is, the storing up treasures on earth is nothing more than unbelief that God can bring about a new and better world. What the church at Laodicea was in essence doing is hedging their bets, that just in case the whole way of Jesus didn’t work out, they had stashed a little worldly wealth under the mattress so as to not be disappointed. Such a mindset left them believing that they had need of nothing but, oh, how far from the truth they had strayed! They may have thought that worldly wealth could provide them all that they needed but what they were lacking so desperately was faith. They needed to know God as being the Amen, the certainty, the guarantee that a world blessed by grace is definitely happening. What a contrast to laying up treasures on earth for as Jesus teaches us in the sixth chapter of Matthews gospel, these are all susceptible to being destroyed by moth or rust or perhaps, thieves could end up stealing them; there is just nothing certain about the treasures we store up here on earth.

         It is their refusal to know God as the certain one, the steadfast God who is the firm ground of our faith, this is why the church at Laodicea was described by the living Christ as being wretched, miserable and afflicted, people who above all were just plain pitiful. This is the sad and deplorable condition of those who refused to believe that God will finish what he started! Little did this church of Laodicea know, but instead of being those who were rich and in need of nothing they were in all actuality people who the living Christ stated were poor, blind and naked. Ouch! The living Christ, using the language that those who trusted in riches would understand, told this church that they should go on a shopping spree and purchase from him what they stood terribly in need of. Just as the world of worldly treasures operates on exchanging of one treasure for another, so too the living Christ is in effect telling these poor pitiful people to come to him the faithful one and exchange their unbelief for true faith. The first item the living Christ offers them is gold refined by fire. This statement echoes words from the book of Malachi who states that when the Lord returns that he will “purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver and they will bring offerings of righteousness to the Lord.” The living Christ is telling this church at Laodicea that they need him to purify their hearts. Through his own faithfulness, Jesus could remove the doubt and uncertainty that defiled their heart. You see, only by loving him with their whole heart could they once again serve him. Then the living Christ tells them that they should purchase from him white garments to cover their nakedness. These white garments were the priestly robes, their true profession they were called by God to fulfill. To be priests to God is the very reason why Jesus had shed his blood to set them free from sin all so that they might serve him in this way. Only as they served God through acts of mercy to others could they no longer be naked, exposed to the judgment of the God who knew when they had refused to extend mercy.They deserved judgment because they had kept back riches that could help those in need in spite of knowing that Jesus had been merciful to them by dying in their place upon the cross. Lastly, the living Christ tells the church to buy salve to heal their eyes of the blindness that afflicted them. This points us back to a teaching of Jesus found in the sixth chapter of Matthew where we hear Jesus say to us that the eye is the lamp of the body. If your eye is good, if you can see those in need and extend mercy, then your body is full of light. If you have an evil eye, an eye which refuses to see the needs that are right in front of you, then your whole body is full of darkness. So, when the heart is purified through the faithfulness of Jesus, and at last we once again take up our calling as priests to God, offering mercy to all, then our eyes are good, able to see all those who stand in need of the mercy God expects us to give. We who fail to believe that God can and will bring about a world governed by grace must come to Christ and repent of our unbelief and receive from him the gift of faith. If we find faith once again in what Christ is bringing forth then he promises us that he is standing at our door, knocking ready to come in and eat with us. As we sit with him at his table we can be certain that we one day will sit with him on the throne! To God be the glory! Amen!