The Big Reveal: All for Jesus

 August 9 2026

Revelation 3:14-22, 19:1-10

         One of the undeniable truths about our current culture we live in is that compromise is seen to be an important part of our life together. We are often told that we have to give a little in order to get a little. The problem is that compromise becomes such away of life that we stop considering just what we are giving up to get the little that we are given. A good story that illustrates this point is one about a father who had two teenage boys. The father had told his boys that they were not allowed to go to any R-rated movies until they were an adult. So he was a little surprised when one day his boys came to him and pleaded with him to see a certain R-rated movie because all of their friends had seen this movie and they felt like  oddballs for never seeing it. They made their case to their Dad, telling him that this movie wasn’t all that bad. From what their friends had told them, this movie only had a little swearing in it, and it only had a little blood and gore, and yes, just a little bit of drug use. So, nothing too bad. Well, the father told them that he would think on it and let them know the next day when they got home from school. Well, the next day when the boys arrived home from school, the whole house was filled with the warm, sweet, aroma of chocolate brownies which had just been taken out of the oven. They rushed to the kitchen where their father was just slicing the pan of brownies into nice big, pieces. The boys mouths watered as they thought about devouring those delicious treats. As they began to scoop the brownies from the pan, though, their father interrupted them. He said, that oh, yes, these brownies were made from the very best ingredients, but there was only one thing that they had to know about these brownies. The boys stopped dead in their tracks. Just what was it that was so important about these brownies that their father had stopped them? Well, their Dad continued, when he mixed up the brownies he added just a little bit of dog poop. It was just a little bit, just as the movie has just a little bit of swearing, a little bit if gore and a little bit of drug use. The father’s point was quickly made as it only takes a little bit of something awful to ruin the whole batch.

         I thought of this story as I read about the review Jesus gave to the last of the seven churches that John was writing to in the book of Revelation. The name of the place where this church was found is Laodicea. Jesus tells us that this church had the same effect on him that a batch of brownies with a little dog poop added to them has on us, it made him sick to his stomach. And the reason why Jesus felt this way was caused by the same reason why the brownies were so gut wrenching, and that was that it only takes a little compromise to ruin a good thing. The church at Laodicea thought they could just be a little more like the world and that little bit of compromise would not matter all that much. How very wrong their thinking was, as we find out when Jesus decided to evaluate just how they are doing at being his church.

         Jesus begins his review of his church at Laodicea by letting them know that he is the Amen, the faithful and the true witness. Jesus is here using three different terms that all convey essentially the same idea, that Jesus is uncompromisingly the truth. There is absolutely nothing false to be found with him. We are to be wise enough to see the contrast between who Jesus is and who the church at Laodicea actually is, one pure and holy and one terribly compromised. Jesus also states that he is the beginning or the first of all creation, the human prototype to which all humanity is to be conformed to his likeness. Well, Jesus goes on to tell this church at Laodicea that he is well aware of the works that they are doing. Their works Jesus states, are neither cold nor hot. Jesus would have preferred that their works be hot or that their works be cold but what he cannot stand is that they have become mixed together so that they are now a vomit worthy lukewarm mess. Ouch! To understand what Jesus is getting at in his illustration of a stream of hot water and a stream of cold water becoming mixed together, is compromise. In the Jewish way of thinking, compromise is known concretely when a stream of hot water is combined with a stream of cold water. The result, as is the case in most compromises, is a meeting in the middle, a lukewarm stream which as Jesus states is neither hot nor cold. All that is to be found is a lukewarm glass of water, good for very little, or as Jesus puts it, only fit to be thrown up or thrown out.

         You see, why Jesus is being so dramatic over a lukewarm class of water, is that he is speaking about the church’s compromise with the world. The hot, passionate love of God found in the church gets lost when the church brings into its life, the cold, calculating cruel judgment of the world. The result is a new entity which cannot be said to be truly the church not can it be said be the world either. No, all that is left is a confused, muddled mess that no longer witnesses that it belongs in either category. This is perhaps why this church at Laodicea has the distinction that unlike all of the rest of the churches that Jesus reviews, there is absolutely nothing good to be found in any of its members. The whole church can be said to be compromised.

         Now as we ponder just why this church has ended up being in such a state, Jesus quickly answers us. He states that the church says that they have prospered and they stand in need of nothing. Can you hear the pride that stands behind such a statement? This is the pride that is a hallmark of the world’s way of living, the pride that is found in the power of the people of the world. Through their power the people of this world seize ahold of whatever they desire and claim for themselves whatever it is that catches their eye. Then they go about bragging about their ability to satisfy their never ending appetites.So we should be shocked to hear the same story coming from those who insist that they no longer listen to the wisdom of the world but instead claim to listen only to Jesus.

         Well, even though this church takes great pride in their plenty, Jesus is not impressed, quite the contrary. Jesus, the truthful one, states that the truth about this church is that are actually, afflicted enduring significant hardship. They are people who are pitiful, desperate people who stand in great need of mercy. They are beggars who are deeply, destitute. They are blind, those living in terrible darkness. And they are naked, unclothed, totally exposed. Now, we need to sit for a moment with how Jesus understands those who brag about how they have prospered, those who flaunt their riches stating that they need nothing for they have everything. It becomes quickly apparent that we buy into their assessment of their life, don’t we? But Jesus, the truthful one is aware of their situation and how awful their their life actually is, even if we might think otherwise. Rather than desiring to be like those who seem to have all they could ever want, we should instead, feel sorry that such people have ended up in such a terrible state, at least according to Jesus.

         What makes such a life so wrong is that such a miserable, wretched, life is found to be lived by those who say they are the church. Yes, we can expect those who live by the wisdom of the world to be living such a awful life, but why is this life to be found among those who confess to belong to Jesus? The answer is perhaps found in the rather odd term Jesus uses for the church goers of Laodicea, where he tells them that rather than being seen in all their Sunday best, they are instead quite naked when he gives them a look over. This is where what is written in the later chapters of the book of Revelation proves quite helpful. In the nineteenth chapter we hear that God has brought his judgment against those who have corrupted the earth with their immorality. The source of this corruption is found to be coming from the great prostitute, the name used for the city called Babylon. As we learned last week, Babylon is the place where all those enslaved by their desires are gathered. Those who allow their desires to take hold of them find themselves trapped by those desires. Then these same desires drag a person away from God so that they live a life opposed to God, bound to sin. In the end, their sin results in death.  When we understand the evil that results from those who live to fulfill their desires and chase after whatever catches their eyes, we can then know that God must rid the world of such a life. All the people who live such a life are collectively found in the city that is called Babylon in the book of Revelation. Not only has such people corrupted the earth with their evil ways but it is these who are the ones who persecute the all those who serve God. So at last, God will rid the world of this source of all suffering, and those who serve God will rejoice. Now will be the time when we are told that the Lamb will marry his bride. To our modern ears, this is rather an odd statement, but what this is saying is that Jesus, and those who are his church, those who worship and serve him, will at last be united forever. The church is compared to a bride who prepares herself to be married. Since my daughter is soon to be married, I know just what a big deal it is to pull this off. She had to make many decisions, one of which was just what would she wear, to find just the perfect dress that makes her look radiant to her fiancé on her wedding day. So it makes sense that if we understand the church as being in a way, like the bride for Jesus, then she too must be dressed in that which brings her glory. The fine white wedding dress for the church is as John record, all of the righteous actions of the holy ones of God.

         So when we are told that the church at Laodicea is found to be naked by Jesus when he reviews the works she has done, we can conclude that she has no righteous actions to cover her when she stands before Jesus. Instead of working at bringing the justice of God to bear upon the world, this church has used her energy in stockpiling worldly wealth, becoming satisfied in their fulfilled appetites while those hungry and hurting souls crying out in pain go unnoticed. Now it wasn’t like this church simply did not know the righteousness that we are to do, far from it. You see, those who serve Jesus know that he is the righteous judge, the one whose very life will be what will judge our life in the end. So as Jesus is righteous, we too are to follow his lead so that our actions imitate his actions. Just as we hear in the thirteenth chapter of John, as Jesus loves us, so too we must love one another. The way Jesus loves us is that he has blessed us, believing that all of us are able to become like him, those worthy to inherit the world. Yet what this requires is that we learn from him his way of living. We need to know that to be children of God means that we must be peacemakers, this is the ultimate goal of the blessing of God. This requires us to love others as God loves, providing for friend and foe alike. We must live for his glory alone never worrying about what others might think of us. We are to be gracious to others offering mercy to all just as God has always been merciful to us. We are to be willing to serve others, suffering with those who suffer and sacrificing for them if necessary. This then is the way God expects us to go about making peace with those around us, opening up our lives so that strangers might become friends, no longer there being us and them but instead, just us. You see, bringing people together in the name of God makes his name holy.

         So when we remember how God’s justice is found through people who bless others, then we are right to wonder just where did the church at Laodicea lose their way? Jesus gets to the core of their problem when he pleads to this church to heed the counsel that he offers them. He first, tells them to purchase from him gold refined by fire. In these words of Jesus we hear echoes of what is written in the third chapter of Malachi. There we hear that God is the one who purifies his servants just as one refines silver or gold. Only as they are servants who are purified can they present offerings to God that are righteous. What Jesus seems to be telling this church at Laodicea is that the worldly wealth symbolized by gold, has made them impure, unfit to serve a holy God. They needed to trade the impure riches of this world for the riches which matter, pure and righteous actions which will cover them so that they will no longer be ashamed when they stand before Jesus. When they figure out what really matters is not temporary riches but eternal glory, then they will begin to see, no longer blind, unable to discern what is truly important.

         The reason why Jesus is being so harsh with this church is that he loves them as a brother who desires all of us to belong to his family.  This is why he has gone to great lengths to tell them how wrong their behavior is, and to discipline them. Now when we hear this word, “discipline”, many of us get a little uneasy, don’t we, because this is a word often associated with punishment like when we did something wrong. And while it is true that punishment is often a part of discipline, the truth is that discipline is simply the way we become people of integrity. Punishment is merely used to keep us us from being someone that we are not supposed to be. In the twelfth chapter of Hebrews, the authors writes that as children of God we are to know that the discipline of the Lord is not a minor aspect of our life. No, when the Lord disciplines us we should remember that he corrects those he loves, and he sometimes he even gets tough with us just because we are his children. The writer of Hebrews explains that the reason why God disciplines us is so that we might share in his holiness. Yes, God’s discipline is not always pleasant but in time it will produce the peaceful fruit of righteousness. This is why Jesus is being harsh with this church at Laodicea so that they will be dressed with righteousness when the time comes to stand before Jesus.

         Now the seriousness of what Jesus is telling this church is found in what Jesus tells them next. Jesus says to them, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If someone hears my voice and opens the door I will come in and be with them, so that we might eat together.” Here again, is another verse that has been terribly taken out of context so that people believe that Jesus is knocking on the door to our hearts, so that we should allow him into our lives. Yet this is missing the point entirely. What Jesus is saying to this church at Laodicea is that while they are eating at his table, presuming that Jesus is with them in this time of communion, the truth is that he is not there. No, Jesus, far from being present with them as they eat the bread and drink the cup, is standing outside the door to the church. What Jesus is waiting for is for his church to recognize his voice from among the many voices they are listening to. Then when the church at last hears his voice, they are to allow Jesus to once again be apart of their life, no longer living life without him. In other words, when they are ready to be the church, ready to get busy blessing others instead of stockpiling worldly riches, then he is more than ready to join them. What they have to decide is if they will once again heed his voice, listening only to him, and having nothing to do with the wisdom of the world. The question that remains for us is this: Are we listening to the voice of Jesus? Can we hear him above the call of the world? And when we hear his voice, will we let him in and commune with him? May we accept the discipline of Jesus so that we might share in his holiness, for without holiness we will not see the Lord! Amen!