Series: “To the Angel of the Church at Tomoka:
Christ’s Message for His Church Today”
#7: “Knock, Knock…”
Malachi 3:1-3,6-7b and Revelation 3:14-22 (NRSV)
I have had the privilege of traveling abroad several times. Most of my journeys to foreign lands were B.T. (Before Terri). While I was footloose and fancy free in my bachelor days, I visited many countries on four continents. Fortunately, during our married life, as a couple we have been able to take a Mediterranean Cruise and a Wesley pilgrimage to England. Those trips were great, but I always will treasure the memories of my verry first trip to Europe. I was lucky enough to take a student tour in the summer between my 10th and 11th grade years.
I had wonderful experiences that summer. Of course, there were the big things – the beautiful cities and landscapes, the museums and historical buildings, the wonderful people. But some of the things I remember most were little things.
I remember our visit to Spain. It was summer and hot, not unlike Florida, only not as humid. After a long day of sight-seeing in Madrid, we stopped to get a Coke. They served it room temperature – we were shocked! I called the waiter and asked for ice - and he brought me one cube!
We are Americans – we like our soft drinks, tea, and water COLD; and our coffee and soup HOT. Some things just aren’t any good lukewarm! They are distasteful – even nauseating.
The citizens of Laodicea knew this first-hand. Laodicea was a very wealthy city (the richest of all of the seven cities that receive a letter from the Heavenly Christ in chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation). It was in a strategic location on the road between Ephesus and Syria, a center of industry and commerce (especially banking, the wool trade, and medicines). It had a high standard of living – we have records that on one occasion, the Jews of Laodicea donated 22 ½ pounds of gold to the Temple in Jerusalem.
They were very self-sufficient, they seemed to have everything – EXCEPT . . . water! They had to import their water from hot mineral springs six miles away by aqueduct. By the time it finally got to the city, it was tepid and mineral-laden; tasting it was enough to make you gag – but you had no choice but to drink it.
Christ addressed the church there that they had become lukewarm, just like the water. Their faith had become tepid – neither cold nor hot, but sickeningly “lukewarm.” They faced no great crisis of faith, but there was no fire either. They had become so disgusting that Jesus tells them they made him want to wretch. (By the way, most translations clean up the language in this text, saying Christ wants to “spew” them out. Literally, Jesus says “You make me want to vomit.”)
Jesus says that it is better to be hot or cold – at least, then the world would know which side we are on! Christ wants people to be zealous for him. As Paul puts it in Romans 12:10, “Do not lag in zeal, be ardent in spirit.” In all seven of these letters, the one thing Christ unsparingly condemns . . . is indifference.
What went wrong? How did a church with such promise get into so much trouble? Jesus tells us in his letter: He condemns them for their attitude: “You say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’”
The church, just like the city, had become pompous, arrogant, and self-satisfied. When the city was destroyed by an earthquake in 61 A.D., they refused to receive any help from Rome – the people of Laodicea were so rich, they wanted to rebuild the city on their own – and they did! Their attitude: We don’t need anyone – not Rome . . . not even God!
They thought they had it all – but in reality, they had nothing! Jesus told them “You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” Laodicea had two sins: 1) LAXNESS in faith – a lack of zeal; but worse than that, 2) IGNORANCE of their pitiful condition.
Jesus gave them advice as to how they could avoid judgment. He recommends three things (three things that show just how well Christ knew this church). Christ’s verdict is exactly the opposite of their own self-evaluation! (He might also be saying something to us – if we’re listening…)
1) First he says they should “Buy gold from me refined by fire so that you may be rich.”
As you recall, I said that banking was one of Laodicea’s industries. They believed that their wealth was actually the evidence of spiritual success. (There are still preachers today who preach this same “prosperity gospel.”)
Not so, Jesus says. True wealth in God’s Kingdom is measured very differently: by faith. Remember what a contrast we found between this statement to the Christians at Laodicea and what he said to the church at Smyrna: He told those in Smyrna, “I know your poverty, even though you are rich.” The assessment of the church in Laodicea was the exact opposite – they thought they were rich, but in fact they were poor. The church at Laodicea was rich by the world’s standards. But they were urged to find true riches in Christ.
Peter wrote of this in his first letter (1:6-7): “In this you rejoice, even if now for a little while you have had to suffer various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith – being more precious than gold that, though perishable, is tested by fire – may be found to result in praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.”
You see, the only wealth worth having is faith in Christ!
What about you and me? And what about this congregation? Let’s be honest – you may not feel like it, but by most standards, this is a wealthy church. Sure, we’ve had to trim back, but we are able to cover our bills and are not in debt. Throughout our history, we have been able to accomplish just about anything we really wanted to do – this building we’re sitting in is the most obvious witness to that. Financial strength can be a real blessing – but it is also a danger. It is possible that we could become so self-satisfied, so self-sufficient, that we forget that we need God!
If we’re not careful, we could fall into the same trap as befell that “rich young man” Jesus encountered, who said he wanted to become a disciple. As you probably recall, when Jesus pressed him on this issue, it became clear that his faith was actually in his money – that there was no room in his life for Christ. He was so self-satisfied that he couldn’t see that he was really in desperate need. Wealth can be a hindrance to our spiritual life – because it can blind us to the fact that we are always dependent upon God. Wealth had become an obstacle to the church at Laodicea. Jesus says to them and to us, “Buy from me gold . . . so that you may be rich.”
2) The second piece of advice Christ offers is this: “Buy . . . white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen.”
Another important industry in Laodicea was the production of cloth: wool and textiles – in fact they were renowned for their fine tunics.
This word from Jesus sounds a lot like the Hans Christian Andersen story of The Emperor’s New Clothes that I preached on back in the sermon series on “The Gospel According to Once Upon a Time.” You will recall how the king had been duped by dishonest tailors who had convinced him to let them make him a set of fine garments made from a magical invisible cloth… cloth that was able to be seen only by the wisest and most intelligent people. Even though the Emperor couldn’t see the cloth, himself, he didn’t want to admit that he was not wise enough, so he agreed to wear this exceptional suit of clothes.
When he paraded down the street in his birthday-suit, people were shocked, but they also didn’t want to admit they were not intelligent enough to see the outfit. Finally, a little boy blurted out the truth everyone else had been denying – “The Emperor has noclothes – he is NAKED!”
Jesus is like that honest boy, exposing the nakedness of the Church at Laodicea. They saw themselves as being “clothed in righteousness,” “goody-two-shoes” who were eager to pat themselves on the back for their good works. They were more self-righteous than truly righteous.
Christ tells them to “buy white robes” from him – garments that symbolize purity. There is a huge difference between being righteous and being self-righteous. True righteousness is imparted to us by God. It cannot be earned (lest we be tempted to boast). As we read later in the book of Revelation (19:7-8), “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride (that is, us, the church) has made herself ready: to her it has been granted to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure.”
In the first millennium of the Church’s history, baptism was most often by immersion – done in the privacy of a baptistery as the convert was baptized in the nude, having literally stripped off the garments of the world. Following the baptism, they would put on new white garments, marking their new beginning in Christ.
In effect, Jesus was telling the Christians of Laodicea, “Don’t think you have earned your righteousness by your good deeds. (But) if you turn to me in faith, I will ‘grant you to be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure.’” You see, like the white robe, the only righteousness worth having comes from Christ, as well.
Are we righteous, or are we “self-righteous?” Our congregation does many good deeds. We have many ministries that touch our community, as well as our own members. Sometimes we might look at all we do and feel pretty good about ourselves. And we should feel good about what we do for others.
But there is the danger of falling into the same trap as Laodicea – to pat ourselves on the back and become self-righteous, arrogant, and boastful.
Jesus warns us not to think we have “arrived” because of our good deeds. Righteousness is not by works, but by faith – imputed to us by God. Like that foolish Emperor, we can wear our good deeds with pride, only to be reminded by Christ that, if that is all we have to show, then he will expose our nakedness – Why? - so that we will be motivated to buy new pure garments of faith from him.
So, we are to buy spiritual “gold” so that we might be truly rich, and “white robes” that we might be genuinely righteous. But there is one more thing on our shopping list:
3) We are to also “Buy. . . salve to anoint our eyes so that (we) may see.”
The third major industry of Laodicea was an eye salve, known as “Phygian Powder.” They thought they understood all things – they thought that they could clearly see reality. But wealth and arrogance had blinded them to true reality. They couldn’t see the forest for the trees.
Jesus calls on them to let him open their eyes! In John, chapter 9, we find a story of a man who had been blind from birth. Jesus healed him – but as usual, the Pharisees were skeptical. They quizzed the man who had been healed about what had happened. The healed man replied, “One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see!” You see, there is more important sight than seeing with physical eyes – and that is seeing with the eyes of faith! It’s just as we sing in one of our favorite hymns, “I once was lost, but now am found; t’was blind, but now I see.” You can’t trust what you see with your eyes, you can trust only what you see by faith.
Could we at Tomoka UMC have been blinded by our past successes? Jesus challenges us to open our eyes in two important ways:
First of all: He calls us to look inward: We sometimes use the word “in-sight.” Self-examination helps us see the reality of our spiritual condition. That ancient eye salve treatment was painful to go through, and seeing ourselves honestly for the first time can also be painful – but it’s a necessary step before healing can take place. Jesus says we have to “look inward” to see our spiritual condition before we can change.
So, we are to examine our own lives and our church – to look inward. But that’s only half of Christ’s prescription; we are also (secondly)
To look outward: Once we have focused on ourselves honestly, Christ offers to help us look at our world differently. As a result of our spiritual myopia, we can become blinded to our true mission – we fail to catch God’s vision for our lives or for our church. Being self-satisfied and self-righteous can make us self-centered. When we focus on ourselves, we fail to see others in need. But Christ invites us to change our outlook. He gives us new spiritual glasses.
We sometimes sing the chorus, “Open our eyes, Lord, we want to see Jesus…” That song could well be based on our text for today, for it is our prayer this morning that God might open our eyes, that we might begin to see ourselves and our community through the eyes of Christ. Jesus says, “Buy . . . salve to anoint your eyes so that you might see.” My prayer is that we might look at our community with Christ’s eyes.
What about us? Our lives? Our church? How similar are we to those Christians at Laodicea? Would Jesus condemn us with the same words: “You say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”
Do we share the same two sins with our brothers and sisters in Laodicea: 1) laxness of faith causing a lack of zeal; and 2) ignorance of our pitiful spiritual condition?
Good News! After all the dire warnings, there is the chance for restoration! The last section of this letter is actually a summary of all seven of the letters, offering us new hope and eternal promises. In one form or another, in each of the letters Jesus calls us to wake up and repent – and then he makes us an offer we dare not refuse:
The only thing that can make your life all it was meant to be . . . the only thing that can make our church all that God means for it to be, is the presence of Christ.
Over the last seven weeks, we have heard the drumbeat over and over – a recurring theme: When Christ is absent: we have no life, we go through the motions of religion, we experience division and conflict, we condone false teaching, we compromise our witness to the world, we become ineffective for Christ – and eventually we suffer a spiritual death.
But when Christ is present in our lives and in our church: we experience spiritual power, unity, divine direction, vitality, integrity – and most of all, we know what it means to be fully-alive in Christ.
So, when you boil it all down, there are really only two questions that sum up this entire sermon series: “How real is the presence of Christ in your life? How real is the presence of Christ in our church?”
There are many famous paintings of this text that I’m sure most all of you have seen. In each, Christ is standing outside a door, knocking. But in most renderings of this scene, there is one unusual thing about that door – there is no latch or knob on the outside. The only way for Christ to enter is if the door is opened – from the inside.
I’m sure those artists intended that door to represent the door to the heart, because it is true that Christ constantly knocks – he calls out our name, and waits for you and me to open to him. And maybe he is knocking on the door of YOUR heart this morning, calling and waiting… If you’ve never opened that door, I hope you will do so this morning. As you come forward for Holy Communion to meet Jesus in the bread and cup, may it be your prayer to accept the gift of salvation that Christ is offering you!
But this morning, I’d like for us to also think of this in a different context: What if the door – is the door to our church? Could it be – that we, like those ancient churches of Asia Minor have, in various ways, pushed the Spirit of Christ out of his own church? Wouldn’t that be ironic! Wouldn’t that be tragic!
Listen . . . can you hear him knock? (knock on pulpit)
“Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.”
“Let everyone who has an ear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”
© 2025 by John B. Gill, III