{"id":26,"date":"2010-05-09T16:43:49","date_gmt":"2010-05-09T23:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/?p=26"},"modified":"2017-03-29T10:09:45","modified_gmt":"2017-03-29T17:09:45","slug":"he-stands-at-the-door-and-knocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/2010\/05\/09\/he-stands-at-the-door-and-knocks\/","title":{"rendered":"He Stands at the Door and Knocks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revelation 3: 14-22 | May 9, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n

14 \u201cTo the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
\n<\/em>These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God\u2019s creation.\u00a0 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!\u00a0 16 So, because you are lukewarm\u2014neither hot nor cold\u2014I am about to spit you out of my mouth.\u00a0 17 You say, \u2018I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.\u2019 But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.\u00a0 18 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. 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.\u00a0 20 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. 21 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.\u00a0 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The apostle John was an old man now. He was the last living apostle.\u00a0 He was living in exile on a small island off of Turkey because he couldn’t be quiet about Jesus.\u00a0 One day, John was given a vision by the Lord, actually a series of visions.\u00a0 We call it the book of Revelation.<\/p>\n

Well towards the beginning the Lord Jesus appears to John and dictates seven letters to seven real churches in what is today called Turkey.\u00a0 The letters are addressed to the angel of each of these churches.\u00a0 Well you don’t have to agree with this.\u00a0 But the Greek word means messenger.\u00a0 So I understand these letters to be addressed to the pastors or bishops, those whose calling was to bring the message of God’s Word to their people.<\/p>\n

One of those letters was meant for the congregation in Laodicea.\u00a0 The town no longer exists but back then it was a very prosperous city like this part of Northern California.\u00a0 But our Lord doesn’t look at the wallet or the purse.\u00a0 He looks at the heart of his people, what we value, what we treasure and what we don’t.<\/p>\n

It’s mother’s day and we remember our mother’s love.\u00a0 Well part of that love was intervening in our lives when we were heading in the wrong direction.\u00a0 We may not have appreciated it then.\u00a0 It sure didn’t feel to have our mom get on our case.\u00a0 But that too is a kind of love, a love that cared enough to speak up before we ruined our lives.<\/p>\n

That’s what we have here in this letter.\u00a0 Not the love of our mother, but the love of our Lord and Savior who died for us and rose again.\u00a0 He cares enough to intervene, to warn us before it’s too late.\u00a0 Here’s the picture our Living Lord\u00a0 paints.<\/p>\n

He Stands at the Door and Knocks
\n<\/strong>I.\u00a0 Who cares enough to answer?\u00a0 (14-16)
\nII.\u00a0\u00a0 He alone offers \u00a0what we need (17-19)
\nIII.\u00a0 He alone can promise blessing now and forever (20,21)<\/p>\n

14 \u201cTo the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God\u2019s creation. <\/span> IN each of these letters Jesus describes himself in different ways.\u00a0 Here he obviously want the people to understand that every word that comes from him is totally true.\u00a0 But his words are more than words. For Jesus speaks with authority as God the Son, the ruler of his creation.<\/span> Remember his words before his ascension. All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me<\/span>.\u00a0 Maybe then we should listen as he speaks to these early Christians.<\/p>\n

15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other<\/span>!\u00a0 These people knew the truth.\u00a0 They know what Jesus had done for them.\u00a0 But they had regressed to what I sometimes see in others and sad to say in myself. A kind of a shrug your shoulders indifference toward the gospel, the grace of God in Christ.<\/p>\n

So as a church they had ceased to be a force for Jesus.\u00a0 I don’t picture them sharing the good news.\u00a0 So they were no blessed good to a world dying in sin.\u00a0 They were just plugging along.\u00a0 Not hot or cold but lukewarm.<\/p>\n

I wish you were either one or the other<\/span>.\u00a0\u00a0 Huh?\u00a0 If hot means zealous for spiritual truth and engaged, it’s easy to see why Jesus would want that.\u00a0 But cold?\u00a0 If cold means the opposite, against the gospel, how could Jesus prefer that to lukewarm ?<\/p>\n

Think about it.\u00a0 The person who is cold at least cares enough to argue.\u00a0 He cares enough to question.\u00a0 Maybe he can be reached.\u00a0 But lukewarm.\u00a0 A person who can say the Apostle’s creed or Lord’s prayer while thinking of what they’re doing after church.\u00a0 A person who is not impressed to hear Your sins are forgiven<\/em>.\u00a0 Jesus stands at the Door and Knocks<\/strong>.\u00a0 Who cares enough to answer?<\/strong> Well here our Savior warns about such an attitude.\u00a0 …<\/strong>I am about to spit you out of my mouth<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Jesus knew they had a heart problem.\u00a0 17 You say, \u2018I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.<\/span>\u2019\u00a0 Laodicea was prosperous town.\u00a0 It had a thriving wool industry.\u00a0 It was renowned for an eye ointment invented there and prescribed by physicians all over the Roman empire.\u00a0 Well it seems that rising tide of prosperity lifted up these people also.<\/p>\n

Now listen carefully.\u00a0 It wasn’t a sin for them to be doing well.\u00a0\u00a0 Their problem was this.\u00a0 What they let their wealth do to their relationship with God. Think of the wisdom of Proverb 30:8.\u00a0 Give me neither poverty or riches, but give me only my daily bread.\u00a0 Otherwise I may have too much and disown you and say Who is the Lord?<\/span> Or think what Jesus says in Mark 4.\u00a0 He speaks of the deceitfulness of wealth<\/span> that can choke out our faith.\u00a0 Or think of Jesus’ words to his disciples in Mark 10: \u00a0How difficult it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.<\/span> Our hearts are tempted to think, I don’t need a thing<\/span>.<\/p>\n

But you don’t have to be wealthy to lose your way.\u00a0 I’ve met plenty of folks just getting by who see no need for a Savior from sin.\u00a0 Their wealth didn’t get in the way, their lack of repentance did.\u00a0 So many think the federal deficit is bad.\u00a0 It is!\u00a0 But they fail to see the terrible debt our guilt brings.\u00a0 Too many fail to see our desperate need for God’s forgiveness . So these words speak to everyone, rich, poor and in between. It’s each of us on our own.\u00a0\u00a0 17…you do not realize that<\/span> you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Tough words.\u00a0 Isn’t this our loving Savior?\u00a0 It might not sound like it. But think of mom.\u00a0 Sometimes she had to lay into us with hard words.\u00a0 And why? The same reason here.\u00a0 19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.<\/span> So Jesus stands at the door and knocks. \u00a0For He alone offers what we need.<\/strong><\/p>\n

18 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<\/span>.\u00a0 There was a mint in Laodicea that made Roman coins.\u00a0 Then of course there was the wool industry that provided clothes and the eye medicine produced there. Yet none could provide the needs of their souls.<\/p>\n

Here Jesus painted them a picture of what he offers. Gold that makes us truly rich, not stored away in a vault, but a gold refined in the fire of Jesus’ suffering and death.\u00a0 The golden riches of eternal life \u00a0kept in heaven for you.\u00a0 And white clothes to wear.\u00a0 White is the color of holiness, the only way you and I can stand before God.\u00a0 Otherwise our guilt would condemn us.\u00a0 But Jesus covers the shameful nakedness of our guilt with a white robe of his goodness.<\/p>\n

And Jesus has salve for \u00a0eyes that once could not see.\u00a0 Not these eyes in our head.\u00a0 But our heart.\u00a0 He gives us the Holy Spirit to see what we could not see before.\u00a0 The cross of Jesus which\u00a0 seems foolishness to the world we now see it as the wisdom of God that saves us.\u00a0 So Jesus stands at the door and knocks<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0 He stands and offers what we need. And he alone can promise blessing both now and forever.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So much of life is about relationship with others. Today we give thanks for the blessings that have come to us through our moms.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0I better stop there before I get choked up.\u00a0 Well here think of what Jesus promises us who answer the door with faith.\u00a0 If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.<\/span> When this was written, you didn’t eat with just anybody.\u00a0 To eat together was a sign of something special between you.\u00a0 Even now meals shared can be happy times full of laughter and joy.<\/p>\n

Well here the Lord of heaven and earth who bled and died for us pleads with us, that we let him come into our lives.\u00a0 And not as an acquaintance that we might facebook every now and then.\u00a0 He wants to come to you and bless you with his love.<\/p>\n

And \u00a0not just for this short life.\u00a0 21 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<\/span>. What did Jesus overcome?\u00a0 He overcame our sin, our death, our hell. Then he ascended back to heaven where he sits at the right hand of God the Father.\u00a0 Mission accomplished.<\/p>\n

What then does that leave us? \u00a0To hold on to Jesus when people all around us have no use for him and think you are strange. To him who overcomes.<\/span> And don ‘t picture us all trying to fit on some big chair up in the sky.\u00a0 Rather think of someone telling you to come from the back of an endless line to the front.\u00a0 Think of your mom telling you that she has a wonderful surprise for you. So I guess what I’m saying is this.\u00a0 I’m not sure what it will mean to sit with Jesus on his throne.\u00a0 I do know this.\u00a0 It will be good.<\/p>\n

He stands at the door and knocks<\/strong>.\u00a0 He who has an ear, let him hear.\u00a0 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Revelation 3: 14-22 | May 9, 2010 14 \u201cTo the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God\u2019s creation.\u00a0 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!\u00a0 16 So, because you are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":861,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions\/861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.livingwordpetaluma.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}