Seven, Laodicea – David Nasser

Overview:

In our final week of Campus Community, we are wrapping up the Seven series by studying the church of Laodicea. The church of Laodicea was a church who amongst their wealth and prosperity was actually found to be desperate and bankrupt. There is a difference between being lost and having lost your way.  Laodicea was not lost. They just were not fully in love with Jesus.  At first glance they were decadent but the reality is that they were desperate. What made them desperate was the fact that they were self-sufficient. By sufficient, they thought they could contribute in some way shape or form to their own sanctification. We think works work. Works do work. But it is not ours! Praise God His works do! The Lord does not desire half-desperate faith, He desires fully committed, fully dependent followers.  We pray the Lord would deliver us from this self-focused way of thinking, that He would deliver us from ourselves, that we would cease trying to earn it and, in the end, plead Christ’s righteousness rather than ours.

Quotes:

“The lukewarm person is not one who is mildly passionate about God. Rather, the lukewarm person is one who has lost his dependence on God. In his arrogance, he believes he has no need of Christ’s righteousness because he has enough of his own.”

– Timothy Keller

“Your Heart is addicted to salvation by works.’ As a result, we often wear out good deeds like spiritual merit badges on preening chests, thinking we can impress God with our righteous acts. We pride ourselves that we are not like other men. After all, we are not engaging in the perversity of our culture. Instead, we fast, tithe, read our Bibles and serve in the church. Yet, we must realize that arrogant, self-sufficiency results in disgusting works, no matter what these work may be.”

– Walter Marshall

Verses:

Revelation 3:14 – 22

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.  You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.  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.

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. 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 that person, and they with me.

To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Matthew 5:3

“Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Questions:

1) Are there moments in your life where you don’t question your salvation but question how you got to the place of depending on your self-more than you depend on God?
2) Do you have areas in your life that you are hesitant to surrender to God which then results in a lack of commitment?
3) Do we choose self-sufficiency over Christ dependency? If so, when?
4) What lies do I believe to convince myself I am closer to God than I actually am?