The Church at Laodicea
Revelation 3:14-22
I have need of nothing. This was how Jesus summed up the attitude of the church in Laodicea. It is commonplace for a church to reflect its community as we have seen in other messages to the churches - e.g. Sardis. Laodicea was an affluent city. When the Jews of Jerusalem appealed to Laodicea for financial help, a collection was taken and 22½ pounds of gold was sent from the city's banks. The same city refused assistance from Rome in AD 60 when an earthquake destroyed the city. This would suggest that the city was proud of its self-sufficiency and affluence. Woollen garments from Laodicea were exported all over the world. The sheep around the city were well-known for their glossy wool. The city was also famous for its eye-salve which was developed in the medical school in Laodicea.
The culture of the city has been summed up by Darrell Johnson who described the Laodiceans as 'secular humanists.' [Darrell Johnson: Discipleship on the Edge]. This is the attitude that we don’t need God to solve our problems. We can rely on our own resources. We are well-off and we have a great our reputation. This is the attitude in our post-modern world which celebrates human achievement and denigrates divine intervention and divine assistance. This attitude had influenced the thinking of the church in Laodicea. It is a dangerous deception to believe that we can serve God in our own strength. A complacency had crept into the minds of the Christians in Laodicea. They were oblivious to their real condition. They may have been prosperous financially and they are probably the opposite of the church in Smyrna where there is a reference to their 'poverty' but the assessment of the risen Lord Jesus is that they are 'rich.' The Christians at Smyrna were financially and materially poor but spiritually they were rich. The church at Laodicea were the exact opposite. They were rich materially but they were poor spiritually. The sad thing is that they were oblivious to their real spiritual condition. From the perspective of the church, they were 'rich,' prosperous and self-sufficient but in the assessment of the Amen, the faithful witness, they were described as 'wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked.' Jesus has nothing positive to say about this church. He advises them to buy 'gold refined by the fire that they may be rich spiritually and white garments so that they would be clothed in garments of divine grace and their nakedness and disgrace would not be seen. He offered them eye-salve (which had a special significance in Laodicea) so that they would be able to see clearly their true spiritual condition. They were commanded to repent.
If we have lapsed into complacency and compromise with the standards and values of our godless, postmodern world, we also need to conduct a thorough self-assessment of our spiritual condition and to repent before a God who sees everything and knows the true state of our hearts.
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