The Test of Commitment

The Test of Commitment

rEVELATION 3:14-22

  1. Ephesus: zealous for theological purity and yet growing coldly indifferent to one another

  2. Smyrna: wracked with poverty due to persecution and suffering, yet standing firm

  3. Pergamum: full of love and compassion but in danger of theological and moral compromise

  4. Thyatira: the epitome of growth and development but overly tolerant of false teaching

  5. Sardis: known throughout the world for life, but spiritually dead in reality

  6. Philadelphia: small and seemingly insignificant, yet faithful and patient in the face of a hostile world

Main Idea: Jesus calls the apathetic to repent and become zealous again. 

I. The Amen Speaks (3:14)

Revelation 3:14: And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. 

  • The Amen (2 Cor. 1:20)

  • The Faithful and True Witness (Rev. 19:11)

  • The Beginning of God’s Creation (Col. 1:15-18)

 II. The Lukewarm Confronted (3:15-17)

Revelation 3:15-17:   I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. 

Five Indictments:

  1. Wretched

  2. Pitiable 

  3. Poor

  4. Blind

  5. Naked

III. The Loving Reproof (3:18-20)

Revelation 3:18-19:  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

How do the apathetic become zealous again? 

  1.  The Riches of Christ (Is. 55:1-3)

  2. The Wardrobe of Christ (Rom. 13:14, Col. 3:12-17)

  3. The Healing of Christ (2 Cor. 3:16:)

  4. The Discipline of Christ (Heb. 12:5–6)

  5. The Renewal of Christ (Song of Sol. 5:2) 

IV. Jesus Clothes, Comforts, and Calls the Church (3:5:6)

Revelation 3:21-22:  The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.  He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Matthew 19:28-30: Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.  And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.  But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

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