The harshest of the seven letters

One Sunday before Christmas, Pastor Max closes Elan's series on the seven churches of Revelation 2–3 with the final letter, to Laodicea. Out of curiosity he asked an AI to grade the seven churches; Philadelphia earned an A, and Laodicea an F. He calls this the most sobering letter of all because the culture of Laodicea looks unsettlingly like the United States today. After reading Revelation 3:14–22 together, he walks through it verse by verse.

Settling for a cheap substitute

Growing up in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Pastor Max thought a taco was a hard shell with ground beef, lettuce, cheese, and tomato until a soccer trip to Mexico at age ten introduced him to hand-pressed street tacos with onions and cilantro. He realized he had been settling for a knockoff his whole life. The same thing happens spiritually. "God helps those who help themselves" is not in the Bible; Scripture says we were utterly incapable of helping ourselves, which is why God came in Jesus. "Follow your heart" is not in the Bible either; the heart is deceitful, and the Bible says follow Jesus. The world says love yourself more, but the gospel says receive God's love, which gives boldness and confidence that does not come from ourselves. As a new believer, he found the hardest person to talk to about Jesus was a lifelong churchgoer who said God was doing nothing in his life. Sometimes the hardest people to reach are those who think they are already in.

Jesus is the source of creation

Jesus introduces himself as the Amen, the faithful and true witness, and the ruler of God's creation. Laodicea sat next to Colossae, and Paul told the Colossians to swap letters with the Laodiceans because they shared the same problems, including a warped view of Christ as a wise teacher rather than God in the flesh. If your view of Christ is off, your life will be off. If Jesus is just a man you do not need him, but if he is the incarnate God you need him desperately. Pastor Max's refrain throughout: when you no longer need Jesus, you no longer look like Jesus.

What lukewarm really means

Laodicea had no water of its own. Colossae enjoyed cold, crisp snowmelt and Hierapolis had hot healing springs, but by the time Laodicea piped either through miles of underground pipes the water arrived lukewarm and so full of minerals it made people nauseous. Jesus is not asking for more emotional hype; he is saying their spiritual life was like their water supply, neither refreshing anyone nor healing anyone, only making him sick. It is possible to become a church that makes Jesus sick.

Rich, successful, and blind

Laodicea was the banking capital of the region and the only city after a devastating earthquake to refuse rebuilding help from Rome. Its black wool garments signaled wealth and status, and its medical school produced a famous eye salve. Jesus answers each boast: buy gold refined in fire, true spiritual riches; wear white garments, exchanging performance for purity; and take salve for eyes that are actually blind. They had everything except dependence on God, which meant they had nothing. The saddest thing was not their brokenness but their blindness to it.

Discipline, repentance, and the knock at the door

Jesus rebukes and disciplines those he loves, and discipline is about direction, not rejection. Grace does not mean comfort; church and Jesus are come as you are, but not stay as you are. Quoting Hebrews 12 and Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Pastor Max insists a gospel without repentance is not the gospel at all. Remarkably, Jesus stands outside a church full of unbelievers and still knocks, a picture of extraordinary grace. Using Stanford's marshmallow test, he contrasts Laodicea's short-sighted comfort with the eternal mindset Jesus wants for us.

What have you put in Jesus' place?

Wealth, status, knowledge, and technology are not bad in themselves, but they become idols when they replace Jesus, and modern America, like Laodicea, is tempted to tell God it has everything handled. Note cards are passed out and Pastor Max asks everyone to write down one thing they have been leaning on instead of Jesus, whether income, success, knowledge, or the desire to please people. Like Abraham laying down Isaac, the church is invited to bring those cards forward and lay them at the altar, so that nothing, even a good thing, stands in the way of Jesus.