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In the last Book of the New Testament Jesus visits seven churches to evaluate their spiritual condition.  In each church He commended them for what He found good.  In each church He exposed what He found wrong and He offered loving counsel as to making the wrongs right. 

In one church He found nothing to disappoint Him.  Interestingly, it was the suffering church.  All throughout history suffering and persecution has purified the church. 

In one church He found nothing that pleased Him.  It was the worst church of all and it was the last of the seven that He visited.  In many ways it represents the church of the last days. 

He appears to this church under three titles.  He is called the “Amen” which means “so be it.”  He will speak with certainty and finality.  His will be the final word.  They had their opinions; but only His counted. 

He is called, “The Faithful and True Witness”.  He is the perfect eye witness.  His evaluation will be exact.  Nothing will be missed. Finally, He is called “The Creator”.  He is able to bring new life to a church that is dead. 

The good news is that there is hope for any church. Four words describe their condition: 

1.      They were lukewarm – Laodicea had famous hot pools where people came for therapeutic reasons.  This water was then piped into the city, but was lukewarm when it arrived.  It was neither healing nor refreshing by then.  This was how Jesus viewed the church. 

Their passion has dwindled.  Their fervor has dimmed.  They are now apathetic, indifferent, mediocre and complacent.  And that condition was distressing to Jesus.  

2.      They were self-righteous – They proclaimed, “I am rich and in need of nothing.”  They were wealthy and large.  They probably rode in expensive carriages and wore the finest of clothes. 

But Jesus, who saw beneath the surface, said, “you are wretched, miserable and poor.” 

3.      They were blind – blind to their spiritual condition.  Blind to the needs around them.  Blind to eternity’s values. 

4.      They were naked – they wore the finest woollen garments in the world.  They looked impressive.  Jesus who saw their hearts saw their deep spiritual poverty. 

But He still loved them.  He yearned over His Bride. He urged them to return to Him.  He exhorts them to seek true riches.  He urges them to clothe themselves with the garments of personal righteousness.  He urges them to get things back in proper perspective.  All of this they were to do with a great deal zeal. 

The final picture is of Jesus knocking on the door of the church. He is actually on the outside.  It’s hard to believe that He could be shut out of His own house.  Unfortunately, that is being repeated again in many places. 

But He continues to knock.  He promises that if we will open the door He will come in and be our friend. 

So, if in the journey of life He has been shut out, open the door of your heart to Him.  He is knocking.  All you need to do is answer the door.

(This was written by Pastor Fenn for a Calgary senior citizens’ newsletter.)