Knock Knock, Who's there.....?

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.

These words are said by Jesus Himself.

As such, this scripture is often used for evangelistic purposes.... Is Jesus knocking at your door for you to let Him in your life?

But, let's be clear about the context here. As much as we can use this verse for evangelism to explain to the unsaved that they need to open the door to Jesus, in reality the original context and meaning is completely different, and incredibly important.

Jesus spoke these words to His CHURCH.

Pause a moment and consider that. His own church, who should know Him and who have already opened the door of their heart to Him. Those people who call Him Lord. A church of Jesus had shut Him out. Not an individual member.....A whole church!

His plea is to the individuals who will let Him back into their hearts and lives. "If ANYONE who hears..."

We think we're ok at church. We assume Jesus is there because we meet in a church building, we sing praise songs, pray, and go through the motions. But this church thought that too!
Turns out, they did all that stuff without Jesus.

They sang their songs, said their prayers, called Him Lord, but He wasn't in their church services. Now, I don't know about you, but that's pretty scary to contemplate.

Not only is He not there in the church, Jesus is standing OUTSIDE the door knocking, asking to come in, and no one is listening to or hearing Him.

How can we get to that place where a whole church has turned Jesus outside?! I am not even sure I'd define that as a church, personally. It's not one I'd want to be in, that's for sure.

But how do we know our churches aren't exactly the same as this one? The Laodicean church obviously didn't know, they thought they were doing well; they said they were rich, they were blessed.

The church was lukewarm. Furthermore, Jesus said this lukewarmness made Him want to vomit. Strong words from our Saviour.

The church was pleasing man not God. It was concerned less about trusting in God and more about trusting in the outward appearances and earthly riches.

They trusted in the things they had.....money, material things, and probably a large congregation..... and as a consequence, they ceased trusting in God.

SPIRITUAL POVERTY

Even though outwardly they had what they needed, they were spiritually poor, Jesus says. They had one foot in the world, and one foot in the church. The church of Christ cannot live like that!
We end up with messages that tickle the ears, instead of stirring the heart to repentance. We end up with compromised Christianity instead of the whole counsel of God. We end up being people pleasers, and not God pleasers.

It's much better to be a God pleaser than a people pleaser.

Once we get into pleasing people, being afraid of offending people, we step into a spiral of ebbing away from God and from trusting in Him. And we eventually become lukewarm.

Lukewarm water is horrible, as is lukewarm tea. It's insipid. Jesus says we're like that when we don't trust Him, and instead trust in ourselves and in the world, and aren't zealous for Him.

Are we burning with passion for Him? Or are we lukewarm? Lukewarm Christians are not really passionate about pointing people to Jesus. Not really passionate about discipling them. Not passionate about His church.

He's coming for a church without spot or blemish. Yet this church here in Rev 3 don't even have Jesus in it!

This requires us all individually to take a look at ourselves. Do we just say we live by faith, but really we live by sight and trust in the world? Do we live by people pleasing and self reliance? If we do, we are a Laodicean.

Without faith it is impossible to please God. We must live by faith, trusting God as our provider no matter what earthly riches we may have or may not have. God is our source, our provider.

We must trust God that even when we preach His uncompromised word, and people get offended (and they will) or we show people the errors of their ways and they hate us (and some will), that we are completing kingdom work and that these are eternal acts of gold, silver and precious jewels.
If we trust in man, and don't fulfil our calling, we are storing up wood, hay and stubble.

What must we learn from the Laodicean church? I believe the most important lesson is :
Don't assume He's in the building just because you are in church.

If there's no sign of Jesus in the church, run.
If there's no sign of Jesus in your life, open the door to Jesus - He's standing and knocking.......