It’s a shocking statement but Jesus said it – ‘You make me sick’ (Rev. 3:16).

These are the startling words which Jesus speaks to the church in Laodicea. The Saviour is not here addressing those who are in the world. He’s not speaking to those who are hardened in their sins and openly rebelling against His authority. No, He’s speaking to His people in the congregation of Laodicea.

What has gone wrong? How did a church ever end up in such a pitiful condition as to be addressed by the Saviour in this way? These are the issues that we must probe together.

The City⤒🔗

Laodicea was situated about 160 kilometres east of Ephesus and a little south-east of Philadelphia. It was a prosperous city whose people were considered to be somewhat proud. In AD 60 they had suffered a great earthquake but had refused to accept financial help from Rome for reconstruction work. This attitude is summed up in the words of verse 17: ‘I have need of nothing’. Laodicea was also a renowned medical centre and it seems to have had a reputation as the place where a famous eye salve had been developed. Commentators also make the point that there were many black sheep found grazing around the city, and that a black wool clothing industry had grown up within the city which had considerably added to its prosperity.

As such, a picture is developing of the kind of place Laodicea was. A self-sufficient, wealthy and proud people lived there. Their medical school was world renowned ... Beware! All of us are moulded and shaped by the society around us to a greater degree than we ever realise. We underestimate the extent to which the place in which we live is impacting and eroding our spiritual lives. It is evident from the whole tone of this letter that the believers in Laodicea were men and women who had become too dependent on themselves and their resources and their own abilities rather than casting themselves in humble dependence on the Lord Himself.

The Church←⤒🔗

The Church was ‘neither cold nor hot ... lukewarm’ (Rev 3:15 and 16). Here we see Jesus, the preacher, at His very best. His analysis of the situation in Laodicea in verses 15 and 16, and His counsel to them in verse 18 demonstrate to us that in our preaching we are to be relevant, and that our application is to ‘ring bells’ with our hearers.

Laodicea was renowned for water that tasted bad and which could make one sick. So when Jesus describes their condition as ‘lukewarm’ they knew exactly what He was saying. And when He said: ‘I will vomit you out of my mouth’ (verse 16) they could identify very well with what He meant. God’s people in the congregation of Laodicea had become half-hearted, complacent and much too dependent on themselves rather than the Lord. Such a situation must not continue. They were in a bad way. Indeed of all the letters to the various churches this is the only one in which can be found no word of commendation at all!

The Remedy←⤒🔗

But all is not lost. The Saviour, who rebukes and chastens His people (verse 19), continues to love them. He counsels them to do three things. They must repent (verse 19). They must recognise their lamentable spiritual poverty. With remarkable insight into their situation and with a wonderful appreciation of what ‘makes them sick’, Jesus encourages them in verse 18 to acknowledge that they are spiritually poor, naked and blind. From this position of brokenness they need to cry out to the Lord.

Principally, however, Jesus encourages them to come to Him for fellowship. In what must be the most misunderstood text in the whole of the New Testament Jesus in verse 20 addresses, not unbelievers, but His people. Despite Holman Hunt’s famous painting based upon this verse we are not looking here at a pathetic and weak Christ trying to break into the lives of sinners but unable to do so unless they ‘open the door’ of their hearts. No, what we have here is a tender appeal from Jesus to a half-hearted people who are serving Him on automatic pilot to stop, wait upon Him and draw strength and help from communion with Him. The imagery is that of a meal. This meal is not a quick snack – ‘a sandwich in the hand’ – but a supper where the participants will not only eat together but will spend time lingering in one another’s presence enjoying conversation and appreciating one another’s company. ‘Come to Me’, says Jesus. ‘Stop doing everything in the church in such a mechanical, automatic, detached way’. ‘Recognise that you can do nothing unless I am with you and at work in you’. ‘Depend not on yourself but on Me’.

That’s the challenge for us. What kind of worker are you in Christ’s Church? Have you been teaching Sunday school or preaching for so long that it’s just become second nature to you? Are you casting yourself on God before you go out to the children’s meeting or just ‘winging it’?

‘Come to Me’, says Jesus. ‘Spend time with me. It’s you, it’s your heart, not your work that I want.’