Before we come to the application of these
messages, it is appropriate that we should consider the nature
of the word “Church” for the simple reason that many people
repudiate it as applying to a really Christian Church. “Ekklesia”
the word used, may be interpreted “assembly” or “gathering of
called-out ones”, or “convention” in the best sense of the word
(being convened). It occurs more than a hundred times in the
New Testament, and is always translated “Church” with the exception
of the instances regarding the Civic Assembly in Ephesus.
In the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament,
the word Ekklesia is used along with the Greek for
Synagogue to translate the Hebrew Kahal, which fact
throws further light on the subject. For Kahal is used
variously in the Old Testament to denote a called-out assembly
of Israel or of a tribe, or an assembly gathered out for worship.
So whether we use the word “Church” to denote
the general professing Church, or the actual Church of believers,
there are lessons to be learned.
It is when we study the message to the Church
of the Laodiceans that we find our message.
The condition of the Laodicean Church fits
our present-day state in Christendom exactly.
”I know thy works, that thou art neither
cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because
thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee
out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased
with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou
art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked...As
many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore,
and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man
hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and
will sup with him, and he with me.”
Can this be made to apply to the spiritual
condition of believers? Let us see. First of all, Laodicea was
an ekklesia, a gathered-out assembly for worship. Secondly,
it is suggested that this church was in a peculiar relationship
with the Lord, because of the words: “All whom I hold dear,
I reprove and chastise.”
“For whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth,
and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening,
God dealeth with you as with sons, for what son is he whom the
father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof
all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” (Heb
12: 6-9)
This makes me think that the rebuke given
Laodicea may be fairly applied to believers. Lukewarmness,
self-satisfaction,
half-heartedness, backsliding, formalism, indifference, self-righteousness,
greed for gold, worldliness, pride, self-deception, spiritual
destitution, blindness and lack of vision, easily-seen-through—these
are the characteristics of Laodicea, and these are the characteristics
abounding today.
What would anyone think of an individual who
possessed all these characteristics ...surely the greatest backslider
living! But examine the position collectively.
Put together they look rather bad. If the majority
of your church members share a majority of these indications
of spiritual poverty, then your church is a Laodicean church.
And if the majority of churches in your district
are thus backslidden, then everything said to Laodicea applies
to your neighborhood. What would you do with an individual Christian
who was thus backslidden in heart and life? You would first
pray for him. You would seek to show him his need. You would
seek to make him concerned about his need. You would point out
to him the life more abundant. You would tell him that Calvary
means power, and that Christ will restore.
All that has been said about individuals applies
with equal force to the larger groups in which individual Christians
find themselves a place. The life of the majority of churches
and societies is sub-normal, stunted in growth, paralyzed instead
of powerful. What is the trouble? It is just general backsliding.
The author was once told by an agnostic: “I
think I would be a Christian [if it were not] for the Christians.”
Another man of communistic views is reported having said to
a parson: “I have a regard for your Jesus, but I am sure I see
no connection between Him and the life of your church.”
Churches, and all other groups of Christians,
are just like individuals—either they are growing in grace or
else they are backsliding. Such backsliding is often a vicious
circle, for spiritual poverty produces worldliness, and worldliness
brings greater spiritual poverty.
Little by little, the church loses its grip
on essential things, becomes a social club, goes to sleep or
flies off at a tangent. All over the world we find sleeping
churches, and all around them are the gospel-starved masses.
Instead of performing the first thing of importance, evangelizing
the masses, they are engaged in a bewildering variety of pastimes—anything
but the real thing.
It has pleased the Lord to intervene at times
to bring back His people to a more normal life. This is called
revival. Revival, it must be noted, is solely the concern of
believers, and is not an evangelistic campaign as many seem
to think, although such a gospel effort may be the outcome of
revival among Christians.
The greatest need of the churches today is
revival.
Revival is of course a matter for individuals
as well as churches—and in such cases, it is often called “full
surrender”, or “a clean heart”, or “victory over sin”—the term
is not of such vast importance provided we recognize that the
experience is simply the forsaking of a subnormal experience
for the normal Christian life. This is individual revival.
Returning to the words of Scripture, we find
the message of the Lord blunt and powerful. “I counsel thee...”
There is no mistaking what the Lord thinks of that Church. His
denunciation; “You say that you stand in need of nothing” is
met by an offer of pure gold instead of dross, clothing instead
of shame, ointment to cure the blindness.
Again...repentance! What does it mean? Be in
earnest, and change your warped mind, change your backslidden
heart, change your wrong attitude, change your contrary direction.
Repent! The next exhortation is one of mixed tenderness and
urgency; ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man
hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in and sup with
him, and he with Me.” This plea, preached so often with effect
to unregenerate sinners, would be even more effective with believers
in the Church.
It is the Lord Christ Who stands outside the
door of the Laodicean Church. He is patiently, tenderly knocking.
Few hear Him, and many of those that do are too busy with other
things to open the door. And those that are eager to open the
door are often hindered by others who stand in the way. Still
He is knocking.
To the individual, there is wonderful comfort.
Christ does not say, “If you persuade all the rest to let me
in,” but rather, “If any man hear My voice.” Individual responsibility
is as great regarding revival as regarding salvation. Letting
Christ into the heart means revival for the individual who does
it.
If “revival is the reception by the church
of life abundant,” revival is also reception by the individual
of the life abundant. Revival has always begun through the
obedience
of individuals. Four young men, together with individuals scattered
throughout the Province, prayed down the Ulster Revival Of
1859.
Evan Roberts and other individual servants of God prayed down
the Welsh Revival Of 1904. God lit little fires here and there
in individual homes, and when they became numerous the place
went on fire. Andrew Gih, listening to a plea made by Paget
Wilkes, in Shanghai, did not wait until the rest of China was
moved. He opened his heart to revival, and God has been using
him as a revivalist ever since. Instances could be multiplied.
”If any man hear My voice, I will come in and
sup with him, and he with Me.” Revival must begin somewhere.
It must begin in some heart. Who knows but it might start with
you?
Many Christians are waiting for a collective
stirring...something that will be labeled “revival” right away.
God is waiting for individual stirrings, and He is waiting for
you. Get the perspective right. “If any man.…”
The Church will be moved when its members are
moved. Who will be one of Revival’s advance guard? And so the
fact remains, revival is the greatest need of both individual
and Church. We must not regard revival as some supernatural
occurrence that we cannot understand. Revival for the individual
is simply deeper blessing. Revival in the Church is simply deeper
blessing. And deeper blessing is the reward for growth in grace.
One finds that certain groups of Christians
and certain schools of thought put forward their own formula
for revival. It is our strong conviction that God’s truth is
always simple—it has nothing complicated about it. The Lord
stirs up His people in many mysterious ways, but the fact remains,
He has promised revival to those who ask, to those who will
pay the price.
Thus we see the greatest tragedy of all—this
paralyzing, deadly backsliding is wholly unnecessary, wholly
uncalled for. At any time, an individual or a church may receive
“blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
Sin is very deceptive. The backslider or backsliding
Church makes all the excuses possible for the deplorable state
of backsliding and powerlessness. There may be a noticeable
amount of energy—that is all part of the pretence. Backsliders
see so few better than themselves that they begin to feel secure—they
lull themselves to sleep, and snore so loudly that they cannot
hear the call “Awake!”
But many individuals feel a sense of disappointment
and failure. Their hearts are hungry for deeper blessing. Many
more pretend that their lives are all right, when they are not
all right. They are more dangerous than conscious backsliders,
for they are always praying for blessing upon “somebody else,”
ignoring their own greater need.
Pretence and disappointment—disappointment
and pretence. This is the condition of multitudes of starved
Christians. The author has been privileged to witness God’s
power manifested in many genuine revivals—and it has always
been noticed that those who are disappointed get a glimpse of
new hope...those who pretend get shown up. “Search me, O God,
and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts; see if there
be any wicked way in me; and lead me in the way everlasting.”
(Ps 139:23)
The important thing to remember is repentance
is the prelude to revival. The Church must first repent!
