I can’t help but notice something that I think speaks volumes about the heart of God.  As I read about the lukewarm church in Laodicea it’s hard not to see just what a wretched condition it’s in.  In fact, to this particular church God has nothing good to say!  He brings only rebuke.

But here’s the totally awesome thing… God’s rebuke is the proof of His love!  He still loves them!

“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent!”  (Revelation 3:19)

God’s not just giving up!  Here’s a church He has no praise for at all, only rebuke, yet even for that church, in that condition, He holds out His heart of mercy!  What a great picture of His longsuffering and love!

When we think of the church in Laodicea one of the first things that comes to mind is the words Jesus uttered about Him being ready to spit them out of His mouth.  I don’t want to soften that.  The warning is clear, it comes from Jesus, and we can be sure that He means it.  But why does He say it?  Because He loves us!  Because He wants us to repent; because He’d rather show mercy than judgment.  Look at the heart of God!

It sounds a lot like the awesome love God has for you and me as individuals, doesn’t it?  While I was yet a sinner Christ died for me!  Do we understand the love God has for His church?  That even if we’re in the most wretched condition He’s holding out His hand to us still?

Unless we come with this heart for His Church we’re not really coming with the heart of God.

I had just released and uploaded my song, “Where is the love?” on June 25th and on that day found an email from David Wilkerson’s ministry titled, “Are you a merciful person?”   It was one of those God moments that stops and makes you think.  My new song is all about showing mercy and how Christians judge each other and the hurting world around them, so getting an email about that subject the very day I released the song was bound to get my attention!  You should go and read what he has to say.  You can find his article here.  I appreciate what he wrote, and can say that some of the things he spoke were all too real to me as our small home group went through a rough spot recently.  The scripture tells us that “if one part suffers, every part suffers with it… “  (1 Corinthians 12:26)  Do we understand that we can make the suffering worse by our lack of mercy?  But love covers a multitude of sins. Mercy triumphs over judgment!  (James 2:13)  If only we could grab a hold of that!

The most common phrase quoted about the church in Laodicea is?  My guess would be, “So, because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold-I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

I wonder why we do that; tell only half the story?  We like to thunder the judgment and forget the mercy!  James tells us that, “Mercy triumphs over judgment”, but you’d never know it by the way we act sometimes.  I used to be very good at proclaiming judgment.  I’d visit a church with thunder and lightning!  I’d always leave wondering why I did that.  I was so aware of my need of mercy, but so hard on others.  Then one day God stopped me in the middle of my message.  I was speaking on “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as they did in the rebellion!”  I was emoting, and pointing my finger, and practically shouting when I heard God’s still small voice say to me, “Is THAT the way I say it?”  No, it wasn’t, he made plain to me.  He was pleading.  His cry was out of a heart of mercy!  He didn’t want to judge, so his warning came as a plea, a cry of love!  By this time I’d started singing the next song while this conversation with God was going on in my head.  Then I heard Him say, “Now tell them how I say it!”  Oh boy, I was instantly humbled.  I stopped my song right in the middle of it all and said, “I need to tell you something…”  I could tell by the expressions on peoples faces that they were puzzled.  I must have looked like quite the double personality up there, swinging from “hell fire and brimstone” to “Jesus loves His little lambs”!  The tone of my voice, the look of my countenance, had all suddenly changed as I told the people what God had just told me… His mercy triumphs over judgment!

You’d think that would have cured me of my “wrath of God” delivery methods.  It didn’t.  But it did make me start thinking, and over time I came to ask myself, “Why do I ask God for mercy when it comes to me, but call down judgment when it comes to others?”  I was so aware of my own need for grace, but sure had a hard time extending it to the lives of others.  I had become a Pharisee!  And a judge!  And I thought I was being a minister of the gospel! 

Now the funny thing is, I learned that people thought that all the shouting, and thundering and such was spiritual!  What????  Yes, many thought my behavior was “anointed”!  I found that out after I decided I wasn’t going to do it anymore.  I explained my decision to some people who I thought would say, “Oh, good!  We’ve been waiting for that!”  But instead I got, “Are you SURE?  It’s so powerful when you speak like that!”

Well, it might have sounded powerful, but I was sure God was telling me it wasn’t spiritual, and I changed my ways.  It all came down to attitude.  (Jeremiah represents the correct attitude: Jeremiah was a “weeping prophet”.  He told the truth, but his heart was filled with mercy.)  In the New Testament we’d called that, “speaking the truth in love”!

Which brings me back to the church of Laodicea.  Why do we always hear just half the story?  Why is it always about Jesus spitting us lukewarm Christians out of His mouth?  Why isn’t it about Him giving us an invitation to dine with Him?  Think about that!  THAT’S in there too!  We have an invitation to dine with Jesus!  How can we just leave that out when we talk about the lukewarm church?  Jesus asks you to have supper or breakfast with Him and you don’t think that’s worth mentioning??

His message to the church in Laodicea is exactly what He explained to me that day when I was thundering my judgment… it’s not about judgment, it’s about mercy… “I want you to dine with me!”  He tells us the reason He’s rebuked us and disciplined us is BECAUSE HE LOVES US!  He goes on to tell us THAT’S the reason we should repent and then GIVES US AN INVITATION TO DINE WITH HIM!

“Here I am!  I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and He with me.”

Yes, that’s right, Jesus wants to have dinner with you!  He wants to hang out and have fellowship!  THAT’S the whole reason for all the other stuff written to the church of Laodicea.  It’s not about Him wanting to judge you, it’s about Him wanting to love you and be with Him!  Revelation 3:20 is often used to call the unsaved to come to eternal life in Christ, but the truth is, in context it’s actually an invitation that God is making to a wayward church!  “Turn from your lukewarm life and come have dinner with me!”  Wow!

Find it at Revelation 3:14-22