THE CHURCH THAT JESUS VISITS

Rev. 3:20

Morning Meditation 4/29/2013

“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

Jesus is the foundation of the church. I’m going to shock you by saying not everything on that foundation will stand. Why would I make a statement like that? Because Paul did. He says in First Corinthians 3:11-15 that one can build on that foundation out of wood, hay and stubble. He says it will be tried by fire and teaches that some will suffer the loss of every thing they have worked to build. They were building on the right foundation but they were building out of materials that will not stand the test of fire. He says they will suffer loss but they themselves will be saved “yet so as by fire.”

Jesus is the head of the church. The church can do as much without her head as a physical body can do without its head. Oh, they can make a lot of noise and build big buildings and run large crowds, but that does not mean Jesus is doing it. We are so product oriented that if we are not making some kind of a big splash, we consider ourselves failures. If that is true, according to today’s judgment, Jesus was one of the biggest failures of all time. And I guess the most successful church man of our day is the pope because he runs 250 to 300 thousand in his Sunday School class on Easter Sunday Morning! Jesus is the head of the church. His success orientation is different from that of the world.

But in this meditation I want us to consider the church that Jesus visits. In our text Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock...” He is addressing the local church in Laodicea. The words “I stand” (histemi) mean “to cause or make to stand, to place, to put, to set.” It is a perfect active indicative verb. The perfect tense is completed action in the past, that completed action having present results. When applied to this statement, the perfect tense means “I have taken my stand before the door in the past and I remain there.” The active voice is where the subject does the acting. Jesus is the subject. This means when applied to this statement that Jesus made the sovereign choice to do this. He is standing before the door of the Laodicean Church knocking on the door. The word “knock” (krouo) means to knock at a door. It is present tense and the present tense represents continuous action. In other words this was going on continuously at the Laodicean Church door. Jesus didn’t knock just one time and give up and go on. He was not in this church. He was outside.

How did Jesus wind up outside the Laodicean Church? This church is built on the right foundation or Jesus would not be knocking wanting in. The foundation of the church is not this church’s problem. If you will study this passage you will discover that Jesus is not the head. He tells them what is wrong but no one is listening. That is definitely suggested in the words “If any man hear my voice, and open the door...” Jesus does not indwell the church that will not let him be head. Jesus is not going to serve on a committee. He is the committee. He is not going call the deacons together and ask their advice, He doesn’t need any advise. He knows all the questions and has all the answers. Jesus is not there to ok the churches decisions. He is there to dictate doctrine and practice. When a church begins to ignore the Lordship of Christ and take over and take his leadership away from him, you will find him outside knocking wanting in. When this happens, if he comes, it will be as a visitor.

What does this passage suggest as the cause for this deplorable condition? First, I believe it is suggested in the very name of this church. The word “Laodicea” is a combination of two words, i.e., “Laos” which is the word for people and “dike” which means “right, just, or the execution of a sentence.” It is where the people set themselves up as judges of what is right and wrong. If the Laodicean Church did this, it would be equal to the Baptist way of democracy in the local church. Do we have an example of this in the Bible? Yes, in Judges 17:6 the Bible says, “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

Notice what Jesus says in 3:17, “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing...” This was their profession. This is what they were saying about themselves. We have all we need. That is real independence, isn’t it. They didn’t need their sister Churches. They didn’t need the Lord. They evidently didn’t even miss him.

But Jesus instructs this church even if they think they don’t need it. How would you like to have been the pastor (the angel) of this church and received a red letter addition of this epistle and read it privately getting ready to read it publicly on Sunday morning. Do you think that pastor may have gotten on his knees for a change and said something like “Lord, are you sure you want me to read this letter to the people this Sunday morning and tell them it is from you?” I think this pastor was between a rock and a hard place. I think he may have prayed, “Lord, I personally know some people who are going to throw a fit when I read this letter. Lord, you may be getting me fired.” Of course, my imagination just goes wild. I think the Lord might have replied, “Will you please reread this epistle. And when you come to the words “be zealous,” I would like for you to look that word “zealous” up in Strong’s Concordance and check the meaning of that word!!!” “You also need to look that word ‘repent’ up and check the meaning.” I think Jesus would say, “speaking of getting fired. You do need fired up a little!”

Jesus says in our text verse, “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.” This is a church that Jesus wants to visit. But he needs an invitation. Will Jesus come into a rich, self-sufficient church that thinks it has need of nothing? Yes, he is wanting to enter a church like this. But he needs an invitation. Someone behind those doors must hear his voice. I want to weep when I think of this. Jesus is crying out for someone to hear him. Think about it. It is his church. He is outside knocking at the door. He can’t enter until someone hears his voice and opens the door. The word “open” is an aorist active subjunctive verb. The aorist tense refers to an action at a point of time. The active voice where the subject (any man) acts, i.e., makes a choice, decides. The subjunctive mood is the mood of possibility. This is an offer on the part of the Lord. It is conditioned on someone hearing his voice and opening the door. Here is the promise: “I will come into him” not them. Jesus will visit the man in the church who will open the door. That means you can be in one of these doctrinally straight self sufficient churches and have a real time of fellowship with the Lord. You will be the only one in the crowd who knows what is going on but go ahead and do it anyhow!!! Jesus will visit the man in the church who will hear his voice and open the door.

There was an old lady one time that shouted every time the preacher said something good about Jesus. It was a real frustration to the new preacher. At times it even made him lose his place in his sermon! Well the new preacher instructed the deacons to come and get her and carry her out the next time she shouted and disturbed the service. Well sure enough. The preacher said something about Jesus that thrilled the old lady and she just let it go and began to praise God. A couple of the deacons came and got her. One on one side the other on the other side. Down the isle they carried her in this fashion. As they went out the auditorium door she shouted, “Praise God! Jesus rode into Jerusalem on one and I’m riding out of this church on two!!!”

May the Lord bless you.

In Christ

Bro. White