A church that looked like it had it together

Pastor Devon Ortiz began in Colossians 2:1-7, where Paul writes to people he has never met and says he is "joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ." He then turned to Colossians 4:12-17, where the church at Laodicea is named again, and reminded the congregation that Laodicea is the church Jesus calls lukewarm in Revelation 3. Only about 35 years separate the two. In Colossians the church looks like it is thriving. How does a church get from there to Revelation? That was the question behind the message, and Pastor Ortiz called it "before they were lukewarm."

He described the city. Laodicea was a banking and investment center, much like the Silicon Valley around us. It was known for its valuable black wool and for a medical school famous for an eye salve that gave relief in a dry, dusty climate. Not long after Colossians was written an earthquake leveled much of the city, and the people rebuilt it bigger and grander than before, without any outside help. That sounds impressive, Pastor Ortiz said, but a church that learns to take care of itself can slowly stop needing anyone, and in the end stop needing God. By Revelation 3:17 the church says, "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing," and does not know it is "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."

What Paul prayed for

In verse 1 Paul says he has a "great conflict" for the Colossians and for Laodicea. Pastor Ortiz explained that the word means wrestling, battling in prayer, and Paul was doing it for people who had never seen his face. Before Laodicea ever heard a rebuke, it was being prayed for. In verses 2 and 3 Paul names what he is asking God to give them.

Comfort. Physical soothing does not fix a spiritual problem, Pastor Ortiz said. A nap, the same show watched again, or pulling away from serving God will not help someone who is struggling inside. Jesus did not say to take time away. He said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

Unity in love. This is not a unity where everything is easy and nothing goes wrong. It begins with putting God first, and Pastor Ortiz asked whether God is first above our work, our finances, our entertainment, and our relationships. It then reaches to loving our neighbor, sometimes in spite of ourselves, because we can be unlovable too. When no one fights to love the unlovable, he said, no one fights to love us, and the unity is gone.

The right riches. Paul wrote to a banking city and pointed their hearts to the riches in Christ, "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." When life gets expensive, our first answer is "I need to work more," even when it pulls us away from family, church, and the Bible. Why is the answer not to go to God more? We love Philippians 4:19, "my God shall supply all your need according to his riches," until living it means trusting Him over our own effort. Wisdom works the same way. James 1:5 says to ask God, yet we go to four different people and follow whoever gives the best advice. No man will be the answer to your problems, he said, and being too embarrassed to admit where we are weak keeps us from the help God offers. When Christ stops being your treasure, your bank account, your possessions, and your accolades become the proof of your blessing.

Enticing words

In verse 4 Paul warns against being beguiled "with enticing words." Pastor Ortiz said the world's knowledge is not God's wisdom, and we have let it shape how we raise children, how we build marriages, and where we find confidence. Scripture teaches that children face consequences, yet the culture says let them decide for themselves, and he said we are reaping the rebellion. Confidence does not come from talking to yourself in a mirror, he said. It comes from doing the work: exercise if you dislike your body, a budget if you dislike your finances, and canceling a few streaming subscriptions if you wonder where the money goes. "I'm talking to the pulpit, too," he added.

How a church ends up lukewarm

Pastor Ortiz named what we need to recognize if we want to avoid ending up like Laodicea.

People fought in prayer for you. Paul agonized in prayer for a church he had never visited. Epaphras, named in Colossians 4:12 as laboring fervently in prayer for the Laodiceans, was in prison with Paul (Philemon 23) and was called to pastor those churches. Pastor Ortiz asked who is praying that you would grow up in Christ, and whether you are letting them down. Judges 2:10 shows where neglect leads: "there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD." When we start to look more like the world than like Christ, a generation soon follows that does not know God at all.

Laodicea was offered the right riches and chose the wrong value. They were offered what could save and satisfy them and settled for a cheap imitation, like a bag with holes in it. By Revelation 3 the church measured itself by the riches that built it up. Pastor Ortiz asked what we use as the measure of God's blessing: a nice home, a nice car, a nice family. If God is not using those things in your life, he said, you are not blessed, you are only taken care of. Moses warned Israel in Deuteronomy 8:12-14 that when you have eaten and are full and have built goodly houses, your heart will be lifted up and you will forget the Lord. He has watched people get a small blessing, such as the job they begged for, and run so far from God that they never noticed it spoiling.

Laodicea had drift in plain sight. To "beguile" means to twist you from where you should be to where you are going, and he described how it shows up. One form is self-soothing. Everyone has been hurt, he said, so being hurt does not make you special, and "I need to take it easy" becomes the reason to skip Sunday night and Wednesday night, or to watch church online. Another is culture matching, doing something because everyone else does even when it differs from God's Word. The culture can quote Scripture too, as the serpent did in Genesis 3, and God has never lined up with the majority. Another is excuses, such as "this is why I do not serve God the way I used to." He asked, if I served God the way you do, would you be okay with that? Standing face to face with Jesus, will "I was busy with work" matter? In the same chapter of Colossians that names Paul, Luke, and Epaphras stands Demas, who according to 2 Timothy 4:10 forsook Paul because he loved this present world. Pastor Ortiz said he is watching Christians who were once sold out for God turn into the world around them and think they are fine.

We have a charge to keep. Colossians 4:17 tells Archippus to "take heed to the ministry which thou hast received in the Lord, that thou fulfil it." Our charge is to walk with God and keep moving forward. Colossians 2:7 says we are rooted and built up. Being rooted happens once, but being built up is an everyday thing, and if you are in the same place you were before, or in a lesser one, he said, you are dying. He gave ways to answer that charge.

Give yourself to prayer. Nearly every hand goes up when he asks who believes in prayer, yet only a small fraction of the church comes to prayer meeting. James 5:16 says the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. When will we decide to yield ourselves to it?

Endure afflictions. He acknowledged that this year has been hard, with the church moving from building to building and money tight. Even so, 2 Timothy 4:5 says to endure. Your family is watching, and when you step back, the weight falls on someone else.

Do the work of an evangelist. The church at Laodicea became unusable in Revelation because it stopped giving out the gospel, he said. He asked each person whether they had been an evangelist this week. He said he keeps hearing the same story from other pastors, of churches struggling to stay open, and asked whether Victory Baptist Church will still be here in 15 or 20 years. Not if we become like the church of Laodicea, he said, listening to the world's thoughts and doing things the world's way.

Do the work of the ministry. That work is not only for staff, the pastor, or the deacons. It is for the church, and the church is not a building. It has met in several places, and this one is not the church either. The church is the people who gather. Older saints are asked to do what they can, younger people building careers are asked to endure, and those in the middle juggling many things are asked the same. If we do not, he said, ten, fifteen, or twenty years from now Victory Baptist Church will be a nice memory, a place we drive past and say, remember, that was our church.

Before you turn lukewarm

Pastor Ortiz closed by praying that God would convince each person to return to what they used to do before they allowed themselves to grow lukewarm, and that this would not be only a Sunday message the church walks away from but a warning. He asked anyone who was unsure they would go to heaven if they died that day to raise a hand so someone could show them from the Bible how to know.