A Proud Church in a Proud Society (Rev. 3:14-22)

Pride was the fault of Nebuchadnezzar, the Old Testament Babylonian king (Dan. 4). Pride was the fault of Herod, the New Testament ruler of the Jews (Acts 12:21-23). As a result God made the first man insane and the second He killed Such judgment has happened many times over throughout history. The reason is God’s utter hatred for pride. “I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech” (Prov. 8:13). In Revelation 3:14 the Lord Jesus is identified as “the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.” As such, to a proud church He appears with all certainty, finality and ultimate authority. The principle is just this: A people who are proud and think they need nobody’s help are a people who are doomed to failure.

• First, let us consider A city too rich and too proud for its own good (3:14). Of all the seven cities represented in our Lord’s letters to the churches one stood out for its wealth. That was Laodicea. They accumulated riches by becoming an important center of trade and communication. In addition, they produced a fine quality of famous glossy black wool. So wealthy was Laodicea that after the great earthquake of A.D. 17, which destroyed it, the people refused imperial help in rebuilding the city, choosing rather to do it entirely by themselves. Incidentally, they also had a famous school of medicine, and a special ointment known as “Phrygian powder,” famous for its cure of eye defects. However, their wealth could not change the fact that the city had poor water. It came from one of two sources, either from hot springs or from a cooler source. But both were over six miles away leaving the water lukewarm after traveling through a long aqueduct from those sources. Their wealth could not solve this water problem.

Why is this important? Many people think money can buy them anything, including happiness. No one questions the value of wealth. It provides us a dimension of well-being, security in the event of emergencies. However, it also provides the occasion to become self-sufficient and very proud. So, wealth could be our undoing. Mark Twain saw this at the end of the 19th century. He said, “The offspring of riches is pride, vanity, ostentation, arrogance and tyranny.” During that same era another great man, the Englishman Samuel Butler, stated, “The truest characters of ignorance are vanity, and pride and arrogance.” Our present society has become arrogant and proud in many ways. Does that make us ignorant to our precarious position? God says it does. “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18). We must learn that our wealth cannot buy us everything.

• But in that proud city is a church. That’s a good thing because the city needs some godly influences. Jesus said, “Ye are the salt of the earth … Ye are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:13-14). He then encourages His disciples to let their light so shine that men, in seeing the Christian’s good works, would then glorify God. But something was wrong with this church. It did not influence the city; the city influenced it and so we have … a lukewarm church. It was the same temperature as the city in which it lived.

And so, secondly, A church too rich and too proud for its own good (3:14-22). They even make the claim, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing” (3:17). How similar is that to the claim of the city! We must remember that money isn’t everything. Jesus continued His thought in Matt. 5:13 when He stated that believers are the salt of the earth, “But if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.” Remember, there is one thing the rich city could not improve on – their poor water. The same is true of the church. This church was lukewarm. We will reserve that thought for next week.

Why is this topic important? We cannot deny the fact: Our American churches are wealthy. How do we treat that? Is there any place in God’s plans for money? Can He approve of us if we have money? The answer is to be found in Luke 6:1-15. Practically every commentator agrees that the parable of the unjust steward refers to how wise ungodly men are in the use of their money for their temporal and finite needs. Without question the moral of the story is that Christians should make wise use of all of their resources for what is eternal and everlasting. It is also believed that the unjust steward had probably illegally charged these men interest which he buried in the initial debt, and intended to keep this money for himself. If this is correct, the steward was not reducing the amount his master was to receive. The master, in seeing the manner in which the steward relieved the burden of others to put others in his debt, commended the steward. As Christians, we should use our resources, both monetary and spiritual, to relieve the burdens of the poor and those in need so we may be well received into the kingdom of heaven. The whole point of teaching here is to appreciate values. The unjust steward began to value temporal things. We should value the good in spiritual and eternal things. The lord saw a valuable prudence in his steward. The Lord Jesus teaches us to look to the future—to invest in eternal securities. Our goods should be laid on the altar that we may have an abundant entrance into eternal life. We are not to trust in riches but are to use them as means to a desired end. If we trust in riches, we become a servant to mammon (money), a servant to the god of greed. If we trust in God the Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, then we view our money as a gift of God and realize that the best use we can make of our money is to use it so others may be brought to Christ.

Verse for This Week: “I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech” (Prov. 8:13).

Your Step for This Week: Choose someone you know who is proud. Develop a list of what you see as symptoms of his pride and why he would be proud.

Prayer for This Week: Help me, Lord Jesus, to be humble in my service for You, not holding on to any wealth you have granted me but to use it for Your kingdom.