All Scripture quotations are taken from the New American Standard Bible 1995 Ed., published by The Lockman Foundation

You see a largely social-gospel believing United Methodist Church sign on the side of the road, shake your head at its clever gospel-less word of counsel about loving others like Jesus did, and think, “those poor people are just a part of a christianized social club.” Or maybe you see a crowd of pious-looking and orthodox-sounding confessional Presbyterians filing into a church building to listen to a cold and precise lecture on the finer points of the gospel, but know that almost all of the congregation act no different than their unbelieving neighbors outside of the church service. You might refer to them as a “synagogue of Satan”.

Similar things could be said about congregations from every other mainline Christian denomination. As we could see with a confessional church, though, even orthodox churches can contradict the very teaching that they teach and hear on a regular basis. But are these assemblies that profess the basic biblical gospel of salvation, but show no valid proof that they actually believe it, completely separate from the Lord Jesus, without any concern or interest from Him? Is it true that the Lord takes no responsibility for churches that are Christian in profession and name only? When an assembly shows no sign that the Holy Spirit is living inside of it, should we write it off as having no substantial connection to the Lord? Or is there more to the concept of the visible/invisible church distinction than most of us understand?

I believe Scripture makes it clear that there is. I think that our Lord has more of an interest and investment in spiritually dead, though orthodox in belief, assemblies than most of us acknowledge. It’s now clear to me that any assembly that teaches and professes the apostolic gospel, and yet possesses no faith in it, is still claimed by Jesus as His own – simply because they claim Him as their own.

The plainest passage of Scripture – among very few – that proves this is found in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. At the end of the Lord’s string of letters that are entrusted to John to deliver to seven assemblies is the letter to the famous assembly of the Laodiceans. In His message to this congregation, our Lord reveals exactly what I’ve described. This is a community that claims Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and yet exercises no trusting faith in Him. Their profession of faith is a sham, and contradicted by the way they act. And even though they are living lives of rebellion and disobedience against the Lord they claim as their own, He claims them as His own, and treats them with a special interest, giving them special privileges. In their letter, we see that the Lord truly does have a special category for “visible churches” containing no “invisible members”. And from this letter, we can learn how we should view and treat congregations that we know consist of all hypocrites, even while giving right explanations of the gospel of salvation.

In our study of this letter, we’ll show the evidences that this assembly doesn’t know the Lord, its distinguishing characteristics as a nominal Christian group, and the Lord’s response to such churches.

Laodicean Assemblies are Claimed by the Lord

We must begin by recognizing the assumption in Revelation 1-3 that all the congregations addressed by John’s writing are treated as true communities belonging to Jesus. To begin, in John’s opening address, he describes all seven churches as true Christian churches. He greets them thus:

“John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come . . . To Him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood . . .” (1:1a, 2b)

There is no denying that this is a greeting that could only be sincerely given to believers in Jesus. Only believers have grace and peace from God, and only believers have been “released” from their sins through the bloody death of Jesus.

In addition, John’s vision of the risen High Priest of the assemblies reveals to us that all seven have equal standing in God’s sight. The primary proof for this is the fact that Jesus is pictured as the priest “in the middle of the lampstands,” which He goes on to define as “the seven churches” (1:13, 20). Just as it was the priest’s duty in the Old Testament to sustain the life of the menorah-like lampstand by keeping oil in it, so too it’s the great High Priest’s responsibility to sustain the life of His assemblies.

Finally, and most obvious, the Lord includes among the letters to the assemblies a letter specifically for the Laodiceans. He has a letter for them, just as He has a letter for the faithful assemblies to whom He speaks. And yet, the details of this message show us that this assembly isn’t truly Christian at heart, but only in name and belief.

Evidences that the Laodiceans Don’t Know the Lord

There are several incontrovertible facts that display the unbelieving and unspiritual nature of the assembly in Laodicea. First, “the Beginning of the creation of God” describes them as “neither cold nor hot,” or “lukewarm,” so that He’s ready to “spit” them out of His mouth (3:14-16). In other words, Jesus finds this group of Christians disgusting, so that He’s threatening to separate them absolutely from Him, and have no association with them. Our Lord would never describe His spiritual brethren through the Spirit as “disgusting,” or even think of getting them out of His life. Rather, true believers are His delight, and He’ll do whatever it takes to put up with their faults.

Second, the Lord tells them that they’re “wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (v. 17). In the context of the letter, He’s obviously picturing their spiritual condition, since the history of Laodicea and the boast of this assembly that they’re “rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” both disclose that the physical and earthly condition of these people is luxurious (v. 17). They are telling the truth when they say that they are wealthy, and not needy, though only in worldly terms. Spiritually and morally speaking, this group of people are twisted, impoverished, without understanding, and unclothed. However, everywhere the New Testament speaks in these categories, it congratulates believers as being “complete,” “blessed,” “rich,” “awakened,” and “clothed”. We’ve had our hearts cleansed, we’ve been given true joy, we’ve been given an eternal and limitless inheritance, we’ve been given spiritual sight, and we’ve been clothed in Christ (see 1 Pe. 1; Eph. 1; 2 Cor. 4; Gal. 3).

The third evidence of this group’s depravity and lostness is that the Lord counsels them to buy “gold,” “white garments,” and “eye salve” (v. 18). Not only are they suffering from the worst spiritual conditions, but they’re also devoid of the saving cures for those conditions. They don’t possess the gold of the eternal inheritance, nor the white garments of holy innocence in God’s sight, nor the “salve” of the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. They still must ask for these blessings from Jesus.

Lastly, the Lord discloses that He’s symbolically standing “at the door” of their building, and knocking to receive entrance (v. 20). He isn’t living among them, but is outside like a stranger. In contrast, all true assemblies in the NT are described as enjoying the life of Jesus dwelling in or among them through the Holy Spirit. But among this Christian group, He is substantially absent.

The Characteristics of Nominal Assemblies

From these evidences of the unbelieving and false nature of the Laodiceans, we can deduce several common marks of churches that profess the gospel, but disbelieve the gospel. First, such assemblies obviously profess some understanding of the basic gospel message. Otherwise, Jesus wouldn’t claim the Laodiceans as His own. Also, in His indictment of this group He doesn’t criticize their beliefs or teachings, but their deeds, ambivalence, and boasting. In verse 15, He says that their ambivalence toward Him is demonstrated by their “deeds.” And then in verse 17, He indicts them for boasting about their physical condition, not their spiritual condition.

A second common mark of fake churches is that they trust in their material wealth. This is the reason that the Laodiceans are proud of their wealth and their supply of necessities. They are totally concerned about being comfortable in this life, rather than in the next.

Thirdly, and universally, fake churches are truly twisted, enslaved to sin, without spiritual life, ignorant of the essential spiritual teachings of the gospel, and completely without righteousness before God. These deficiencies are described in the terms, “wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” In short, fake assemblies are really gatherings of the devil’s children.

The fourth, and most saddening trait of fake assemblies is that they’re self-deceived. In the case of the Laodiceans, they thought that their lives were fulfilled because they were “rich,” had “become wealthy,” and didn’t need anything (v. 17). Evidently, they thought they not only had salvation, but also everything this world has to offer. Sadly, their boast in their earthly riches betrayed the fact that they were bereft of eternal life, the forgiveness of sins, and the peace of God.

In spite of the fact that fake churches manifest many of the diseases of the depraved human heart, our Lord still has an intense concern for them, as is highlighted by His response to the Laodiceans.

The Lord’s Response to Fake Assemblies

Jesus has three main responses to assemblies that claim His name, but have no faith in it. First, He pleads with them to receive salvation. In the case of His message for the Laodiceans, He counsels them to buy “gold refined by fire,” “white garments,” and “eye salve” (v. 18). All of these items are symbolic of the blessings of salvation, with the gold representing the heavenly inheritance, white clothing being the divine righteousness given in Jesus, and the eye ointment picturing the renewing enlightenment of the Holy Spirit to inwardly understand and embrace the gospel.

The Lord’s second response to fake churches is an attitude of love for them. He clearly expresses this when He tells this group, “those whom I love, I reprove and discipline” (v. 19). This love isn’t casual and fleshly love, but love that motivates Him to criticize and discipline them with His words. Further, He commands them to “repent,” or change their minds about their relationship with Him.

Thirdly, Jesus promises to be a friend with anyone who will receive these terms of peace. This is held out in the famous verse,

“’. . . if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.’” (v. 20)

The Christlike Response to Nominal Assemblies

Given what we’ve seen in the letter to the Laodiceans from the Lord Jesus Himself, how should we view and treat churches that profess a biblical gospel, but have no biblical faith? We should obviously treat them in a similar fashion to how John and Jesus did.

First, we must recognize that, no matter how wicked a church may be, if they claim the biblical Jesus and His gospel as their own, the Lord has a personal and intense interest in them. The reason for this is that the glory of His name, and therefore God’s name, is at stake through them. They are claiming to represent Him, so any misrepresentation of His character reflects on Him to the unbelieving world.

Second, we must love unbelieving Christians the way that Jesus did. We must expose their hypocrisy, and proclaim the gospel to them. They must come to understand that they’re deceived about their condition, and that they need to repent of it, and receive the cures of salvation from the Lord.

Third, like Jesus, we must promise that, no matter how hypocritical they’ve been, or how much they’ve despised the mercy, kindness, and glory of Jesus, they’ll be received with open arms into God’s family if they repent and trust in the Lord. We mustn’t despise them because they’ve grievously misrepresented the Lord, but seek their salvation, and their full inclusion in the true and spiritual body of Messiah.