The Seventh Mark: Wholeheartedness
November 11, 2009
By George P. Wood
The seventh and final mark of the church, according to
Revelation 2 and 3, is wholeheartedness.
It is a character quality that the church in Laodicea lacked
(Revelation 3:14-22). Listen to what Jesus says to them: “I know your deeds,
that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So,
because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to
spit you out of my mouth” (3:15,16, NIV). Three times in two verses, Jesus
drives home the point that the Laodicean Christians were neither extreme in
their faith nor extreme in their disbelief. Theirs was a complacent,
half-hearted Christianity at best.
And their complacency flowed from prosperity: “You say, ‘I
am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing’ ” (3:17). In one of
his Father Brown stories, G.K. Chesterton writes of an Eastern mystic who
declared, “I need nothing.” This declaration frightened Father Brown because a
person who needs nothing does not need God. Whatever their religious
pretensions may have been, deep in their hearts, the Laodiceans felt themselves
to be without need.
Commentators point out that Laodicea was a prosperous city
known for its textiles and eye salves. Perhaps this is why Jesus frames the
Laodicean Christians’ need in such materialistic terms: “You are wretched,
pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (3:17). The Laodiceans had access to fine
clothing and good medicine, but they lacked that necessary richness of spirit
that God supplies us for the journey to heaven. “I counsel you,” Jesus entreats
them, “to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and
white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to
put on your eyes, so you can see” (3:18).
In my opinion, Christ’s message to the first-century
Laodicean church is a pertinent message for the 21st-century American church,
perhaps the most pertinent of all the seven letters. We American Christians are
healthy, wealthy and free to worship God according to the dictates of our
consciences, without fear of persecution. We are almost unique in church
history for our prosperity and liberty. And yet, we too — like the
Laodiceans — are complacent. Our wealth, which allows us to worry about
our wants rather than our needs, blinds us spiritually, making us think we are
better off than we really are. In the very state of needing nothing, we show
how much we need God. We have full stomachs; we need whole hearts.
The letter to Laodicea ends with Christ standing at a door
and knocking. When I grew up, preachers often used this image as an invitation
for nonbelievers to accept Jesus Christ into their hearts. But, in context, the
image is of Christ standing at the door of the church, asking those who already
believe to let Him in. It is a fitting conclusion to the seven letters. The
church will be marked by love, suffering, truth, holiness, sincerity, mission
and wholeheartedness — but only if we invite Christ to be present among
us.
He is knocking. Will we answer?
— George P. Wood is senior pastor of Living Faith
Center (AG) in Santa Barbara, Calif., and author of The Daily Word online
devotionals.
