Reflections from Jesus’ Letter to the Church of the Loadicians: Revelations 3:14-22. 

The English Bible uses the phrase "deceitfulness of…" three times. It is used twice to refer to the "deceitfulness of riches" and once to "the deceitfulness of sin." The deceitfulness of riches is referenced in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13:22 and Mark 4:19. Here, riches, along with the cares of this world, are said to choke the word of God, thus making us unfruitful. The final occurrence is in Hebrews 3:13, referring to the deceitfulness of sin, where we are to encourage one another daily to turn from the sin of an unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God so that none of us may be hardened by sin.

Sin and riches, therefore, are two of the most potent deceptions of our enemy, Satan, because they have the power to erode our faith and trust in the Word of God and His Son, Jesus. Whether it's the deceitfulness of sin that makes us think, be, act or see ourselves as less than God wants us in Christ or the deceitfulness of riches that makes us think of ourselves more highly than we ought, both result in the same thing– it hardens our hearts towards God. To avoid this deception, Jesus invites us to come to Him and buy from Him pure gold, tried in the fire, righteous garments to cover our nakedness and ointment to cure our spiritual blindness. 

Blinded by their affluence, the Laodicean Church had pushed Jesus not just to the margins but completely outside the doors of their church. So, He stood outside His own church, knocking to come in and dine with them. Why? Because the goods He offered were exclusive and could never be found in their marketplaces (which, by the way, were full of goods of the finest calibre in their world). Yet the riches that Jesus offered far surpassed them all. He was offering them Himself. With that, new eyes to see their nakedness, unlike Adam and Eve's eyes, which were opened after the old serpent's deception. This kind of enlightenment is not to blind them to God's provision and bounty (as it did in the garden), nor to seek after wisdom and self-reliance, but to open their eyes to the exact opposite. It was to open their eyes to see all the things God had made available to them in Himself. No other market could sell or provide this. His gifts were free, but their source and healing powers were exclusive to His personal claims and personhood. His gold was pure but had been tried by the fires of suffering and death. He wanted to give them what wealth and affluence could never offer: patience in tribulation. He wanted to heal their blindness to enable them to see their wealth and spiritual condition from God's pure perspective.

As the banking hub of their region and one that could pull itself up by the bootstraps and rebuild its city after the devastating Lydian earthquake of AD 17 (without applying for an imperial subsidy), the Laodicean church had come to a place where "need" was somewhat no longer in its vernacular as a people. 

However, riches and comfort are deceptive because they unconsciously lead a person to mistake their outward condition of well-being as an indication of their inner spiritual well-being. Yet, external wealth or success can never compensate for inner spiritual poverty.

A Lukewarm Church tells Jesus, “I don’t need You!” It says, “ I am rich, and I have need of nothing.” And this lukewarmness is evident when Jesus and the gifts He offers are mere add-ons, and afterthoughts. He is shifted to the circumference and not at the centre of our lives. This is true for believers when we allot ten or fifteen minutes for morning prayer but spend the rest of the day and week consumed by personal aspirations—with no room for God or His mission. Alarmingly, even Christian ministry can distract us from a genuine relationship with Jesus. We risk working in His name while leaving Him outside the door of our lives, tending the garden of others while leaving ours unattended (Song of Songs 1:6-7). Faithful ministry flows from an intimate relationship with Christ, compelled by love for Him and His Church. Genuine renewal comes from the fiery presence of God, where our passion is reignited, our eyes and ears opened, and our hearts continually softened. To overcome lukewarm self-deception, then, we need Jesus Himself and the discernment, community, humility, and repentance He provides.