Lukewarm Laodicea--"Yuk!"

“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” Revelation 3:14-22

The message to the Laodicean Church describes the Church in her final state of apostacy. Jesus used geographical, political and social analogies pertinent to each of these local churches as His message went around the circuit. These cities were about 30 to 40 miles apart. The messenger would have started at Ephesus, traveled north along the coast to Pergamum, then looped back inland, southward, until he reached Laodicea. Each city had specific characteristics which Jesus mentioned in His message, as it went along. In the case of Laodicea, it was a wealthy city and a center of bustling commerce such as banking (gold), woolen cloth (white garments) and medicines such as eye salve. There are some colorful analogies.

“the Amen—trustworthy one—verily—so be it. He is the final authority. He is faithful. He is true (perfect veracity—cannot be false). He is the initiator of God’s creation. "God the Father made the plan (Planner of creation and salvation). God the Son did all the work (executor of creation and salvation). God the Spirit teaches us about the plan and the work (illuminator of creation and salvation)." There is no work in God’s plan that Jesus has not been a part of. He knows all about the Church at Laodicea.

One geographical characteristic of that city was a source of water that started hot and by the time the stream reached the city it had cooled to lukewarm. This sometimes had the effect of ipecac on those who drank it. So this church which had started out zealous for God’s truth had gradually become complacent and just lukewarm. Ho-hum, matter of fact, no passion for God’s Word or for spreading the gospel message. This lukewarmness is offensive to Jesus, who would rather deal with unbelievers (cold), who could at least be evangelized; or Christian firebrands (hot), who would be busy advancing the kingdom of God. These were lukewarm believers. They had an attitude of boredom (“I know all that.”) and were practicing their empty religion while they congratulated themselves on their self-sufficiency. They were ignorant of their spiritual poverty as they strutted and preened and counted their money. Jesus warned of severe discipline (“I will vomit you up, because you are making me sick”). There is good use for cold water and hot water, but lukewarm water tends to be not much good.

There is a remedy for this. Buy me gold—learn the Word of God—then you will be rich. Get some white garments – +R, the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, because your human good won’t cover your nakedness. Get some eyesalve—Holy Spirit enlightenment of the Christian Way of Life—to open your blinded eyes to the truth of God’s will. This will require honest repentance as taught in I John 1:7-9.

If Jesus didn’t love us, He would not bother to discipline us. We who belong to Him must wake up to our negligence of Bible doctrine and become zealous for His truth through repentance. Face the facts of our laziness, admit our sin of negligence and pride and CONFESS that sin to God the Father, who will always forgive us, cleanse us and set us straight again. That is spiritual recovery. That is what our Lord wants from us, who have become complacent in our faith.

Here is that so often misused scripture, Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

Please notice, Jesus is addressing  BELIEVERS here. He is speaking to the Church, not unbelievers. It is not a salvation scripture. Unbelievers cannot have fellowship with Jesus. It is a plea for the dead-head, arrogant believers who have become way too comfortable with the world, to pay attention to Who it is knocking at their heart’s door. Jesus is not going to just leave this lukewarm church to soak in their comfort. He wants to build a fire under them by coming into their lives and having daily fellowship (dine with him), sparking anew the fervent love they once had for Him and His perfect Word.

Those who overcome the world and their complacency by their identification with Jesus will be seated with Him on His throne, just as He is seated on His Father’s throne. It’s a family thing.

Do you have ears, Laodicea? Listen to the voice of the Spirit as He speaks to the churches.