“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.”
Revelations 3:15
In this verse, Jesus is talking to the Church in Laodicea, a wealthy city about forty-five miles southeast of Philadelphia and about one hundred miles due east of Ephesus, placing it in the fertile Lycus valley. The great Roman road ran straight through its center, making Laodicea an important center of trade and communication. Its wealth came from the production of a fine quality of famous glossy black wool. In addition, the city also had a huge banking industry. Laodicea was so wealthy that after a great earthquake in A.D. 17, the people refused imperial help in rebuilding the city, choosing rather to do it entirely by themselves. That would be like the city of New Orleans refusing government assistance after Hurricane Katrina, and rebuilding out of personal wealth.
Laodicea had a famous school of medicine near the temple of a special god associated with healing (Men Karou), and was a market for trading all sorts of goods. Zeus, the supreme god was also worshipped in the city. Amongst these false gods was a church of believers who had learned to compromise and accommodate themselves to the needs and wishes of others; they did not zealously stand for anything – especially faith in God that had at one time ruled their lives. Evaluating their current state of spiritual usefulness and zeal, Jesus said, “I wish you were either spiritual cold (literally, ‘unsaved’ or ‘hostile’) or spiritually hot (literally, ‘alive’ and ‘fervent’). He is saying that they were useless to Him because they were complacent, self-satisfied, and indifferent to the real issues of faith in Him and of discipleship.
The deeper problem in the Laodicean church existed along side of their indifference. It was their ignorance of their real condition: “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’” This indictment is related to the general condition of the populace at large – rich in material possessions and self-sufficient. The spirit of the surrounding culture had crept into the congregation and paralyzed their spiritual life. The Laodiceans interpreted their material wealth as a blessing from God and thus were self-deceived as to their true spiritual state.
Christ’s revelation of the Laodiceans’ actual situation shatters their illusions and calls them to repentance: “But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” Even though the state of the Laodicean Church verges on spiritual disaster, Jesus goes on to tell them that if they repent and turn back to Him, not all will be lost. “I rebuke and disciple those I love” (Pr 3:12; 1 Co 11:32; Heb 12:6). He spits out those who remain complacent and “rebukes” and “disciplines” those who hear His voice and repent. The difference between the expelled and the disciplined lies in their response.
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
As I write this I can’t help but examine where in my own personal relationship with the Lord I’ve become complacent and lazy or conformed to the world around me. Sometimes it’s so much easier to say nothing and fit in than it is to stand for truth and process through the rebuttals or rejection. Becoming politically correct has become fashionable for many believers. We may not be “the type” to stand on the picket lines proclaiming Christ on the grand scale, but we can’t make excuses for not doing so in our day-to-day decisions that affect our personal life and our relationship with Him – not to mention affecting others around us.
My prayer for you this day is that you will examine your own heart and motives and find where in life you’ve lost the passion for Christ and replaced it with the world’s theology and perspective. Further, where have you become complacent in your walk with the Lord and become luke-warm in your stance? There is no middle ground. We cannot serve two masters, nor can we be anything more than hot or cold, lest the Lord will spew us out of His mouth. Pray and ask the Lord to restore the love and passion for your First Love and He will hear you and answer you when you call on Him with all your heart (Jeremiah 29:12, 13).
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