"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." (Revelation 3:15–16)
The words above are the words of Jesus which John wrote down for the church in Laodicea. The charges Jesus brings against them are very serious. They are neither hot nor cold, they are lukewarm. This reference made alot of sense to the people of Laodicea. There were two neighboring cities to Laodicea: Hierapolis, known for its therapeutic hot springs; and Colossae, known for its cold, refreshing water supply. The water in Laodicea was tepid therefore had no therapeudic value. But they could not drink it either - mineral contaminants made the water nauseating. The water in Laodicea was for the most part useless. Jesus was comparing their spirituality to the poor quality of their water. I will spit you out of my mouth. This image is often an act of judgment in the scriptures. Jesus can not and will not tolerate a lukewarm church. He would rather close the church than let it continue to be a useless.
What is lukewarmness and how does it happen? Lukewarmness is when we become comfortable with where we are at spiritually. Think about it like this: when the bath water is too hot or too cold, its hard to be comfortable. We want something in the middle, something tolerable. We do not like to be convicted, challenged or taught the truth because the truth is uncomfortable. The truth tells us we need to change but we don't want to change. Therefore, we believe and prefer to hear what what is comfortable to us. And that is how it happens. We deceive ourselves into believing that we are something we're not. We don't wake up in the morning feeling our need of the Holy Spirit. We don't go about our day rejoicing in God's grace or grieving over our remaining sin. The Laodiceans believed they were rich, had everything they needed and therefore did not see themselves as people who need the constant operation of Christ's power in their lives. "But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked." (Rev. 3:17)
What would it look like if we did realize this? It would fill us with urgency and would radically change how we lived our Christian lives. We would want to know the truth even when the truth is uncomfortable and painful for us. Gladly we would receive correction and rebuke from the word of God. "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent." (Rev. 3:19) When our eyes are opened to the truth, we are filled with earnestness to change, an earnestness to be certain that we are not self-deluded. We will acknowledge our sin and self-deception when we see it. We would be present for every opportunity that we are able to take to grow in our devotion to Christ because this is vital to preventing lukewarmness.
I fear sometimes that many of us are from Laodicea. Sometimes when I look at my own life, I fear that I might be a Laodicean. I want to invite you to read Jesus' letters to all the churches and reflect on this one to Laodicea. Check your heart and life. Lukewarm Christians make lukewarm churches. And Jesus will close the doors of GCC if we are the Laodicean brand of Christians. But there is hope even for Laodiceans. Jesus says it himself: "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline." He loves us even in our lukewarm state. The way out of lukewarmness is to accept and immerse ourselves in this love, to earnestly repent of our lukewarmness and earnestly seek Jesus' power through the means of grace. Here's one more thing to consider. When we prefer the comforts of lukewarmness we are actually missing out on genuine comfort. With the conviction of truth is the comfort of grace for grace and truth are inseparable (John 1:14). Therefore we have no reason to retreat to our lukewarm comfort zones and every reason to avoid lukewarmness like the plague. May each of us become nauseated by lukewarm Christianity (especially when we see it in ourselves) and may each of us become earnest about the things of Christ and his Kingdom.
No comments:
Post a Comment