Lukewarm

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:

 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore 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 will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also 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.’" Revelation 3:14-22 (NASB)

It's a hot day. Oh for a glass of clear, cold water! Someone hands you a plastic bottle, you take a gulp and promptly spit it out. It's lukewarm! In this situation, lukewarm water is useless. Well did the Laodiceans understand the imagery in this excerpt addressed to them. By the time their water reached the town from regional hot springs via an aqueduct, it was lukewarm. The 'Amen', the One who has the last word, warns the Laodicean church that He is about to spew them out of his mouth unless they repent from their nauseating complacency! How relevant are these weighty words to believers today!  

Have we become complacent? Do we find ourselves saying, “I have need of nothing?” That is a dangerous position to occupy. We can be so satisfied with the material goods of this world that we have no spiritual hunger. The Lord’s opinion of such spiritually destitute churchgoers are these hard-hitting words: wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. How tragic that they are blind to their state!

Laodicea was renowned at that time for its financial system, wool industry and medical school which produced eye salve. Once again, the Lord uses imagery which speaks directly to their minds and hearts. Instead of relying on the financial systems of the day, they are to 'buy' purified gold from Him. They are to build their fortunes based on His Word and have treasure laid up in heaven which no one can steal or destroy. We are privileged to have the full canon of Scripture at our disposal in as many languages and translations as we care to read. Are we buying gold from the Lord by studying and getting to know His Word? Are we investing in the building of His kingdom? Are we exercising genuine faith which is more precious than gold refined by fire (1 Peter 1:7)?  Only then can we say we are rich. 

In contrast to the black wool produced in the Laodicean wool industry, they are to 'buy' white garments from the Lord. Buying here is in the sense of buying 'without money or price' (Isaiah 55:1). White garments in the Bible speak of righteousness. We cannot pay for righteousness, we cannot earn or merit it, we can only receive it as a gift from our Righteous Saviour, who shed His blood to redeem us and make our garments white. If we try to clothe ourselves by our own righteousness, we will only appear before God naked and ashamed (Isaiah 64:6). Let us keep these garments of salvation white as we live righteously on earth by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

Spiritual blindness can only be removed by the Lord's 'eye salve'. Only He can open the eyes of our hearts (Ephesians 1:18) to see spiritual truths and appreciate Him in all His glory and power. When He is not the focus of our eyes, we become blind to the truth of His Word and to His will for our lives. May our eyes be anointed by His Spirit to see all He would reveal to us.

How do we return to the desired state of being on fire for the Lord? Before He is moved to discipline us, we need to repent! (I am thankful that recent circumstances led me to take stock of my own condition, which led to deep repentance.) Then we need to open the door of our heart to allow the Lord to 'dine' with us. This is a beautiful picture of fellowship where an intimate, two-sided conversation can ensue. Our idea of fellowship sometimes is a monologue in which we tell the Lord what to do, how and when to do it and then off we go without having heard His side of the conversation.      

Repentance and fellowship with the Lord will enable us to overcome. This is the third step in keeping zealous for the Lord. When we overcome our weaknesses and temptations by the help of the Holy Spirit, we will be encouraged to do more endeavours as He leads us. For those who overcome, there is a wonderful promise regarding their future! We will sit with Him on His throne to reign with Him. Amazing!

May we take the warnings of these verses seriously and examine our own lives in the light of His truth. Where do we find ourselves on this scale - cold, hot or worst of all, lukewarm? If lukewarm, then we need to repent, have fellowship with the Lord and overcome!

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches!