The Lukewarm Church

The Lukewarm Church

This is the day that the Lord has made, and I will rejoice and be glad in it?

Can we rejoice today?

Giving Honor to God

To our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

To Pastor Smith.

To First Lady Smith.

To the deacons of this great church.

To the officers and members of this great church.

To my wife.

Good morning

Standing before you this morning at this sacred desk is a privilege and honor.

I am humbled this morning, and I do not take this for granted.

I give all glory, honor, and praise to God for allowing me to be a vessel for a time such as this.

We encourage you to follow along in your bible this morning.

Read Revelation 3: 14-22

Write to Laodicea, to the Angel of the church. God’s Yes, the Faithful and Accurate Witness, the First of God’s creation, says:

15–17 “I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You’re not cold, you’re not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, ‘I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone,’ oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.

18 “Here’s what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that’s been through the refiner’s fire. Then you’ll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You’ve gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, reallysee.

19 “The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they’ll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God!

20–21 “Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I’ll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That’s my gift to the conquerors!

22 “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.”[1]

(Prayer)

Have you ever been on your way to work in the morning and stopped at your favorite coffee shop to buy a fresh cup of coffee?

You place your coffee order and wait patiently for it.

You receive your morning coffee and pull away from the drive-through window.

You get on the highway, and you are off to work.

About five minutes later you take a sip only to find that your coffee is lukewarm.

Have you ever been out working on a hot summer day?

You wanted a cold bottle of water to quench your thirst.

You reach inside the cooler to pull out an ice-cold bottle of water only to find no ice. The water has been sitting in the cooler for so long that it is now lukewarm.

Have you ever been to a football game on a chilly night? You go to the concession stand and order a cup of hot chocolate to warm you up on the inside.

You place your order and wait patiently for it to be made.

Once you receive your order, you walk back to your

Seat and cannot wait to take a sip.

You take a sip from the cup only to find that it is lukewarm.

John is instructed to write to the pastor of the Laodicean church.

The trustworthy and steadfast Christ, who is the God of truth, can be contrasted to the untrust worthy, faithless Laodiceans.

Christ established all things as the creator from the beginning.

He calls out to the believers and challenges them, with complete authority, to change their behavior.

Three things are necessary for this:

1. To have seen with his own eyes what he attests.

2. To be competent to relate it to others.

3. To willing truthfully to do so.

3:14

Laodicea, forty-five miles southeast of Philadelphia and ninety miles east of Ephesus, was an important trade center.

Like Philadelphia, it lay in a region prone to earthquakes.

The city had to bring in its water supply through an aqueduct. This made it vulnerable to drought and disruption by enemies.

Christ says He has full knowledge of all the works of the church of Laodicea, a church the apostle John says is supposed to be energized by their faith.

3:15–16

Because the water in Laodicea was piped in, it was neither cold and refreshing nor hot and therapeutic.

The lukewarm water was thus not useful.

The spiritual worthlessness of the church in Laodicea was nauseating to Christ.

Using the analogy of hot or lukewarm water, which is a major irritant in the city, Christ says like lukewarm water, He wants to spit them out.

Just like doctors who used lukewarm water to cause people to vomit, they to cause Christ to want to vomit.

The church should understand since the whole city struggled with the lukewarm water.

It was a constant irritant for the people. Just like they rejected the water and wanted it to be either hot or cold, He rejects them.

3:17–19

Because many believers in the Laodicean church were rich and arrogant, they were completely blind to the fact that they were spiritually wretched and naked.

The only way Christ would give them spiritual sight and make them spiritually rich and properly dressed was for them to repent and be zealous to him, no longer going through the motions spiritually (i.e., being lukewarm).

The church says, in an affirming manner, that they are in a state of being very wealthy and believed they were doing very well.

They were very wealthy because they had a medical center.

They had a rich wool business and eye salve business.

This wealth caused them to not fully recognize the spiritual poverty they were in.

Do we ever find ourselves so caught up on achieving career and life goals, while our spiritual life is suffering?

The Laodicean church felt spiritual proud and self-sufficient, but in God’s eyes they were so poor they needed extreme pity.

St James have we ever felt spiritually proud?

How is God viewing us?

Even if they applied the eye salve that made them wealthy to heal their eyes, they were still blind.

Christ gives them advice to buy gold from Him, which is in the pure state, because then they would be truly rich.

This would cause their purity to radiate in a white garment.

This radiance would be proof that while they lived in a city that did not know God, they were not polluted by it.

This would cover the humiliation that spiritual nakedness could bring upon them.

Christ explains to them that, despite their spiritual depravity, He has a continual tender affection for them that causes him to be concerned for them.

He desired them to leave their present state and grow them to spiritual maturity.

St James, he has the same tender affection and desire for us!

We need to become eager to develop our Christian Character by turning from our present ways because of a change in our heart.

Instead of speaking Christionese and giving appearance of being followers of Jesus, we need to demonstrate being His true followers by what is on the inside of us in our heart.

Christ is the one who is knocking!

He is persistently standing and knocking at our heart’s door!

This means that he is no longer inside the door.

He is doing his best to get the attention of those on the inside of door.

If anyone has the heart to obey His voice without question, Christ will go in the door immediately!

He does not just come in!

He comes to fellowship in the manner of communion!

Any church member who prevails under these circumstances is an overcomer.

The person who conquers the pressure of this environment, Christ will render the privilege of sitting on His throne.

3:20

The Lord had been pushed to the outside of the church at Laodicea, and he was now seeking to reenter through their repentance (opens the door).

3:21

The right to sit with Christ on his throne goes beyond his promise to the apostles in Mt 19:28 and looks to his reign on earth in Revelation 20:4–6.

The phrase sat down with my Father on his throne looks ahead to the heavenly throne room in chapters 4 and 5.

The Church should be the component that provides discipleship training to each of our members so that no one is lukewarm.

St James, we have a responsibility.

There were hot springs outside the city.

They had a pipe that channeled water from the hot springs to the people’s homes.

The problem was that by the time it got to the house, it had cooled to lukewarm.

This became the complaint of many residents of the city.

We don’t want to engage our members in emotionalism and just make them feel good.

We want to equip them with the spiritual tools they need so that their names stay written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

The church must decide whether to be hot or cold because to be lukewarm is to become vomit-inducing in the presence of God.

To be hot is to be soothing or therapeutic.

To be cold is to be quenching.

We must remove the nakedness by buying pure gold from Christ.

This will bring us back to the word and cause us to open our eyes to the things of God.

We must invite Christ Back in.

He gives us free will.

He has not gone far away.

He is close by standing, knocking at our door.

If we invite him in, he will prepare a meal.

He will develop a genuine fellowship with us.

He will provide us with what God provided to him: a throne.

If we are sincere about hearing and obeying by following his direction, we will sit on the throne with Him.

We have all been bought for a price.

Jesus went to Calvary.

The reason he had to go to the cross was to glorify His Father in the Salvation of sinners.

He came to do for us that which we could never do for ourselves: He came to save us from our sins.

Jesus was condemned as a criminal and was executed by crucifixion at Calvary.

Christ by Himself, for his people, fulfilled all the conditions of the everlasting covenant of grace.

He ensured the salvation of all whom he represented, all for whom He lived, obeyed, died, and arose again.

He shall not lose even one of them as His

Righteousness demands our salvation and final glory.

He paid our debt in full, and we must receive the benefits of his Payment.

To say that even one could finally perish is to cast shame and reproach upon His blood and His righteousness.

Just as sin demands death, righteousness demands life.

Let us Stand.

The doors of the church are open.

We are all created in the Image of our loving Father.

Romans 10:9 says “That if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that god hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

If today was the last day of your life, do you know where you would spend eternity?

Will there be one?

You may come as a candidate for baptism.

You may come by letter.

You may come on Christian experience.

Maybe you are in search of a church Home.

Maybe you need Prayer.

It is prayer time.

You may be seated.

Now unto him that can keep us from failing, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Savior, be glory and Majesty, dominion, and power, both now and ever. Let us all say Amen.

Amen

Amen

[1]Eugene H. Peterson, The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2005), Re 3:14–22.