Lukewarm lifestyle

Revelation 3:14-22

Some things in life just don’t mix, for instance, oil and water do not mix. Just like oil and water, Jesus Christ and the world do not mix. If you try to get the best of both worlds, then you will ultimately be rejecting God. God calls a life of separation unto him, to be seperate from the world. But yet some people love to be in the lukewarm area of life.

There is a story of a man who had a pretty big choice to make. He wakes up to find himself in a large meadow, with a white fence all the way down the middle. There was God on one side and Satan on the other, and the man had to choose a side. The man going back and forth in his mind about who to choose, knowing he should go to the Lord’s side, but Satan promises so many good things. The man, thinking he outsmarted everyone, decided to sit on the fence right in the middle of everything. When decision time came, he stayed right there, not moving. Not moving, until Satan grabs him by the arm with his strong grip. Satan starts pulling him to his side, while the whole time the man is screaming and trying to get out of his grasp, but the man keeps kicking and screaming. While he is screaming, Satan stops looks over at the man, and says, I own the fence, and carries him off.

we are going to talk a little bit about the church of Laodicea and how their “being on the fence” has treated them.

Verse 14- Introduction

One of the first things that I would like to point out in verse 14 is how Jesus Christ identifies himself.

Jesus identifies himself as the Amen, the faithful and true witness, and the beginning of the creation of God.

In the Old Testament, God is literally, the God of the Amen (the God of truth) and is mentioned so in Isaiah 65:16. This designation of God in Isaiah means that this is the God who is completely trustworthy and truthful. Now this designation is being applied to Jesus Christ right here in Scripture.

I find it very interesting that Jesus decided to introduce himself in this way, I mean, we know that it was not by accident, but rather there is a specific purpose as of why Jesus introduces himself in this way.

This introduction contrasts vividly with the untrustworthy Laodiceans. As we are getting ready to see, the Laodiceans are living in a self sufficient world where they are putting themselves first. And yet, Jesus identifies himself as the faithful and true witness.

Even in times where we are unfaithful, Jesus is still faithful to us.

I think Jesus is pointing out that even though you have stopped putting your trust in me, i am still here for you, always ready to take us back. Do not ever get to the point where you think that you can never go back to the Lord, He is the faithful and true witness.

There will be many times where I will knock on someone’s door, and there was a time where they used to go to church, but now they have fallen off to the wayside. My soulwinning partner and I will try to encourage them to start coming back to church, and oftentimes they will say to me that God would not want them back. They will tell me that they have done to many bad things for god to take them back, but I am glad that we serve a Savior who is the true and faithful witness. Jesus has always been loyal to us, and he is always ready to take us back. the only thing holding us back is ourselves. But again, I am glad that our Savior has, is, and will always be faithful and true.

Verses 15-17

Like the church in Sardis, Laodicea receives no compliment from the Lord. Jesus gets right to the point. Jesus says that they are neither hot nor cold. He says that they are lukewarm.

Is there anyone who likes a lukewarm beverage more than a hot or cold one?

I know that a hot cup of coffee in the mornings is refreshing, or even a hot cup of tea.

On the other hand, I know that a nice cool glass of mountain dew is super refreshing, as well as a cool glass of water.

But I can honestly say that I have never been really excited about a lukewarm, room temperature glass of water.

But we see that God calls the church neither hot or cold.

Hot-spiritual fervor

Cold-outright rejection, or antagonism to the things of God.

Lukewarm-indifference

OPTIONAL: story of the man in the meadow with a fence all the way down the middle.

I love this example here in Scripture.

But we see that the Lord prefers outright rejection than spiritual “lukewarmness.”

The interesting part about this is that Laodicea was near two other cities. These two cities are called Heirapolis and Colossae.

The city of Hierapolis had hot waters that was often used for medicinal purposes.

The city of Colossae had cold, pure, refreshing water. And both were wonderful.

But what was terrible was the useless water of Laodicea.

The word lukewarm only appears here in the New Testament, and gives the sense of it being unusable or barren.

Because of this, Christ that He will spue them out of His mouth.

This does not just mean that you tasted something that was disgusting so you went to spit it out.

But spue literally means vomit.

God is saying that lukewarm is so vulgar and gross that as soon as it’s in His mouth, he is going to vomit.

Right before I got here, my sister wanted to play a game entitled bean boozled. For those who do not know what this is, this is basically a bag full of jelly beans. Some of them are good, and some of them are bad. All you do is you pick out a jelly bean and eat it praying that you got a good one.

Somehow my sister convinced me to play three rounds of this bean boozled game. The first round came up, so I grabbed and ate the jelly bean, luckily, I got berry flavored.

In the second round, I picked a jelly bean that was either strawberry banana or liver and onions. I ate it, and soon realized that was not strawberry banana. As soon as I ate it I vomited in the trashcan. It was horrible.

Round three, this one was either peach or booger. I am praying more than ever that I get peach. I eat it, and as soon as took one bite, I vomited into the trash can.

But God is saying that he will vomit them out of His mouth.

I believe that the Lord is referring to judgment here. He will reject and judge them for their being lukewarm.

But why are they choosing to be lukewarm?

Well, verse 17 gives us the answer.

It is very simple, they have reached a life of self-sufficiency apart from God.

One thing I notice here is that self-sufficient people have a focus on the temporal, physical gain.

We see examples of this in Scripture, one of the stories that come to mind is the story of the rich young ruler.

If you remember this story, you remember that Jesus eventually tells this rich young ruler to give all that he has to the poor, and to follow Him.

Unfortunately, the young ruler walks away sorrowfully because he had great possessions.

Just like how the young ruler ultimately had his focus on riches and temporal gain, the church of Laodicea is doing the same thing.

Don’t misunderstand me, I am not saying that having money and being rich is wrong, but what is wrong is when that money turns your dependency from God to yourself.

Another thing I notice is that the people who are self-sufficient are truly poor.

The church supposed it had such adequate resources that it could do without the Lord’s help. The congregation was like the city, proud of its affluence, boasting that they have acquired wealth and do not need a thing. And so Christ calls them poor.

Also, the church thought it was clothed with plenty of righteous character. This is drawn partly from the fact that Laodicea was renowned for its extensive textile industry. And the Lord calls them wretched, pitiful, and naked.

Third, the church supposed itself to have spiritual insight. Instead it was blind. The city of Laodicea was famous for its medical school that exported a powder used for eye salve. But such medicine could not salve their blind eyes.

how does this make sense? After all, they do seem fairly wealthy. Physically speaking they might be wealthy, but their spiritual state is destitute.

Jesus is saying that having living this self-sufficient lifestyle ends with a shallow relationship with God.

After all, who needs God right? As long as I have my needs and wants met, then what do I need God for? I have my money, that is all I need right?

But what is possibly even sadder is the fact that the church did not even realize the spiritual state that they were in. This church had deceived itself about its spiritual condition.

I have realized that the best liars are ourselves. It is super easy to convince myself of something even if its not true, especially if you want to believe it. For instance, I used to think I was really strong when I was younger. I would go in front of the mirror and flex what little muscles I had. Who told me I was supposedly strong? Nobody but myself.

Where this really hurts me is when I think I am a better Christian or I think that I have a closer walk with the Lord than I do. It is easy to convince myself and say that I am a good Christian, I mean, I go to church, I soulwin, I tithe, I do all these things, but on the inside, my walk with God is shallow. If we are not careful, we can live our whole lives lying to ourselves. Instead, ask God to search your heart and do true check on yourself to see where you are spiritually.

Because the church depended on themselves, they deceived themselves regarded their spiritual condition.

And God will not tolerate a church that is prompted by self-righteousness.

And so we see a problem, that problem being self-sufficiency, so what would the solution be?

3:18-20

All is not lost for this congregation. The faithful and true God we serve cares for its members.

One of the things that Jesus tells them that they need is gold tried in the fire. They needed not physical wealth but rather spiritual wealth. This means that they need true righteousness, which is purified and made genuine through testing and trials.

Remember, the church is struggling with self-sufficiency, so they need to get back to a dependency upon God. Getting this gold tried through fire will cause them to make one of two decisions. One is to turn from their dependence on themselves and turn to dependence on God, while the other is to reject the Lord and continue in their self-sufficient ways.

He also offers them white raiment. We see something similar mentioned in 3:4-5, and it is figured as the reward of unveiled righteousness given to the “few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes.” The only way to have such garments is through the provision of Christ, to cover up their nakedness (self-righteousness)

Jesus also mentions that they need to anoint their eyes so they can see. The church claimed that it had spiritual insight, when in fact they were really blind. Jesus says they need to anoint their eyes to see God’s wisdom and understanding to see their true spiritual condition.

In other words, the church of Laodicea needed to seek true riches, righteousness, and understanding from Jesus, who is the source of all spiritual blessing.

Let me just say this, the Lord’s rebuke and chastening is because of his love for them. One of the most undeserving of all the churches is the one for which Jesus declares the kindest feelings. I am so thankful that even though I make stupid mistakes, that God still loves me, and that he loves me enough to chasten me to get me back to faithfully serving Him. I can go through time after time in my life where I have messed up because I thought I did not need Jesus, and yet I am so thankful that the Lord will always be ready to take me back.

But with this love comes rebuke and discipline. Some teenagers might say, he only punishes me because he hates me and he wants to make my life miserable. No, its actually the opposite. Your parents love you too much to see you go down a wicked road. They care enough about you to nurture you in the admonition of the Lord.

I remember growing up when I did something wrong and I would be getting a spanking. My dad would always tell me that this would always hurt him a lot more than it would hurt me. To which I would say that I would not mind switching places with him. But looking back, I have learned to be thankful for those times, it has reminded me that I had parents who loved me too much to let go down the wrong path.

I dont know about you, but I am thankful that God loves us enough to punish us.

but the church must be zealous and repent.

zealous has the idea of being enthusiastic.

In other words, the Laodiceans must turn from their self sufficiency.

Not only does Christ want to provide gold, clothing, and sight to his congregation, but he wants them to enjoy him personally and with his fellowship.

vs 20

He is saying that if there is someone who will turn from their self-sufficiency and repent and let Me in the door of their heart and life, then you can start to know God on a personal level. God is pleading to the people here, He is at the door urgently knocking wanting them to let Him in. But those who are selfish and self -sufficient are like children in a house having supper while their father has been locked outside, and by keeping Jesus out, all that is on the menu for them, is stale bread, and lukewarm water.

Christ knows that some will respond. The one who overcomes or hears what the Spirit says to the churches is promised great reward. This is the only place in Revelation in which Jesus is identified with his people as a fellow overcomer. But those who overcome this life of self-sufficiency will get their reward. These people will sit with the Lord in His throne.

What about you? Are you living a lukewarm life filled with self sufficiency? Just so you know, rich people are not the only ones who can live a self sufficient life, unfortunately, i know some people who are both physically and spiritually poor. Are you living your life where you think you dont need God?

Teenagars, are you living a life where you think you dont need to listen to your parents? You think you are good enough on your own without listening to them? Your parents are the people whom God set in your lives, and if they tell you to do something that is not against Scripture, then put down your self-sufficiency and pride and listen to them.

Maybe someone is here and they got a raise at work or something like that, and you are starting to feel like you don’t need God anymore, you don’t need to go to church, you have all that you need. Let me remind you, do not live a self sufficient life, you will live a spiritually poor life, and God will spue you out of His mouth.

There is only so much that money can buy.

But whatever it is that you might be struggling with, recieve God’s raiment and provision instead, you will find that it lasts a whole lot longer than any clothing down here.

And if this does not apply to you, then that is great, continue living a God-focused life.

Let me encourage you with this last thought, if you are not sure how this applies to you I suggest that you simply ask God to search your heart to see if there are any areas to improve.

But just remember, instead of living self sufficiently, live God sufficiently.