The Danger of Apathy

Scripture Introduction:

I used to have a job at CarQuest delivering parts. CarQuest is one of those manly places to work. Where all day you get to talk about car parts and go visit mechanics and talk about tools and manly stuff like that. And you get to lift a bunch of heavy stuff.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed this or not but I’ve never won a weight-lifting contest. Lifting heavy stuff is not something that I’m really known for. Awhile back when Jason had a sermon illustration asking for people to come up and try to rip a phone book in half—I wasn’t even considered as one of the potential volunteers.

On one particular day I had to deliver a flywheel to the Mack Truck facility in Hannibal, MO. If you don’t know what a flywheel is—or a flywheel on a semi—it’s a big ol’ mass of metal that weighs more than me and it has teeth all around it. So it’s heavy and its awkward. And I—little 140 pound frame me (that was a few years ago)—had to haul this thing into the shop.

I could barely get this thing out of the back of the little CarQuest car that I was driving. Sensible people would have asked for help. But I couldn’t do that because I would expose myself as not being all that manly. So I did what any man would do. I let my adrenaline kick in and picked it up and grunted my way a couple hundred yards and delivered the part. Cutting into my hand, pulling muscles in my back, and probably taking a couple years off my life.

One guy could obviously see that I was struggling and volunteered to help ease some of my burden. I just laughed at him. “I’ve got this”. And I had it….even if it was going to kill me. I had to do this several times and I hated it every time. Never once did I swallow my pride and ask for help. I had the “I’ve got this…” disease.

The people we are going to be reading about today have the “I’ve got this” disease.

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Sermon Introduction

You will not be able to understand much of this passage until you understand a little more about the city of Laodicea and the church there. Laodicea was one of the wealthiest cities of the ancient world. It was in fact so wealthy that after a devastating earthquake in AD 60 they actually refused assistance from the Roman government. “I’ve got this”. But this was the wealth (and as we will see later the pride) of the Laodiceans. They had gotten wealthy primarily from their thriving wool industry. They were one of the leading producers of black wool, which they would export as well as furnish common and costly garments. It was not only their wool industry which gained them wealth and notoriety. They also had discovered ointment for treating inflamed eyes. Because of this their optometry school became world famous.

As far as the church from all appearances it had been so soaked up into the world that its message was completely stripped of any relevance. We know from historical works that there was a significant Jewish population in Laodicea as well as the various cults that were engaged in emperor worship. There is no element of persecution from either the Jewish audience or the strongly pagan Gentiles. Therefore, we can conclude that since “godliness will be persecuted” the church at Laodicea was empty of any influence in the community. As one commentator noted, “The church accommodated itself to other religions, basked in material wealth, was content to live a life of ease, and failed to press the claims of Christ.” So we have a letter to a church that has become complacent. They are not persecuted severely from the outside, there seems to be no threat of false doctrine, yet they are the church that Christ delivers the greatest threat to—utter rejection. What is so detestable? It is simply this, their complacency, or to use another word their apathy.

And so here is the question I want to ask today and think about. Is it possible that we are spiritual Laodiceans? You may not even have material wealth. But you’ve got 10 Bibles on your book shelf at home. You hear anywhere from 5-10 sermons per week. You faithfully attend church. But deep down if you are being really honest you’ve grown apathetic.

To be apathetic means showing or feeling no interest, enthusiasm, or concern. But it’s not just about feelings. It’s about action. It’s about not making a dent in your community. It’s when the words we read on the pages of Scripture don’t impact our day to day lives. There is a massive disconnect. We’ve grown stale in our faith. Our great passion now is to not make any waves. And so we aren’t any sort of threat to the outside community. We are content living a life of ease and at all cost we work to protect our safety, security and comfort. This isn’t just materially speaking. This is also about relationships.

We’ve just grown stale.

This is a sickness. It is a spiritual disease. And so today I want to look at this sickness, its symptoms, its causes, and its cure.

I. The disease and the prognosis

Jesus begins every message to the churches in Revelation by reminding them of who He is. He is proclaiming that He is who He says he is, therefore you had better listen. Here he reminds them that He is the true one, the faithful and true witness, and the beginning of God’s creation. This message that is being delivered has weight. It is coming from the ruler of all creation and what He is about to say is faithful and true. So, listen because these words are true.

Jesus’ first words to this church are, “I know your works”. Oh, wow. Wouldn’t you rather him say, “I know your heart” or “I know your intentions”? But he doesn’t. So we don’t get any sort of—well I’m basically a good person…I’ve got good intentions…at least my heart is right. Nope, he cuts through the fog of that and says to the Laodiceans and to us—“I know your works”. I wonder if that’s a comfort or if like in the case of the Laodiceans these would be words of judgment.

In their case they are neither cold nor hot.

Some people take this verse as if Jesus is saying, “I know that your works are neither good nor bad, so because you are not either sold out for me or completely turned off to me, I am going to spit you out of my mouth”. Many really respected scholars and pastors have taken this view. And perhaps it is the view that we should take. But I do not see this as specifically what Jesus is saying. I do not see Jesus as saying; I wish you were either totally against me or completely passionately for me.

And the reason I don’t see it that way is because of the context of the Laodiceans. If you understand where Laodicea was placed you will understand what Jesus is saying here more clearly. 18 miles to the east of Laodicea was Colossae which was supplied with a cold mountain stream. Their water was refreshing. 6 miles to the north was Hierapolis which had medicinal hot springs. This is where Laodicea got their water supply; they lacked their own independent water supply. All around them was either hot water that could be used for medicinal purposes or cold water that was refreshing to drink. By the time any of this water got to Laodicea it had become lukewarm; useless. It was not cool enough to quench the thirst nor was it warm enough to heal the body. It was worthless, and was good for nothing more than being spewed out of the mouth.

And so Christ is saying to them—you know your water supply? Lukewarm. Good for nothing. That is what your works are. Apathetic. No dent in your community.

They were not refreshing to those in the community that were spiritually thirsty nor were they healing for those in the community that were spiritually broken and sick. Their heart was stagnant and therefore their works were good for nothing. Apparently they were so passionate about their own comfort and their own security that they cared not for being a faithful church. Their passion for Christ had dwindled and with it their passion for the mission of Christ. Therefore they had become detestable. Jesus is painting them a picture.

But in order for us to really see the danger here of what Jesus is saying we have to understand what he means by “spit (or spew) you out of my mouth”. Some might read this and say that it is referring to an individual believer losing their salvation.

But I think that misses the point. Don’t get me wrong, Jesus’ threat is very real. He really will spit them out of his mouth if repentance does not happen. But I think Jesus is not so much referring to individual believers but more to the church as a whole. Specifically what I think Jesus is saying is that they will be utterly rejected.

As we have seen earlier it is not so much their spiritual temperature that Jesus is addressing it is more their lack of witness—they have become worthless. This same word that Jesus uses here is used in , and 20:22. “…And the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants”. Or again in v28, “lest the land vomit you out when you make it unclean, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.” And in 20:22 again God speaks of them being clean so that the land does not “vomit you out”. This same concept is also held in . “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet”.

What Jesus is saying is that the church has lost its witness, it has become good for nothing and they are blinded by their apathy and their spiritual complacency. The world around them is going to hell and in fact many of their own communicants are probably going to hell and they are so comfortable with their mediocrity that they do not even notice or care. Therefore, Jesus is going to spit them out—they have become good for nothing. Jesus is calling them to repent or else he is going to close their doors.

Apathy carries with it serious consequences.

II. The symptoms and cause

So how do we know if we’ve got this disease?

Let me share a bit about how this sermon came to be. I was all set to prepare a sermon on , ’d done a bit of introductory studying and outlining and preparing to discover the main point and think through how I would preach that. And then I read this little piece by John Newton called “On a Decline in the Spiritual Life”.

As I was reading Newton and his symptoms my mind immediately went to and I knew that I needed to not preach on but on this text. Because what Newton said as the symptoms of spiritual decline hit me like a ton of bricks. And I not only saw them in the church at Laodicea I see them in my own heart.

Here are the three symptoms that Newton listed.

First, such a person becomes lax in our duties. He doesn’t pray. She stops attending public worship as much. His fellowship with other believers is shallow and mostly non-existent. This fellow doesn’t read his Bible much. She’s no longer is passionate about observing the Lord’s Supper or baptism together with her church family. As Newton said, “Just as a bodily sickness causes a lack of appetite, inactivity and restlessness; so the sickness of the soul deprives it of rest and peace, and causes a dullness in service to God…”

Secondly, and this is the one that really hit me. I’ll read straight from Newton modernizing it a bit.

To the healthy man, plain food is savory—but the [taste buds], when [spoiled] by sickness, becomes picky and [choosy], and hankers after [diverse foods] and [luxurious food]. Likewise, when the sincere milk of the gospel, plain truth delivered in plain words, is no longer pleasing—but a person requires curious speculations, or the frothy eloquence of man's wisdom, to engage his attention, it is a bad sign. For these are suited to nourish, not the constitution—but the disease.

In other words the gospel no longer satisfies and so the one infected with this sickness spends their time trying to get excited about other “deeper doctrines”. He is no longer satisfied with the simple truth that Christ is returning. He wants to know when and in what manner. We give ourselves to rapture charts and trying to discern the Bible with a newspaper. We no longer are content hearing simple preachers preaching a simple gospel. We want big name preachers that have great eloquence preaching the Bible to us. And even from them we want something new—something catchy.

We’re no longer satisfied with the simple truth that God saves sinners and this is the gospel. We want to know the ins and outs of this or that. We argue about the relationship between sovereignty and human responsibility and spend our time trying to figure out these things. And we do this because we are no longer satisfied with the simple gospel. We want more. We want a study on this. We want a study on that.

Do you hear the simple gospel of Jesus Christ and go “meh” in your heart? Are you wishing there was something more? Something deeper? Something more precious? Something more flashy? Something more catchy? Oh this is a great sickness? Would you rather go to a sermon series on unlocking the end times from the book of Revelation or would you rather go to a sermon series on the good news of Jesus? Oh, what a terrible sickness that we are able to get bored with the gospel.

And when this boredom with the gospel sets in, we see our third symptom crop up.

We are no longer satisfied with simple Bible reading and prayer and the gospel. And so as Newton says,

From slighting or trifling with those means which God has provided to satisfy the soul—the next step usually is—to seek relief from a compliance with the spirit, customs, and amusements of the world. And these compliances, when once allowed, will soon be defended; and those who cannot approve or imitate such conformity, will be represented as under the influence of a narrow, legal, or pharisaic spirit.

This [spiritually] sick [person] is in a delirium, which prevents him from feeling his disease—and he rather supposes the alteration in his conduct is owing to an increase of wisdom, light, and liberty. He considers the time when he was more strict and circumspect as a time of ignorance, will smile at the recollection of what he now deems his childish scruples, and congratulates himself that he has happily outgrown them, and now finds that the services of God and the world are not so incompatible as he once thought them to be.

In other words you become worldly…at least in his own heart. But he has a tendency to view others with a much more legal spirit. As Newton says, “He sharply censures the miscarriages and even the mistakes of ministers and professors, if an occasion offers, and speaks of these things, not weeping as the apostle did—but with pleasure,”

These are the symptoms of an apathetic spirit. One that is no longer satisfied with the gospel. One that no longer burns brightly for Jesus. How do we get this way? How do we get in such a place?

Verse 17 gives us a clue as to the reason for the Laodiceans apathy. Jesus speaks of the Laodiceans self-centeredness, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing you that you are…” We see from this text that the Laodiceans are self-satisfied, self-righteous, self-sufficient, and self-deluded. And

The Laodiceans had become quite wealthy. They were in fact one of the most wealthy of all of the cities in the first century. We have already learned of their independent spirit, and how this came from their great wealth. They cried out to Jesus, “WE ARE RICH”. What a horrible deceiving thing riches are. Perhaps this is why Jesus said it is harder for a rich man to enter into heaven than a camel through the eye of a needle. Jesus also said that man cannot love both God and Money, he will love the one and hate the other. The Laodiceans had all that they needed and all that they wanted. They were self-satisfied.

But I wonder if there is a way that we can become so spiritually “rich” that it does the same thing to us. That we can become so inundated in church culture, Bible reading, watching television preachers, listening to even sound preaching on the internet, reading Christian books, being so rich on these things that you become spiritually self-satisfied. All of those things that I mentioned can be good things. But is it possible that they can make us feel that we are a little better off than we actually are? That we could say that we are rich because we know some theology, can quote Bible verses, and know about the gospel but our hearts aren’t enflamed by it? Because let’s be honest every one of those things that I mentioned could be attended by the devil.

The danger here is that if you are self-satisfied, or self-righteous, or self-sufficient, then you are also probably self-deluded. And unless the Holy Spirit of God wakes you up you will continue to be so. You will be sitting where you are crying out, “I am okay, I am a spiritual giant, I need nothing, I’m not so bad, etc. etc.” And the worst is when we are spiritually self-satisfied.

But listen to these words of John Piper, they cut me like a knife.

The lukewarm are spiritually self-satisfied. To find out whether you are among that number, don't look into your head to see if you think that you are needy; rather, look at your prayer life. It doesn't matter what we think in our head, the test of whether we are in bondage to spiritual self-satisfaction is how earnest and frequent and extended our prayers for change are. Do you seek the Lord earnestly and often in secret for deeper knowledge of Christ, for greater earnestness in prayer, for more boldness in witness, for sweeter joy in the Holy Spirit, for deeper sorrow for sin, for warmer compassion for the lost, for more divine power to love? Or is the coolness and mechanicalness of your prayer life Exhibit A that you are spiritually self-satisfied and lukewarm?

Not only were the Laodiceans self-satisfied but they were also self-righteous. They said, I have prospered. They saw all of their riches, their great accomplishments in medicine, their thriving textile industry and they said, “Look what we’ve done”. More than likely the church thought they had done such a great job too. “Look we’re friends with the people of the world”. “Look they like us, look the gospel is accepted here.” Look at how good we are doing and how much we have prospered. Christian, are you self righteous? Do you look at your life and say, “my look at how much more holy I am than this person”? Do you pray thank you for not making me as this person? Do you feel as if you have little left to learn? Do you listen to sermons and think, “boy I sure hope so and so here’s this”?

Not only were the Laodiceans self-satisfied and self-righteous but they were also self-sufficient. They said, I need nothing. And ultimately this is why we see in verse 20 that Jesus is standing outside the door knocking. They no longer needed Jesus. They had become rich, they had prospered, and they needed nothing. I wonder just how self-sufficient we have become as a church. How often do we earnestly cry out to Jesus in prayer? How often are we passionately praying and pursuing Him? Do we really see our total need for Him? Or do we say to Jesus, “I’ve got this”. Again remember the Piper quote—don’t look at your head and see if you feel self-satisfied. Look at your actions. How dependent in our actions are we on Christ?

The Laodiceans had become self-satisfied, self-righteous, self-sufficient, and ultimately they have become self-deluded. Listen to the cutting words of Jesus—he is saying, “you’re not rich, you’re haven’t prospered, you are no self-sufficient. You are delusional. Look at you. You are really wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. You aren’t okay.

Is the Lord saying this to us today? Are we the Laodiceans? Is this a message to us? Are we apathetic? Have we turned inward? Are we talking about and focused on miniscule things? If this text fits where you’ve been---I want you to know that there is grace all over this passage as well. Christ is the Great Physician he does not only point out the symptoms, the causes, the prognosis, but he points to the remedy.

III. The remedy

What hope do we have? We have today the same hope that the Laodiceans had. If your relationship with Jesus has become cold, pathetic, indifferent, not full of vibrant passion, with an ineffective careless witness then there is still hope. This letter to the Laodiceans is a command to repent a command to return, but it is also an offer of pardon and of grace. Repent and turn and I will heal you! It’s not too late—but let us turn today and not have another moment of mediocrity. Here we stand just like the Laodiceans, wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. We need to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ, we need to be able to see Him, we must come to Christ and receive His riches and then we will no longer be wretched and pitiable.

Earlier I mentioned what the Laodiceans were famous for. Notice what Jesus does here in verse 18. He is transferring their minds from the worldly things they had gained from their self-satisfaction, righteousness, sufficiency, and ultimately self-delusion and pointing them to Himself. He is saying you think your banks are giving you security and wealth? You have nothing. Don’t you know I own that too? Don’t you know that I am the Lord and creator of all? Don’t you know that I can give it and take it all away in just a second? Don’t you know that you truly have nothing on your own?

You need to buy from me gold refined by fire. This more than likely is an allusion to were we are urged to buy from God, “wine and milk without money and without cost”. Or perhaps it is foreshadowing to , “And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price”. This is a precious commodity, it is not money. It is the most precious of all metals. They aren’t rich. They must come to Jesus as poor beggars with nothing to give. And that is how we must all come to receive from Jesus Therefore we must seek the riches of Christ and not the riches of this world.

Our remedy isn’t stuff. Or to “do something”. Our remedy is a person. The Lord Jesus Christ. He himself is our remedy.

I want to close with these words from Paul Tripp:

As sinners, we have a natural bent to turn away from the Creator to serve the creation. We turn away from hope in a Person to hope in systems, ideas, people, or possessions. Real Hope stares us in the face, but we do not see him. Instead, we dig into the mound of human ideas to extract a tiny shard of insight. We tell ourselves that we have finally found the key, the thing that will make a difference. We act on the insight and embrace the delusion of lasting personal change. But before long, disappointment returns. The change was temporary and cosmetic, failing to penetrate the heart of the problem. So, we go back to the mound again, determined this time to dig in the right place. Eureka! We find another shard of insight, seemingly more profound than before. We take it home, study it, and put it into practice. But we always end up in the same place.

The good news confronts us with the reality that heart-changing help will never be found on the mound of human ideas. It will only be found in the Man, Christ Jesus. We must not offer people a system of redemption, a set of insights and principles. We offer people a Redeemer. In his power, we find the hope and help we need to defeat the most powerful enemies. Hope rests in the grace of the Redeemer, the only real means of lasting change.

To the unbeliever: You need Christ Jesus.

To believers: Marriages, etc. looking for something new. That is a symptom of the disease. We need Jesus Christ.