Delicious Lukewarm Coffee

Revelation 3:14-18 Church at Laodicea Part 1

We have been wrestling with my oldest son lately. It's one of those issues that is really cute at first and becomes less so every day he gets older.

He is pretty sharp and loves learning new things. I love teaching him new things, especially things that I think are cool. So, of course, he has learned about Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, ninjas, knights, etc... All the important stuff.

But after he has learned a few things about something, he just declares himself an expert. Often, the expert. He took like two karate lessons. I don't need to go back, I know karate. I am a karate master! Maybe I could teach them about karate! I am a ninja master!

That was cute when he was 4 and 5. Becoming less so... and it is in all sorts of different areas.

A few weeks into soccer. On the way to practice "I don't need to practice, I am already a master!"

He settles for whatever little bit he has learned about something, calls it the "whole thing" and he is done. He risks giving up whatever lies beyond the little bit he has managed to gather.

So we have this conversation over and over. First, I start with "No, you're not a master. Actually, your terrible." Okay, maybe not that. I say "You are just starting out, you have a lot to learn. If you decide you are already a master you will never get better at anything!" Quite often I have to challenge him to a duel... so he can see that I am truly the ninja master! Or something...

We do this same thing, quite often. It's not always a pride or arrogance thing. Sometimes we just really think we have arrived at the end of a road. I have "mastered" this. I have "mastered" life. If you have a comfortable income, food in your refrigerator, decent health, friends and family, some might sit back and pat themselves on the back. Done! Success! As long as this continues, as long as I have wealth, clothes and health... I am done.

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

We even equate that with spiritual success. Clearly I am doing something right in God's eyes, or I wouldn't be so darn comfortable! The best strategy at that point is just not to rock the boat. Don't mess with a good thing. Sit back and enjoy the fruits of success!

The Church at Laodicea

So picture a wealthy city. We have a lot of these nowadays, where the median income is way above average. Perhaps in our context it's a wealthy suburb. Perfectly positioned to make gobs of money. This particular city was famous for banking, clothing and doctors. This was a city that had it made in most ways of measuring success. They were successful!

This was the city of Laodicea in the 1st century AD. A rich city: bankers and merchants and famous doctors. Think Wall Street plus maybe NY as a center of fashion and industry with Harvard Medical School next door. Huge houses, some houses had indoor plumbing! This is Highlands Ranch and Cherry Creek. Money money.

As so often happens, and we've seen again and again in Revelation, the culture of the city infected the culture of the church. In this case, the church was wealthy. The people of the church had money, the church coffers were probably full. The people of the church looked around at their nice church facilities and well funded programs and leaned back all self-satisfied. Success! Job well done.

Must be doing something right. Must be doing everything right!

Perhaps they proclaimed themselves experts. They had "arrived." What do you do when you have arrived at the end of the journey? You stop traveling. You get out of the car. You go inside and relax. We find in Revelation 3:14-18, a church that had stopped. A church that had declared itself complete and victorious. Jesus has a bit of a wake up call.

14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation.

Right off the bat, Jesus has to establish his credentials. He is speaking to wealthy, possibly powerful people. Who am I? I am the truest... the one who tells it true, a faithful and true witness. More than that, you want to talk about wealth? I am the ruler of God's creation. Literally, I am "first" of God's creation. I have the position of power and truth to speak authoritatively about you.

15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16 So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

Jesus, in addition to be God, is just an incredible communicator. He speaks to the people's culture, to specifics about their daily life. Laodicea was this powerful, wealthy city but...

The city had one major disadvantage. It had no water supply. The water had to be brought in by cistern 6 miles from the Hot Springs. Now the nearby city, Hierapolis had nice hot springs. They were famous for the healing powers of their Hot Springs and people would come to soak, to relax... for people who rarely if ever got a hot bath, I can imagine the healing powers. The other way, about 10 miles had the city of Collossae, and they had the only deep water spring for miles in any direction. They were famous for cold refreshing life-giving water bubbling up from the fountains around which they built their city.

The water that flowed down 6 miles from the hot springs to Laodicea... not so good.

Illustration: hot, iced and lukewarm coffee. Who wants the hot stuff? Who wants the iced stuff? Who wants the cup that has been sitting for two hours?

Lukewarm water is disgusting for drinking. Not just that, but the minerals and sediments in the water made it undrinkably disgusting. Have you ever smelled a hotsprings? They had to (and still do in the area today) let the water sit out in barrels so it would cool and the minerals would start to settle out.

So you might often hear this verse: hot, cold, lukewarm... and people make it about being hot or cold towards God. It sort of makes sense, though we struggle to understand why God would prefer cold to lukewarm... but in the context it isn't about that. "I know your works..." it says. And the hot water in Hierapolis was famous for healing and restorative powers. The fresh cold water of Collossae was refreshing and life giving. The water at Laodicea was tepid and gross and really good for nothing. So "I know your works..." you have none! You have become spiritually useless and disgusting...

I hinted at why, but the next verse tells us exactly how they got here:

17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.

At some point, Jesus says, you confused your material wealth and comfort with self-sufficiency. Because you are comfortable you are complete. You "do not need a thing." You look around you and see wealth and comfort and success. Mission completion!

Oh, if only you could see what you look like in the spiritual realm. If only you could see deeper reality. I will tell you what you look like to me. You are lukewarm useless water. You are wretched and pitiful.

And these three were shocking: you are poor, blind and naked.

Your city is famous for wealth, and you think you are wealthy, but in the deepest truest sense, you are poor.

You think you are healthy, and your city is famous for it's medical school, producing eye salves to heal people's vision; but in the deepest truest sense you are blind.

You think you are clothed in opulent fashion, but in the deepest truest sense, you are shamefully naked.

The wealth, health and clothes you have are poor and empty substitutes for Jesus and His Kingdom. They are illusions. Monopoly money and invisible clothes. They are distractions and anasthetics to keep you from realizing the depth of your need.

Pro tip: When you think you've arrived.... you're wrong.

Jesus (the Amen, the true, the true and faithful witness) witnesses this: in reality you are wretched and pitiful or pathetic. You are poor, You are naked, You are blind. You have settled for a substitute, a poor and pathetic substitute.

Realize the incredible depth of your need!

18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Jesus offers true wealth, true clothing, true healing and vision... we will see more about that next time. But the first step is rejecting the substitutes and realizing the depth of our need.

We will see next time that the need is for fellowship with Jesus. Life in His Kingdom.

Jesus and His Kingdom: accept no substitutes

The Laodiceans had this call to see past the illusion of self-sufficiency and realize the depth of their need.

Accept No Substitutes

The Laodiceans aren't alone in this. You and I get caught in the trap. I get caught in this trap. I get caught up in this every time I sit down to prepare a sermon. Look at my Master of Theology on the wall. I got this! Look at the books and commentaries on the shelf. I got this! Look at the files of past sermons. I got this!

But it turns out a Masters in theology does not make me the master of theology. I pray this prayer or something like it:

God, show me the depth of my need for you.

That is a prayer He is just waiting to answer. Could I preach a sermon alone? yes. But it would be empty, hollow, devoid of power, unable to speak into people's lives, without wisdom or life. It would be void. It would be like monopoly money and invisible clothes.

God, show me the depth of my need for you.

Guess what, we live in Laodicea! Not much persecution. Not much local heresy at the moment. We live in a suburb in the wealthiest nation on the planet. We have indoor plumbing! We have cozy comfortable homes. We have refrigerators full of food, cozy places to sit, entertainment at our beck and call. We hear the siren song of wealth and prosperity.

We have wealth, we have clothes, we have health and vision.

God, show me the depth of my need for you.

Do you see the danger? You can gather enough material comforts and entertainments to convince yourself that you don't need anything else. You can fill your days enough that you anesthitize yourself to feeling the need.

See, the Laodiceans were a Christian church. They knew at some mental level that they needed Jesus and the only ones hearing this are those coming to church. These are church people. They knew that much.

But I imagine the rest of their days. They went home and got on with the business of living. They lived full and happy lives! How did they describe it? "I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing."

I do not need a thing. Those are the words of satisfaction. Of fulfillment. Of comfort. Isn't that what we are all striving for?

You are wretched and poor if you think that is all there is. You are poor, naked and blind. It isn't just that the things you are filling your life with are temporary baubles. It isn't just that all your wealth, all your toys, all your facebook, cell phones, new cars, tv shows are going to pass away in fire.

It is that Jesus has so much more for you. You are two steps from Home Plate acting like you hit a home run. Don't settle. Don't declare victory. Don't think you are finished. What is around the bend is better by far, truer by far, deeper and more real.

God, show me the depth of my need for you. Let me see past the illusion of self-sufficiency and realize the depth of my need.

I am a pastor now, but I'm not yet the pastor He has created me to be.

I am a good father, but I'm not yet the father He has created me to be. Open my eyes.

You may be a great Christ follower. You may even be as great as you think you are. But you aren't yet the incredible man or woman of God that God created you to be. You may be a spiritual giant compared to me... but compared to where God is taking you.

You are naked, poor and blind. God show me the depth of my need for you. Let me see past the illusion of self-sufficiency and realize the depth of my need.

Kingdom Snobs

We live in a culture that pushes a slight variant of Laodicean self-sufficiency. You are right, you don't have enough now, but just a little more will do it! That is the message of our culture.

Just a little more... just a little more... just a little more... and I'll tell you exactly what product or service it is that you need.

Culture is not a faceless force arrayed against us. It is the collective expression of people. As part of that culture and as lights to that culture, when we refuse to be swindled, when we realize the depth and direction of our need, we shift our culture.

We start to pray this prayer: God show me the depth of my need for you.

God starts to answer that prayer.

When we start to live in and live out the Kingdom (more about that next time) we shine lights on just how pale and shallow the other stuff is. We become lights of the Kingdom.

Pray this with me now.

God show me the depth of my need for you.

Let me see past the illusion of self-sufficiency and realize the depth of my need.

As we begin to worship, sit with that prayer. Listen for that answer. Await with expectation that God will open our eyes. Show me the depth of my need for you.