Lukewarm Laodicea

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

Revelation 3:15–16

You may not know this, but if you drink enough water at a certain temperature, roughly 95-100 degrees Fehrenheit, it can make you nauseous and actually induce vomiting.* I imagine the residents of Laodicea did know this. Laodicea didn’t have a source of clean, drinking water. Their water had to be piped in by means of an aqueduct. Cold water was piped in from Colossae. Hot water was piped in from the hot springs at Hierapolis. Either way by the time the water got to Laodicea, it was lukewarm.**

Jesus tells this church that their lukewarm Christianity makes Him feel the same way. It makes Him sick to His stomach. It makes Him want to vomit. And because of this Jesus threatens to spew this church out of His mouth.

Now, it’s not exactly clear if that would mean this church would cease to exist or not. But what is clear is that this church was dangerously close to being rejecting by it’s Lord. If the church at Laodicea continued to be lukewarm in their commitment to Jesus, then He would have nothing to do with them.*** They were in grave danger of losing Jesus’ blessing on their church. And what is a church without Jesus’ blessing?! If Jesus rejects us, what hope do we have? None.

It’s easy for a church to lose it’s passion over time and grow lukewarm. It’s easy for us to get to a place where we’re really just going through the motions. Where church stops being about about Jesus or about love or about the gospel and it’s just something we do... out of habit. That is a very dangerous place to be. We can’t let that happen to our churches, or to us as individuals, for fear of being rejected by our Lord.

If your faith has grown a little cold, then stir it up today. Don’t just go through the motions. Don’t play pretend. Either you’re all in or you’re all out. Jesus hates apathy. He hates lukewarm commitment. So, decide right now to be all in for Jesus. Fan the flames of your faith. And with God’s help, you will never be lukewarm in your commitment to Him again.

*Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (Vol. 2, p. 562). Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

**Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Re 3:15). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

***Schreiner, Thomas R. “Revelation.” In Hebrews–Revelation, edited by Iain M. Duguid, James M. Hamilton Jr., and Jay Sklar, XII:525–754. ESV Expository Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2018.