"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. 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. 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. 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.
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.
To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
(Rev 3:14-22 NIV)
For my evening devotions I usually include either listening to scripture on YouTube or a sermon or commentary or two. Last night I listened to, I don't know who, speaking on the seven epistles of Jesus. He was referring to the seven letters to the churches that John transcribed as they are found in the book of Revelation.
The speaker compared the church in Laodicea to a church of the end time; the church of today. I would say that it is probably not true of all congregations around the world. But, that it is true of a good many, at least in the United States. The members of these congregations are neither hot nor cold. They are just there. A barely decent choir song puts more fire into the hearts of many than does the hearing of the gospel. They will clap and even give the musicians standing ovations. But, nary a smile of joy or anticipation when the Gospel acclamation is sung or the Word of the Lord is proclaimed. It seems it is enough to be there. There is no need to actually worship with our whole hearts and minds the Lord our God, a God whom we cannot see. Do we think that He cannot see us as we half-heartedly fulfill some imaginary obligation by showing up. We are not saved by showing up every Sunday. We are saved by faith in the One who lived and died and lives again for us. If we truly believe that we would be thankful. We would be on fire.
Like the church in Laodicea was lukewarm so are the members of many congregations in the United States. I say "members of congregations" rather than members of the "Body of Christ" because if you read the letter to the Laodiceans you will find that those who are lukewarm will be spit out of the mouth of God. There is a difference between being a member of a church and a member of "The Church" which is the Body of Christ. God will not consider those who are lukewarm members of the Body of Christ. He will not consider them a part of His family. He will spit them out of His mouth.
This letter to the Laodiceans has been on my mind for decades. I consider it often as well as the fact that I, too, am probably lukewarm. I cannot help but wonder how many times I have watered down the Word of the Lord in order to keep members in the church so that the bills can be paid and so that members don't get upset because I ran people out with the truth. If I speak too much truth; people tend to leave. Their feelings get hurt. The last time someone told me that they believed there were many paths to our Father in heaven and that Jesus wasn't the only way, I responded very quickly (without thinking) that if they believed that and taught others to believe that they would be going to hell. They decided they would leave the church. So in many ways, and on many days, I look forward to retirement from "church" work. I look forward to truly having the freedom to proclaim the Gospel without having to worry about who may be upset; who may leave the congregation. I do not want to preach a watered down word so that the church doesn't end up closing. I don't want to preach any more morality or how to live. I just want to preach Jesus. And, yes... I am saying that the lukewarm church has had the ability to stifle the whole truth and not just from me; but, from many clergy; from many lay people; from those who truly are or were on fire for the Lord. Lukewarm Christians are not Christians at all; because, they simply are not speaking the truth. They are twisting it; watering it down; even ignoring it in order to be friends with the world. May God forgive us all.
The truth of the matter most probably is that the remnant will be a whole lot smaller than we would hope for. Sadly, many congregations, many who claim to know Jesus in the United States as well as many other countries, are on fire for something. But, they are not on fire for Jesus.
May God send upon each of you reading this His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, that you might be on fire with love for the one who loves you so much that He was willing to die that you might be forgiven your sins and reconciled to God our Father in heaven.
God's Peace - Pr. J
