14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Now we come to the final epistle dictated by the Glorified Lord to the church at Laodicea. Of all these epistles this is perhaps the most familiar to the saints in conservative churches today. There are two primary reasons for this.
First, the epistle depicts an assembly in decline through apathy and worldliness. This has a ring of familiarity to it. It almost sounds like the Glorified Lord is literally talking to any one of multitudes of assemblies in the world today, especially in advanced western nations that have had the Gospel for generations.
Second, for those that take the view that these epistles depict the conditions in the churches during discernible ‘stages’ of the Church Age, this final epistle would naturally depict the churches during the final such stage, a time of serious declension. It has no doubt been preached and taught in multitudes of conservative churches that ‘we are living in the Laodicean Age’ of church history. However, as we have pointed out previously in our discussion of chapter three as a whole, these conditions do not prevail in multitudes of assemblies on missions’ frontiers, where the churches are still young. For this reason, it would hard to take a dogmatic stance about this being the ‘Laodicean Age’ of church history.
The Glorified Lord assesses the condition of this assembly overall by saying that it is ‘neither cold nor hot.’ He then makes a somewhat surprising statement: ‘I would that thou wert cold or hot.’ And He adds: ‘So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.’ Few of us would have expected the Glorified Lord to say these things. We would think that being lukewarm is surely better than being cold.[1] At least being lukewarm suggests some heat,[2] rather than none at all.
But we measure things according to our flawed perspective.
Lukewarmness as the leading characteristic of an assembly of ‘believers’ is an indication that there is much hypocrisy. A ‘hot’ church would likely be one that manifests zeal for the Truth and for the glory of God. A ‘cold’ church would likely be one having no zeal whatsoever for the Truth or the glory of God. But a lukewarm church is one in which the ‘heat’ of genuine zeal for the Truth and the glory of God has cooled so much that it has become hard to tell which members are genuine and which are merely posturing. There is a lethargy fallen across the assembly.
Church members have turned aside from genuine zeal for the Truth and for the glory of God. In its place is the relentless pursuit of personal enrichment [‘I am rich and increased with goods’] and security [‘I have need of nothing’]. In simple terms, they have set aside true zeal, replaced it with church attendance and the deadening ‘lullaby of life.’ When these two become paired in the life of a ‘believer,’ lukewarmness has become the norm.
In His indictment of this assembly the Glorified Lord warns them of their terrible blindness. He plainly tells them that they ‘know not that [they] art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.’ They see themselves as ordinary church members just living their lives ‘like everybody else.’ But His estimation of their condition is far different. How many church members in assemblies today would agree with the Glorified Lord’s depiction of their true condition? One that is lukewarm struggles to truly hear anything from the LORD.
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
The Glorified Lord’s ‘solution’ for their condition is openly offered in verse eighteen. He points them away from their estimation of riches unto true riches that can be had only in genuine heart fellowship with Him. They must ‘buy’ it of Him. This calls to mind the passage in the which says, ‘Buy the truth, and sell it not.’[3] The further an assembly drifts away from the Truth,[4] the more lukewarm it becomes, and the more its blindness deepens.
The riches He offers them is said to be ‘gold tried in the fire.’ This brings to mind 1 Corinthians 3:10-13.
10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
Note especially verse thirteen. The true underlying foundation of ‘church life’ is Jesus Christ. Being redeemed places the believer ‘in Christ.’[5] Every church member[6] builds upon that foundation, so to speak, and his ‘work will be made manifest because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.’
In the place of regimented church attendance and religious behavior patterns [wood, hay and stubble] the Glorified Lord offers the hope of gold ‘tried in the fire.’ [gold, silver and precious stones] The Glorified Lord is plainly telling those in the assembly at Laodicea that it is only through genuine personal fellowship with Him that their works will be able to stand the fires of testing.
It is only in personally opening the door to Him that those in such a lukewarm assembly can have true riches, white apparel and eyes that truly see. Otherwise, even with all their false assurance that they are rich and have need of nothing, they [along with their works] will be spewed out. And the way to open the door to Him in truth is revealed in verse nineteen.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
From this we learn that lukewarmness is something needs to be repented of. It demands agreeing with the LORD that lukewarmness is sin,[7] and deliberately turning from it. Going along in lukewarmness is a dangerous choice, even if it seems comfortable. And, once again, the Glorified Lord Himself has emphatically identified in this epistle that the decision to repent of lukewarmness is on the level of the individual. It is a personal choice.[8] Any church member that abides in lukewarmness and comforts himself [or herself] that it is okay because ‘the whole church is this way’ is in danger of being spewed out by the Glorified Lord in the end.
We do well to truly ‘hear what the Spirit saith.’ It is the only path to reigning in life now, and reigning with the Glorified Lord later.[9]
[1] In terms of the overall description of the condition of an assembly of professing believers.[2] Warmth being associated with life, and coldness being associated with deadness.[3] Proverbs 23:23.[4] Settling more and more for a form of religious behavior in place of hungering for genuine connectedness with the LORD through His Truth.[5] I Corinthians 1:30.[6] If a man is not ‘in Christ,’ he has no business being a church member.[7] 1 John 1:9.[8]If any man…Verse 20.[9] Verse 21.