14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this: 15 ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” (Revelation 3:14-17)
There are those who have no problem making decisions. Their “yes” is yes and their “no” is no. Then there are those who never really come down on one side or the other. These always play it safe. While their options remain open, they’ve gone nowhere. When you contemplate Christianity and you remain ambivalent, it would appear from a worldly point of view that you are wise, that you are still weighing the good and the bad, still doing your homework, still calling witnesses, still running tests, but those who are neither hot nor cold are not highly regarded in God’s eyes, but are nauseating. He’d rather have an outright refusal than a maybe.
When someone knows he’s right and talks himself blue in the face trying to convince a person of the truth, and gets only a “perhaps,” the ambivalent runs the risk of being written off the face of the earth. Not taking “no” for an answer is actually a more hopeful scenario than leaving the lost to their own devices. Most don’t realize eternity’s at stake. You can see how frustrating it can be dealing with the “lukewarm,” and that’s where Jesus, “the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the Creation of God,” was regarding the church at Laodicea. We might want to sleep on it, but Jesus, being the “Amen,” “the final word,” demands a response, and he would like it to be an unequivocal and resounding “yes!”
So the church at Laodicea collectively, despite its giftedness and full shelves of merchandise and medicines, was in God’s eyes “wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” When you tapped into the church there, what came out of them was as bad as their water, which came from the hot springs of Hierapolis a few miles to the north via an underground aqueduct. By the time it got to the city it was tepid and dirty. Those not used to it spat it out!
18 “I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. 19 ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.”(Revelation 3:18-19)
We are quite familiar with taking medicine. You go to the doctor and you come home with yet another medication to solve your problem. But some refuse to go to the doctor. They won’t take the medicine. They don’t follow doctor’s orders but wallow in pain and anguish. Here the Laodiceans needed to take a bit of their own medicine. They needed to refine themselves like they did gold, put on righteous white clothing to cover the nakedness of their sinfulness, and apply spiritual salve to their eyes that they might rid themselves once and for all of their blindness.
20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. 21 ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” (Revelation 3:20-21)
All Jesus wants is a solid commitment. He’s a “yes” man and he wants to surround himself with the same. He eagerly wants to sup with us as he did with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. (Luke 24:29-31) He puts us in this needy state to draw us to himself. When we contemplate every other source of satisfaction in life rather than life in him, even if we’ve done no apparent wrong, we are an anathema to him. Yet he stands at the doors of our hearts hours on end knocking, with no response. There will be a day when there is no knock. Pity those who experience this, because it’ll be too late.
22 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Revelation 3:22)
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