The Lukewarm Church: A Lesson From Laodicea

14 Write to the angel of the church in Laodicea:

"The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Originator of God's creation says: 15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish taht you were cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, 'I'm rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,' and you don't know that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked, 18 I advise you to buy form Me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, white clothes so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be committed nad repent. 20 Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me. 21 The victor: I will give him the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also won the victory and sat down with My Father on His throne.

22 Anyone who has an ear should listen to what the Spirit says to the churches."

Revelation 3:14-22

As one might be able to tell, when pastors think of models for their churches, thee Church of Laodicea often does not make the top million. Jesus calls them "lukewarm" and "wretched and pitiful." Now, not every church is a church of Laodicea, but every text in the Bible is available to us so that we may be strengthened by it and not fall into the pits that the Laodiceas in. Here, we have a perfect example of a stagnant body of Christ, one that has become ineffective.

Jesus gives us both characteristics and remedies for a lukewarm church.

The first characteristic is that they are poor. One thing you might want to first know is what Laodicea itself as known for. It was known for its wealth, its clothing, and its eye ointment (basically, ancient eye drops), but in this text, God says that though they possess those things, though they have physical remedies for poverty, nudity, and blindness, spiritually, you have done nothing. You're stagnant. You are poor in spirit, so what does God tell them to do? 

He tells them to buy from Him gold. Now, if you're a practical person, you would think, "how does one buy gold if one is poor?" How do you obtain that which is valuable when you yourself have nothing of value to trade it with? As Americans, we are creatures of commerce. Everything is tradable because everything has value. I pay $10 for a steak and barbacoa bowl, chips, and a drink at Chipotle because both the producer (Chipotle) and the consumer (I) will concede to agree that the value of these items rounds out to about that much. Thus, the trade is made, but the value does not change if I don't have the money. The producer still values that combo at $10. I, though hungry for some Tex Mex, still value it at $10 and have even gone so far as to prove beforehand that I value it that much, but poverty on my mind does not decrease value on their end.

Neither is it with God, yet he does not desire gold. He is giving gold to be purchased with what? Look at Isaiah 55:1:

"Come everyone who is thirsty,

Come to the waters,

And you without money,

Come, buy, and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

Without money and without cost!"

Jesus calls the Church of Laodicea to buy gold the same way he is calling Israel in Isaiah to buy wine and milk: without money and without cost. Cost here means a monetary price. The actual price goes much deeper as stated in Matthew 16:24-25:

24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wants to come with Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of Me will find it.

You see, that which is perishable and finite (money) cannot purchase that which is eternal and infinite (paradise). That which can be destroyed cannot purchase that which cannot be hindered. That which man values cannot purchase that which God values. He longs for the church itself to seek Him, to buy from Him the wealth of a deep relationship with Him, but they cannot see that they are poor, which brings us to the second characteristic:

They are blind. They can't see that they are poor, naked, wretched, and pitiful! They can't see beyond their eye sockets. Remember the three things Laodicea is known for? Its wealth (we already tackled that with how poor they are spiritually), its clothes, and its eye ointment. Now, the only way to cure blindness is through a miracle. We know this, buy Laodicea has eye ointment (or salve) that basically served as ancient eye drops. Because only God could heal the blind, this was God stepping down to the low level at which man can comprehend and saying, "look! Your eyes are bad, so you need ointment." In the same way as God longs for the church to buy from Him gold, he longs for them to buy from Him the spiritual ointment, but moving from blindness to seeing is so miraculous a feat that sometimes it requires doing the impossible. Check out John 9:6-7:

6 After He said these things He spit on the ground, made some mud from teh saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes. 7 "Go," He told him, "wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means "Sent"). So he left, washed, and came back seeing.

Jesus rubs mud on this man's eyes, but he isn't healed yet. Jesus first tells him to go. Did you catch that? Jesus tells a man BLIND FROM BIRTH to go while he is still blind to a pool and wash himself. He tells him to make a journey. He tells him to believe that, by going to the pool of Siloam (which fittingly means "Sent") and washing off what Jesus had put on his eyes, that he will come back seeing. Not only does Jesus tell him to do that, the blind man does it, and comes back seeing. He doesn't g off and relish in the miracle for himself. He returns to where the miracle started: Jesus.

Sometimes, circumstances will arise, and you will be blind to God's will, to which God will say, "Go and see," and you, as a blind man, will have to make such a journey. Only after blindly stumbling through the journey will you be able to see. It is then not only appropriate but mandatory to return to where the journey began: Jesus.

Not only is the Church poor and blind, but their third characteristic is that they are naked. They're exposed! They are laid bare, and everyone can see the shallowness of their faith. Keep in mind what Laodicea is known for: wealth, clothing, and eye ointment. Here, God is saying you are naked, so you need clothes (duh), but it crossed your mind: God created man naked. Go back to Genesis. After Adam and Eve sinned, they made loinclothes out of fig leaves. I don't know if you've ever seen a fig leaf, but it's rather ineffective when it comes to clothing thyself. After God delivers His punishment to man, what does He do? Genesis 3:21 says:

The LORD God made clothing out of skins for Adam and his wife, and He clothed them.

He replaces the clothes that THEY made with the clothes that HE provided. God says, "if you're going to hide how you are created, do so with that which I provide for you." In Revelation, he is telling Laodicea, "if you are going to be ashamed of Me, clothe yourself with Me, clothe yourself with the sacrifice that I have provided for you, so that you may not be ashamed of me." Clothing oneself with Christ is the only way to cure your shame of Christ.

Moving forward in the text to Revelation 3:19, we see Christ telling Laodicea, "as many as I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be committed and repent." Their fourth characteristic is that they are wretched and pitiful. Now, this is not saying that strife is God's way of saying you are wretched and pitiful. No. This whole letter is God's rebuke and discipline of a church which He still loves. Check out Proverbs 3:11-12:

11 Do not despise the LORD's instruction, my son,

and do not loathe His discipline,

12 for the LORD disciplines the one He loves,

just as a father, the son he delights in.

We should rejoice in the discipline and the rebuke that God gives us because, first and foremost, that means He loves us. It means He cares to see us grow in Him. It means He wants to use us, but how does discipline come? It comes in many forms. It comes through trials, most notably. We can either, again, complain about being blind until we see, or we can return to where the miracle began. However, it can also come by way of 1 Corinthians 11:31-32:

31 If we were properly evaluating ourselves, we would not be judged, 32 but when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord, so that we may not be condemned with the world.

No one escapes God's jurisdiction. Therefore, God is perfectly within His right to use a nonbeliever to convict you of your actions, so that, later down the line, you may lead someone to the cross. We are to be in a constant state of the renewing of our minds because our thoughts become our actions with an untrained mind.

We have the characteristics of the lukewarm church and their corresponding remedies:

Poor --> Gold

Blind --> Ointment

Naked --> Clothes

Wretched and Pitiful --> Rebuke and Discipline

The good news is how God responds to the faithful. Moving from a church that which God would vomit to a church that which God would dine with is what Christ is trying to get Laodicea to accomplish with this letter. Read Revelation 3:20-21:

20 Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me. 21 The victor: I will give him the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I also won the victory and sat down with My Father on His throne.

Often we use verse 20 as a verse to bring people to salvation, but that's not necessarily what it's talking about. It's a verse about repentance, and, so firstly, we see in these two verses that God dines with the faithful. With those that have faith, with those that believe in God, with those that trust in the saving, redeeming, and unstoppable power of God, He dines. A perfect example of this is given in Luke 5:27-32:

27 After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, "Follow Me!" 28 So, leaving everything behind, he got up and began to follow him. 29 Then Levi hosted a grand banquet for Him at his house. Now there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others who were guests with them. 30 But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to His disciples, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" 31 Jesus replied to them, "The healthy don't need a doctor, but the sick do. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Faithful does not mean those that never sinned. It means those that believe. Matthew, unashamed of the guest to come into his house, invites all of his friends to meet the King of Glory. He holds a feast, and he dines with God, and God dines with him.

Secondly, we see that God makes heirs of the faithful. The kingdom that we have inherited through the faith in which we inherited makes us co-heirs with Christ. Galatians 4:7 says:

So you are no longer a slave (to sin) but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God. 

Your identity in Christ is that the wages which you deserve from sin (death) are replaced by the inheritance you gain through Christ. You are an heir of the kingdom of God through the blood of Jesus.

God dines and makes heirs of the faithful, but here's the thing: there's no such thing as a lukewarm Christian, as Francis Chan says. Go back to Revelation 3:15-16:

15 I know your works, 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 am going to vomit you out of My mouth.

We often view the "hot" portion as being on fire for God and the "cold" portion as being hardened to being on fire for God, but if you look deep within the text, you'll see that this is not so. Laodicea didn't have water, so it ran an aqueduct from two separate places: Heirapolis and Colosse. Hierapolis was known for its hot springs used for medicinal purposes, and Colosse was known for its cold, refreshing streams. You see, looking at it under the light of what is around Laodicea, being cold is good. So what does this mean?

It means faith heals. Jesus speaking to His disciples in John 3:5:

Jesus answered, "I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Unless someone has experienced the healing power of the Holy Spirit, much like that of the hot springs in Hierapolis, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. He cannot be called an heir through God. He cannot dine with God. In Psalm 51:7, David cries out to God for healing of his soul:

Purify me with hyssop,

and I will be clean;

Wash me, and I will be

whiter than snow.

PURIFY me. WASH me. CLEAN me. HEAL me. Return my sickened, poor faith to a health faith that will walk to the pool of Siloam and come back seeing.

Faith doesn't just heal, but faith also quenches. Every human being is thirsty for something. Every soul has a longing for something more than themselves. One could argue that every person ever born, because of the sin inherited through Adam, immediately longed for a damned eternity until they were overcome by God with the desire for a blessed eternity. Regardless, we all long for. We all crave. We all thirst. David gives us a vivid picture of this in Psalm 42:1:

As a deer longs for streams of water,

So I long for You, God.

As a deer who runs daily longs to be quenched by the water from the Earth, so I long for you, God. I like what Matt Chandler calls David: "the schizophrenic king." In verse 1 he's describing his longing for God, but if you skip down 7 or 8 verses later, he's beating his chest, saying, "why so downcast, my soul!?" My soul, where is the faith, where is the longing, where is the thirst that you had 6 lines ago? Why do you desire the things of a perishable world over the things of an eternal world?

Yet sometimes we get like that. One minute, we can't get enough of God's overflowing water for our cup. The next minute, we want something else to drink. We're tired of the most precious thing ever given. Give me some trash instead.

Faith heals. Faith quenches. This church had neither. It had neither a faith the heals nor a faith that quenches. It was lukewarm. "But Evan, I thought you said that there was no such thing as a lukewarm Christian?" I did. This passage is talking about the church as a whole. A believer cannot lose his or her salvation, but a church can lose its impact. That's the whole point of Revelation 3:14-22. This church was stagnant. Their faith was shallow, so they were poor, blind, naked, wretched, and miserable. They needed gold, clothes, and ointment from God, so God rebuked and disciplined them, so that they may answer His call to dine with them.

A believer cannot lose his or her salvation, but a church can lose its impact. Not every church is Laodicea, but every church is in danger of being Laodicea. Let us never fall into being Laodicea.

Mr. Know-It-All

I'm a know-it-all. I like to know more than everybody else about everything, so I can show them that I know more than them about everything, not for solely egotistical purposes (though that's part of the game) but also to feel like I'm contributing to a battle against ignorance. However, the verse that has been running through my mind has been 1 Corinthians 1:27, speaking about God using foolish things to shame the wise. The whole 1 Corinthians 1:26-31 passage reads as follows:

26 Brothers, consider your calling: Not many are wise from a human perspective, not many are powerful, not many of noble birth. 27 Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 28 God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world--what is viewed as nothing--to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, 29 so that no one can boast in His presence. 30 But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became God-given wisdom for redemption, 31 in order that, as it is written: The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.

Last night, I was hanging out with a couple of my friends. We had found a Book of Bible Names and started reading through them. We got to Jethro, and I, being from a small town in Alabama, though it hilarious and exciting that a Jethro was in the Bible. None of my companions were as amused as I was because, evidently, this is common knowledge.

By no means am I calling my friends, some of the brightest people I know, foolish and me wise, but I have read the Bible in its entirety, yet Jethro, Moses's mentor, seemed to have fallen through the cracks in my reading. I study Calvinism and Arminianism backwards and forwards to dive deep into the mysteries of God, paying no attention to the road signs along the way. My collection of knowledge has become so narrow in scope lately that my brain refuses to acknowledge the forest, only looking at the tree.

Having said that, I'm not going to stop studying the Calvinism/Arminianism debate. It's my favorite subject in theology (I call it my crack), but this small incident was a humble reminder to my insignificant knowledge of God. Yet, my insignificance is what God uses. Though my wisdom is shamed when it is brought in a boastful light, my humility is used so that what others view as insignificant can be seen as the most significant part of human life. Why? Because, by God's logic, if no one can boast about anything in His presence, then why not use what, to these imperfect creatures seems mundane and meaningless, to bring to light what is most meaningful and groundbreaking?

David was small. Goliath was big. David hurled a stone at his head and killed him in one shot.

Peter was working one of the most mundane jobs of the time. More than that, Jesus told him to go out into the deeper parts of the water where, on any ordinary given day, there would be no (or an insignificant) amount of fish. Yet, this was no ordinary day. They almost broke their nets with how much fish they caught.

Christ was shamed upon the cross, so that we could boast in the Lord. If you don't know what boast means, it's similar to "brag." We have bragging rights. It's the only thing we have bragging rights to. We can be statistically the best at something. Maybe no one else will come along to claim the accolade, but that's doubtful. But for the purpose of the illustration, let's say there will never be anyone faster than Usain Bolt (he prophesied so himself). So what? You can run a short distance at record speeds. I'm not trying to make light of the accomplishment he has. It's remarkable, really, but you can't run when you're dead.

When we're dead, our body will be doing one thing for a longer time than anything else it has ever done: decompose. What does one's soul do during that time? Great question. It is either boasting in the Lord or burning in hell because that's all we are guaranteed in this life: death. Remarkably, we are guaranteed one of two paths in the afterlife, and it's not about where the dice lands. It's not about your lifestyle. Paul was the Hitler of his day, and half the New Testament is written by him, so enough with this "it's too late for me" crap. Samson was a psycho. Noah was a drunk. Joshua was a spoiled brat who was sold into slavery. Adam was whipped. Eve was gullible. Jacob was a liar. Peter denied Jesus during his lifetime (not after his death). And I am a pretentious hypocrite shamed by small circumstances. I'm not trying to make a mountain out of a mole hill, but I'm always humbled when I meet people who were baptized when they were eight and know all of these Bible stories, so to puff up my chest, I start a conversation on predestination, ironically, the only subject in theology that eventually ends with, "I just don't know."

God became shame to take away our shame. God became sin to take away our sin. God unleashed His wrath on Himself (as His Son) to prove three days later than sin has no hold on God nor us, so that we might boast in the only thing we can ever boast in: the Lord.

Arminianism v. Calvinism - Chosen By God

So I've embarked on a self-induced study (/torture) of Arminianism versus Calvinism. For those of you who aren't familiar with either, Calvinism is typically defined by God's love for those whom He chose to save for the beginning for His ultimate glory. Arminianism is defined by the love of those for God who are saved by Him for His ultimate glory (as of right now, my understanding of Arminianism is elementary at best, so bear with me).

I have decided to do updates on the books that I will read as I finish them. I won't necessarily share any of my beliefs on the subject or how it is affected which way I sway, but I will do my best to give a fair and unbiased opinion towards the author's take on the subject at hand.

I just recently finished Chosen By God by R.C. Sproul, an Arminian converted to Calvinism. He lays out the Five Points of Calvinism (TULIP) in excruciating detail. He doesn't necessarily walk through TULIP. He more or less talks about them as he comes up. I'll give you a brief summary:

Total Depravity
He describes total depravity as not necessarily ultimate depravity as much as "rooted" depravity, meaning that it's not so much that every decision we have ever made is a selfish one (though an argument can be made for this), but it is that we are born with sin rooted at the core of our very being. For this reason, we are separated from God and need his initiating reconciliation.

Unconditional Election
This is the point that most people have a problem with. It is the idea that God pre-ordains people from the beginning to Heaven or to Hell. You don't have a choice in the matter. Sproul prefers to refer to it as "sovereign election," contesting that, according to His ultimate wisdom, He placed the desire for loving Him in the hearts of those whom would be saved. To paraphrase him, God doesn't save people who wouldn't want to be saved. In regards to the flip side, Sproul attests that it isn't so much as God condemns people to Hell so much as He turns them over to their sin, something that happens time and time again in the Old Testament. By releasing them into their sin and not placing that divine desire in their hearts, their destination is Hell. However, this was more or less a technique used by God in the Old Testament as a way of ultimately turning the people of Israel back to God (though the condemnation of many for the salvation of few is not entirely out of the question as we will see in the next section).

Limited Atonement
If you have a problem with Calvinism, it rests here. The idea that Christ only died for those whom are saved is an abrasive theology. Beyond that, God chose them to begin with, so you not only are not independent, but the blood of Christ is an exclusive matter to a "members only" club that you can do nothing to be a part of. You just have to wait for the invitation. Sproul redefines it as "definite atonement." He agrees the Christ died for the sins of all humanity. Otherwise, He wouldn't be loving towards humanity, and there would be no grounds to send people to Hell simply for sinning. There has to be rebellion against a covenant for there to be punishment. Thus, the covenant was made in blood. However, only those who he foreknew and foreloved are reconciled with the blood of Christ. It's not so much that God couldn't save those who are damned. It is that God chose to save those who aren't. As Sproul says in the beginning, it's not the saved people that are the problem in this debate. It's the unsaved. However, he makes the valid point that the idea of limited atonement stems from the idea that God chose to save only a number of people and condemn a number of people for His ultimate glorification, and if some have to go to Hell so others can go to Heaven (not that God is limited to this but in His ultimate wisdom He chose this), then so be it.

Irresistible Grace
I've heard this more so described as "overwhelming grace." To be honest, I can't remember if Sproul used the same analogy, but he describes it in a similar manner. The typical connotation is that the free gift that God gives to his elect are forced upon them with no choice on their end of the manner. Sproul makes the argument that it is not so much irresistible by God's power, but it is irresistible through our want. In that moment when God reveals Himself to you, according to Sproul, you want nothing else. You are drawn to Him because he drew you, and you run freely into His arms.

Perseverance of the Saints
This is the "once saved, always saved" chant of the Baptist church. If you consider yourself a three-point Calvinist, you usually embrace this, irresistible grace, and total depravity. It is the idea that the Holy Spirit's dwelling within you is so powerful that you could not fall from the Hand of God. Sproul renames this "preservation of the saints." It's not so much that the Holy Spirit's driving power overpowers your own will as it is that God won't let you go. He already chose you, and He isn't going to change is mind.

He makes a good argument for Calvinism. If nothing else, I feel like I could, for the fun of it, debate with a committed Arminian on the subject in good ol' fashioned theological fun. I would recommend it to anyone, but I would really stress reading it in its entirety. The idea of reading about a theology that says you have no choice in your ultimate destination doesn't mesh well with the mentality of American self-determination.

I'm a cheating preacher

Every time I am asked to give a message (albeit, I can only count that number on one hand), I feel like a cheater. I have to try and depict a perfect love for me that I not only do not deserve but that comes from a perfect being that I put below other things in life. I cheat on God. I never think God is enough for me or can do enough for me when trials come. Something will come up in my life, and God will say "I've got it," to which I will respond, "no, let me carry that," as if He is some frail old lady that can barely lift her groceries.

He. Is. God.

He is Jehovah. He is Yahweh. He is Jesus. He is Holy. He is Redemption. He is Passion. He is blood poured out for cheating, lying followers like me who look for other things in life to appease my desires when all I have ever needed was Him, and why does He do it? Well, let's first examine why I do it.

Because seeing is believing. I can't see God. I wasn't there when Jesus was tortured and raised from the dead. I didn't see the miracles of healing the sick, resurrecting the deceased, and forgiving the sinful occur. If someone tells me anything, I have to get it straight from the horse's mouth. I'll believe that Homer wrote The Odyssey and that the events are alluded to historical events that may or may not have actually happened. I can attribute that to human error and the evolution of legend, but to believe that God inspired an entire treatise on how He saved humans (be they chosen beforehand or chosen for themselves) for His own glorification and victory against Hell? I'd have to see it to believe it.

But it's written down for me. Not good enough.

But I'm saved. Still not good enough.

But I'm called to preach. Still not good enough.

But the cravings of my soul are to learn more and more about the God by reading the Bible that is so too good to be true. Still not good enough.

When will God be good enough? As if we aren't bad enough to begin with. We desire hell naturally. Not intentionally. Not directly. Not consciously, but it's the easier route with the worst possible outcome while Heaven is the hardest route with the best possible outcome. Two routes. Two outcomes. Yet, I cheat on God constantly with my desire for Hell, not because I actively desire Hell but because I constantly believe that it's what I deserve, and I, being the "righteous judge" in this situation, condemn myself to the burning walls of afterlife, to which He says, "I'm not letting you go. No. You said in Birmingham that you loved Me, and you meant it. I know. I know the hearts of men, and I saw it straight through your core. You actively professed your love for me in front of hundreds, and I welcomed you home. No, Evan. You're not getting out of this one. Death can't even do us part. I know you deserve Hell. You know you deserve Hell, but I'm giving you Heaven. Don't offer me anything in return. It's not enough. I want you. That's all I want. I want you to be in constant love with Me. Not with Hell."

But why? Why does God love the imperfect beings that He made? Because He made them. We're not awesome. We're not cool. We're not the next best thing. We screwed up to the point that creation itself, according to the Bible, is experiencing labor pains because of our sin. That's not pantheism. That's telling you that the difference between the Garden of Eden and the Garden of Gesthemane is that things in the Garden of Gesthemane die. The Garden was meant for eternity.

But He made us because He loves us and He loves us because He made us. I'm a cheating preacher. I preach for people to know about how good the God is that I cheat on every day. The messed up part is He's telling me to do it. He wants me to do it, so what choice do I have (be it by guilt or by reason) to do what He says?