Lukewarm Christians make me vomit.
popular saying among evangelical Christians, attributed to Jesus based on Revelation 3:16
Meh.
That’s the lukewarm response to just about everything. It indicates indifference or minimal investment. A lukewarm Christian lacks spiritual fervor and zeal. At least, that’s what I’ve always thought and what I’ve always heard from sermons on the letter to the church at Laodicea.
When I read the verse in context, however, it’s hard to make that interpretation stick.
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.
Revelation 3:14–22
When Jesus analyzes the spiritual condition of the church, he does not mention lack of zeal or fervor. Instead he mentions their self-perception as rich and independent. Could it be that lukewarmness somehow indicates this self-sufficiency?
“Hot” and “cold” appear to refer to beverages. Both are preferable to the tepid beverage which Jesus rejects. Moreover, “hot” refers to near boiling. People often drank hot beverages much as they do today. They drank them during or after meals. One advantage of hot beverages is that they were less likely to contain pathogens, so drinking them was less likely to make one sick. Similarly, people preferred cold beverages because they were refreshing. The church in Laodicea offers neither healing nor refreshment, and yet they see themselves as rich, not needing anything that Jesus has to offer.
If it comes to lack of zeal, Ephesus is a better candidate than Laodicea. Jesus told them that they had lost their first love. They were no longer doing the things they did at first. He counseled them to recover their first love and return to doing the things they had done when they first believed. That sounds a lot more like lacking zeal. Or consider the church at Sardis. Jesus told them they had a reputation for being alive, but they were dead. He advised them to wake up and pay attention. Otherwise, they might miss his return.
There is one other church that forms a marked contrast to Laodicea. That is the church at Smyrna. Not only did Jesus have no reproof for them, he also told them that despite their poverty they were rich! They are the opposite of Laodicea. He encouraged them to face persecution with courage and remain faithful even to the point of death. The church at Smyrna despite being materially poor was rich in faith and faithfulness to Jesus. They maintained their connection to Jesus and held fast to the teachings about him.
The church at Laodicea was likely wealthy. Because of their wealth, they saw themselves as needing nothing. They were privileged. Instead of using their wealth to alleviate the suffering of others, they simply saw themselves as safe and secure. But Jesus told them that they were wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked. They were like slaves whose daily lives were filled with drudgery and abuse. Like the prodigal son1 who longed to fill his belly with pig feed, they had not yet come to their senses and returned to their father. Their wealth has deceived them into thinking they are independent of God, not needing his mercy and grace. This is a common effect of wealth, so much so that Jesus remarked on it after sending away the rich young man2 who sought him out to discover what he lacked in order to have eternal life. For what he lacked is what the Laodiceans also lacked: a complete and utter dependence on Jesus.
So the Laodiceans’ lukewarmness was a metaphor for their independence. They were living in compromise without even realizing it. Jesus told them that independence would lead to rejection. He would vomit them out of his mouth. He advised them to use their wealth to buy his gold, buy salve for their eyes so they could see, and buy clothes to cover their shameful nakedness.
Jesus told a parable about a shrewd manager3 whose master heard that he had been wasting his master’s wealth. Since the manager did not want to beg, he used his position, precarious as it was, to make friends with those who owed his master money. He provided for himself by providing for others. Jesus summarized the parable by saying, “[U]se worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.” This was his advice to the Laodiceans. Stop spending your money on yourself. Spend it on others, and “you will have treasure in heaven.” Embrace radical dependence on God instead of dangerous dependence on your own resources.
So the Laodiceans’ lukewarmness was not lack of zeal. It was self-sufficiency, which blinded them to their own needs. How many churches today are lukewarm in this sense of the word? How many have excluded Jesus from his own church so that he stands outside and knocks for admittance?
- See Luke 15:11-32, especially verse 16. ↩︎
- See Matthew 19:16-26 or Mark 10:17-27. ↩︎
- See Luke 16:1-15. ↩︎