Are you lukeworm?

[PJ76]

Hello my dear friends. Jesus used this word to describe the entire church of Laodicea. But why? Because Jesus said they were neither hot nor cold. What did Jesus mean by hot nor cold? Both hot water and cold water had a symbolic meaning. Hot water was used to heal whereas cold water was used to refresh, but warm water was useless. That is why Jesus refers to the church of Laodicea as unrepentant believers. In other words, their deeds were useless and in vain. The entire congregation was lacking conviction, which is why Jesus told them to repent, and He will come in to their lives. Are you an unrepentant believer? Are you lacking conviction to change? My dear friends, repent and turn to Jesus Christ.

Pastor Johnny

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Hot water came from one place, and cold water from another place by aquaduct, by the time it got to Laodicea it was lukewarm. Being lukewarm means your faith is good for nothing, similar to the James letter sentiment. Faith without love is useless being alone.

 

[timewerx]

God really hated lukewarm so I think it's also related to hypocrisy.

Another way I'm seeing it is someone "cheering for two opposing teams".

- Trying to love both the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of darkness (this world)

In the middle of two opposing worlds, as in the middle of hot and cold = lukewarm.

Do not love anything in this world (1 John 2:15-17)


.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Revelation 3
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.

 

[PJ76]

Hi Michael,

I don't believe love was the only thing the church of Laodicea was lacking since Jesus rebuked them for seeking worldly fame and fortunes in verse 17. In other words, the entire church of Laodicea had the lust of flesh and pride of life in their hearts.

 

[PJ76]

Hi Timewerx,

Yes, that is the traditional interpretation. Anyone who is living the "middle of the road" Christian life, is no better than an unbeliever, which is why Jesus was telling them to repent. These people were not saved. An unrepentant believer is similar to the Pharisees, whom Jesus labeled as hypocrites.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Hi Michael,

I don't believe love was the only thing the church of Laodicea was lacking since Jesus rebuked them for seeking worldly fame and fortunes in the verse 17. In other words, the entire church of Laodicea had the lust of flesh and pride of life in their hearts.

The riches God counsels them to "buy" is the fullness and depth of His love that gives us boldness on the day of Judgment. Since the things of God are bought without money, there's a time investment involved, and we need to trust Him so we mature into the fullness of those riches.

 

[PJ76]

Michael, verse 18 was in reference to seeking the righteousness of Christ.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Michael, verse 18 was in reference to seeking righteousness of Christ.

I see that parallel also, "and all these things will be added to you"

I was focusing more on the end result of

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.

God wanted to have "love feasts" with them in their hearts. But so as to not put the cart before the horse, they need to seek the Kingdom first. Repent, then get to the good stuff.

 

[Ttalkkugjil]

Jesus knew them. They weren't cold, they weren't unbelievers. Neither were they hot; they didn't have that warmth of religious life, of faith and love, they'd none of the zeal which breaks forth in wrath over their day's attitude. Even an enmity against Christianity is more promising in a person than the lukewarmness and spiritual indifference which these showed. It would've been better for them never to have come to the knowledge of the doctrine than to have come to this knowledge and not to be filled with zeal. Their attitude fills Jesus with disgust. He's constrained to vomit them out of him. That's Jesus' judgment upon such as aren't concerned about their Christianity, that profess to be Christians, from some ulterior motive, and won't oppose the world's ways. They want to mediate between heat and coldness. Such people Jesus can't bear, and unless they change their tactics, his attitude will result in their punishment, in their being excluded from the Kingdom.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

It's important to note that hot or cold is fine, since God said in the passage I would rather that you were hot or cold. Since God does not desire anyone to perish, this would point to the purpose of cold and hot water as a metaphor.

 

[Ttalkkugjil]

It's important to note that hot or cold is fine, since God said in the passage I would rather that you were hot or cold. Since God does not desire anyone to perish, this would point to the purpose of cold and hot water as a metaphor.

Are you a universalist?

 

[timewerx]

Hi Timewerx,

Yes, that is the traditional interpretation. Anyone who is living the "middle of the road" Christian life, is no better than an unbeliever,

The lukewarm are actually worse than unbelievers. They deceive many with their lifestyles. Godliness + worldliness is like mixing hot and cold water and you get lukewarm.

Jesus never taught pursuing a lifestyle that makes no difference from the lifestyles of unbelievers. Running after the same things they run after - wordly pleasures, worldly prosperity, vanity, social status, careers, "settling down", etc.

 

[timewerx]

It's important to note that hot or cold is fine, since God said in the passage I would rather that you were hot or cold. Since God does not desire anyone to perish, this would point to the purpose of cold and hot water as a metaphor.

Cold here could simply mean unbeliever, most likely someone who doesn't believe in any religion, an Atheist.

Or cold as in poor in spirit.

 

[Brian Mcnamee]

Hi pastor Don Stewart was noting that when you go into a nice restaurant it is dark in there and you cannot see than after a while you can see. You can see not because there is more light but because you have gotten used to the darkness. Think about it in the US we had a code called the Hayes code for our Movies and entertainment. We tolerated 0 curse words, 0 nudity, 0 graphic gore, we prohibited the making of the villain a hero and never showed adultery or fornication in a positive light. Now since the 60's we tolerate language that is foul and every sort of perversion. Most sci-fi movies have open occult and demonic symbols and themes throughout. The music industry has been corrupted as well. There is a story in acts where they all took their books of sorcery and threw them in the fire when they came to know the gospel. Many of the things in this world are sorcery related, demonically inspired that we need to throw in the fire. The idea of serving two masters comes to mind and loving God with our whole heart soul and mind and to be heavenly minded instead of earthly minded as our core focus is not reality for most. We have few examples in the pulpit who live like this and the sheep think they healthy when they are mostly anemic. I appreciate you bringing it up and I need to do a self check for sure to go through my personal garbage and throw it on the fire. It is easy to compromise and find yourself being stagnant and not caring. Very good post!

 

[RDKirk]

It's important to note that hot or cold is fine, since God said in the passage I would rather that you were hot or cold. Since God does not desire anyone to perish, this would point to the purpose of cold and hot water as a metaphor.

Yes, both hot and cold are fine because they both represent a distinction from "common" or "the world."

Back when I was a young troop in the military on my first tour overseas to Thailand during the end of the Vietnam War, I got off the plane and was met by my sponsor, an older troop who had been there a while.

He took me for lunch to a little restaurant just off base that catered to the US military personnel. The restaurant was deserted except for us--there wasn't even a server visible. He walked past a buffet table that was filled with sliced meats and bread and sat at a table.

We sat there for a while, waiting for a server. Eventually, I got antsy and suggested just getting some food from the buffet.

He said, "Ohhh, nooo! You don't want to do that! You don't know how long that food has been sitting out there. It might have been there since Monday!"

Then he leaned close to me and said, "Look. In these Third World countries, if they take the food right off the fire, you can eat it. If they take the food right off the ice, you can eat it. But if it's room temperature, spit it out! It will kill you!"

Even in Jesus' time, it was known that food kept hot stayed edible, and food kept cool (such as in a gourd in a flowing stream) stayed edible. But food allowed to stand lukewarm would quickly spoil and become toxic.

It is being different from the world--"a peculiar people" that Jesus is talking about. It's what the Lord has always been talking about--He hasn't changed His message.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Cold here could simply mean unbeliever, most likely someone who doesn't believe in any religion, an Atheist.

Or cold as in poor in spirit.

I used to take it to mean cold as in the more rational people in the faith as opposed to the more reactive and emotional people in the faith being hot. Since the letter is written to a church, letters which have a common theme of wanting all the people at that place to meet the service requirements to the Glory of God and His Kingdom.

I wouldn't think it's to unbelievers, since the letter was written to a church.

 

[Gregory Thompson]

Are you a universalist?

What's a universalist?

I believe there's a possibility that God will redeem everyone in the end because he's more merciful than I could imagine or think. There's also a possibility that some people will just not repent and stay where they are.

Whatever God decides to do in the end isn't my job to figure out.

 

[DM25]

The definition of lukewarm is not what you think... This is one of the most misunderstood terms in the church. To put it shortly, it has nothing to do with your level of passion for God. Watch this video for clarification:

 

[DM25]

Hot water came from one place, and cold water from another place by aquaduct, by the time it got to Laodicea it was lukewarm. Being lukewarm means your faith is good for nothing, similar to the James letter sentiment. Faith without love is useless being alone.

The letter to the churches actually has nothing to do with the church of Jesus Christ today, so the accusations of being lukewarm are not by biblical merit. The letters were written to specific churches at the time, for the specific things they did. Remember the audience that was meant to read them? Those churches were supposed to read the letters. They are not meant for us today. We can gain advice from it of course, but they are not addressing future churches or believers today, they are addressing the actual churches of the time during the time of persecution by the Roman Emperor. But even if you want to take the advice for us, you have to understand what lukewarm really means and it really meant spreading false doctrines and blasphemous rituals in the church of Leodecia. Watch the video above.