For any coffee drinkers out there think of it this way: Coffee is delicious when it is piping hot, coffee is also delicious when it is ice cold. But ever tried drinking room temperature coffee? It's disgusting, you immediately want to spit it out, it's gross. And that's the thing here, see cold water is great it's refreshing, it quenches thirst; and hot water? Well hot water is also great, boil water and it is useful. But lukewarm, room temperature water? It's just gross, it's unpalatable and useless.
Think about other things Jesus says in the Gospels, He calls His people to be salt and light. Salt is useful and good, it adds flavor, it preserves food, but if salt loses its saltiness, all the qualities of salt then it's useless. What good is salt if it loses its saltiness? And light, light is only good when it shines, what good is a light if you cover it up and hide it?
So how did those in Laodicea become lukewarm? They've become useless, they think they are prosperous but they really aren't. Perhaps those at Laodicea weren't suffering like those in the other churches in Asia, they had become complacent and comfortable, they aren't suffering and seem to be doing, well, actually quite well for themselves. Jesus says to them, "Buy from Me gold refined by fire", rather than boasting in their comfort, it would in fact be better that they desire to be put through the refining fire, to become good and useful again. The other churches to whom the Revelation is addressed all have their share of problems, and yet it is the Laodiceans who seemingly have no problems; they aren't being persecuted, there don't appear to be heretics like the Nicolaitans running amok like in Pergamum and Ephesus. Indeed, in the letter we are told that they are prosperous, at least in their own eyes; and it seems to be this seeming prosperity that is, in fact, their poverty. Yes, the other churches are laboring under persecution, and struggling and fighting against internal threats such as heretics; but at least they're fighting the fight. In Laodicea? They're just, well, there. Like a glass of water left to sit out all day and when you go to take a drink it seems rather inoffensive and benign, but when you drink it it's just, well it's just gross actually.
When we find ourselves in a place of ease, we can go about our lives, seemingly inoffensive, comfortable. It's easy to be a Christian when everything is going well, nothing is threatening us. We might think that this is how it should be and so we grow comfortable with being comfortable. And yet, what about those who do suffer? And what should happen if, having grown so comfortable in our comfort we were to suddenly be thrust into a place of discomfort.
How easy it can be, to be so comfortable, that when something actually bad does happen in our lives we get angry at God, how could He do this to us, after all. As though we are even owed comfort in this life. As though being comfortable in this world is a given and we should not have to deal with what so many others have to deal with on a regular basis. There are starving people all around the world, but we have food in our bellies, and because we are full we may not even give thought about those who are starving; and then suddenly when we have no food, then how dare this happen to us. Your neighbor was hungry this whole time, and you had enough to fill your belly, why were you never impassioned by the suffering of your neighbor? You've heard the words of Christ, you know what His commandments are, you know what He says to you about being His disciple--and yet, you were comfortable. I was comfortable. We are comfortable. We think we are prosperous in this, but we are the ones who are actually poor. We have forgotten our first love.
It's not a hopeless situation of course, Jesus says, "I stand at the door and knock." He never left us, He's been there the entire time. The Laodiceans may have shut Him out, but He never left. That is good news here. Christ is always with us, He is always faithful even when we have become faithless.
-CryptoLutheran
