The Sin of Indifference

Series: Reclaiming REVELATION

“The Sin of IndifferenceAuthentic Worship”
 Message @ Jericho Ridge– Thanksgiving Sunday, Oct 8, 2017
Text: Revelation 3:14-22 // Series: Reclaiming Revelation

 

Good morning. We are going to look briefly this morning at the last letter to the 7 churches mentioned in the book of Revelation.  This fall, we’re looking at the often overlooked, neglected, final book of the Bible and we are reclaiming Revelation it as something intelligible, it’s for us today because it is useful for our growth as disciples of Jesus to help us embody God’s love everywhere we go. 

 

We’ve seen that at the front end of the book, Pastor John, now imprisoned on the Island of Patmos, writes to seven of his churches on the mainland in modern-day Turkey.  And he has words of commendation, correct & invitation for each of them.  So today we’re looking at the final letter to the final church and you know what? It’s kind of the hardest hitting!  Jesus pulls no punches with this church in the city of Laodicea.  In fact, He has no words of commendation for them – only a great warning and a great promise.  So we’re going to look at both this morning. 

 

Now, this letter is likely the most famous of the 7 letters because it contains two of the most striking images or strongest word pictures.  Can you guess what they are?  Yes – “Since you are lukewarm… I will spit you out of my mouth” and the second one?  Yes. “Behold I stand at the door and knock”.  Both of these are so strong that they have become immortalized in Christian imagination for centuries.  BUT we are going to discover today that most of us have mis-read or missed at least one or more elements of these powerful images.  We’ve gotten it wrong or we have absorbed some wrong ideas about what is going on here. 

 

Let me explain what I mean as we move through and read the text.  Grab your Bibles or open the Jericho app on your phone and look at Revelation 3:14-16.

 

Other translations say even more graphically – I will vomit you out of my mouth.  Wow! That is pretty darn bad news – for a church to make Jesus so sick to His stomach that He can’t handle it. That He is violently ill and opposed to them!  But remember Jesus always speaks to these churches in language that makes sense to them.  Using their own unique geography.  Aspects of their own unique civic culture and attitudes and actions.  So what’s up with the lukewarm water thing?

 

Well, the 1st C city of Laodicea had a water problem.  It was located in the Lycus River Valley, which is awesome for trade routes but they lacked a local, natural source of clean water.  Just like we learned about in the Water Walk today!  So their solution was to build a complicated and sophisticated set of aqueducts made out of pipes to bring the cold water from Colossae to their city.    

There was a hot water source six miles away in the city of Hierapolis.  It was famous for its medicinal, healing hot springs.  Better than Radium or Harrison!  It was an amazing sight as the hot water, filled with calcium carbonate spilled over the cliffs opposite Laodicea – the formation covers about one mile of the hillside and is today over 300 feet high!  BUT as the hot mineral water travelled 6 miles down across the valley and got to Laodicea, guess what temperature it was?  That’s right… it was lukewarm!  Putrid.  It had become tasteless, nauseating.  Unsuspecting tourists thinking it was like the healing water of the hot springs water would drink it only to spit it up all over the rocks. 

 

Dr. Darrel Johnson in his helpful book suggests that everyone in Laodicea know about the hot medicinal water of Hierapolis and the cold refreshing spring water of Colossae.  But the problem was that the water at Laodicea was neither… The Church at Laodicea was neither providing refreshing for the spiritually weary nor healing the spiritually sick.  It was totally ineffective & thus distasteful to its Lord”   

 

And here’s where we get our first mis-read. What does Jesus say about cold?  Jesus never says that “cold” is bad here.  He says “I wish you were EITHER hot or cold.”  Hot is OK.  Cold is OK.  What’s NOT OK is somewhere in between.  This in-betweeness, a lukewarmness in our spiritual lives is not OK! 

 

  1. S. Lewis, in his fictional book, Screwtape Letters, tells about a senior devil briefing his nephew, Wormwood, a junior demon, on the techniques of tempting people. He tells him that the goal is not wickedness but indifference, not persuading good people to do evil, but persuading them to do nothing at all. The important thing, Screwtape says to his nephew, is to keep your patient comfortable. He tells him not to let anything upset him or disturb him. If he becomes the least bit concerned with anything vitally important, get him thinking what he plans to eat for lunch; warn him not to worry about anything that might upset his digestion. The devil sums up his advice to his nephew this way: “I…will always see to it that there are bad people. Your job, my dear Wormwood, is to provide me with people who do not care.” Who are spiritually lukewarm.

 

Some of the greatest thinkers and advocates in our day are wondering in Apathy is perhaps the greatest challenge of our age.  It is perhaps the greatest challenge to us cultivating a heart that is filled with genuine Thanksgiving.  It’s intriguing that the church at Laodicea isn’t criticized for wrong theology.  The problem was that they had just stopped caring about others.  There was no zeal. No passion.  They were polite and respectful and held convictions about Jesus, they just didn’t care to do anything in real life about that.  Oh, sure, maybe they liked a social justice post on Facebook here or there. They shared a Toby Mac Speak Life Instagram picture.  They gave a few bucks to a charitable cause. But it was pretty lukewarm.  Pretty mediocre.  Their deeds were hot nor cold. Just lukewarm.

This was problem #1 in this church: Lukewarm Indifference

  1. Campbell-Morgan once said “lukewarmness is the worst form of blasphemy” Lukewarm indifference is a sin that needs to be repented of not a condition that need some slight adjustment. It makes Jesus want to vomit.   

 

So what causes lukewarmness in our lives in their church?  Well, let’s keep reading to find out.  Look with me at Revelation 3:17-19.  

Here we see the second major problem with this church: that is that they have declared total self-sufficiency: “I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!”  

 

This was actually the city motto.  In AD 60, an earthquake destroyed much of the city of Laodicea.  They were offered a disaster financial assistance package from Rome, but they refused it outright and proudly rebuilt the city from their own resources.  They were the model of self-sufficiency.  Not only that, but they prided themselves that they were the best-dressed people in all of Asia Minor.  They were known for their clothing industry that exported all the best wools to all of the highest paying customers.  And on top of that, the city was famous for a top-tier medical school.  They actually invented a medicine that was believed to cure poor eyesight.  So Jesus speaks to them in language they can understand:

 

  • Wealth: You can be rich in things; but spiritually impoverished
  • Clothing: You can look good to others; God cares about the heart
  • Medicine: Spiritually blind; not seeing things as they truly are

 

So what is this church to do? What is the solution to their problems of self-sufficiency & lukewarm indifference?  I love the way Darrel Johnson puts it in his commentary on Revelation: “Lukewarmness is fundamentally due to the fact that we have excluded Jesus from one or more areas of our life… The solution to lukewarmeness is not to jack up warm emotions. The solution is not to exert more self-sufficiency. The solution is to open the door again.” Read Rev. 3:20-22

 

When I was little, grew in a small country church.  We had some pictures on the wall in the church basement.  One that always stuck with me was the classic painting by Holman Hunt, where Jesus is standing & knocking at a closed door where the door knob is on the inside.  In my recollection, this was always used in evangelistic settings: Teachers would point to the picture and remind kids that Jesus was standing outside the door of your heart and He was knocking and wanting to be let in.  You had to open the door.  Not an inappropriate metaphor, but as I was preparing this message, I began to realize something that I don’t think I’d paid any attention to before about this phrase.  And that is that Jesus did not say these words to a pre-believing or unbelieving world.  He spoke them to His church!  He spoke them to people who thought they had it all together!

Inside the church, inside some places in our hearts lukewarm indifference and pious self-sufficiency can lurk.  These are caused by intentionally excluding Jesus from areas of our life!  Not from locking him out totally, but rather by locking Him out of certain areas of our lives.  It’s as if we are sitting in the living room, in the lazy boy chair and Jesus is standing, not at the exterior door, but at the inside door to the living room.  And He is knocking and saying “Brad, I want to spend some time with you.  I want to deepen my relationship with you.  I have things that I want you to do and be about.” And I say over the noise of the TV and the crunch of my Muncie mix: “Did you hear something?  Me neither.  Let’s just go back to this escapism!  Who cares about the cares and concerns of the world – I’ve got another 4 hours of Minecraft to play or “I need to escape all this negativity that I see on the news. I best eat gluttonously and binge watch of my favorite Netflix program!”  Jesus is standing and knocking: “Let me in” says Jesus.  I want to share a meal together as friends.” 

 

This weekend, many have or will be gathering around a table to share a meal.  It’s a meal of relationship.  It’s a meal of Thanksgiving and gratitude.  In many cultures, sharing a meal together is the deepest symbol of friendship and connection.  And Jesus is standing and knocking and saying “Let me in.  I want to be part of every part of your life.  Maybe you are here today and you have never opened that door of your heart to Jesus but you know that you need what He is offering.  Deep relationship. Forgiveness.  Peace with God that begins today and goes on into eternity.  Friend, the greatest Thanksgiving you could ever imagine occurs when you make the simple choice to open that door and let Him in.  (OK: so I’m willing to concede that “the door” does work evangelistically)

 

But what about those who have already committed their lives to Christ?  Well, you may have opened the door and let Him in but for overtime, for whatever reasons, you have slowly excluded Him.  That’s why the Christian life feels stale or dry or empty and ritualistic to you.  Take time this morning and welcome Him back in.  Take time to say “God, I confess my self-sufficiency to you.  I need you!”

 

Others listening, you may have opened the door to one area of your life but you have not allowed Jesus to reach into each area of your life.  If you are a student, Jesus wants to come with you to school to be a part of that area of your life. Jesus wants to impact your parenting, He wants to guide how you think about your finances. How you face uncertainty in your future, how you deal with guilt and shame from your past. How you navigate complicated family relationships around the Thanksgiving table.  Ron & the team are coming to lead us in two songs of reflection & response.  Identify one area of your life Jesus needs access to where he is knocking.  Say simply “I choose to say yes”.  If you want someone to pray with you about anything, James, Constance, Gary & Betty Stevenson are available.  Let’s pray together.    

Lukewarm indifference is a sin that needs to be repented of not a condition that needs a slight adjustment. Find out how to diagnose it & how to fix it in the message Jesus gives to the church at Laodicea

Speaker: Brad Sumner

October 8, 2017
Revelation 3:14-22

Brad Sumner

Lead Pastor

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