“I know your works, that you are neither hot nor cold” Revelation 3:15

How do you like your tea, or coffee? Piping hot, or ice cold? How do you like your morning shower? Hot and soothing, or crisp and refreshing? We all have preferences for hot or cold in different scenarios. If you go for a sauna, you like it hot. If you prefer a plunge pool, you want it cold. Heat and cold are often associated with healing – hot to cleanse and cold to revive. But who likes luke-warm? Spiritually speaking, God hates it!

What does it mean to be a luke-warm Christian? In verse 17, we read that Laodicea was a wealthy church, in need of nothing. Wealth in itself does not make you luke-warm, but it can make you so comfortable and so independent that you no longer feel the need for God’s presence in your life. You don’t need to depend on Him for anything. You have savings in the bank and a nice little pension pot that will enable you to live very comfortably in your retirement, even an early retirement. Going to church is a nice thing do on Sundays, especially at Easter or Christmas or when there is a special service on. But that’s about it. There’s no sense of sin, no sense of urgency to grow in God and know His will for your life. It is being content with a comfortable life that requires little spiritual effort.

The congregation in this church were well dressed, well educated, well connected and well satisfied with their lives. Yet Jesus tells them that they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. V17. A too comfortable life can cause us to develop spiritual blindness. When our eyes are upon the newest fashions, the latest “must have” gadgets, the next holiday destination, the move to a more luxurious home or car, then we are to be pitied rather than envied.

This world is not our eternal home. This life is a journey that will either lead us closer to God, or drive us away from Him. When we get too comfortable with this world’s goods, we lose sight of the things that have true and everlasting value. We may go to church, make generous donations and even be signed up members of a local congregation, but our hearts are quite content with our life here on earth and there is no desire to prepare for the life to come, especially if it requires changing my lifestyle. While it may be a comfortable position to be in, the end result could be unexpectedly devastating.

Verse 20 is often used in an evangelistic setting to appeal to those who have not yet accepted Jesus as their saviour, to open their hearts to Him. But that is not the context or meaning of this verse. Jesus is speaking these words to His people in His church. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me.”

The church is Laodicea had put Jesus on the outside of their lives. They didn’t really need Him and were so busy with their very comfortable lives that they didn’t know that He was no longer among them. The noise of their social gatherings and jet setting lifestyles was drowning out the gentle sound of Him knocking to get back in. He desired intimate fellowship with them and was offering them that opportunity.

He offers the same intimate fellowship to the church today. He will come in when we acknowledge that we need Him and we want Him more than all the comforts and pleasures that this life can offer.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” V22