Overcoming Apathy Series

Christ is here with us.

Suppose I wasn’t able to make it back from Seattle this morning and we decided to invite Christ to bring us the message this morning. Suppose He physically comes to speak to us. I wonder what He would say to us...

Let’s just say He would give us an indication of how committed we were to Him.

Let’s just say He had this spiritual thermometer that He could check our spiritual temperature.

Let’s just say He would check our spiritual temperature, each one of us. I wonder what He would find. I wonder...

Christ did something very similar to that to the churches we’ve been looking at in Revelation 2-3. John has been writing down what Christ has to say to each of these churches.

This morning we come to the very last of 7 churches that Christ speaks to. And I just can’t get out of my mind what He says to us today...to you & to me right here almost 2000 years later.

Let’s check it out in Revelation 3:14-21.

This is a message to a group of Christians that’s playing games with God.

They profess Christ, but He’s not a reality in their lives.

You know, I really can’t figure out why a person would want to waste their time claiming to be a Christian if they really aren’t serious about it. I mean, really!

Why waste your time if there is no reality behind your commitment? Why?

Why do you come to church every week if you are not committed to Christ?

Why bother?

Christ has some strong words to say here in verse 14.

Take a look at what He says...

1. THE INVESTIGATOR (v. 14)

Christ Himself is the Investigator.

I think it’s interesting how Christ describes Himself here.

He says, 1st of all that He is “the Amen.” Why does He do that?

He’s saying that His Word is truth. He is the truth.

He’s the way, the truth and the life, right?

He’s the truth, and what He says is true.

2nd, He describes Himself as “the faithful and true witness.”

Christ is the perfect witness because He is faithful and true.

3rd, Christ describes Himself as “the ruler of God’s creation.”

He’s the Beginning and the End. He’s qualified to evaluate us.

Before we look at His evaluation, before we see His indictment, let’s look at a little background to the city and Laodicea and the church there.

[Background to the church in Laodicea]

Remember these cities are all located in what is present day Turkey in Asia. Remember these cities are all located in what is present day Turkey in Asia.

• The church in Laodicea seemed to have everything. It was a rich city. It was a banking and financial center.

They even minted their own coins.

• It was a city of fashion. It was famous for the type of wool it developed. It was black and glossy.

• It was a center for medicine. It was famous for some eye ointment that was shipped around the world.

• It was proud and independent. An earthquake leveled the city in 60 A.D. and the people were proud that, without any help from the Roman government, they were able to rebuild the city.

• They had an interesting water supply. A 6 mile long aqueduct brought the city’s water supply from the south. It either came from the hot springs to the south or the cool wells from the north. Either way, by the time, the water got to the city, it was lukewarm. It tasted awful not only because it was lukewarm, but it had all kinds of minerals in it.

• It was a city of compromise. They really didn’t stand for anything. They learned to compromise and accommodate themselves to the needs and wants of others.

I go into that detail because it’ll become significant in what Christ says to this church.

What does He say?

What is Christ’s evaluation of this church?

2. THE INDICTMENT (vv. 15-17)

• Lukewarmness (vv. 15-16)

Pretty strong stuff, huh? Christ is saying they were like a drink that’s supposed to be hot or cold, but when you drink it, it’s neither; it’s lukewarm

On a hot day, you want to have something cold to drink.

On a cold day, something nice and hot tastes good.

Imagine if you are expecting it to be either hot or cold, but when you taste it, it’s just lukewarm. Christ is saying that lukewarmness makes Him puke!

Let’s take a closer look at these 3 spiritual conditions that Christ talks about here:

(1) Cold Ones

What does it mean to be cold, spiritually speaking? It refers to the many people in the world who are totally turned off to Christ. They want nothing to do with Him. They don’t pretend to know Christ. They are lost, unsaved, irreligious, and cold.