Too Rotten To Be Wicked
TOO ROTTEN TO BE WICKED
REVELATION 3:14-22
The cure for lukewarmness is to ask Christ to share every area of our lives.
The last of the seven churches, Laodicea, stands lower than any of the others, even than that of Sardis. Notice that it has neither false doctrine nor evil living. Its sin is that of Ephesus, but on a much worse level. Ephesus had loved, and its abandoning of its first love was visible to the human eye only by comparison with what it had once been. It is doubtful whether Laodicea had fallen, for it is doubtful whether it had had anything to fall from. To the purely superficial observer it probably seemed to be what it thought itself to be (3:17). That is why in the introduction, the unshakable validity of Christ’s judgment is stressed. As the beginning, the ruler, of God’s creation (3:14; see also Colossians 1:16ff.), he can judge both actions and motives accurately.
Both love and hatred make us sensitive to the views of others; self-satisfaction and lukewarmness lead us to ignore their judgments. The easiest way with such people is to leave them “to stew in their own juice,” but love will rebuke, and where possible deflate (3:19). There are few things more painful than to be entertained out of a sense of duty, so we have the picture of the Lord waiting outside the life of the lukewarm believer (3:20). Though we are entirely justified in using this verse in appealing to those who have no living knowledge of Christ, we should not forget it was first said to those who claimed to be Christians. If we shut our eyes and ears to the fact that there are many Christians who have no personal experience of Christ, we only deceive ourselves. God never accepts divided loyalty, and this lukewarmness is its result. True fellowship in this life must involve conquering, because we cannot involve Christ in our defeats; they are evidence of the lack of his presence. Conquest means quite simply that the fellowship begun in this life is continued in eternity (3:21). The one difference is that at this time he transforms the humble life and home that I offer him into his palace; he will then welcome me to his palace as one who will rule with him (see also 20:4,6).