A Lukewarm Church is Intolerable to God

Transcript

GRM 562
03/15/1998
A Lukewarm Church is Intolerable to God
Revelation 3:14-19
Gil Rugh

I want to look with you at the church of Laodicea, so perhaps you could turn in your Bibles to Revelation, chapter 3 and then after you have Revelation, chapter 3, if you would go back to the book of Colossians and look at chapter 2.

I just want to remind you of the comments of Paul that include the church at Laodicea. He is writing to Colossae, but Laodicea is a nearby church and a church that Paul has a burden for. In Colossians chapter 2, verse 1 he makes the comment, “For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf, and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face.” Here Paul indicates that he had not personally been to Laodicea nor to Colossae. His ministry had focused in Ephesus, a church in Asia Minor where these churches are located, but he himself personally had not journeyed out to these churches. But you’ll note he says he has a great struggle on behalf of the Colossians and on behalf of those at Laodicea and others. We noted that that word “struggle” there, a noun form of that word to agonize or be in agony; “agonized over you”.

The Laodiceans were on the heart of the apostle Paul. He had a concern for them and their continued development and maturity along with the Colossians and others. Then as we looked this morning, over in Chapter 4 of Colossians, verse 13, Paul testifies to the fact that Epaphras, who had founded the church at Colossae and perhaps also at Laodicea and Hierapolis, is said to “have deep concern for you and for those who are in Laodicea and Hierapolis.” So these people at Laodicea were not only the object of intense struggle on the part of the Apostle Paul, but also much painful toil was exerted by Epaphras on their behalf, as well. In verse 16 of Colossians 4, “when this letter” (the letter to the Colossians) “is read among you, have it also read in the church of the of the Laodiceans.” So, we know that the church at Laodicea received this letter sent to the Colossians, had gotten a copy of it and had the opportunity to hear it, study it and have it in their possession. “And you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea.” Paul had also written a letter to the church at Laodicea. And they were to share it with the Colossians. All of this just as a little bit of a background. We don’t know a lot about the background at Laodicea, but enough to know that it had received quality ministry indirectly from Paul. He had not personally been there, but through his letters and through his representative Epaphras, who had ministered among them.

As we noted the letter to the Colossians was written in early 60’s, somewhere, 61 to 63 A.D., that period of time. The book of Revelation would have been written a little over 30 years later, around 95 A.D., so 30, 32 years later.


So you turn over to Revelation again, and in chapter 1, verse 11, John is instructed to, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.” These are known, according to Verse 4 as, “seven churches that are in Asia.” Seven churches in the region of what we might call Asia Minor. They’re not the only churches there because Colossae, for example, is not mentioned here, and yet we know there was a church at Colossae. But I take it these seven churches were selected in this region to be representative of the churches that will always be present in the world. So as we study the seven churches you could find any church in one of those seven churches today. That’s my understanding of the seven churches. They represent the churches in the world today. Now they’re actual, literal, historical churches, but I take it these seven churches are selected and dealt with so that they could be a pattern for the study of the churches of Jesus Christ down through history. And as we study them we see the different churches that are represented in the world today.

We are concerned with the last church mentioned in Chapter 3, beginning with Verse 14, “to the angel of the church in Laodicea write:” then he begins the brief letter. The letters, each of them are relatively brief, but very penetrating, concise, in addressing the situation in the churches. Laodicea is the last church addressed. It’s well known to us because it has the most serious condemnation addressed to it. It has no word of commendation and the address to it is very serious and very strong. The other church that gets no commendation is the church at Sardis.

Chapter 3 opened up with the church at Sardis. There is no commendation to the church at Sardis, either, but at least in the church at Sardis, verse 4 of chapter 3 says, “you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white; for they are worthy.” There were a precious, small group who were faithful at Sardis. But Laodicea does not even have that kind of encouraging word included in the address to it.

Interestingly, there are no doctrinal heresies, no moral kind of indecencies addressed in the church at Laodicea. That is why I find this church so striking. It is a church that thinks it is doing very well. It is a church that is confident that it is a good church, and yet Christ has nothing good to say about it. It is a concern to me that they could be so totally confused in their true situation. It’s a concern to me, as I mentioned in our study this morning, that this church would have experienced such a decline in such a short period of time, a space of approximately 30 years. When Paul referred to them in his letter to the Colossians, you get no indication that there is any greater problem in Laodicea than there is at Colossae. He has concern over them, he's struggling for them and Epaphras as they’re confronted with heresy and false doctrine. But the condemnation at Laodicea is not that they were overwhelmed with the false doctrine. The condemnation is that they have just become lukewarm. So intolerable to Christ.

As Christ addresses this church, He identifies Himself in a threefold way in verse 14, “The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God.” “the Amen”, the old testament word “amen” means something that is fixed, that is true, that is unchangeable. It denotes that which is binding, that which is valid because it is true. In the New Testament we’ve become familiar with it, particularly in our King James Bible, “verily, verily, I say to you” or “truly, truly”. It implies certainty, the idea of “amen,” something is certain, and we express amen. We expect an agreement declaring the certainty, the confidence in what is been said. As a title of Christ, here He is titled the Amen, implying that all that He says is true and certain and settled and will come to pass. So there’s no hyperbole here, there’s no exaggeration. The One who is the Amen is speaking. And what He has said is solemnly true and certain.

He is the “faithful and true Witness” in His second description or title here. This really, further elaborates what Amen means. He is the faithful and true Witness. He is the testimony of God. When He walked the earth, He spoke the words of the Father and so now He bears witness to the true condition of this church.

He’s the “Beginning of the creation of God” and that doesn’t mean that He’s the first one created by God, but He is the One who began creation. He is the source of creation, if you will. He is the Creator. “All things are created by Him and for Him,” we studied in Colossians, chapter 1. John, chapter 1 tells us “All things came into being through Him.” He is the beginner of creation, the originator of creation. And all the foolishness of man that continues down to today, to try to explain away or rule out God’s involvement is a work of the god of this world in attacking the character, the person and work of the Son of God who is the Creator of all things.

This One speaks, and in verse 15 He says, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot.” A church that would fit the mood of our day. Don’t be extreme. Don’t be cold or don’t be hot. Learn to adjust and fit and get along. We can be broader. You don’t have to be a fanatic. You don’t have to be a burning hot zealot today, to point out what’s wrong with everyone else and preach sin and hell and condemnation. Nor do you have to be one who denies the truth of God, preaches against what God has said. You can have the balanced middle. So the church at Laodicea, it’s important to see, it’s not in the mold of the Apostle Paul burning hot. But nor is it in the category of those who are denying the faith. It’s not cold. You wouldn’t go there and find them denying that the Bible is the word of God, denying that Jesus was the Messiah of Israel, denying that He is the Son of God. They’re not cold. This is not what we would call the liberal church that is denying the truth that God has revealed.

“I know your deeds, you are neither cold nor hot.” And you note their deeds, their works reveal their condition. In saying, “I know your deeds.” He says I know what you really are because I see you in your actions. He sees their heart, but their deeds reflect what they are. “You are neither cold nor hot; I would that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of My mouth.” Literally, I will vomit you out of my mouth, from a Greek word that means to vomit. So very picturesque! How repulsed Christ is. You know, even today, we’d use an expression to denote how sickened we were by something. We’d say, “It made me want to throw up!” I’d say that is not, good etiquette to speak such, but it is very graphic. It gets the point across. And that’s what Christ is saying here. I am so repulsed by you; I’m going to vomit you out. I can’t stomach you. This is Christ addressing the church at Laodicea, the church that was referred to in the letter to the Colossians. They are now in such a condition that Christ, the Lord of the church, says, “I cannot stomach you.”

“I would rather you were cold or hot. I would that you were,” at the end of verse 15, “cold or hot.” Hot would refer to true believers, thus zealous for the Lord. Remember in Titus, chapter 2, “the grace of God is appearing, the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men, teaching us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts and live soberly” and so on. And He is what? Producing out of that grace a people zealous for good deeds. So hot would refer, “I would that you were hot,” that you were genuine in your commitment and thus zealous in your service. Or I would that you were cold. That’s a strange statement. You’d think, well, better to be lukewarm, isn’t it, than cold? I mean, at least you’re, you know, closer to hot. But I take it cold would refer to unbelievers and they are those who are settled and clear in their opposition and rejection. The word of God has no place in their lives.

Now, I think we need to take this to heart. You know, we want the attitude of Christ to be ours. We want to have the mind of Christ. We have settled into a mentality today in the church, and when I talk about in the church, I’m talking more within the framework of the evangelical church, that at least lukewarmness is better than coldness. That’s not the mind of Christ that is consistent with the rest of scripture. Those most repulsive to God are those who profess to have a relationship with Him and pretend, if you will, that they do in their behavior, when in reality, they don’t. They come in for the most stinging and harsh condemnations that the scripture gives. Isaiah, Chapter 1. We won’t turn to all of these. You can go back and get the tapes where we’ve spent more time in the study of the churches if you want to look at the details. But in Isaiah, chapter 1, God condemns Israel. He says I can’t stand your sacrifices, your observing of the holy days, you’re going through the rituals of the Law. I find it repulsive you’re trampling my courts. This isn’t worship. You are trampling my courts. This is defiling.

Look back in Matthew, Chapter 11. In Matthew, Chapter 11, Christ is condemning the religious people of His day and that includes a reflection on how they treated John the Baptist. They went out to see John the Baptist, the greatest among earthly men. Down in verse 11 of Matthew 11, “among those born of women there has not one arisen greater than John the Baptist.” And he goes on to talk about John and then verse 16, “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call out to the other children, “We played the flute for you, you did not dance; we sang a dirge, you did not mourn.” John came neither eating nor drinking, they say, “He has a demon!” The Son of Man came eating and drinking, they say, “A gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners!”” Verse 20, “Then He began to reproach the cities in which most of His miracles were done.” And He goes on to say they’re worse off than Sodom and Gomorrah because of their rejection of truth. Israel was harder to reach than Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah would have repented and yet these are the people that pride themselves in belonging to God. Remarkable!

Look over further in Matthew into Chapter 21. In substance here in verses 28 to 32, we don’t have time to read it all. Matthew 21 and pick up with, He’s told the account of the two sons and they’re both told to do what their father tells them to do something. The one son says, I’ll do it, but he never does it. The other son says, no, I won’t do it, but he ends up doing it. Which of them really carried out the will of his father? The one who said he would do it but didn’t, or the one who said he wouldn’t but ended up doing it? Verse 31, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The latter,” the one who said he wouldn’t but ended up doing it. “Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax-gatherers and harlots will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe in him; but the tax-gatherers and harlots did believe in him.” So, this condemnation that keeps coming, that’s carried over until you get to chapter 23, where that severe series of woes are pronounced on the Pharisees and the Scribes. They’re called hypocrites. They’re claiming a relationship with God. They are feigning a relationship with God in their daily life, but they really deny Him and are going to end up being the murderers of the Son of God.

Keep your finger in Matthew, and then come back to Revelation, Chapter 3. Verse 16, “So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spit you out of My mouth.” I will vomit you out of My mouth. I take it this refers to rejection by Christ at the final judgement. They have no part in Him.

Come back to Matthew, chapter 7, a portion that is relatively familiar to us by now. Verse 21, “Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?” And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”” In effect, that’s saying the same thing as “I will spit you out.” “I will vomit you out.” You’ll be rejected by Me, have no part in Me. I’ll have nothing to do with you. The reminder in Matthew 7 that the situation at the church in Laodicea there’ll be many people, when it comes to judgement who thought they were doing all right, who were confident that they had been serving the Lord, and will be found to have no part in Him.

Come back to Revelation, Chapter 3. I want to say here, you’re aware, we’re not saved by our works. We are saved by God’s grace through faith. Hearing and believing the message of our sinfulness and His provision of His Son to die in our place on the cross and then subsequently be raised. But that salvation, when we truly believe in Him, changes our life and we live differently. You read a passage like this, and you begin to wonder and say, wow! I wonder if I’m deluded. I wonder if I’m deceived. Paul did tell the Corinthians at the end of his letter, “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Don’t you know that the Spirit of God dwells in you if you truly belong to Christ?” There ought to be evidence of the Spirit’s work in our lives. My fear for a church like this is that we could have a number of people who come and go through the motions. They need to examine themselves. Is there any real passion and fire in your heart and soul for Jesus Christ? Could you be characterized as hot? Well, I’m probably not hot, but I am warm. That’s a terrible condition to be in. Examine myself if I’m in the faith.

So, the church at Laodicea is examined by Christ. And you’ll say, well, they might say, I was expecting that. No! They’re in the position of those in Matthew, Chapter 7 that we just read about. Look what He says in verse 17. The Laodiceans have a totally unreal picture of their true spiritual condition. They say, verse 17, “I am rich, I have become wealthy, I have need of nothing.” Three statements they make about themselves. Laodiceans at the church at Laodicea say, “I’m rich.” Now, Laodicea was a rich city, destroyed in 60 A.D., I believe it was, by an earthquake. And they refused Roman help, help from Rome to rebuild. Uh, they were a self-confident people and rebuilt with their own resources. Physical riches could be included here, but it seems the issue is spiritual. And it seems they’re talking about how they see themselves spiritually and their relationship with God.

“I am rich.” Sometimes there is a blurring, where we are materially prosperous, and successful, if you will, in the physical realm and, in other words, have a large church or large numbers of people come and it seems God has blessed us with abundant resources. Things get blended together and we associate having abundance of financial resources, abundance of people physically, and all of that, with doing well spiritually. Things can get blurred, and we think, yes! We’re doing fine. God is prospering us, and we give Him the credit for the wonderful facilities and the large numbers and our good reputation and whatever else might be included. And so it is true, these things can tend to get blurred.

I mentioned the two churches that have no commendation, but there’s two churches, also, that have no condemnation. And you know, they seem to be the two churches that are struggling the most. Maybe just turn back. The church at Smyrna in chapter 2. In Verse 9, Christ says, “I know your tribulation and your poverty.” Verse 10 they’re about to suffer more. It doesn’t seem like they’re a very strong, humanly speaking, church. And then in chapter 3, the church at Philadelphia in verse 8, in the middle of the verse Christ says, “I know your deeds, I put before you an open door which no shuts, because you have little power, and have kept My word, and not denied My name.” Talking about a church with little power. The other church is undergoing tribulation and poverty and they’re the two churches that have no condemnation given to them. So, we need to be careful. The church at Laodicea is a successful church and they are confident that they are doing well. That they are spiritually prosperous as well as prosperous in other ways, perhaps.

“I am rich, I have become wealthy,” carrying the idea, “I have need of nothing.” And again, keep in mind, here’s a church that, I’m sure would have couched this in the phrase of, God has been so good to us. We are doing very well and we have no needs. In fact, we’re in a position to help other churches, if need be. The point of it is they have a totally unrealistic picture of themselves. Christ is saying, “I’m about to vomit you out. I can’t stomach you.” They’re saying, “We’re doing very well and everything is great. And I can’t think of a thing we need. I mean, you talk about a totally distorted picture. Whose evaluation matters? The Lord of the church, obviously. And you have totally opposite view of your condition than what He would give? Remarkable!

Note how He goes on. You ought to mark Chapter 3, verse 17 begins, “Because you say.” And then in the middle of the verse, “and you do not know.” They’re speaking out of ignorance. You say, but you don’t know. You’re speaking, but you don’t really know your true condition. “You do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” You see how Christ multiplies the emphasis here?

You are wretched. You think you’re rich and wealthy and need nothing and I want to tell you, you are wretched. And the word denotes a condition of extreme misery. Isn’t that terrible to be in a condition of extreme misery and not even know it? That’s spiritual blindness.

“You’re wretched, you’re miserable.” Miserable, a word that would denote somebody that was the object of extreme pity, their condition was so bad.

“Poor,” refers to one who is totally destitute, a beggar. You say you don’t have need of anything. You don’t know. You don’t have anything. You are totally destitute. It’s not only that you are blind. They’re in spiritual darkness. So, I say these lukewarm people are blind. They’re in spiritual darkness. “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all.” We are dealing with people here who have seen no spiritual light. But keep in mind, these are lukewarm people. These are not Muslims. These are not Hindus. These are not those who would openly oppose the truth. These are lukewarm people, and they are blind, in spiritual darkness.

And they are naked. They are without the garments of salvation. In the book of Revelation it speaks about believers “clothed in white garments.” In Matthew, Chapter 22, you can just jot it down, verses 1 to 14, remember the wedding feast and there came in a man who did not have a wedding garment and he’s cast into outer darkness where there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth? He’s vomited out! Isn’t it terrible? They didn’t know.

Here’s the church at Laodicea, who had received letters from the Apostle Paul, who had benefited from the ministry of Epaphras. And within 30 years, there has been such a change in this church, they don’t even know that they are so spiritually destitute and spiritually blind and spiritually naked that they are lost and on their way to hell. But they are lukewarm. Lukewarm is terrible, comfortable. Lukewarmness is a position of comfortableness. It’s a situation like when you put on some warm blankets. Your first reaction, to those warm blankets is they’re just so comfortable. Well, you know, don’t we like to be comfortable? Even in our church, and I have to say, even in my own ministry, you might not believe this, but it’s true! I would like a comfortable ministry. People think I like not being liked. You know, I see real advantages in not being too hot and not being too cold. I mean, strike a balance. And we do not deny anything. That doesn’t mean that we have to be, you know, burning up with passion about everything. I’ve shared with you, one of the pastors in one of the churches that I have contact with, and I’ve appreciated the ministry, shared with me one day. He said, Gil, you would die for every doctrine. And I said, thank you, I hope so. I want that to be true of us as a church. What a sad condition.

I don’t think that the church at Laodicea planned to end up here. They didn’t get the letter that Paul sent to the Laodiceans. They didn’t get the letter to the Colossians passed on and say, you know what? I think this would be, you know, a little too extreme. Let’s carve out for ourselves a middle position. You know what happens? That just happens over time. We settle down, don’t we? And we mature. That’s what we call it. You know, I don’t have the same edge for battle. I am a little tired of holding my breath wondering what the next battle is going to be. I get a little tired, looking seeing who’s sitting next to me wondering if they’ll be gone next week. So, we think, look, let’s just tone it down a little. You know, things are too hot. And we still use the expression, it’s too hot for me. And in our church, we want one that’s not quite so hot. We don’t want one that’s cold, either. Warm is about right, until I come to the scripture and find out warm is the worst. Hot or cold, hot is best. Cold, well, if you’re not going to be hot, be cold. But what you don’t want to be, is you don’t want to be warm. That’s the worst position to be in. That will bring you into the most severe judgement of God. And they don’t know it.

Christ gives them advise, “I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, white garments, that you may clothe yourselves, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see.” Laodicea was famous for its eye salve, its healing power. Here is a gracious exhortation and admonition. “Buy from Me.” When I read that kind of invitation, I think of Isaiah, chapter 55. Let me read it to you. Isaiah 55:1, “Ho! Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” You see, the invitation to buy is free. So, when Christ says, “Buy from Me gold,” there is no charge to you for that. He has done it and offers it to you. “White garments, eye salve,” because in Him is found the correction to everything. The call to experience salvation in Him.

“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; be zealous therefore, and repent.” I just want to highlight these verses at the end. This verse causes us to remember. Well, if I love them, and the word there is phileo, which is a Greek word that refers to family love and affection. There’s agapao love or agape love, but here even phileo is used. Now, this seems to be a striking contrast. Verse 19, “Those whom I love, I reprove,” and these are the ones He’s said in verse 16, “I will vomit you out of My mouth.” I can’t take you like you are.

You know, it causes us a little confusion. Are these unbelievers who are going to be vomited out or are these people that He loves and so is exhorting to correct their behavior? “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; be zealous therefore and repent.” I think the situation is helpful if we think of Israel in the Old Testament. Israel, as a nation, existed as God’s people. But within the nation Israel, most of the people didn’t truly belong to God. But God addresses the nation as a nation and as a people that belong to Him in the broad sense of being identified with Him but not truly saved. Within the nation there is the elect people. So, there’s the elect nation, there’s the elect people. In fact, we won’t turn there, but in Romans, chapter 11 and the opening verses of chapter 11, we are told that in the days of Elijah only seven thousand people had not bowed the knee to Baal. In other words, when Elijah ministered, in all the nation Israel, the nation that God had chosen for Himself, there were only seven thousand people that did not turn away from God and become involved in pagan worship. Now, some who have done studies on the number at that time, said that that would have been about one half of one percent of the men in Israel at that time. That meant that 99.5% of the men in Israel in Elijah’s day were worshipers of Baal. Yet, this is the nation that God calls His people. And only one half of one percent of the men really worship God. The rest are pagans. So it boggles my mind. Ninety-nine point five percent? We’re not talking about the world. We’re talking about the men in Israel. Ninety-nine point five percent were Baal worshipers? And the scripture doesn’t give that figure but it gives you some idea of how small a number the true believers in Israel were.

Now, I think that helps me as I consider the church. There is the church broadly speaking. And every church, if you will, that might be comprised of people who profess a relationship with Christ, who profess to believe the Bible, who profess, an allegiance to Christ, so in that sense they are part of the churches, at least in name, in physical identification, even as Israel was. And so they are dealt with on that way. God addresses the nation as though they were His, and His people, even though most of them weren’t saved. So here, I think, what we have is a church that’s lukewarm. Thirty years earlier it would have been hot, been genuine. Over that time there had been a cooling, a change, believers had evidently left, whatever, but the group that now makes up this church are those that have no relationship with Christ. And come to judgement, they will be rejected as Matthew 7 said. So, the exhortation, and its same way that God dealt with His people in the Old Testament in the broad sense of discipline, rebuke. But what did He say? He sent the prophets to them, but they wouldn’t listen because they weren’t believers. But He is dealing with them as His people.

So here is a church, and Christ is coming to this church that professes a relationship with Him and dealing with them on that basis. But the sad situation, as far as we can tell, there are no believers in this church at this time. None, at least, that are singled out as there was at Sardis that receives no commendation, but at least Christ acknowledges there was a small group of genuine believers at Sardis. There is no acknowledgement that anybody, any believers are left, and the empty profession that is here. The warning that comes, and I’m not going to go into this. We studied it when we studied this in detail about Christ standing at the door. But what we have here is an exhortation to this church to turn.

Now, I think that we need to be careful in the day in which we live. My concern, and it’s a growing concern, is that in the church today, and I’m talking not about the cold churches, those that claim to be churches but are cold, that are open in their denial of the truth of God, of the deity of Christ, of salvation by faith, who are, what we would say are cold. My concern is with the cooling of what we’d call the evangelical church today, and we are relatively comfortable with that, because we have developed a methodology, certain principles, if you will follow them, they almost guarantee.

I’m reading a book now, written by a pastor of one of these kinds of churches, and they’re the principles that have been offered in the church growth movement for years, and if you follow these principles you can be guaranteed a growing church, and significant numbers of people. This is a serious situation. People involved in these kinds of movements are not denying the basic doctrines of the word of God, nor are they aggressively teaching them. This man is a pastor, is very aggressive in attacking those who would not be favorable to this approach to ministry. He thinks we are immature, threatened, and closed. But he continually reminds pastors, people will come to hear a positive message. But he’s adamant. We would not change the truth of God with our methods. But in the same book he says repeatedly, people will come to hear a positive message. So, there’s deception in that.

We’re all familiar with Robert Schuller who popularized the idea from Norman Vincent Peale. People want to hear the positive. So, we’ve picked it up and incorporated it into the church under the good sense, well, this is just part of our drawing in unbelievers. Well, I cannot decide to corrupt the message with good intentions. I think the people at Laodicea must have had good intentions. They thought they were doing very well. The danger as we are covering the fact that the power of God and the work of the Spirit of God is being removed from the church as the full clarity of His word is being played down and the devices of men are being used to draw people, we are deluding ourselves into thinking we are doing the work of the Lord. It’s confusing to all of us because we could talk with people doing this and they wouldn’t deny any of the truths of the word. If we present them, they will agree with them. But at the same time, it depends upon a methodology that has nothing to do with the work of the Spirit of God in transforming lives through the teaching and preaching of the word of God in its entirety.

Very deceptive, very deluding and it is permeating the evangelical word. It is the method of church growth being taught in most evangelical seminaries today. I’m not saying all, but most. This book that I am reading is recommended by leading evangelicals that, if I started naming them, you would recognize the names. It’s also recommended by Robert Schuller. It’s also recommended by many Methodist pastors because these things work no matter what your doctrine. We are seeing, what we would call liberal churches growing in this city. Using these same principles. There was one of them in the paper in the last week or two. And they mentioned at the end of the article, we are following the material. It mentioned two of the leading churches who promote the church growth principles, as we know them, of growth. They’ll work, no matter what your doctrine.

The evangelical church is having its deterioration masked by its physical success. And the book I’m reading, this person, who would claim to be a leading evangelical, and many others would claim that he is, He doesn’t, the only, the weakest parts of the book are when he begins to use scripture because it’s always misused. But he says, the proof here is we’ve done it at our church. And he has multiplied of thousands and thousands of people in attendance. Which says, what? So we need to be very careful. We life in interesting days and the whole mood of our country is toward, what? A general blasé kind of get along. The mood of the evangelical church and the mood of the church generally is toward lukewarmness. Too much heat just causes problems. Too much fire, that’s not good. What we need is, what? The comfortable center, not burning hot, not freezing cold, but nice and warm.

I trust we will never be a nice warm church. I trust we will be a loving church. I trust we will be a faithful church, but I hope we are never a warm church. I hope it’s so hot that it is uncomfortable here. I expect people will come and go. You know, we use the expression, “If you can’t take the heat, you get out of the kitchen.” That ought to be an expression for the church. If you can’t take the heat, get out of the church. Because the church ought to be burning hot, should it not? Ought we not to be on fire? I’m concerned. I’ve been here almost 30 years. I hope I’m not going to get cool and call it maturity. I’m going to get cranky, I know, but I hope I don’t get cool. I hope we will be faithful to the truth, and the truth is burning hot. And effective service for Jesus Christ is burning hot. I trust we’ll be known for our zeal in service for Jesus Christ in the days and weeks and months and years to come if Christ will tarry. And I trust the generation that’s raised in this church will be raised in the heat and prepared to pick up the ministry following us.

Let’s pray together. Thank you Lord for your grace and goodness and kindness. For we are in awe of the church at Laodicea, Lord, we shake our heads in wonder at the deterioration of that church in such a relatively short period of time. And yet, Lord, if we open our eyes and look around, we see it happening in our day. Lord, I pray that it might concern our hearts, that we might be careful in our walk to examine ourselves. Indeed, are we personally hot and passionate and zealous, enthusiastic in our relationship with you, in our service for you? Lord, I pray that this church might be a church that is indeed on fire in its testimony for Christ, that has a ministry that is burning hot in its zeal and passion for truth, it’s passion to reach the lost and its passion to nourish and nurture your people, above all it it’s passion to be faithful. May we carry our ministry to its appointed end until Christ comes, and we pray in His name. Amen.