It’s disappointing to God that most people are usually more concerned about what they want in life than asking him what he requires of them. Since our eyes were opened in the garden, our fleshly nature specializes in the skills of compromising and justifying. Self-deception is common. Only a few will take the responsibility to obey him and get serious about dedicating their lives to being a living sacrifice for him. Yes, included with the blessings of this life is being accountable.
You might have heard the unpopular verse found in Revelation 3:16 where John relays what Jesus thinks about the church at Laodicea. “So then, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.”
We realize parables and analogies are common in the Bible, and without trying to explain the different interpretations of what this verse means, let’s just say that we want our coffee hot and our iced tea, well … cold. Within the context, Jesus is referring to their attitude. In short, he was saying their hearts were in a state of being lackadaisical, apathetic and lethargic. And not just this certain group. He is using them as an example of the dangers of backsliding when anyone takes their eyes away from his truth and drifts into the temptations of carnality.
Let us not forget that he is speaking to members of an established Christian church who were supposedly followers of Jesus and his teachings. This letter to Laodicea is the harshest of the seven churches that are mentioned in chapters two and three. There is no beating around the bush on his disappointment. He is warning them about trying to make the Christian life into a comfortable social club. By his judgment of their works, he makes it clear this is a dead church.
What does this mean, and can it happen today? Definitely. Whenever the members of an assembly see themselves as independent, materialistic and self-sufficient, they have already slipped into a state of religious indifference.