No tolerance for those who think they’re fine

Sermon for Midweek of Reminiscere – Lent 2

Isaiah 45:20-25  +  Revelation 3:14-22

In the first six letters to the angels of the churches in Revelation, Jesus has praised pastors and people for various things: for faith and faithfulness, for love and works of love, for hard work, for enduring hardship with patience, for maintaining pure doctrine, for disciplining those who err. He has also rebuked and warned pastors and people for various things: for lovelessness, for pride, for tolerating wicked behavior and false doctrine, and for hypocrisy. This evening we consider the final letter, to the angel of the church in Laodicea, with its harsh rebuke of apathy, of indifference, a rebuke of people who think they’re doing fine. And we’ll consider Jesus’ earnest plea in this letter plea for pastor and people to repent, and His gracious promise to those who do.

First, Jesus emphasizes this about Himself: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God. You know that the word Amen means more that, “The prayer is over now,” or, “The sermon is over now. Wake up!” It comes from a Hebrew word that means, “Yes! Firm! Trustworthy!” Or as we say in the Small Catechism, “Yes, yes, it shall be so!” What Jesus says is perfectly reliable. What Jesus says comes to pass. He gave witness to the truth throughout Scripture and throughout His earthly life. St. Paul refers to Him as Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate. In what sense is He “the Beginning” of God’s creation? Not as “the first thing created by God the Father,” as the One through whom all things were made that have been made, as John describes in the first verses of his Gospel, as the word from the builder to “begin the house!” is the beginning of a house.

I know your works, He says to the pastor in Laodicea, that you are neither cold nor hot. If only you were cold or hot! So, then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Neither cold nor hot. Some people think “cold” means an outright, loveless unbeliever and “hot” means an ardent and true believer. I don’t think that works with Jesus’ words, If only you were cold or hot! It also doesn’t agree with His threat to spit this pastor—and the people who were like him—out of His mouth. A cold drink is just as pleasant on a hot day as a hot drink is on a cold day. It’s the lukewarm drink that nobody ever wants.

The pastor or believer who is like a hot cup of coffee or tea has a fervent love for Jesus and for his fellow Christians. He’s eager and ready to serve. He has a faith that’s never satisfied with its knowledge of God but always has to be learning more, studying more, and boldly confessing the gospel of Christ in the world. When the world around is cold and uncaring, these believers remain zealous for the Lord. Jesus longs for His pastors and His people to be like that under such circumstances.

The pastor or believer who is like a cold glass of water or ice tea also loves Jesus, and when the world around starts heating up, in the midst of persecution and suffering and hardship, these believers have a refreshing stability about them, a tried and tested faith and demeanor that isn’t bubbly or overpowering, but that’s ready to soothe and refresh those who are frantic and worried over their sins or over the wickedness of the world. They offer quiet encouragement. They pray with a quiet trust. When life around them heats up, these believers stay cool, calm, and collected. Jesus longs for His pastors and His people to be like that, too, under those circumstances.

What He doesn’t long for is pastors or people who are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold.

He describes that lukewarmness a little bit further: You say, “I am rich and have become rich. I need nothing.” And you do not know that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. To be lukewarm, then, is to lack true contrition, to feel confident and “secure” in yourself, to see yourself as doing fine, as needing nothing. There is nothing worse than for a Christian to say, “I’m doing fine. I have plenty of faith. God and I—we’re fine. If I hear the Word of God, it’s fine. If I don’t hear it, it’s fine. If I go to the Lord’s Supper, it’s fine. If I miss it, it’s fine. I have all the knowledge of Scripture that I need. I have all the strength I need. I’m doing fine.”

Now, to know that you, a poor, miserable sinner, are “fine with God” that is, safe and secure in Christ Jesus, because of His merit, because of His gracious forgiveness and promised protection, is one thing, is a good thing. To feel secure in yourself, though, is something else, something deadly. To view yourself, by yourself, as a not-so-wretched, not-so-poor, not-so-miserable sinner—or as no sinner at all—is nothing short of delusional. By nature, that’s what we all are! By nature, we’re impoverished when it comes to the righteousness of God, blind to the things of God, and shamefully naked before God, naked with all our selfish motives and shameful desires and words and deeds, without the covering of Christ’s righteousness. While we live in daily contrition and repentance, while we take refuge in Christ by faith, we’re covered with Him, even as we were first covered with Him in Holy Baptism, and we’re no longer seen by God as wretched, miserable, poor, blind, or naked. But if we step outside of the security of Christ and imagine that we’re “doing fine” on our own, or that we’re not so sinful anymore, or that we don’t need the constant nourishment of word and Sacrament and the powerful tool of prayer, then that’s the very definition of a false sense of security.

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may be clothed and so that the shame of your nakedness may not be seen; and to anoint your eyes with eye salve so that you may see. No one is rich until God makes him rich with pure gold—with true humility, with true wisdom, and genuine faith. We “buy” it from God, not with money or good works, but with genuine pleading and prayer, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!” The white garments are the righteousness of Christ which only covers us by faith, the only thing that makes us able to stand before God without shame. The eye salve is the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, to heal our blindness toward the things of God, and toward our own miserable condition without the white garments of Christ’s righteousness.

Whomever I love, I rebuke and discipline. Be zealous, therefore, and repent. If you think you’re doing fine on your own, if you see any of this lukewarmness or carnal security in yourself, for the love of God and for the sake of your own salvation, don’t brush Jesus’ words aside. Don’t go away brushing aside His rebuke. He rebukes those he loves, not to harm, but to save. If he didn’t care about you, he’d let you be. He’d let you go on in your self-destructive indifference. He’d let you keep living under the delusion that your faith is alive and well when it’s actually lukewarm. But He does care, and so He pleads with you to be zealous and repent. Get serious about your spiritual life, about your soul, about your deep and desperate, constant need for Christ.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have supper with him, and he with me. He knocks with His Word. He’s knocking right now. You open the door of your heart, not by your own natural powers, but by listening to His Word. Those who don’t dismiss or stubbornly reject what they hear will have Jesus come in and dwell with them and make a home with them.

To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with me on my throne, even as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. Further incentive to watch out for and to set aside deadly apathy and carnal security and lukewarmness toward God and the things of God. Not only do you get Jesus as a dinner guest in your heart, but you get to sit with the King on His throne for all eternity.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. I hope that our review of the seven letters to the seven churches has been an encouragement to you, to keep hearing the warnings and the praises of Jesus, the threats and the promises, the urging and the inspiring. There’s much more to come in the rest of the book of Revelation! With the tool of His Word, the Holy Spirit will continue, on the one hand, to demolish everything that threatens your faith, and on the other hand, to build you up in faith and love, and to keep you steadfast until the end. May His Spirit keep you hearing and heeding, today and every day. Amen.