What makes God sick? Revelation 3: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” Grant R. Osbourne describing the Loadicean Christians as, “Beautiful outwardly and sickening inwardly! The exalted Christ is challenging them with a powerful rhetorical question, “Don’t you realize that you make me sick?”
Brian K. Blount comments, “The adjectives ‘hot’ and ‘cold’ should not be taken to represent different kinds of Christian witness, so that, for example, the cold Christian does not not witness properly, whereas the hot one maintains the zeal and fire that Christ demands. Christ opposes the hot and [italics supplied] the cold to the lukewarm. He wishes that they were one or the other, but not one as opposed to the other. He intends simply that, knowing definitely where they should stand, stand there.”
The condition of the Laodicean Christians is they know where they should stand but they did not stand there. Three Laodicean examples that sickens God: 1) Lack of honesty 2) Lack of authenticity 3) Lack of humility.
- Lack of honesty-they think they are rich but they are poor.
- Lack of authenticity-they think they know but they are ignorant.
- Lack of humility-they think they have everything but they have nothing.
Christ’s remedy of repentance:
- Hear His Voice
- Open the Door
- Dine with Him
A pastor’s son was asked to stand one day but he does not want to stand. He was obliged to stand. Then he said, “In my heart, I am sitting.” Our hearts and our actions must harmonize. Although we hear this phrase, “fake it till you make it” I learned its better to “fake it till you become it.”
Self-deception or dishonesty seems natural for us but it sickens God. God’s remedy is to hear His voice. Because the more we hear God’s voice the more we realize we need help. God’s voice is heard from the Scriptures.
Standing for the truth or being authentic means we are who we are. No pretense. The reason why celebrities need to have make up is because they want to hide truth about their faces or themselves. We are so afraid that people may know who we are and not like us. We call this insecurity. So we put on make up. God knows us. We do not need to hide. He loves us just as we are. God’s remedy is to open your door to Him. Let Jesus come in.
Low view of oneself not low view of one’s self-esteem is humbleness. Philippians 2:1-8 is a great example of Christ’s humility. The Laodiceans cherished pride and cultivated self-sufficiency and that got them into trouble. It sickens God. But Christ remedy is to learn from Him. Dine with Jesus, Laodiceans and experience the difference. Amen.