He didn't allow himself to be stripped naked and have nails put in his hands and his feet so that you could play church on the weekend or sit at home even worse, dropping in every week from your couch in your pajamas. The only kind of reaction that's appropriate to what Jesus did is full and complete worship and abandonment of your will to His. Welcome back to the Summit Life podcast with Pastor J.D. Greer. If you're looking for a simple way to spend time with God this month, we've created a free Psalms reading plan.
This guided plan helps you not just read the Psalms, but engage them in a more personal way. Whether you read them aloud, journal through them, or pray them back to God, this resource is designed to help you connect more deeply with Him. This reading plan is completely free. It is our gift to you. The easiest way to get it is by signing up for our weekly email newsletter at jdgreer.com.
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Now, onto our teaching. We've seen how easy it is for our hearts to drift. And today, Jesus takes that warning even further. Pastor J.D. Greer continues in Revelation 3, where we hear some of the most sobering words in all of Scripture.
Because when faith becomes half-hearted, lukewarm, it's not just ineffective. It's something Jesus strongly warns against.
So let's hear from Pastor JD now. And to the angel of the church in Laodicea, write. The words of the Amen. the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation. I know your works.
You are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot.
So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing. not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor. blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire.
so that you may be rich, and white garments, so that you may clothe yourself, and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen. and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love. I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. We are studying through the seven letters that Jesus wrote to seven churches across Asia Minor. And these letters can get pretty salty, but we should read them closely, like you would read a letter from somebody that you love.
I met Veronica right before I went overseas as a missionary. And so we exchanged a lot of letters in the years that I was there, not like emails, but like old school pen and ink letters. And y'all, I did not just read those letters, I devoured those letters. I would analyze the smallest details, trying to figure out what every word, what every punctuation mark meant. Remember what that was like?
Dear JD. Does she call everybody dear, or is that just for me? Does she think of me as like her dear? You know, I'd analyze the punctuation. I'm thinking of you, period.
Why no exclamation point there? Does that mean she's like thinking of me like she's concerned about me? I'm thinking of you. Or is she like, you know, I'm thinking of you? Like, it's that kind of thinking.
You know, if she was really into me, surely there'd be an exclamation point there. Then she'd sign it, love Veronica. And I'd think, like, is that like love, like love in Christ, love, or love everybody, love? Or is that like love, love? What does she mean by that?
I devoured every word. Because I loved her. We should read these letters like that because they are letters from a savior that we love and long for. Today, we're going to look at the last three of these seven letters: the ones to the churches at Sardis. Philadelphia and Laodicea.
Most of our time is going to be spent on that third letter, the one to the church at Laodicea, because what Jesus said to them is so relevant to us, but I did. Want to at least visit the other two for a moment.
So, uh, so first, chapter 3, verse 1, to the angel. of the church in Sardis, right? The church in Sardis. Remember, there are seven total churches. Remember this?
About two of the churches, Jesus has nothing negative to say. That's going to be the church at Smyrna, which we covered a few weeks ago, and then the church at Philadelphia, which we're going to look at here in a minute. Then there are three churches to whom Jesus gives a mixed review, meaning he offers both positive affirmation and negative critique. And those are the churches at Ephesus and Pergamum and Thyatira. And finally, there are two churches about whom nothing positive is said.
First, you got Sardis. You can see the little angry emoji there. And Laodicea. I'll explain more about that emoji here in a minute. To Sardis, Jesus said, verse 1, I know your works.
So you've got the reputation of being alive. But you are in fact dead. The church of Sardis apparently had a pretty good reputation. If you knew somebody that was moving to Sardis, you would always recommend the church there. You'd say, oh, solid church.
Great preacher. Spirit-filled, great ministries, awesome small groups. But Jesus looked at the church and he saw something different. I know your real works, he said. And you are, in fact.
Dead. In other words, they were active in small groups, but behind closed doors, they gossiped and they talked about each other. They came to church faithfully most weekends, but behind closed doors, they had secret sins and habits. The church had a reputation for generosity. But a lot of the people still spent the majority of their money on themselves.
They talked a big game about prayer. They knew when to say amen. They knew how to raise their hands in worship at just the right time. But truth be told, the only time many of them ever really prayed was at church. They enjoyed a great reputation, but measured by the private lives of their members, they were, in fact, dead.
How many churches in America would fit that description? How many people in this room would fit that description? You have the reputation of being alive, but God does not evaluate your walk with Him by. your reputation or by the reputation of your church. God evaluates your walk with Him by what you really are, and what you really are is shown not by.
how high you raise your hands in worship, it's shown by what you are in secret. We are not going to spend long on this, but I just wonder if there's somebody listening to me today. To whom the Holy Spirit would right now say, This is you. This is you. You sat through a lot of sermons.
But you don't consistently spend time with God each day. Yeah, you give a little. But you're not a sacrificial giver. You couldn't point to the last time. that giving severely inconvenienced you or changed your lifestyle.
There are things that you watch, things you look at, things you listen to, conversations you engage in. That frankly you'd be embarrassed to have brought into the light. You could not begin to tell us the last time that you actually told somebody about Jesus. When you do pray. When you do pray, all your prayers are focused on you.
God, I need this. God, give me that. God, fix this situation. God, smite her for saying that. You got a reputation of being alive, but the truth is, you are dead and too.
That church, to those believers and to you, Jesus says, verse 2: wake up. Wake up and strengthen what remains. It is about to die. It's not totally dead yet. It's about to be dead.
But there's a smoldering wick left in there, and I want you to fan it into flame. Wake up, because if not, I will come. Like a thief. You won't know even the hour that I'm going to come against you. The way Jesus says this, many scholars think he's referring to a famous story that.
took place in Sardis. Every school kid knew this story. Every believer would have known it immediately. For centuries, the city of Sardis had been this mighty fortress that everybody thought was impregnable. Countless invading armies had tried to overcome this fortress and been unsuccessful.
But in 546 BC, during the course of a Persian attack, A Sardinian soldier who was on top of the wall guarding the city accidentally dropped his helmet over the wall.
Well, later that night, after everybody had gone to bed, that soldier wanted his helmet back. He snuck out of the fortress via a secret door in the side of the fortress to go back and get his helmet.
Well, one of the Persian soldiers saw him, which revealed a secret entry into the fortress. And so the next night, some of the soldiers broke in at that spot, opened the main gate to the fortress so that the rest of the Persian army could come in and destroy it. Jesus says, if you do not wake up, I will come like that thief in the night because I know all the secrets that nobody else knows. Friend, listen to me. Hypocrisy and secret sin is serious business.
He doesn't care what others think you are. He sees what you actually are. It's time for you to wake up and stop being a fake. And that's the whole message for some of you this weekend. I would not suggest you get up and leave now because everybody will know what we're talking about.
It's not what your mouth says you believe that matters to Jesus. It's what your life says you believe. And yet. And yet, Jesus says, you still have a few names in Sardis. People who've not spoiled their garments.
They will walk with me and wife, for they are worthy. The imagery of spoiled garments there is fascinating because. You see, Sardis was famous for an expensive clothing dye. That was sold there at Sardis. People from all around the Roman Empire would bring these white wool garments.
To sardis, so they could be dyed with these dark and exotic colors. It was a very expensive process, but Jesus refers to that process negatively as spoiling the garment. Because he is using that, listen, as a metaphor for what had happened to these believers in Sardis. They'd been stained by the worldly culture of Sardis. Instead of standing out from the world like a light in the darkness, they had blended into the world.
The salt had lost its saltiness. And yet, Jesus says there are a few there who have resisted that conformity, and Jesus says to them, I see you. Don't give up. You college students who are choosing to date God's way, even though your peers think that's insane. The ones of you that have given up your summer to go on a mission project when everybody's telling you you need to use these summers to make money.
You, young professionals struggling to do things God's way, you young parents who are sacrificing to have your kids here week after week, even though you're exhausted. You retirees who are investing in the next generation, even though society and your money manager tells you that now is the time to focus on yourself and enjoy all those savings. For all of you who are living differently, Jesus says, I see you keep going. It's worth it. I'll make it worth it.
I'm going to reward you. I'm going to bless you. I'm the one who holds the crown of life and the seven stars in his hands. And that brings me to verse 7. Could be angel.
of the church in Philadelphia, right? Go Eagles. No, I'm just kidding. That's a different Philadelphia. That's a different Philadelphia.
As I mentioned, this is one of the two churches about whom Jesus has nothing negative to say. Nothing negative. What characterizes this church is their devotion to... Mission. Verse 8, I know your works, Jesus says.
Behold. I've set before you an open door which nobody is able to shut. I know. That you got just a little bit of power, and yet, and yet you have kept my word, and you have not denied my name. If you will, I'd love for you to give me a little bit of pastoral license here.
Because some of them I know were not perfect. Not by a long shot. But if I could be so bold, I actually think there's something in here for us, the Holy Spirit would say to us. You see, for 20 plus years. You've sought to be faithful to the mission the Holy Spirit has given to you.
And that first meant leaving a very comfortable church property and moving into a high school. And then meant embracing things like a multi-site strategy as the best way to reach the city. It meant sending out some of your best members to mission. Like I said, we are not perfect and we have often just stumbled along in this, but I can say this without caveat: that this is one of the most generous, most mission-focused, most self-sacrificing churches I've ever been a part of or ever even heard of. I just got back from a trip visiting our church planning teams in Leipzig, East Germany, and Trento, Italy.
Two of the most secularized, lost places on the planet. And I'm telling you, you got members there that are doing the hard work. And they're just so joyful in it, who can't believe what they're getting to be a part of. What God is doing through some people around the world and in those places is incredible. This summer, we got teams that are visiting our church plants in Nairobi, Kenya, and India, and Kuala Lumpur, and Thailand, and Japan, and a bunch of other places.
We're going to have more than 800 people go out on mission trips this year. Truly, Summit, the sun never sets on your kingdom work. Each year, each year, you now invest about 35% of your budget. 35% goes into gospel expansion, which is just incredible. That now amounts to about $20 million a year.
I just want to use this letter to say that Jesus sees all of that, and I believe it delights him.
Someone, I believe, verse 8 is for us. Behold. I have set before you an open door which nobody is going to be able to shut. In other words, don't stop because nobody's going to be able to stop you. There is so much more to do.
Some of we are watching our church plants and college campuses really take off. And I know it just feels like this is rhetoric, but it feels like we are just getting started. I'm not saying that to motivate you, I'm just making an observation. It just feels like, with the way God is doing stuff, that we're just beginning to see this harvest that's coming in. Right, we got so many more to reach here in our own city.
There's a growing movement here in our church of men reaching men. Our men's ministry is really starting to take off, and we just want to see that continue. We're seeing new ministries to the homeless and the orphaned. The prisoner, the unwed mother, the high school dropout. We're seeing those develop from inside our church.
And I think to us, Jesus says, I am opening a door for you that nobody is going to be able to shut. Keep going, summit. Don't stop, because I'm going to make it where nobody can stop you. Verse 9, behold, I'll make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they're Jews and are not. We've already seen this crew.
They're the ones who look like Christians. They're in churches, but they don't really represent Jesus and they lie. Behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet. They will learn that I have loved you. In other words, I see all the people who criticize you.
Don't worry about them. They're not gonna be able to stop you. And when all the dust settles, it's gonna be clear who my blessing was on. You don't have to prove yourself to them or anybody else. You just focus on me.
You may feel like you don't have the power to overcome those that oppose you. I don't need you to overcome them. Ignore them and you stay focused on the task. Yo, listen, next year, Lord William, we're going to study the book of Nehemiah together. And there is a scene in Nehemiah, chapter 6, verse 3, one of my favorites, where Nehemiah is up there building the walls of Jerusalem just like God has told him to do.
And there's these two critics, San Ballot and Tobias. And they're just wearing him out. Questioning his motives, constantly trying to lure him into these fights. And eventually, Nehemiah says to them, chapter 6, verse 3: Hey, I can't come down off this wall to argue with you fools. I got a job to do.
I won't come down off this wall. That's how I feel. I don't have time to respond to all the comment threads in the internet. We're up here building a wall. We got a city to reach and a lost world to bring to Jesus.
I don't have time for foolish arguments. We cannot, we will not come down off this wall. Mm-hmm. One more thing here, verse 11. Verse 11.
I am coming soon, Jesus says. Hold fast what you have so that no one may seize your crown. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Philadelphia, like all these cities in the Roman Empire, had all these temples to pagan gods. The number one architectural feature of those temples were these huge pillars.
Pillars implied might and permanence. In fact, you've probably seen it in the ruins of many of these ancient temples. Nothing remains except for the pillars. Jesus says, I'm going to establish your work like pillars in a temple that'll never crumble like these others will.
Some of it, we call that 35% of our giving that we invest in gospel expansion. We call that legacy lanes. Because that's what we're doing. We're building a legacy that lasts forever. We are constructing pillars in God's eternal temple that people won't travel to Europe to visit one day, but are going to enjoy forever in heaven.
So, some that be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor for the Lord is not in vain. These things say the amen, the firstborn from the dead, the first and the last. That is the letter to the church at Philadelphia. That brings us last. To last and in many ways least.
the church and Leo to see you.
Now, before I get into this one, let me just set it up for you with a question I want you to consider. Here's a question. What makes you want to vomit? Maybe just me asking the question does it, right? I've known people who got queasy when they when they uh uh when they got nervous.
I've known some who got nauseous when they're extremely sad or upset. I know some who do it when they get really strained in a workout. Again, I know some just by talking about it makes you nauseous. Probably, though, when I ask that question, the thing that most of you think of is something really disgusting, right? Like when you mindlessly pour the milk into the glass and you don't notice that it's two weeks past the date until you feel those cottage cheesy lumps sliding down the back of your throat, right?
Did I do it? Did I do it? Okay, I got it. I always thought I had a strong stomach. I always thought I had a strong stomach, but then I had four babies.
and the requisite diaper duty that goes along with four babies. And you start changing that diaper, and you think, how did that little you, how did that little you produce all of that? I remember one time my wife left town for something, and I was on baby duty for the weekend, and one of the kids had one of these blowouts. I went in the room, and I was like, I mean, just wanted to, I just, or wanted to hurl. I had to call a friend from down the road, and they were like, Has this kid not had a bowel movement in six weeks?
You always want those runaway diapers where you just bypass the wipes. You remember those? You throw the outfit away. You just go hold the kid up in the shower, or do like I used to do with Ed and just take him out in the backyard and squirt his booty down with a hose, right? Here's the point.
Here is the point. When something is so offensive to you that it makes you want to vomit, it's serious. What makes Jesus feel this way?
Now, if I were to ask you that question apart from this passage, your Bible wouldn't open to Revelation 3. I'm like, what do you feel makes Jesus want to hurl?
Some of you would say, I know, I know, it's Christians who are too political. Or at least the ones who are political in ways I don't agree with. It's those evangelicals for Kamala Christians. or MAGA Christians. Though they're self-righteous, never Trumpers.
They make Jesus sick because obviously you think they make me sick, so God makes Jesus sick. Or you say, no, no, no, I bet it's those Christian leaders who take advantage of people. or those TV preachers who scam people out of money. You say, no, no, no. I mean, those things upset Jesus, I'm sure, but what makes Jesus really want to vomit?
Has to be those people who think that cheesy Christian t-shirts are the way we win the world of Christ. Like these I saw this week, you who died for Jesus. Come to him. You're like, come on. May your light shine.
Here's the next one. May your light shine before men. Relish, sweet Jesus. Or my personal favorite, fully vaccinated by the blood of Jesus. That one, by the way, guaranteed to lead you to all kinds of interesting conversations.
And all of these shirts are available for purchase today at our next draw. I'm just kidding. That's not true. Yes, I would submit to you that all these things to different degrees All of them are probably offensive to Jesus, but the one thing. The one thing that Jesus says makes him want to vomit.
is the lukewarm Christian. That is the Christian who is neither cold nor hot. And that's the subject of Jesus' final letter. To the angel and the church. And Laodicea, right, remember, y'all, this is one of those churches about which Jesus has nothing positive to say.
But this is important. He doesn't critique them for any doctrinal error or any moral compromise. You won't find one in there. He's got one criticism. They've lost their passion for him.
They're lukewarm. A few things to know about Laodicea. First, Laodicea was awesome, it was a fun place to visit. It was extremely wealthy. See, early in Rome's rule, Laodicea had been burned to the ground.
And one of the wealthiest families in the Roman Empire who lived there in Laodicea, they were named the Xenonads, which by the way, doesn't have to sound like a rich people named Xenonads. They rebuilt from scratch that entire city with their own money. Because of that, Laodicea was literally called the city that died and rose again.
So it's a very wealthy city. You can hear that imagery in the letter. Secondly, Laodicea was an important textile center. They produced this fine black wool. You say, I thought wool was white.
Most of it was, but there was this rare breed of sheep that lived in the mountains surrounding Laodicea, and clothes made out of that black wool were a bit of a novelty. And rich people from all over the Roman Empire came to Laodicea to buy that black wool. Laodicea was like the Saks Fix Avenue or the Neman Marcus of the ancient world. Finally. Laodicea was the medical capital of the Roman Empire.
The surrounding mountains were filled with these hot mineral springs, springs which were thought to have healing qualities. And people from all around the Roman Empire came to seek healing there. Scholars say, by the way, that a number of legitimate medical cures were developed there in Laodicea. In particular, they developed this mineral-rich eye salve that cured a lot of vision ailments back in the day. The Apostle Paul had been the one to plant the church in Laodicea.
In fact, fascinating, in Paul's letter to the Colossians, I don't know if you've ever seen this, but at the end of the letter, Paul refers to another letter that he had written to the church in Laodicea. That unfortunately, that letter, we don't have it. It did not survive, which is fascinating to me that there are letters that Paul wrote that did not make it into the canon of scripture. The reason that's fascinating is because I wonder why they weren't included. Maybe Paul got a little unhinged and said some cuss words, or you know, and the Holy Spirit's like, I cannot put that in the Bible.
Paul's like, you thought my letter to the Corinthians was strong. You should have read my letter to the letter to Seans. I wrote it in all caps, it peeled the paint off the walls. For whatever reason, the Holy Spirit chose not to include that letter. In sacred scripture, but Jesus' letter makes it.
To the angel of the church in Laodicea, right? I know your works. You're neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. But because you are lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.
Six miles northeast of Laodicea. was the region of Hierapolis. Which contained all those boiling mineral springs I told you about. Six miles to the southeast. were the tall mountains of Colase.
out of which flowed these streams of ice-cold water that came from the snow mountain on the really tall mountain peaks there.
So streams flow from here and from there. Just outside of Laodicea. These two kinds of streams came together and they formed stagnant ponds of tepid water. Pools which were neither hot, which would have made them good for bathing. Or cold, which would have made them good for drinking or for a cold plunge.
They were just swampy. Nasty. tepid ponds which made them good for nothing. I think of a light coffee. Man, there's nothing there.
Than a piping hot triple-shot Americano in the morning. Am I right? Unless. It's an ice cold salted caramel cold phone cold brew in the afternoon. I love hot coffee.
And I love cold coffee. But if I find a cup of coffee, That's been sitting out in the counter all day. Room temperature, right? Like this one. This is my coffee from Thursday.
About 10 o'clock on Thursday morning, right? And the thought of it right now, just taking it and going. Yeah. That's just water. I'm just gonna switch it out of water.
But it makes you feel like you want to get nauseous, right? Jesus uses that image to describe the believers in Laodicea. You're lukewarm, he says. You're characterized by neither the warm passion that fuels mission nor. The awakening jolt of a cold plunge.
There's nothing distinctive about you. You're the same temperature as everything around you, and you make me want to spew you out of my mouth. What he says next, y'all, is very important because he's going to pinpoint the source of their lukewarmness. Have you ever wondered why certain beliefs in Christianity actually matter? Not just what we believe, but why it makes a difference in everyday life?
This month's featured resource is a brand new digital book from Pastor JD aptly titled, Why Does It Matter? It walks through some of the most important questions of the Christian faith, topics like prayer, the resurrection, biblical authority, and everyday faithfulness, and shows us how each one shapes the way we live, think, and follow Jesus day by day. When you support Summit Life financially this month, we'll send it over to you as our way of saying thanks. It's a resource designed to help you build a faith that's not only thoughtful and grounded, but deeply personal and lived out in the real world. Just head to jdgreer.com to learn more.
You won't want to miss it. Our May resource is only available through the end of this week.
Now let's finish up today's teaching and head back to God's Word. Once again, here's Pastor JD. Verse 17, for the reason that you're lukewarm is because, for You say I'm rich. I've become wealthy and I don't need anything. Told you the Leodecelians were rich.
Here's how rich: AD 61. There was an earthquake in the valley that measured eight plus on the Richter scale. They didn't have the Richter scale back then, but that's what scholars today say it would have been. destroyed every city in the valley. Roman federal funds were granted so that each city could rebuild, and the Laodiceans turned down the money.
They're like, we'll just do it ourselves so that we can do it the way we want. We don't want your money. Y'all, when you are so rich that you're turning down grants from the federal government, that's rich. That was Laodicea. and their wealth made them feel self-sufficient.
They didn't think they had any real needs. And hear me. That's always the pathway to apostasy. Verse 17, you see, you don't realize that you're actually. Wretched, pitiful, poor, blind.
and naked. Blind, Jesus says you pride yourselves on the medical cures you provide to others, like the ISAV, but the irony is that you're spiritually blind, and there's nothing you can do to fix it. You're naked. You pride yourselves on your clothing, everybody, in this fine black wool. But the truth is, in my eyes, you're naked, wretched, pitiful, poor, blinded, naked.
So I advise you to buy from me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich. White clothes, so that you may be dressed and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, an ointment. to spread on your eyes so that you may see. See, there are riches and healing you're unable to provide for yourselves. The tragedy is that your physical riches keep you blind to the fact that you don't have those things.
You think you got everything. Like I've heard it said before, money can buy you a house, but never a home. It can buy you a bed, but never rest. It can buy you. Medicine but not health, information but not wisdom, thrills but not joy, toys but not satisfaction, associates but not friends.
Physical riches certainly cannot provide life. Spiritual life to your kids or your grandkids or your community. Physical riches cannot bring the life that actually matters. You think you got everything? You think you got everything, Jesus says, but the reality is you're poor, you're wretched, you're blind, and you're naked.
And the tragedy is you don't even know it. You don't even know it. Look at what he says in Acts, verse 20. Behold. I stand at the door and knock.
Jesus presents himself as outside of this church. Their self-sufficiency has gotten them to a point that Jesus is not even present in the church anymore. He's having the night to come in, and worst of all, they don't even realize that he's not there. By the way, I always heard this verse apply to salvation. Right now stand at the door and knock unbeliever In fact, I even remember the Solomon painting.
The Solomon's guy who painted the thing I showed you a couple weeks ago, he had another one. This is it. I always saw this growing up, depicting Jesus standing at the heart's door of the unbeliever and knocking. Yeah, come in, come in. I guess that's fine as an application.
I don't object to it. Just know that specifically, that verse is about the church. There are churches and Christians that are so self-satisfied and so self-sufficient that Jesus isn't even in them anymore and they don't even know it.
Now let's get real. For some of you, my fear is that the Holy Spirit is not really present in your life, and you don't even know it. You wouldn't recognize it if he came. You don't recognize when he's gone. When Christians emporer And more persecuted parts of the world come to the United States and they visit churches here.
Y'all, they're always amazed by our facilities. Our lights and our screens and our systems. They're like, oh my goodness, you got people directing traffic in the parking lot?
Now you guys complain about it, but they're like, that's amazing. You got traffic problems. But they are often appalled by our lukewarmness. But the distinction between the amount of people who show up on a Sunday for church and the few that show up for a prayer meeting, they're appalled by how little we pray, by how much we spend on ourselves, what we assume that we just cannot live without. They're appalled at how afraid we are to identify ourselves as Christians in public or how we won't take even the smallest of stance.
Out of fear of what it's going to do to our reputation or our business, like we're not going to fly the pride flag in June when some of them are literally being imprisoned for their faith. Hear me, lukewarm does not mean hypocritical. Hypocrite is a two-faced liar. Jesus didn't call these people hypocrites. He just says, you have no longer any sense of need in my presence, and so you don't seek me.
Jesus says something more negative to that church than he does to any of the others. Jesus doesn't say, I'm disappointed with you. He doesn't say, I'm upset with you. You should do a little better. He says, you make me want to vomit.
There's something personal and visceral about his reaction. I mean, not to be gross, but vomiting is not usually a conscious choice, right? You don't say, you know, that is so gross. I choose to vomit in protest.
Now you see something, it's like you can't control your reaction. Your body viscerally reacts with disgust. Why do you think Jesus has such a visceral response to lukewarmness? Why do you think that makes him nauseous and want to find? Why?
It's because Jesus didn't go to a cross to create lukewarm followers. He didn't allow himself to be stripped naked and have nails put in his hands and his feet so that you could play church on the weekend or sit at home, even worse, dropping in every week from your couch in your pajamas. The only kind of reaction that's appropriate to what Jesus did is full and complete worship and abandonment of your will to His. Yeah, I've told you this before, only two reactions to Jesus really make sense. Out of rejection, that makes sense.
This is a scam. Right? I mean, this whole story, y'all, is either the worst scam ever pulled on humanity. I mean, I stand up here. Every week, urging people to put their hope in a carpenter from Israel that lived 2,000 years ago and give up their lives for him.
That's either the worst scam ever, or it's a true story that calls for your complete and utter devotion. I've asked you this before. You come home. There's a friend on your front porch. Who tells you, hey, while you were out, somebody came by and you owed a debt to them, but don't worry, I paid the debt for you.
I asked you like, well, how would you respond to that person? Your answer is, well, it depends on how much they paid, right? I mean, because if they wrote the debt was like you didn't have enough stamps on your letter and the postman came back and your friend pulled out, you know, whatever, 50 cents and gave it to the postman and he put the other stamp on there. Then you're like, oh, you're a great friend. You pat him on the back and that's it.
If they're like, yeah, actually, no, it was the mafia. Your secret life of gambling caught up with you. You owed $35 million. Don't worry about it. I paid it.
Guido was here. I said, don't worry about it. I paid you 35 million. He's going to, you're not going to sleep with the fishes tonight. At that point, you don't slap them on the back and say, hey, thanks.
You fall at his feet and say, command me, right? My life is now yours. The one thing that people in the New Testament never were. was bored with Jesus. Never.
They either passionately hated him or they passionately loved him. And yet bored is what so many of us are. We're lukewarm. And it makes Jesus want to vomit. Listen, it is extremely significant that Jesus closes these three letters.
on the theme of lukewarmness. I say it's significant because that's how he opened these letters, remember? In the first letter of the one of the church at Ephesus, Jesus mourned. How the Ephesian believers had lost their first love. He commended that church in Ephesus for a lot of stuff: their doctrinal faithfulness, their missional faithfulness.
Their pastors were awesome. Jesus' mom Mary was a member there. They had a lot of stuff going for them, but they had lost their first love and their passion for Jesus. And now, y'all, here we are again, returning to that exact same thing. The fact that this same theme bookends these letters means, listen, that Jesus sees the greatest immediate threat to his church.
Not as doctrinal or moral compromise, the greatest immediate threat. is lukewarm passion for him. Losing your first love. When we went through the letter to Ephesus. I gave you five signs that you lost your first love.
You remember what they were? Yeah. Me neither.
Okay, so I'm going to end. Our study of these letters with three signs that you're lukewarm, but there'll probably be some overlap. Number one. Lukewarm Christians don't pray that much. In fact, this is the primary thing that Jesus points to in this letter.
At least by implication. Because they feel so rich. And they're so self-sufficient, they don't pray. We usually attribute prayerlessness to a lack of discipline. Right?
If I asked you if you're happy with your prayer life, you said no. I said, well, what keeps you from having the prayer life you should? You would probably say.
Well, just lack self-discipline. I get so busy in the day, I just forget there's not enough time in the morning. I'm too tired at night. That's not the real reason. The real reason you don't pray.
is pride. You don't see God's help as that essential. You are rich. You don't really need. Anything.
That's why you don't pray. The single best book on prayer that I've ever read. There's a book by a guy named Paul Miller called A Pray in Life. In it, he says this: If you are not praying, Watch. Then you are quietly confident that time, money, and talent are all you really need in life.
You'll always be a little too tired. You'll always be a little too busy to pray. But if, like Jesus himself, You realize you can't do life on your own then no matter how busy you are. No matter how tired you are, you will always find the time to pray. I kind of think of a light breathing.
I'm never too busy. I'm never too tired to breathe. I don't require accountability partners to remember to breathe. None of my buddies has to call me up at 11 a.m. each morning.
Or when I'm out traveling and say, now JD, just wanted to hold you accountable in your breathing. You made a vow to breathe more in 2025. Are you doing it? No, I breathe instinctively because my body craves air.
So no self-discipline is required. Or let me use Jesus' imagery that he uses in Revelation 3. Naked. If you're somewhere and you realize you're naked. You don't need somebody to urge you to go put on clothes.
Right, if I actually showed up somewhere naked, it wasn't a dream. I'm not gonna be like, wow, what do you know? I'm naked, right? Nobody's going to have to say to me, you know, you really ought to wear clothes more. No, I'm going to be self-motivated at that point.
No self-discipline, no accountability is required. The reason you don't pray is that you don't realize how desperate you are for God's help or how truly naked you are without it. You say, well, I'm rich. I become wealthy. I don't need anything.
You don't realize that in God's eyes, as a parent, as a spouse. You are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked. Paul Miller again: a praying life isn't simply about a morning prayer time. It's about slipping into prayer at odd hours of the day, not because you're disciplined, but because we are in touch with our own poverty of spirit, realizing we can't even walk through a mall or a neighborhood without the help of the Spirit of Jesus. When you start saying, God, I can't do my marriage right without your supply of power.
I can't raise these kids without your guidance. I can't face the temptations of this day without your strength. I won't make the right decision. I won't say the right words. I won't love my friends or my spouse the way that I should, apart from your spirit doing those things through me.
When you feel that way, you will pray without having to hear a sermon. Prayerlessness is a sign of lukewarmness. Number two, lukewarmness. Lukewarm Christians minimize their sin. Lukewarm Christians aren't really that serious about their private sin for a couple reasons.
First. They're just not terrified of being separated from God's power, similar to what I just said a minute ago. When you know how desperate you are for God's power. You were terrified of anything that would cut you off from it. Nothing about like air in a scuba tank.
When I'm underwater, I stay constantly aware of how much air is left in that tank. Because I do not want to be in any situation without air. The reason you are casual about sin is you don't realize how desperate you are for God's power. You think that given enough time and talent and a can-do spirit, you'll figure it out. Second reason a lukewarm Christian isn't scared to sin.
It's because, truth be told, they're just not really driven that much by a love for Jesus. You see, a lukewarm Christian, a lot of times they will avoid sin. But they avoid sin because it makes them look bad or makes them feel bad. Not because they love Jesus. Their lives actually may look pretty good morally, but it's not the same thing as love for Jesus.
You understand that, right? I mean, think of it like this. If the only reason I stay faithful in my marriage is that I don't want all the problems that adultery would bring into my life. And that would bring a lot of problems into my life. But if that's the reason I stay faithful, is that really love for Veronica?
No, in a good marriage, my main reason. For wanting To be faithful. Is that I love her and I want to honor her and I want to not hurt her, not simply the fact that an affair would embarrass me or bring hardship into my life. Right, in the same way, if on a date, I'm always asking, you know, what is the minimum amount? that I can put into this date and pull it off.
Can we go to Chipotle again? What is the cheapest meal I can buy for her? Is she gonna want to get dessert? I don't wanna pay for that. What's the minimum I got to talk to her?
What do we have to talk about? What's the maximum I can flirt with the waitress before she gets irritated? If that's all I'm thinking about, is that love? No, if I'm motivated by love, I want to draw close. I want to please her.
I want to delight her. The question will not be, what's the minimum I can do? The question is, what can I do that would please and delight this person I love? When you are not in love with Jesus, you're always thinking, how close to sin can I get and it still be okay? When you're in love with Jesus, you're like, what can I do that glorifies him?
Francis Chan says it this way: lukewarm Christians, they don't really want to be saved from sin, they just want to be saved from the penalty of sin. Lukewarm Christians minimize their sin. And that leads me to the last point, which is Honestly, probably the most haunting. Lukewarm Christians only turn to God when they need something. Y'all, I see it all the time.
Some sudden need.
Some life scare. Bring somebody running back to God. You lose your job, you get divorced, your spouse threatens to leave you. You start having problems with your kids. You have a pretty significant health scare.
So you come back to church and you get serious. Honestly, hear me. That's. Fine. God often uses a need to bring you back to Him.
It's like I always say, sometimes God will put you flat on your back so you will at last be looking the right direction. But see, here's the question. Are you just trying to use Jesus to fix something in your life? Or are you coming to him because you realize he is your life? Because here's what I see happen.
If all you're doing is using Jesus. We'll see the moment the problem is fixed. The health scare goes away. You get your job back. Your spouse says he'll give you another chance.
You start drifting back into your old ways because your coming to Jesus was never about Jesus. It was always about using Jesus to get what you really wanted. Lukewarm Christians only turn to God when they need something. It's like we live with Jesus mostly in time out. Anybody in here ever get put in timeout when they were a kid?
Raise your hand. Is that like a generational thing?
Some of the older people are like, we got spanked. Yeah. Okay.
Well, the new generation, someone put them in timeout. That was their version of that. You did something obnoxious. You got on your parents' nerves. You had to go sit in a room or stand over in a corner until your parents were ready for you to come out again.
It's kind of what we do with Jesus, isn't it? You keep him in timeout over here until you need him. Then you go through some need. And so you run him and be like, oh, Jesus, Jesus, come out and help me. He does.
He's gracious. Then when you don't think you need them anymore, you're like back in time out. He was back in time out.
So you have another need? Or here's the other thing. Until you sin real bad. And then you think, oh, sin gives him a license. To come out of timeout free.
with a big old bat and clobber me with punishment.
So after you sin, oh, now you got to go back to church. You got to ask forgiveness, you got to make an offering. Right, here comes Jesus, and he's coming out of time out. He's going to clobber you, and I made my offering, Jesus. I'm safe.
I got forgiveness now. You can't punish me.
So back in time out. See, your relationship with Jesus has little to do with love and worship and gratefulness toward him. You're just using him. It's like what Flannery O'Connor said in one of the characters in one of her novels. She was talking about a religious guy, and she described him this way.
I'll never forget this. She said, he avoided sin as a way of avoiding Jesus. Jesus didn't die for you to use him. He died to call out a people who would be as passionate for him as he was for them. He sought a bride, not a group of religious slaves who would obey him so they can go to heaven.
His passion for you calls out for your passion for him. And when you use him or you turn religion into a ritual, you make him want to vomit. Three signs you're lukewarm. You don't pray that much. You minimize your sin.
You only turn to God when you need something. I can tell you with pretty good accuracy what a lukewarm Christian looks like. Because in the many seasons of my life, I've been one. Even after becoming a pastor. There's been a tendency, for example, to let my ministry work replace my relationship with God.
I would study the Bible to preach. I wouldn't read it and devour it like a love letter from Jesus to me. Remember hearing a statement one time by a pastor named Craig Rochelle that just really smacked me in the face. He said, you've become a full-time pastor and a part-time follower of Jesus. Another pastor said it this way: He said, The way I was doing the work of God in the world destroyed the work of God in me.
Maybe that phrase could hit many of you. You've become a full-time mom, full-time businessman, full-time student. Part-time follower of Jesus. Friend, it is not a coincidence that Laodicea was the wealthiest, had the best resources. Best singers, best facilities, funniest preachers, biggest budgets, and they were the ones that were lukewarm because pride and self-sufficiency always breed lukewarm passion.
On the other hand. The poor, the desperate, those consumed by guilt and brokenness, they know they need God and they cling to him. You could no more separate them from God than you could separate a scuba diver from his air tanks or you from your clothes. Because you know, apart from him, I can't do anything. I told you, Jesus had nothing positive to say to the church of Laodicea, but this passage does end.
With an invitation. An incredible invitation, if anybody hears my voice. And opens the door. I'll come into him. I'll eat with him.
He'll eat with me. Watch this. As many as I love. You forgot me, you kicked me out of your church. But I still loved you, and I'm still at that door, and I'm knocking, and those are the ones that I reprove, rebuke, and discipline.
So be zealous and repent. Look, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hears my voice. I'll come into him and eat with him and he... And he will eat with me.
The good news is he wants to come in. and fellowship with you and y'all, he brings in so much joy. When he comes in, I've told you this: listen, there is no. Body more miserable on earth than the half-committed Christian. Have you figured this out?
You're just enough into Jesus to be miserable in the world. You just enough in the world to be miserable in Jesus? You're a Christian who comes to church on and off, but you never get the experience of joy, of full surrender, and of his pleasure. Make up your mind. It's like I've told you, church is a terrible habit.
Or terrible hobbies, sorry. It's a terrible hobby. You get up on a perfectly good Sunday morning, it's raining, you come and fight the traffic and sit here with a bunch of people. No, if you're going to be saved, it's like Charles Furgen said, be saved 100%.
Some of you are like that person that's standing on a dock with one foot in the boat and one foot on the dock. You happened to meet actually recently where I was just trying to do something, all of a sudden the boat starts going this way, and you're like, I got to make a decision fast. I'm either on the dock or I'm on that boat. The one thing you can't do is straddle the middle. It makes Jesus sick and it makes you miserable.
Friend, ours is a Jesus. Ours is a Jesus that deserves more than lukewarm devotion. He died for you. When you were blind, he gave you sight. When you were naked and poor, he clothed you.
With his own flesh, and then poured out on you the riches of his mercy. And when you realize that, what more can you say? But were the whole realm of nature mine, that would still be a present, far too small. Love, so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. To the one who conquers, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne.
Let anyone who has ears to hear, listen to what the Spirit says to the churches. This is what he says to you. He's ready to come in and make his home with you. You need to let him in. Thank you for joining us for the Summit Life podcast.
Just a quick reminder that this is the final week to secure your copy of our free resource of the month, the 60-day reading plan through the Psalms, as well as our featured book titled, Why Does It Matter? Head to jdgreer.com for more information on both of those. Until next time. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries. Yeah.
