Revelation 3:15-21 You Can’t Love God Half-heartedly.

In Revelation 3, Jesus says something to a church that I think most of us wouldn’t expect. 

He says: 15 ‘I know your works (deeds, actions, accomplishments), that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of My mouth. 

The word hot here means boiling hot.  And spew is another word for vomit.  Some translations say spit, but the word is vomit.

So He says: 15 ‘I know your works, that you are neither cold nor boiling hot; I wish that you were cold or boiling hot. 16 ‘So because you are lukewarm, and neither boiling hot nor cold, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 

A few verses later, Jesus advises them to buy salve for their eyes, that they might see. 

But see what?

In verse 17, Jesus says that they say: “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and they do not know that they are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

Yes, they need to see that they are seeing and evaluating their lives by the wrong measures.

But I think there is something else that they’re not seeing.

And the passage that comes to mind to explain this is John 21:15-18.

Jesus had risen from the dead, and Jesus had appeared to the disciples several times, but most of the time it seems that they were on their own.

So Peter says to them: I’m going fishing. 

This sounds harmless enough, but Peter was a fisherman before Jesus called him.  And when Jesus called Peter, Peter simply walked away from it to follow Him.  And he did that for 3 years.  So when Peter says he’s going fishing, it can mean more than he was just bored and wants to do something. 

They fished all night.   So this wasn’t just a break in their routine.  This is what fishermen would often do.  This was some serious fishing.

Jesus shows up the next morning.  They caught nothing all night, but Jesus leads them to an enormous catch of fish.

So later they’re on the shore, and Jesus asks Peter a question: Do you love me more than these?  These what?  It could mean more than the other disciples, but I think it’s more likely: these things.  Fishing and all that goes with that.

And Peter answers: You know that I love you.

Now this is where it gets tricky, and not all Bible scholars agree. 

Peter used a different word for love than Jesus did. 

A lot of Bible scholars say the words mean pretty much the same thing.  But when you read this, you realize that can’t be the case.

Those who do see the difference say that when Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him more than these things, the word love speaks of value.  Like when the Bible says love your neighbor, it doesn’t mean you have to like them, but loving them means to value them and you treat them like the image-bearers of God that they are.

Peter’s word deals more with feelings.  When you like somebody, you have chemistry.  You can like them so much you can use the word love, but it’s an intensity grounded in your feelings. 

So Jesus asks him if he values Him more than his old life. 

And Peter responds: you know that I love you, I like you really, really a lot.

Then Jesus asks him a second time: Do you love me?  It’s: DO you love me?

Like: DO you value Me?

And Peter responds again the same way:  Jesus, I’m crazy about you.  Of course, I love you.

Then Jesus asks him: do you love me? but he uses Peter’s words. 

Let me paraphrase it like this:

Peter, am I more important to you than your old life?

Lord, I really like you a lot.

Peter, AM I important to you?

Lord, I like you, believe me.

Peter, DO you like Me?

If you go through this from back to front, it’s like saying: If you say you like Jesus, you will love Him, you will have to love Him, and if you love Him, you will love Him more that all the stuff in your life.

Once you grasp who Jesus is, immediately He becomes the most important thing in your life.  And if He doesn’t, then you’re just not getting it.

This happened to me when I was a teenager.  I was attending Confirmation classes and had to memorize The Apostle’s Creed.  “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth,” and so on.

And I asked myself whether I really believed that.  I said yes, I do.  Then automatically God became the most important thing in my life.  How can it be otherwise?  The Creator of heaven and earth?

The point is that you cannot do God half-heartedly, casually, when you have time, when you feel like it.  I’ve heard people say they need a break from religion. 

And I don’t understand that.  And I don’t think God does either.  People who say that are like these people who Jesus called “wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.”

Am I being too harsh here? 

I don’t know.

I read Revelation, and Jesus addressed 7 churches in Asia Minor.  Three of them He says that He has something against them.  Three He says I know your works.  Only two of them don’t receive a rebuke of some kind.  If He picked churches at random today, would we do better?

He says here in Revelation 3:19:   ‘Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.

The word ‘I’ here before the word ‘reprove’ is highly emphasized.  “I those whom I love I reprove and discipline. 

He’s being totally blunt with them.  You don’t do this Christian life half-heartedly.  If you feel like you need a break from it, then you’re missing really something important here.

Then He goes on:    20      ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.  21      ‘He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

His words are hard, because the issues are important.  But He speaks out of His intense love for us and His desire to have fellowship with us.

Would you describe your Christian life as boiling hot?  How can it be anything else when you’re talking about God, the creator of the ends of the earth, and Jesus, who died and rose again that we might have a life with this God?