3. A Spiritual Sloth is Lukewarm and Turns God’s Stomach

3. A Spiritual Sloth is Lukewarm and Turns God’s Stomach. 

Spiritual Sloth: (Greek, “Acedia”); spiritual laziness; indifference and apathy at the deeper levels; lack of spiritual ambition; joyless in sacred pleasures; spiritual ennui; careless attitude toward spiritual matters; a dispassionate lack of mindfulness and soul-care; a listless ignorance of what is eternally important; empty of the energy to escape self-centeredness; a lack of motivation to follow through on spiritual duties and activities; a spiritual sluggard; a sickness of the soul that results in boredom with God; a vague sense of dissatisfaction with anything spiritual; a cold sin of omission that drifts away from any hope of locating life’s true purpose and meaning; the unwillingness to be a diligent seeker of God and His Kingdom; a strong temptation from the evil one to remain spiritually empty and unfulfilled. A spiritual sloth is content to, spiritually speaking, follow the pace of the real sloth by moving at ten feet per minute, 1/9th of a mile per hour, and sleep twenty hours a day.

Descriptions of Spiritual Sloth: 

1. “It is like dying in advance.” (Pope Francis);
2. “It is a deflation of the soul that hinders spiritual resolve.” (anonymous);
3. “It renders a person idle and useless for every spiritual work.” (John Cassian);
4. “It is a sort of heavy, oppressive sadness that presses down on a person’s mind in such a way that he wants to do nothing and no activity pleases him.”  (Thomas Aquinas);
5. “It is a joylessness when faced with God as our supreme joy.” (Peter Kreeft);
6. “It is a supernatural torpor that doesn’t want to take the trouble at asking the great spiritual questions.”  (Blaise Pascal);
7. “It is the sin that is so dead that it doesn’t even seem to rise to the level of sin; a sin so sinful that it isn’t even sin.” (Peter Kreeft).

“I know who you are, inside and out; I know your works. You are neither cold with apathy nor hot with passion. It would be better if you were one or the other, but you are neither. So because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth… Those I love I also correct and discipline. Therefore, be shamelessly committed to Me and turn back. Be diligent and turn from your indifference.” (Revelation 3:15, 16, 19).

Carbon Copy. Lots of spending money. Plenty of possessions. Comfort, luxury. A lifestyle in the pursuit of entertainment and material things… The latest fashions, the best investments, the most up-do-date medical care. An interesting mix of ethnic groups. Convenient transportation and ease of travel. Believers that have grown accustomed to a high standard of living. A church that reflects the values of all this prosperity. A nonprofit church that reflects for-profit culture. We’re talking about America in the 21st century, right? No, this is western Asia, the city of Laodicea, in 95 AD. And St. John’s words to this ancient prosperous church have a lot to say to us, 1,925 years later.

John’s prophetic word to the Laodicean church is in his book that closes the New Testament, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, in chapter 3, verses 14-22. Using John as His mouthpiece, the glorified Jesus wants to have a word with this particular church. This is literally Laodicea’s come-to-Jesus moment. He will not mince words, He will not hold back because of shyness about being offensive. Jesus is saying, “Listen up! Here comes the truth! The threat of God’s judgment hangs over the believers here. Why is that?

Laodicea was a bustling urban center in western Turkey, on the well-traveled trade and travel route from Ephesus to Syria. It was a city well known for its amusements, since excavations have recently uncovered two theaters and a 1,000-foot-long stadium. It was a wealthy city widely known for its banking and financial operations, its garment and carpet industry, and its medical school which produced famous eye ointment. Laodicea was a prosperous mix of Syrians, Jews, Romans and Greeks, and their wealth seemed to make room for everyone to live peaceably. There were plentiful amounts of goods and materials… gold and coinage, wool from world famous sheep grazing in their land, and a local stone that, when crushed and compounded, healed all sorts of eye ailments. Laodicea was the secular capital of western Asia and renowned for its prosperity. It was by far the wealthiest of the seven churches mentioned in Revelation, and is in complete ruins today.

Don’t Drink the Water! In terms of natural resources, Laodicea had one major problem… water supply. They had to build a six-mile-long aqueduct from a hot springs a few miles away, and then have that water flow from there to the city. The water from the aqueduct proved to be barely drinkable. The hot water at one end of the aqueduct didn’t travel far enough to the other end to sufficiently cool down the water. Cold drinking water was not going to happen. It was tepid, lukewarm, neither hot nor cold. Most people found it nauseating, and would spit it out of their mouths when attempting to drink it. The city residents must have found acceptable drinking water through wells and transported water, but they certainly wouldn’t have tried drinking the aqueduct water. Besides being greatly distasteful, lukewarm water was considered to be dangerous because of greater chance of harboring diseases.

Spiritual Laziness Nauseates God. Jesus stated that the believers were just like the water being delivered by their famous aqueduct… lukewarm in faith, undrinkable by God, indifferent during worship, stagnant in spiritual growth. They are just like that distasteful water, unacceptable to God, unsatisfying, worthy to be spit out. The believers are tepid, they have no passion for God, they have no fervor to live the Way of Christ. They are satisfied with a lukewarm faith. They meet no resistance from their highly secular neighbors because they don’t stand for anything spiritual in value, they offer no alternative lifestyles or world view. They would never have to pick up their cross and suffer indignities and be thus refined in God’s fire of suffering. They were content with how their comfortable life unfolded. Jesus made the point that the cold springs from nearby Colossae were refreshing and delicious, and the hot springs from nearby Hierapolis were perfect for soothing and healing. But the lukewarm water in Laodicea was neither here nor there, it tasted badly, it couldn’t be used for cooking or cleaning, and so was basically worthless. The Laodicean church had no passion or zeal, but were instead halfhearted and relatively indifferent, so it was worthless just like the lukewarm water. The self-satisfied faith of the believers was repugnant to the Lord and gave Him spiritual nausea to the point of vomiting them out of His mouth.

A Worthless Faith. Interestingly, Jesus said He preferred that the believers there be either hot or cold, either fervent and passionate or sluggish and unenthusiastic. Perhaps He thought that people who were cold and faithless were more likely to be attracted to the hot, lively faith. Maybe Jesus thought that the cold ones were potentially more receptive to be changed because they could see the differences between a satisfying, meaningful life and an unsatisfying, meaningless life. The lukewarm, though, may not be able to see much difference between the hot and cold life, and so aren’t attracted to the zesty brand of faith. The lukewarm believers were inoculated, they had just enough knowledge of God to be “saved,” but not enough faith to become passionate or zealous for Christ.

Both Rich and Poor. So how does Jesus follow up with His rather dramatic comments regarding lukewarmness? Jesus has lot to add. He says they are rich, and they are poor. They are rich in what the world has to offer, but poor in what the Kingdom has to offer. They are wealthy in terms of earthly matters, but poverty-stricken when it comes to spiritual realities. Their bank accounts are full, but they are spiritually bankrupt. They may have a lot of gold in town, but they don’t possess the pure gold of God’s treasures. They may wear the finest garments, but they don’t wear God’s robe of righteousness. They may be able to heal all kinds of eye ailments, but they still can’t see the things of the Spirit.

“Zestos.” Jesus decided to allude to the very sources of their wealth, the three industries they were famous for, in describing their wretched state. Until their gold is refined by God’s fire, they will remain in spiritual poverty. Until they clothe themselves with Christ, they will continue to live in shameful spiritual nakedness. And until they ask for God to heal their eyes, they will remain spiritually blind. Their sources of wealth are their very sources of poverty. Until they buy these spiritual realities from God, they will be pitiful, they will continue to live under the delusion of self-sufficiency. The Greek word for “hot” in this passage is “zestos,” and that is the perfect word, isn’t it, for what Jesus yearned for in His Laodicean church… Zest!

Jesus wanted to light a fire under the believers, to re-ignite their indifferent faith. He wanted to spark their spiritual dormancy. Their material life was so loudly calling to them, that they didn’t hear the Lord patiently knocking on the doors of their hearts. The spiritual sloths in Laodicea needed to have their butts kicked, and that’s just what Jesus did!