NewDayNews Open House
hot & cold
Posted By: Chris
Date: Thursday, 14 September 2006, at 6:46 a.m.
I came across something fascinating today about Rev 3:14-17
14 "To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:
The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:
15' I know your deeds, 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 spit you out of My mouth. NASU
Berg (and others it must be said) used this passage to condemn all who were not as 'on fire' as he was: "See, you've gotta be hot for Jesus, not a luke-warm do-nothing Christian who makes Jesus puke!" 'Hot' was then defined as being enthusiastic, energetic, exuberant, productive etc etc. 'Lukewarm' was defined as wishy-washy, unwilling, disobedient etc. Therefore (Berg said) if you're not active for the Lord (by joining TF) you're lukewarm & therefore a nauseating Christian. How condemning for those who leave!
Anyway, I read today about the interesting part that Berg forgot. In the verse Jesus says "I wish that you were COLD or hot". See, if hot means on fire for the Lord, then cold must mean antagonistic towards the Lord, one of His enemies (Berg acknowledged that). But Jesus died for us, He gave His life for us in love, so that we could be reconciled with God; it's unthinkable that He would wish that anyone was His enemy! It's totally unimaginable because it would be saying that Jesus wished people in hell! That is just not possible.
So (said this book) if we take a look at the historical & geographical context, it makes a lot more sense: In the region of Laodicea, there were both hot and cold springs of water, which were channelled to the city. Hot water was great for bathing and cold water was refreshing in Summer. Both were useful, both were assets. The Laodicean church, however, had nothing to commmend it, it was useless. Jesus was saying that it would be better if they had use like the hot water or the cold water, but instead they were useless.
The application for today is NOT that we make Jesus puke if we are not 'on-fire' screaming hallelujahs and hard-selling the Gospel to the world, but that we need to be of use. Some of us may be warming, comforting, inspiring, encouraging kinds of people (Hi Linda Tx!), and others might be calming, refreshing, soothing people. Both are needed, both are special. Nothing at all about how determined we are to be the most productive Gospel $alesperson in TF. The thing Jesus doesn't like is when we are useless, perhaps like those in Laodicea who had settled on their wealth. It's also interesting, that the passage says nothing negative about working for wages but condemns those who say they need nothing because of their riches.
Looking at the passage this way lifted a burden from me, that memory of Berg's evil screechings "half hearts make God puke!"
The book is 'Intro to Biblical Interpretation' by Klein, Blomberg & Hubbard.
Here's a footnote on the verse from the NET Bible: "Laodicea was near two other towns, each of which had a unique water source. To the north was Hierapolis which had a natural hot spring, often used for medicinal purposes. To the east was Colossae which had cold, pure waters. In contrast to these towns, Laodicea had no permanent supply of good water. Efforts to pipe water to the city from nearby springs were successful, but it would arrive lukewarm. The metaphor in the text is not meant to relate spiritual fervor to temperature. This would mean that Laodicea would be commended for being spiritually cold, but it is unlikely that Jesus would commend this. Instead, the metaphor condemns Laodicea for not providing spiritual healing (being hot) or spiritual refreshment (being cold) to those around them. It is a condemnation of their lack of works and lack of witness."
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