Indifferent Churches

In His letters to the seven churches, Jesus has only good to say about the churches in Smyrna and Philadelphia. He has some good and some bad to say to the churches in Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira and Sardis. Only in Laodicea does He have nothing good to say about the church. What makes the church there so bad? Indifference.

It has been said that the opposite of love is not hate, for where there is hate, there is still passion concerning the subject. The opposite of love is indifference, and that is where the Laodicean church had gone so wrong. What caused them to be indifferent? Are there characteristics of indifferent churches, just as there were of good and bad churches? What observations can be made from examining the letter to the Laodiceans?

Indifferent churches are lukewarm. Of course this is the very nature of indifference, but Jesus desires much more, telling the church He would rather they were hot or cold than lukewarm (3:15). Lukewarm churches never get excited about Bible classes or personal work or gospel meetings, not because they are opposed to any of them, but simply because they have so little interest in the things of God.

The lukewarm church is much like the children of Israel in the days of Malachi, taking no real interest in the worship of God, and doing only what they deemed as necessary in their sacrifices. But God was not pleased, "But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?" (Mal. 1:8).

Indifferent churches are blind to their true spiritual condition. Already in this issue, we have discussed the need to see our churches through God's eyes rather than man's, and it is never more the case than in indifferent churches. When the Laodicean church looked in the mirror, they said, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing" (3:17). They were a wealthy group and anything their money could buy would be enough for them.

Jesus looked at Laodicea and saw something entirely different. Jesus told them, "You do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked" (3:17). Here is a church which cannot see that is poverty-stricken, dirty and blind, without sufficient clothing to be comforted. What a stark contrast between their eyes and those of Jesus. This is why Jesus would have preferred a cold group, making no pretense for allegiance to Him, over this church. It is sad enough that the Laodiceans were in such a pitiful, miserable state. It is sadder still, that they failed even to recognize it, because that made them unable and unwilling to seek the cure.

Indifferent churches have tremendous needs. Though the church at Laodicea was apparently very wealthy physically, their spiritual blindness had caused them to be far more needy than the churches for which famine relief was collected (see 1 Cor. 16:1-9; 2 Cor. 9:1-6). Jesus said, "I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire, that you may become rich, and white garments, that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes, that you may see" (3:18).

What was needed by this church was to turn back to Jesus, remembering what He had offered them in the first place. They needed Jesus to cure their ills. He could take their impoverished souls and make them wealthy. He could take their nakedness and clothe them, not in burlap or sackcloth, but in white garments, reserved for the purity of His people. He could take their blindness and give them sight. And all of this would be accomplished in their souls, because it was there that they needed Him, having let their physical states become what defined them.

The indifferent church will find itself separated from the Savior it claims to serve. Nowhere is there a more harmful entity than an indifferent church. It creates havoc among its members because it allows them to think within themselves they are right with God when a much more grim picture is actually true. It creates havoc outside the church because it presents a hypocritical picture of God's people to the public. When that happens, the world turns away from the church, believing it to be just another lie.