在耶稣写给老底嘉教会的信中，有些激动人心和扣人心弦的比喻。耶稣称这个教会群体为温水，是不适合饮用的，而当耶稣说：“我必从我口中把你吐出去”时，故事的情节就变得更复杂了。
这种不冷不热的文化是从那里来的呢？
这种自以为是的安全感建基于他们积存的财富和产业上面，这个教会在物质上很富足，兴旺和成功令老底嘉的基督徒认为他们已经一无所缺了。
在这封信中，耶稣把他们从自鸣得意的自我安全感带回令人吃惊的现实生活中。祂说：“却不知道你是那困苦、可怜、贫穷、瞎眼、赤身的。”我不知道那一点带来更大的打击：得悉他们不清楚自己真正的状况，抑或是我们在这里看到的一连串负面的描述。
听了这番话，教会必定会感到伤痛，然而，这番话也同时显明，就是一个不冷不热的信徒群体，耶稣爱他们到何等的地步！
今天，让我们聆听耶稣指出我们在现实生活的真象：聆听一封呼召我们悔改和改变的爱的书信。
圣父、圣子、和圣灵，感谢你，你爱我们到一个地步以致你会对我们说坦诚和真实的话。求你领我们脱离自鸣得意的自我安全感和不再自作主张。阿们。
启示录 3:14-19
14“你要写信给老底嘉教会的使者说：‘那为阿们的，为诚信真实见证的，在神创造万物之上为元首的说：
15我知道你的行为，你也不冷也不热。我巴不得你或冷或热！
16你既如温水，也不冷也不热，所以我必从我口中把你吐出去。
17‘你说“我是富足，已经发了财，一样都不缺”，却不知道你是那困苦、可怜、贫穷、瞎眼、赤身的。
18我劝你向我买火炼的金子，叫你富足；又买白衣穿上，叫你赤身的羞耻不露出来；又买眼药擦你的眼睛，使你能看见。
19凡我所疼爱的，我就责备管教他，所以你要发热心，也要悔改。
“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.” - Revelation 3:19
Jesus’ letter to his church in Laodicea is stirring and gripping in its imagery. This church community is identified as being like lukewarm water, not fit for drinking. The plot thickens when Jesus says, “I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”
What created this culture of being neither cold nor hot?
There was a smug sense of self-security based on accumulated wealth and possessions. This church had become rich in material goods. Prosperity and success convinced the Laodicean Christians that they had everything they needed.
In this letter Jesus gives smug self-security a bone-chilling reality check. He says, “But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” I wonder which hurt more: being told that they did not know the truth of their own condition, or the string of negative descriptions that we read here.
These are painful words for a church to hear. But at the same time, these words reveal the degree to which Jesus loves even a lukewarm community of believers.
Today let us listen to Jesus’ reality check for what it is: a love letter calling for repentance and change.
Thank you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, for loving us to the point of being honest and real. Shepherd us away from our smug senses of self-security and independence. Amen.
诵读: 骆云秀
片头: 张妙阳
