“It’s a golden head!”
My second son, about nine years old at the time, beamed ecstatically. His archaeological digs in our yard had unearthed a small head-shaped trinket that had been painted yellow, apparently the lone surviving remnant of some long-deceased toy. To Caleb, though, it was no trash. His prized “golden head” would surely fetch a healthy sum at auction.
The sadness that clouded his youthful face weeks later wrenched my heart. Somehow he had learned the truth. With palpable dejection, he gloomily informed me, “It isn’t a golden head.” So much for his instant rise to wealth.
Gold prospectors must be careful not to fall into this trap. They can be easily deceived by pyrite, a mixture of sulphur and iron that bears an uncanny resemblance to gold. While useful in some applications, pyrite does not have the value of real gold. We refer to it as “fool’s gold.”
Wary prospectors will not be fooled by fool’s gold. The Christians in Laodiciea, however, were. Not pyrite, though, but something much worse. They were fooled into thinking that because they had riches both individually and as a church, they must be valuable.
To the untrained eye, Laodicea looked like gold. Jesus, however, had nothing good to say about the Christians there. The riches in which they found security caused them to be as worthless as their lukewarm water. Their neighbors in Hieropolis enjoyed relaxing in their hot spring spas and the folks a few miles away in Colossae drank deeply from the refreshing cold water springs that abounded in their city. By the time the water made its way through the aqueducts to Laodicea, though, it was lukewarm. Just like the people. God’s response was graphic: “I will vomit you out of my mouth.”
A lukewarm church is one with apathy. No one really cares. The finances are good, the traditions are upheld, and nobody has to step outside of his comfort zone. It’s perfect. The only thing missing is Jesus. He’s down the road enjoying the refreshing water of people who actually care.
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