Sermon Recap
Neither Hot Nor Cold
Colson · October 18, 2026
Scripture referenced
- Revelation 3:14-22
- Philippians 4:13
Colson, who leads Tribe’s young adult group, filled the pulpit while Pastor Brian was traveling in Israel. He took a familiar passage, Jesus’ letter to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3, and worked through the historical and geographical background that often gets skipped when this text is preached. What he landed on shifted the focus away from emotional passion and toward spiritual effectiveness.
What was said
The passage in Revelation 3:14-22 is well-traveled territory. Most people who have spent time in church have heard a message built around the “hot or cold” language, with the climax being that if you sit on the fence, Jesus will spit you out of his mouth. That reading presses people toward being “all in” and frames cold as spiritual deadness or outright rejection of Jesus. Colson said he had never felt entirely settled with that interpretation, because it raises an obvious question: would Jesus really prefer that someone fully reject him over being somewhere in the middle?
Before making that case, he stepped back to explain why historical context matters at all. Using Philippians 4:13 as a side example, he noted how a verse can travel so far from its original setting that it loses the meaning its author intended. The same thing, he argued, has happened with this letter to Laodicea.
Laodicea was a wealthy, self-sufficient city. It was known for banking, textiles, and a particular medicinal eye salve. When Jesus tells the church they are “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked” and counsels them to buy gold, white garments, and eye salve from him, he is deliberately turning the city’s own points of pride upside down. That imagery is not accidental, and it sets up everything else in the letter.
The geographical piece is where the interpretation shifts most sharply. Laodicea sat in a valley without a natural water source. About ten miles north was Hierapolis, famous for its healing mineral hot springs. To the south was Colossae, known for cold, fresh drinking water. Laodicea piped water in by aqueduct from both directions, but by the time it arrived it had lost both the healing properties of the hot spring and the drinkability of the cold spring. Their water was lukewarm, and lukewarm water in the ancient world was known to make people sick.
That background reframes the whole passage. Jesus is not asking whether these people are spiritually passionate or spiritually dead. He is speaking to an established church, people who already bear his name and gather in it regularly, and he is asking whether their faith actually does anything for the people around them. Cold water refreshed. Hot water healed. Laodicea’s water did neither. Their lukewarmness was a failure of effectiveness, not a failure of belief.
The practical point follows from that. Most people in the room, the preacher said, are not walking around convinced they are spiritually rich. Some are struggling financially, in their marriages, or with direction. Others have been Christians long enough to know all the rhythms without necessarily leaning on Jesus in any active way. The question the letter presses is not where someone has stopped believing, but where they have quietly learned to live without depending on God at all, often without noticing it. Jesus says to Laodicea, “you do not realize” your condition, and that unawareness is exactly the problem.
The letter does not end as a condemnation. Jesus says he reproves those he loves, and then stands at the door and knocks. The preacher pointed out that this is addressed to a church, not to people who have never heard the gospel. The image of Jesus knocking on the outside of a congregation’s door is a call to an existing community to repent and renew their fellowship with him. The closing invitation was to sit quietly and ask honestly where self-sufficiency has crowded out a real need for God.
Touch points
- Pick one area of your life where you feel self-sufficient and honestly ask yourself whether you have been depending on your own strength instead of Jesus.
- Read the letter to the Laodiceans in Revelation 3:14-22 on your own this week with the historical context in mind, paying attention to what Jesus says about spiritual effectiveness rather than spiritual passion.
- Spend time in prayer being honest with God about your actual condition, not the version of yourself you present to others.
- If there is an area where you know you need to repent, do it this week rather than waiting until you feel ready.
- Find someone on the prayer team or a trusted person in the Tribe community and let them know what the Holy Spirit brought to your attention tonight.
Doing a Bible study?
- Colson talked about how historical and geographical context can completely change how we read a verse. Has there been a passage of scripture you thought you understood, and then learned something about its background that shifted your understanding of it?
- When Colson walked through the hot and cold water sources near Laodicea, he made the case that Jesus was talking about spiritual effectiveness, not spiritual passion. How does that reframing sit with you, and does it change anything about how you read that passage?
- Colson pointed out that Jesus had nothing affirming to say to the Laodicean church, and that their problem was self-sufficiency, not outright unbelief. Where in your own life have you built up enough comfort or competence that you’ve stopped recognizing your need for Jesus?
- Colson noted that Jesus was pictured standing outside knocking, not at the door of a stranger, but at the door of a church that already gathered in his name. What do you think it looks like practically for a community of believers to open that door and renew real fellowship with Jesus?
- At the close of the message, Colson asked where we have become so familiar with the things of God that we’ve stopped recognizing our need for God himself. How would you answer that question honestly, and what would repenting in that area actually look like for you this week?
Resumen en español
Colson, quien lidera el grupo de jovenes adultos de Tribe, predico en ausencia del pastor Brian, que se encontraba en Israel. Tomo como punto de partida la carta de Jesus a la iglesia de Laodicea, en Apocalipsis 3:14-22, un pasaje muy conocido pero que, segun Colson, a menudo se predica de una manera que no refleja bien su contexto historico y geografico. La lectura comun es que “frio” significa alejado de Dios y “caliente” significa apasionado por El, pero esa interpretacion nunca le convencio del todo, porque no tendria sentido que Jesus prefiriera que alguien lo rechazara por completo antes que estar tibio.
Colson explico que Laodicea era una ciudad rica y autosuficiente, famosa por su banca, sus telas y una pomada medicinal para los ojos. Sin embargo, no tenia agua propia: la recibia por acueductos desde Hierapolis al norte, conocida por sus aguas termales con propiedades curativas, y desde Colosas al sur, conocida por sus manantiales frios y frescos. Para cuando el agua llegaba a Laodicea, habia perdido tanto el calor sanador como la frescura vivificante, y era tibia, lo que la hacia inutilizable e incluso causaba malestar. Con ese trasfondo, Jesus no estaba cuestionando la intensidad emocional de los creyentes, sino la efectividad de su fe: no estaban ni sanando ni refrescando a quienes los rodeaban. Su problema era la autosuficiencia que los habia llevado a vivir como si no necesitaran a Dios.
La parte final del mensaje invito a los asistentes a hacerse una pregunta personal: en que areas de la vida han aprendido a funcionar sin depender realmente de Dios? Colson subrayó que Jesus no escribe esta carta porque haya dejado de amar a esa iglesia, sino precisamente porque la ama y la llama al arrepentimiento. La imagen de Jesus llamando a la puerta, en ese contexto, no es una invitacion a la conversion inicial sino un llamado a una iglesia creyente a renovar su comunion con El.
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Pasajes biblicos utilizados
- Apocalipsis 3:14-22
- Filipenses 4:13
Topics
Laodicea Lukewarm Faith Revelation Letters Self Sufficiency Spiritual Effectiveness