The Undecided

Revelation 3:14 "And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked-- 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

We all know the history of recent political campaigns in this country. There is a firm opinion on one side, and an opposing firm opinion on the other, and then right in the middle, there are those the media and pollsters refer to as, “the undecideds.”

Another way to refer to this group of folks is to call them, “moderates.” We are preached-to about the ‘value’ of this group in the middle, and the reason is because these are the ones who determine the outcome of elections.

So those running for office cannot really say what they believe in, at risk of offending the undecided moderates, because who the undecided moderates decide to vote for determines who wins every election. Campaign consultants then water-down the message of their candidates, and so no one knows what they really believe in. Not knowing what they really believe in makes them a better candidate because they have a greater opportunity to reach the moderates – who are the ones who win the election for the guy no one is sure what they believe in.

And the ‘moderate’ viewpoint is encouraged - especially by moderates when they are speaking about themselves. After all, it is much better not to be so extreme. And isn’t a ‘moderate’ better than others because they weigh each decision without an extremist template, and are “open” to the issues as they come up?

The problem is, in truth the ‘moderates’ are undecided because they are indecisive. They remain in the middle because they are so concerned about what others may think of them, and they don’t want to cause offense. They wait to make a decision because they want to be on the winning side, and so they wait to make a decision until they know who is going to win. Even worse is when these people show up at church. Worse than that is when they run the church. These are the ‘Laodiceans.’

Jesus calls this sort of moderate indecisiveness “lukewarm.” Have you ever known anything you desired to be ‘lukewarm?’ If you are a moderate undecided lukewarm person, you are in danger of being vomited out by Jesus. Does this criticism make get you all hot? Good. Now we’re getting somewhere.

-Pastor Bill