Apathy towards Christ is the religion of our age.  Another factor that makes an apathetic church a problem is that it feeds our culture’s perception that religion is best in moderation.  Ironically, while Jesus says apathy is the worst spiritual condition, our culture contends that it is the best! For the most part, mainline churches in modern America are actually aiming for the middle ground.  They want enough religion to be respectable, but to not so much that they are viewed as zealots.

Laodicea.

Just the name of that church conjures up all sorts of images in our mind.  It was a church that was tepid, bored, and apathetic–overconfident in their own spiritual condition.  In short, they were lukewarm.

And, as we all know, Jesus told them plainly, “Because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth” (Rev 3:16).

Spiritually speaking, the Laodicean church could be summarized in a single word that (unfortunately) captures the ethos of our modern culture: “Whatever.”

The problem, of course, with being apathetic is that you can actually be apathetic about your apathy!  Put simply an apathetic church does not think it is that big of deal. But, here are some reasons apathy is a bigger deal than we think:

1. Apathy towards Christ can be more dangerous than enmity towards Him.  The fundamental reason people miss the problem of apathy is because they assume its better than being an enemy of God.  It’s halfway to being committed, they think, and thus better than being against God. It’s a step in the right direction.

But, Jesus disagrees. For him, apathy (at least in some ways) is worse than enmity towards God. “Would that you were either cold or hot!” (3:15).

It is actually the “whatever” type of person sitting in the pew that is hardest to reach.  Why?  Because they say to themselves, “I need nothing” (3:17).

As the author George MacDonald once said: “Complaint against God is far nearer to God than indifference about Him.”

2. Apathy towards Christ is the religion of our age.  Another factor that makes an apathetic church a problem is that it feeds our culture’s perception that religion is best in moderation.

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