Hot Food or Cold

A popular salvation text is Rev. 3:20. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” But this is not the door of an unconverted man, deciding whether to ask Jesus in. This is, in the first instance, the door of the church at Laodicea, and then by extension, any church that has people who have drifted into a lukewarm approach to Jesus. It is not the door of a man’s heart; it is a church door.

If we respond to His call, to His voice, we are responding to the one who is the Amen, the faithful Witness, and we do so in a way that strengthens and establishes us. If we do this, we are opening the door of the church. We are inviting Jesus to come in and do what? We are ushering Him in so that He will sit down, it says, and sup with that man, and that man will sup with him.

We see here an exquisite balance of the individual and corporate. The faithful believer is not the one who opens the door of his heart in some place distinct from the church. No, he hears the knock of the faithful witness in the church, and goes and opens the door of the church, and Christ comes in and sups with the one who answered the door.

But what about the one who ignores the presence of Christ at the door of the church? He is tepid, lukewarm. Christ says that He will spit that food out. He is a room temperature Christian.

Through the covenant glory of koinonia, we partake of Christ, certainly. We also partake of one another, certainly. But Christ is at the Table, seated. He is the president of communion, but is also a participant in communion. He partakes of us. And when He does, we want to be either cold and refreshing, or hot and reassuring. The way to be that is to listen intently for the knock at the door.

So come, and welcome, to Jesus Christ.