Rev 3:14-16
“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God’s creation. 15 I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! 16So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
Our Lord isn't hurt, nor angered by in this passage - but nauseated by lukewarmness.
Zealousness doesn’t go down very well in our culture. It’s not cool to be a radical extremist of anything. What’s cool is being cynical, moderate, centrists, libertarian-middle of the road kind of people, right?
People are worried about being seen as a “fanatic.” What is a fanatic? Most people know what a fanatic is. A fanatic is someone who is rude, who is insensitive, who is counter-productive because he/she tries to get his/her opinion across in the most offensive way possible and as a result often achieves the opposite of what was intended. Fanatics are cruel. Fanatics are bigoted. Fanatics are proud.
So when it comes to Christianity most people think that fanaticism is the cause of the cruelty, bigotry and pride often associated with Christians. To cure them of these maladies you need to turn down the zeal. To be “less committed.” To be more moderate. More relaxed. Not so. The problem with the Christian fanatic is not that he/she is too fanatical –it’s that he/she isn’t fanatical enough.
They are fanatically like their Lord in SOME ways, but not in MOST ways. For example, they are not fanatically sensitive (loving, self-sacrificing, humble, wise) like Jesus. Matt 12:20 “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory.”