NOTES for Rev 3:15-17
At first glance, these words are excessively harsh: the Lord, in essence, completely rejects an entire community. And the reason for this rejection is a sin that, it would seem, leads to no especially terrible consequences: the issue is indifference, those who are called "lukewarm," who perhaps would not mind doing something for the church, or for a neighbor, or at least for deepening their own spiritual life, but whose desire for action is too weak to be realized. And the person, as people usually say, "basically not bad," remains inactive, having done nothing good. It would seem that such a person does nothing bad either. Everything is indifferent to him: both good and evil. Often such indifference is connected with self-satisfaction, which gives rise to a feeling of one's own wealth, not necessarily material wealth. And yet such "harmless" self-satisfied indifference received from the Savior's mouth the harshest assessment. The issue, as can be seen, is not only that, as people sometimes say, on the day of Judgment each of us will be asked not only about the evil we did, but also about the good we did not do though we could have done it. The issue is also that self-satisfied indifference completely paralyzes the will, taking from a person the spiritual strength that allows him to make a vital choice, including the choice between good and evil. And such paralysis, in turn, effectively deprives the indifferent person of the possibility of living a spiritual life.
It would seem that there are sins far more terrible than lack of will. But any sin, even the most terrible, presupposes choice, resolve, and action, behind which will necessarily stands, often a very strong will, which can always also be used for works of righteousness if only it is directed correctly. But self-satisfied indifference is a sign of the absence of will, in which even conversion is impossible: conversion too presupposes a choice, a choice between God and something that hinders following Him. If there is nothing with which to choose, then conversion is impossible, it is impossible to follow Christ, impossible to live the life of the Kingdom. Only one thing is possible: to drift with the current where the world corrupted by sin is moving. In the direction opposite to the Kingdom.