https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/The-Silver-Thermometer.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Hosea 6:4-11<\/p>\n
<\/p>\nI. When we want to know whether it is hot or cold outside, we check a thermometer to see\nthe temperature.\n A. Today we have digital devices, but before that we had very fine glass tubes with\neither red-tinted alcohol or silver mercury in them. Mercury is a liquid metal,\nsometimes called quicksilver because of its color and its ability to flow.\n B. People like thermometers over sticking their hand out the door because it gives\nthem tangible evidence as to how hot or cold it is outside.\n C. People in the church are no different when it comes to wanting to decide the\nsuccess or failure of a church\n
1. They want some tangible evidence to measure<\/p>\n
a. Are the number of people attending increasing or decreasing?<\/p>\n
b. This is easy to measure and quantify<\/p>\n c. Or the size of the contribution. This becomes, if you would, a\nsilver thermometer by which people measure the “temperature” of\na congregation.\n 2. You can see this in the amount of time some congregations spend\ndiscussing the financial aspects\n a. Don’t take this as a criticism. Finances must be discussed as\ndecisions are made\n
b. Elders selected because they are business successes.<\/p>\n
c. Some feature their finances in their bulletins<\/p>\n d. Preachers point out growth in contributions as part of their success\nin an area.\n
D. Is the silver thermometer an accurate gage of the spiritual condition of a people?<\/p>\n
II. Israel’s History<\/p>\n A. During the reign of Jeroboam, the second of that name, in Israel about 790 B.C.,\nboth Israel and Judah experience a period of great prosperity\n 1. Jeroboam restored the borders of Israel from Hamath to the Sea of Arabah\n– II Kings 14:25\n
2. It was a period of wealth<\/p>\n 3. But that wealth corrupted morals and undermined the worship of the\npeople\n
B. Three years after Jeroboam came to the throne, Uzziah began to reign in Judah<\/p>\n 1. Uzziah put down both the Philistines and the Arabians, exacting tribute\nfrom them – II Chronicles 26:6-8\n
2. He also began a building program – II Chronicles 26:9-10<\/p>\n
3. He formed a large army – II Chronicles 26:11-15<\/p>\n
4. But Uzziah’s success and wealth led to his downfall – II Chronicles 26:16-19<\/p>\n
C. The prophets Amos and Hosea spoke during these two kings’ reigns<\/p>\n
D. The wealth described by Amos<\/p>\n 1. People sitting in the corner of a couch or on beds covered in silken\nmaterial – Amos 3:12\n
2. Multiple homes. Homes built of expensive material – Amos 3:15<\/p>\n
3. Luxury loving people – Amos 6:1-6<\/p>\n
E. This wealth affected worship. <\/p>\n
1. There were a great number and the prophet ironically declares – Amos 4:4-5<\/p>\n
2. Quantity, but without value – Amos 5:21-24<\/p>\n
3. Extravagances in worship, but void of devotion and holiness<\/p>\n
F. Hosea also condemned them – Hosea 4:19<\/p>\n
1. Israel was not content with simple worship – Hosea 10:1<\/p>\n
2. But those multiple altars were not for righteous worship – Hosea 8:11<\/p>\n
3. Their righteousness had evaporated – Hosea 6:4<\/p>\n
4. What God desired was not to be found – Hosea 6:6-10<\/p>\n G. Oh, they were wealthy and successful, but that wealth wasn’t a measure of their\nholiness.\n
III. The Rich, but Poor Congregation<\/p>\n
A. In what is now called Asia Minor is a valley called Lycos Valley<\/p>\n 1. In the days of the first century there was a city there called Laodicea that\nhad considerable wealth and commercial value\n 2. Nearby were hot springs which attracted wealthy patrons seeking its\ntherapeutic waters\n 3. The city was known for the cloth it produced and it was the source of a\nfamous eye-salve.\n
4. It was wealthy and independent<\/p>\n
B. And that attitude found its way into the church – Revelation 3:14-17<\/p>\n 1. Here was a congregation who could boast of the size of its contributions\nand the liberality of its members\n
2. But the Lord said it was wretched, miserable, poor, naked, and blind<\/p>\n
IV. The Poor, but Rich Congregation<\/p>\n
A. About a 100 miles to the northwest was a church in the opposition position<\/p>\n
B. Smyrna was poor – Revelation 2:9<\/p>\n
1. One would conclude that the contributions there would have been small<\/p>\n
2. They would not be meeting in an elaborate building<\/p>\n
C. But it was rich! Rich in faith and loyalty to God<\/p>\n D. When you look at these two congregations, the silver thermometer would not\naccurately reflect the spiritual condition of their respective members\n
V. We live in a land of great wealth, but rapidly declining morals<\/p>\n A. There is a danger that we measure success by the wealth available and not by the\nmorals upheld\n B. Already in the denominations we find people like those in ancient Israel – Micah\n3:11\n 1. People promote various programs for wealth and success, telling people\nthat God wants them to have riches\n 2. Extravagant buildings, large contributions are proudly displayed as if to\nsay, “See we must be right.”\n
C. We must guard against this type of thinking creeping into our own views.<\/p>\n
D. Those who have wealth are to use it for good – I Timothy 6:17-19<\/p>\n
E. But do not see wealth as a measure of spiritual success<\/p>\n
\n
Based on an article by Homer Hailey<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Hosea 6:4-11 I. When we want to know whether it is hot or cold outside, we check a thermometer to see the temperature. A. Today we have digital devices, but before that we had very fine glass tubes with either red-tinted alcohol or silver mercury in them. Mercury is a liquid…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[448,154,1259,576],"class_list":["post-88596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-church","tag-church-funds","tag-success","tag-wealth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59564,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-silver-thermometer\/","url_meta":{"origin":88596,"position":0},"title":"The Silver Thermometer (Hailey)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Homer Hailey via The Preceptor, Vol. 1, No. 2, Dec. 1951. It is easier to describe and evaluate the tangible than to describe or evaluate the intangible. Because this is so, the Lord's churches are often led to place undue emphasis on numbers added to their membership and to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49798,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-david-prepare-for-a-silver-lampstand-when-the-tabernacle-had-a-gold-lampstand\/","url_meta":{"origin":88596,"position":1},"title":"Why did David prepare for a silver lampstand when the tabernacle had a gold lampstand?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: It says David prepared silver for the lampstand of silver, but in the tabernacle it was gold. Why does it say silver in Chronicles? Answer: \"The weight for the lampstands of gold, and their lamps of gold, by weight for each lampstand and its lamps; for the lampstands of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43754,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-am-glad-to-find-a-church-that-is-not-into-entertaining-people-to-get-them-in-the-door\/","url_meta":{"origin":88596,"position":2},"title":"I am glad to find a church that is not into entertaining people to get them in the door!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Just found your site. Well done. I am glad to find a church that is not into entertaining people to get them in the door! To bad you are not close enough to attend. How about some audio and video of your teachings and sermons? Answer: Look under Audio\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15790,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-david-do-some-of-the-preparatory-work-for-the-temple\/","url_meta":{"origin":88596,"position":3},"title":"Did David do some of the preparatory work for the Temple?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I know Solomon\u00a0built the temple;\u00a0David couldn't because of the wars he had been involved in (I Kings 5). But didn't David prepare some of the material for the building of the temple? Or was he involved a little in the preparation? Answer: \"Now it was in the heart of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69314,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-churches-split\/","url_meta":{"origin":88596,"position":4},"title":"Why Churches Split","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 15, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall The Civil War had fascinated me since elementary school when I wrote an assignment on what I thought was the Silver War. I was wrong on two counts. I \"knew\" it couldn't be the Civil War because it wasn't \"civil.\" But neither was it silver. Probably the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":80858,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-work-of-the-lords-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":88596,"position":5},"title":"The Work of the Lord’s Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 3, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton It was not to eradicate poverty. The church had no silver and gold for the beggar in Acts 3, yet it was taking care of its own members in Acts 2. Their mission was to get to the heart of man's problem, and that is sin.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}