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Lukewarm Christianity
While writing to the church in Corinth Paul urged
them to "Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your
own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in
you, except ye be reprobates?" (2 Corinthians 13:5). We today
are to do likewise and to have the assurance that we are living
acceptable lives before God.
Before I begin with this lesson, I would like to
say that I deeply appreciate the willingness of this congregation to
engage in all kinds of works such as gospel meetings, youth groups and
other activities which help to show our presence in the community and to
shine the light of love for all to see. It is not my intention to
point fingers or make accusations. After the meeting yesterday I
was encouraged with the attitudes and willingness for engaging in
evangelistic and other outreach efforts by the men and I appreciate that.
The intent with this lesson is to demonstrate the urgency and need for
maintaining these kinds of works and to encourage us to seek works in
new directions, to explore options and possibilities that may arise from
time to time. In the men's meeting yesterday we discussed having a
congregational planning meeting to be held in conjunction with our next
fellowship meal. The intent is to give everyone in the
congregation the opportunity to come up with ideas on how we can be an
influence for God in this and the surrounding communities. To
encourage everyone to participate and to join in with the work Jesus
would have us do. This lesson is to help encourage us all to think
about these things and to consider our spiritual state and likewise to
consider the spiritual state of those outside the Lord's church and to
act on these things in such a way that God's will is done and He is set
forth as a beacon of Hope in an otherwise doomed society.
Recently while surfing the
net, I came across a website dedicated to teaching about the dangers of
lukewarm Christianity. It caught my interest so I stayed around
and read some of their stuff. The more I read the more I became
intrigued with what this website had to say and I started making some
comparisons to my own life based on what I was reading and I realized
that I have opportunity for growth. None of us ever reach the
point in our Christian lives where we can set back and say, 'I'm going
to heaven, I got it made, there's no need for me to grow, or to change
or to better myself'. We always need to be watchful for ways in
which we can improve ourselves to the glory of God.
As we go forward with our efforts in the
kingdom Christ, we need to be careful that we do not become too
complacent, too comfortable in our positions here on earth. We do
not want to allow ourselves to become like the Laodicean Church spoken
of in Revelation who Jesus accused of being Lukewarm. What is interesting is that the word lukewarm is
found only one time in all the Bible. This word is
translated from the Greek word chliaros, which according to Thayer's
Greek Lexicon means 'to become warm, liquefy, melt), tepid, lukewarm:
It is used metaphorically, of the condition of a soul wretchedly
fluctuating between a torpor (an apathy) and a fervor of love.
Vines Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words defines this word as
being 'used metaphorically in Revelation 3:16, of the state of the
Laodicean church, which afforded no refreshment to the Lord, such as is
ministered naturally by either cold or hot water'.
Turning to Revelation 3:14-18, we read, "And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,
'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the
Beginning of the creation of God: 15 "I know your works, that you are
neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then,
because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out
of My mouth. 17 Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and
have need of nothing' — and do not know that you are wretched,
miserable, poor, blind, and naked." Then in verse 22, Jesus goes on
to say, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be
zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone
hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with
him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me
on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His
throne. 22 "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
churches."'"
What is interesting here is that Jesus was
speaking to the entire church at Laodicea. He didn't single any of
them out for this rebuke, choosing rather to lay His charge on the whole
congregation. This was His only complaint to them and He based the
whole thing on an observation of their works. Jesus said, "I
know your works, that you are neither hot nor cold". His
condemnation was equally as direct, "So then, because you are
lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth".
That is some pretty direct language coming from Jesus. I can only imagine how
the Laodiceans felt when they read that for the first time. How
would we feel if the beloved apostle John handed us a letter from Jesus
like that? How would we feel if we got a letter from Jesus,
addressed to the church of Christ in Granby, Missouri where He told us
He knew our works and that because of them, He was going to vomit us out
of His mouth? I can only imagine how awful it would be to
hear such a condemnation from our Lord and Savior so I can visualize how crushed the church at
Laodicea must have been when someone stood up and read that letter to
the congregation for the first time.
One of things we need to take from this is that
Jesus pronounced this condemnation to the church in Laodicea as a whole,
not to individuals. Therefore what they did individually as
members in that congregation had an influence on Jesus' overall view of
them as a congregation of His people. We can infer from this
that Jesus' overall perception of His congregation of people here will
likewise be a result of our collective works. The activities of
each and every individual within the congregation contribute to Jesus'
opinion of the church overall.
Another important thing we need to take from
Jesus' condemnation of the whole Laodicean church, based on their works,
is that Jesus expected them to be engaged in works which were
carried out on a congregational level and not just individual works of
the membership. Examples of these would be organized works which
we already engage in to some degree which
require or offer the opportunity for participation by everyone within
the congregation such as youth group meetings, care group meetings,
gospel meetings and singing at the nursing home to name a few.
There's no doubt that a Lukewarm Christian falls under the condemnation
of Jesus, but we need to understand that it was the whole church in
Laodicea that was condemned by Jesus Christ because of their works.
A third thing we can take from this stinging
review of the Laodicean church by Jesus Christ is that He told them "As
many as I love, I rebuke and chasten". Jesus made sure they
knew His critical review of their works was prompted by His love and
concern for their well being. Jesus does not want them to be
vomited out of His mouth. Jesus did not love them enough to come
and down here and die for them just to leave them in a state where their
eternal salvation was at risk. He warned them, not out of malice,
not out of hate, but out of the love and concern of a benevolent savior.
The fourth thing we can take from Jesus'
review of the Laodicean church is that He gave them the remedy for their
woes, "Therefore be zealous and repent". It is obvious that
the Christians in Laodicea were not zealous. Paul wrote to Titus
concerning being zealous in Titus 2:13-14, "looking for the blessed
hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14
who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed
and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works."
The remedy for the Laodicean Christians was to be zealous. They
could escape condemnation if they would stop be being lukewarm and be
zealous in their works.
If Jesus were to write a letter to the church
here, what would He say? Would He find our works acceptable or
would He find them lacking. Would we receive a favorable review
like the church in Philadelphia did, or would we be told that Jesus
wanted to vomit us out of His mouth? The task before us this hour
is to perform a self evaluation and make a determination for ourselves
based on what we know from scripture. Jesus isn't going to give us
a personal review. He already did that with the churches of Asia
Minor and those reviews are
recorded for us by inspiration. All we have to do is examine
Jesus' review of the churches mentioned in Revelation and then make the determination
for ourselves, based on comparisons with them and what we know from God's word,
to know what our review
would be.
There are individual works and
congregational works which can be engaged in. Individual works are
things like attendance at the assemblies, personal evangelism, living
the Christian life as an example to others, being able to give an answer
to those who ask for the hope we have in Christ. Visiting the sick
and the aged, praying for them, helping them in various ways.
We'll take a look at some of these individual works more closely before
moving on to the congregational works.
1. How is our attendance?
Do we as individual Christians show up for worship times and Bible
studies? How often do we set at God's spiritual table and partake of the
food which endureth unto everlasting life? (John 6:27). Do we
forsake the world and set aside time to assemble and learn of God, or do
we forsake our assemblings and follow after the ways of the world?
Hebrews 10:25-26 says
"Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of
some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the
day approaching. For if we sin wilfully after that we have
received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice
for sins."
I want to point something out in this verse which
is vitally important and correctly translated. It says by
inspiration, the assembling of ourselves together. Our worship
periods, Bible study periods and congregational gatherings for the purpose
of doing God's work in the community are all assemblings.
The Hebrew writer tells us by inspiration of God not to forsake our assemblings. Verse 26 begins with the word "For". This word
introduces something in the next phrase which is connected to the
thought in the former phrase. The two verses are connected.
In this instance, the statement in verse 26 is a consequence that arises
out if the condition in the previous statement is true.
One could say, "Do not forsake the assembling of
ourselves at dinner. For if we eat not, we will starve."
Hunger is the result of not showing up for dinner and starvation is the consequence
that arises out of the result. The consequence in verse 26 for forsaking the
assembling is, "For if we sin wilfully",
(willfull sin as a result of forsaking the assemblings), "after that we have received
the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins"
(The loss of our sacrifice for sin being the consequence for the
result of forsaking the assemblings).
The sacrifice being spoken of here is the blood of Christ which was
shed for our sins. When we willfully and habitually forsake the
congregational gatherings in favor of other concerns, we forfeit the
sacrifice of Jesus' blood. This means His blood no longer covers
us. This means we no longer have the forgiveness of sin.
One may ask, "wasn't Jesus' blood applied to our
sins when we became Christians?" The answer is yes. Does
that mean we cannot lose the effectiveness of that blood? The
answer is no. If we could not lose the effectiveness of that blood
then Hebrews 10:26 makes no sense. That statement wouldn't belong
in scripture because there would be no condition under which we could
lose the sacrifice for our sin. There must therefore be a process
by which our sins are forgiven on a continual basis.
1 John 1:7
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son
cleanseth us from all sin."
That word "cleanseth" is used on a tense which describes
something that is happening on a continual and ongoing basis. If
we walk in the light, the blood of Christ cleanses us on a continual and
ongoing basis. According to the rules of language, this is a
conditional phrase. If we do not walk in the light, then the blood
of Christ no longer cleanses us of sin on this continual and ongoing basis.
We can therefore draw the connection that since inspiration says we
forfeit the effectiveness of Jesus sacrifice when we forsake the
assembling of ourselves together and that Jesus' sacrifice is available
on an ongoing basis only to those walk in the light, then part of
walking in the light is to attend the assembling of ourselves together.
2. How is our personal Bible study?
Bible study is how we equip ourselves for our personal evangelism.
How much
time do we spend in God's word away from our assemblies? Do we lay
our Bibles down when we leave this place only to pick them back up when
we return? Do we just take the word of whoever is teaching us at
our assemblings or do we search the scriptures at home to see if what we
were told was according to what thus saith the Lord? 2 Timothy
2:15 reads, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that
needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
We are all to consider ourselves as workmen of
God. We want to make sure we are effective workmen.
Effective workmen know the will of their master. They know what He
expects and how to go about it. A workman who goes out and
works without knowing what He is supposed to be doing or saying will be
ashamed. Study to shew yourselves approved, a workman that does
not need to be ashamed of himself. Rightly dividing the word means
correctly handling it.
Our Bible studies in our assemblies are aimed at
studying and learning God's will for man. And that's a good thing,
but is this is the only instruction we get? Or do we spend private
time in God's word, studying, learning, seeking and trying to apply
those things to our lives? Do we seek God's will in the assembly
and seek the world outside the assembly? These are questions we
must ask ourselves and answer.
In 1 Peter 3:15 we read, "...be ready
always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the
hope that is in you with meekness and fear". We need to work
towards this goal. We need to be able to give people answers when
they ask. The more we study the better we can equip ourselves to
give the right answers when we get the opportunity.
3. How is our Prayer life?
In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Paul gave this simple instruction, "Pray
without ceasing." How much time do we spend in prayer?
Jesus said in Luke 21:36, "Watch ye therefore, and pray always..."
Do we pray to God when we want or need something, or do we spend real
time in prayer, giving Him thanks and praying for others? We are
strengthened through prayer, we are encouraged through prayer, we
receive God's providential intervention as a result of our prayer.
We pray for each other, we pray for what we need, we pray for the sick.
How is our individual prayer life?
Do we pray spontaneously when the notion
strikes us, or do we have regular appointments with God for prayer and
do we keep those appointments?
4. How are our personal work
habits?
Do we visit the sick and the aged? Do we visit the widows among us
like we should? Reading the words in Matthew 25:34-46, we see what
Jesus has to say about personal work of this nature.
"Then the King will say to those on
His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry
and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a
stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was
sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'
37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see
You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we
see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when
did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' 40 And the King
will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you
did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'
41 "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me,
you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his
angels: 42 for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and
you gave Me no drink; 43 I was a stranger and you did not take Me in,
naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not
visit Me.'
44 "Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You
hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did
not minister to You?' 45 Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I
say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these,
you did not do it to Me.' 46 And these will go away into everlasting
punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
These are all examples of works that we
must engage in order to fulfill the will of God. We all do not do
the same things. We each have an individual role we can play in
order to help the body of Christ function as a living breathing,
growing, caring, loving unit. 1 Corinthians 12:14-22, "For in
fact the body is not one member but many.
15 If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I am not of the
body," is it therefore not of the body? 16 And if the ear should say,
"Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body," is it therefore not of
the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing?
If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? 18 But now God
has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.
19 And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
20 But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. 21 And the eye
cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you"; nor again the head to
the feet, "I have no need of you." 22 No, much rather, those members of
the body which seem to be weaker are necessary."
There is something for everybody to do in
the kingdom of Christ. Whether it be teaching, preaching, personal
work or studying. Which brings us to our next topic. We have
looked at individual things, now let's look at our works on a
congregational level. These are works which have been organized so
that our congregation as a group can work together for a common goal.
Examples of these are Care group, Youth
gatherings, Gospel meetings and visitations to rest homes where we sing
and fellowship with the elderly. These organized functions give
everyone in the congregation an opportunity to participate in some way
in the work of the kingdom. Some of us may be only able to sign a
card, or sing a song, or say hello to someone aged and sick. But
all these things make a difference. All these things are
important.
We are planning on having some discussion
at our next fellowship dinner where we are going to ask for input on
more things we can do on a congregational level. These organized
events are put in place to give everyone in the congregation an
opportunity to be involved. It is important that we engage in
these types of organized activities and it is important that all of us
participate in them to the best of our ability. Even if all we do
is show up, it is an encouragement to the whole church.
I appreciate this congregation in that we
try to do these things. It is an encouragement to me to set in
with the men who try and plan out these outreach efforts and see the
willingness to organize and do these activities. I want our
congregation here in Granby, Missouri to be an effective force in the
kingdom of Christ and I know all of you do too. We are well aware
of the fate of those outside the body of Christ. The scriptures
are filled with the fate of unbelievers and we all want everyone to be
saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. I appreciate the
love we have for one another. I remember Rue Porter saying there
was more brotherly love in this congregation than any he had ever seen.
He was right. I have been in congregations all over the country
and I'm here to tell you right now, we have something special here.
I have been in congregations where arguments broke out between the
members. People publicly telling each other to shut up. The
strife and contention was so thick you could cut the air with a knife.
What we need to do is to look at our
individual participation in these activities and do what we can to
support them. Help out where we can. Attend where we can.
Be involved in the assemblings whether they are worship, bible study or
organized outreach efforts of the congregation.
Brethren, the world is lost, without
direction and without hope. We have the answers. We have the
direction, we can offer them hope. We can't have something as
precious as the hope we have and not do what we can to help share it.
I want to share with you one of the most encouraging scriptures in all
the Bible for me. For those who think they can't do anything or
can't offer anything, please turn with me to Mark 14:3-9,
"And being in Bethany at the house of
Simon the leper, as He [Jesus] sat at the table, a woman came having an
alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the
flask and poured it on His head. 4 But there were some who were
indignant among themselves, and said, "Why was this fragrant oil wasted?
5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and
given to the poor." And they criticized her sharply.
6 But Jesus said, "Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a
good work for Me. 7 For you have the poor with you always, and whenever
you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. 8 She has
done what she could."
There is another account of this in John
12 where we learn the woman's name was Mary and the naysayer's name was
Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus. Notice that Jesus defended her
actions. In Jesus' defense of her pouring that flask of oil on
Him, He said "Leave her alone. She has done what she could".
She didn't have much to offer Jesus, but
she did what she could and that was good enough for Jesus.
Brethren have we done what we could? If Jesus were to send us a
letter right now, would He say "You have done what you could"? If
Satan were to stand before us and accuse us, would Jesus call Him off
and say, "Leave them alone, they have done what they could"?
Let's examine ourselves individually and
let's examine ourselves congregationally. If we can do more for
Christ, let's do it. If we can attend more for Christ, let's do
it. If we can love more for Christ, then let's do it. If we can
visit more for Christ, then let's do it. If we can do it, lets do
it together. Let's encourage each other, let's support each other,
let's help each other give help to others. Let's reach out, let's
shine the light on the path to heaven.
The goal is
Heaven. The cause is Christ. The work is His work. The
responsibility is ours.
I have never heard anyone say, “I
regret having done all that work for the Lord.” |
