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‘Lukewarm’ and (Lovin’ It??) This -- IS a serious matter, And don’t ( YOU )‘think’ that it doesn’t apply to YOU, it probably does.
( and YOU need to recognize it, NOW. )
It’s hurtful to Our MESSIAH, it’s dangerous to YOU. How is it hurtful to CHRIST, you ask?
Are you showing HIM honesty? Or Love by being lackadaisical? Lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy. Understand - Did you know --
*{ One of the ( synonyms ) of Lackadaisical is: ‘’Laodicean.’’ } Apathetic, idle, indolent, shiftless, inert, feeble ?
Romans 10:1-3
1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved.
2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God.
It is not so much a lack of the availability of true knowledge as it is a lackadaisical, careless,
Attitude or demeanor, saying things like:
"it really does not matter all that much," (or)
"any way is as good as any other," "sin is not really all that bad" of an approach.
It at first might seem to be a gentle form of ‘stubbornness’, but the real problem here is two major spiritual sins:
(pride and covetousness.)
In effect, it’s like telling GOD that He does not know what He is talking about.
As a nation, as “lukewarm Christians’’ we are somewhat like teenagers who tell their parents that they are "out of it",
''they don’t understand...''
But it is far more serious than that.
‘’LUKEWARM SPIRITUALITY’’
Revelation 2:4
Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Let us all understand,
( ALL ) of the seven letters to the seven churches
In the book we call: ‘’Revelation’’ [pertain] to “ALL OF US”,
In “one way or another”. NO ONE IS EXCLUDED HERE.
NO ( ONE ) PARTICULAR CHURCH, IS EXCLUDED HERE.
Those Letters ARE Addressed to US.
( “ALL” of “US” ).
{ When JESUS CHRIST is telling ‘’us’’ HE has somewhat against (us) - WE NEED TO BE PAYING PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO HIM And what HE is saying.}
‘’Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee...’’ -
( Notwithstanding this general commendation),
there are things which I cannot approve.
Because thou hast left thy first love -
Thou hast "remitted" (ἀφῆκας aphēkas) or let down thy early love; that is, it is less glowing and ardent than it was at first. The love here referred to is evidently love to the Saviour; and the idea is, that, as a church, they had less of this than formerly characterized them. In this respect they were in a state of declension; and, though they still maintained the doctrines of his religion, and opposed the advocates of error, they showed less ardor of affection toward him directly than they had formerly done. In regard to this we may remark:
That what is here stated of the church at Ephesus is [not] uncommon:
the same thing that occurred there may be expected to follow in all similar cases.
The Saviour governs the church always on essentially the same principles; and it is no uncommon thing that, when a church has lost the ardor of its first love, it is suffered more and more to decline, until "the candlestick is removed" - until either the church becomes wholly extinct, or until vital piety is wholly gone, and all that remains is the religion of forms.
(forms) - a particular way in which a thing exists or appears; a manifestation.
The sin Christ charged this church with, is, not the having left and forsaken the object of love, but having lost the fervent degree of it that at first appeared. Christ is displeased with his people, when he sees them grow remiss and cold toward him. Surely this mention in Scripture, of Christians forsaking their first love, reproves those who speak of it with carelessness, and thus try to excuse indifference and sloth in themselves and others; our Saviour considers this indifference as sinful. They must repent: they must be grieved and ashamed for their sinful declining, and humbly confess it in the sight of GOD. They must endeavour to recover their first zeal, tenderness, and seriousness, and must pray as earnestly, and watch as diligently, as when they first set out in the ways of GOD. If the presence of Christ's grace and Spirit is slighted, we may expect the presence of his displeasure.
Revelation 3:14-21
And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and thatthe shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
20Behold, 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.
21To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
In Revelation 3:14–21, the LORD is describing the “lukewarm” heart attitude of those in the Laodicean church, an attitude manifested by their deeds. The Laodiceans were neither cold nor hot in relation to GOD, just lukewarm.
Hot water can cleanse and purify; cold water can refresh and enliven.
But lukewarm water carries no similar value.
The Laodiceans understood the LORD’S analogy because their city drinking water came over an aqueduct from a spring six miles to the south,
and it arrived disgustingly lukewarm.
Laodicean water was not hot like the nearby hot springs that people bathed in, nor was it refreshingly cold for drinking. It was lukewarm, good for nothing.
In fact, it was nauseating, and that was the LORD’S response to the Laodiceans—they sickened HIM, and HE said, “I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (verse 16).
The letter to the church at Laodicea is the harshest of the seven letters to the churches in Asia Minor.
By His indictment of their “deeds” (Revelation 3:15), JESUS makes it clear that this is a dead church.
The members of this church see themselves as “rich” and self-sufficient,
but the LORD sees them as “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (verse 17). Their lukewarm faith was hypocritical; their church was full of unconverted, pretend Christians.
JESUS frequently equates deeds with a person’s true spiritual state: “By their fruit you will recognize them,” and “Every good tree bears good fruit”
(Matthew 7:16–17).
Clearly, the lukewarm deeds of the Laodiceans were not in keeping with true salvation. The deeds of the true believer will be “hot” or “cold”—that is, they will benefit the world in some way and reflect the spiritual passion of a life transformed. Lukewarm deeds, however—those done without joy, without love, and without the fire of the Spirit—do harm to the watching world.
The lukewarm are (those who claim) to know GOD but [live]
as though HE doesn’t exist.
They may go to church and practice a form of religion,
but their inner state is one of self-righteous complacency.
They claim to be Christians, but their hearts are unchanged, and their hypocrisy is sickening to GOD.
The fact that the lukewarm individuals to whom CHRIST speaks
are not saved is seen in the picture of JESUS standing (outside)
of the church (Revelation 3:20).
HE has not yet been welcomed into their midst.
In love, the LORD rebukes and disciplines them, commanding them to repent
(verse 19). HE sees their lukewarm attitudes as “shameful nakedness” that needs to be clothed in the white garments of true righteousness (verse 18).
HE urges them to be earnest, or zealous, and commit themselves totally to HIM.
Our Lord is gracious and long-suffering and gives the (lukewarm) time to repent.
The Laodiceans enjoyed material prosperity that, coupled with a semblance of true religion, led them to a false sense of security and independence,
(see Mark 10:23). The expression “I am rich; I have acquired wealth”
(Revelation 3:17) stresses that the wealth attained came though self-exertion. Spiritually, they had great needs.
A self-sufficient attitude and lukewarm faith are constant dangers
when people live lives of ease and prosperity.
So ~ Your Lukewarm and Lovin’ It, huh??
I thought I was a Christian for years.
I swore I had a relationship with GOD.
I believed I could die at any moment and be welcomed into heaven.
I wasn’t.
I didn’t.
I wouldn’t.
I didn’t ‘think’ there was a category for someone ‘thinking’ they were a follower of CHRIST and not actually being one. Well, there [is] a category for it - ‘lukewarm.’
I assumed that if I had any desire to be a Christian,
GOD should welcome me with shouts of joy.
I had never read that there would be people on judgment day who would emphatically greet Jesus, calling him “Lord, Lord,”
and yet be rejected by HIM (Matthew 7:21–23). ( "Lord Lord " always gives (me) a sense that these people are chasing after HIM -
but HE is no longer paying any attention to them..
No one ever told me that people could do a lot of mighty works for
GOD and yet still be lost. The five “I” statements in Isaiah 14:13-14 ring familiar. Maybe not the same harshness, but an ere of familiarity.
The: ‘’ I’s “ --- of the lukewarm are:
I said that Jesus died for my sins.
I prayed before meals.
I must be a Christian.
I’m only human after all. (No one is perfect.) Right?
I rarely owned HIM in public or spent time with HIM in private.
Sure, holiness seemed dreadfully boring, sure…
But HE understood. ( Or did HE?)
If GOD had not intervened,
( I ) would have awoken from my delusion to a lake of fire.
( I ) imagined ( I ) feasted at the table of grace, drank from the chalice of eternal life, but ( I ) was eating garbage and drinking sewer water.
( I ) was dreaming, like those described in Isaiah 29:8
Isaiah 29:8-9
“It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.”
9Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
( I ) would have felt like the most miserable creature in all of perdition.
And ( I ) kept myself in my delusion, muting my conscience and convincing myself that ( I ) was right with God by this simple strategy:
( I ) refused to read GOD’S book and measured myself
by the people around me.
Does this sound familiar? Do ( you ) do these things?
Comparing my faith with others around me
(including non-Christians) was the easiest way,
To slide right down the slippery slope to hell.
Matthew 7:13
Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way,
that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
THE DOWNWARD GLANCE
Do you ever look down on those who were or are
“lesser” Christians to confirm your complacency? ?
Is ( your ) assurance of salvation largely from the fact that you are outwardly better than many of the other goats
who claimed to be sheep? ( Wrong ! )
Do (you) pray like the Pharisee? God, I thank you that I am not like other men, fornicators, liars, adulterers —
I wouldn’t know I was a Christian without them. ( Wrong ! )
{ When a duck compares himself with other ducks, he crowns himself a swan. }
Matthew Chapter 7
3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam [is] in thine own eye?
5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.
THE UPWARD GLANCE...
When I would come across real believers,
I would feel moments of deep conviction. But to stay lukewarm, I concluded that these were simply the exception to the rule.
Instead of having them in the “living” category while I was in the “dead” category, I reasoned that they were the Christian Avengers.
They were A+ Christians,
And I was the C/C- Christian —
but both were passing. (right?) ( hypocrite! )
“My lukewarm ‘churchianity’ was consumed by living faith in
the consuming GOD of the Bible.”
And once I [established] the superhero Christian category,
I would search for reasons to put believers who made (me)
uncomfortable into it. ( Hypocrite ! )
Oh, ( ‘he’ ) wants to be a pastor! ? ( the very idea……)
Oh, those people were missionaries for several years. ( Really..? )
Oh, they grew up in a Christian home all their lives. ( Yeah, sure... )
Oh, they just have a personality that gets excited about everything.
That explains it… Right. -- Right??
(( ALL VERY WRONG ! ))
Job 8:13 So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish:
Job 17:8
Upright men shall be astonied at this, and the innocent shall stir up himself against the hypocrite.
Job 20:5
That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
Job 27:8 For what is the hope of the hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away his soul?
HA !! -- “BLIND !” “POOR, MISERABLE, and NAKED and DON’T ( EVEN ) KNOW IT !
When ( I ) was lukewarm,
GOD’S book was collecting dust in my room.
Unopened. Undisturbed. Alone, cold, and un-loved.
Then GOD led me to his Word and [saved] ( me. ) HALLELUJAH !
GOD met a miserable,
‘LUKEWARM’ Christian in his dank 'room', making ( me ) alive through HIS Spirit and HIS Word.
The lukewarm ‘churchianity’ was consumed by living faith in the consuming GOD of the Bible.
Hebrews 12:29
For our God is a consuming fire.
Deuteronomy 4:24
For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
You must be born ‘again’ to enter the kingdom of GOD ALMIGHTY.
(John 3:3).
There I learned that loving JESUS above all others —
father, mother, son, daughter, spouse —
wasn’t just for super Christians but for (all) who would
follow JESUS.
(Matthew 10:37–39).
There I understood that GOD was disgusted with (me) for drawing near with (my) [mouth ] before meals and on Sunday morning,
while (my) heart remained far from him (Isaiah 29:13–14).
Therefore, giving HIM what (my) Mom would call; ‘’lip service.’’ Which means, “you said it ~ but did you really mean it?”
There I understood that I could search the Scriptures
in a thousand Bible studies or more and yet [refuse] to truly go to
JESUS and have life (John 5:39–40).
There I understood that I couldn’t be good enough,
to put GOD in my debt. ( HE ) discharges debt, you know?
Matthew 6:12
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
That in no way could I please him while I lived in the flesh. ( Nor anyone ! )
Romans 8:8
“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.”
There I understood that I was rightfully cursed
for not loving JESUS, ( Anathema Maranatha ) : a person or thing detested or loathed: That subject is anathema to him. a person or thing accursed or consigned to damnation or destruction. a formal ecclesiastical curse involving excommunication.
(1 Corinthians 16:22)
and that the punishment would be everlasting torment
(Revelation 14:11).
There I understood that GOD wasn’t some socially awkward kid
in the lunchroom desperate for someone, anyone to sit with HIM.
There I understood that HIS very name is:
“King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16)
to whom (every single knee in creation) will bow (Philippians 2:10).
There I understood (Acts 17:25);
There I understood that I was created
for [ HIS ] glory, not HE for (mine) . (Isaiah 43:7).
There I reckoned that if I was lackadaisical about treasuring Christ,
about repenting of sin, and refusing to surrender in joyful submission,
HE would spit me out of his mouth (Revelation 3:15–16).
“If (you) are lukewarm and reading this there is great news for (you):
there [is] still time.”
The LORD is near to (anyone) who would return to HIM for pardon.
That HE offers to the most vile — and ‘lukewarm’ — sinner,
absolute pardon and pleasure beyond what he could dare to hope!
(Isaiah 55:6–9).
There I understood that this invitation was purchased at
the cost of The Son of GOD. YESHUA, Our MESSIAH, CHRIST JESUS.
IESOUS in the Greek !
Which in turn is the transliteration of the Hebrew
Jeshua, or Joshua, or again Jehoshua, meaning: "Jehovah is salvation."
(Isaiah 53:1–12).
There is still time. Repent. Believe. Rejoice. This is good news… This [ is ] The Good News ! ! ! The Good News of the new covenant of JESUS CHRIST. Seek HIM. Seek HIM early, earnestly and honestly.
Deuteronomy 30:6
And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.
Hallelujah ! ! !