Following Jesus 113

Following Jesus: What kind of church are we? 

“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation.

“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” (Revelation 3:14-22 ESV)

What does it mean to be lukewarm? Essentially it means to be a hypocrite. A pretender. A person who is not passionate for what he is or what he is not. It is a follower of Jesus who is unenthusiastic, halfhearted, unexcited, uninterested and indifferent to the truth of God. It is a church or a person which is apathetic. 

It is a church which pretends to be something it is not to be, and pretends to not be something it is called to be. It pretends to be part of the worldly system which at heart is rebellious against God, when it is called to holy. At the same time, it pretends to not be the unique body of Christ called to be holy, and prefers to be nothing more than a social club or a source of community activities. 

A lukewarm church resists the all or nothing unconditional self-offering to the Lord. Their commitment to the Lord may be rendered or made lukewarm by secular, worldly and nonspiritual concerns, riches, popularity, importance, reputation, success, or fear of facing the consequences of following Jesus. 

There are those who teach the lukewarm church is unredeemed, unsaved and therefore dead. If this was so, why would Jesus be so sickened by people and/or a church which is doing what it does because it is acting out its nature of what it is: fallen and dead? 

The lukewarm church, rather, is a redeemed church which seeks to be something it is not by refusing to clearly identify itself with Christ or with the gospel as well as refusing to distance itself from the world system which is anti-God. The gospel is:

• God exists. Genesis 1:1.
• God is Holy, Holy, Holy! Isaiah 6. It is within this essential framework that God is holy righteous, holy just, and holy love. 
• Man is sinful. Romans 3:10-20; Ephesians 2:1-3. 
• God became man. John 1:14 in the person named Jesus Christ. 
• Jesus Christ was virgin born (Luke 1-2; Matthew 1:18-25), lived a perfect, righteous life in obedience to God’s Word and God’s will (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15), died a substitutionary death on the cross for sinners (Romans 3:21-26; Ephesians 2:4-7; Isaiah 52:13-53:12), 
• Resurrected from the grave (Matthew 28:1-10; I Corinthians 15), 
• Ascended to the right hand of the Father (Acts 1:1-11), 
• Is coming again with power, might and glory (I Thessalonians 4:13-18), and 
• Salvation is found only in Christ (Acts 4:12) by grace alone (Ephesians 2:8-9) through faith alone. 

Therefore, in light of this condition, what does the lukewarm Christian, or church, need? We will seek to answer this question from the text next time. Until then, Soli deo Gloria!

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