Sunday, May 12, 2013

Fired Up or Spewed Out?

"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot.  So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth" (Revelation 3:15-16)

Tepid.  Now there is a word you don't hear in normal everyday conversation!  Try using that one in a sentence, grammar-fans!  Actually, tepid is a very descriptive but at the same time disgusting word.  Case in point:  Have you ever poured for yourself a steaming cup of coffee, only to be distracted and set it down in order to go and take care of whatever it was that drew your attention away?  Who hasn't?  Some time later you remember that patiently waiting cup of coffee and go looking for it.  When you find it, what happens?  You put the cup to your lips hesitantly and take a swig.  EWWWWW!  Tepid!  The coffee is no longer hot but neither is it yet cold.  It is instead lukewarm.  Revolting!  So you pour it out in disgust.

It is bad enough when coffee that should be steaming and delicious is lukewarm and disgusting, beloved.  But when it happens to those who profess to be Christians, it is a spiritual tragedy.  Jesus described the degree of such a condition in His words to John that were meant for the Asian church in the city of Laodicea.  And in His statement we discover a wonderful challenge for our own living today.

Note that Jesus accused the professing believers in Laodicea of being "neither hot nor cold."  To be "hot" spiritually, a translation of the Greek word zestos, is to be filled with the Spirit of God and to be ablaze with love for and commitment to Jesus Christ.  We like to use the term "on fire" to describe such believers today.  On the other hand, to be "cold" spiritually, a translation of the Greek word psuchros, is to go beyond mere disbelief.  It is to take a stand as strongly against the gospel of Jesus Christ as being "hot" is to stand for it.  That Jesus was sending this warning to a local church speaks volumes of what can and does happen today even among those professing faith in Christ and part of an organized visible body.

Perhaps what is most surprising here, however, is Jesus' stated preference concerning those in Laodicea professing to be His followers, that they be either "hot" or "cold" rather than "lukewarm."  The preference for them to be spiritually "hot" we can certainly understand.  But "cold"?  Perhaps the answer lies in a closer look at the word "lukewarm."  The Greek word chliaros describes a spiritual state in which one professes to be a true follower of Christ, yet in whose life the evidence of the life of God does not exist.  This is the one who has substituted "religiosity" for saving faith and "heated religious activities" for genuine service to the Lord.  Jesus' preference is understood, then, because to be "cold" or an outright denier and rejecter of the gospel tells us what the need is and how to go about meeting it.  But of the one who has all the outward signs of being a Christian yet whose heart Christ does not occupy becomes the worst of all stumbling blocks.  He presents himself to the world to be something he in actuality is not!  And in condemning and rejecting such a person, the world will often do so with a wide stroke of the brush and will reject Christianity altogether.

Jesus declared His preference that we be either "hot" or "cold" instead of choosing to be "lukewarm."  But do not assume for a moment that He would actually have any one to reject the gospel message!  The challenge laid before us here through His words to the Laodiceans is that we need to be on fire every moment of every day for the Lord Jesus Christ!  Anything less is simply unacceptable.  It is already to Him because He said so and it should be as unacceptable to us as well.

Ron