Josh Thayer
“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.” Revelation 3:15-16
Have you ever had leftovers sitting in the fridge and decided to warm them up in the oven? Have you waited 10 minutes, which you thought was obviously enough time, and took your first bite and your food was still cold? You then realize, after you were comfortable on the couch watching your favorite show, that you had to get back up and put everything back in the oven. That is kind of what is going on here.
The Apostle John was writing to the church in Laodicea and he was bringing to light how the church had become lukewarm. The believers there did not take a stand for anything they believed in. Over time, this led to the church becoming self-satisfied and hardened to anything to do with Christ. They turned into a “we believe in Jesus but that is all we are” kind of people. They were just going through the motions, checking off the “going to church box” to make themselves look good while their lives did not reflect Jesus or the church.
Jesus even talks about this in Amos chapter 5 when the Israelites had become complacent. They were in essence putting on a show with fake worship. They were living sinful lives and trying to cover it up with religion to make themselves look good. Amos 5:21-24 says, “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
These are the kind of things that God is talking about. Being a lukewarm Christian is nothing more than a show. It is a show that God wants nothing to do with and at the end of it all, He will spit you out of his mouth and say, “I never knew you.” Matthew 7:21-23 (NKJV) records, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’”
As Christians, we are called to more than a show. We are called to be the sons and daughters of Jesus. It is a calling to live a life full of purpose with Jesus at the center of it all. We should want to reach, gather, and grow through Jesus so that we can live a life different from our culture. It is a life that will be fulfilling and selfless and at the end of it all, have the opportunity to walk into Heaven with God for eternity.