LUKEWARM

 

Write From My Heart

September 20, 2021

LUKEWARM  lacking warmth of feeling or enthusiasm

Revelation 3:15-16 (NIV) I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

            Many of you may recognize today’s verses coming from the passage in Revelation containing seven letters to the churches; this specific text being part of the letter to Laodicea—the only church about which there was nothing positive to say. Laodicea was a city of wealth and prosperity; a city which felt it needed nothing anyone else had to offer. They were self-sufficient, self-sustaining, self-oriented. Apparently this same philosophy of life bled into their church life as well. Their Christianity lacked the motivation of witnessing and following through on the ministry and mission for which they were established, (see Colossians 4:15-17). So how does this apply to us?

            No, this is not a call to political activism. The problem I wish to address this morning is complacency—being so content and satisfied in the little world of our own lives that little else matters. Yet Christ has given us the command to go into the world (especially our own little corner of the world) and preach the gospel. We have a message. We have a mission. Yet how easily we slip into a totally lukewarm existence. The question perhaps we should ask of ourselves is: Which is worse, to never have heard the gospel message, or to know it and not act upon it? I would maintain that according to scripture, the latter choice is definitely far worse. I would maintain that God hates indifference and fence-straddling. We are either living a Christ-centered life with the spirit of God permeating our heart in a way evident to all those around us, or we are not. There is no middle ground. Either we stand boldly as a witness for God in the midst of a lost and dying world, or we shrink into the background of apathy and lukewarmness. One choice honors God, the other nauseates him. There is no middle ground.