Reviving Faith: Escaping the Lukewarm Danger Zone

Fads come and go Some of it good, some of it stays Some of it not so good and it disappears after a while But they come and go There's one thing To be a kid You're probably the one that's going to be current In what all those things are It's another thing to be the parent of that child Because as a parent You got that second hand look You get to figure out what it is that your kids are doing And talking about And those kind of things Parents, we come a little bit later to the game We eventually get it Sometimes we're left just scratching our heads And going, huh But we're there One of the things that's been going on Lately It's just a simple word thing It's been going on At least in my awareness A year or so But it's part of our grammar And it's been a part of language forever But its use has evolved a little bit And what I'm talking about Is the suffix ish I -S -H The way we understand ish Is we put it onto a word And it describes the word Somebody's acting like a child We say they're acting childish If somebody's looking out for just themself They are acting selfish Lately it's become an adverb And even more so It's become just simply An independent kind of word Are you free today? Ish How do you like the movie? Ish Took me a long time To figure out what somebody was saying When I was hearing that But I get it now [00:33:26]

I'm a little bit like Jesus Ish If you're a Christian You've got just enough Jesus in you To be saved You've got just enough faith Just enough belief That you're not going to hell And you feel pretty good about it You go to church A few times a year You're a spiritual person You pray You know your Bible stories [00:35:39]

But that life transformation Hasn't yet taken place Or not to the degree That it should Or could have And so we're Ish Christian -ish The passage that Vera read To you That book starts with Seven letters To seven churches Each one The focus of Needing correction The letters address Something significant In their ministry That has been displeasing To God And this particular letter To the Laodicean church It's pretty pointed And there's There's a reason for that Just to give you some background Laodicea Was one of the Wealthiest cities In the Roman Empire At the time About 35 years Prior to John Getting this vision And writing And writing These words down About 35 years Prior to that There's a massive Earthquake in the region That has absolutely Destroyed the city And the people Of Laodicea Did something That was unheard of In that day They rebuilt the city On their own No help from [00:36:11]

to the north of them was a city called heropolis where there was an abundance of hot springs to the south of them was colossi an abundance of fresh mountain cold cold water the laodiceans piped their water in this fancy system of pumps and aqueducts and such gets the water to town the problem is the distance was just enough from both towns that by the time the water reached laodicea it was tepid it was lukewarm [00:38:24]

because of the distance it traveled because of the temperature it made people sick water water in the laodicea lived in that danger zone that i was talking with the kids about and so for jesus to choose to use that word as he describes the life of the laodiceans it's going to make pretty good sense to them what it is that he's talking about they're going to have a real good picture that lukewarm is not a good thing because their life is that experience [00:39:08]

jesus said this in 17 a little bit of 17 again you say i'm rich i've acquired wealth i don't need anything and then these words you don't realize that you're wretched you're pitiful you're poor you're blind and you're naked i've got all of these things we can do all this stuff on our own we're self -sufficient we can do it we can plan it we can achieve it but you don't realize all these things that you are [00:39:58]

because lukewarm is not something that just happens it happens over time i brew a cup of coffee in the morning [00:40:46]

if i keep the lid off of the coffee cup and for some reason don't drink the coffee it just sets in the cup and within a couple hours it's room temperature and not worth drinking at that point if i put the lid on it still gets to lukewarm but it takes a little bit longer because it's controlled a little bit but it gets there [00:41:04]

it happens over time so slow that you don't realize it sometimes and that's jesus's words to the laodiceans yeah you've got all of this but you don't realize that this is how you really are and in verse 18 he says i counsel you to buy from me gold has been refined in fire so you can become rich white robes to wear so that you can cover your nakedness salve for your eyes so that you can see jesus is saying i've got answers for you if you're willing to do this if you're willing to hear me if you're willing to listen and act you don't have to be these things [00:42:06]

The lukewarm that Jesus uses isn't just simply their passion for their faith. It's also they're not living out their purpose. And because of those two things, they're not having the impact that they should have in their world. [00:43:14]

You want to fit in. You want to be part of something. You want to grow. And there's nothing wrong with that. We are made, you know, we've talked about this so many times. We're made for community. We're made for others. But when this acceptance by others is the thing that drives you more than anything else, to the point where it's most important and God comes in second, you've got a problem. Because you've reprioritized what your relationships are supposed to be. [00:44:07]

When you're craving acceptance from others, and you're willing to set the things of your faith aside for that acceptance, you've got problems. [00:44:32]

And somewhere along the line, pastors thought to be cool if from the pulpit, they just simply spoke as the world would speak. [00:45:08]

And whatever slang or derogatory terms were out and about in the world they would use, vulgar language they would use, all in the name of saying, well, I want people to be comfortable when they come to listen to the gospel. [00:45:19]

But in their minds, they wanted to be embraced and accepted so much, they were willing to compromise all that they were in Christ. [00:45:44]

It might be lukewarm find yourself rationalizing sin. Oh, it's okay. Well, nobody's getting hurt by it. Everybody's doing this. It's okay that I'm, you know, you know, these, these other people that I know love Jesus, they act in this same way, so I can act in this same way. And we find ourselves just writing excuse after excuse after excuse for what it is that we do. [00:46:20]

Instead of rationalizing sin, what's supposed to happen is we're supposed to recognize it and it's supposed to hit us in such a way that it sickens us and it repulses us. [00:47:08]

We have within us the greatest story ever told. [00:47:59]

We have within us the Savior of the world who came, lived, died, rose for us, who promised a transformed life for us, who promised an abundant life for us, who promised to meet all of our needs each and every day. [00:48:01]

Because if we are truly loving God with all our heart, our soul, our mind, our strength, then that means God is a part of every part of our life. And as we have conversations with people, there's a spirituality to everything that we do and all that we are. [00:49:59]

When God becomes just our 911 call, if God becomes a tool in our toolbox, when he becomes more of a something that we use instead of someone that we worship, then something might be off. [00:52:18]

If people look at you, listen to you, follow you, imitate you, all these kind of things, and they're not seeing anything different in you from anybody else out and about in the world, believer or non -believer. [00:52:49]

People should see a difference in us. And that difference should be undeniable. [00:54:39]

Jesus wasn't telling the Laodiceans all this stuff to shame them, to embarrass them, to... [00:55:10]

We want them to live a life that's consistent with who we are as followers of Jesus. We want them to be valuable, contributing members to society. And so we discipline our children. We correct our children. [00:55:44]

You want to become less lukewarm? You want to become either hot so that you can be something that's healing, something that provides health. You want to be a little more cool so that you can be refreshing, something that's a little more hope. [00:57:26]

One thing to become less lukewarm do one thing every day that requires faith in Jesus. [00:57:49]

And the more that we rely on him, the more it becomes a lifestyle. [00:58:22]

But Jesus is also Lord. And this Lord thing is huge because this is what the world sees. [00:58:44]