Knock Knock
I don’t happen to be a coffee drinker but I have worked around a lot of people that are. I have noticed that many of them have a tendency of having several foam coffee cups on their desk, each with different levels of coffee. On occasion I have been around when the person picked up the cup and took a sip and made some kind of a yuck statement. It would be especially profound if they sampled a cup left over from early morning of before. The general response was that they spit the coffee back into the cup and moved it or threw it away.
The coffee in a mild way made them feel sick or as if it would make them sick.
According to our scripture this morning that is the response of Jesus Christ when speaking to John about this church in Laodicea.
The church in Laodicea makes Jesus sick, or grossed out.
It makes him ready to toss it out….
The scripture makes references to several known details about the city and the industry
In general, Laodicea was a very, very wealthy city, founded by Antiochus II and named after his wife Laodice.
The city was strategically located where 4 highways converged, thus it was highly commercial. Sort of like Atlanta is a major interconnection location for travelers and Trucks.
It was well known for its banking industry, its manufacture of black wool and a medical school that produced eye ointment.
The wealth in the city had been used to build theaters, a huge stadium, lavish public baths and fabulous shopping centers.
Sound familiar?
It, sounds like any typical American city.
This city was so wealthy that when an earthquake almost entirely destroyed it in 60 AD, its citizens refused help from Rome in rebuilding the city. They were self sufficient….not necessarily like Atlanta.
If you were a real estate agent at the this was one of the booming cities that you would want to work in. It was a great place to live, the land of opportunity.
That is why I feel this scripture is connected to this church. The basic similarities of situation. No persecution. A safe place. Financially ok or at least resources available.
--- This week we are going back to the central thought that some Christians all too often lean toward the Open Minded Atheist tendencies in other ways.
The point today is that some Christians don’t want to go overboard.
What we are considering is that middle of the road Christianity is a sign of trouble in the lives of many Christians.
-- Too many Christians say that they believe that God exist but live as if God does not exist.
-- The scripture identifies that Jesus is addressing church in Laodicea. From the Amen – the one that makes things so, from the witness and creator.
“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.”
We tend to like hot and cold things. We already talked about coffee. I have know people drink hot coffee and some like ice coffee.
Hot and ice tea both good. Room temperature tea not so much.
Hot and cold milk…room temp – not so much.
The Bible translation I read chooses the mildest interpretation …spit…for the readers. It actually gets much more graphic if you look into the exact word used.
That is a pretty direct indication of how Jesus feels about the church. He knows their deeds and He knows that they are neither hot to cold and It is not like Goldilocks. The is not telling them that they are just right.
The lukewarm intensity of the church causes a physical response in Jesus.
Lukewarm Christians make Jesus/God nauseous!!!
Christians making Jesus sick is an idea that makes me feel confused.
In a complex way that is an oxymoron….
Does everyone know what I mean? …..no don’t point at your spouse…..
Oxymoron is a set of words that are used together that mean opposite things.
Government efficiency, A fine mess, A little pregnant, Alone together, Christian evolutionist, Crash Landing, Serious fun, Wise fool, Lukewarm Christian
Lukewarm Christian….should not be an oxymoron because a Christians is to die to self and to live for Jesus Christ.
Being a Christians means living with a passion for people…A passion and love for God.
To be halfhearted to the suffering and death of Jesus Christ on behalf of all mankind, Is insulting to God.
It makes God sick.
Unfortunately is seems that there has always been “Christians” that make God feel sick.
Maybe I need to describe how we can identify a lukewarm Christian:
A lukewarm Christian :
1. Craves acceptance from people more than God… They claim faith but their passion is to fit in to the acceptable standards of this world. They want to blend in and not stand out. They don’t live in a way that their actions would hint that they have a relationship with Christ except at church on Sunday. They want to be liked and popular…more than a good Christian example.
2. They rarely share his or her faith in Christ….bottom line they don’t believe that Jesus is required for salvation. If our buddy Stan dies then hopefully he was good enough to go to heaven. But we don’t want to stick our neck out and damage our friendship by being controversial. By speaking about a need for a relationship with Jesus.
3. Do whatever it takes to Alleviate guilt – they attend church as a payment…doing time so to speak. They don’t give of their resources or engage in the worship or events unless they have a real debt to pay…and must do something radical to feel better -
They only pray for forgiveness with no consideration of change in their life and choices.
They act with a short term goal of reliving their feeling of guilt. And It works for them in same small way. But since their efforts are limited the relief is limited and they wonder what good was their effort.
4 Lukewarm Christians - Care about earthly things – car, house bank account….panic when economy goes down…they think more about life on earth than they think about eternity in heaven. Their trust comes from what they can hold in their hands.
5 Gage moralities by comparing selves to others….murders are worse than us. I am better than Hitler. They find plenty of people that are worse than themselves.
6 Lukewarm Christians - want to be saved form penalty of sin without changing their lives….
7 Lukewarm Christians only turns to God when in a bind or have a need – They try to use God as a tool – for economy, marriage, health – back in the box when things get easier.
8 Lukewarm Christians - will give to God’s work when it does not hinder his or her lifestyle –statistically non-believers give more than Christians on average to feed children –
Basically, Lukewarm Christians will not sacrifice in what they don’t believe in.
Folks, This topic is Not fun to preach – being the pastor of a church that is lukewarm burns me up….no just the opposite….it cools me down.
Over time I am pulled to the level of the congregation because the resistance to being either hot and attractive or cold and refreshing for Jesus is like dragging a chain.
I always want to preach messages that please God, that come from His inspiration. Messages That call each of the hearers to respond to the desires of God for your lives.….
In a way Your temperature for God is a reflection on my spiritual relationship.
If you are a lukewarm Christian and my leadership, does not draw you to a change in temperature ….The more I can see my failure.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not completely responsible. I don’t know what percentage of failure of your relationship falls to me. We are talking about your relationship.
What does happen is that The closer I am pulled to lukewarm, the more I struggle with the balance between preaching the full word of God and many of you leaving the church or to help you feel comfortable and here and to stay a part of this church.
It is one of human failings that I want to be liked by all of you…..Sometimes more than I want to please God.
The church in Ladeecia was comfortable and I guess the felt blessed.
Jesus continues in his description, You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.”
The wealth of the culture, seems to have been wide spread enough that most of the church were comfortable. They took for granted that everything they had was ultimately a gift from God.
They were satisfied with the way things were.
In our time we probably don’t feel as comfortable as this sounds. With the economy, and the unknown of our nations’ debt situation. With the war that is distant but still active. With terrorist that really only want to destroy the way we live we may not claim to be rich or comfortable.
But compared with the rest of the world we are amazing wealthy. Watch the save the children commercials…the paces and situations are real.. Visit a 3rd world nation and look at the poverty and living conditions.
We are mighty comfortable even in this economy.
With all we have, comforts and security we also don’t realize that we are lacking in other ways.
We are comfortable and fearful over material things. We are blind to our lack of faith. We don’t realize that we feel naked and exposed to the problems if this world what we should be covered because of our relationship with Jesus Christ.
Folks we pray to God in our distress and our suffering and live any way we want when things are OK.
Christians show up at church because we say we believe in God but when we arrive in the Lords house we generally have assumed room temperature.
We are dead spiritually.
Too many of us come as a sign of life, as a kind of automatic devotion but expect nothing when we arrive.
Our worship of God in song is only slightly above breathing.
Our giving for the most part is out of the leftovers and minimal.
We don’t see a problem in not being involved in the mission of the church ..to make disciples. So we NEVER invite anyone to church. We don’t expect to see miracles or radical changes around church to we pick and choose what we will attend.
So we stopped night services, we discontinued our Wednesday prayer service.
When we started new things on Wednesday we received minimum attendance even with low cost meals and great fellowship and minimum commitment education.
As a called community of Christ we are almost indistinguishable from the church at Laodicea.
All of us make up the body of Christ in the building and as that body we also have open minded atheistic tendencies. We want Jesus to bless us but we don’t want to go overboard.
Folks this morning our message is a reminder that you can’t live as a persona that claims to be a Christian but lives like an open minded atheist.
The rest of our reading tells the hearers to find the God that has real value, to put on the His clothing of righteousness to hide our human failings. To treat our blindness with the healing salve that comes from His Power.
Amazingly, Jesus does not treat a lukewarm church like an old cup of coffee. Instead he offers Rebuke and discipline He calls his church to repent.
Rebuke it to makes a shape statement of disapproval. “Stop hitting your brother.”
Discipline can be formal instruction, but it also includes drill or practice.
Drill is associated with learning something repetitively--over and over again till we get it.
This morning we are reminded how God feels about lukewarm believers. We are also reminded of how we should respond and that even if we have a history of lukewarm relationship we can still repent and respond to the invitation from Jesus.
Jesus says, “
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.”
People that call themselves Christians can never be tepid about God or what Jesus his son has done foe us.
We should also notice how awesome God is in that He will never give up on us and throw us out.
All Glory be to our Awesome God!
This morning I am led to ask you to demonstrate your response to the message.
If you realize that you have been Lukewarm and you want god to change you raise your hand right now.
We will have our final piece of music today, If you were serious about God helping you and are willing for him to allow him to change you, and destroy the old you I hope you will come forward in the last song and we will pray together for his action and blessing.
We will be praying that we expect and will witness his movement in us and our church and ultimately our community. Not because God is our servant but because we are his Body in this place.
