There is a series of unfortunate events that occurs throughout churches worldwide. They are the unfortunate things Christians do, which work to divide the church instead of unite it, and which destroy the faith of fellow believers and drive people away from the house of God instead of building it up.
Last week, we uncovered the first of the three ugliest and most unfortunate events in the church.
It was hypocrisy: the practice of professing beliefs, feelings or virtues that we don’t really have.
Pretending to be something you’re not, or possess something you don’t have.
Long ago, there was a King who had a passion for fashion. He always wanted the latest and greatest for his royal wardrobe. One day, a couple of brave cheaters came to his city bragging about this new material they discovered. They said it had magical powers: if anyone was wise and had fine taste in clothing, the material would shine with unbelievable beauty. But to anyone who was ignorant about fashion, foolish or incompetent, the material would be completely invisible.
The king was overjoyed! He could look good and show off his wisdom at the same time, so he put the men to work at making him a new suit.
Finally, the day came! It was time for the king to put on his new suit and parade around in front of the entire city for everyone to see. The whole town had heard about this magic fabric and wanted to see it for themselves, if they were wise enough, of course…
In the king’s chambers, the designers came in, pretending to dress the king. They pretended to adjust his collar, as if the fabric were really there. They pretended to double check their measurements and straighten out his royal cape, but deep down inside everyone including the king, knew there was really nothing there.
And although the King was entirely un-covered, everyone pretended to admire his outfit. So here’s the king, naked as a blue jay, frolicking around the city center and nobody dared to laugh or say a word. As he paraded naked through the city center, everyone pretended to see the beautiful new suit, because no one wanted to admit they were ignorant, or foolish, or lacking in good taste. While all the grownups pretended the suit looked gorgeous (birthday suit, that is!), one little boy turned to his mom said, “Mummy. The King isn’t wearing any clothes,” but everyone hushed him and pretended to believe, because no one wanted to admit they had anything lacking.
People in the church do this all the time: pretend the nakedness isn’t there: to our own destruction.
That hypocrisy my friends, and hypocrisy is a stepping-stone on the path to mediocrity.
The church of Laodicea in the book of Revelation, chapter 3 was cited for violating the Lord by living a mediocre lifestyle. They pretended everything was all good. They thought they were successful, rich and lacking nothing and I’m sure they perceived their success as God’s blessing, but Jesus had news for them that although successful by outward appearances, they were critically wounded: spiritually disabled as a church, and the underlying problem was Mediocrity.
Today is part two of our three part series or unfortunate events, and we’re focusing on:
The Terribly Unfortunate Event Called Mediocrity.
Mediocrity is the state of being moderate to inferior in quality: ordinary. Jesus didn’t make us to be ordinary people. We’re extraordinary in every way through Jesus Christ. In the book of Revelation, the Bible calls Mediocrity LUKE WARMNESS. Rev 3:15, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!”
I wish you’d passionate about something. Fight with me or against me, just don’t stand there.
The Laodicean church was a lot like many mediocre churches today…
They conducted ministry in their city, seemed to be successful, had plenty of people showing up every week. The problem was, most of them only saw the church as a place to be entertained & fed.
They thought it was the Laodicean bed and breakfast for the spiritually rich.
All the most influential people came to this church in their gilded chariots. The worship was contemporary, for their century of course… And their nursery facilities: beautiful!
You never had to worry about the pastor offending anyone with His sermon. The members in felt they had a church they could be proud of, and they were. They thought everyone could see how rich they were, increased with goods, and they needed nothing. Only the incompetent and stupid, or jealous and resentful people could see it otherwise. But Jesus said, “You are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”
It was a stern warning for them and it serves as a serious warning to us as well, that God is tired of tired Christians. Jesus was giving the Laodicean church a warning because He loved them, and He gave them the opportunity to repent. He’s speaking the same message to churches all over the world today: He wants us to be vigilant and involved in His work. Today if you came into church with a mediocre Christian lifestyle, His hope is that you’ll leave it at the altar and pick up a passion for the purposes of God in your life.
THE VERY CLEAR MESSAGE CHRIST SENDS to His people today is that He is fed up with and will not tolerate mediocrity in the body of Christ.
Rev 3:16, “So, because you are lukewarm-- neither hot nor cold-- I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” Friends, if you are living a mediocre existence, your soul is in imminent danger.
Jesus relates mediocrity to lukewarm phlegm in His mouth.
Men, you probably remember what a loogie is from your elementary school years. It’s the thing in the back of your throat after a nice, long snort…
It’s what rednecks are talking about when they tell their kids, “Don’t fergit to eat yer greens!”
Phlegm is a disgusting thing to have in your mouth or your throat. It’s usually a result or a sign of illness, and mediocre people are sick people. Everyone who lives a mediocre: lackluster, moderate to inferior Christian life is in danger of being rejected by God: ejected from His mouth like a loogie.
YOU”RE IN IMMENENT DANGER.
CHURCHES WITHOUT A PASSION TO SERVE ARE IN IMMENENT DANGER.
“IMMINENT DANGER ILLUSTRATION.” Chernobyl: Workers had to put lead suits on and scoop the debris into a large hole over the exploded core. Each man could work only 3 minutes at a time because three minutes was a lifetime dose of radiation. The man who had to explore the debris near the core to find out if it had been breached, and while he was down there something dripped onto his head. He was immediately terrified for his life. If it was liquid from the core, he was a dead man; his bones would rot away inside him. But after a radiation test, he was relieved to discover it was only water. He was walking through nuclear waste and his life was in imminent danger.
Being a lukewarm Christian is like walking around Chernobyl, hoping your don’t run into radioactive waste. It’s a dangerous place to be. The longer you stay there, the more deadly the effect of being mediocre. Anyone about to be spit out of the mouth of God like refuse is in imminent danger. The unfortunate news about most of these people is that they have no idea what condition they’re really in.
Rev 3:17, “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.”
ILLUST: People don’t know their true condition.
You know, my dad never knew he had deadly esophageal cancer until it was too late.
He learned only too late about the damage the reflux in his stomach had caused to the lining in his esophagus. If he had he known a little sooner, he could have changed his lifestyle and averted catastrophe.
In the same way, there are a lot of people walking around town with cancerous time bombs counting down destruction in their bodies and they have no idea what condition they’re in, and there are a lot of Christians living mediocre lifestyles with no idea what condition their souls are really in and a lot of churches like the one in Laodicea, who appear healthy and successful from the outside, but are suffering from the disease on the inside because all the parts of the body aren’t working.
Don’t make a handicapped church by failing to function. Don’t refuse to work just because the conditions aren’t perfect. Don’t assume someone else should or could do it.
(Picture of Miss Mediocre with hands up, pushing everything off on someone else.)
WHAT’S THE CURE? GET RID OF MISS MEDIOCRITY!
Jesus wants VCC to be successful. He wants this house of His to be full of healthy worshippers, who will worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. He wants us to be vital and healthy, growing beyond our means and He intends to do great things in this place. But He cannot work through you and I if we’re sitting on our hands. He cannot work through a people, who lack passion. Now, I’m talking about every other church, except ours, right? Because we’re all perfect and without defect… Kind of like the king with the new suit… J
Jesus wants VCC to be a healthy body of believers being transformed into His image.
Not only does He warn us, but He also gives us the tools to overcome the problem…
Rev 3:18-19, “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.”
I: GET INVOLVED WITH GOD! (He is always moving. Jump in and be used!)
IN ORDER TO BE RICH, GOD’S PEOPLE NEED TO PURCHASE HIS REFINED GOLD.
You’re poor: buy His gold. How? Do I offer God some extra cash in exchange for some of the good gold? No, He doesn’t use the same currency that we use. What can we give to God in exchange for the good gold? Our will, our obedience. To love God is to obey Him.
How does one store treasure in Heaven?
With good works…
1 Tim 6:18-19, “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”
Would God define you as a person “always rich in good deeds, generous and willing to share?”
Look for God’s movement in your life, ask Him for opportunities and take them!
Then you will begin to see your place in His plan, you will begin to see Him at work in and through you. He will restore a new motivation into your heart and life.
II: Clothe yourself in Righteousness. Sin drags us down, kills our motivation, separates us from God and makes us Luke warm in our walk with God.
III: See with eyes of faith. Ask the Lord to heal you, to give you spiritual eyesight so you can see Him at work around you, so you can walk in faith and see according to His sight. Quit being discouraged by what you see with your physical eyesight: it only kills your motivation.
Finally, remember that God disciplines you because He loves you…
Rev 3:19, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.”
REPENT and REBUILD!
CONCLUDE: Illustration: An apple. It’s a body, designed to feed, to nourish, to be broken.
If it sits on the counter and is never consumed it dies, decays… It’s a total waste.
It’s purpose is in the fulfillment of it’s cause: to be consumed, to be used, to give itself for the good of something much larger than itself.
So, we are wasted when we sit aside and watch life go by. And although it may occasionally hurt to be broken and poured out, the fulfillment of our cause is to give ourselves to the good of something much larger than ourselves: the plan of God.
Heb 6:10-12, “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”
Every seed that falls to the ground and is buried rises again to new life.
For those who understand the principle of sewing and reaping, it is nothing to serve God, even in the things we don’t want to do. Rather, it is an honor and an opportunity to invest in His greater plan.
For those who understand the principle of sewing and reaping, the promise is eternal life.
Rev 3:20, “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.”
Is there something you feel lukewarm about today? Is it your relationship with Jesus?
Has it been a while since you’ve witnessed the power and grace of your God?
Perhaps you have slipped into a pattern of mediocrity. Maybe you’ve accepted the religious norm: the status-quos lifestyle, and as a result, your relationship has become boring.
Don’t sit there and wonder why you don’t see exciting and powerful things happening in your life and through your life, why you live a status-quos Christian life and feel lackluster about church, worship and the Word of God if you’ve neglected your relationship with Him.
When you plug into God, He will excite you… with His plans, His purposes and His power in your life and through your life. It all rests in a developing relationship with God through Jesus Christ.
Repent of your mediocrity and work more on your relationship with Jesus. Do His work!
Be available to do God’s will and invest in His plans.
Be available to serve long term: be dependable and steadfast.
Be there for the people who aren’t yet... Don’t let the church suffer because you aren’t working.
Phil 2:13-18, “for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
14 Do everything without complaining or arguing,
15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe
16 as you hold out the word of life-- in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing.
17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
18 So you too should be glad and rejoice with me.
Thank You, Lord for letting me be involved where You are!
