The Lukewarm...

"So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."

Revelation 3:16

Currently, I'm slowly going through Francis Chan's Crazy Love. I know, it was SO last year, but there are several parts that are quite convicting, in my own faith and walk in Christ. Francis writes a significant portion of his book detailing the life and faith, or lack thereof, of the nominal, complacent, or lukewarm Christian. Seeing these same examples in my own life is a slap in the face, and very humbling. Therefore, I felt the need to reproduce them below so his, and God's words may bear fruit.

Lukewarm people attend church fairly regularly. It is what is expected of them, what they believe "good Christians" do, so they go.

The Lord says:

“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught. (Isa. 29:13)

Lukewarm people tend to choose what is popular over what is right when they are in conflict. The desire to fit in both at church and outside of church; they care more about what people thinking of their actions than what God thinks of their hearts and lives.

Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets. (Luke 6:26)

I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead." (Rev. 3:1)

Lukewarm people don't really want to be saved from their sin; they want only to be saved from the penalty of their sin. They don't genuinely hate sin and aren't truly sorry for it; they're merely sorry because God is going to punish them. Lukewarm people don't believe that this new life Jesus offers is better than the old sinful one.

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Rom. 6:1-2)

Lukewarm people rarely share their faith with their neighbors, coworkers, or friends. They do not want to be rejected, nor do they want to make people uncomfortable by talking about private issues like religion.

Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. (Matt. 10:32-33)

Lukewarm people feel secure because they attend church, made a profession of faith at age twelve, were baptized, come from a Christian family, vote Republican, or live in America. Just as the prophets in the O.T. warned Israel, so we are not safe just because we wear the label Christian or because some people persist in calling us a "Christian nation."

Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' (Matt. 7:21-23)

Lukewarm people probably drink and swear less than average, but besides that, they really aren't very different from your typical unbeliever. They equate their partially sanitized lives with holiness, but they couldn't be more wrong.

Matthew 23:25-28

-Reed