Could YOU Be Denying Christ?
Why did Jesus Christ express such concern toward those He called "lukewarm"? Why did He say He would rather they be "cold"?
The young man's attitude and approach to Jesus Christ was not childlike!
Jesus
had just taken little children up in His arms, and blessed them. Jesus
said, "Of such is the kingdom of God," then reiterated, "Whoever does
not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter
it" (Luke 18:16-17).
The young ruler, holder of substantial
prestige and honor, sought from Jesus that final ingredient that would,
in like manner, qualify him for God's Kingdom. With a guise of
humility, he admitted to keeping the Ten Commandments "from my youth."
He was quick to point out his good points, and seemed desirous of
knowing if there might be anything else he should be doing — ifany such
thing remained.
He didn't expect the answer he received.
His
cloak of humility slipped a
bit when he approached Jesus with a salutation of
subtle flattery: "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal
life?" (verse 18).
Jesus reacted: "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God" (verse 19).
When
Jesus heard the profession of righteousness, He reminded the young man
that in spite of all his marvelous accomplishments, "You still lack one
thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will
have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me" (verse 22).
Typically
unchildlike, the young man received the admonition sorrowfully and went
away, for he was very rich. Or he thought he was (verse 23).
He
professed a desire to live righteously, but his fruits did not bear out
the profession. He asked what he might do to prove his intentions, but
when Jesus' reply did not meet his approval, he walked away.
He was guilty of bearing false witness!
James
was inspired to write, "A doubleminded man is
unstable in all his ways" (James 1:8, Authorized Version).
The
young man wanted the Kingdom of God, but he did not wish to relinquish
his positions and possessions. He wanted to "have his cake and eat it,
too." He had forgotten Jesus' words as revealed in Luke 14: "If anyone
comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children,
brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My
disciple" (verse 26).
The young ruler was not willing to forsake all in order to be Jesus Christ's disciple.
Jesus wants us hot
In
an admonition to the future Laodicean church, Jesus said: "I know thy
works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or
hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I
will spue thee out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:15-16, AV).
Jesus
is telling any with such an attitude, in essence, "I wish you would be
hot, but if you will not be hot, I would rather have you be cold!"
If
we as Christians are hot, we will be all the way into — pulsating with,
excited with, breathing, eating, sleeping — this way of life. We will
have our arms locked around the tree of life — Jesus Christ being the
trunk or vine, and we the branches — where we may be dressed and
nourished by the Father, the vinedresser (John 15:1-6).
If we
are lukewarm, we will be slowly simmering to death. We will be lacking
real warmth or feeling of enthusiasm (the word enthusiasm comes from
the roots en and theos, literally meaning "God in you"). We will have
little involvement. We will be just barely there.
The person who
continues to be lukewarm right up until Jesus Christ's return simply
will not make it into God's Kingdom. The person who is hot, on the
other hand, will literally burst into eternity as a member of the
Family of God.
But what about being cold? Why would Jesus rather we be cold than lukewarm?
Jesus
answers that for us in I Corinthians 5:1-5: "It is actually reported
that there is sexual immorality among you . . . and you are puffed up,
and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be
taken away from among you. [Therefore] deliver such a one to Satan for
the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day
of the Lord Jesus."
The person who is hot is all the way in God's
Church. The person who is cold is all the way out of God's Church — but
may yet be saved through the crucible of life in Satan's world. He may
come to real repentance before the return of Jesus Christ, and
experience that marvelous change into the God Family in the twinkling
of an eye at Jesus' coming. The flesh may be destroyed, but the spirit
will not be relegated to that eternal death.
But what about the lukewarm person?
Jesus
said: "So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I
will spew you out of My mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich, have become
wealthy, and have need of nothing — and do not know that you are
wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked" (Revelation 3:16-17).
Jesus reminded them that they only thought they were rich, when, in
reality, their spiritual poverty was made obvious by their conduct.
They professed to be something that they were not.
The lukewarm attitude
If
we say we are Christians, we will be living as Jesus Christ does. We
will walk as He walked, in absolute harmony with God the Father in
everything pertinent to this way of life. We will willingly abide by
the rulings and teachings of the Body of Christ, into which we have
been mercifully added. We will be truly rich in obedience, loyalty,
involvement, faithfulness, commitment. We will be seeking correction in
prayer and Bible study, and we will accept that correction as
life-saving, without any attempt at self-justification.
The
Laodicean attitude talks back! Jesus remarked, "Because you say . . ."
(verse 17). Self-justification! The Laodicean replies in other words,
"You don't understand — this is why I do it this way."
Self-justification, whether we are right or wrong, reveals an attitude
that is less than childlike.
Even the patriarch Job said: "If I
justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am
perfect, it shall also prove me perverse" (Job 9:20, AV).
The
lukewarm, professing Christian will feel comfortable justifying his
less-than-total commitment. He will find fault and criticize the status
quo.
The book of Malachi chronicles that lukewarm attitude for
our admonition. The people ask, "In what way have we defiled You?",
trying to justify giving less than the best in sacrifice (Malachi 1:7).
In verses 12-14, God replies:
"You
profane it, in that you say, 'The table of the Lord is defiled; and its
fruit, its food, is contemptible.' You also say, 'Oh, what a
weariness!' And you sneer at it. . . and you bring the stolen, the
lame, and the sick; thus you bring an offering! Should I accept this
from your hand? . . . But cursed be the deceiver who has in his flock a
male, and makes a vow, but sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished —
for I am a great King. . . and My name is to be feared among the
nations."
Our profession, at baptism, was to go all the way. We
said, by words and actions, that we wanted God to teach us His ways. We
had supposedly counted the cost. We were, at least briefly, childlike.
We were, at that time, hot.
Subsequent reading through the book
of Malachi shows that the people had an argumentative attitude
regarding marriage relationships (chapter 2) and financial obligations
(chapter 3). In each case there is an attitude of being neither all the
way involved in this way of life nor, on the other hand, all the way
out.
Rather, there is a desire to maintain an attitude that
could be phrased this way: "Isn't it better that I have a little
involvement than none at all? Isn't it better to have at least a facade
of righteousness — attending services most of the time, sending at
least some money (even if not a full tithe), allowing self to succumb
to drunkenness or gluttony occasionally, picking and choosing those
areas of Christianity in which I feel comfortable?"
Jesus Christ emphatically says that is not so. "I would thou wert cold or hot." No in-between. Not lukewarm.
How
serious is it? Jesus says to those who are lukewarm that He will spew
them out, or vomit them up. In other words, luke-warmness sickens the
very stomach of our Savior.
Being lukewarm denies Christ
It
takes faith to live God's way of life. Jesus inspired, "Now the just
shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure
in him" (Hebrews 10:38). And in verses 26-27 of the same chapter, He
reminds, "For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge
of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a
certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which
will devour the adversaries."
How are we lukewarm?
Jesus
refers to "those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of
uncleanness and despise authority. They are presumptuous, self-willed;
they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries" (II Peter 2:10). They
argue. They justify! They are quick to talk back to the authority of
Almighty God. And they are truly bearing false witness! Professing to
be Christian — followers of Christ — their conduct totally violates the
nature of that Christ.
The Guidebook to our profession
exhorts: "Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His
commandments. He who says, I know Him,' and does not keep His
commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. . . . He who says
he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked" (I John
2:3-6). If we walk in the way that Jesus Christ wants us to choose, we
will be hot!
We will have proved the dramatic existence of the
creating God Family. The world and the universe around us will have
been revealed to us as the manifestation of the works of a Creator,
Designer, Lawgiver, Sustainer, Orchestrator, Life-giver and Responder
to the needs of the creation.
We will know and know that we know
the veracity of the Word of God, as revealed in the pages of the Bible.
We will have pored over and ingested its life-giving words of
instruction. We will have proved the faithfulness of God, incorporating
into our lives His every word.
And we will have established
irrefutably where the Church is that Jesus Christ said He would build.
We will know the basic beliefs of that Church and believe them. We will
know intimately the Church's basic doctrines as revealed in Hebrews
6:1-2, and will abide by them with every fiber of our being.
We
will be attuned to the policies of God's Church, which are generated
from the top down according to the system of government God has placed
in His Church, and will desire to get wholeheartedly in step with them.
In
I Corinthians 11, after explaining the Church teaching regarding
hair length, the apostle Paul concluded with, "But if anyone seems to
be contentious, we have no such custom, nor do the churches of God"
(verse 16).
Paul stated the facts, realizing that there might be
some who would not be in total agreement and who would be quick to
express that disagreement, and established the authority behind those
facts by adding, "We have no such custom," That's it, Paul said.
Obey—and be hot. Disobey, justify, compromise, maintain a questioning
posture—and be lukewarm.
Or, view the crescendo of God's burgeoning work from the outside by being cold.
Being
hot means agreeing with those beliefs, doctrines and policies and doing
them- Being cold means disagreeing with them and walking the other way.
All the way in, or all the way out!
Being
lukewarm destroys character. Being less than total in our commitment
allows for pretense, spiritual game-playing, and bears false witness.
In other words, breaks the commandments of God.
"I am the Lord
your God," thunders the Creator. "You shall have no other gods before
Me" (Exodus 20:2-3). Peter said, inspired by Jesus, "For by whom a
person is overcome, by him also he is brought into bondage" (II Peter
2:19). Anything less than total commitment produces a double-minded
person, and no one can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24).
If we
violate the First Commandment, we become guilty of breaking the
remaining nine (James 2:10). We take the name of God by professing to
be Christians, but it is in vain, or without basis, if we live
contrarily. It all has to do with obedience and commitment. No
commandment is excluded from violation if we are lukewarm,
self-justifying and hypocritical in our profession of faith.
Judgment on us now
"The
Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but
is long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but
that all should come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9). God has begun a
good work in us, and His desire is- for us to make it into His Kingdom
(Philippians 1:6).
Why, then, if Jesus' desire is for us to make
it, would that same Jesus express so graphically that He would rather
we be cold than lukewarm?
Let Jesus Himself answer that question.
"And
you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: 'My
son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when
you are rebuked by Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and
scourges every son whom He receives.' If you endure chastening, God
deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does
not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have
become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons" (Hebrews
12:5-8).
Peter recorded that "the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God" (I Peter4:17).
God
is not yet dealing with the masses of humanity around this world — not
yet judging them according to their works. He is judging His Church —
those who profess to be witnesses not only for Jesus Christ but of Him
as He resides in us — and God realizes the time is short.
The
principle in I Corinthians 5:5, mentioned earlier, "Deliver such a one
to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved
in the day of the Lord Jesus," helps explain the answer.
Jesus
continues, in Hebrews 12:10-11: "For they [our physical fathers] indeed
for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our
profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no chastening
seems to be joyful for the present, but grievous; nevertheless,
afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who
have been trained by it."
Jesus Christ asks us to choose life.
He knows that unless we are totally committed, we will be lukewarm, and
if we are lukewarm, we will not attain to that life — eternal life in
the Family of God.
He would rather we be hot or cold — because He loves us!
By Robert C. Smith The GOOD NEWS August 1984
