Are You Cold?

 At the outset of this piece let me say, I have not nor should I (or anyone else) ever set aside the grace of God, but I feel, for a moment, at least conceptually, we must. I will return to it, but if the concept of grace has become an excuse, it is not serving us well. A true understanding of grace will never allow for it to become an excuse. In reality grace underpins everything and makes it possible for us to enter into a loving relationship with a Holy and sinless God, but grace is a means and not an end. The end, after the glory of God is holiness, and grace the means through which we arrive there. Not by our merit or righteousness, but by his mercy and grace.

So (the concept of) grace being set aside, let's begin.

The words of Jesus from Revelation 3 struck me again recently and with some force. I am not one on whom these words have yet done their work, so my comments come very much from the trenches and I say them with empathy and identification. I don't believe the evidence of what I have seen around me indicates that we truly believe them. 

He said:

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!~ Rev 3:15

 

The intrinsic problem is this. We see lukewarm as preferable. We see lukewarm as superior to cold. We see lukewarm as a step along the way to hot. But we are not listening. 

Jesus would prefer it if you were cold.

Have we really let that sink in?

The lie is that there is an in-between middle ground with Jesus-following. But he clearly told us, whoever seeks to come after me, let them lay down their lives.

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life[f] will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?~ Matt 16:24-25

Someone who has determined to lay down their life, to lose their lives whether inch by inch in the daily denying, or the all-in-one leap of martyrdom is never going to be described as lukewarm. This is why Jesus gives us the warnings about counting the cost before we embark on the journey (Luke 14:25-33) and listen to the caveats; 

• If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.
• And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
• In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

Is Jesus describing anyone who could be described as lukewarm? What do you think? And the option he leaves for those opposed to these choices is that they cannot be my disciple.

Did we not notice how Jesus the evangelist did almost everything to put (certain) people off, rather than make it easy by appealing to their love of comfort and happiness?

And we allow ourselves to believe that in our compromise of staying lukewarm, we are at least on the journey, but we have forgotten where the starting point is. It's hot. And we then allow ourselves to believe the change is round the corner whilst enabling ourselves to stay in our sins and idolatries. 

Why would Jesus rather you were cold?

Because then at least you would be being honest, and you would not be deceived. You are in more danger than you realise.

And a lukewarm disciple is a false advert for Christ. It is used to spread the lies and misconceptions. It misrepresents and becomes a tool of the enemy.

How many of you know that when you have tried to ramp up your commitment that the devil suddenly went on the offensive?  Why was he so quiet before? Because you weren't a threat in your slumbered state. He was as happy with your tepid temperature as Jesus was displeased.

I don't need to push this with you. I am already falling under conviction myself and I have only scratched the surface.

I can't emphasise grace enough. There is NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus but we are told also by John;

No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.~ 1John 3:6

Now we can take comfort from John too, as he previously said, whoever claims to be without sin deceives himself and the truth is not in him. This is comforting because there is an acknowledgement of our weakness. John is saying, everyone has sin in them. This in itself is not the evidence of our lukewarm state. But there are remedies for our sin, and as his children we are not settled in it, not happy to continue in it. Going forward though;

• But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)
• If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (v9)
• This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.(1 John 3:19-20)

Clearly we weren't expected to happily live with our sinful weakness indefinitely and excuse it forever. Grace is a treatment program that enables us to tackle our sin, whilst united with a holy God, but it was never supposed to make us comfortable to simply surrender our holiness or postpone or procrastinate and otherwise put off our transformation. Paul starts with the idea 'I no longer live but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live by faith in the son of God who loves me and gave himself for me'.

So grace gives me confidence that this is possible, but Jesus' words challenge me to the core. Would I be spat out? Spewed up? Do I want to cause Jesus to gag and puke?

So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 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. 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.~ Rev 3:16-18

We see the solution. It is to come to Jesus and exchange our riches for his remedy . Always to come to Jesus. We could take this as condemnation but it isn't. The rebuke itself is a grace if it causes a change in us.  

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent. ~19

 

Have we heard his voice today? We mustn't harden our hearts. The invitation that we so often give out to the unchurched really applies to us...

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 that person, and they with me. ~v20