The Lord requires us to have a passion, to be zealous, but
to truly know and understand passion and zeal, one must examine what it means
to be lukewarm.
Lukewarm
is neither hot nor cold. It is no good to the Lord. Lukewarm is being
complacent, lazy, willfully ignorant, and downright detrimental to the faith.
Someone
who is lukewarm does not like arguments or division so they will do whatever it
takes to make the opposing party happy. Whether they be Mormon, Liberal, JW,
Atheist, or Homosexual, they will evade certain topics like truth, the Bible,
science, ethics, etc. They are the ones who cannot “hate the sin but love the
sinner” because hatred, from their twisted perspective, is morally wrong and
looked down upon in the world. It is far too easy for them to be loved by the
world then to have love for the Lord.
Someone
who is lukewarm is lazy because they do not wish to study the Scriptures, to
seek out and confront the wolves, to reprove and exhort their brothers and
sisters of the faith. They would much rather sit in the comfort of their church
pew and hear the same sermons, sing the same songs, and definitely stay away
from anything that may stir the pot. They would much rather blend in and turn a blind eye to
corruption and false teaching. Just
continue on the road to Jericho…stepping over the bodies.
Someone
who is lukewarm is both stupid and just flat out willfully ignorant. Willfully
ignorant because if they learned of the truth, they would be devoured by shame.
Shame for not knowing sooner and shame for realizing what they have become…a
coward. When the truth is presented or known by a believer, they cannot be
still or silent in the face of opposition.
Someone
who is lukewarm is downright detrimental to the faith… so undesirable and
useless that the Lord will spit them out. They have become a tool for the
enemy. Christianity was not founded on apathy, nay, it was founded on passion,
zeal, and self-sacrifice.
The Lord
does not desire a corpse. All throughout Scripture we see examples of those
godly men who were zealous for the Lord: Abraham, Elijah, Phinehas, Stephen,
Paul, etc. These were not men who kept silent. Stephen was not stoned to death
because he gently reproved the Jews. Phinehas was not declared a friend of the
Lord because he sat idly by as corruption descended upon the Israelites. The
church is built upon sacrifice. Sacrifices will not be made by those who are
unmoved by the world around them.
You should watch the RVL on this topic... it shows that hot and cold doesn't talk about spiritual fervor vs. coldness, it was a geographical statement. He was talking to the people in Laodicea, who had their water mixed between Heiropolis and Colossae. Heiropolis was known for their hot mineral springs, which were renown for their medical soothing effects. People from around the world came to visit them. Colossae, on the other hand, whose water was cold and refreshing. This water refreshed weary travelers. However, those two cities waters were mixed in the middle, at Laodicea. The cold water was mixed with the hot mineral water, making lukewarm water, that was not hot enough to have medical effects, and not cold enough to be refreshing to drink. Also, the minerals from the hot springs would cause anyone who drank it to get sick. Therefore, when it says "I wish that you were hot or cold," it is being said that both the hot and cold have a purpose, but the lukewarm isn't good for anything. Therefore, we can either mimic the healing effects of the hot baths, or the refreshing aspects of the cold streams. If that makes sense...
ReplyDeleteThank you for your response. You see, in actuality, you agree with everything I had said in this blog. The Hot Springs and the Cold Water were good for something while the Lukewarm water was worthless. God does not desire something that cannot be used and throughout Scripture we see God admonishing those with passion and spiritual fervor. Hence, passion and spiritual fervor correlate with Hot and Cold and is the opposite of Lukewarm
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