Disciple Now 2011, Session 4: Lukewarm? Or on Fire?

Passion or laziness?

The video we just watched is pretty silly isn’t it? Here you have a group of firefighters that never go out of the station. They are relaxed, enjoying their fellowship, cooking on the grill or watching TV. They never answer the call.

I am sure that you have heard the statement “Lukewarm Christian” before because we have discussed it on Wednesday night in the past. But what does being a lukewarm Christian mean? For a long time I thought of it this way: A lukewarm Christian is one who can just coast by in life. They are someone who doesn’t ever getting convicted of big sins and who doesn’t get involved in God’s work because they just aren’t called.

You can almost get envious of them cant you? They have all the perks of being a Christian, the hope of heaven, but they don’t have to get their hands dirty with God’s work. Their lives don’t ever get complicated because they have “Just enough” of God.

It kind of makes you sick doesn’t it? When you have a passion for the things of God, or you have experienced Him in amazing ways, it is very difficult to imagine that kind of a lifestyle isn’t it? It’s pretty much laziness. Who here likes lazy people? How about when you are working on a group project with a lazy person, or persons? It is a terrible experience because it seems like they just do not care. They affect your grade because of their work ethic.

I want to challenge you tonight to examine this idea of being lukewarm. It is so important that we go to Scripture to find out truth and not allow for other people to influence us in what we believe. With that being said, what does Scripture say about being lukewarm? Or being a lukewarm Christian?

*Re 3:14–16 ¹⁴ “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. ¹⁵ “ ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! ¹⁶ So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

            The first thing we need to see here is that this is a letter to the church in Laodicea. A church is receiving this message. It is a group of people who actually think that they are doing what they are supposed to be doing for God. Or at least they are trying to squeak by with the least they can do and still inherit God’s kingdom.

            Let’s look at Jesus’ reaction to a lukewarm group of people. He wishes that they were either cold or hot, but because they are neither one He will spit them out of His mouth. There isn’t a lot of room for interpretation here. Jesus will expel them from His mouth, in effect, from His presence.

            I hate lukewarm coffee. It is pretty much the worst thing in the world. Boiling hot coffee is amazing. Cold, iced coffee is incredible. Coffee that is room temperature is terrible! If I make the mistake of sipping a cup of lukewarm coffee, I do my best to swallow it, but it is a struggle.

            Just based off of this scripture you can already surmise that it doesn’t look good for anyone to be lukewarm. Let’s take it a step further.

Breakdown of Being Lukewarm

*Re 3:17–18 ¹⁷ For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

            These are the people at the church replying in this way. Don’t worry about it, I don’t need anything. I am rich, why would I need anything else? I am safe because I prayed a prayer. You can see that we are blessed because we are prospering. Guys, we have been talking about our identity this weekend. Doesn’t this reaction make you a little uncomfortable?

Let’s contrast this with what the Bible says about followers of Christ.

*Luke 24:49 ⁴⁹ And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

            We are promised to be clothed with the Holy Spirit. We will have His power evident in our lives because the Spirit will be a physical part of ourselves.

*Romans 13:14 ¹⁴ Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.

            Our identity is to be like Christ. We should not look to gratify our own selfish, sinful desires, but to be set apart for Him. In other words, we should not be lazy before Him seeking our own pleasure.

*Galatians 3:26–29 ²⁶ You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, ²⁷ for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

            We have the promise of the inheritance of God’s kingdom. Once again we see the analogy of being clothed with Christ. We are safe in Him if we have believed in Christ as Lord.

*1 Peter 1:3–9 ³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, ⁹ obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Our lives are lived through trials and tribulations so that our faith will be refined and prove to be genuine (vs.7). That doesn’t sound like an afternoon on the couch does it? That sounds like putting our faith to action.

Our faith, once found to be true, will result in praise and glory and honor for Jesus Christ (vs.7). Jesus will rejoice with us because we are following after Him. He finds pleasure and joy when He looks at our lives because He sees a people that long to serve and honor Him.

We are filled with joy because of Him. We are obtaining the outcome of our faith, the salvation of our souls (vs.9). Our lives are visibly different. What does it mean to be filled with joy? To be overcome, giddy, with happiness! We should have joy in our lives because we know that following God has caused us to be different. We should have joy because Jesus Christ Himself is happy to look at us!

Lukewarm, or Unsaved?

Pretend this is the first time you have read this scripture in Revelation. What is the Bible really saying about people who are lukewarm? Jesus will spit them out of His mouth. There is no room for it, it is disgusting to Him. He goes on to say that the lukewarm are poor, blind, and naked. People to be pitied. Is that what Jesus says about people who are found in Him? No! We just looked at a fraction of the scripture that talks about people who are found in Christ. They have eyes wide open; they are clothed, rich, and blessed.

Here is the gut wrenching reality. Lukewarm Christianity does not exist. There are Christians who long to follow God, and people who have been fooled into thinking that they can just squeak by and still inherit God’s kingdom.

Going from lukewarm, to on Fire

Those firefighters we watched just a little while ago were dressed like firemen. They had all the equipment. They even have the uniforms. But they never answered the call. If you stepped back and looked at that situation what would you say? Those guys are even firemen!

Revelation 3:14 says that the letter was written to a church. They looked like a church, acted like a church, but they were lukewarm. They were unsaved people pretending to have a relationship with God. This is what Jesus goes on to say to them:

*Re 3:18 ¹⁸ I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

Christ is pleading with them to turn to Him, to have their eyes open and that they would be clothed by Him. He was pleading with them that they would actually follow Him in faith and be saved. Do you know what this tells me? It tells me that being in church doesn’t guarantee your salvation.

Do you know what else this tells me? That Jesus wants us to be passionate about following Him. You can’t partially follow directions and get to where you are supposed to go. You will end up somewhere you weren’t planning on going to. We can’t be halfhearted in a decision to follow God. There is only one way.

If your life is not a reflection of a passion for Christ, you need to pray that God changes your attitude towards Him. Being lukewarm leads to judgment, not a smack on the wrist. We tend to think of being lukewarm as a Christian description. But that is not how Jesus portrays it.

It’s dangerous to be lukewarm, so let’s change that mentality. Let’s move from allowing others to accept this position and lead by example.

Wear it, live it

We have been talking about finding our identity in Christ, not putting on an act, have you thought about it? Are you found in Christ and are you being transformed by Him on a daily basis? Or are you playing the game? Jesus saw people in this church at Laodicea that were playing the game and they thought they had it made. But Jesus says that they were wretched and to be pitied because they were heading towards judgment, not His grace.

We are to be clothed with Christ. There is no faking that and there is no reality to being a lukewarm Christian. They don’t exist.

This topic breaks my heart because I look at our congregation and I see the lie of being a lukewarm Christian being accepted. Stay comfortable, you don’t need to give anything up for Christ. But that is another lie that the devil will try to spread so that Christianity is no threat to his plans.

We know that our identity is in Him alone and we need to make sure that we are making Him known so that we may help save some.

Disciple Now 2011, Session 2: What is my story?

What is My Story

            We talked yesterday about the issue of where our identity is found. But who are we really? Does our life show that we are actually in Christ, or is it saying that we are found outside of Him?

            For this session, I really want you to think about your testimony, your story. Part of discovering where you are in your walk with Christ is simply taking an account of your life’s story. So, what is it? What markers do you have in your life that show Christ’s imprint? Do you have a life that has been altered by Him?

            We found out yesterday that our lives without Christ are really not “lives” at all. We are dead in our trespasses before God. What does that mean for us though? We can do nothing apart from God calling us to be reconciled to Him. A dead thing doesn’t do all that much right? Just kind of sits there, lifeless, probably smelling pretty badly too. That is a pretty stark picture isn’t it?

            So, what were you like before you knew Christ? What is your story? When I was younger I struggled with a spirit of anger. Not just a little bit either. It was pretty bad. Coupled with that was this perfectionist attitude. Those two things together make for a pretty volatile mix! If I didn’t do as well as I wanted to in school, or didn’t get something accomplished perfectly, I would throw a fit. I was pretty much a terror. I was dead in my sins.

What did that scripture say yesterday though? That we are made alive in Christ. There should be a significant change in our hearts and minds once we have come to Christ shouldn’t there be? If you just think about the analogy, we are dead things, lifeless and without hope, but all the sudden life is breathed into us! Our dead, decaying bodies are healed and we stand up. We are actually made alive because of what Christ has done in our lives!

Once I gave my life over to Christ, the most immediate significant change was that I was no longer the angry child that I once was. There was a tangible difference in my life because of Christ. Peace replaced my anger. Christ replaced my attitude.

What’s in it for me?

*Philippians 3:7–14 ⁷ But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰ that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

            We need to evaluate our lives even further than just what can be seen on the outside. As Americans, we put a LOT of emphasis on our outward appearance don’t we? But our appearance does not always mean that we have truly been altered on the inside. We put on faces through Facebook or how we act at school.

            Let’s evaluate our heart. Our very motives for doing the things that we do. Paul says in Philippians 3 that whatever he had gained in life, he counted it a loss, rubbish, so that he could gain Christ. His attitude is that everything in this life can be chalked up to one thing. Junk. Is that your attitude? Probably not. My attitude is that I like my flatscreen TV. I like my time. I like our new car. I like a lot of things in this life that I don’t chalk up to a loss. You have stuff too don’t you? Your cool phone, your ipod, or whatever it is. Or do you count it as a loss because it distracts you from your relationship with Christ?

            It is easy to put on an act. It is simple to trick people into thinking that you are a Christian. But your heart tells the true story and you know it. My heart tells a true story because it knows my thoughts and what is important to me.

            Why did Paul count all that he had ever gained as a loss? As rubbish? In order that I may gain Christ and be found IN him. Paul is saying that he would rather throw everything away, whether it is money, popularity, an easy life, just so that he could know Christ and be found in Him. To be rooted in Christ.

            This speaks volumes about Paul’s commitment to Christ. If he were living in America right now, what would it look like? Would he be coined as a fanatic? Or would you wish that you were like him because of his love for God.

            In Philippians 3:10 Paul goes on. Not only does he not give credence to the things that he has gained here on earth, but he would rather share in Christ’s sufferings, become like Him in His death, so that by all means possible he might receive the resurrection from the dead. Paul doesn’t make this sound like an easy thing to do does He? To give up all that he has to suffer with Christ? Paul’s passion for following God had no boundaries. By any means possible He would fight to follow Christ. He would fight to remember that the things on this earth are not of any eternal significance.

            Why is it that our attitude is so often, “What is in it for me?” If you are in Christ your attitude should reflect a change of heart that asks, “What is in it for God?” Are we here right now because we thought this weekend would be fun? Or because we truly wanted to grow in our relationship with God. Because a weekend studying His word is more important to us than anything else in this world?

            What is your attitude towards God? Let’s just get real for a while. Are sports more important? Is having your relaxation after school or work more important? Is entertainment more important? What is your heart really telling God?

Given a New Story:

If you are a Christian your worth is now found in knowing Christ. With that idea, do you count everything a loss so that you can gain Christ? What have you given up for Him this week? Today? Will you throw aside anything that tries to take God’s place in your life?

You may be thinking, “Whoa, that is a little more than what I signed up for!” If you are, then you may want to re-evaluate your commitment to Christ.

*Luke 9:57–62 ⁵⁷ As they were going along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” ⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” ⁵⁹ To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹ Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” ⁶² Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

God doesn’t ask for what you “think” you can give Him. He is not satisfied with our petty offerings and weak minded attempts to please Him. Christ has changed my focus. Now I am in Him and my attitude should be that everything else I count as loss. Everything that I work for that is not kingdom minded and focused will ultimately be worthless in the long run.

My New Story: Christ has made me His own.

*Philippians 3:12 ¹² Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³ Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Did Paul consider Himself to have “Made it” as a Christian? Not according to this verse. He still struggled with sin. But what did he say about it? Paul says that he forgets what lies behind him. All the mistakes and failures are swallowed up in forgiveness by Christ. That is another awesome benefit to being in Christ.

Paul was pressing on toward the goal of his calling. Are you? We know it is going to be hard, but are you actively pressing forward towards Christ? To be found in Christ means that we strive towards the goal of knowing Him.

What does that look like? I strain towards Christ. My soul and strength are poured out in fighting for Him. I push, shove and punch through anything that pulls me aside from Christ.

So what makes you… you?

Christ Jesus has made you His own, by nothing you did, only by everything He has already done. The price has been paid for you to be able to forget your past. Right now, at this point in time, you are able to turn to Christ and say, “I want you to identify my life, I want to be in Christ.”

Let’s go back to the original question. What makes you, you? Is your life a reflection of who you really are? Or are you busy trying to build an image that covers up your true heart? Do you have things in your past that haunt you? Things that you wish you had forgiveness for? Are those what define your life?

If you are in Christ, your identity is no longer any of those things. You are a new creation and your heart has been changed. Whether you know it or not, you can give your past to Christ and He can help you forget it. But the next step is important. That you begin pursuing Him the same way that Paul lines it out for us. Pressing forward to know Him more, to be identified with Christ so that you can gain life in Him.

How should that impact my life? You should be completely different. If not, you need to ask God to make you completely different. Be altered.

Is it Christ in you? Or is it just you?

Disciple Now 2011, Session 1: Our Spiritual Identity

*Ephesians 2:1–10

2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Personal Profile: Who am I?

*Ephesians 2:1-3 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.

When we read over this passage it begs the question, “Who am I really?” Paul goes to great length to tell us just who we really are. You know, you can tell a lot from someone’s Facebook profile. Many of my friends from living in Africa, or friends in college are acquainted with me on Facebook. Over time you see their real personalities come to life on their profiles.  

One of my good friends had some seriously goofy stuff on his information page. He said different things like how he was a superhero that could fly, but was sometimes scared of heights.

Social networking can be a great way to keep up with people, start new friendships, and a lot of other things, but it can just as easily show us who we really are. Just like my friend who allowed his goofy nature to come across the internet you can quickly find posers, or people that talk the talk but don’t walk the walk.

The sad thing is that many of my college group friends are in this group. They still have the “religious” things posted on their page. “I am a Christian, a follower of Christ, The Bible is my “favorite book”. Whatever. When you see their posts, they are full of profanity. When you look at their pictures all you see are the crazy parties they go to and how much they can drink.

So who are we really? Are we who we portray, or are we the person that we try to hide from everyone else?

When Paul says that we “were” dead in our trespasses and sins, that we “used” to follow the prince who is at work in the sons of disobedience, that we used to carry out the desires of our flesh, what is he saying? That we USED to do those things. But who is this pointed towards? Those who are found IN Christ. Otherwise you are still, by nature, children of wrath like the rest of mankind.

This isn’t talking about how you cause destruction everywhere you go. This is talking about how you are under God’s wrath because of the sin in your life. You are condemned because of your actions.

So who are you? What is your profile like? Is it a mask that you hide behind, saying that you are following Christ? Or an outlet to get with the “in” crowd? Where you allow your heart to pour itself out and show it’s true nature?

Defining moment: Who does God say I am?

Who does God say I am? After all, that is the most important thing isn’t it? It doesn’t matter what other people think, it just matters what God thinks. You may wonder, well, if God was going to judge me by my profile I am in pretty good shape. I have a lot of Bible quotes, I “like” good Christian music (None of that hard rock stuff) and movies. So there is nothing to worry about.

Here is the main issue. God looks at the heart, not your Facebook status.

*1 Sa 16:7 ⁷ But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”^[1]

The Lord looks at who we are, directly at the source. Not how we portray ourselves. When God sees you for who you really are, what do you think He sees?

The hard truth is this, we are sinners without hope. It’s pretty cut and dry. When you join up with Facebook your profiles really should automatically say, “Sinner from birth.” “Condemned by God.” Only after you have proved yourself to be a true follower of Christ should it allow you to upgrade to “Disciple” status.

A change in identity: Now found in Christ.

There are some updates you have to do your status. You see, Christ doesn’t just leave us in that situation. We have no way to get ourselves out from under God’s judgment. That is why Christ came in the first place. Let’s read the rest of this passage in Ephesians:

*Ephesians 2:5-7 ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Even when we were dead. While we were still lifeless beings that could only sin before God and bring His judgment upon ourselves, Christ made us alive in Him. Through Christ we have a new identity. Our profile can be changed to say that we are “in Christ”. We are made whole with Him. If you turn to Christ you have that same opportunity.

But what does it mean to be alive in Christ? Our very nature is changed. When God looks at us, He sees His perfect Son. Not Kevin the sinner who can do nothing but bring wrath upon himself. We have truly been “Altered” by Christ.

Being alive in Christ means that we are right with God. This Scripture says it in a powerful way:

*Eze 36:25–27 ²⁶ And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

            Christ will cause us to walk in His ways. He will help us to be obedient to God’s call on our lives through the Holy Spirit. This is such a change in our lives that our fleshly passions will no longer hold us down!

            Will we still sin? Yes. Unfortunately we are still sinners, but now we have the forgiveness of Christ that covers us. With a profile change this big though, you can count on sinning less and on being made more like Christ every day. That is if you allow the Spirit to continue a work in you.

Now Who Am I?

            If we have truly turned to God as a follower of Him our lives should be “Altered”. Everything should be different. Not only our attitudes here at Church, but our actions outside of church. Among our non-Christian classmates or work friends. We should be so different that when people see your Facebook profile years from now, they won’t say, “Wow, that person used to follow God, now look at them.”

            The thing about real change is that it stands the test of time. Several other friends of mine truly have the mark of Christ on their lives. When you look at their Facebook profiles, you see status updates about what God has taught them through their Bible study that day. You see plans for missions trips or how they lift up and encourage other people.

            Being “Altered” means that you are different. Not just today. Not tomorrow. But for eternity.

*Ephesians 2:9-10 ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast. ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

            We are God’s workmanship. God’s artwork. Who are we created in? In Christ Jesus so that we can now go forward and accomplish good works that God has prepared beforehand for us.

            What does that tell me? That being “Altered” means a whole lot more than just an attitude change. It means that our very nature is bent towards doing God’s will and accomplishing what He has planned for us. Part of that is good works and serving those in need. We will get a chance to do that tomorrow. Take some time to pray and ask God who you really are. If you haven’t made the conscious choice to follow Him as Lord and Savior, you are still a child of wrath. Make that decision today and get “Altered”!

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^[1] The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (1 Sa 16:7). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.

Disciple Now 2011

We had an excellent time at Disciple Now this year! Lot's of fun, fellowship, worship and Bible study! Don't miss next year! I am going to post the lessons here on the blog, if you missed out you can at least get caught up on what we learned!