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Get off the fence!
This is not a very popular message, but it’s a much needed one. Be honest with yourself and the Lord, and see how you measure up…
This post is for those who call themselves followers of Christ, but never really commit. It’s for people that never “get off the fence” for the sake of Christ. -Those who enjoy a comfortable existence in the middle ground. God calls these people lukewarm.
Many would think we are “living right” as long as we show up weekly to church, neatly pressed of course, and our kids don’t talk back to us. It seems to be all about keeping up appearances. That’s simply not enough for God.
Let’s take a look at a few of the lukewarm’s characteristics:
1.) Lukewarm people are generally very focused on today and their “to do” list as opposed to the eternal and the huge work that needs to be done for Christ.
“Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” Colossians 3:2
“For I have told you often before, and I say it again with tears in my eyes, that there are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for Him to return as our Savior.” Philippians 3:18-20
2.) Lukewarm people are ultra concerned with keeping up appearances. They speak of the things of God to impress others, but don’t mature or sacrifice for the cause of Christ. They want to do the bare minimum and still be a Christian. They ponder such questions as, “How much do I have to tithe?”, instead of, “How much can I tithe?” “How much time do I have to spend with God?”, instead of, “I wish I could spend more time with my Father!” Furthermore, lukewarm people prefer the safe and secure in life. They aren’t willing to take risks for the gospel. It’s as though their love in Christ is conditional.
“And so the Lord says, ‘These people say they are mine. They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’” Isaiah 29:13a
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too. What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.” Matthew 23:25-28
“I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth! You say, ‘I am rich. I have everything I want. I don’t need a thing!’ And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire. Then you will be rich. Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see.” Revelation 3:15-18
3.) The lukewarm gauge themselves by looking at the world instead of the cross, and as a result generally consider themselves to be pretty good Christians. It could be said that they don’t really want to be saved from their sin so much as the penalty that comes as a result of their sin. They tend to “push the envelope” of what they can get away with and still be saved.
4.) Lukewarm people are emotionally moved when they hear about a person’s sacrifice for God, yet they are not motivated to action. They simply label that believer as a “super saint” and slip back into their comfortable routine. Additionally, the lukewarm do not generally speak openly and unashamed about Christ. Unfortunately for the lukewarm, Jesus has something specific to say about this in the book of Matthew:
“Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But everyone who denies me here on earth, I will also deny before my Father in heaven. Matthew 10:32-33
5.) The lukewarm claim to love God and His ways, yet they don’t fully give themselves to the fulfillment of His work. They are more than content to give God the leftovers of their time and resources and do so only because they would feel guilty if they gave Him nothing at all. Christ is simply compartmentalized into a tidy little part of the lukewarm “believer’s” life and accessed when convenient or absolutely necessary.
6.) The lukewarm are unable to love unconditionally as Christ would.
“You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For He gives His sunlight to both the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that.” Matthew 5:43-47
7.) Lukewarm people place restrictions on just how much service or support they will give to the cause of Christ just as the rich man did in the following passage from the book of Luke. He simply wasn’t willing to fully commit with no strings attached.
“The man replied, ‘I’ve obeyed all these commandments since I was young.’ When Jesus heard his answer, He said, ‘There is still one thing you haven’t done. Sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.’ But when the man heard this he became very sad, for he was very rich. When Jesus saw this, He said, ‘How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God! In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!’” Luke 18:21-25
8.) Lukewarm people do not live by faith. They have managed to manipulate or plan things in such a way that life for them is mapped out and they don’t have to depend on God. From all outward appearances, they wouldn’t look a whole lot different if they didn’t believe in God.
Are we fully committed or simply half-hearted? There is a huge difference between a life that is being sanctified by God’s grace and the one who is trying to “get by” on salvation devoid of commitment to Christ.
“Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.’” Matthew 16:24-25
“And we can be sure that we know Him if we obey His commandments. If someone claims, ‘I know God,’ but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth.” 1 John 2:3-4
God wants and expects our best. He deserves more than our leftovers. Jesus sacrificed His all to save us and yet we give Him a shallow, insignificant portion of our time and label it as service. We mention the name of our church to a co-worker and label it a witness. We should be ashamed to give God anything less than our best. Jesus wants all or nothing. He commanded us to go and make disciples, not just accumulate a bunch of “saved” people that bear no fruit.
Being a follower of Christ is a full-time way of life, not a part-time venture. It’s deciding daily to be committed to Him and His glory for the rest of our lives.
In closing, let’s put this into perspective. Take inventory with this question: If the Lord stopped by your home or office and said, “follow me”, would your automatic response be to drop everything, forsake all, and go?
There is nothing, nothing that can compare to a life spent for Christ and the rewards that follow!
Who or what are you living for?
Most of us have been asked this question scores of times in church on Sunday. Before you tune me out, take a moment to quieten your heart, consider a few questions with me, and be honest with yourself.
Does your day, week, life revolve around you, your wife, kids, extended family, work, bills, etc…? Don’t get me wrong, we all have valid responsibilities, and it’s certainly important to care for ourselves. The question is, what is our reason for doing so? Is our focus to provide more “things”, a better car, or a higher quality of living for our families, or are we striving to enable those we care for to be the best they can be for Christ?
Being an effective Christian leader in our homes, communities, and workplaces means evaluating ourselves, (motives, character, desires, goals, etc…), then guiding others to do the same. We are to encourage others to Christlikeness. It’s about making Him the center of our lives, and the reason for everything we do. Some have told me this is “over the top”, “excessive”, even “radical” thinking. But to a God who is jealous of us, sent His Son to die for us, and wants to be at the center of our lives, it doesn’t sound so radical.
Consider with me 1 Corinthians 8:6 (NLT), “yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.”
That said, do you seek out ways to spend your life for the cause of Christ? Do you look for opportunities to be effective for Him? -or simply forget about Him during the week of commotion in between Sunday services? We are quick to remember and call upon Him in a crisis, but tend to forget to serve Him. We gave Him our lives when we accepted His free gift of salvation, but many have since, knowingly or otherwise, taken their lives back and grown complacent about living for Him first. Is this you?
This post is not intended to encourage anyone to quit their job and seek out service in a third world country. It’s a simple challenge to check ourselves and our motives. We need to dedicate our lives to Christ daily, and commit our ways to the fulfillment of His purpose. We must be certain He is at the absolute center of everything we do. All so His Kingdom may be advanced and He would receive the honor and glory for everything in our lives!
Romans 11:36 (NLT), “For everything comes from Him and exists by His power and is intended for His glory. All glory to Him forever! Amen.”
Does your soul thirst for God?
Whatever we enjoy, whatever distracts us in this life is not worth having if it keeps us from a close daily walk with God.
God has made us with a need to experience a close walk with Him. The reality is that personal fulfillment, happiness, and worth are only realized through an intimate relationship with Him. Every believer must spend private time with God in order to grow closer to Him and mature in their faith. -How much more so for the individual that wants to be an effective Christian leader?!
God wants us to both desire and choose to spend time with Him. When we grow complacent in our studies and private time with Him, the relationship suffers. When we don’t spend time in His Word and in His presence, we miss out on a fundamental component of growth and intimacy in our Christian walk. Sure we can continue about His work, speaking of Him to others, but our effectiveness will be weakened.
The next time you sit down to spend private time with God, get alone in a quiet place, remove all distractions, and ask your soul to consider these words from the Psalms.
“O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in your sanctuary and gazed upon your power and glory. Your unfailing love is better than life itself; how I praise you! I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer. You satisfy me more than the richest feast. I will praise you with songs of joy. I lie awake thinking of you, meditating on you through the night. Because you are my helper, I sing for joy in the shadow of your wings. I cling to you; your strong right hand holds me securely.” Psalm 63:1-8 (NLT)
Does this passage express your heart? Does your soul thirst for God? -It could.
From the MEN4CHRIST Study Series Leading by Example, by Tom Matlock.
Am I committed?
“Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. Through their faith, the people in days of old earned a good reputation. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.” Hebrews 11:1-3 (NLT)
Many of us have proclaimed our delight in these verses, and considered the mighty faith of those who appear in the remainder of the chapter. We marvel at their deeds and wonder if we could possess the same faith. Is it possible one reason we as believers have such a hard time living like those heroes of the faith because we don’t fully embrace Christ? Do we stop short of seeking out the life God has called us to live because we don’t place our full faith in Him and trust Him with our very lives?
It’s confusing and half-hearted that so many believers today place their faith in Christ for salvation from the consequences of their sin, and possess the hope that He will take them to Heaven, yet are unwilling to fully commit to His purposes over their own. Many don’t demonstrate the reality that all we are is in Him, through Him, and about Him. Frankly, our lives are meaningless unless spent for Christ.
James, the brother of Jesus, had much to say about faith as we live it.
“You say you have faith, for you believe that there is one God. Good for you! Even the demons believe this, and they tremble in terror. How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless? Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete. So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone. Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.” James 2:19-22,24,26 (NLT)
Applying James’ words to our casual Christian lifestyle today means simply this: It’s just not enough to be saved! If we say we are Christians, but don’t live out Christ by our actions, then we don’t exhibit the character and behavior of a true Christian. We can look at many more examples of this, but the Lord plainly said that we would be known by our fruit.
So we must ask ourselves, “Are we committed?” “Do we live out Christ and our faith in front of our family, friends, and co-workers?” -or just our Sunday School teachers and church friends? Do the unsaved and unchurched in our communities see us as a representative of the living Christ?
Our faith in Christ is backed up by our committed and purposeful action for Christ.