The Foolish Church

Living between hot and cold is repulsive to Jesus.

Revelation 3:15-21 "I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish that you were one or the other! 16 But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth! 17 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.

18 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. 19 I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.

20 "Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear My voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends. 21 Those who are victorious will sit with Me on My throne, just as I was victorious and sat with My Father on His throne.

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It is easy to be so well blessed that you forget where the blessings come from and you start to depend on the blessings instead of the one who blesses. The church at Laodicea didn't think that they were lacking anything but that is because they were using their physical eyes instead of their spiritual.

"You are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked."

They thought that their gold and their fine garments and the ointment that their city was famous for were signs that God was pleased with them. But Jesus offers us so much more than the riches and pleasures of this world. Just like the Samaritan women at the well who was offered the Living Water, just like the crowd that was offered the Bread of life, Jesus is offering a better gold, better garments and better ointment for their eyes. The things that the world has to offer are never as good as the things that Jesus has for us. (Revelation 3:18)

This church thought that they were doing a good job, they were busy building themselves up, they thought that they were rich but Jesus says that they are poor. This stands in contrast to the church at Smyrna that thought it was poor and Jesus said that they are rich. (Revelation 2:9-10)

This church reminds me of God's children in the Old Testament, most of the time they were proud of the fact that they were not too radical, they thought that they could please God while they embraced the ways of the people around them.

1 Kings 18:21 Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, "How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!" But the people were completely silent.

It seems a lot like the church today in America. We don't like to be offensive but the gospel is offensive. We don't like to be different from the rest of the world but that is exactly the way God's children are called to be. Instead of being offensive we have allowed historic beliefs of the church that have been part of our creeds and part of Biblical teaching to be watered down and contradicted.

So be diligent and turn from your indifference.

Our everyday lives lack passion for the Lord, the message to Laodicea is also to us, get hot for Jesus, be radical instead of ordinary. A zeal for the things of God will cause us to cheerfully work for him and our love for him will help us stand for truth because when we love something strongly then we will hate all that is against it.

Jesus is waiting for us to let him into our church, it sounds a little bit strange, the church has to be willing to have him for him to come in. The thing that made this church so foolish is that they were trying to do church without Jesus. Sounds ridiculous doesn't it? Yet there are plenty of "churches" today that are attempting to do just that.

Jesus has gone to extreme measures to get to the door but he will not open the door and force his way into our congregation. We often use these verses to lead lost people to Christ, but the basic application here is to the church.

The inscription on the cathedral in Lubeck, Germany:

"Ye call Me Master and obey me not,
Ye call Me Light and see Me not,
Ye call Me Way and walk not,
Ye call Me Life and desire Me not,
Ye call Me wise and follow Me not,
Ye call Me fair and love Me not,
Ye call Me rich and ask Me not,
Ye call Me eternal and seek Me not,
Ye call Me gracious and trust Me not,
Ye call Me noble and serve Me not,
Ye call Me mighty and honor Me not,
Ye call Me just and fear Me not,
If I condemn you, blame me not".

We have a tendency to stay in the lukewarm zone, very few people like to be overly hot or cold, it is natural for us to seek a comfortable temperature. As a follower of Jesus we don't get to stay comfortable if we want to please God.

I think there are few churches today that have a zealous desire for Jesus, not very many are wanting to experience the red hot church of the Book of Acts, most of us want just enough Jesus to keep us out of Hell.

It is very difficult for us to see ourselves as God sees us and view our sins as being as offensive as he does. If I agree with God about my condition, if I agree with him that I am a wretched man without him, if I view my sins as being offensive to him then I will not try to live in between hot and cold.

We should learn from the church of Laodicea:

• Seek our riches from God and reject the counterfeit riches of the world. 
• Hold onto sound doctrine despite the views of the world.
• Serve God with passion and reject halfhearted devotion to him. 
• Be sure that Jesus is welcome inside our church so we can fellowship with him.

SCRIPTURE ON ZEAL

Psalm 69:9/ John 2:17/ Romans 12:11/ 2 Corinthians 7:11/ Galatians 4:18/ Titus 2:14

RELATED ARTICLES

To Be A Zealous Christian (challies.com)

Go Where?

Are we willing to go where he says go despite the circumstances? 

Numbers 14:34-42 "Because your men explored the land for forty days, you must wander in the wilderness for forty years--a year for each day, suffering the consequences of your sins. Then you will discover what it is like to have Me for an enemy. 35 I, the LORD, have spoken! I will certainly do these things to every member of the community who has conspired against Me. They will be destroyed here in this wilderness, and here they will die!"

36 The ten men Moses had sent to explore the land--the ones who incited rebellion against the LORD with their bad report-- 37 were struck dead with a plague before the LORD. 38 Of the twelve who had explored the land, only Joshua and Caleb remained alive. 39 When Moses reported the LORD's words to all the Israelites, the people were filled with grief.

40 Then they got up early the next morning and went to the top of the range of hills. "Let's go," they said. "We realize that we have sinned, but now we are ready to enter the land the LORD has promised us." 41 But Moses said, "Why are you now disobeying the LORD's orders to return to the wilderness? It won't work. 42 Do not go up into the land now. You will only be crushed by your enemies because the LORD is not with you.

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Here is one of the biggest "ops!" ever in human history, the Lord told the children of Israel to pack their bags and prepare to move into their new homeland, but instead of being passionate about what God was telling them to do they choose to be scared of what God told them to do.

It has been a long trip and God has done amazing things to reveal himself to his people. They have spent a lot of time in the wilderness, they have complained about the wilderness, but now they decide that it would be better to stay put and maintain the status quo.

God's Children Won't Go

Just a year ago they had watched the Lord work all kinds of miracles as he brought the Egyptians to their knees. The Lord proved that he had complete control over the Egyptians and that he was strong enough to save his people. These are the same people that saw God bring about plagues against the Egyptians and kill there babies.

It seems like that instead of believing that God would be just as powerful against these new people they decided that they should go back to Egypt where God was more able to help them.

God's people have spent a lot of years in the wilderness but they decide that it would be better to stay put and maintain the status quo, that is until they get word of the cost of their disobedience and then all of a sudden it looks like going to the Promised Land is a pretty good idea after all.

God listened to Moses prayer and did not destroy his people but he didn't ignore their sin. God let the people have what they asked for, if you don't want to go into the promised land then you can stay here in the wilderness and die, you said that was a better option didn't you? (Numbers 11:1, 14:2)

Don't look down on God's people because staying is our favorite option too. We like to settle for good enough as we gaze into the promise that God has given us. Instead of looking at how easy it would be for God to overcome the obstacles we decide to sit it out and enjoy the wilderness that we used to complain about. (Exodus 14:11-12, 15:22, 16:1-4, 17:1-4 just to name a few.)

God's Children Won't Stay

I guess seeing the ten guys struck dead will make you change your mind. Like little children that realize that they have made their parents mad, the people decide that late obedience is better than the consequences that they deserve, now they are ready to believe that they can do it. God has told them that they are staying and they say "hold on God, now we want to trust you."

First they won't go, now they won't stay, from one rebellion they progress to a second, now they want to conquer the land even though God said he wasn't on their side. We love the verse that says "If God is for me who can be against us?" but the opposite is also a harsh reality "If God is against us who can be for us?"

Faith is acting like it is so, even when its not so, in order that it might be so, simply because God said so.

-Tony Evans

We all like to spy out the land to manage risk, without realizing it, we constantly access situations to minimize the possibility of embarrassment or injury. Following God is scary stuff sometimes but we have to realize that God isn't here to make us comfortable and Jesus did not die for our sins so that we can be comfortable. The lifestyle of the New Testament church has been lost through that ages.

New Testament disciples are soldiers (Philippians 2:25; 2 Timothy 2:3–4; Philemon 1:2), athletes (2 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 12:1–2), and crucified new creations (Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 5:17). We run (Hebrews 12:1), fight (2 Timothy 4:7), and take up arms (Ephesians 6:10–18) so that we finish well and accomplish God’s purposes while we live.

-Ryan Lister on DesiringGod.org

There isn't always any human logic behind what he is asking, but if we listen to the wrong people or we let our fears put us in a box that looks safe there is a good chance that God is going to reprimand us and we will miss out on being a part of his work.

I need to be obedient in everything that I do, if I decide to wait and do it later in my timing then the Lord may not be with me. I need to have faith to move forward with passion about what God has asked me to do even if there are people around me telling me how difficult or dangerous it is going to be.

Help me to know your will Lord and give me faith that lead me to obedience.

Pocketful Of Faith

Take this pocketful of faith, It is all I have today, I'm giving it all.

I don’t want to get there

At the end of it all

Looking behind me

To see there was so much more

Take this pocketful of faith

It is all I have today

I’m giving it all

I’m giving it all

CHORUS

You will always have my heart

Everyday I’ll trust You more, oh God

Take this pocketful of faith

It is all I have today

I’m giving it all

I’m giving it all

VERSE 2

Leaving the safety

Here at the shore

Beyond the horizon

I see there is so much more

Take this pocketful of faith

It is all I have today

I’m giving it all

I’m giving it all

BRIDGE

Anywhere You go I’ll follow

When You call my name I’ll run

Lead me on into tomorrow

Light my way like the rising sun

It is a good idea to schedule an inventory of your life on a regular basis if we are going to live as passionate followers of Christ then we have to make sure that we are really doing it. There are so many other things to choose to live for that it is easy to get distracted and off course. If you wait to long to look back then you will discover that there are times when you have wasted time and energy on things that didn't matter.

It takes faith to be obedient and passionately follow Christ, to jump out of the deceptive safety of being normal, it takes faith but thankfully it doesn't take a lot of it. Just a pocket full of faith is all you need to get started on the road of following Christ.

It is scary to ask God if I am playing safe or if I am truly following him with the degree of passion that he desires. Do I really want to know the answer? It may require that I make big changes, nobody likes big changes, big changes are painful changes.

Following anywhere is my goal, he moves, I move, he calls and I answer, he leads and I follow. I must die to self so that I can live with fewer regrets and accomplish the work that God has for me to do.

You Are The Treasure That I Seek

The world has a lot of cool treasure to distract you from what is priceless.

Deuteronomy 6:4-6 “Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. 6 And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today.

Psalm 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth.

Psalm 29:2 Honor the Lord for the glory of his name. Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

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Have you ever dreamed of finding a treasure chest full of gold and jewelry? The world is full of stuff that we would like to get our hands on. It is so natural us to value new cars, fancy homes and a fat wallet, we can also see great value in the relationships that we have with our family and friends, but there is another treasure that is far above any of these.

It is good for us to examine our lives, take a look at ourselves and see how we are doing, take a quiz and ask yourself some important questions. While I listened to the Gaither Vocal Band sing the song "You Are My All In All" I thought of theses questions:

"What do I really value the most, is Jesus really the treasure that I am looking for?"

We have been told to love God, we know that he deserves to be loved to the highest level that a person can possibly love, but we let so much get in the way and rob us of our time with him or we take the time but we don't really love him fully.

Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind."

We can get lost in the empty pursuit of happiness, trying to get some more stuff, trying to have the perfect relationship, chasing down the stuff that the world says will make us happy. Finally when our day isn't going so well we decide to cry out to God to make it better. Is that true love?

I have to wonder how good of a job that we can do at loving God, since love comes from God and it is pure and without self seeking motives, how can we possibly love God adequately on this side of heaven? (1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 1 John 4:7) While researching this blog post, I found this old hymn that I have never seen before, it speaks of the love that we should have for God that goes beyond any selfish motivation.

My God, I love Thee--not because I hope for heaven thereby; Nor yet because,if I love not I must for ever die. Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me Upon the Cross embrace; For me didst bear the nails and spear, And manifold disgrace, And griefs and torments numberless, And sweat of agony, Yea, death itself; and all for me Who was Thine enemy.

Then why, O blessed Jesus Christ, Should I not love Thee well? Not for the hope of winning heaven, Of of escaping hell; Not with the hope of gaining aught, Not seeking a reward; But as Thyself hast loved me, O ever-loving Lord! So would I love Thee, dearest Lord, And in Thy praise will sing; Solely because Thou art my God, And my eternal King.

I have to continue to work towards loving God as he deserves, making him my most treasured possession, as I live in God's love he will teach me how to do a better job of loving him. (1 John 4:16-17)

Do I Care?

We say that we care but we don't prove it very much.

Matthew 9:36-38  When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were confused and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.

He said to his disciples, "The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into His fields"

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Jesus has been bombarded with hurting people everywhere that he has gone, over and over again the crowds would press him for what they believed that he could do for them, each and every one of them was a victim of a religious system that was harsh and unloving. Jesus couldn't stomach the burdens that the religious system had placed on his people, his emotions rose to the surface as he saw the hurting crowds.

What bothered Jesus was the helplessness of his flock, they were in a desperate situation trying to work their way to heaven by obeying the hundreds of rules that the system was telling them that they had to abide by.

Do I have "Jesus cam"? Am I bothered by the things that bother Jesus? Do I see the world the way Jesus sees the world? Jesus saw hurting people needing a Savior, needing love and peace, he saw the urgency of their situation. How urgent do I see the need to get the good news out to all these wondering sheep?

How can Christians proclaim a message of urgency while living a lifestyle of complacency? - Henry Blackaby

There is so much to be done, I must be willing to see the world through the eyes of Christ, see the needs around me and be willing to get to work to save some lost sheep.

Help us Lord to get the urgency of the situation and allow it to affect the way that we live. I pray that I will be found faithful to the work of making disciples.

Paul: His Man on His Mission

scripture

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Acts 26:8 Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?

Acts 26:20 I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their repentance by their deeds. 21 That is why the Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me. 22 But I have had God's help to this very day, and so I stand here and testify to small and great alike. I am saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen— 23 that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light to his own people and to the Gentiles.”

24 At this point Festus interrupted Paul's defense. “You are out of your mind, Paul!” he shouted. “Your great learning is driving you insane.” 25 “I am not insane, most excellent Festus,” Paul replied. “What I am saying is true and reasonable. 26 The king is familiar with these things, and I can speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of this has escaped his notice, because it was not done in a corner. 27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know you do.”

28 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?” 29 Paul replied, “Short time or long—I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”

observation

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King Agrippa II is in town to see Felix and upon hearing about Paul from Felix he decides that he would like to hear Paul’s defense. We do not know why Agrippa wanted to hear his defense but Paul uses the opportunity to give the gospel message to everybody in the room, the high ranking officials and the leading men of the city (25:23), what else would you expect Paul to do?

The gospel is out there for the whole room to deal with, they all have a decision, for Agrippa the answer is “did you really think that I would convert” The message of the cross is a stumbling block that the wisdom of the world cannot comprehend.

1 Corinthians 1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,

Paul was always on a mission, whether you examine his life before his conversion or after, he was always a passionate man. With messages like “stand firm”, “run the race” and “reach for the goal” he was always living with passion and striving to carry out his mission that God had for him no matter what the circumstances were.

application

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I strive to be “His man on His mission” everyday, there are so many things that we do that don’t amount to anything when viewed through the lens of eternity, I want to live for Christ, lead my family and help my church and my pastor to be successful for the kingdom.
prayer

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I pray that I will be focused on you Lord and on a life that really matters, so that I will truly be “His man on His mission”