Waukee Christians

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot.  Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.” (Rev 3:15-16, ESV)

As a kid I remembering hearing a pastor preach on this verse and I remember thinking, “God doesn’t want lukewarm Christian.  Makes sense.”  Then, about a years ago I read the book Driven by Eternity by John Bevere and in it he writes a section about this verse that brought it to life for me.

In this verse, Jesus is speaking to one of the churches in Asia (through John, the author or Revelation) who has lost the intensity of their faith.  To summarize the verse, Jesus is saying, “hey church, be my friend or be my foe, but no more of this waffling back and forth.”  It makes sense that Jesus would rather have a person be Hot for Jesus than lukewarm, but it surprises me that he would also rather have you be COLD than lukewarm!  Why?!?  Isn’t it better to be somewhat receptive to God’s directing in your life than to be an enemy of God?  Wouldn’t God rather get to spend time with you on Christmas and Easter (the 2 days a year a C&E Christian goes to church) than never?

The answer in these verses is clearly NO!  Lukewarm Christians are deceiving themselves and confusing other people who hear them say they love Jesus but act just like the world.  They are actually causing damage to the Cause of Christ.  Jesus would rather have you be a clear enemy, than be a fence-sitter who thinks they have done enough to get into Heaven but not too much to inconvenience their life.  The truth is that the fence-sitter has the same eternal fate as the enemy, the only difference is that the person who is lukewarm for Christ will be totally shocked when they stand before Jesus on the day of judgment and are told “I never knew you.”

Personally, when I read this and let the full impact of the verses soak in, I realized that I needed to make a major shift in my life to put Jesus first in all things and to get off the fence.  My waffling back and forth was just giving me a false sense of assurance and was confusing the message of the Gospel to those around me.  I made a decision to change my life and I encourage you, if you are neither hot nor cold, to make a decision for or against the God of the Bible and then run that direction.