Do you remember the story of “Goldilocks and The Three Bears?”
When Goldilocks entered the home of the three bears, she found three bowls of porridge on the table.
Being hungry, she tasted the porridge from the first bowl.
"This porridge is too hot!" she said.
Next, she tasted the porridge from the second bowl.
"This porridge is too cold," she said.
Finally, she tasted the porridge in the last bowl.
"Ahhh, this porridge is just right," and she ate it all up.
For the purpose of this lesson, we are going to assume that the last bowl of porridge was lukewarm. The porridge was lukewarm and in this case, lukewarm was great. Not too hot and not too cold.
In the Book of Revelation, John tells us what Jesus had to say about spirituality and a Christian being cold, hot or lukewarm and the danger of being lukewarm.
"Because You Are Lukewarm, I Will Spew Thee Out Of My Mouth"
Revelation 3:14-18 King James Version
14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
These scriptures were to the church of Laodicea. However, what constitutes the “Church?”
The answer is you, me and every believer make up the Church or body of believers.
So, let us boil this down to a message to us, as Christians, and let us consider the following questions;
- Are we on fire for God? Have we totally surrendered all to God? Does our circle of the world see Jesus in our words, actions and deeds?
- Are we cold, or give the appearance of being dead in our Christian life? If so, the world does not see Jesus in us and our light is out. In fact, there is no light in us for anyone to see.
- Or, finally, are we simply lukewarm? This implies our being half-hearted, with a lack of enthusiasm or conviction in our Christian life. Maybe we talk a good game, but our actions do not match our words.
Please pay close attention to the serious words Jesus said about being lukewarm. He said “I would rather you be cold or hot!” And because you are neither cold nor hot, "I will spew thee out of my mouth."
In other words, Jesus would rather we be cold and without Him, instead of being a phony or a hypocrite.
Now, Jesus does not wish anyone to be lost, but this verse shows His disdain for hypocrisy and how hypocrisy damages the work of the body of believers.
Jesus also speaks about hypocrisy in the Gospel of Matthew;
Matthew 15:8 King James Version
8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
In closing, where do we fit on the spirituality thermometer?
Think about the words of Jesus and how serious they are. Then, take spiritual inventory and make sure that you are neither cold nor lukewarm.
RVH