Lukewarmness - The Great Commission, Part 27
Week 27, 2013, Rick Joyner
As
covered previously, many consider the seven churches of Revelation
to be a prophetic outline of church history, and I share that view.
Looking back, this is an amazingly accurate outline of church
history. It would mean that the last church the Lord addressed, the
church at Laodicea, would represent the church at the end of the
age. This was the church that the Lord gave His greatest promises
to: they would be given their food by Him, and they would sit with
Him on His throne. This is in contrast to the great company that
stands before the throne (see Revelation 7). This speaks of the best
of all spiritual food and unprecedented authority.
We
tend to think of the church at Laodicea as the one that was so
prosperous they had become lukewarm, making the Lord sick to the
point that He would vomit them out of His mouth. This is true of the
church today, and it is the great danger of our time for Christians.
To be lukewarm is the worst condition that a Christian could ever
fall into because it reveals ultimate contempt for the Lord.
Indifference is the greatest affront to any relationship. To know
Almighty God and be lukewarm toward Him is the greatest insult. This
seems to reflect the condition of many, if not most, Christians in
this time.
How
can anyone who knows God be lukewarm? Jesus said,“because
lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold”
(Matthew 24:12). He
did not say “many” here, but “most.” This
is obviously addressed to Christians because non-Christians do not
have a love for Him to lose. Therefore, we can conclude that in
these times, most Christians will have their love for Christ grow
cold. To go from being hot to cold you have to pass through the
lukewarm stage. This seems to be where most Christians are now.
Lawlessness
begins with impurity, which grows into fornication and adultery (see
Romans 6). All who go down this trail to illegal sensuality, lust,
and the sins that are begotten by them, will have their love for God
grow cold. They tend to become even more religious as an attempt to
compensate for their sin. However, that too is a basic departure
from the righteousness that we have only through the cross of Jesus.
Those who seek their own justification through works will also move
further away from truly loving God.
A
study done by Orthodox Jews revealed that pornography is more
addictive than cocaine. This community of Jews had a divorce rate of
only 6% when the rest of the world was experiencing nearly 50%.
Then, when the Orthodox community saw their rate of divorce double,
they sought answers to why this was happening and conducted this
study. They saw pornography as the key inroad of sin that destroyed
marriages.
If
we let the impurity of pornography into our lives, we are trading
the love of Christ for it. Our love for Him will grow cold, and
further lawlessness will grip our hearts. We are choosing between
lust and life. The wages of sin is death, and eternal life is only
found in Christ. Are we going to serve sin or serve Him? “Today
if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (see Hebrews
4:7).
My Comment:
Christ Jesus gave His life for His Church. Now those who belong to Him will give their lives for Him. It is all or nothing with God. Those who give up everything in this world, will gain everything that the Kingdom of God has to offer, which is everything there is; Righteousness, Love, Peace and Joy in the Holy Spirit, FOREVER!
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