The spiritual loyalties of many Christian believers have waned and obedience to God has been compromised because the world systems have enraptured their minds in a demonic dungeon of self-opinionated righteousness. Many refuse to adopt God’s point of view as the absolute truth because they have been deceived to think that the Sovereign Kingdom of God fancies their democracy.
This specific blog piece is not geared to the unbeliever, although the unbeliever is free to enlighten his spirit with what God is saying to the church. Today’s writing is for the Christian believer whose spiritual status, lifestyle and state of mind are nothing short of ‘lukewarm’. They are neither hot nor cold for God. Many lukewarm believers have received salvation, been baptized, have active church attendance or involvement, take communion and within their heart possess a deep-seated belief that they are serving Christ. They claim to know God but yet after sufficient years have passed, their lives do not show any evidence of a God-like transformation.
They followed the mantle to “come as you are” but forgot that God’s intention is never for one stay as he is. This type of believer squirms at reproof, counsel and godly discipline because they only love to hear about blessings upon blessings. It is difficult to determine if this Christian has ever truly had an encounter with God or simply had an encounter with religion.
There seems to be a caste of malnourished believers who can be found guilty of drinking spiritual milk for far too long. They have long passed the age where they can be sustained by a diet of spiritual milk and every effort of God to wean them has proven unsuccessful by the volition of their free will.
Can you imagine having a baby that refuses to grow up? A baby who decides to be a baby its entire lifetime! A baby that does not want the responsibility of maturity because it would rather be fed, changed, pampered and played with forever! The parent never gets to experience the joy of seeing the baby flourish into his/her God-given purpose using his/her God-given talents and abilities. The parent is denied the joy of seeing this baby flourish into being an upstanding and participatory member of society. The parent is unable to teach, groom and edify their child based on their long-lived experiences. The parent is unable to enjoy the stages and lessons embedded in watching their baby transition through childhood, youth and adult life. The parent cannot enjoy meaningful conversation and experiences with their child. The parent is denied the possibility of grandchildren which severs the lineage and generational momentum of his/her family name and legacy.
A baby can only be cute and bubbly for so long. Where there is a lack of growth, there is stagnation and such a yoke is terribly burdensome. After a while, your only question will be: what is the purpose of this child? It cannot be that they were born to be, think and act like a baby for their entire lives.
So why then do some Christian believers think it is acceptable and pleasing to God, our Heavenly Father, to be a spiritual infant forever? Receiving salvation is not the be all and end all of Christianity. It is only the first step. It cannot be that you sit and meddle on this one step your entire life without climbing further up into all that God has purposed for you to do and be so that you can reflect His image and give Him every ounce of glory as you bring heaven on earth as His steward.
Let’s read what Paul had to say to the Corinthians:
1 Corinthians 3:1-3
“Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready, for you are still controlled by your sinful nature. You are jealous of one another and quarrel with each other. Doesn’t that prove you are controlled by your sinful nature? Aren’t you living like people of the world?”
It feels like Paul isn’t just speaking to the Corinthians here but to so many of us in the Church right now. Many Christians can be observed either downrightly refusing to eat solid food or vomiting it up when they are fed because they find certain particulars of their attachment to this world too difficult to give up. They are attached to certain strongholds that are sinful and demonically influenced and they use human wisdom to reason out their compromise. When God tells them to let go, they find a host of reasons why they should reasonably hold on. They fancy picking and choosing what they believe they should obey instead of allowing the Holy Spirit to have the final say so He can be the author of their life’s story.
Many Christians have been deceived to think they are in a spiritually good standing because they adhere to the rituals of legalistic religions. They think they can mock and manipulate God with ashes, fasting, worship songs, social media posts and church attendance after their pre-meditated rebellion. They believe they can win the heart of God by scoring brownie points of good works, charity, food restrictions and New Year resolutions. But – do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked for He weighs and examines people and the motives of their hearts. God will not honour those who insist on faking their love for Him. God knows that those who love Him will obey Him.
God is warning His Church, His beloved bride, that judgment is impending. The world already stands condemned without their acceptance of Jesus Christ so do not be surprised when the people of the world live as they do. They are living as they are programmed to live. They stumble blindly in the ignorance of their heart’s darkness.
The issue God has is when there is no distinction between the world and His church. We ought to be set apart. We ought to shine our light on a hill for the world to see so that those who are God’s sheep will see the light and search for it and as they search, they grow closer and closer to God until finally they have taken the narrow path out of the world. Those who are lukewarm however desire to shine the light only when it is convenient; they believe it is a light switch they can turn on and off. They live at the cross section of the wide and narrow paths and their ability to witness to others has been compromised by their lifestyle of utterances, thoughts and deeds that do not align with God and His Word.
Paul reiterates in the following Scripture that it is our responsibility to righteously judge those inside of the church. Our responsibility is not just to pamper believers with prayers for prosperity or scriptures that focus solely on grace and forgiveness. For everything, there is an appointed season.
1 Corinthians 5:9-13
“When I wrote to you before, I told you not to associate with people who indulge in sexual sin. But I wasn’t talking about unbelievers who indulge in sexual sin, or are greedy, or cheat people, or worship idols. You would have to leave this world to avoid people like that. I meant that you are not to associate with anyone who claims to be a believeryet indulges in sexual sin, or is greedy, or worships idols, or is abusive, or is a drunkard, or cheats people. Don’t even eat with such people. It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.”
The Lord will not strive with those who are lukewarm forever. We have been forewarned to not grieve the Holy Spirit. The Word says we cannot serve two masters at the same time and God is calling for every man to examine himself and take note of the letter sent to the Church of Laodicea as outlined in Revelation 3:14-22:
“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Laodicea. This is the message from the one who is the Amen—the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s new creation:
“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. I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference. “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. Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne. “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.”
I know how hard it is to let go of ungodly relationships, careers, trends and oftentimes, the festivities and practices of one’s culture that may seem so normalized and innocent. As a Christian however, you must begin to eat solid food so you can develop the eyes to see and the ears to hear so you can discern what is of God and what is founded by sinful and demonic influence.
You must invest your time, resources and energies into knowing, understanding and applying God’s Word not by way of your own power but through the power of the Holy Spirit who has been given unto us to teach, help and guide.
There is no temptation you cannot overcome with God and God has promised to never leave you nor forsake you but you must endure the process of God’s transformative training and processing in order to establish your identity in Christ as a New Creation. There must be a marked and distinct difference in your character and presence if the Holy Spirit resides inside of you. You cannot reflect God and the world simultaneously and God is saying to His believers- if you believe in me, you must act like it! The same energy you give to God is going to be meted out to you if you do not repent, seek His face and turn from your wicked ways.
God is love and His grace is sufficient but we cannot hold onto that statement alone and forget that God is also a God of judgment who requires obedience. The time is coming when God will turn His face away from those who are rebellious. Those who have ears to hear will hear because His sheep knows His voice. Those who do not have such ears will roll their eyes at what is being said because their heart posture is stiff-necked, prideful and hard-hearted. Such a person refuses to allow anyone to tell them how they should live – even God.
Today, I am begging you – Don’t shoot the messenger – simply understand the message!
Today – if you hear God’s voice, do not harden your heart! Do not ignore or reject the prodding and tugging of God. Turn up the temperature on your spiritual thermostat because God is assembling, arming and equipping His soldiers, the true children of God.
As we end today’s blog, I ask that you would meditate on the following Scriptures:
2 Peter 2:20-22
‘And when people escape from the wickedness of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and then get tangled up and enslaved by sin again, they are worse off than before. It would be better if they had never known the way to righteousness than to know it and then reject the command they were given to live a holy life. They prove the truth of this proverb: “A dog returns to its vomit.” And another says, “A washed pig returns to the mud.”’
Isaiah 59:1-2
“Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call. It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.”
2 Chronicles 30:8
“Now do not stiffen your neck like your fathers, but yield to the Lord and enter His sanctuary which He has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that His burning anger may turn away from you.”
Proverbs 29:1
“A man who hardens his neck after much reproof will suddenly be broken beyond remedy.”
