I’m not sure this exact scenario has ever happened to you, but here’s my sad tale of woe. I’m getting ready to go out – I get dressed, fix my hair, put on my makeup, (stick with me here men) feed the dogs, feed myself, and off I go. I talk to a ton of people, but upon arriving home, I happen to glance in the mirror and notice a big, red streak of bright red lipstick across my front tooth. OMG! I instantly flash back in my mind – “How many people did I talk to and why didn’t anyone say something?”
Isn’t that frustrating when you think everything is just fine and dandy, only to discover it’s not?! In fact, it sounds a lot like the lukewarm church – they have “the look” but not all is well. We read about the lukewarm church – Leodicea – in the book of Revelation, and it’s actually a fascinating story.
Leodicea piped in their water: hot water from Hierapolis and cold water from Colosse. Unfortunately, by the time it reached Leodicea, the hot water had cooled off and the cold water had warmed up. The result was a milk-warm water that literally made people sick. God parallels this wretched water to their own apathetic, spiritual condition, even to the point of spitting it (and them) out of His mouth. They must have been pretty pathetic for God to say that!
Why were these people in such a sad, indifferent condition? Apparently, their priorities in life became everything except God focused. It seems they were very much the “Las Vegas” of their time, excelling in the banking industry, clothing goods and medicine. With all that going on, who needs God? Evidently not them! Their faith, as William James describes it, had become a dull habit instead of an acute fever.
They had lost their real passion and their real purpose for the Lord. Updated two thousand years, they could have been the people described by T.S.Elion: “Here were a decent godless people; their only monument an asphalt road and a thousand golf balls.” So what will be our “monument” in the end? A strong, vibrant people or a weak-kneed, lukewarm bunch? Is the American church even up to the task of standing against evil and lawlessness? To be a Christian means to oppose evil. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer so rightly declared: “Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.”
I believe the world is looking for an electrifying, robust church who is climbing out of fear and timidity, a church who is ready to roll up its sleeves, speak honestly, and get on with the work of The Kingdom, because the truth is, the government is not going to save us! Science is not going to save us – neither will money, clothes, or medicine – but who will step up and tell people these ‘things’ are not our saviors?!
It’s interesting that only 2% of the church population actually work within the ministry arena – the remaining 98% are wonderful, everyday people – but frankly, it’s going to take the 2 plus the 98 to put the world back together. We have plainly arrived at an alarming juncture in our history, calling for “all hands on deck!”
I once read of a father who returned home one evening from a very busy day at work. He was exhausted and just wanted a night off. His young son, however, wanted to be entertained by dad. So dad had a brilliant idea – he noticed a photo in the newspaper of the earth taken from the moon. He cut the picture into small pieces, creating an instant jigsaw puzzle. The pieces all pretty much looked alike, so he thought that putting the “puzzle” back together would buy him some time. However, before he knew it, the son was back with the photo taped perfectly together. “How did you do that so fast?” he asked. “It was easy,” his son replied “There was a picture of a man on the back, and when I put the man together, the world came together.”
Someone once said that the glory of God is man fully alive! That would be my definition of a man “put together!” We become “fully alive” in purpose, relationships, vision, values, etc. and then invest in the present with everything we’ve got because our running time is in the now – today we fight the good fight. Here’s how George Martin put it: “My own heroes are the dreamers, those men and women who died to make the world a better place than when they found it, whether in small ways or great ones. Some succeeded, some failed, most had mixed results…but it is the effort that’s heroic. Win or lose, I admire those who fight the good fight.”
Bob and Susan Beckett pastor The Dwelling Place City Church at 27100 Girard Street in Hemet, CA. For more information, you can contact them at DPCityChurch.org
Susan Beckett | Dwelling Place City Church
Find your latest news here at the Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle
