Some of you, after reading the title you are probably wondering why I would associate lukewarmness and wealth, right? (Let me be honest here, I wasn’t planning about this title specifically as well. Weird, right? Well, God has a way of doing His own thing and we all know that!). But my prayer to the Lord was, what does lukewarmness have to do with wealth? He said everything.

Today we are focusing on Revelation 3:14-17

“And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. I wish 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. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”

You are neither hot or cold! That’s what the Lord says. If we are truly honest enough with ourselves many, and many of us would admit that we are sometimes (if not always) lukewarm. We love God but we don’t want to “overdo” it. But what God is telling us here is this: I wish you were for me or completely not for me. I wish you were sold out for me or honestly against me.

Let me confess. This truth is very hard for me to swallow. I dearly love God and I can’t live my life without Him, but then again I don’t think I am sold out for Him. And He clearly says in verse 15 that “ I wish you were either one or the other!” God grieves for those who are lukewarm more than those who are cold. That can’t be true? Well, let’s look at what it says on verse 16, “Because you are lukewarm- neither hot nor cold- I am about to spit you out of my mouth.”

John Piper describes lukewarmness so clearly: “Jesus indictment against the church is that they are half-hearted in their relation to Him. They do not have the fervor and warmth and zeal of a true lover of Christ; nor are they outright unbelievers who flatly reject Jesus and make no pretense of faith. They are halfway in between. Christ has a moderate influence on their lives. They are not uninfluenced by the Lord; but neither do they go overboard nor get very excited about the Creator of all. In relation to prayer, it would be safe to say that they probably pray at meals and pause for two or three minutes at bedtime. But they do not burn with a desire for more of God. They do not go hard after him in the secret place. They do not fling the door wide and welcome him into the innermost places of their emotions. But they keep Him just outside the door and do their business with him coolly, lukewarmly, through the mail-slot. They like the ancient (but very unbiblical) proverb: Moderation in all things.”

God, we beg you to clearly speak to our hearts.

But what makes us lukewarm? What keeps us from being sold out for Christ?

In verse 17 God says it’s our sense of security. Simply put, our false sense of security. “You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ Independency. The word that mean being free from the control, support, and aid of others. This is good. Being able to take care of yourself and not having to depend on anybody. But the thing is we want independency and God wants dependency. 

Most of us don’t consider ourselves rich. When people say “rich” we think Bill Gates or Warren Buffet. But here is a fact I read about, “If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75 percent of the world”`. Indeed, if you don’t have to beg God everyday or wonder where you will get your next meal, you are indeed very rich.

Let me say this first. I don’t think there is anything wrong with being rich. Being rich is be a blessing from God. “… the Lord restored Job’s fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.” Job 42:10

But here is a problem of being rich: “It gives a false sense of security. You start feeling safer the more you have, rather than finding security in God. The more you have the less inclined you are to believe that You are needy.” Francis Chan

And God loves the needy. Those who desperately want to depend on Him on every breath and everything thing.

“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and His rule. You’re blessed when you feel you’ve lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you. You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.” Matthew 5:3-5 (MSG)

Proud owners of everything that can’t be bought. Hallelujah. How beautiful, right? Glory to God!

It’s hard to be needy of the Lord when you have everything. I can testify to this, when I have everything I want, I am less needy of the Lord, shamefully. And God knows this very well because He said in Luke 18:24 “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” Can you believe that? It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. After that, people were really scared (who wouldn’t be?) and asked God “Then who can be saved” (verse 26). With authority He says, “What is impossible with man is possible with God” (verse 27). Yes, indeed! Nothing is impossible with God. Jesus reassures the disciples by saying that anyone who leaves behind everything he/she loves for the sake of the Kingdom of God will never lose out. That person will “receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life” (verse 30).

Zacchaeus story is a beautiful story of redemption. No matter how ugly your past sin is or your yesterday sin, if you turn away from it and you value God more than your past idols, you will indeed receive salvation. 

Through Zacchaeus, God shows that nothing is impossible with God. While rich, he still receives salvation. Luke 19:9

Zacchaeus was everything considered bad and deceitful during that time. He was the chief of tax collectors. Tax collectors were so much hated during that time (funny they are still hated, haha). So in short, he was the chief of the most hated people. On top of that he was a cheater, he cheated the poor; that’s what tax collectors did then. Needless to say that he was rich. We are all Zacchaeus in different ways. But here is what separates Zacchaeus from some of us:

To Zacchaeus the glory of God became more beautiful than his possessions.

After Jesus invited himself to Zacchaeus’ place, “… Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” Luke 19:8

When Jesus told the rich ruler to sell everything he owned and to follow Him (Luke 18:22-23), the young man couldn’t believe what God was asking Him. I imagine the young man thinking “how dare You ask me to sell everything I have worked for my whole life”. But this was the perfect example of what Jesus had said in Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” And clearly in the example of the rich young ruler, we see that he valued his possessions more than He valued God. Whenever we think we are rich and we don’t need God, this is how God sees us “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” (Revelation 3:17) For most of us the question then becomes this: for those of us who know that we are rich, where do we go from here?

“Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be earnest and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.” Revelation 3:19-21

First, we have to be earnest and repent. And the one who conquers (those who conquer the trap of wanting to be rich) will sit with Jesus on His throne. Is there anything more beautiful than that? We have to admit that there are people who love comfort more than they love the Comforter. But any time I want to choose comfort, I am reminded of the words of Francis Chan, “why would we need the Comforter when we are comfortable?”. 

I’m ending a little bit different today. Here are three questions by Francis Chan that I am wrestling with that we need to seriously think about and earnestly pray about:

Ask God to:

1. Reveal to you areas in which you are lukewarm.
2. Give you strength in your areas of weakness.
3. Do whatever it takes to get you on fire for Him.