Serving Leftovers to a Holy God
Here are the notes from Chapter 5 of Crazy Love:
As I see it, a lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron; there's no such thing. To put it plainly, church goers who are "lukewarm" are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven.
"I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So because you are lukewarm-neither hot nor cold- I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see."
- Revelation 3: 15-18
There is no gentle rendering of the word spit in the Greek. This is the only time it is used in the New Testament, and it connotes gagging, hurling, retching. Many people read this passage and assume Jesus is speaking to the saved people. Why?
When you read this passage, do you naturally conclude that to be "spit" out of Jesus' mouth means you're part of his kingdom? When you read the words "wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked," do you think that He's describing saints? When He counsels them to buy white clothes to wear, in order to cover their shameful nakedness, does it sound like advice for those already saved? I thought that people who were saved were already made clothed and white by Christ's blood?
Jesus' call to commitment is clear, he wants all or nothing. The thought of a person calling himself a Christian without being a devoted follower of Christ is absurd.
Is this idea of the non-fruit-bearing-Christian something we've concocted in order to make Christianity easier so we can follow our own course while still calling ourselves followers of Christ?
Let's face it; we're willing to make changes in our lives only if we think it affects our salvation... Our concern is more about going to heaven than loving the King. Jesus said "If you love me you will obey what I command." - John 14:15
James 2:19
God doesn't just want us to have good theology, He wants us to know and love him.
1 John 2: 3- 4
Matthew 16: 24-25
Luke 14: 33
I do not want true believers to doubt their salvation as the read this. In the midst of our failed attempts at loving Jesus His grace covers us. Each of us has lukewarm elements and practices in our lives, therein lays the senseless, extravagant grace of it all. The scriptures demonstrate clearly that there is room for our failure and sin in our pursuit of God. His mercies are new every morning... His grace is sufficient.
I'm not saying that when you mess up you are not really a genuine Christian in the first place. If that were true no one could follow Christ.
Because we don't usually have to depend on God for food, money to buy our next meal, our shelter, we don't feel needy. In fact generally we think of ourselves as fairly independent and capable. Even if we aren't rich, we are doing just fine.
If 100 people represented the world's population, 53 of those would live on less than $2 a day... If you make $4,000 a month you automatically make 100x more than the average person on this planet!
Which is more messed up: that we have so much compared to everyone else, or that we don't think we're rich? That on any given day we might flippantly call ourselves "broke" or "poor"? We're neither of these things we are rich. Filthy rich.
The reality is that weather we acknowledge our wealth or not, being rich is a serious disadvantage spiritually.
"Prosperity hardens the heart." - William Wilberforce
When talking to a wealthy person who wanted to go to heaven (Doesn't that describe most of us?) Jesus said "Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me. When he, the rich man, heard this he became very sad because he was a man of great wealth. Jesus looked at him and said 'How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God." - Luke 18: 20-24
He says: "it's as hard as a camel to go through the eye of a needle". In other words, it's impossible. But then Jesus offers hopeful words: "What is impossible with man is possible with God."
God wants our best, deserves our best, and demands our best... It's easy to fill ourselves up with other things then give God whatever is left. God gets a scrap or two only because we feel guilty for giving Him nothing.
Let's stop calling it a "busy schedule", or "bills", or "forgetfulness", its called evil. God is Holy, in heaven exists being who decides whether or not I take another breath! This Holy God deserves excellence, the very best I have.
"But something is better than nothing", some protest. Really, is it?
The weak sacrifices of the laid back priests were an insult to Him. He was saying that no worship is better than apathetic worship. I wonder how many church doors God wants to shut today.
God's definition of what matters is pretty straight forward. He measures our lives by how we love.
1 Corinthians 13: 2-3. According to God we are here to love, not much else really matters. What God mean by the word "love"? 1 Corinthians 14: 4-8, 13
Following Christ isn't something that can be done half-heartedly or on the side. It's not a label we can display when it's useful. It must be central to everything we do and are.
How many of us would really leave our families, our jobs, our educations, our friends, our connections, our familiar surroundings, and our homes if Jesus asked us to? Consider this carefully. Have you ever done so?
Nothing should concern us more than our relationship with God. It's about eternity, and nothing compares with that.
Can we say to the Creator of all this magnitude and majesty: "Well I'm not sure You're worth it"?
We need to realize that how we spend our time, what our money goes toward, and where we'll invest our energy is equivalent to choosing God or rejecting Him. How could we think for even a second that something on this puny little earth compares to the Creator, and Sustainer, and Savior of it all? We disgust God when we weigh and compare Him against the things of this world, when we decide those things are better for us then God Himself.
No wonder Jesus says He will spit lukewarm people out of His mouth.
Are you willing to say to God that He can have whatever He wants? Do you believe that whole-hearted commitment to Him is more important to any other thing or person in your life? Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter unless it's about loving God and loving the people He has made? If the answer to those questions is "Yes", then let your bet match your talk. True faith means holding nothing back. It bets everything on the hope of eternity.
For more on the book visit: www.crazylovebook.com
*Quotes from Crazy Love by Francis Chan
*Photos by me
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