Most people who have some knowledge of the Bible know that being lukewarm is not the favored spiritual condition. Jesus was pretty clear on that when He addressed the church at Laodicea and severely censored them for their mediocre condition (Rev. 3:15-16). They were financially very well-off, but this blinded them to seeing their spiritual needs and deficiencies. Their wealth produced in them self-sufficiency and also their negative condition of spiritual lukewarmness. They were neither hot or cold in their relationship with Jesus Christ. Since Jesus was actually nauseated by their condition of lukewarmness, we obviously want to avoid it. Most of us are pretty sure that lukewarm is not our spiritual temperature. But since we can easily deceive ourselves on this matter, how can we really know? There are several key scriptures which can assist us in determining where we are? For sure, we cannot properly evaluate our condition by comparing ourselves with other believers, since we can always find a few sickly saints that make us look good. But the Scriptures do help and set forth basic principles about robust, authentic spiritual living, which is the opposite of lukewarmness. Certain things keep a person from becoming lukewarm spiritually.
FEARING THE LORD. Perhaps the most basic point in this matter of being lukewarm is whether the fear of the Lord is present or absent in your life and mine. A person who fears the Lord has an ongoing reverential awe of the Lord God and this greatly affects his actions, thoughts and attitudes. This person is consciously keeping in mind that the One we have to do with is the sovereign creator of the universe and has the power of life and death. Daniel once reminded King Belshazzar that our life breath is in His hands (Dan. 5:23) God knows everything, observes everything and, because we are created beings, we are accountable to Him for how we have lived. The Apostle Paul’s life was governed by his fear of the Lord (2 Cor. 5:11).
When Moses gave instructions to Israel regarding the passing on of God’s truth to the next generation, he said there were two basic truths that had to be passed along. Parents were to teach their children to LOVE the Lord their God, and secondly, to FEAR the Lord their God (Deut. 6:2-5). These two truths are foundational to living a life with meaning (and avoiding become lukewarm).
The fear of the Lord is a crucial factor because it keeps a person from sinning. It is probably the greatest deterrent to sin for the believer. At Mt. Sinai, God had a sight and sound presentation which demonstrated His awesome power. This display caused the people to respond in great fear. Moses then explained that God did this so that “the fear of Him may remain in you, so that you may not sin” (Exo. 20:20). Later King Solomon would observe that “by the fear of the Lord one keeps away from evil” (Prov. 16:6). This truth determined the lukewarm spirituality of Israel in the days of the prophet Malachi. Israel was guilty of all kinds of sins, but they took place because of one reason. This was because Israel did not really reverence the Lord (Mal.1:6).
The fear of the Lord is the starting point in living wisely and well (Prov. 1:7; 9:10). The only way we are able to see life in focus is to have a correct view of God Himself. And only the Scriptures accurately tell us what God is like. (Books like A.W. Tozer’s, “Knowledge of the Holy”, and J.I. Packer’s “Knowing God” can be of great help). Without seeing God through the lens of the Bible, our tendency is to make God more like ourselves, which always makes for a deficient view of the Lord God, and which inevitably leads to that lukewarm condition. Seeing God correctly is probably the most significant factor in avoiding becoming lukewarm in our spiritual lives.
ABIDING IN CHRIST. In His “upper room discourse” (John 15:1-12), Jesus was speaking to His apostles. These were “clean”, meaning they were saved. He was teaching them about having a fruitful, meaningful life; which, of course, is opposite of having the barren life of lukewarmness. The apostles were commanded to “abide” in Christ, which meant to remain in fellowship with Him (see 1 John 2:28). Jesus said that it was possible for a “branch” in Him to be unfruitful (15:2). But if that was the believer’s condition, then the Father (the Gardener) would always deal with such an unproductive branch to try and have it become fruitful. The key to remaining in fellowship with Christ was to obey Him (15:10). Jesus explained that the key to abiding was to obey His commands. If we abide then we have joy in life, honor the Lord and avoid lukewarmness. The question for each of us then becomes “are we ordering our daily lives by the commands and principles given by Jesus Christ for those who are believers and follow Him?” Living obediently is quite challenging in this culture, but there is no doubt that the Holy Spirit will help us in making obedience characteristic of our lives. If we are walking in obedience to Him then we are not lukewarm spiritually. Lukewarmness is clearly our condition spiritually if disobedience characterizes us.
MINIMIZING THE WORLD’S INFLUENCES. Living in this world (culture) which is governed by the Evil One is always a challenge. Jesus stated that it is the “cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches” (Luke 8:14, ESV) that causes a person’s life to become unfruitful; that is, devoid of lasting, godly value. In His parable of the Sower and the seed, Jesus categorized mankind’s responses to the Word of God with four soils into which the seed of God’s Word is deposited. The seed in the third soil germinated; that is, it produced life. These people “heard” the Word of God and came to life. They were saved. (Note that “heard” is synonymous with “believe” in the context when one looks at 8:13 and 8:15). The seed in the third soil, which was full of thorns, did produce fruit but none of it was mature. The fruit in this life was immature, and therefore, fundamentally of no real value. As a child growing up, we had a deficient peach tree in our yard which never produced any fruit that we could use; only hard, useless little pieces of fruit. Useless fruit pictures what the lukewarm Christian produces in life. According to Jesus, the thorns represented the cares, concerns and distractions of the cultures of this world system. Satan is quite good at what he does, and he knows that for many of God’s people the notorious sins of the flesh will not be that effective in keeping them from becoming a passionate follower of Jesus Christ. So instead, he brings in a tsunami of activities, events and other matters which completely occupy mind, body and life. We are busy. Many of these things are morally/spiritually neutral and some are good. But uncluttered time in the Word and with Lord are pushed out to the margins of life and our spiritual temperature gets closer to the lukewarm. We are told, for example, that the average young person daily spends 8-9 hours with various kinds of electronic media (TV, cell phones, texting, watching videos, online chats). Many adults are not far behind the younger generation. It would then seem imperative that we ask ourselves if we are too busy and seemingly unable to carve out meaningful time daily to be with the Savior. If it happens that our personal times in the Word of God and time with the Lord are pretty sketchy then it is not hard to imagine that being spiritually lukewarm is most likely present in our lives or coming soon.
Most of us know that if we do not budget our money, then we could very possibly get ourselves in financial trouble. The same holds true for our time. If we do not budget our time, then we could end up not having time for important matters, such as daily time with Jesus and His Word. Perhaps it is time for some of us to make or to renew time with the Lord each day. A consequence for neglecting time with the Lord will always be a lukewarm spiritual condition which is something that makes Jesus sick. We certainly don’t want that to be true of ourselves. Should we conclude that recently our spiritual lives have not been what they should be, then we need to take appropriate steps to be where we should be. The Lord is aware of our failures and deficiencies and gladly welcomes us back into a warm fellowship.
Psalm 145 has been a favorite for many years; it includes the following:
“THE LORD SUSTAINS ALL WHO FALL, AND RAISES UP ALL WHO ARE BOWED DOWN….THE LORD IS RIGHTEOUS IN ALL HIS WAYS, AND KIND IN ALL HIS DEEDS. THE LORD IS NEAR TO ALL WHO CALL UPON HIM, TO ALL WHO CALL UPON HIM IN TRUTH. HE WILL FULFILL THE DESIRE OF THOSE WHO FEAR HIM. HE WILL ALSO HEAR THEIR CRY AND WILL SAVE (deliver) THEM. THE LORD KEEPS ALL WHO LOVE HIM.” (Psalm 145:14, 17-20)