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Looking To The Cross

Jimmy Carter, in his autobiography Why Not the Best shared an incident that made him aware of his lack of spiritual fervor.

Each year the congregation of Plains Baptist Church would hold a one-week series of meetings to promote spiritual life. In preparation for the week, the leaders of the congregation would venture into the community inviting non-churched members to the services. As a deacon, Carter always participated in this exercise. Carter would always visit a few homes, read the Scriptures and have prayer, share some religious beliefs, then he would talk about the weather and crops and depart. Carter wrote: "I was always proud enough of this effort to retain a clear conscience throughout the remainder of the year."

One day Carter was asked to speak at a church in Preston, Georgia. The topic he was assigned was "Christian Witnessing." As Carter sat in his study writing the speech, he decided he would make a great impression upon the audience by sharing with them how many home visits he made for God. He figured in the fourteen years since returning from the Navy he had conducted 140 visits. Carter proudly wrote the number in his script.

As Carter sat there, he began to reflect on the 1966 governor’s election. As he campaigned for the state’s highest office, he spent sixteen to eighteen hours a day trying to reach as many voters as possible. At the conclusion of the campaign Carter calculated that he met more than 300,000 Georgians.

Sitting in his study the truth became evident. Carter wrote in his autobiography, "The comparison struck me--300,000 visits for myself in three months, and 140 visits for God in fourteen years!"

This sermon is not about how many home visits you make a year on behalf of Christ. While that was a moment of honesty and enlightenment for President Carter, every one of us in this room needs our own moment of enlightenment. We need our own moments of honesty.

There are in the life of every individual moments of examination that come to us and force us to take a good hard look at our lives. Sometimes these moments are courtesy of a sickness or a time of pressure and stress. Sometimes they are moments that come through something that happens that is neither good nor bad. For whatever reason during these moments we are able to focus on things that matter most.

You and I will be most fortunate today if we can take a few moments and honestly evaluate where we are with God. All God ever wants is for us to be in relationship with Him.

I am calling us today to examine our own lives in light of God’s words to a church and recorded for us in the book of Revelations.

In the book of Revelations there are some incredible words of warning and challenge found in the first three chapters. John writes these words and he is instructed to write words of conviction and honesty to seven churches. Someday I am going to do a series of sermons on the messages to these churches but today we are going to read the words given to the last church on the list.

Write to Laodicea, to the Angel of the church. God's Yes, the Faithful and Accurate Witness, the First of God's creation, says:

"I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You're not cold, you're not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You're stale. You're stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, 'I'm rich, I've got it made, I need nothing from anyone,' oblivious that in fact you're a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.

"Here's what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that's been through the refiner's fire. Then you'll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You've gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see.

"The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they'll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God!

"Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That's my gift to the conquerors!

"Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches."
Revelation 3:14-22 The Message

You and I stand on the threshold of a new beginning. In a couple of days we will move into 2008. Today we are going to look at this story from the Bible and see if there are any similarities to our lives. What an opportunity we have to stop and prepare ourselves for the coming year.

This message is pointed and direct. The Lord leaves no doubt where they stand regarding their relationship with Him.

1. They were full of indifference

"I know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You're not cold, you're not hot—far better to be either cold or hot! You're stale. You're stagnant. You make me want to vomit.”

Lukewarm is the worst possible condition anyone could be in. It is the condition of apathy or indifference. In examining it more closely, we find that lukewarm means “without enthusiasm.” It means “criticism without compassion.”

This is typical of the indifferent. They are more concerned for their own comfort and ideas. From such persons criticism flows freely without compassion. It describes one who is without conviction of sin.

They can hear sermon after sermon and attend worship service after worship service, and there is no sense of sin–no conviction of their need of God in their hearts.

For those at Laodicea, they were self-centered, self-occupied, self-satisfied, self-sufficient, and self-confident. They were proud and boastful.

They had no zeal for the Word of God, but they did not deny it. They completely compromised the things of God. They were lukewarm.

The people at Laodicea could understand Jesus’ words clearly. There were mineral springs in Laodicea where people would come to bathe for health purposes. Those springs had the taste of mineral content. The water was lukewarm and was nauseating.

That is how Jesus described these people. They were nauseating to God. A lukewarm Christian is a contradiction of terms. Like dry water, or cold heat, or clean dirt. It doesn’t make sense.

They didn’t deny the gospel; they were just indifferent to it. They knew that serving Christ with all their lives was important but they chose to ignore it. At about 3:20 a.m. on March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese, a 28-year-old manager of a bar in Queens, New York, returned to her quiet residential neighborhood, parked her car in a lot adjacent to her apartment building, and began to walk the 30 yards through the lot to her door. Noticing a man at the far end of the lot, she paused. When he started toward her, she turned the other way and tried to reach a police call box half a block away. The man caught and stabbed her. She started screaming that she’d been stabbed, and screaming for help,.

Lights went on in the apartment building across the street. Windows opened. One man called out, "Let that girl alone!"

The assailant shrugged and walked away. Windows closed and lights went out. The assailant returned and attacked Genovese again. This time she screamed "I’m dying! I’m dying." This time lots more windows opened and lots more lights went on. The assailant walked to his car and drove away, leaving Ms. Genovese to crawl along the street to her apartment building. Somehow, she managed to drag herself inside.

The assailant returned a third time, found Genovese on the floor at the foot of her stairs, and finally succeeded in killing her.

During those three separate attacks over the course of 35 minutes, not one of Kitty Genovese’s neighbors tried to intervene. No burly neighbor picked up a baseball bat and dashed outside to save her life. Worse than that, of the more than 30 people who saw at least one of the attacks and heard Genovese’s screams and pleas for help, not one of them even called the police. After much deliberation, and one phone call to a friend for advice, one man finally urged another neighbor to call authorities, which she did. Police arrived in two minutes, but by then, it was too late.

Interviewed afterward, the residents admitted, sometimes sheepishly, "I didn’t want to get involved," or "I didn’t want my husband to get involved." One said he was too tired to call police and had gone back to bed. Several couldn’t say why they hadn’t helped. Many of them said they’d been afraid to call. They couldn’t say why, within the safety of their own homes, they had been afraid to call the police – even anonymously.

This nonchalant apathetic attitude is the mark of the western church world. We are too busy and too preoccupied with our own lives and all the stuff we cram into them too really involve ourselves in the community of need.

The Lord’s words were you are stale and stagnant and you make me sick enough to throw up.

Let’ pause and think about our level of indifference. Do you even care?

2. They were flawed by independence

”You brag, 'I'm rich, I've got it made, I need nothing from anyone,' oblivious that in fact you're a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.” This church was independent and arrogant. Laodicea was known for its wealth. The whole attitude of Laodicea was that they had everything they needed. They did not need anything or anybody, including God. Isn’t that the attitude of America today? We do not need God. We have it made.

When was the last time you read about someone starving to death in America? We are an affluent people. We do not need anything.

Whenever we find a church that feels it does not need spiritual revival and renewal, that is the very one that needs it. There are churches that will spend every dime and ounce of energy on self preservation. They are preserving an institution. Jesus shows up in the form of a leader or a layperson that is on fire for God and cares about lost or unchurched people and they will either run them out of town or destroy them instead of changing. This is the most oft repeated scenario in the American church. No denomination is exempt.

This church was flawed by an independent spirit and in their minds they didn’t need anything including anything God had to offer.

The word pitiful means “pitiable.” They were to be pitied although that was the furthest thing from their minds. Blind means “nearsighted.” They could not see beyond themselves; their vision was opaque. They lacked light and vision. Here was a church that had nothing and didn’t know it because they were judging and evaluating the wrong things.

3. God favored them with personal instruction

"Here's what I want you to do: Buy your gold from me, gold that's been through the refiner's fire. Then you'll be rich. Buy your clothes from me, clothes designed in Heaven. You've gone around half-naked long enough. And buy medicine for your eyes from me so you can see, really see.

God is speaking so clearly here. In fact, He is using language they would understand because the area of Laodicea was known for its rich gold, it clothing and believe it or not a eye salve. God is using the language of their own culture and city to try to identify and connect with them. He is giving them personal instruction.

People pay big money for a personal trainer.

If we are conscious of our nakedness, He has clothing for us. Other translations use the phrase “white raiment” and that speaks of the righteousness required to enter God’s presence. We are to clothe ourselves in His righteousness and holiness and stop being comfortable with our sin. One of the greatest disservices to our nation in the last thirty years or so is that you can hardly find a speaker on Christian radio that will preach or teach anything other than the fact that all Christians are poor hopeless struggling sinners who never gain any victory over sin in their lives and boy have we embraced that message. Water always seeks the lowest level and so have we.

Patrick Morley probably said it best: ““The American gospel has evolved into a gospel of addition without subtraction. It is the belief that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior… A changed life is one that has added Christ and subtracted sin, and that attracts a world weary of worn-out words. Obedience is the proof.”

"The people I love, I call to account—prod and correct and guide so that they'll live at their best. Up on your feet, then! About face! Run after God!”

If we are conscious of our blindness, God has a cure: spiritual illumination and understanding.

4. Here’s your personal invitation

"Look at me. I stand at the door. I knock. If you hear me call and open the door, I'll come right in and sit down to supper with you. Conquerors will sit alongside me at the head table, just as I, having conquered, took the place of honor at the side of my Father. That's my gift to the conquerors!”

Display picture: This is one of the most misconstrued pictures of our Lord that was ever done. There are churches that will paint this picture on their walls or have it hanging somewhere and if you were to interview the average member of the churches that have this picture I believe that most of them would say that is Christ knocking on the door of the poor sinners heart.

Jesus wasn’t knocking on the door of the Brewery...
He wasn’t knocking on the door of the Brothel...
He wasn’t knocking on the door of the Night Club...
He wasn’t knocking on the door of the Casino...
He wasn’t knocking on the door of the Crack House...
He was knocking on the door of the LUKEWARM CHURCH!

Sam Jones was a preacher who held revival services, which he called “quittin’ meetings.” His preaching was directed primarily to Christians, and he urged them to give up the sinful practices in their lives. Sam’s messages were very effective, and many people promised to quit swearing, drinking, smoking, lying, gossiping, or anything else that was displeasing to the Lord. On one occasion Jones asked a woman, “Just what is it that you’re quittin’?” She replied, “I’m guilty of not doing something -- and I’m going to quit doing that too!” Even though she had no bad habits to give up, she wasn’t actively living to please God. (Our Daily Bread, September 6, 1992)

Here is the last part of our scripture lesson today:

"Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches."

The question is are you hot or cold in your relationship with Christ? Are you in a place where you even care or are you just wishing this was over so you could go on with your life and living the way you want to live?

Once, as an experiment, the great scientist Isaac Newton stared at the image of the sun reflected in a mirror. The brightness burned into his retina, and he suffered temporary blindness. Even after he hid for three days behind closed doors, still the bright spot would not fade from his vision. I pray that you and I would have a similar experience this morning as we fix our gaze on the penetrating purity of the holiness of God. May His brightness burn into our lives in such a way that it would never fade from our vision. May we find His holiness irresistible and not boring.

This week a lady was killed in Pakistan because she believed in something so strongly that she pursued it with her life. Regardless of her message or her mission Benazir Bhutto went back to Pakistan to make a difference in something and she did it fully aware that it might cost her everything. She purposefully did not let her husband travel with her so that her teenage kids would not lose two parents.

Do you believe in anything that strongly? Do you believe that God’s calling in your life is more important than anything else around you? I have been reading this week the book of published letters by Mother Teresa. I have been taken down, challenged, humbled and made hungry by her pursuit of Christ and His will.

Let me leave you with these words. They are her words: “Why must we give ourselves fully to God? Because God has given Himself to us. If God who owes nothing to us is ready to impart to us no less Himself, shall we answer wit just a fraction of ourselves? To give ourselves fully to God is a means of receiving God Himself. I for God and God for me. I live for God and give up my own self, and in this way induce God to live for me. Therefore to possess God we must allow Him to possess our soul.”

Today Lord, I give you my time, my talent, my strengths and my weaknesses. I give you myself. Help me to die daily to my own will and to not drift into luke-warmness and apathy. Let me live in the fire of your passion and in the fire of your holiness today, tomorrow and for the rest of my life. Amen



2007/12/30