The Church That Had Everything...Except Christ

“If you don’t believe in the grace of God, you will when I finish with you. Of course, everyone who believes in God has heard of His amazing grace that has reached the most wretched of sinners. After all, Jesus spent three years calling out to the poor, the blind, the demon possessed and all the other ‘nobodies.’ He even won over a few folks who were called rich and famous. But remember what He did to those religious pretenders? No wonder they wanted to kill Him! How would you feel about being exposed as a ‘hypocrite’, ‘blind guide’, ‘white-washed grave’, ‘serpent and viper’ and other names like that—right in front of your friend!

“Well, my friends and I knew He was right and we cheered Him on. In fact, we decided to be identified with Jesus’ cause. We took on the name ‘Christian’ and even organized ourselves into a church—“First Church of the Lukewarm’ is what we called it. We grew so fast that we spread all over our city of Laodicea. There was no church or denomination that could equal us. What a message we had! ‘No pain all gain’. ‘Health and wealth spell godliness’. ‘A good self image is better than an awareness of sin’. ‘Religious extremism is a vice to be rejected’. ‘Lukewarm is the perfect temperature of virtue’. We heard and believed a thousand other sermons like that.

“Then one day it happened. We were all having a lukewarm time in our lukewarm church feeling so lukewarm happy that we were not like those other churches we considered not very spiritual—you know, too hot or too cold. Then that knock came, first soft, then louder and very persistent. A few of us went to the door and opened it. We were stunned! Speechless! Terrified, really. It was Jesus, and the look on His face seemed to say, ‘This is your last chance. You had better not blow it!’ Jesus! On the outside of our church wanting to come in!

“You can read the whole story in the final book in Scripture—Revelation 3:14-22. Do you know what He said? The opposite of all that we were taught. Jesus would rather have us hot in our love for Him—or cold so that at least we would not be comfortable in our sin. Then He took our most cherished word—lukewarm—and said He planned to vomit us out of His mouth. Spit us out! Imagine our shock!

“But He was just getting started. Though we had kept Him outside our church, Jesus knew every sermon we preached and read our thoughts like they were an open book. ‘You say three things’, He said, ‘I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing. That’s what you think. I, your Lord, have five things to say to you—that you are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.'

“When He said that, the few of us who were listening (most had gone back in and closed the door on Jesus and us) felt love and not rejection. Talk about God’s grace! It even extended to us—the lukewarm and religious hypocrites. He told us what real gold is—the spiritual kind that gets into His Word and obeys it no matter the cost of suffering. And the white clothing of His righteousness; and eye salve that would fix our spiritual eyes on Him and the Word of God as our roadmap.

“Though we felt terrible for our sins, Jesus encouraged us with ‘As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent’. Then wow, grace of all grace—He told us that He was knocking at the door of each of our hearts. All any of us had to do was repent of our sins, open the door and invite Him in. A new life would begin. Incredible!

“Then He ended that holy conversation with a promise that never leaves me day or night. Though I had once been overcome with my miserable lukewarmness,  Jesus declared that if I would walk with Him day by day, we would overcome the world with its temptations and He would let me sit with Him on His throne. I know that sounds wild—me, sitting with Him?! On His throne?! But He said it, and I am determined to be faithful.

“Now, isn’t my story a miracle of God’s grace?! Isn’t Jesus the Messiah incredible? My search for ‘terrestrial life’ is over. I have found the meaning of my time on earth is satisfied in Christ. You’ll discover the same thing if you turn away from the lukewarm and let Him give you a burning heart. Trust me. You’ll never be sorry!”

"Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ" (I Corinthians 11:1)
The ST. PAUL SCHOOL, with Frank Eiklor, Eileen Young and Cecilia Contreras