Scripture Revelation 3:14-22
Rev 3:14-22
"To the angel of the church in Laodicea
write:
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful
and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. 15 I
know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one
or the other! 16 So, because you
are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17
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. 18 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.
19 Those whom I love
I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. 20
Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone
hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with
me.
21 To him who
overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I
overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne. 22 He who has an ear,
let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
Palm Sunday! Good Friday! 5 days – what a difference!
There is an amazing short play by Edward Murch called “No
Name in the Street”
In it, three men represent the many people of Jerusalem
present during Palm Sunday and Good Friday. The 3 men are in the Sunday parade
crowd side by side as Jesus - (describe
Palm Sunday) shouting Hosanna! Hosanna! Hosanna! --- and the same 3 men are
side by side on Good Friday – (describe outside Pilates Palace) shouting
Crucify Him! Crucify Him! Crucify Him!
Methodist minister preached without
believing. She went to an atheist convention and proclaimed that she did not
believe in God. On the one hand, it amazes me that some atheists so strongly
have a need to believe in something that they believe in and promote not
believing. So much so that they even have conventions about it. You would think
they would be ambivalent about God and Faith – instead they are against it.
Before we are too harsh, at least they are living in one of the two ways God
said to live; HOT OR COLD! They are not like the casual non-believer or maybe
worse…the casual believer.
I have a friend I recently
reconnected with through Social Media who totally represents this scripture for
me. I have seen him both hot and cold…on fire for Jesus…and seemingly void of
any faith at all.
Many Christians, especially Baptist
hold to the saying “Once saved, always saved!” The question becomes – was the
person truly saved – is it possible to know the God of salvation, Jesus Christ,
and turn your back and your belief away from him? Hebrews 6:4-6 has always been
a disturbing passage: It is impossible for those who have once
been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the
Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of
the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because to
their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him
to public disgrace.
2 Peter 2:20-22
If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are
worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better
for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and
then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. Of
them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and,
"A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud."
So, what does
all this mean to us? We are all here because we are sold out, blood bought, redeemed,
converted, born again, set free, liberated, sanctified, holy, cleansed,
consecrated, purified, dedicated, devoted, steadfast, faithful, committed, blessed,
fanatical Jesus freaks!!! We are HOT for the things of God!
That is a
whole lot easier to say when we are holding Palm Branches waving them at the
King of Glory than when we are at the foot of the cross recognizing that Jesus
is dying on a roughhewn cross and says to us: Matt 16:24-25 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take
up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for me will find it.”
In the book,
and now the movie Lee Strobel recounts the opposite kind of story we began with
of the pastor who lost her faith. He was an atheist who found faith. His story
is a story of hope; His story goes form Palm Sunday to Good Friday to Easter
Sunday to the ascension to Jesus back to heaven to Pentecost to the second
coming of Christ and to eternal life!
No comments:
Post a Comment