songsofjesus.com

Is the church lukewarm because I’M lukewarm?

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The defining word for the Church in Laodicea was, “you do not realize…”  And in the list of things they didn’t realize?  That they were blind… they were totally BLIND to the fact that they were blind!  They would have thought God’s rebuke was for someone else, but the rebuke was NOT for someone else, the rebuke was for them!

My song “Nice Little Church” talks about the lukewarm church.  When I wrote it 13 years ago I guess I thought it was for someone else.  But God started to show me, “Mike, it’s about you too!”  Rebuked by my own song!  I started thinking, “What would the church be like if I had lived more for Jesus these last 25 years?  If I hadn’t compromised, been cold and lukewarm, been in love with the world, toyed with sin?  How would I have impacted my family, the church and the world around me?  When we backslide, drift, and lose our first love we’re often totally blind to just how far we’ve wandered away from the Lord.  Our compromise can actually begin to feel normal, until God opens our eyes to see Him as He really is.

You know what Isaiah said to the Lord when he saw Him as He really is?  “Woe is me!  I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty.”  (Isaiah 6:5)

It wasn’t just the people that had a problem, Isaiah had a problem and it became perfectly clear to him:  Isaiah was a man of unclean lips and he lived among a people of unclean lips…. He identified himself as part of the problem.  The church isn’t lukewarm because there’s just a couple of lukewarm Christians out there.  The church is lukewarm because of me, and most likely many, many of you.  How long will we stay blind to that?  Do we even see at all that we’re part of the problem?  What part are we playing in the church being lukewarm?

Tags: backsliding, blind, church in Laodicea, compromise, first love, Isaiah 6:5, lukewarm church, rebuke