FAITH ON FIRE - 1
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A COMFORTABLE CHRISTIAN
A COMFORTABLE CHRISTIAN
This week we are starting a brand new series called ____________
The last two series lead directly into this, going back to unrighteous, we talked about fake Christianity, not following Christ etc. last series we looked at 7 necessary things to following Christ.
I’ve been given word by some students and have listening to some of your stories to decide where to go next and it has all lead me here. This series simply put, is about the fact that we are too comfortable. we all seek comfort, but where does our comfort live and reside?
I want to use this series as a way to give you some next steps to follow Christ, but also to attack the sin that is Christian laziness.
Now I call that a sin because remember, sin is not just doing what God tells you NOT to do, it is also NOT doing what God tells you to do.
I am fairly certain Matthew 28:19 says “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,”
This means we are to GO but to also make disciples.
Let me ask a question here:
How many of you have made a disciple this week? How many of you have made a disciple this year? EVER?
Why haven’t you? lets dig into this a little bit?
WHY WON’T YOU?
Im too scared
im too nervous
im too quiet
I don’t know enough
I don’t want to
I don’t know how
All of these excuses, boil down to one thing, I am lacking.
I would rather be comfortable
I would rather do as I normally would
I would rather NOT
these are the things that are effectively your answers.
Most of it boils down to, you don’t want to stand out from a world that is not like THAT.
How many of you want to follow God, how many of you Want to want to follow God, but you aren’t or can’t or won’t
There is a whole story about this in the book of Revelation.
in revelation 3 we see this story of multiple churches who are labelled by God as Hot, Cold and Lukewarm.
The Church is Sardis is labelled COLD.
Cold meaning they have no call or intention to follow God. They refuse it.
Scripture says in v1b Revelation 3:1-2
“ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
“ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
These people are dead, not folllowing Christ. The works are incomplete, not there play-ro-o, the greek which means not found, not made, not full.
The “Hot” church is in Philadelphia, they followed God there, Revelation 3:8
“ ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
These people are not strong in army or number, they have little power. they are not a strong people. But they are blessed and later in the following verses we see God bless them, he does not allow them to be destroyed or persecuted.
Then we focus in Laodecia
Some context, each of these three cities are not far from each other, but all were damaged by DIFFERENT EARTHQUAKES in the years following Jesus’ death, to John Writing revelation in approximately 90 AD
Now think about an earthquake damaging a ancient city, how much damage does that put in?
How fast were things built back then, compared to now?
This city was one of the most wealthiest cities in all of the Roman empire.
35 years prior to this message from John, the region was destroyed by a earthquake.
Normally in this time, if a city goes through a disaster, they would reach out to neighbors and other allies in other places to get help rebuilding their city.
But the laodecians decided to take this upon themselves, they built their own city back without any help and made the city nicer than ever, they had extravagant theatres and stadiums and shopping and bath houses. think LV or dubai of the time.
These people had it, they seemed pretty chill right.
But lets look at what scripture says of them
“ ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
God will spit him out of his mouth, remember these people are rich! and God calls them what, wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, naked
even worse, God makes it know to them that they don’t even KNOW IT!
But this verse hits home a lot more when you notice some of the hidden meanings,
have any of you ever been picked on in a bad way or even just friends playing, and they say something that kinda hits a little harder, because you KNOW its true?
When i was young, people would say Seth you gotta big head, and that would hurt little Seth’s feelings because man you right but i can't change how big my head is
When you hear something that’s true, it hurts more than when it is false, because of how real it is.
SHOW MAP
See something you didn’t know about Laodicea, is as rich as they were, they had one major issue, they had no access to water. there wasn’t so much as a creek in their hood man, they had nothing. which makes it surprising that they were rich because they lacked a primary natural resource.
See the people of Laodicea had to pipe in water from other places, lucky for them, some neighbors had some good stuff nearby.
The people of Hierapolis to the North would have a lot of Hot water, they were surrounded by Hot springs that provided water to them,
the people of Colossae had cold water, they had cold springs near the city, so they got good clean cold water. these two cities were kind enough to share their water to the Laodeceans, they would use aqueducts to send water to them, but the problem was, as the water flowed to the other place, the cold water would become warm, the hot spring water would cool, and not only that, it would also become contaminated in these large aqueducts. so it would also make them sick
But this message that was sent through John from God would strike the people in Laodecea HARD. It was true, not only of their faith, but the message was made plain and obvious through the way they had to in take a necessary element.
in the ancient context of water, Hot water had healing properties, Cold water was refreshing both had good things, Lukewarm water was neither good nor safe!
They are lukewarm, gross, unsafe, would be spit out of their mouth.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.
God here gives them a chance, but a weird one
How are they supposed to BUY Gods gold? How can you be rich in Christ? How can you be clothed in his white garments?
Only by his grace, they need to be saved, they need to be brought to him
This is a harsh reality.
God is telling these people, Hey everything you are, everything you have and everything you stand for sucks.
Because ultimately you stand for nothing. And you don’t even know it.
You have blinded yourself to the fact that you are hopeless and void.
You don't even realize you are dead, naked, empty.
See this lukewarm christianity is comfortable. How do I know it is comfortable? because they are ignorant to their poorness, nakedness and blindness.
If your faith is “comfortable”, you’re probably lukewarm.
God here sounds like he may be being a little ugly, mean or rude. But he himself clears the air next verse.
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.
He says, I say this because I love you. I want you to repent and turn away from your “Lukewarm-ness”
I think many of us, can relate to this lukewarm church.
What is a modern lukewarm christian?
The church going to check a box, the bible reading and praying to check a box, the not sharing of your faith, the lack of any presence of a care for who Jesus is and what he has done for you.
My least favorite, my worst most aggravating is when we look at someone who does follow Christ and criticize them for truly following Christ.
And to be completely honest, I hear about that far too often. People in this room being criticized and ridiculed by OTHER people that claim to follow Christ.
Biblical Christianity seems extreme, when Lukewarm Christianity is normal.
Biblical Christianity is a burning passion and desire to do things you would have never done before. You will want to do things you have never done before, because you aren’t defined by the comfort you feel, you're defined by the actions you do to glorify Christ
Seth, How can I tell if I am lukewarm?
You crave more acceptance from people, than you do from God.
You crave more acceptance from the world, to be cool at school to have a reputation, to make that money to do this or that.
You crave acceptance from the exact same evil world, that crucified Jesus...
“Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.
2. You Rationalize sin
Isaiah 5:20 “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”
when you try to cut corners to see if your sin is okay,
3. You rarely share faith in Christ. Thats a doozy
4. you only turn to god when you need something
5. when you aren’t much different than this world
comfortable Christians can’t share their faith. because a comfortable Christian is not in a place to have to share.
comfortable Christians blend into the world to avoid criticism
comfortable Christians allow themselves to be excused from church and don’t prioritize church because “theyve been doing good” even though Hebrews 10:25 explicitly says DO NOT NEGLECT THE CHURCH
comfortable Christians let the world frame what the bible says
comfortable Christians let the pastors share the bible
Comfortable Christians, do not follow christ.
They are not Christians
Are you are Christian?
A real Christian will follow Jesus when it may cost them
a real Christian does stand out in the world, because they are looking to please God
a real Christian sees the church body as a non-negotiable
a real Christian lets the bible frame their experiences
a real Christian shares the gospel
You want more steps to following Jesus? You want to know whats next? Get off your la z boy and go into the world and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father son and holy spirit.
you want to know what to do next?
How about you stop looking like everyone else around you.
Yes, it will cost you.
It will cost you some of your life dreams and goals, for some of you it may cost you money, friends, opportunities.
Some of you need to quit doing something you are stuck in, whether that be sin, or something that is not even sin, but it is taking too much time from you.
Yes it will cost you
TRUE CHRISTIANITY WILL COST YOU
But I promise it won’t cost you as much as it cost Jesus when He took nails in his hands and feet for you
A real christ following Christian will have to sacrifice a lot of comfort. It was really comfortable when I was at UCA, amongst the world, in a locker room element I grew up in. Around a place where I didn’t have to live by really any standard that I didn’t want to.
Christ didn’t come so we can have a relaxing stroll through life
he came to make us new creations who love as he loved, to walk as he walked and to be like he was.
A living sacrifice whose life is walked with intentional desire to follow Christ
Listen to me, your comfort is proof that you are spiritually dead.
It is time to get uncomfortable
it is time to separated from the world and be united with Jesus
it is time to look at yourself sitting in your spiritual dead body and to wake up and follow Jesus.
So let’s get uncomfortable,
lets move from our comfort
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