What is Lukewarmness? -- Part 3

What we are going to be talking about in this message is more about what it means for a Christian to be conSidered "fervent" (which is what the Greek means, and has better understanding in our minds than "hot"), than what is lukewarm. No believer thinks that it is okay to be lukewarm. No believer I have ever personally known thinks it is a favorable condition. It is a spiritual condition to be feared and avoided "whatever the cost", and this will come into clearer focus later into the message. The point is that the goal of an earnest, sincere Christian is to be fervent in heart and spirit.

I think most people understand what it means to be fervent. It would be harder for us to misunderstand this than to understand it. To be fervent in anything is the opposite of relaxed and carefree and taking it easy. To be considered fervent in anything means to be totally committed; to be vigorously engaged; to be completely involved; to be aflame, ablaze, on fire. I have a particular preference to the idea of being steadily directed, for such a purpose of heart and mind comes from the Lord Jesus, Himself, as He said it in Matthew 6:22, "The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single (steadily directed), thy whole body shall be full of light".

What we say, or think, about our spiritual condition in this regard does not mean too much. All through my Christian life references have been made to persons who were, or are, "on fire for God". Such references have been made about many preachers in particular. Some even make comments like this in regard to themselves. It is better if others make such statements. Remember when Jesus said of John the Baptist that " ... he was a burning and shining light". (John 5:35) Any fervency of speech or action or facial expression or gesticulations mayor may not be from God or of the Holy Spirit. What we are describing here is afervency of spirit; afervency of heart; a fervency of attitude; a fervency of inner devotion to Christ and His cause in His church!

Some years past a church leader who had arisen to very high office within our denomination troubled my own spirit with a closing statement in each of his mailings. He would consistently say at the end of his communications, "Keep your hearts hot for God!". At the time I did not know why this did not come across to my spirit as genuine ... but did with painful clarity as later events unfolded, and deep, dark, and harmful results came to him, his family and the general body of Christ because of his shameful backsliding. You see, such admonitions from any church leader ... even a pastor such as myself .. tend to lead the hearers or readers to assume that such a person is saying that we are to follow their lead ... that they, themselves, are subscribing to such a high standard of spiritual fervency. Why would any church leader instruct others to a level of spiritual fervency that he or she was not experiencing? No one has confidence in a church leader who does not practice what he preaches, and we all know it, even if and when it is unspoken! The point is that simply saying that Christians in general, and church leaders in particular, should "keep their hearts hot for God" is meaningless unless it is true. Our Christian fervency must be discovered in our every day, every hour, every choice and every action living than in clever cliches' that sound super spiritual! I think that both the Bible and our study on this matter will support such a claim. The fervency of spirit we demonstrate throughout our entire walks with the Lord,and our service to Him and His church, is what God counts as good and vital.

What is Lukewarmness? -- Part 2

As usual, the Bible is its own best commentary, and we will be wise to look for the seeds of lukewarmness in the message ofwarning ... as well as hope!. .. contained in Jesus' words to the people in the church in Laodicea. We would expect nothing less from Jesus, as He earnestly critiques the spiritual state of this local body of believers when He says, "I know your works ".

The Lord instantly knows what is our spiritual condition! Our spouses may not know. The pastor may not know. Our children and grandchildren and brothers and sisters and cousins and aunts and uncles and parents and grandparents may not know. Those with whom we worship and sit in church services may not know. Those with whom we work for the Lord within the church ¬sitting on boards, singing and doing music and praying, teaching and directing and planning and administering, giving and tithing and the distribution of funds, cooperating in the maintaining of church properties - may not know where we are with the Lord. But the Lord does know what is the spiritual condition of our hearts, and this ought to speak volumes to us!

If He knows ... that means that He is watching. He is monitoring. He is measuring. He is keeping score, so to speak. We hear this so often that it ought to be boring ... ifit were not so critical! God is interested very little in what we are doing for Him ... if .. we are not primarily concerned about our relationship with Him. What is going on between the Lord and us, and the communication that is going on between us, and the desires that He constantly witnesses within us, and the interest that He sees within our moment by moment daily living ... these things are what He constantly monitors. It is the desires of our hearts that God constantly has on the scales of heaven's value system, and everything else yields to this.

So, in the light of Christ's Own interpretation of what He means by "lukewarmness", what would be the first measurement? Temperature. Easy. Hot...or cold ... or lukewarm? Remember now, that this is not a condition relating to ones service to Christ and His church. This directly relates to a person's interests; his desires; his love; his driving passion; what is first in his living~ from day to day

Note that Jesus makes no reference at all to the "performances" ofthese church people in Laodicea. The "works" to which Jesus refers centers around their hearts; the kind of interests they had; where they placed their time and talents and strengths. It dealt with the level of passion and zeal these church people had for Christ's things. This should deeply impact us these days, for we are living in, and working in the church, during this church period of lukewarm attitudes within the visible body of Christ. We, of all professors of Christianity during all of the various periods of church history, should carefully scrutinize our spiritual temperature, for this last church period, the Laodicean one, will be characterized by church people who call themselves Christians, and yet are lukewarm. And not hot.

What is Lukewarmness? -- Part 1

About two months past, three persons came to me after a service and in a concerned manner, asked me to define for them "lukewarmness". I told them that, as the Holy Spirit would direct and help me, I would address this important issue - and answer their question - in a full length message.

It is clear in my mind, and has been for all of my walk with the Lord, what is the heart condition of a "lukewarm" person ... and let me quickly add that you will not hear in this message the term, "lukewarm Christian" used ... for there is no such a Christian. The term "lukewarm Christian" is a misnomer; an inappropriate description; for Jesus made this quite clear to the Laodicean Church. He said to them, " ... because you are lukewarm, and neither cold or hot, I will spue you out of My mouth". This is a truth that needs loud and clear exposure: there is no such person as a "lukewarm Christian" within the body of Christ. There are only lukewarm church people! I have no doubt that there are many church people who will disagree with me on this vital point, for over the years of my association with the church, I have heard many describe themselves as "lukewarm Christians". I have to tell you that I unfailingly cringe at such talk, for I know what Jesus said of such persons! Heplainly said that He would spue them out of His mouth! Jesus said in effect, "Your lukewarmness makes Me so sick to My stomach that I will vomit you out of My mouth".

Join with me as I read the scripture lesson from The Revelation, chapter three and beginning with verse 14. "And unto the angel of the church of Laodicea write; these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth. "Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: "I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore and repent. 20"Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, Iwill come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me. 'To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, €{ven as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne. "He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches".

Rainbows

It happened again this morning.. .a little after 5:00 a.m. There was not another, single vehicle on Highway 12 in north central Idaho, and spread halfway across the western sky was a huge, breathtaking, gorgeous rainbow. Too bad there were so few to observe and enjoy it... but I did... and the wheels began to turn.

A rainbow has so many applications that can be drawn from it: beauty, glory, color, uniqueness, splendor and many, many other descriptions.

What impressed my mind, however, was not its extravagant beauty, but that it did not belong to any human being, but could be enjoyed by all who observed. My mind traveled to the four quadrants of earth and those
of my earthling brothers and sisters who lived in all of them. Rich or poor, known or unknown, educated or not, recognized or not, religious or not, of every and all ethnicities, every eye has the unspeakable benefit of seeing a rainbow.

The Bible declares that a rainbow has one, singular purpose (SEE Genesis 9:15 & 16), and this is that God, the Creator of all things heavenly and earthly, will never again destroy the earth by water (as occured during the great flood of Noah's time). It is God's promise, and it is indescriminately given to ALL of earth's human inhabitants whether they love and serve God or not.

B-U-T this is not the end of "the story of the rainbow". At first look, it would seem to suggest that the Creator of the rainbow is offering clemancy to all and any human inhabitant, however they live or whatever they do, and whether they submit to this gracious Creator or not. There is more "rainbow" in God's Word, and it is discovered in The Revelation 4:2b &3, which states:

"...behold a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.
"And He Who sat was to look upon like a jasper and sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald".

This is God's judgment time for earthlings, and when it occurs, the time of salvation will have been passed. It is interesting that... until this very moment!... rainbows are not again mentioned... but they appear prior to this time to us humans periodically... to remind us of God's promise.

Centuries and millennia pass...and now and again we see a rainbow..reminding us that what God promises, He will not forget. When it is judgment time - when mercy and offers and reminders are past... another rainbow will appear... over and around God's judgment throne..reminding us that...

...what God promises, He will keep! He will save the righteous, and doom the wicked.

If you read this, and are not prepared to stand before God, I urge you to "seek the Lord while He may be found, and turn to Him while you can...".

E-M-P-T-Y

"Empty" is not always negative...but usually. It usually gives us the idea of being without.

Probably there is not a person alive, having lived into his thirties or forties, who has not experienced several times when he has been "empty". Sometimes we merely feel this way, and sometimes it is a fact.

All who are even moderately familiar with the stories of the Bible easily recall the story of Ruth. Oddly, one wonders why the book is entitled "Ruth"? It is as much a story of Naomi - and it could be argued - more, about Naomi, Ruth's mother-in-law. As briefly as possible, here are the aspects of the story.

Elimelech, his wife, Naomi, and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, leave the land of Israel because of a severe famine, and travel down to over to Moab which evidently had not been affected by the dearth. While there, Elimelech dies, the two sons marry Moabite women, and after ten years of childless marriage, both of the two sons die, leaving three widows: Naomi, Orpah and Ruth. Naomi learns that the famine is over in Israel, and tells her two daughters-in-law that she is going to return alone to her homeland.

Orpah eventually agrees to remain in Moab with her family, while Ruth will not hear to Naomi making that long, heartbroken journey alone. When they arrive "back home" (Bethlehem), here arises the idea of "being empty", as we read in Ruth 1:20 & 21:

"And she said unto (her relatives and friends in Bethlehem), Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me, "I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again"empty" (there is that word): why call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty hath afflicted me".

We cannot help but wonder how Ruth felt about being refered to as "empty". It was obvious that all Naomi saw in Ruth was another mouth to feed, another person for whom she must be responsible. The next few days and weeks would prove Naomi not only to be terribly mistaken about Ruth and her potential good, but would actually be Naomi's livelihood ticket, would give her more than enough "children and grandchildren", but would forever credit her with providing a golden future, eventually being in the bloodline of King David, and Jesus, the Messiah and Redeemer.

It is a lesson for each follower of God to learn. God can - and often does - take our "empty" situations and turn them into far greater benefits for us and others than we ever could have if left to our own methods.

The catch is not knowing that our "empty situations" are actually being worked out by the Lord. Because of this, and the frequent long, frustrating, discouraging years elapsed, we are wise to place, and leave, our "empty" times and feelings in His wonderful wisdom and timing. One things is certain from this story. The Orpahs are forgotten, while the Ruths become bright and shining stars.

The Legacy of the Soul

Isaiah 64:4: "For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for them who waiteth for Him."

"Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
was not spoken of the soul."
(Longfellow)

Somewhere... somewhere... somewhere... the human soul will ever exist. The soul of us is the real us... the person - though not visible to the human eye - is who we are. We are not primarily a physical body, for it is limited by time and physique.

And every cemetery declares it to be true.

The real person is (1) what he thinks, (2) what he decides, (3) what (or who) controls him, (4) what he is and does when no one else can see him, (5) what (or Who) determines his values, and (6) what (or Who) determines his actions.

The Bible declares the soul of humankind (SEE Genesis 2:7) to be a distinct, unprecedented, totally new entity. "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground (physical body), and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life (the spirit of humankind); and man became a living soul." There never had been "a soul" before. None of the myriad heavenly creatures God had previously created "had a soul". It is an entity peculiar and specific to humankind.

When God said in Genesis 1:26, "Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness..." the inference is strong that He was saying, "Let Us do something different from any previous creature we have created. Before, none has been created in Our image, after Our likeness. This being will have a soul...none before has had a soul."

Any grade school student knows that there is something amazingly unique about earthlings. As far as we know, earth's human inhabitants are the only universal creatures like us.

This strongly infers that our Creator has a unique and specific plan for us. What is the legacy of the human soul? (The Bible being its own best commentary), it is that we should be in His image.

Before there were creatures of any kind, or matter of any kind, God planned for His human creation to be like Him, and this likeness can be explained in dozens of ways. What is critical is that this gracious, benevolent Creator carved out of Himself a place, a niche, a specific and personal place for each one of us. It is reserved of and within Himself just for each human soul. He planned for each human soul to experience a personal, different, specific, eternal relationship with Him that no other human soul would or could have.

He provides this very personal experience to each of us by sending His Son, Jesus Christ, into the world...to life life just as we do...and offer Himself a once for all sacrifice for our sins. By a simple act of totally trusting in that Calvary sacrifice by His Son, each of us can enter in to the legacy of our souls.

I invite anyone reading these lines to call, e-mail, or write me, and I would be happy to explain God's plan of salvation.

W. L. Boone
P.O. Box 2487
Orofino, ID 83544
lesboone @ juno.com
(208) 746-5327

It Happened Again...

For the unmpteenth time, I managed to run a sharp sliver into one of my fingers. Thus unpleasant experience cannot be avoided however careful a carpenter is.

The idea is to get all of it out during the initial probing, poking and digging. First you try to get ahold of it with the ever-present pocket knife, and then carefully pull that beggar out in the same direction it went in. Then you hope you got it all.

If you did not, three results occur: one, it will continue to be tender; two, it will form a callous-like covering over the skin's attempt to heal; and three, it will not heal. Two, additional attempts were made to dig that sliver out over the next, few weeks, but to no avail.

Yesterday, with the sharp point of my pocket knife, and sharp pointed tweezers specifically designed for sliver removal, a third attempt was made - all with appropriate, blow-by-blow, verbal comments to she-who-must-be-obeyed of the painful procedure...but again to no avail.

"It has to be in there", I observed, "for it will not heal". She casually observed that I should try soaking it "like that other deep one you had at camp meeting". (That one refused the unsuccessful efforts of two ER surgeons who both agreed "that there cannot be a sliver in there." I knew better. I could feel it, and it would not heal. It ultimately shot out of its "silo" like a rocket after I had finished a couple of hours washing dishes at camp meeting.)

As it is said, "nothing ventured, nothing gained." Since it was already opened and bleeding, I sat for fifteen minutes or so soaking that finger. Then, with some vigorous squeezing, there it was - about a quarter of an inch long offense sitting and exposed like a beached whale. In one day and night, it felt fine and had begun to heal.

Sin - either commited or inborn -is as foreign to the soul as slivers are to the body, and it will continue to give us pain and grief until it is removed by God's remedy - the shed blood of Jesus Christ. God knew that we needed a Savior from the soul's evil intruder, and provides salvation from sin through His forgiveness and cleansing. When the "sliver" is out, healing can start.