Lesson 17

When the risen Lord appeared to John the apostle on the island of Patmos, He asked John to write letters to seven churches in Asai Minor (Revelation 2:1-3:22).
The last church to receive a letter from the Lord was the church at Laodicea.
This church represents the majority of the end-time church, as we see it today.

This letter gives a true assessment of our current lifestyle by the risen Lord Himself, in which he writes:

These are the words of the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Ruler of God's creation. I KNOW your deeds, that you are NEITHER COLD NOR HOT. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are LUKEWARM - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth.

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.

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest [ZEALOUS KJV] and repent.
(Revelation 3:14-17,19)

The Laudicean church had wealth and everything that money could buy.
It was proud of its achievements.
It was self-satisfied.
It felt that it had need for nothing.

But God sees things differently.
Jesus rebuked the Laudicean church and declared that it was spiritually wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
However, the root sin that the Lord pointed out in the Laodicean church was that of lukewarmness, that is, they were neither hot nor cold.
They  had no zeal, but they were not totally dead either.

God hates cozy, worldly, compromising Christians, who only join in Christian activities to ease their conscience, and then only at their convenience.
They have no heart for the plans and purposes of God.

Many believers are self-satisfied with their token contributions to God, saying: 
"I have done my part, going to church on Sunday and Bible Study on Wednesday.
The rest of the week is mine.

I pay my tithes faithfully.
I don't slander, cheat or gamble.
What more do you want from me?
I believe this is being a good Christian, don't you think so?
In fact, they are others who only go to church only one a week and some never even pay their tithes."

God wants us either to be hot or cold.
If we are hot, full of fire and zeal for Him, God can mightily use us for His glory.
If we are cold, dead and defeated, we will acknowledge it, and cry out to God.
He can then send His Spirit to revive us.

However, when we are lukewarm and self-satisfied, neither hot nor cold, God cannot use us or revive us.
Lukewarm believers claim to be alive and wealthy, and have no need of God's help, while in fact they are spiritually poor and naked (Revelation 3:14-22).
Lukewarm believers have enough Christian activity to show that they are not dead, but in fact their hearts are not all out for God.

Our Lord hates lukewarmness in believers.
If we do not repent, He will reject us  and deny us - spitting us out of His mouth.
He will no longer use us or bless us.
God wants us to repent from all lukewarmness, and be zealous for His kingdom - to be on fire for the things of God (Revelation 3:19 KJV).

God wants us to put His kingdom and righteousness first in our life (Matthew 6:33).
Nothing else will satisfy God or satisfy our soul.

Blessed are those who HUNGER AND THIRST for righteousness, 
     for they will be filled.
(Matthew 5:6)

But seek FIRST His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
(Matthew 6:33)

It is only when we hunger and thirst for the righteousness of God - in every area of life - that our soul is satisfied.
It is only then that we find true fulfillment in life.
It is only then that the thirst in our soul can be quenched.

Wealth and titles may satisfy our fleshy lusts, but not our spirit's longings.
Luxurious toys may excite our senses, but they can never bring joy to our soul.
Credit Cards, Cars, Condo's Clubs and Careers may impress your friends and enemies, but God has a different measure for success.

Material things by themselves are not wrong.
Money in the bank is not a sin.
However, when we pursue material rewards ahead of God's righteousness, we lose the approval of God.
We will also lose out in the end, both spiritually and materially.

However, when we put God's righteousness FIRST, He will not only satisfy us spiritually (Matthew 5:6), but He will also bless us materially as well (Matthew 6:33).

To "have zeal" is to "give of our all and our best for what we are doing"
The Oxford Dictionary describes "zeal" as "earnestness or fervor in advancing a cause or rendering service."

In the New Testament, ZEAL comes from the Greek word ZEALOUS, which means "heat" (SC 2205).
It is derived from the Great root word ZEO, which means "to be hot, as in boiling liquids and glowing solids" (SC 2204).

God wants us to be hot for Him.
Let us all be hot for Jesus.
He does not want us to be cold or lukewarm concerning things to God.
Our Lord Himself was consumed by zeal for God's house (John 2:17).
He will do everything to see that righteousness grow and prevail in God's house.

Thus when Jesus saw men selling cattle, sheep and doves in the temple courts, he drove all these men from the temple area.
He also overturned the tables of the money changers and scattered their coins.
This was the result of His zeal for the righteousness of God (John 2:13-17).

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts He found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So He made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves He said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"
His disciples remembered that it is written: "ZEAL for you house will consume me."
(John 2:13-17)

To grow in zeal, we need to take the following steps:

Lukewarm Christians are basically believers who have kept Jesus out of their heart.
They want to live their own life as they wish, and not according to God's plan.
They do not want to get entangled with the things of the kingdom of God.
Otherwise, their personal ambitions and plan would be spoilt.
God's plan will mess up our complacent lives.

However, Jesus is our Lord, and he wants to share with us His vision and plan for this dying world.
And we are His agents, we are His representatives on this earth.
We are His body in this world.
We are the ones ordained by God to carry out His glorious plans for the nations.

Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ORDAINED YOU, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.
(John 15:16 KJV)

If we do not partake of His vision and commit ourselves wholeheartedly to God's plans, but instead follow our own agenda, then God's kingdom cannot advance on this earth.
If we care only for our own kingdom and not God's kingdom, we will live a life no different from that of a pagan.

We will then live a life of the flesh, and not of the Spirit.
We will not have God's faith, but only our own human strategies.
We will not have God's righteousness, only our own occasional charity acts.

Spiritually, we are "wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked" (Revelation 3:17).
Such a life does not have God's approval.
Instead, we will receive our Lord's rebuke and reprimand in the end for wasting our privilege to live as His ambassadors on this earth (Revelation 3:15-16).

However, our Lord Jesus is waiting outside the door of our heart (Revelation 3:20).
He wants to enter in; He is knocking at this door.

He wants to come into our heart and share with us His plans for your personal life, for your family, for your church, for the church at large, for our neighborhood, for your nation, and for all the nations of the earth.
His plans are for your good - not for your misery (Jeremiah 29:11).
He wants you to share in His love, His burden, His vision, His desires for the peoples of this earth.

Are you interested in God's kingdom plans and purposes?
Jesus is waiting to be intimate with you.
He wants you to be personally involved in the advance of God's kingdom on this earth.

Are you interested in God's kingdom plans and purposes?
Jesus is waiting to be intimate with you.
He wants you to be personally involved in the advance of God's kingdom on this earth.
Every child of God is important in His plans for this earth.
God wants to use you for His glory.
He has no plans for making us miserable and wretched - those are our own plans.

Thus our Lord counseled the Christians at Laodicea,

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 slave to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest [ZEALOUS KJV] and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in and eat with him, and he with me.
(Revelation 3:18-20)

Jesus wants to enter our life and share with us three things:

He wants us to ask Him (buy from me ......) for the anointing of the Spirit for our spiritual eyes, so we can see His plans and catch His vision for the world.
He wants to "anoint our eyes with eyesalve" (KJV) so we may see.
As we catch our Lord's vision, we will be set on fire to fulfill God's purpose for this world.

Only the faith of God in us can do the mighty works of God.
It is this faith that can move mountain (Mark 11:22-23).
It is this faith that please God (Hebrews 6:11).
This faith is as gold before God, precious to Him, bring glory to Him (1 Peter 1:7).

God is not impressed by our worldly achievements: our titles, honors, degrees, career positions, property, mansions, diamonds, empires or estates.
Such things do not give us a true measure of spiritual wealth.
Only our faith in God for mighty works is a true measure of wealth in God's sight.

Jesus wants us to serve Him according to His daily plan for our lives.
Only works of God that have been prepared by God for us to do will be acceptable to God (Ephesians 2:10).
These works of righteousness are the white clothes that God wants us to wear.

However, when we do what we want, even good things, without the leading of God, we are doing things that may impress man, but not God.
Knowing what is right and wrong, and then doing the right things without reference to the leading of God, is rebellion.

When God put Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, He commanded them not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Rather, he desired them to eat from the tree of life instead (Genesis 2:9-17).

The tree of life is God Himself.
God wants us to feed on Him.
God wants us to walk in total dependence on Him when obeying Him.
We need to seek God's timing, God's way, God's place, and the specific righteous works He wants us to do.
This is how we buy from Jesus true righteousness.

Just knowing what is right and doing it without waiting on God is living a life of dependence on the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
This is not God's will.
Doing the right thing without the leading of the Holy Spirit is sinful presumption.

Spiritually, we are standing in shameful nakedness before God.
Our good works are self-motivated and are like filthy rags before God (Isaiah 64:6).
Only righteous works done under the total leading of the Holy Spirit will cover our nakedness (Revelation 3:18).

E.g. Preaching the Good News through crusades is right and good.
However, just because you have the money, should you go ahead and sponsor an American evangelist in a big auditorium, because he is your personal friend, without seeking the advice of pastors and leaders in the city, and doing it at a time when there are other meetings in town?
It may not be the right time, or right venue, or right city to hold the meeting, and you may not be the right person to organize such a meeting.
Or are you doing it to show others how "godly" you are, doing great works for God?

E.g. Giving money to servant of God is right and good
However, just because you have money that you have earned by your sweat, do you therefore feel that you have a right to give your money (tithes and offering) to any Tom, Dick & Harry prophet or evangelist that seems to impress you.
Did  you seek God's word and leading concerning your tithes? your offering?

Did you ask God about giving to the tele-evangelist?
How much are you to give?
Do not simply give just to impress the servant of God and his organization.
(God may be dealing with the evangelist for fraud and adultery, and your giving in the flesh would contribute to his downfall, by giving him a wrong impression that God is still using men to bless him with generous offerings).

All zeal must be based on the knowledge of God's word.
It is only through God's word that we know what is right or wrong in God's sight.
It is only through God's word that we can know and seek after God's righteousness.
Zeal must be based on knowledge of God's will, not ignorance.
"It is not good to have zeal without knowledge" (Proverbs 19:2).

Zeal without knowledge will lead to wrong and foolish acts.
Zeal without knowledge is fanatism, with the end justifying the means.
Zeal without knowledge bring shame to God's name before unbelievers.
Zeal without knowledge will ultimately destroy our life and ministry (Hosea 4:6).

My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
(Hosea 4:6)

E.g. The Bible commands all believers to submit to their church leaders (Hebrews 13:17), and it is important that we do so.
However, many believers blindly follow, adore and exalt a man of God, submitting to His every whim and fancy, even when what he says or does is wrong.
This ultimately bring destruction to the leader and his loyal but foolish followers.

E.g. In their zeal for their version of Christianity, many Protestants and Roman Catholics in Northern Ireland kill one another with bombs and bullets, all in the name of God.
Likewise, in Bosnia, the Serbs, in the name of God of the Christian religion, raped and killed the Muslims of that nation.
However, they do not know that Jesus had said: "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44).

E.g. When Paul the apostle was a young man, before he met the Lord, he was a Pharisee, who was zealous for the traditions of the elders, and persecuted the Christians in Jerusalem. He had zeal without knowledge of the truth about Jesus (Acts 7:54-60; 8:1-3; 9:1-5; 22:1-8; 26:1-15; Galatians 1:13-14).

E.g. There  are some young Christians who in their zeal will go for endless meetings and activities in church gathering, thus neglecting their studies, and failing miserably in their examinations, bringing a bad name to Christ in the eyes of their parents and teachers.

Others in their zeal neglect their homes, husbands and children, and cause the name of Christ to be blasphemed because of their bad witness.

Still other young believers will in their zeal go home and insult their parents for worshipping demons, or destroy their parents' idols without permission, or refuse to stay at home, or disown their parents, thus causing heartache to their parents, while giving a bad testimony to the cause of Christ.

Your thought

1. Do you know the plans of God for the world and the role you play to bring this plan to pass?

2. What steps would you take to know intimately God's plan for you, your family, the church and the nations of this world?

3. Do you know that your role is very important in the above plan? Are you fulfilling that role? What are the things that hold you back from playing your part?