The Meaning of Lukewarmness Understood

[Gideon]

The word ‘lukewarm’ appears only once in the entire Bible. It is the word ‘chliaros’ (Strong’s # 5513). It is found only in the letter to the church of Laodecia, in Revelations 3. The word has two translations.

The first is simply a state of tepidness, lukewarmness, not hot not cold. As believers, most do not see themselves in this light. They go to church, and enjoy it. They worship, and do not do so with a going-through-the-motions feeling. They truly enjoy it, their emotions swell, they touch God there, and tears of  joy often accompanies their singing praises to God. 

Thus, they naturally assume that there  is simply no way that they can be lukewarm. They truly love the Lord. He is real to them. They believe Jesus truly died for their sins and He lives inside them.  That word, to them, must apply to those people in traditional liberal denominations where people come in to church, sing some dry hymns, hear a short sermon and leave feeling better about themselves, perhaps, but never really having come into God’s presence. That is lukewarm, right? Yes, it is. These are like a man on his deathbed. He may technically be alive, but he certainly is not full of life. 

But there is a second definition of the word ’chliaros’ listed in Strong’s that we have all been ignorant of. Here it is:

”....the condition of the soul wretchedly fluctuating between a torpor and a fervour of love.”

And what does ‘torpor’ mean. Sluggish inactivity. Disinterest. Lack of passion. Coldness. 

In the first definition, there is an unchanging blandness. No highs, no lows, just same old same old going-through-the-motions Christianity. Of course we would not identify with such a state. But..... what about the second? How many there are there in God’s church whose very lives are defined by this wretchedness of alternating between hot and cold? The truth? The vast majority. 

You see, in our current Christian understanding, where we come by grace to get saved, and then are handed Bibles to live by, we have a problem. We have been awakened to God, and truly love Him, but there is still another part  of us that loves us and OUR life. It is influenced by the world we live in.  Temptation to sin is unrelenting and we feel pulled in the opposite direction. Even if we resist, we feel defiled and our joy dissapates. We do not see us as united with the Lord. We are here, Jesus is in Heaven and instead of telephones, we communicate by prayer... long distance. We go to visit God on Sundays. And no matter how good it gets, when we leave church, the doors open us up back to the world, with its hopes, dreams, temptations, fears, disappointments, entertainment, and sin. The devil dwells here and we have to survive for six days before we are uplifted again. 

What is the outcome? We picture it like a black dog and a white dog fighting within us, with no peace...... ever. Sometimes the white dog seems to get the upper hand, sometimes the black dog does. But there is never peace, because the battle never ceases. Depending on circumstances, we are either in God’s presence or He seems like a million miles away. Sound familiar? It does to me. You see, for 38 years after I got saved, I lived this wretched life, back and forth, wanting God but also wanting to please me, unconcerned about eternal things. If someone would have told me I was lukewarm, I would have never believed them. But you know what? I was. 

You know who else was at one time? The apostle Paul. Romans 7 defines a lukewarm Christian’s life. How do we know? Read again the second definition of lukewarmness. Notice the word ‘wretched’? Wretched fluctuating. Up and down. Three steps forward, three steps back. Sin, repent, believe again. And again. And Paul HATED it. 

Is this the life of victory Christ has bought for us? I promise you it is not. He died to set us free indeed, to plant us in ‘the glorious liberty of the children of God,’ Dear saints, this is what we are all being awakened to, a real escape from the miserableness of being hot one minute and cold the next. Leaving lukewarmness behind..... forever. 

God has a walk for each one of us, no matter how weak we may be, no matter how far we have drifted, that will take our breath away. But before He can do that, one thing is needed. We have to admit to ourselves and to our God that we desperately want such a life, rhst we are lukewarm, and that we want once and for all to be freed from its’ miserable  grip. 

It is a hard thing to admit, I know. Up til now,  we have not seen ourselves as lukewarm, but as things in the world get darker, and those who love evil wax worse and worse, it will be imperative, if we are to hold onto to the Lord unto the end, to rid ourselves of that part that causes us our angst.

I will follow this post with one explaining God’s cure for lukewarmness. Trust me, it is not hard to do. It simply requires we be honest with ourselves and with Him and admit as we come to Him to be delivered out of the wretchedness of living in Romans 7 so that we can walk in Him, every day, like we walk with Him when we are ‘hot’ during worship services on Sundays. If we truly want that, to abide in Him, never leaving His presence, eternally minded even as we go through our daily lives, all day, every day, such a life is not only possible. It is assured! . Hold on. Things are going to get mindblowingly wonderful.

Blessings to all,

Gideon

[Not me]

Interesting second definition of the word lukewarm. Something to ponder before the Lord. Thanks for bringing it forth.  Most interesting indeed. 

Looking forward to your next post. Knowning it’s going to consist of more of Him and less of us, and that’s always a good thing. 

Much love in Christ, Not me

Edited April 29, 2018 by Not me

[Gideon]

43 minutes ago, Yowm said:

I see, even though the vast majority are in this quagmire of fluctuation, only the Laodicean Church got called out on it. Hmm

 

 

43 minutes ago, Yowm said:

I see, even though the vast majority are in this quagmire of fluctuation, only the Laodicean Church got called out on it. Hmm

 

My sole purpose is that those who see this type of lukewarmness in their own walks can finally see that God promises them far, far more if they will but admit it and ask God for deliverance from such a walk, just as Paul did. If they do as scripture counsels us, and examine themselves whether they be in the faith and conclude their love for God and their seeking God’s will above their own is continual, praise God, amen? 

Blessings, 

Gideon

[Gideon]

1 minute ago, Yowm said:

Depends on how you unpack the remedy Jesus gave for lukewarmness

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.
(Rev 3:18)
 

The remedy? The remedy is actually quite easy. No works involved. No ‘to do’ list. But until someone sees that he is indeed lukewarm, the remedy will not be taken, no matter how simple. That is the problem with lukewarmness. Because outwardly, one still may look the same as when they were on  fire for the Lord, and they can still feel His presence in worship, and still read the Bible, it is difficult indeed to see it in ourselves, for blindness is part of the lukewarm condition. 

This is why fleeing all sin, especially willful sin, is all important. Why? Because sin hardens hearts, not all at once but a little at a time, and leaves one with a “Christian-looking” outer shell, but a hollow condition on the inside, one almost unable to ever be restored.  

Thank God for that word almost! When all else may have failed, God is still able to awaken us if that is our condition.... if, deep down, we want His will for us more rhan our own. 

So, when we finally can come to admit we fit the bill, and the shoe indeed does fit our foot, and we do not let our pride get in the way of Jesus re-igniting our faith and love for Him, what then is the remedy?

Here are the three rhings the Lord told the Laodecians....

1) Buy gold of Him, tried in the fire- Interesting that the Lord used the term “buy”. We have been taught that our salvation is free, and indeed it is, but... you knew a ‘but’ was coming, right? LOL. There is still a cost. And what is the cost, the cost Jesus said to count before we can escape the insideous grip of lulewarmness? We must hate OUR life... our old natures.... and be willing to leave them behind.... put them off.... let them die. 

And what is the gold? Faith. Walking in lukewarmness generally does nothing to our doctrines, but what it does do is leave us only with head knowledge, not faith. In order to escape lukewarmness, our faith must be exercised. We need to believe our God that He has....He IS.... the cure we need. Faith looks away from us to re-set our lives  on fire for Him, and depends totally on God to not only restore us, but to KEEP us restored. And what is this? The second part of the remedy!

2)  Clothe ourselves with white raiment that the shame of our nakedness doth not appear-

And where do we get these amazing garments? We already have them! We just never have put them on. Yup. New natures, natures that God promises He will cause to obey, if we will but believe with the gold we just invested in. This is the only hope for a real change in our walks. Oh, we can turn over new leaves, decide to ‘do better’, but as long as we think this will help, we remain naked and vulnerable to satan’s wiles. God has purchased for us not just forgiveness but death of our old nature and brand new natures that can and will bear spiritual fruits.  And glory to God, rhese new natures are equipped with ‘anti-lukewarm’ protection! 

Do these new natures actually exist? Most definitely!  But here is the thing. Like the emperor with his invisible new clothes, blindness comes with the territory in rhe land of lukewarmness. How often we think we are gloriously displayed, and have need of nothing, and yet our pride blinds us to our real need. Others see it plainly. We cannot. And that leads us to the third part of the cure....

3) Eyesalve so that we might see- Somewhere along rhe line, eye salve will be a part of our restoration from lukewarmness. And what is that? Tears. Tears of brokenness. Of shame. Of taking God for granted. Of leaving our first love, not even aware that we have done so. Sometimes, the tears will come before parts one amd two. Sometimes afterwards. But no matter what order in which they come, once the lukewarmness has been treated, and we walk in rhe full victory God has destined for us,  we all will cry tears of joy and thankfulness when we see how God still loved us despite our hearts going after other things, and doubting that Our God could actually make a grace so deep, so powerful, so amazing, that no matter how weak we are, no matter how prone we are to straying, His grace will keep us steady, safe and single-eyed until He comes back to take us home with Him. 

Blessings,

 

[Gideon]

2 hours ago, Yowm said:

That's nice. The Book of Revelation is made up of many Old Testament types found in well, the OT. Can you link to Scripture the application of those words 'gold', 'fire', 'raiment', 'nakedness', 'eyesalve' etc.?

IOW, you have given your take on Jesus' remedy, now can you give your scriptural support for your explanation of those types? Thanks.

Brother, if in my heart I believed that you would truly listen and pray about what I have been given to share without some sort of comment that is derogatory and that you are not only asking in order to fish for things to call me out on, which has become your calling card of late, I would be more rhan happy to spend as much time as needed to answer your questions.  But your posts, at least in my eyes, do not fit that bill,so for now I will have to abstain. 

I do believe there are saints who know inside that they have lost their first love as evidemced by their lulewarmness or up and down walks, and who need encouragement that God indeed does have a better life for them, a life of overcoming, rather than being overcome, half hearted and.... yes, lulewarm. 

And I also believe that tears will be shed that will allow them to finally see the truth of who we really are, new creatures, .... and walk in them all day, every day. They will seek the one rhing more precious than gold that  perishes, faith that is tried in the fire, and actually witness rheir God remove all their impurities. They will understand that when we put on our new natures, we are actually putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our white raiment but first, we must long to have the filthy rags of our old natures taken away. 

The first step is brokenness, and yes, tears.  That is the hungering and thirsting for a righteousness that exceeds a positionsl standing with an actual true change of heart.... and character. That is the hard part, admitting that we need such a change, where we rend our hearts and humble ourselves before our God, admitting that we have strayed from Him in our hearts.  

Some will see it now, others later, others never. My prayer is that every single one of us see that we are missing a key element ofour salvation..... how to walk close to Him all day, every day, so that please Him with our lives, and love Him with our whole hearts.  

Blessings brother, 

Gideon

 

[Gideon]

32 minutes ago, Yowm said:

It is just I've noticed many postings and ideas without Scriptural support. Revelation is basically a Jewish book chock full of imagery from the OT and it would have been interesting to see how you link your use of those listed words to the OT.  But anyhow, it's your thread, so whatever.

What I share is, I believe, for the hearts of saints who are hungry for more, who know on some level that they are not walking where they should be or want to be with the Lord. .  God has given these rhings for me to share, though I completely understand why some may doubt it initially. 

 I do not do it for profit, for a following, for pride, and certainly not to be well liked, lol. I share because I care. It is not easy sharing as I do. Misunderstandings abound, some get upset, because, as I has shared, I know it is somewhat new to people’s current understanding and can be seen as a threat rather rhan as a blessing. 

I do not especially enjoy talking about lukewarmness and saints being overcome by the world, the flesh and the devil. Unfortunately, these are necessary topics to be faced in order for souls to be brought to a place of hunger. I mean no harm to you ort to any here. I pray you believe that. 

But when God gives me an understanding of something, and puts it on my heart to share it, I fully realize how that comes across. There are plenty of “fringe dwellers”  out there with a new “revelation” and it is natural that there will be some eye rolls. I expect it. But what shall I do? To hold back and not share something wonderful, something that actually has transformed and continues to transform me would be unthinkable. 

 I am not talking small stuff here. Yes, the breaking of my deep sexual addiction was and is wonderful, but being delivered from the power of darkness as He promised us, is but the tip of rhe iceberg. I labored for almost four decades with no discernable spiritual fruits, but in these past eleven years, my deep darkness has become light, my chronic impatience has grown into patience, my anger into kindness. It is almost surreal, for I know  it is not me doing rhe changing. I certainly have not ‘arrived’, lol, but I cannot even see my point of origin in the rear view mirror.

I have said it before. I am nothing special. Why did He visit me as He did? I do not know. I am, on my own, far worse than any here. But neither can I deny the trith or the effectiveness of what I continue to share nor how I receive it.

I realize it puts me in a vulnerable light, and some will have major misgivings, as you do. I try my best to share honestly, and speak to people’s hearts, and although a few have listened over the years, far more are in the wait and see mode, and that is ok, too. I have shared this exact aame message for the full leven years, and by God’s grace I will continue. The message has not changed or evolved in that time. It is a rock and does not change. My understanding increases but rhe core message of our new natures has never varied at all. 

I understand your desire for scriptural references, bur when the Lord puts things on my heart, often it is only afterwards that I will see confirmations in scripture, to me fitting perfectly. There is nothing wrong with want if to “test” what I share, but all I ask is rhat you listen to me with your heart rather than with a scriptural microscope. Yes, eventually, what I share  MUST agree with scripture, and I am thoroughly convinced it does. 

I want us to be friends for we are brothers in Christ, but I get that for now, that might not be possible. However, I am not wanting a comfrontational relationship between us either, for it brings no glory to our God. We serve the same God, and if we see things differently right now, then my desire is that we treat one another with respect and kindness until we come into the unity of the faith and rhe knowledge of the son of God. I pray you feel the same way. 

Blessings,

Gideon

[Not me]

@Gideon

After having gone over your posts a couple of times.  You pose a good question pertaining to the second definition as per Strong’s concordance. So I considered, would a carnal Christian be considered lukewarm? The answer would be  “no”. For all Christians start off that way. So what if a Christian refused to grow? Well, that’s a interesting question. The hallmarks of a carnal Christian who refuses to grow are pretty much the same as the standard definition of a lukewarm Christian. Which to make a long story short, could be summed up as being controlled by the “old creation”regardless of what form it takes.   Most interesting question? 

You definitely have given me something to kick around before the Lord. And anything that causes me to press into Him more, is a good thing. So a “hat tip” to you, and may you gain a increase in Christ in your innermost being. 

Much love in Christ, Not me. 

Edited April 30, 2018 by Not me

[Willie T]

20 hours ago, Not me said:

Interesting second definition of the word lukewarm. Something to ponder before the Lord. Thanks for bringing it forth.  Most interesting indeed. 

Looking forward to your next post. Knowning it’s going to consist of more of Him and less of us, and that’s always a good thing. 

Much love in Christ, Not me

Here is an interesting view of where than may have originated.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjr1OWboeLaAhUox1kKHag7CMAQtwIIJzAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DymdFliJ0JjM&usg=AOvVaw0RHI8D2CF45rkMSAEYUAyr

Edited April 30, 2018 by Willie T
Removed video. Please post videos in the appropriate video forum.

[Not me]

Thanks for  video Willie. I’ll watch it completely when I get the time, looks interesting. Blessing.

much love in Christ, Not me

Edited April 30, 2018 by Steve_S
Removed quoted video.

[Sower]

3 hours ago, Gideon said:

The first step is brokenness, and yes, tears.  That is the hungering and thirsting for a righteousness that exceeds a positionsl standing with an actual true change of heart.... and character. That is the hard part, admitting that we need such a change, where we rend our hearts and humble ourselves before our God, admitting that we have strayed from Him in our hearts.  

Some will see it now, others later, others never. My prayer is that every single one of us see that we are missing a key element ofour salvation..... how to walk close to Him all day, every day, so that please Him with our lives, and love Him with our whole hearts.  

Blessings brother, 

Gideon

Abide; continue, dwell, be present, remain.  =   Tabernacle; 1 (in biblical use) a fixed or movable habitation,  2 a meeting place for worship
Joh 15:5 I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one abiding in Me, and I in him, this one bears much fruit, because without Me you are not able to produce, not one thing. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, whatever you desire you will ask, and it will be done to you.
Joh_14:15  If ye love me, keep my commandments.