Cold is preferred to room temperature
Beyond the Maze: Why Jesus Would Rather You Be Cold Than Lukewarm
Have you ever gotten so comfortable in chaos that you forgot what peace looked like? What if I told you that sometimes we get so used to praying when there's trouble that we don't know how to move forward when God wants to take us beyond our comfortable struggles?
"Sometimes we actually get comfortable in the maze. We get comfortable in the unknown. We get comfortable in the chaos and we just kind of stick there because that becomes a normative of our life and we think, well, I kind of know how to handle the messed up world."
But God was speaking to me and said, "This is good, James, where you guys are where you guys are going. But I want you to understand something. You got to move beyond the maze."
What Is Jesus's Goal for Your Life?
As I was praying this week, this question popped in my mind: "What is Jesus's goal for my life?" Now, understand, I'm not saying what does he want me to do? But have we really asked ourselves what does Jesus desire of me? What is his goal for my life?
"Think about it just for a moment. When's the last time you really said, 'Okay, God, what is it that you desire? What is your goal? If I end 2026 and I could sit down with Jesus, would you tell me, well done, good and faithful servant, you reached the goal I had for you in 2026?'"
It's easy to miss a goal that you don't know. And yet Jesus tells us over and over again through his life that God has specific goals for each and every one of us. Did you know that God has goal for your life? It's not just what you do and even how you do it, but it's who you are.
The Church That Made Jesus Sick
Let's go to Revelation chapter 3, verse 14. Here, John the Revelator - the apostle who was exiled to the island of Patmos because they couldn't kill him (they tried to boil him, but it didn't work) - receives a vision. In this vision, Jesus speaks to seven churches, and one of them receives some of the harshest words in all of Scripture.
Jesus says to the church at Laodicea: "I know your works. I know that you're not doing anything. But I know your works." It's a tongue and cheek moment because he knows that their works are non-existent.
"See, we could be very busy and still have no works. We could feed the homeless and still have no works. We could go door to door knocking on doors and doing whatever it is we think we're supposed to be doing and still not being doing the work that God has called us to."
Then Jesus delivers the knockout punch: "You are neither cold nor hot. I love this. Jesus in this moment says, 'You're not cold and you're not hot. You're somewhere in the middle.' He goes on and says, 'You're you're lukewarm.'"
Why Lukewarm Is Worse Than Cold
Here's what blew my mind: Jesus says he'd rather have us be cold than lukewarm. "He looks at them and says, 'What you're doing is actually more damaged than if you were cold.'"
"The problem in our day and age today is we have a lot of Christians who are lukewarm. And now those of us that are hot, that are zealous, that are hungry for God our name is being splattered out there by those who are lukewarm."
When someone claims to be a Christian but lives a lukewarm life, "you cause damage because you take somebody and you drive them to hell with you." Jesus would rather someone speak against God than claim to follow Him while living a life that contradicts everything He stands for.
"So because you were lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of the mouth. Some versions say “I will vomit you out.”
The Prescription for Lukewarmness
But Jesus doesn't leave the church without hope. In Revelation 3:18, He gives them - and us - a prescription: "I counsel you to buy for me gold refined by fire and white garments and salve to anoint your eyes."
GOLD REFINED BY FIRE
"This gold that's refined is that faith that is refined. This idea that what I believe I actually do and no matter what I face I stand firm"
When conflict arises and things that upset you and frustrations hit you, do you waver? Or are you pure gold that's been refined by fire? "You are on the rock. You are on that foundation."
"You got to buy it. Buy it takes work. Buy it means I got to do something to earn it." This isn't about earning salvation - it's about the process of spiritual maturity that comes after salvation.
WHITE GARMENTS OF HOLINESS
Church has lost holiness. I'll just say it. The American church has lost holiness because we defined holiness as works. We've made holiness about appearance - what movies we watch, how we dress, how many tattoos we have.
But holiness is a moment where I set myself apart for God. Where I proclaim ‘I'm here for the kingdom of God. God, what is your desire for my life? Here I am. Send me.
"Holiness is setting myself apart. I may be in this world, but I am not of this world. I'm a different creature. I'm a new creation created in the image of God to love and to be loved by him and to love my neighbors as myself."
SPIRITUAL SIGHT
The salve for our eyes represents spiritual discernment. "One of the biggest problems we have is we look carnally. We look at the earth. We look how the earth sees things and that's how we judge and that's how we react."
Instead of reacting in our own understanding, we should pray: "God, would you show me what it looks like through your eyes?"
The Wedding Banquet Warning
In Matthew chapter 22, Jesus tells a parable about a king who throws a wedding banquet. When the invited guests don't show up, he sends his servants to invite anyone they can find from the highways and byways. But there's a crucial detail we often miss.
"When the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garments. And he said to him, 'Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?' And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, 'Bind him hand and foot and cast him into outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called but few are chosen'" (Matthew 22:11-14).
"Everyone else has changed their garments. They weren't prepared for the wedding out there, but then they got the invitation. And as they came in, what do they do? They got wedding attire on. They realized, I need to change. I can't be who I was. I've got to be something different."
The Golden Ticket Lie
"We've got into this moment where we say, 'All you have to do is accept Jesus as your personal savior, and you get your golden ticket.' And as long as I keep it close to me, I'm good."
But here's the problem: "He's going to take this ticket and rip it because he's going to look at my garments and say, 'Those aren't wedding garments. I've seen your life. You didn't walk like I asked you to walk. You were divided in who you were.'"
"Jesus's death on the cross was not just about giving us a free ticket. If that's why he died on the cross, it was a wasted death. His death on the cross was your starting point, not your ending point."
Am I a Lukewarm Christian?
"You can tell a lukewarm Christian by how they pray. How many times have you said, 'God, help me. God, fix me. God, change my life. Make it better. God, make this situation go away. Heal me. Restore me. Make things good for me.'"
"But hot Christian, they're going to be like Jesus in the garden and praying, God, not my will, but yours be done. God, this is breaking my heart. God, this is more than I can bear. My flesh is giving out, but God, if it's your will, let it be done."
Life Application: Moving Beyond the Maze
CHECK YOURSELF BEFORE YOU WRECK YOURSELF
"I'm here this morning to ask one more time. Would you listen to God's commandment? Check yourself and say, 'God, see if there be any wicked way of me. God, am I one of those lukewarm Christians?'"
If you've already disqualified yourself thinking, "That's not me. I'm not the lukewarm one," then "you're more than likely the lukewarm one."
TRANSFORM YOUR PRAYER LIFE
Stop making every prayer about what God can do for you. Instead, pray like Jesus: "God, not my will, but yours be done. God, here I am for you. Whatever your will, whatever your plan, whatever your purpose is, make me look like you."
EMBRACE THE PROCESS
Remember, "Jesus's one goal for your life is that you be transformed into his image from glory to glory from moment to moment to know him and to be known by him to love him with all your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength, everything within you and to love your neighbor as yourself."
This isn't about perfection - it's about transformation. It's about becoming "so much like him that when people look at you, they realize, 'Wow, there's something different about you.'"
The maze represents our comfort zone with chaos and problems. Moving beyond the maze means saying, "God, here I am for you" instead of "God, here's what I need from you."
Don't be lukewarm. Don't be the person at the wedding banquet who never changed clothes. Jesus's goal for your life is infinitely greater than you can imagine - but it requires you to move beyond the maze and into His transforming presence.