What is a Lukewarm Christian? Author: Pierre Dungee www.getyouranswersonline.com
As always, let's get the definitions of the words we are going to be studying. This usually helps us understand the actual meaning of the words that are being used. Let's find out what the word 'lukewarm' means: adjective 1. moderately warm; tepid. 2. having or showing little ardor, zeal, or enthusiasm; indifferent: Let's agree that lukewarm, in this respect, is having or showing little ardor, zeal, or enthusiasm; indifferent: So how does that relate to a Christian? Before we go on, let's look at the definition of a 'Christian' again. In the definition from strongs, this is what we get: STRONGS NT 5546: Χριστιανός Χριστιανός (cf. Lightfoot on Philip., p. 16 note), Χριστιανου, ὁ (Χριστός), a Christian, a follower of Christ: Acts 11:26; Acts 26:28; 1Peter 4:16. The name was first given to the worshippers of Jesus by the Gentiles, but from the second century (Justin Martyr (e. g. Apology 1, 4, p. 55 a.; dialog contra Trypho, 35; cf. 'Teaching etc. 12, 4 [ET])) onward accepted by them as a title of honor. Excerpt is from the Blue Letter Bible: (https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=g5546&t=kjv) Here is the dictionary definition: Adjective of, relating to, or derived from Jesus Christ or His teachings: of, pertaining to, believing in, or belonging to the religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ: of or relating to Christians: exhibiting a spirit proper to a follower of Jesus Christ; Christlike: decent; respectable: human; not brutal; humane: Noun a person who believes in Jesus Christ; adherent of Christianity. a person who exemplifies in his or her life the teachings of Christ: a member of any of certain Protestant churches, as the Disciples of Christ and the Plymouth Brethren. a male given name. 2
and for good measure, let's define what a 'Disciple' is, starting with Strongs: STRONGS NT 3101: μαθητής μαθητής, μαθητοῦ, ὁ (μανθάνω), a learner, pupil, disciple: universally, opposed to διδάσκαλος, Matthew 10:24; Luke 6:40; τίνος,one who follows one's teaching: Ἰωάννου, Matthew 9:14; Luke 7:18 (19); John 3:25; τῶν Φαρισαίων, Matthew 22:16; Mark 2:18;Luke 5:33; Μωϋσέως, John 9:28; of Jesus in a wide sense, in the Gospels, those among the Jews who favored him, joined his party, became his adherents: John 6:66; John 7:3; John 19:38; ὄχλος μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ, Luke 6:17; οἱ μαθητοι αὐτοῦ ἱκανοί, Luke 7:11; ἅπαν τό πλῆθος τῶν μαθητῶν, Luke 19:31; but especially the twelve apostles: Matthew 10:1; Matthew 11:1; Matthew 12:1;Mark 8:27; Luke 8:9; John 2:2; John 3:22, and very often; also simply οἱ μαθηταί, Matthew 13:10; Matthew 14:19; Mark 10:24; Luke 9:16; John 6:11 (Rec.), etc.; in the Acts οἱ μαθηταί are all those who confess Jesus as the Messiah, Christians: excerpt from the Blue Letter Bible - (https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?strongs=g3101&t=kjv) Here is the dictionary definition: noun one of the 12 personal followers of Christ. one of the 70 followers sent forth by Christ. Luke 10:1. any other professed follower of Christ in His lifetime. any follower of Christ. a member of the Disciples of Christ. a person who is a pupil or an adherent of the doctrines of another; follower: verb (used with object), discipled, discipling. Archaic. to convert into a disciple. Obsolete. to teach; train. And finally, since we were led to it, let's define what a 'pupil' is. noun a student who is taught by a teacher, esp a young student (civil law, Scots law) a boy under 14 or a girl under 12 who is in the care of a guardian 3
OK, now that is out of the way, we will be referring back to the definitions that we took some time to get. Let's take a look at when Jesus refers to the Church at Laodicea as lukewarm in the Book of Revelation: Revelation 3:14-19 - And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans 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. This is a loaded scripture, don't you think? What Jesus is saying is that He knows what they are doing, and they are neither cold or hot (lukewarm). So what exactly does that mean? From our definition of lukewarm, it means having or showing little ardor, zeal, or enthusiasm; indifferent. It seems that the Church in Laodicea was just going through the motions, doing what was asked of them, but doing it by rote, not because they wanted to or wanted to please Jesus. They just did it because they were told to do their works. Jesus says I wish you were hot (on fire for Him), or cold (could care less about Him). Why would Jesus say that? It is because He is looking for His Church to WANT To be there for Him. All of this work with no zeal for Him is NOT what He wants. He would rather you NOT do any of the works than to do the works halfway. Jesus goes on to say that because they are lukewarm, He is going to spit them out of His mouth. In other words, He is going to REJECT them. 4
That's right; Jesus is going to stop accepting their offerings to Him. You can read the rest of the passage on your own time, but the main thing that we want to show is that we have to do the things that Jesus gave us to do with some sort of zeal and be motivated to do the best job we can. So how does this relate to Christians? A TRUE Christian is a follower of Christ, and a follower of Christ is one that seeks out Jesus and will obey His commands. We know that this is not true today, as everyone says they are a Christian. As you already know, talk is cheap, and anyone can SAY that they are a Christian, but that does not mean that they ARE A Christian. From our last study, you know that 'Christian' is a gentile word that meant Follower of Christ. To follow Christ, you have to obey Christ, and do as He has asked you to do. Jesus taught and sent Disciples, and from our definition, you can see a Disciple is a learner, pupil, one who follows one's teaching, which in this case is Jesus' teaching. From the definitions given, we can see that a pupil is a student who is taught by a teacher. It can be argued that a Christian is Jesus' Disciple, and in the context of the Bible, that was probably true. Today, we CANNOT say that because we see that everybody is a 'Christian', even though they are not exhibiting the properties of being a 'Christian' OR a Disciple. 5
It is important to note the difference, because we are seeing today that many 'Christians' are not following The Lord Jesus Christ at all. In fact, many a 'Christian' are acting in a 'carnal' manner, calling themselves 'Carnal Christians'. What? And it gets worse - you have Homosexuals saying that they are Christians, which is NOT the case at all. You have people who fornicate and commit adultery say that they are Christian. There is NO DIFFERENCE between the Christian and the world. Now you have Gay Christians, Bi-sexual Christians, pansexual Christians and the list goes on. What happened to being a follower of Christ, as the definition says? This is why the Lord Jesus Christ is calling out those 'Christians' to tell them to get right with Him NOW. If they confess as a Christian, He expects them to follow His commands. 95% of all Christians just SAY they are Christian, but are not. They don't mean what they say; they are 'Christian' because it is 'fashionable' to be a 'Christian' right now. Some people say they are 'Christian' so they can use the Bible to pump themselves up in society. These are the ones that are in the most danger, as they are usurping the name of Christ to do whatever they want to do. Using the name of Christ illegally is not only out of Order, but it is blasphemy, and the Lord Jesus Christ WILL come by and see you because of that. This is what the Lord means by being lukewarm. They are: People who are using Jesus' name and stature to puff themselves up so they will look 'good' in society; People who are 'on the fence' and will NOT commit to Christ, but want the promises of Christ and get mad when they don't get them. Know that if you do this, you will be seeing that the Lord Jesus Christ will spit you out of His mouth. 6