I love the Word of God because it not only reveals the Lord, but it also reminds me of His undying love for me and for those who know Christ. That was the focus on the final sermon in the series our church has been in called, “What Christ Is Saying to the Church." It will not, however, be the last message in Revelation. The Lord has led me to preach through the entire book, so for the next 8-10 weeks Revelation will be our focus.
On the Lord’s Day, yesterday, we heard the message from revelation 3:14-22, "I Am Giving You One More Chance ... Again." If you are anything like me that "once more chance" has been way many than I can count and yet, all of them are undeserved. The Lord spoke to the church at Laodicea and called them lukewarm (Revelation 3:16). Jesus wanted them to be hot like the healing waters from Hierapolis and, or to be cold like the refreshing waters from Colossae. Laodicea was neither! They were not bringing spiritual healing to the spiritually lost and they were not caring for the members who were in need of being spiritually refreshed due to struggle. They were lukewarm meaning they were useless and good for nothing but to be spit out of the mouth of the Lord (Revelation 3:16).
Yet, in all of their worldliness and in all of their pursuits of everything at the expense of the Lord, His honor and His glory, Jesus is telling them He is giving them one more chance, again. He tells them that He is standing at the door and knocking (Revelation 3:20). Jesus is standing at the doors of the church – doors of which are said to be opened to all - but Jesus can't get in. In this rejection Jesus does not turn around and leave. He is not deterred by the need to continually knock. He is not taken aback by the indifference the church is showing Him by having a worship service about Him but not letting Him in. No, the Lord is driven by something deeper and more profound than our sin and hypocrisy. He is driven by divine and eternal love. He is driven by the tenacity of not letting us go even when we are seemingly pulling away from His grip on us. But ponder this,
His grip of grace is stronger than the strength of my sin!
How can this be? How is it that the Lord of glory can love us so much that even when we mistreat and disrespect Him with our moments of sin and rebellion, He keeps giving us one more chance...again? How is it that He, in spite of our seeking to reign on our earthly thrones by rejecting His reign in our earthly lives - how is it that He still promises to share His throne with us who regularly deny Him (Revelation 3:21)? The only answer is divine and eternal love. It is a love that knows us, but still loves us. It is a love that knows the depths of my heart and still loves me the same without wavering, flinching or dying. It is the love that gives me "one more chance...again."
This love, however, is a calling to deeper intimacy not deeper indifference. That He loves me this way does not and should not cause me to think that I should not be fighting and killing my sin regularly. No, as one who is loved like this I am being changed by His love. When I know how much He loves me and when I know the extent to which He went to show His love by dying on the cross, I want to please Him. I want to honor the One who has done so much for me. I want to show devotion and honor and loyalty to the One who, though He did not have to, showed the same to me with His love and blood drenched sacrifice.
Jesus gives me one more chance again so that I can repent of all that which has dishonored Him and, with my life and words bring healing to the lost and refreshment to the weary. I am loved, not simply to relish in this love but I am called to release it through my selfless sacrifice for the spiritual health of others. What good am I if I have this love or claim this love and hold it to myself? What good am I if I am loved by the Lord whose life was to serve others and yet I, with this love, serve only myself? Jesus tells me that if I do these things I am good for nothing as it pertains to His honor glory and kingdom. I am lukewarm.
Yet, here is the constant refrain of the Lord to us: I am giving you one more chance...again. Today, then, is not simply Monday, February 22nd. No, it is that "one more chance...again day. My eyes opened this morning not because I deserved it or because I am so needed by the Lord or anyone else. My eyes opened today as proof that the Lord is giving me one more chance again. So, I am going to use this one more chance to set things right. I am going to use it to:
Heal any relationships that are pressing in my mind
Share with some lost soul the love of Jesus that has so gripped and changed my life and eternity
Call, pray or spend time with a brother or sister who I know is going through at the moment and is in need of spiritual refreshment lest they die of spiritual dehydration
In other words, this day and every day that follows, I will honor as "National Kill Lukewarmness Day." If we want to be useful to Jesus we have to kill the worldly mindsets that are making us useless. And when we, at moments fail to do that, guess what Jesus says to you?:
“I am giving you one more chance … again.”
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