Sadly, God’s people have a history of trying to straddle the fence between the kingdom of God and the world around us—we long to fit in and belong. Though it was forbidden, the ancient Israelites even paid tribute to the pagan gods to open the door for trade and political power. They didn’t want to stick with monotheism if it cost them jobs. Though God wanted to be their King, they begged him to give them a realking so that they could be like “all the other nations” (1 Sam. 8:5). God replied, “They have rejected me as their king” (v. 7). They were a little embarrassed about explaining to outsiders that their King was invisible. A visible king would help them seem more normal, like they were from this planet.
But God didn’t want them to seem like they were from this planet; He wanted them to appear “as aliens and strangers in the world” (1 Peter 2:11) as “fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (Eph. 2:19).
But historically God’s people have acted more like Beldar and Prymatt from the Coneheads movie. This alien couple with cone-shaped heads came here from the planet Remulak to prepare for its invasion that was to take over the world. While waiting to be contacted by their mother planet, they adapt to earth customs, doing everything they can to fit in. But they enjoy life on earth so much that they decide to abandon their mission to change the world, and a future life on Remulak. So they subvert the plan and make planet Earth their home.
Unwittingly, many believers are acting like Coneheads. We say we love the idea of heaven and that we are loyal to God; we say we want to help overcome the world by representing the kingdom of God, but secretly we have fallen in love with planet Earth, and we want to fit in. We act like, respond like, and seem like everyone else, often covering up our allegiance to Jesus or any attempts to be “more than conquerors” here (Rom. 8:37). If it is embarrassing or causes us to lose ground in some way, we don’t even mention heaven.
We spend tons of energy trying to reconcile godliness with worldliness—thoughts and beliefs that are diametrically opposed to each other. One cannot successfully mix faith with the unbiblical principles of the world in which we live. And if we try, we will lose our voice for God.
HOT OR COLD
“I know your deeds,” Jesus tells a group of believers, “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” (Rev. 3:15–16).
As a kid, I heard this text preached over and over again. Red-faced preachers would yell, “You can’t be lukewarm! God wants you to either be on fire for Him, or to hate Him, but because you just sit there, you’re going to get spit out—you’re in danger of going to hell!”
That always made the crowd nervous and populated the altars. But something about it didn’t sit right with me. Why would God rather have you “hate Him” than to be a bit casual about Him? And why would you merit hell for getting casual in your faith? Isn’t going to heaven a free gift? Or is our message, “Accept Jesus, be red-hot for Him, and you’ll get into heaven—but if you relax and get lukewarm, you better wake up quick and get red-hot again or you’re going to hell”?
I don’t think Jesus is talking about going to hell or about being fanatically “on fire” for Him versus hating Him. I think He is talking about the idea that if you want to be a “voice” for Him—to be in His mouth, you have to be willing to be different.
Think about it. If you take a cup of boiling water and a glass of freezing-cold water and leave them in a room for several hours, what happens? The boiling water cools, and the cold water warms—eventually they both become the same temperature as that of the room. Neither sticks out. Both fit in. They become lukewarm.
I think Jesus is crying out to these believers, saying, “Don’t try to fit in the world around you! Don’t long to be the same. I want you to be hot about some things and cold about others. If you say what everyone else is saying and believe what everyone else believes, you are the same as them. You can’t stick out. You become the same temperature as those in the room with you—you are lukewarm. I won’t be able to speak through you. I speak through different—hot or cold different. If you are unwilling to be different, you won’t be able to represent Me—I will have to spit you out of My mouth.”
Hasn’t talking about spitting us into hell. He wasn’t saying, “God prefers me to hate Him if I’m not on fire spiritually.” Just…we need to forego fitting in so we can speak for Him.
Aliens do exist. They are you and me, the followers of Jesus.
