In Revelation 3:16, Jesus says he spits lukewarm followers out of his mouth. That seems a bit more serious than a passive frustration or minor annoyance. Why so harsh, Jesus? I think there are a few reasons.
As far as credentials go, I feel particularly qualified to speak to this issue because I’m still a recovering hypocrite and former lukewarm “follower” of Jesus. This isn’t meant to condemn, simply to clarify what I think it means to follow Jesus.
Lukewarm followers aren’t really following
You can’t follow a leader you don’t trust enough to listen to. You can’t make Jesus your Savior without making him your Lord. If you aren’t walking closely with Jesus, you’ll quickly lose your way. We most follow closely behind him, walking in his steps.
They run his name through the mud
Saying you’re a Christian and living contrary to how Jesus called us to live it gives Jesus a bad name. It’s like working for Coke but drinking Pepsi. What does that say about your taste for Jesus?
You can’t serve two masters
Jesus notably reminds us we can’t serve two masters (Matthew 6:24)—it’s either him or money but it can’t be both. Being lukewarm means having a master before Jesus, and that’s not an option, because you’ll love that master and hate (at the very least meaning “to love less”) Jesus.
You are not salt or light
God’s will for your life as a Christian is sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3)—becoming more like Jesus every day. You can’t attract people to the Light if you are walking in darkness.
Ultimately, the reason Jesus doesn’t want lukewarm followers is because they aren’t authentic followers of him.
Authenticity in the 21st Century
Authenticity is rare. We prim and prune, tweak and tune everything–from our appearance to our social media profiles and online personas. We write and rewrite and delete drafts of tweets because they aren’t funny or witty or poignant enough (this isn’t just me, right?). We check over our shoulders when we are doing things we shouldn’t do, ensuring no one we know is watching.
But the world is getting smaller and more connected. As the saying goes,
You can fool all of the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all the time.
Being the same person in front of your wife and kids, coworkers and friends, barista and pastor speaks more loudly than any other action. You no longer just say you believe something, but you’re living like you believe something.
Authenticity is remarkable. Having integrity and being who you say you are, everywhere, will blow minds.
Here’s the catch. If you don’t get involved in other people’s lives, and if you don’t invite them to be involved in yours, your authenticity will never make an impact. Being a person with integrity in a bubble is like being a very generous person who never has any opportunity to give—your heart is in the right place but you’re wasting a serious gift to the world.
Authenticity + Proximity => Impact
Growing up I had lots of people I admired temporarily. There was often a vice, hidden side or bad habit they couldn’t kick that demoted them from hero status in my mind. I longed for someone I could emulate. Someone who blazed a trail I could hopefully walk down. Not someone without faults, but someone with the desire to authentically admit to their faults while simultaneously striving to eradicate them. Some who would say to me, “Imitate me as I imitate Christ.”
I committed myself to being that person for others. I certainly didn’t model it well for the first 20 years of my life, but once I really started following Jesus, my desire to truly live a life pleasing to him increased 100 fold.
I still don’t have it figured out perfectly. But here is what I know. If you are honest about your desire to follow Jesus, and you strive to live a life of integrity, and you’re honest about your struggles and short comings while pursuing a life more like Jesus’, you will impact more people than you can imagine.
It will be hard. Your life will be messy and you’ll get dirty dealing with other imperfect people striving for (or at least intrigued by) holiness, but you will impact people in ways you could never dream.
Authenticity on Our Behalf
All of this to say, Jesus was the most authentic person who ever lived. He lived a perfect life so we are free from having to perform. It is not our performance that enables us to follow Jesus, it is his performance on our behalf. But our relationship with him will lead to transformation by His Spirit–as we seek to live a life pleasing to him, we will fall short. We will stumble, but we will not give up. We will seek forgiveness from him and from the others around us who are watching. We will do it all for God’s glory, not for the acceptance or approval of others.
This isn’t a plea to do better, try harder or be more impressive. It’s a wholehearted admonition to those of us who desire to follow Jesus (myself certainly included) to take him at his word, surrender our vices and trust him to change us from the inside out. As we slip and fall, we trust him to pick us back up. We point to our Savior instead of ourselves for others to emulate, all the while striving for holiness. Be honest about your failures, but don’t let your failures define you and don’t settle for letting them continue to define your life. Life a life of authenticity to honor God and impact eternities.