Two men went into their local coffee shop. One of them asked for a low-fat, decaf, latté coffee. His friend starred at him and asks “Why? Why would you want that?—without fat you lose the flavor and without the caffeine you lose the buzz. Just order an empty cup.” The teacher I was listening to was using this illustration to make the point of being a useful dynamic Christian.
One scripture in the Book of Revelation that is most often misinterpreted is Jesus’ message to the Laodicean church. Jesus said, I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth (Revelation 3:15-16 HCSB). I can’t even count the times I heard this preached from the prospect that a ‘hot’ Christian is one doing a lot of work and a ‘cold’ Christian is one in name only and doing nothing. The geographical setting of Laodicea brings the correct meaning in focus. Laodicea was 12 miles from Hierapolis where there were hot mineral springs used for bleaching cloth and for medicinal purposes. Nine miles further down the valley was Colossae where the water was cold and refreshing. Laodicea used an aqueduct to bring water from Hierapolis. However, by the time the water reached them, it was lukewarm. Lukewarm water has little value for anything. It’s not useful for bleaching or healing and who wants to drink anything lukewarm? So, the point of this analogy was to condemn the church for being ineffective without value to the Kingdom of God. In other words, they were useless.
Salt is one of the most useful minerals in the world. Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth. Christians are to be a useful flavoring and preservative in the midst of a corrupting world. The second part of this verse seems a curious statement. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men (Matthew 5:13 NIV). I didn’t understand this for a long time until I researched it and discovered how salt loses it saltiness. One of the multiple uses of salt was to line the bottom of brick ovens. After repeated heat, it had to be changed and at that point had no value. It was absolutely useless for flavoring or preserving. It had lost its saltiness and was thrown into the street.
Being effective and useful to the Kingdom of God doesn’t mean we have to preach from a pulpit every week or be actively involved in every ministry of the church. Effective ministry doesn’t even have to take place in the church building. Being useful is faithfully using what God has given us. Some get ten talents (abilities), some five, and some only one. Faithfulness to the task that God has assigned us makes us useful. Merely attending church every week isn’t being useful to God’s Kingdom. Every believer has at least one spiritual gift. To be useful is to utilize that gift with dynamic passion no matter how insignificant it seems.
When other people are around us, they should sense the ‘buzz’ of our peace, joy, and love. Like salt, Christian should give a tasty flavor in this sinful world. Do the vulgar jokes stop when you enter a room of people? Do the expletives diminish? Are you doing your part in the Kingdom with passion?
I know some of you like decaf-coffee. But I like my caffeine coffee— hot and just black—especially in the morning. If I were to drink a cup of decaffeinated coffee, I would still feel just as sluggish. Decaf has no effect. I don’t want to be a decaf Christian with no effect. Whether we’re using the analogy of water, salt, or coffee, we should make every effort to be useful and effective for God in the assignments He has given us. It always brings me joy when people I don’t know, make the comment, “you must be a Christian.” I know I’m being salty and bringing glory to God.
Sustaining Word for the Week:
Be salty! Be hot or be cold! Just be useful and effective for the Kingdom of God. You don’t even have to do it alone. He has given the Holy Spirit to help us be dynamic passion Christians.