Iced Tea and the Church
Southaven, Ms
By: Mike Upchurch
Here in the South it seems everybody likes a glass of iced tea! Some like it sweet, while others prefer it unsweetened, but it’s a favorite!
Let’s say you’re at my house and I ask if you’d like a glass of iced tea. Of course you’d say yes, so I pour you a glass. But then instead of adding ice cubes, I pour water in the glass of tea. Naturally you’d asked what the heck I was doing! What if I responded with “Well, I’m making you a glass of iced tea”. Of course you’d counter with “But that’s not ice you added, that’s just water!”
And what if I respond with this idiocy; “Well, water is just melted ice, so what’s the difference?”
Well of course it’s a HUGE difference! I would have watered down the taste of the tea AND it wouldn’t be cold either. It would be a horrible version of iced tea!
So what does that have to do with church, you might ask? Well it does seem to describe a few church folk today.
Rather than having a refreshing and perfectly sweetened satisfying portion of Jesus in their relationship with Him, they seem content with a lukewarm watered down version. They’re content with being a “Be the church on Sunday only” sort of person.
They are lukewarm in their passion. They attend church, or in the case of today’s self-quarantining, they may watch online, but never really get involved. There’s no worship, no Interaction, no repentance and there’s no change either. They are just like a glass of watered down lukewarm tea.
And we know what Jesus said about being lukewarm…..
“‘I know your deeds, 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 will spit you out of My mouth.”
Revelation 3:15-16
Yikes! What a terrible fate! To be rejected by the Son of God, who promised ALL are welcome in the Kingdom of God, would be a horrible end to a life!
Don’t be lukewarm! Don’t be watered down tea! Repent! Worship! Pray! Seek God! Be on fire for Him! Be in love with Him! Apply what you hear! Give! Plant seed in the field that is blessing you till we get through this!
You’ll grow in your walk and deepen your relationship with the Lord if you’ll do those things, in spite of being under house arrest! Remember Paul’s words; even though he was perhaps as close to the Lord as anyone could be in his day, he thought nothing of that and continually humbled himself before God!
“Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 3:12-14
So persevere! Press on! Press through! Never consider yourself having “made it” and that you are “ok” with your relationship with the Lord. Strive for more! Put some ice in that Tea glass and taste and see the Lord is good!
And that’s the way I see it!
Pastor Mike
