Title: Poor Church (Revelation 3:17-19)
Contents
“You say, ‘I am rich and prosperous, and need nothing, but I do not know that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, or naked. Make them invisible, buy eye drops, put them on your eyes, so that they can see. Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.
The Greek philosopher Socrates said, 'Know thyself'. Among the ills of modern people is that they neglect their inner life too much.
How pathetic it is that the patient does not even know the name of his illness and that he will soon die. When there is a disease, if symptoms occur in the body, you will know immediately. And you will be able to treat it. However, if there are no symptoms and no symptoms despite the illness, it would be very dangerous.
As the saying goes, 'I know that my nails are dirty, but I don't know that my nails are rotten', this is what I'm talking about. You will come to realize the words 'solitude in the crowd' and 'solitude in the crowd'.
When we go out to Myeong-dong, people waiting to get on the subway, countless people who feel sorry for the traffic congestion that they can't get even as time goes by in the car. I feel loneliness in the world, and I live while chewing on solitude. Outwardly, you both are very nice and bright, but on the inside, you are not. It is the society we live in that we are smiling on the outside but weeping on the inside.
The church of Laodicea is a rich church, but in reality it is a poor church. The church that is neither cold nor hot is the church of Laodicea. Still, he thinks that he is wealthy and lacks nothing, and that is the biggest thing. It is like an ignorant person who does not know that he is ill.
Even today's churches can lose their life if they live with this same complacency. There are many churches around us that appear to be alive but are actually dead. If you and I are like this, I hope that you will repent, turn around, and lead a sure life. I believe that you will be filled with God's great grace to overflowing with your heart. Hallelujah!
The church in Laodicea had the heart of being rich. At that time, Jesus rebuked the church in Laodicea. “You do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.” The reference to the poor and poor church in this verse does not refer to material things. It is a spiritually poor and poor church. The word wretched tells us that the church in Laodicea has no power to fight against sin. The spiritual state is hardened and frozen, as if in a state of ice. Smyrna Church is said to be a spiritually rich church. But the church in Laodicea is rebuked for being a poor church. The city of Laodicea has a famous ophthalmology college and is famous for making eye drops, but the eyes of the soul cannot get the medicine and they are blind. Blind people can be at risk because they do not know the way ahead. Also, there were many cotton fields in the city of Laodicea, and they lived in fine sackcloth and sheep's hair and boasted in luxury. But spiritually, sins are not forgiven, and shameful sins are being shown before God.
The Laodicea church is a church where we have a lot of money, buy a house, wear nice clothes, and spend a lot of money for the flesh, but not for our spirit at all. There are many who think they are very wealthy. It is like the church of Laodicea that there are a lot of people who say that I don't need Jesus, who believes that knowledge or who they are is everything.