Miserable 

Revelation 3:17 “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched,  and miserable,  and poor,  and blind, and naked:”

Paul when he saw the sinner that he was….cried,   “O wretched man that I am”.

      Romans 7:24 “O wretched man that I am!  who shall deliver me from the body of this death?”

But here in Laodicea….we are wretched….and are totally unaware of it.

Let us consider sin:

     Romans 14:23 “…for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”

     James 4:17 “Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

These are the two definitions.

So we see two things from these….our faith is active against our sin, and will keep us out of it, if we yield to it,…..and sin is very personal.

But there is more said of us Laodiacians than… we are wretched.

We are miserable.  Here that means to be pitiful.

     We are so far below the standard of true spirituality….that we are seen in our pitiful state, by God.

We are seen as poor 

     Lacking true spiritual riches…

…..we are blind 

     As Peter said, “But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.” 2 Peter 1:9.    

     But lacketh what things?  Virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, love.    All these we add to our faith by diligence….which is the true measure of growth…..how diligent are we in getting  the promises of God, to us, in our lives,…now?

….we are naked

     When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden…they knew they were naked…no longer clothed with the innocence God gave them.   But we often sin,…(perhaps in our eyes,  small ones)…

……but  when we do not seek the forgiveness and cleansing from it…..this leaves us “naked”….unable to have the sweet fellowship and communion with Christ that we once had.

These are God’s descriptive terms for us.    And they make Him sick of us.

Revelation 3:16 “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,  I will spue thee out of my mouth.”

Proverbs 13:12 “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick:  but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life.”

(When my husband preached on this theme,  he spoke of the sickness of heart the Lord has over His church.   He is standing outside His church….sick of heart over the miserable way we are…and how we are not using His means and grace to be different.    And as he was considering this,  my husband felt sick, himself….like he was going to vomit.)

God’s desire for us….is a life of nearness to Him,…through Christ Jesus. 

 A life of godliness (so Jesus counsels us to get “gold tried in the fire”….the fire of our everyday lives….living for Him.)

A life clothed with Christ, worked out in righteous acts by obedience. (so Jesus counsels us to put on the purity of Christ’s life in me.  Romans 13:14 “But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof.”)

A life of sight by faith (so Jesus counsels us to use the eye-opening salve of honesty…given by the Holy Spirit, when we yield to Him)

I started this with the title “miserable”.    From God’s view point we are pitiful.   

      But now I wish to talk of us…..miserable us.

(Years ago, my brother, on his farm had a fire in the large round bales of hay that were lined up together.   A few of them burned, and he and my mother, who lived there, got out  and started moving the other bales around them away.  

      Well, they decided that they would move the others too.   My brother had to go to work, so the job fell to my mother….who picked his little chore tractor to use.   She started off loving this!  picking up the bales and zooming down to the place they were storing them now….keeping them seperate by so much!  She loved doing this!

     Then…..she started to think that she was doing all the work!   and shortly, she was miserable!  Nothing had changed….she was sitting, zooming along…..yet she was miserable.

     We are often that same way.   God gives us a call….and we are gung-ho for a while.   Then we look around….and begin to feel “alone” in the work [forgetting those that pray, and encourage us]….and we get miserable.)

I, too, would like the days of “mounting up with wings as eagles”….feeling the Holy Spirit’s influence in all that we do!

But the days of walking….sometimes plodding along….are days of feeling the slowness of my progress in spiritual things….days of seeing the same things happen again and again….days where I begin to look down at my feet, rather than beside me, where Jesus walks, too.

What is the answer?   How can the joy of the Holy Spirit be consistent (not constant, but consistent)? 

We must remember that joy is the second fruit of the Spirit.   Love is first….and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge (Ephesians 3:19) we are all called to.

     But joy is next.   Do we have it?   For joy is the Presence of God in my life….not just my heart and spirit….but my life.

We Laodicians have lost our joy…..and tried to exchange it for happiness.   

    But that leads us astray….for happiness is always about what affects us or ours.   Joy comes to us by the Presence of God in any….and all (good and bad) situations….for it is Him which comes to us in a special manifestation.

So now the Word of our Counselor….we’ve heard it before….but let it sink down into our souls….

      Revelation 3:18 “I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; 

and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear;

and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.”

Our Advocate is giving us the best advice, if we want to leave our miserable state.

    We can have the Holy Spirit’s fruits flowing through us….love, joy, peace,…

…but are we willing to “buy”….through devotion to Christ above all others (and yes, sometimes that is very hard)…..and obedience to His Word?

One more reminder:   In every church age,  Christ approves,….and He corrects.   

      But then He offers to those that overcome by faith….a token of HIs special love for them.  

To the first age, He offers the tree of life.  Not to be under the influence of the tree of good and evil….but to know true life, healing, satisfying life.

(For our troubles in the church are usually from the inside, out.

      In the first church, which lost their first love….leads into the next age which suffered much persecution under the Roman Caesars.   That persecution drove all but the zealous lovers of God out of the church,….and that age manifested the true love and devotion to Christ, before the arena of Rome.)

      To the second church age,  which were persecuted, He offers to not be hurt of the second death.   They may die as martyrs, (“hurt” is an important word, for many were thrown to lions, and many were tortured)….but they shall never die again.   Life is promised, with all the attending joys.

      (All these promises to those that overcome,  are very interesting….and how it shows the Lord’s knowledge of our personal troubles and the Lord’s sympathy with our infirmities. Hebrews 4:15-16)

And so on through the ages of the church….down to now, in Laodicea,  where He offers us…who are lukewarm and miserable….

Revelation 3:21 “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne.”

      …if we will get zealous, repent,…and overcome.

The Lord Jesus offers us throne authority with Him, now in this life.

     (Think of the apostles after the filling of the Holy Spirit.  Acts 4:8-13 “…perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”)

      This throne authority also speaks of honor.   The Lord plainly will honor those who honor Him (1 Samuel 2:30).

And how do we overcome?  We overcome all that stands in our way of doing His Will….whatever it is.

Miserable is what Christ calls us…..but we can overcome and become zealous (boiling hot for Christ)…repent…and have that authority in our lives, that He offers.

      In Christ’s life we have all things….love, joy, peace,….and His Word, and Will, by His authority.    Are we repenting our ways…and  overcoming the things that hinder, that we can  become zealously in love with Christ Jesus our Lord, again?