“The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.” Revelation 3:21 from the ESV
The distinguishing mark of this age is self-sufficiency. Larger incomes, more goods, and greater pleasure are all common-place in our day. However, with this self sufficiency comes the danger that we no longer consider ourselves needy for God. This was the case in the church at Laodicea. God has become viewed mainly as a proprietor of things, and His relevance to life reduced to the immediate obviousness of His blessings. As John Piper exclaimed, we have been guilty of “exalting gifts above Giver.”
Christianity has deluded itself with hype, sensationalism, societal enchantments, and social gospel. Not only have we been deluded but we have deceived others into believing the gospel to be about monetary and physical things. We appreciate God as the bottomless well of blessing, but no longer have tongues parched for the Living Water! So many live life shriveled and withered without the practical reality of having a dependent relationship with God through Christ Jesus
Perhaps you, like I, have known what it is to be deluded about how needy we really are for God. Our soul dependence on God dates right back to the beginning of time when God made man a dependent being. In sin we replaced the fellowship of God with obsessions of every nature to the point where we have dulled our souls longing. Can thoughts of self-sufficiency apart from God stem from anything beside self-delusion and a sinful nature? We were made for God, to enjoy Him, and in turn to bring Him glory. Our rebellion is such that we would rather starve on the moldy stuff of self than come to the Father where there is bread in greater abundance than our most desperate need.
We are at a crises in which the fullness of Christ, as at any time, is the greatest need of our day!
In every respect, professing Christianity has thought itself quite respectable. It has acquired an imposing gentlemanly air, unoffensive to the world. Rich and well dressed, the false church has become a social man-about-town confident in himself. Tradition has replaced Biblical doctrine and truth. Social programs have uprooted good works. Self-help has displaced the gospel. Men and women, in the spirit of anti-christ, have ousted Christ. The church has become an imposing bulwark of greed and agenda ruled by men and women unconscious to God’s Word or His Spirit! We need to shake our heads clear of this false gospel, and see the Emperor’s clothing which many Christians have worn for too long.
We have tried to satisfy the world with the stuff she already has in plenty, rather than with Christ Jesus which is her greatest need!
Why do I say this? To be critical? No! No! No! It is to warn Christians of the falseness of the Laodicean church state, and exhort you to be an overcomer and live for what really matters. Christianity is Christ, not fast cars, high-paying jobs, friends, or guarantees of health. Christ is our life, and should be our deepest longing. Anything short of complete satisfaction in Him is idolatry.
Anything but complete devotion to and dependence on God is to be poor, naked, wretched, and blind! When we repent of our self-filling, and turn to a life of neediness for God, we will know the richness of His grace.
The peculiar character of God’s grace is that it has an inverse relationship with our need. The more needy we are, the greater is the super-abundance of God’s supply. Paul who lamented the defiled, sin-filled life which qualified him to be ‘the chiefest of sinners’ was marvelously reached in his sin. Likewise, to this church which had nothing to be commended for, and everything to be chastened for- to this church which was least of all, the greatest of all promises was extended.
There is nothing greater to live for than for Christ. To be with Him and to join Him in the manifestation of His glory is the ultimate prize. It is the promise to the Christian who learns to live beyond the stuff of this life, the societal agendas, and social pandering which has so crippled Christians. It is the promise to you and I both. Let’s make everything of Christ in our lives. Satisfy yourself in Him. Reject anything which will displace Him from the throne of your heart.
If you have stood on the shore of abandon and devotion to God, and have never stepped in- this promise is for you. This is living beyond our means. It is a life of neediness for God, which satisfies our deepest craving!
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