Bankrupt Church

When Jesus said in Mark 14:7: "You have the poor with you always" He used the word πτωχός (ptōchos), meaning those living in poverty. But the word is also used in Scripture to denote a lack of understanding. For example, Revelation 3:17 says: "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." Those are the words Christ sent to the Church at Laodicea. The key and tragic words are: "and knowest not." The church thought it was well off, but it did not know that it was spiritually bankrupt. There is a lot of talk nowadays about the national debt and government spending, using words like bankrupt. Maybe we are. But the greater concern should be for the church. At the risk of sounding like a puffed up Calvinist, I must admit that most of today's churches are so spiritually and intellectually bankrupt that they have come to fit the description of "wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked."

The focus has shifted away from the revelation of a Holy God in the Sanctuary to a relaxed, worldly approach. God warned Israel to set limits when approaching Mt. Sinai. They all were required to come to God's dwelling with clean garments and ready to hear from Him. How I long for a day of worship like those in the time of Ezra, when Judah stood up when the Word of God was read and even asked for more when Ezra tired after reading for several hours.
 
Let us take seriously our need of hearing God's Word and remove the casual attitude from the worship of the Almighty. The church is not the place for frivolity, which only fosters the wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked church.