28. The Kingdom Parables – The Seventh – The Dragnet – Part 4 Of 6 Series

28. THE KINGDOM PARABLES – THE SEVENTH – THE DRAGNET – PART 4 OF 6

The seven Kingdom parables of Matthew 13 are a wonderful study of integration. In all these we have looked at the parable itself to understand it. Then we looked at the parallel church in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 that matches each parable. Then we look at the place in the 2 000 years of Church History that each parable represents. The remarkable thing about all this is that every one of these considerations is in consecutive order.

Man could never have written something so true and accurate. The authorship of the bible is nothing less than the Holy Spirit who penned through the inspired writers. In the very last message (27) we were working through the letter to the church at Laodicea. Laodicea matches the parable of the Dragnet, a time of judgement because this church was being judged by God. It has become a disgrace to the witness of the Lord.

We will devote this message, and the next, to the letter to the church. Last time we left off at Verse 16 of Revelation 3, and now we continue with Verse 17.

[[D]]. BOTH RICH AND POOR; WEALTHY AND WRETCHED

{{Revelation 3:17 Because you say, ‘I am RICH and have become WEALTHY and have need of nothing,’ and you do not know that you are WRETCHED and MISERABLE and POOR and BLIND and NAKED”}}

What you may think of yourself may not be the true reality, and in Laodicea it certainly was not the case. The was a huge divide between the church’s own report card, and the Lord’s own summation. For self-sufficiency, the church earned 100% but for godly dependence, it gained 0%.

How awful it is if the Lord stood in your church and said to you all, “This church is wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked.” The self-righteous would be up in arms. I wonder what the reception was like in that church when John’s letter was received?

One might expect a wealthy city to produce a wealthy and prosperous church in spiritual matters, but the character of the city had affected the Christians too, and the Revelation description in Chapter 3 portrays an irresolute, half-hearted body, whose principal interest was material prosperity rather than spiritual good. Enthusiasm and zeal were absent and the community was lukewarm with not one word of commendation from the Lord.

How do you measure success? In the world, most consider success lies with one’s accumulated wealth and possessions. Some less avaricious, consider peace and contentment to be the achievement leading to success. The Laodicean church was successful – in their eyes! Success with the Lord has nothing to do with materialism.

WHAT WOULD CAUSE A CHURCH TO BECOME LIKE THAT?

The causes are many but can we say that two words come to the surface. One is pride and the other is self-dependence.

Pride is very cunning. It does not spring on a person; it slowly creeps and infiltrates. It does it so subtly that the person believes this lie and cements his own position. If you contended with the church at Laodicea and told them they were proud and had their priorities wrong, the people would be up in arms. “How dare you accuse us!”

Self-dependence comes through self-achievement. The words of the song a few decades ago, “I did it my way,” is what Laodicea was all about and the church followed suit. Christians must be careful. Once you get out of the Lord’s boat and start rowing in your own, then you are always moving away from Jesus Christ. You are in a sea of failure.

Well, that church had no need of anything because it was self made. Its establishment was based of the precepts of man.

Don’t for one moment, any of us, think that would not happen to us. Sin is deceitful and catches us up when we slip out of a true dependence on the Lord. One thing Jesus said that is highly significant was this – {{John 15:4-6 “ABIDE IN ME, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine and you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. IF ANYONE DOES NOT ABIDE IN ME, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up, and they gather them and cast them into the fire and they are burned.”}}

Abiding is essential to the fullest degree. It is as close as a tree branch holding solidly to the tree trunk. We all know what happens in a storm when a branch is severed from the tree. The leaves soon wither and the branch dies. The tree is “sad” too and weeps its sap.