3:15,16
There is no praise for the church in this letter. “I know your deeds”. The people would well have understood the analogies that Jesus was using. The water in the city was pretty detestable, and people would naturally spit it out. Jesus threatens to do the same with the church. “I am about to ...” At this stage the threat is a warning, as the rest of the letter makes clear, there is still hope for the church, but only if they respond to the word of the Lord.
3:17
The city was rich and thought well of itself. It seems that the church had acquired the same attitude, or had brought the same attitude with them when they came to know the Lord. They thought they were rich and had all they needed. The truth was that they were “wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked”. The adjectives used here may have been chosen (poor, blind and naked) deliberately to reflect the key boasting points of the city (banking, medical school, textiles). We need to be very careful of viewing Christianity as a “lifestyle choice”. Someone from a poor or troubled country, or where Christians are persecuted is highly unlikely to do this! But Christians from comfortable Western nations are more prone to this. Also the church in comfortable nations are often tempted to offer the gospel as a lifestyle choice, an addition to lives. As Western societies become increasingly anti-Christian then the church will be far less prone to this error.
The truth is that we wretched. We need Jesus because we are infected with sin, and Jesus is the only solution. The reason above all reasons why we come to Jesus is because of our wretchedness.
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