In The Word
Read: Revelation 3:1-6
3 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, and yet you are dead. 2 Be constantly alert, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. 3 So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Then if you are not alert, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. 4 But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who overcomes will be clothed the same way, in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 The one who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Walking In The Word
To the church at Sardis and to all the churches who would read these words throughout the ages, the Lord says to wake up! Have you ever heard of the old saying, “Wake up and smell the coffee”? Here the Lord is saying to wake up and smell the stench of rotting flesh in your own lives. This church thought because they were a church planted by God and had a name that God knew that they were alive and vibrant. The Lord shattered this thought by being the alarm clock that woke this church up to the reality of their true condition. They were almost completely dead. However, there were a few who were still alive in that church, living out the commands of Christ. These few that were holding to the truth of God’s teaching, not just His name, were the hope still in this body of believers. The other day I found a plant that had not been watered for some time. Looking at the plant, it looked dead, yet it had a remnant of green barely visible. When I watered the plant, the rest of the brown parts began to come alive. It took water to wake up and save this plant. Within a week, the plant had made a full recovery. The universal church as a whole needs to wake up and smell themselves. It needs a good splash in the face of the holy Word of God to know our true condition and to do something about it. We need to be the few left in the church who have not soiled our garments so that the church has hope to live and not die, to remain and not be erased.