WAKE UP AND START WORKING! Rev 3:1-6
Rev 3
1"To the angel[a] of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits[b]of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. 3Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. 4Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. 6He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Caleb says:
There are times when GOd admonishes the body of CHrist with firmness and in a spirit of discipline, especially when they lose sight of their first love. It is an often occurence for believers of CHrist to be distracted and swayed from their one true purpose in CHrist- "to know Him and make Him known".
JOhn 10:10 shows us Jesus' most powerful claim, that He has come that "they may life abundant". Ravi Zacharias said that
"Jesus did not come to make bad men good, but to make dead men live". often, however, Man finds himself defeated and being unable to claim access to that abundance, not because God's ways are flawed, but we fail to take hold of that which we have so blessedly received. THe evangelistic aspect of the Christian life is necessary- commanded, demanded, admonished and encouraged. If we fail short of fulfilling that goal, Christianity fails. We become a "holy huddle" of inward looking believers whose hearts do not beat with Christ's, and we deny ourselves that portion of being in His will, and enjoying His blessing.
To these, Jesus says "wake up!" like the church of sardis, we need to snap out of it, and come to terms with the truth of the Word, His calling in our lives. It's easy to pick and choose which parts of SCripture we prefer to others, but it is the Devil's wish that we disregard the whole message. Satan knows the Bible well enough to distort it, and we must resist the enemy by realising the fullness of GOd's calling in our lives- to Know Him And Make Him Known. (read the following commentary)
Start today:
1.) think of three people this week yet saved, and bring them before the Master, asking Him to invade their hearts and minds, to meet them at points of need, and that He will open up opportunities in conversation for you to tell them why YOu believe.
2.) write a script, start preparing for that conversation whenever it may come, and practise your evangelistic skills TODAY! start memorising that script, or portions of scripture that you can use, and don't overquote john 3:16! use the Sword of the SPirit- the Word of GOd!
3.)ask them out for lunch! and look for a chance to share the good news!
4.) commit the three persons in prayer, keeping each other accountable! in your accountability groups, pray for each other's target, asking the Holy SPirit to fan into flame a passion for His work.
Commentary: The Problem With the Church At Sardis
The "dead" church
The church at Sardis was pronounced as being "dead" (3:1). It appeared to be alive – had "a reputation of being alive" – looked spiritually vibrant on the outside – but was spiritually lifeless. The church was Christian in name only. This recalls Christ’s scathing rebuke of the Pharisees who "look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean" (Matthew 23:27).
Says G.R. Beasley-Murray: "The appearance [of the Sardis church] is that of a beautifully adorned corpse in a funeral parlour, and the Lord is not deceived" (Revelation, p. 95). The church needed to stir up the living Spirit of God in order to come to life.
What was dead about the church and what needed reviving? First, there was no indication of persecution or trouble from outside forces. Neither was there any heresy within, in contrast to some of the other churches. Things seemed to be peaceful and religiously correct. Perhaps it was a church that was too good to be true. Its religiously proper appearance may have only meant that it had fully and silently compromised with the truth and the pagan society around it. G.B. Caird calls Sardis "The perfect model of inoffensive Christianity" (A Commentary on the Revelation of St. John the Divine, p. 48).
That might explain its calm and sedated outward appearance. George Eldon Ladd defined the Sardis church as, "A picture of nominal Christianity, outwardly prosperous, busy with the externals of religious activity, but devoid of spiritual life and power" (A Commentary on the Revelation of John, p. 56).
Paul had described such Christians by saying they seemed quite religious but denied God’s power in their lives (2 Timothy 3:5). This church community of living dead needed the power of God to bring them back to life. Christ therefore gave Sardis a jolting command to "Wake up!" (3:2). The rousing call was meant to encourage the church to take action. The members were to strengthen what little remained, to obey, to repent (3:2-3). Jesus told the church at Sardis to wake up or he would come like a thief does. "You will not know at what time I will come to you," he said (2:3).
http://www.wcg.org/lit/bible/Rev/rev3a.htm
1"To the angel[a] of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits[b]of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. 3Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. 4Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. 6He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Caleb says:
There are times when GOd admonishes the body of CHrist with firmness and in a spirit of discipline, especially when they lose sight of their first love. It is an often occurence for believers of CHrist to be distracted and swayed from their one true purpose in CHrist- "to know Him and make Him known".
JOhn 10:10 shows us Jesus' most powerful claim, that He has come that "they may life abundant". Ravi Zacharias said that
"Jesus did not come to make bad men good, but to make dead men live". often, however, Man finds himself defeated and being unable to claim access to that abundance, not because God's ways are flawed, but we fail to take hold of that which we have so blessedly received. THe evangelistic aspect of the Christian life is necessary- commanded, demanded, admonished and encouraged. If we fail short of fulfilling that goal, Christianity fails. We become a "holy huddle" of inward looking believers whose hearts do not beat with Christ's, and we deny ourselves that portion of being in His will, and enjoying His blessing.
To these, Jesus says "wake up!" like the church of sardis, we need to snap out of it, and come to terms with the truth of the Word, His calling in our lives. It's easy to pick and choose which parts of SCripture we prefer to others, but it is the Devil's wish that we disregard the whole message. Satan knows the Bible well enough to distort it, and we must resist the enemy by realising the fullness of GOd's calling in our lives- to Know Him And Make Him Known. (read the following commentary)
Start today:
1.) think of three people this week yet saved, and bring them before the Master, asking Him to invade their hearts and minds, to meet them at points of need, and that He will open up opportunities in conversation for you to tell them why YOu believe.
2.) write a script, start preparing for that conversation whenever it may come, and practise your evangelistic skills TODAY! start memorising that script, or portions of scripture that you can use, and don't overquote john 3:16! use the Sword of the SPirit- the Word of GOd!
3.)ask them out for lunch! and look for a chance to share the good news!
4.) commit the three persons in prayer, keeping each other accountable! in your accountability groups, pray for each other's target, asking the Holy SPirit to fan into flame a passion for His work.
Commentary: The Problem With the Church At Sardis
The "dead" church
The church at Sardis was pronounced as being "dead" (3:1). It appeared to be alive – had "a reputation of being alive" – looked spiritually vibrant on the outside – but was spiritually lifeless. The church was Christian in name only. This recalls Christ’s scathing rebuke of the Pharisees who "look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean" (Matthew 23:27).
Says G.R. Beasley-Murray: "The appearance [of the Sardis church] is that of a beautifully adorned corpse in a funeral parlour, and the Lord is not deceived" (Revelation, p. 95). The church needed to stir up the living Spirit of God in order to come to life.
What was dead about the church and what needed reviving? First, there was no indication of persecution or trouble from outside forces. Neither was there any heresy within, in contrast to some of the other churches. Things seemed to be peaceful and religiously correct. Perhaps it was a church that was too good to be true. Its religiously proper appearance may have only meant that it had fully and silently compromised with the truth and the pagan society around it. G.B. Caird calls Sardis "The perfect model of inoffensive Christianity" (A Commentary on the Revelation of St. John the Divine, p. 48).
That might explain its calm and sedated outward appearance. George Eldon Ladd defined the Sardis church as, "A picture of nominal Christianity, outwardly prosperous, busy with the externals of religious activity, but devoid of spiritual life and power" (A Commentary on the Revelation of John, p. 56).
Paul had described such Christians by saying they seemed quite religious but denied God’s power in their lives (2 Timothy 3:5). This church community of living dead needed the power of God to bring them back to life. Christ therefore gave Sardis a jolting command to "Wake up!" (3:2). The rousing call was meant to encourage the church to take action. The members were to strengthen what little remained, to obey, to repent (3:2-3). Jesus told the church at Sardis to wake up or he would come like a thief does. "You will not know at what time I will come to you," he said (2:3).
http://www.wcg.org/lit/bible/Rev/rev3a.htm
posted by leb at 1:13 PM
1 Comments:
"I love to tell the story of unseen things above. Of jesus and his glory, of Jesus and His Love. I love to tell the story, because i know tis true. it satisfies my longing, as nothing else can do".
This is my dad's favourite song. There was a time where i could see this song being reflected in his life. but with time it faded. So true, what our brother caleb as spoken today.(what bad sentence structure... o well) i think being fallen men, even christian men, we are still so prone to look out for numero uno, SELF.
we always want to clean ourselves up before attempting to wash the feet of others. i dont know about everyone, but the parable abt the plank in the eye has always stopped me from daring to reach out and evangelise, especially when sin has a sudden upsurge in your life.
but as a church elder always tells me, "you cant wait to be 100% before you start serving. no one reaches 100% until he dies, so if you wait, nothing will be done". from caleb who is 1000000000000000 miles away to a loving old man that i see almost every week, i hear one message being incessantly repeated, stop living an insular faith, live a contagious one! i pray that we all might keep one another in pray that we may make this a lifestyle. that evangelism becomes second nature. Tis the season to be jolly for God has given us his SON! use the season to share this joy! =)
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