Day 11
To the angel of the church of Sardis, write
These things says He who has the spirit of God, and the seven stars
I know your works, and that you have a name that lives, yet you are dead.
Be vigilant, and strengthen the things that remain, which are near death,
For I have not found your works complete (mature) in the sight of my God.
Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard, and keep it. And repent.
If, therefore, you are not vigilant, I will come like a thief, and you will not know what hour will come upon you.
But you have a few people (lit. names) in Sardis who have not dirtied their clothes, and they will walk with me in white, because they are worthy.
The overcomer will be clothed in that way with white garments, and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will proclaim his name to the face of my Father, and to the face of His angels.
The one having an ear, hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Revelation 3:1-6
v 1 Sardis Historically this would be the Reformation church, a church that formed because of life, and continues to have the names of that movement, but now is, for the most part, dead.
v 2 Jesus warns, be watchful or awake. They are to strengthen, the word sterizo, from which we get the word steroid. He did not find the works perfect, or full.
v 3 . . . As a thief is the way Jesus said he would return. But believers are to be ready for that return (Mat. 10:32, Lk. 12:8; Mk. 8:38; 1 Thes. 5:3-10).
v 4 There were some there who had not defiled, or soiled their garments. The white garments they are to receive demonstrate purity, justification, triumph, and their resurrection bodies (Rev. 14:4-5; 19:8; Ps. 104).
v 5 White robes are mentioned seven times (3:18; 6:11; 4:4; 7:9, 13; 19:14). The fact that Jesus says he will not blot their name out of the book of life implies that he will blot some people’s names (Ex. 32:32-33; Ps 69:28; Dan 12:1).. When a man’s name was blotted out of a town’s ledger, he lost his citizenship.
v 6 see 2:7.
Vigilance-Life from Death
Have you ever felt like you were about to die? Or, be honest, have you ever felt like you wanted to die? I know there are many who read this who have never experienced either, but, I’m sure there are also many who have. When life exhausts us, when destiny seems to chew us up & spit us out, we feel abandoned, used up, overwhelmed, even lost. There is a formula, and one can’t miss the similarities between Jesus’ exhortations here and His word to the Ephesian church which had lost its first love. To those who lost first love He said “remember, repent & repeat your first works”. To the Sardis church-those whose faith had become like used up coals-a mere ember where a flame of life and light-giving heat had once been-Jesus says remember, keep, and repent.
Remember
Do you remember a time in your life you were more alive, more involved, more excited, more in love with our Lord? Was there a time when the brilliant golden light of sunrise stirred your heart and a sunset could almost take your breath away? Have you lost the wonder, the gratefulness, the joy? Remember those times-remember, if you can, times of spending hours in conversation with our LORD, and feeling there simply wasn’t enough time to spend with Him. Remember the joy and excitement of the New Life He gave you-the times He revealed Himself in ways even to today you cannot deny. He gave you those experiences, perhaps, to win you. Maybe you no longer need the ecstatic experience to keep you in the faith-but you do need life. We need to remember the days of life and light and peace and joy and celebration. Jesus would have us turn away from death and darkness and anger and mourning. He would have us hold on to those blessings of life He offers.
Hold on! Keep
Do you have some precious item-something, maybe, that was expensive, or is special because of the occasion in which it was given/received, or because of the person that gave, that you have a special place to keep it? Do you have a special container, & a special, secret place for the valuables you cherish? Jesus would have us hold the Life He has given us like that-to keep an unbreakable, impenetrable, invisible place in our soul for His life and light-a place no darkness can dismiss and no thief can pilfer. He wants us to keep the Gifts He lavishes on us. Maybe, if we have lost that initial light and life it is time for us to repent.
Repent!
Have you ever started down the wrong road and realized fairly soon you were headed away from your destination and you were on a dead end street? What do you do in that situation?
You turn yourself around and backtrack-you return to the place from which you can return to the right way. That’s repentance.
We must repent of all the ways we have embraced death and darkness rather than life and light. We must return the right Way. The straight and narrow path is not crowded and is sometimes lonely, but its destination is everything we long for.
Today I spoke in church about the days of Thyatira-that the life of seeking pleasure is empty. We also considered a book published this year by a professor of endocrinology, Dr. Robert Lustig. He suggests that Dopamine is the pleasure hormone (the hedonic chemical) and that serotonin and oxytocin are the happiness hormones. He argues, further, that pleasure is temporary, unsatisfying and addictive-that we have to do more to get the same stimulus, and that eventually the neurons that are designed for pleasure become numb to pleasure, leading to depression. The pleasures of sex, and eating and social media all fade and blunt with time. But happiness, peace, the satisfaction of generosity, the joy of intimacy, these last and endure and protect us from the addictions that could and would destroy us. The best remedy to death is to choose life, just as the best remedy for lost love is to choose to repeat the acts of first love.
Prayer for Today
Father,
I confess,
Parts of me that were alive and raging with life have faded a bit with time. Teach me to hold on to the Life You have placed in me. Teach me, also, to again have the joy of my salvation,
The peace that passes understanding
The love that covers a multitude of sins
The life that turns death to victory and empties every grave.
Breathe into me as you breathed into dirt to form Adam
Animate this clay
Renew Your life song in my heart.
Teach me, again, to sing.
In the name of our LORD who died that we might live,
Teach me to die to myself that You might live in me.
Amen.
