SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/14/2015
10:03 AM
My Worship Time Focus: The Command Christ Gives to Sardis
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
3:2a, 3
Message of the
verses: “’Wake up, and strengthen
the things that remain, which were about to die… ’So remember what you have
received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I
will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.”
Now we have already mentioned that in many of these
churches that Christ writes to have many unbelievers in them which we know was
not good then and is not good today, or for that matter not good during any
part of the church age, but we see that in section that Christ is addressing
this command to the faithful remnant or to those who were truly believers in this
church. He was not talking to those who
were dead for there was no reason to do that.
We will not look at the five steps that are seen in this section that if
followed the church would live on.
The first words He gives to them are “wake up,” and there
must have been a good reason for Christ to tell these believers to wake
up. MacArthur writes “The believing
remnant needed to look at what was happening in their church, evaluate the
situation, get involved in changing things, confront sin and error, and make a
difference.”
The next thing Christ tells them to do is to “strengthen
the things that remain, which were about to die.” In writing of this word “things” MacArthur
says “Things is a neuter noun in the Greek and does not refer to people, but to
spiritual realities. Christ exhorted the
true Christians at Sardis to fan into flame the dying embers of the remaining
spiritual graces in the church.” This
reminds me of something that Paul wrote to Timothy “For this reason I remind
you to kindle afresh the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of
my hands (2 Timothy 1:6).” In this verse
Paul is telling Timothy a very similar thing that Christ is telling the
believers at Sardis, to get the fire going again is seen in both verses, to
remember when the fire was hot for the Lord and fan the flames in order to get
it going again.
We continue with this theme of remembering in the third
point Christ makes to these believers as he tells them “remember what” they had
“received and heard.” We humans can
forget things, even things that are very important, very easily, and all it
takes if for us to stop a good habit like reading and studying the Word of God
for a day and then it will happen for two and three and finally we will be out
of that habit all together. The solution
is to remember how good it was when we were in that good habit of studying the
Word of God and to pray and to be ready to tell others of the hope that lies
within us. Why do we do these
things? We do them first of all because
we love the Lord, the Lord who came down from heaven to be born as a baby in a
cave where lambs were born, lambs that were used in a sacrifice on the day of
Passover. In a dirty cave was the Son of
God born because He loved us that much.
He loved us that much by becoming our Passover Lamb and dying on the
cross at the exact time that the Passover lambs were slain, but our Passover
Lamb had just taken our punishment in His own body on the cross so that we can
receive His righteousness and be accepted by God to live with Him forever. We as believers need to remember these truths
in order to live our lives in a way that is pleasing to the Lord. As we have looked these churches so far we
saw in the first church, Ephesus that the only thing Christ condemned them for
was leaving their first love, and when that happened we see these other
condemnations that flow from forgetting their first love and it is a downward spiral
until we get to the church of Laodicea where Christ is actually on the outside
knocking on the door to get into the church.
Yes there are two churches, Smyrna and Philadelphia that were given no condemnations
and those are the ones we are to be like, but with the others it kept getting
worse. We are to remember for we are a forgetful
people.
The forth point ties in with this third point, and that
is to keep the things that were found in the Scriptures, things that I spoke
about in our last point.
Finally we get to the last point and Christ tells them to
repent. MacArthur writes “With remorse
and sorrow, the believers at Sardis were to confess and turn away from their
sins. These five stops, if diligently
practiced, would bring about revival.”
The consequences if revival did not come are seen in the
last part of verse three: “Therefore if
you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what
hour I will come to you.”
Just for the record what I have written about the birth
of Christ, as far as where He was born is something I have learned from my
studies and also from a historical novel that I read many years ago. They all make perfect sense to me, that is
having our Passover Lamb born in the cave where the Passover lambs were born
during that time in Bethlehem.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: We have an enemy
who would like nothing better than to trip us up in our studying of the Word of
God. He is crafty and if had the chance
would destroy all believers in an instant, but thankfully God is in control,
but we, as believers need our Spiritual armor on so we can stand. I have made a commitment to learn more about
loving my Lord better this year so I do not fall into the downhill slide that I
am learning about in these churches. I
desire to not only love the Lord in a more biblical way, but to better understand
how much He loves me so that I can live a life that is more pleasing to me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Nicodemus” (John 3:4).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘Fear not: for, I
being you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people?’”
Answer in our next SD.
2/14/2015 10:50 AM
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