“To the messenger of the church in Sardis, write:
The one who has God’s seven spirits and the seven stars says: I know what you have done. You are known for being alive, but you are dead. Be alert, and strengthen the things that are left which are about to die. I have found that what you are doing has not been completed in the sight of my God. So remember what you received and heard. Obey, and change the way you think and act. If you’re not alert, I’ll come like a thief. You don’t know when I will come. But you have a few people in Sardis who have kept their clothes clean. They will walk with me in white clothes because they deserve it.
Everyone who wins the victory this way will wear white clothes. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life. I will acknowledge them in the presence of my Father and his angels. Let the person who has ears listen to what the Spirit says to the churches." Revelations 3:1-6
The fifth letter in this series is addressed to the church in the city of Sardis, modern day city of Sart (or Sartmahmut) Turkey.
Again, this was a short and straight forward letter, with its warnings, instructions and blessings.
It talks about being dead, as opposed to being alive. Alive meaning having new life, a life that is lived living in the power of and walking with the spirit of God.
Throughout my 50+ years of living on earth, I know of being alive and also of thinking of being alive but being dead -- physically alive but spiritually dead.
I have also been to different churches of many different denominations, and I have known, felt and seen dead churches, alive churches and those in various degrees in between.
Most churches though have embers of the fire of the Holy Spirit in them, and fire in individual believers, and this was a reason for this letter, as again it is not only applicable to Sardis, at that day and time. This is once again, a timeless letter without borders.
The letter says to strengthen those things which are still alive (so as not to totally die), to change the way we think and act and that the Lord will come back like a thief, not knowing when.
Alive vs Dead
Now in case we are still ignorant, to the Lord what is important is our intentions and our motives.
He is not interested in Pharisee style righteousness. In fact, He hates that.
So we could be doing all the "right" things and think we are alive but might not be.
The Lord does not look at these outward actions or appearances but instead looks at the heart. He is looking as to why we are really doing the things we are doing.
I know, we can fool people some of the time, but are we really such a fool as to think that we can outwit our Father in heaven even one time?
Again, if we have ears, we need to listen. Jesus is calling. The Holy Spirit is tugging at our hearts. And our Father has been patiently waiting...
Luke 15:24 "My son was dead and has come back to life. He was lost but has been found.' Then they began to celebrate." [They celebrated not before, but after he had come back to life].
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