Rev 3:1-13

Revelation • Sermon • Submitted 2 months ago • Presented 2 months ago

0 ratings

· 3 views

Notes

Transcript

Intro:

Have you ever noticed that it is the times when you feel most comfortable, when your most at ease, when you have let your guard down, that something unexpected happens?

December 7, 1941 The United States had an official position of neutrality in world war 2. When all of the sudden the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor knocking out of Pacific Fleet and killing many men…We felt insulated and safe from the war in Europe it was far away but al of the sudden that feeling os security is shattered.

In the 90’s, when you could watch war on TV. Terrorism was something that was “Over there” in the middle east…But when September 11th 2001 happened all of the sudden it was on our doorstep.

Now these things happen nationally but what about personally? Have you ever had this experience?

Maybe a relationship….I thought things were going great?

Maybe a job that you lost…I don’t get it what happened?

This is a common experience when you get comfortable…So just stay right here in this thought for a second!

Revelation 3:1–6 ESV

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

I wanted to point out something that Jesus says to 6 of the seven churches …And each time he begins this way he says

“I know your works”

We are the community of Jesus, that is what the church is. He know’s us

And he know what we are doing

He can see our lives and what we as a church produce.

It is my hope that as a church we produce disciples of Jesus. That is literally the only thing that I want for this church…

I mean yes we do big family events that are a great way to serve our community.

We do camps, we have all kinds of things that we do in this church but the point of it all is to make disciples

And its not that we are saved by our works or anything like that,

Our actions confirm what we really believe

This is why Jesus says, I see you! O know your works…He is saying I know your deeply held beliefs

And the chief complaint that he has against the church in Sardis is that I know you have a reputation for being alive, but you are really dead

You are living off your old reputation

Your God stories are dusty

Or just like the church in Ephesus they were doing a lot of good things but they are not doing what Jesus asked them to do.

Matthew 28:18–20 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The work of the church is to make disciples

That is really all

Jesus has not asked the church to get really good at lighting and sound and video but to the extent that it helps in making disciples we will do it, although our excellence honors God so we will do that

Everything that the church does is designed to make disciples or grow disciples and if it doesn't do it we will just stop doing it

The good news is that if we focus on making disciples then we will never have to focus on growing the church.

I dont have to focus on that because growing the church is God’s job… He says he is going to do it:

When Jesus is having his famous confrontation with Peter saying..>Who do people say I am?

Peter had the gaul to say, you are the messiah! The son of the Living God!

And Jesus complements Peter and says

Matthew 16:18 ESV

And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

So it is our Job to make disciples. It is Jesus’ job to grow the church…

That makes things so clear cut

See this church in Sardis had a reputation for being alive…

So at one point they were doing what Jesus asked them to do, to Make disciples../.They were alive and well

and while we dont know where it all went wrong for the church in Sardis,

We do know this…At one point they were an alive and vibrant church but at the point that Jesus is addressing them now, they are living off of the good old days, the way we used to do things…They were living off of their old reputation. they were dead but just pretending to be alive

One of the things we know about the town of Sardis is that they were lulled into a false comfort.

We know from church tradition that this church is actually the largest and most wealthy of the seven churches

And we know that Sardis didn't have the issues that many of the other churches had with persecution.

In fact they could operate pretty openly compared to the others some reports said that the members of the church in Sardis walked around town in their white baptismal robes…

The town of Sardis was located on this mountain top and there was really one road in and one road out. They could close their gate and the town would be pretty safe

But the lesson that everyone learned from Sardis was that two times in history opposing armies scaled the walls at night, opened the gate and ransacked the town…They felt so safe that the guards at the front gates were usually found sleeping thorough their shift

Just like in the town of Sardis there is kind of this attitude that we are untouchable militarily…We are safe here…we have the high ground

It is that safe feeling we had in America that Terrorism is over there…or we will remain neutral, there is no way we will get drawn into the wars over there

when your comfortable its easy to let your guard down and take your faith casually

And just like the city the church got complacent too because they were accepted in the town:

as a church we can grow complacent and just go through the motions..>

We can look like we are awake and alert, but you’re just showing up to church because its what you’ve done for the last 30 years and the last time you felt like you grew as a disciple of Jesus was years ago then you might just be fooling yourself..

You might look awake but really be asleep

And faith is a muscle…if you are not using your faith on a regular basis then it begins to atrophy

So Beginning in Verse 2 there are a whole bunch of things that Jesus tells this church

Wake Up

Maybe you have the kind of faith that has grown dormant after long periods of not using it…You have to use your faith

So for you today maybe you need to pray and ask the Lord to wake you up and to use your faith again

I promise you, God is faithful!

So if that us you I dont care how long dormant your faith is, Do what Jesus says, Wake up..>Strengthen your faith remember the gospel and get to it

Start using your faith!

If you dont know how start praying, Father God, would you use me for your kingdom?

If your like, I dont know what to do with my faith, start praying and reading your bible, the Holy Spirit will let you know

Start becoming a student of Jesus thats a start

Strengthen what remains

The fact that there are things that remain shows that this church started off on the right foot but somewhere along the line they went astray….

But if this is you then there is something that remains of your faith deep down in you, take some quiet time with the Lord and ask him to strengthen what remains in you

Remember what your salvation and keep it.

So the text doesn't say to remember your salvation, but this is what it means to remember what you have recieved

Remember the grace that God gives to you

Remember the forgiveness of sins

Remember that you are loved beyond all measure.

Remember that testimony you have, Start telling it to others!

Repent

Likely if you have been sleepwalking through your faith, somewhere along the line you have allowed some sin to invade your life…The guard of your life is asleep at the gate

The way that you get rid of it is through repentance

Confess before God where you didn’t believe him and trust in him

So Jesus says you better listen up because I am coming back!

Revelation 3:3 ESV

Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.

Listen the Bible talks about Jesus coming to collect his bride…But in the book of Revelation we see this picture of Jesus that is like hey’d I’d like my bride to be faithful to me

One of the most important things about your marriage is fidelity

That is your love and commitment to one another

And that is impotrant in your relationship with Jesus

I can’t tell you just how many times I have seen marriages fall apart because of lack of fidelity

God wants this from us

Revelation 3:4 says that there are some people who have remain faithful but then jump down to Revelation 3:5 with me

Revelation 3:5 ESV

The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.

White is used all over the book of Revelation for innocence and salvation & Pure…So if you conquer then you will walk with God in new clothes

then he says. “And I will never blot out his name out of the book of life” I will confess his name before my father and his angels!

So there are largely two theological camps in Christianity theologically when it comes to security of salvation

And depending on your history of following Jesus you probably fit into one of two camps….And here is the tough part for me. I just want to teach the Bible and not necessary jump into theological battles because I know I will lose some of you in the conversation

But I also think that what I am about to tell you is massively impotrant to your relationship with Jesus…

So I am going to risk jumping into some waters where there is a big theological debate that has been going on for years

One side is what we would call Calvinist and they champion this idea called Unconditional Election

The view that election, understood as the predetermination of the destiny of human individuals, is based on God’s sovereign, eternal decree…

SO God elected who would be saved and who is not before the world was ever made…That is one camp

And there is another side called Wesleyan/Arminian Theology. This by the way is what we are aligned with here at River’s Edge

We agree that the names in the book of life were written before the foundations of the world. But our believe is that God did this based on his foreknowledge of who would follow him or not. So God knows how each person will use free will. And with that free will we believe that people have the opportunity if they want to forfeit their salvation. Now will someone who has truly experienced the spirit do this? I really hope not

The Wesleyan Armenian Perspective is that your continued salvation is based ion Believing Loyalty

I have read people do theological gymnastics on this verse to say that once God writes your name in the book, it is impossible for that name to be erased

But right here Jesus literally gives the possibility for a name being blotted out

David Aune who wrote the 3 volume, world biblical commentary on the book of Revelation says this about the verse

“The possibility of having one’s names erased from the book of life suggests that fidelity to God rather than any type of predestinarian system is the reason for having one’s name inscribed in the book of life in the first place.”

Ok, Here is why this matters to you

My relationship with Jesus is based on Believing Loyalty

On other words. Your relationship lasts with Jesus based on your Fidelity to him

Isn’t this what Jesus is basically saying to all the churches? You better endure because if not, I’ll remove your crown…I will come against you

Now I just want to go out of Revelation to the book of Romans 11 for one minute because it matters. Paul addresses this same thing.

I am just going to give you a tiny element

The chapter kind of opens with this question…”Since Jesus is here now, what about the Jews?” What About Israel?

because they were the first believers

Paul Goes on to talk about the elect of God…Which by the way is just a way to speak about the people he has chosen.

He basically talks about how some of the elect have rejected him and as a result they were like branches that have broken off of a tree…

Lets look at a few verses here

Romans 11:20–23 (ESV)

That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.

I know that this is a lot to take in, but stick with me here because this matters to your relationship with Jesus…

The reason why we do not agree with unconditional election is because of verses like Romans 11 and Revelation 3…

Paul is reminding the church of the story of Israel, The believed then didn't believe and were cut off and now they have the opportunity to be saved and grafted back in Because God loves them

The way this gets practical is I have had people say oh yeah I am a christian when I was 5 I accepted Jesus but there is zero fruit in their lives, there is no practical relationship with God and it is a way to fool yourself

God is looking for Believing Loyalty from us! He wants our fidelity

In the same way your marriage depends on your fidelity, so does your relationship

And if you have set yourself up to say..>Well I started following Jesus when I was 5 but that was the end of it, I am afraid your asleep at the wheel! I am afraid that you are letting evil in your life without noticing

The point is how can you have a predetermined part of the population be saved and have that totally unchanging when the Bible talks about it in opposite terms

So fear God because if you dont continue in his kindness, his Hissed (Grace or loving kindness) then he will do the same thing to you happened to israel

Ok…You can shake off the theological comparison, its over now

So if your lost in this conversation lets go back to this original point I was making out of Revelation 3.

Jesus said the same thing basically that Paul said in Romans 11

Revelation 3:5 ESV

The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.

If you overcome this problem of the Sardis church, their complacency and their lack of living the Great Commission, then you will walk with me…In victory then I will never blot your name out of the book of life

But if your life is just about you and your comfort and you have left this believing loyalty behind…

Then the possibility exists, I dont think it is God’s desire at all…

But if believing loyalty isn’t there the possibility exists to have your name blotted out of my book

And I bring this all up because I the next church is a beautiful picture of believing loyalty

The next church is the church of Philadelphia

and they are a church of Believing Loyalty! Bonus! Two churches out of revelation today!

And what I want to say about this church, is that this church has a mixture of every other church that we have looked at, and especially the church in Smyrna…

There are only two churches that God has no problem with at all, Smyrna and Philadelphia so lets read

Revelation 3:7–13 ESV

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens. “ ‘I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Now if you are new, and just jumping into the revelation series this week I will record a podcast that will be a full breakdown of this church but if you have been with us since the beginning then everything that is brought up here is not new information

This is a church that in the midst of being persecuted stayed faithful to God

And this sense of an open door..

That is opportunity

As opposed to Sardis this is a church that never let go of the great commission…

This is a church that was always on mission

They risked it all to evangelize the world

They were a picture of believing loyalty

And the response of Jesus to this church is Hold on to what you have! I am coming soon! HOLD ON!

Call/Response:

The call to be a disciple: That is to make Jesus your teacher…I can not tell you how many christians are deceived because they make Jesus their savior and the world their teacher

So maybe today you have already accepted Jesus as your savor…What if you accept Jesus as your teacher?

Maybe your here today and you have been kind of complacent in your walk with Jesus. The call for you today is to

Wake up!

Covenant Faithfulness

patient endurance

Lastly: What is the open door that Jesus has ahead of you?

Look for the open door, what door has Jesus opened in your life

Related Media

Related Sermons