DEAD OR ALIVE?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“To the angel of the church in Sardis write:”

“These are the words of Him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, 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.”

“Yet 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. The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and His angels. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Revelation 3:1-6

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In Chapter 3 of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Jesus continues having John write down letters to the seven churches and with four churches down (Ephesus, Sardis, Pergamum, and Thyatira), we find Him shifting His attention to the church of Sardis. Look again at that letter here, comprised of the first six verses of this chapter:

"To the angel of the church in Sardis write:”

“These are the words of Him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, 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.”

“Yet 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. The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and His angels. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

In this letter, we find Jesus sharing His concern over the lifestyles of the Sardis believers. Specifically, the people had turned away from living their lives for Him for He knew their deeds, deeds that were “unfinished” in the “sight” of God, and although the Christians in Sardis appeared “alive”, they were really spiritually “dead”.

Now, this problem of dying away spiritually was not a new one. Jesus forecast it would happen as He instructed His disciples (and us as well) through His words found in the 15th chapter of John’s Gospel. There, we read this in verses 3 through 6:

“You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.”

“I am the Vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in Me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.”

Our Savior makes it clear that a disciple will only stay spiritually alive if they stay connected to Him, like a branch connected to vine. Every Christian needs to stay tethered to His every Word while seeking and carrying out His will and way.

The scriptures make it clear regarding the dangers of living in the world and adopting its ways, ways that will always run counter to the Lord’s desires. Indeed, this world we live in entices us to chase after its pleasures, seeking to pull on our branches with the hope of separating us from the Vine. Unfortunately, many branches are removed every day and lose their source of spiritual life, withering and dying apart from the One who is the Life (John 14:6).

Self reflection moment: Are you attached to the Vine or have you allowed yourself to be disconnected from Jesus? Are you spiritually alive in Christ or spiritually dead like many of the believers in the church of Sardis?

If you have allowed yourself to stray away from Jesus, preferring the ways of the world instead, listen to the words He sent to the Sardis Christians and hear them as words spoken to you as well. For Jesus said:

“...what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent.”

The New Living Translation puts it this way:

“Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to Me again.”

Here, we find the Savior of the world calling for the Christians in Sardis (and believers today as well) to get back to basics. He’s calling them (and us) to go back to the root of the Christian belief system, the very Gospel of Jesus Christ.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Friends, real life, now and after death, only comes through Jesus our Savior, who is always ready to welcome to reconnect a branch to His vine if they would simply “repent”, leaving the sinful ways of the world, going back to what they had “heard and believed at first”, and turning to Him again. If one of His strayed followers refused to turn back, choosing the world over their Savior, then Jesus promised swift and unpredictable judgment as He would “come like a thief” at a time that would be unknown.

Contrast this with the eternal reward Christ promises for those who have remained faithful to Him, those who had “not soiled their clothes”. For Jesus promises that they will one day “walk with” Him, worthy of having their name in the book of life and living with Him forever.

So where are you today as you read this?

Are you in a place where you need to turn back toward Jesus because you’ve allowed yourself to die away spiritually?

Or are you firmly attached to Jesus, the Vine, and living in obedience to Him and His will for your life?

Every single person in the world is either walking dead toward Hell or alive on the road to Heaven and the determining factor is where they stand in their relationship with Jesus. My prayer today is that you will choose Christ because your very hope of an everlasting life in Heaven is through your belief and trust in Him.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.