Monday, Dec. 12 - Jody

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is: Zechariah 13-14, Revelation 3-4

Happy Monday Everyone!

Scripture
¹ “To the angel^[a] of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits^[b] of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. ² Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. ³ Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, 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.
⁴ 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. ⁵ He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. ⁶ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Observation
By all ourward appearances, the believers in Sardis seemed to be believers. But they were dead in spirit. In this commentary, I found:
The believers in Sardis, however, do not have the Spirit of God. They had obviously received the
Spirit before, since their names were written in the book of life. But they do not enjoy the fullness of the Spirit. Their clothes are soiled and thus the Spirit had departed from them. They had fallen asleep and they departed from the grace they had originally received. We could use this epistle and tell Calvin that, obviously, not all saints persevere. God is faithful and eternally immutable, but if we receive the pardon of our sins and then fall asleep, our life is endangered. It is as dangerous as falling asleep with fire in our hands.There is a step we must make after conversion by which we burn our bridges behind us and make our relationship with God irrevocable. The church in Sardis had the reputation of being alive, but they were dead. The fact that Jesus mentions the seven starts in this context suggests a relationship between the condition of the leader of the church and the state of the church. Spiritual death had entered the church via its leader.

Application
The leaders of the church were looking around at other churches and judging their "spiritual success" based on what other pastors and churches were doing. By doing this, the leaders allowed spiritual death into the church by not using God's standards to measure spiritual health.

There are a couple of specific action steps I see coming out of this passage and commentary:
1) Pray for our church leaders. Pray wisdom, clarity to hear the voice of God and that God's will is the only measuring stick used for church success.
2) Ask questions, seek answers for yourself on the messages and studies done in your church. Not out of doubt, but out of truth seeking and to avoid putting your faith in church leadership.
3) Stop comparing your church to others. Worry about your own state of affairs and make sure that God is at the right place in your heart and your church. Don't put your "church success" above others. This is not the accurate measure of success. Pray for other churches in the same way you pray for your own. That the spirit of God is present throughout each and every heart!!

Prayer
Father God, make us aware. Open our eyes and hearts to YOUR spirit and be alive in us. Help us to avoid comparing our spiritual walk with other people and other churches. Be alive in each one of us by your standards, none other. Thank you for your grace that you extend each and every day. Amen.


Tomorrow's passage:   Psalm 74-76, Revelation 5