Rethink, Wake Up, Strengthen
Revelation 3:2-4 “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“.
“Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die,”. Watch! “Rouse yourself and keep awake” (The Amplified New Testament). We need to awaken and arouse ourselves, to stir our minds and thoughts, to become alert and alive to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the Word of God. We need to rethink why we are on the earth. We need to rethink what our calling is and why we are part of the church and why we choose to gather with other believers. We need to rethink why we are claiming the name of Christ and doing works and carrying on ministries in the name of Christ. Note: the word watch is imperative. It is a command of Christ to the dying church. The word watch here or wake up is in the present tense. As believer’s we are to become a watchers, to become true followers of Jesus Christ. As believer’s are to always watch and make sure we are alive spiritually.
How do we do this? How do we wake up and become watchers who are spiritually alive?
First, we must remember how we received and heard the gospel; that is, we must remember how it gripped our lives with a dynamic spirit of …devotion, readiness and love, alertness and energy, hunger and thirst, life and vitality, service, witnessing, and ministry.
Second, we must arouse and awaken and hold fast to the original spirit that gripped our lives.
Third, we must repent. We have done wrong and sinned against Christ by losing our fervor and becoming lethargic. We desperately need to confess our wrong and repent; we need to turn away from our error and turn back to Christ. We need to spend time in prayer meeting and seeking Christ to stir our hearts and to set them aflame for Him.
Last, we must know that the judgment of Christ will fall upon us if we refuse to repent, and we will fall unexpectedly. If the church and we as believers refuse to watch—refuse to arouse ourselves—then Christ will come upon us as a thief. We have no idea what hour He is coming to judge. Christ will come and strip us of all our valuables just like a thief. We will be left bare, without anything worthwhile. No matter what the church and we as believers may think, we will be found vain, empty, and useless. We will have done no good whatsoever for the kingdom of God. Our profession will have been meaningless.
I don’t know about you but that is not the type of profession I wish to leave when I exit this vaporous and temporary life. There is a promise to the faithful believers and overcomers. A promise to believers who do not defile themselves but are awake and watching as those who are alive in the Spirit. A promise to them and to the overcomers. I want to receive the promise.
There are a few faithful believers in the church. A few who have not defiled, dirtied, or spotted their lives with the worldliness of the day. They have kept themselves “unspotted from the world” (Js. 1:27). These believers are not activity centered or program centered, but they are Christ centered. They are stiving to do Jesus stuff. They do not use the church as a religious salve for their conscience, or as a social activity, or as a place for fellowship alone, or as a place for social and business contacts, or as a place to build their public image, or as a place to provide activities for the family.
These faithful believers keep themselves pure. They focus upon Jesus Christ and His purpose: they are still growing spiritually and reaching out to share Christ with a needful world. Because of this they are given a promise: these faithful and pure believers “walk with Christ in white.” This means …
• that these faithful believers walk day by day in the presence of Christ and have the presence of Christ looking after and taking care of them—keeping them pure (white).
• that these faithful believer walk day by day and moment by moment in open confession before Christ, that they keep themselves clean by constantly confessing all sin and having Christ forgive their sins. Christ keeps them clean (white).
• that these faithful believer walk in victory and purity with Christ forever and ever.
The faithful and pure believers receive this promise because they are worthy. Christ is ever so pleased that these believers focus upon Him as their Lord; therefore, Christ loves them with a very special love and counts these believers worthy.
There are also the overcomers. Three promises are made to the believers who keep their spirit alive, the believers who focuses upon Jesus Christ and His spiritual purposes for the church.
First the overcomers will be clothed in white. The garment of righteousness and purity, of perfection that shall be given to the believers when they enter heaven. The believer is given this garment of righteousness and purity because they trusted the righteousness of Christ and because they followed Christ by living a righteous life.
Second the overcomer will not be blotted out of the book of life. This is a book that God keeps. The picture given by Scripture, the Bible is this: every person’s name is written in the book of life when the person is born. But at death the names of the unbelievers are erased from the book and they are judged to eternal death. The names of true believers, those who were awake and watchful are never touched. They receive eternal life.
Thirdly, the overcomer will be acknowledged by Christ before God. Christ will confess that He knows the believers who overcame by keeping their spirit alive and focused upon the Lord.
My desire is that I can be a faithful and pure believer that overcomes and has eternal life. I wish to be a believer that is awake and watchful. Living a life in the Spirit and doing Jesus stuff while living an everyday life. Will you join me?
“Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven” (Mt. 10:32–33).
