Revelation 3:1-22

In each of these last three churches Christ makes the statement that He know their deeds.  It is vital for us to realize that we never act in secret and that we can never hide an action, attitude, or thought from God.  He knows us inside and out.  The reality is that our deeds reveal the truth about our hearts as well as how God will respond to us.  God loves to reward His children; however, He is not at all hesitant to discipline the disobedient according to their deeds.

SARDIS: DEAD DEEDS: Christ seems to have almost exclusively condemnation of this church because He calls their deeds dead.  They may have many deeds that men might applaud, but God sees their hearts and knows that these deeds are only done in the flesh and for the flesh.  God is never pleased by the rituals of men or the keeping of regulations made by men.  This church seems to be prosperous financially but polluted spiritually.  They trust in their wealth as a sign of God’s blessing so they continue to practice their immoral acts.  Christ warns them that they are spiritually dead and destined for divine judgment.  It seems that this church only has a very small remnant that is truly saved.  The majority of this church has not trusted Christ that they might be dressed in the righteous robes of the Lamb.  We must be careful to make sure that we do not mistake the self righteous rituals of religion for true life in Christ.

PHILADELPHIA: DIVINE DEEDS:  Christ is at work in the midst of this church.  He has given them open doors of opportunity to advance the cause of Christ and He is blessing their efforts.  They are a persecuted church but have persevered with patience and they are now being commended by Christ.  Due to their faithful service, they will be spared the even greater persecution that Christ has determined to pour out upon the world.  I believe this is an indication that the true church will be raptured from the earth prior to the tribulation period that we will see in the chapters ahead.  This is clearly a church that is missions minded and has been used by God to open the doors of the Gospel to the nations of the world.  When God is truly at work in our lives we will be passionate about the name of Jesus being spread throughout the world.  We must be sure that God’s purpose in the world be the focus of our lives and passion of our heart.  Missions is the result of a divine work in our hearts that spreads to the hearts of others.  We will not be deceived by false teachings or distracted by dead deeds as long as we are passionate about spreading the fame of Christ to the nations of the world.

LAODICEA: DIVIDED DEEDS: Christ reveals that this church is divided in its affections and has been lulled to sleep by mediocrity.  He says that they are neither hot nor cold but only lukewarm and that they are about to be vomited from His mouth.  The greatest enemy of excellence is not failure but mediocrity.  Those who are failing know that they are failing and are motivated to change.  Those who are mediocre have been lulled to sleep and become satisfied with their “not hot, not cold” lives.  They do not recognize their need of repentance and simply stop moving forward.  Christ warns them that He will bring down discipline on this church in hopes of waking them out of their slumber.  The problem is that they do not even recognize that they are asleep.  They think that they are just fine in their walk with Christ but the reality is that Christ is still on the outside of the church knocking at the door in hopes that they will invite Him in so that He can transform the hearts and lives and then enjoy sweet fellowship with Him.  We must examine our lives and beware of the half-hearted faith that masquerades as true faith.  We must never become satisfied with spiritual mediocrity.