THE WATCHFUL CHURCH-II—Revelation 3:1-6
Jesus rebuked the church in Sardis for maintaining a mere semblance of life in Christ.
The church of God must exhibit the vitality inherent to life in Christ.
The church of God must exhibit more than a semblance of life in Christ.
How does a church exhibit a watchful character?
OR
What does a watchful church exhibit?
12 Attributes/Traits/Features of a watchful church.
The watchful church exhibits...
1. AUTHORITY(:1a)
2. SOLIDITY(:1b)
3. STABILITY(:2a)
4. COMPLETION(:2b)
5—The watchful church exhibits...
MANAGEMENT(:3a)
—Explanation:(:3a) Observance/Protection/Regulation
:3—“‘Remember therefore what you have received & heard; & keep it, & repent....”
“What/How”—pwV—How, In what way; By what means.
“Keep”—threw—To attend to carefully, take care of; To guard—Expresses watchful care & is suggestive of present possession.
“Repent”—Turn away from thru God.
—Argumentation:
Mat. 7:21—“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven.”
Jas. 5:12—“But above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but let your yes be yes, & your no, no; so that you may not fall under judgment.”
1Tim. 6:20-21—“O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly & empty chatter & the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”--which some have professed & thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.”
—Illustration:
Water or electricity/Turn off unused lights/Settings on air conditioning—Heat/Manage our home’s & community’s resources wisely/MANAGEMENT
—Application:
?Are we MANAGING that which is at our disposal?
?Are we a Watchful Church?
6—The watchful church exhibits...
READINESS(:3b)
—Explanation:
“3b—“....If therefore you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, & you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.”
—Argumentation:
Lk. 12:35-40—“Be dressed in readiness, & keep your lamps alight. “And be like men who are waiting for their master when he returns from the wedding feast, so that they may immediately open the door to him when he comes & knocks. “Blessed are those slaves whom the master shall find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, & have them recline at the table, & will come up & wait on them. “Whether he comes in the second watch, or even in the third, & finds them so, blessed are those slaves. “And be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. “You too, be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect.”
1Thes. 5:2-8—“For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace & safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child; & they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light & sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert & sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, & those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith & love, & as a helmet, the hope of salvation.”
—Illustration:
Train delivering mail via mail hook/
Pulling out into traffic/
Future Bills/Prepare ahead of time/
Military attack/Advantage of surprise/
—Application:
?Are we a READY Church?
?Are we a Watchful Church?
7—The watchful church exhibits...
REMNANCE(:4)(Characteristics of the remnant)
—Explanation:(:4a)
:4a—“‘But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; & they will walk with Me in white; for they are worthy.”
“Few ”—Not many, Small, Little.
“People/Names”—
“Not Soiled”—molunw—Pollute, stain, contaminate, defile.
—Argumentation:
Isa. 1:9—“Unless the LORD of hosts Had left us a few survivors, We would be like Sodom, We would be like Gomorrah.”
Gideon’s army
Rom. 11:5-6—“In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.”
Ezek. 5:1-4—“As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword; take & use it as a barber’s razor on your head & beard. Then take scales for weighing & divide the hair. “One third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. Then you shall take one third & strike it with the sword all around the city, & one third you shall scatter to the wind; & I will unsheathe a sword behind them. “Take also a few in number from them & bind them in the edges of your robes. “And take again some of them & throw them into the fire, & burn them in the fire; from it a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.”
Micah 5:7—“Then the remnant of Jacob Will be among many peoples Like dew from the LORD, Like showers on vegetation Which do not wait for man Or delay for the sons of men.”
—Illustration:
Late 70’s & early 80’s American Car quality at rock bottom/Japanese introduced high-quality product/Overran American producers/REMNANT replaced established.
—Application:
?Are we a REMNANT Church?
?Are we a Watchful Church?
8—The watchful church exhibits...
WORTHINESS(:4b)
—Explanation:(:4b)
:4b—“‘But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; & they will walk with Me in white; for they are worthy.”
“Soiled”—molunw—Pollute, stain, contaminate, defile.
“Garments”—General term for clothing of any sort.
“Worthy”—axioV—‘Weighing, having weight, having the weight of another thing of like value, worth as much; Befitting, congruous, corresponding to a thing.’—Value
—Argumentation:
Mat. 10:37-39—“...“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; & he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. “And he who does not take his cross & follow after Me is not worthy of Me. “He who has found his life shall lose it, & he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it.”
Acts 5:41—“So they[Peter & the apostles] went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.”
—Illustration:
Kid’s chores/Clean up Ellinor’s mess—Fold clothes—Mow grass OR no YMCA/Did as told—Proved themselves worthy of going to the YMCA.
—Application:
?Are we a WORTHY Church?
?Are we a Watchful Church?
—CONCLUSION—
Action:
The watchful church exhibits...
MANAGEMENT(:3a)
READINESS(:3b)
REMNANCE(:4)
WORTHINESS(:4b)
AUTHORITY(:1a)
SOLIDITY(:1b)
STABILITY(:2a)
COMPLETION(:2b)
