Rev. Johnson V.
18th April 2010

In the Book of Revelations chapter 3 and verses 1 to 6, God addresses the church of Sardis. God says many things to the church at Sardis, but for now we will look at what He says in verse 2. There is much that can be gleaned from that verse.

The law of thermodynamics, states that, any system left unattended, entropy (disorder) will increase. We see this law at work all around us. For example, a car, in perfectly good running condition, when left unused for a period of time, will not start and run properly. The same is true of the gifts, talents and opportunities that God has given us.

In verse 2 (KJV) God tells the church to “be watchful and strengthen the things, which remain, that are ready to die; for I have not found thy works perfect before God”. God is telling the church that there are things that He had given them, which have already wasted away and died. But there are a few that still remained, but were about to die. God was calling the church to rise up and be watchful over those things before they completely disappeared. The same is true for us today. But what must we watch?

1. We must watch our strengths – God is more focused on our strengths than on our weaknesses. However very often we discourage ourselves by constantly looking and criticizing ourselves rather than looking at the good things that we can do. We are called to acknowledge every good thing (Philemon 6).
2. We must watch our responsibilities –1Timothy 5:8 God will not bless us if we act irresponsibly by not fulfilling our roles. 1 Samuel 12:23 it is a sin, if we don’t pray and our lives are characterized by prayerlessness. We may not have any control over how high the waves are, but we do have some control over how we react to the waves. What we choose to do, will ultimately decide whether we swim or sink. The choice is ours. We have no control over how others around us behave, but we can and must control how we behave. It is important that we remember who we are before responding to a situation. We must evaluate and weigh the pro’s and con’s of our reaction and we must select a suitable response.
3. We must watch our thoughts – what a man thinks, he will become. How we think right now, determines our future. Proverbs 4:23 thoughts produce feelings, feelings produce hormonal changes – it is the wellspring of life. Ephesians 5:19 instructs us to sing and make music to the Lord in our heart. You may be in trouble, but you must remember that trouble is not in you. The difference between a boat that sinks and one that floats is that one allows water in and the other does not. The words we say is also important and we must learn to speak right. Speaking the right word is different from not speaking at all. Proverbs 29:20; Hebrews 13:15.

We rarely pay attention to what we are doing with what God has given us. We rarely ‘watch the watch’ or keep an eye on the time that we have been given on this earth. We take things for granted. If there is anything that is not being used the way God intended, it will die. God calls us to revive all that is dying in our lives. We must keep our eyes on God, our ears tuned to His voice and our hearts set on believing His Word, if we are to rise above the natural law of entropy. Looking at our environment is important, we must be aware of it at all times. But we are not limited by it. Our God is greater than our circumstances and we must not set our sights on our problems but we must look further to who He is.