“And to the angel (pastor) of the church in Sardis write, “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but YOU ARE DEAD.” (Rev. 3:1) This reminds me of the parable of the 10 virgins, “…the kingdom of heaven shall like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five WERE WISE, and five WERE FOOLISH.” (Matt. 25:1-2) Why were they foolish? They, “took their lamps and took no oil with them…” (Matt. 25:3)
The bridegroom came and the 5 foolish had to go get oil, so they finally came, “…saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But He answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I DO NOT KNOW YOU.’” (Matt. 25:11-12) He did not know them because THEY WERE DEAD! We must be aware who is telling us this, it is Jesus! What He is telling us is that when He comes to get us, HALF of the church will be like the Sardis church.
What is interesting about this story is that all the virgins took their lamps to meet the bridegroom. If you looked at these virgins, they all looked the same. You would have assumed they were prepared for the arrival of the bridegroom. However, as you see having a lamp was not enough. WITH NO OIL THE LAMP WAS VIRTUALLY USELESS. This leads to an important question. Are you focused on what the outside of the lamp looks like or do you care what’s INSIDE THE LAMP? In the Bible oil represents the Holy Spirit so the question of real importance is are you FULL of the Holy Spirit? Consider this verse in Romans.
“…you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit IF you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them DO NOT belong to Him at all.) And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit GIVES YOU LIFE because you have been made right with God.” (Rom. 8:9-10)
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham