In the church at Sardis was a group of people who were obviously not genuine believers. Even though this church had a reputation of being alive, Jesus wasn’t fooled. “You are dead. Wake up!”
This church may have had a good reputation, but they were spiritually lifeless. In other words, the church was filled with
unsaved people going through the motions of religion. There were many
tares among the wheat (Matthew 13:24-30). To “wake up” in their case means to start paying attention to their need of salvation, to stop being careless about their heart’s condition before God.
Are you surprised to learn that there are unbelievers who attend church with believers? Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian. There are those who call Jesus Lord that prophesy, cast out demons and perform many "alleged" wonderful works who are not genuine believers. Christ
NEVER knew them (Matthew 7:21-23). It’s not about attending church or or being a make believer that counts,
it’s whether you have repented and placed your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation that ultimately counts (Acts 3:19; 11:17,18; 15:7-9; 26:18).
In many of the letters to the New Testament churches there are sections that pertain to unbelievers or that warn the saints about the influence of unbelievers among them. The letter to the church at Sardis is no exception. How do we know for sure there were some unbelievers in the church at Sardis? Because Jesus said they were
dead and in danger of judgment. Jesus warned the Sardisians, “if you don’t wake up, I will come like a thief.” Yet the church at Sardis wasn’t a completely lost cause for among the sinners were a
“few” saints. We know this because Jesus clearly distinguishes a
second group within the church who had not “soiled their clothes” and who were considered “worthy.” How do we soil our clothes? By being clothed in our own filthy rags of righteous (Isaiah 64:6). What makes a person worthy in God’s eyes? Being
clothed with Christ and his righteousness (Is 61:10; Romans 4:5-6; Philippians 3:9).
How about a little context. Ephesians 5:11 - Have
nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather
expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention
what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything
exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14 This is why it is said:
“Wake up, sleeper,
rise from the dead,
and Christ will
shine on you.”
Reminds me of what Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:3 - But even if our
gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose minds
the god of this age has blinded, who
do not believe, lest the
light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine on them.
In this case here, believers have an exhortation to wake up from spiritual slumber and put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. Believers need to make the best use of their time to do just what we have been called to do.
Nothing is mentioned here in Romans 13:11 about them being dead or their deeds being unfinished in the sight of my God or to repent or a warning to wake up or Jesus will come like a thief, and they will not know at what time He will come to them.
Reminds me of Luke 22:45 - When He rose from prayer, He came to the disciples and found them
sleeping from sorrow, 46 and said to them,
“Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” The disciples need to wake up and pray, but that does not mean they were lost.
In Romans 13:12, we read - "The night is almost gone, and the day is at hand. Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." Now the term "night" here refers metaphorically to spiritual darkness and moral darkness. We live in a time of the night when the prince of the power of the air, the prince of darkness, controls this world. Children of light live in a time when darkness is all around us.
In Revelation 3:5, we read - "He who
overcomes I will never blot out his name from the book of life." The "overcomer" mentioned in this letter to Sardis is the Christian. Compare this with 1 John 5:4:
"Everyone who is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. *All genuine believers are "overcomers!"
Some people see in Revelation 3:5 the picture of God’s pen poised, ready to strike out the name of any Christian at any given moment. They read into it like this: "If you mess up and don’t win the victory, then you’re going to lose your salvation! In fact, I will erase your name from the Book of Life!”
The one who
“overcomes” is anyone who is born again (1 John 5:4). The overcomer will receive a white garment (a token of righteousness), he will never have his name removed from the book of life (which is a promise of eternal security). Praise God!
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