What a Wake-Up Call!
Pastor Roy Townsend
I am sure that many of you have traveled before the invention of the smartphone. For those of you who may not know, when we traveled and needed to be awake at a certain time, we would call the front desk for a wake-up call. You would say your name, room number, and the time that you needed a wake-up call. It seems so funny to think about now. I tell my phone that I need an alarm for a certain time and the phone alarms and wakes us up. It may surprise you that the Scriptures often speak of our need for a wake-up call.
We read in Revelation 3:2-6, “Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Historically, we can read that the town of Sardis was a very well-fortified city, but their history was littered with enemy armies finding a way into the city through cracks in the structures and natural walls. Unfortunately, the town had felt so secure in its walls and natural fortifications that they did not have guards standing watch. Barclay writes, “A city with a history like that knows what the Risen Christ was talking about when he said: ‘Watch!’” (or wake up).
I see many parallels for us as the church of Jesus Christ. We need to wake up. We have become so sleepy and are on a path of impending destruction like the church as Sardis, but we as Christians are to wake up from our sleep and watch. We are taught throughout the New Testament to have an attitude of watchfulness. Romans 13:11 reads, “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” The Apostle Paul further urges us in 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” We must wake up and watch because we are under continual attack to entice us away from growing and strengthening our relationship with Christ and His people.
Just like the historical city of Sardis, we know what will happen if we do not keep watch. We want to be the ones found worthy with our names written in the Book of Life. We do not want to be like the ones who were overtaken and all that remains is the ruins of their lives.