“Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.”
Revelation 3:2
The Lord continues His instruction to His church at Sardis. He is giving them urgent instruction as to what needs to change. They are on their death bed and there is not much time left.
I The Lord make it clear where this commandment is coming from. He is the owner, the ruler of the church. The Lord has given two commands so far: be watchful and strengthen the thing that remain. Now he explains why these actions are urgent and are to be obeyed immediately.
Have not found The Lord has looked at and examined their works. The word found means to discover after searching. The Lord made careful examination. He reviewed the work done, the heart that performed it, the strength by which it was done and its eternal results. The verb is in the middle tense. The Lord has done this examination for Himself. He entrusted this assessment to no one else.
Your works He looked at their works done in His name. The word work refers to a deed or action that carries out (completes) an inner desire (why it is done, one’s intension and purpose). This shows the Lord looks at the heart of the worker who did the work. He is talking about works but the emphasis is on the individual who performed the work.
Perfect The Lord tells them (and us) He looks at the quality of the work. There is a standard that God expects in sacrifices given to Him. The sacrifice is to be perfect. Remember the qualifications of the sacrificial lamb in the Old Testament. The most important qualification of the lamb was it had to be without blemish – perfect. Sacrifices are only acceptable if they meet and fulfill God’s standard. One of the perfections of His followers; works is that God’s light shines through them. The works bring glory to God. Thus God must work through us for our efforts to be acceptable to Him. This is what Paul tells us in Romans 12:1. “I beg you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.” Christ looks to see if our works, the sacrifices we offer to God, are acceptable in His sight.
Before The Greek word before means in the presence of or in the eyes of. What we do for God is reviewed in heaven. Our labor is
not thrown into a back closet and forgotten. They are presented to God on an altar in His presence, if they are worthy.
God. The word is “Theos” which means the creator and owner of all things – which includes the person offering the sacrifice. The picture is our great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, offering the sacrifices of the people He redeemed by His shed blood to His Father.
What can we learn? Sardis had made a name for itself. They had a great reputation but Jesus was not impressed. The church was busy but the majority of people in it were unsaved and the church was not preaching the truth about God. The members were self-righteous do-gooders who, like Cain, were religious but remained dead in their sin. The Holy Spirit did not live inside them. Hebrews 13 says, “Through
Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise”. The great High Priest looked at Sardis’s sacrifices and they were unworthy to be offered.