Revelation Chapter 3:1-6

1) Looks can be deceiving.  What is something you encountered that looked good on the outside, but wasn’t that way on the inside?

2) When on a journey, what would you need to do if you realize you are going the wrong way?  How would you get back on track?

3) What does the color white signify to you?  Why is this the color brides wear at their wedding?

The letter to the church at Sardis starts out with a revealing statement: “you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”  It’s like Jesus is saying, “From the outside everyone looking at you sees life, but on the inside God sees death.”  While our faith shows itself by what we do, it is based upon who we are.  God wants to change you on the inside so you live differently on the outside.

After calling the church to wake up (3:2), Jesus tells them three steps they needed to take to get back on track.  First, they needed to remember; remember what they learned, remember what God had done, remember the place where they were going.  Second they needed to obey; put into practice all they had learned and heard.  Finally, they needed to repent; turn from the direction that they were heading to the direction that God wanted them to go.  These are the same steps we need today: remember, obey and repent.

Pure, brilliant, without blemish.  These all describe the essence of the color white.  This is the color that those who overcome will be dressed in.  And like a beautifully dressed bride, Paul describes the church in Ephesians 5:27, “as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”  Far different than the stained, soiled, worn out clothes the world offers us, Jesus will one day dress us in white.