“Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.”
Jesus continues His challenge to the church at Sardis.
and strengthen
“Strengthen” means to fix, make fast, to set. The idea is to put something firmly in a location. The New Testament uses this word to establish or stabilize something. The Sardis church needed spiritual equilibrium.
Jesus wanted Peter to establish his brothers in Christ (Luke 22:32). Paul visited Rome so that he could establish the saints there (Romans 1:11; cf. 1 Thessalonians 3:2, 13; 2 Thessalonians 2:17; 1 Peter 5:10; 2 Peter 1:12).
Principle:
Stability comes from spiritual maturity.
Application:
God wants the church to form spiritual stability by fellowship with Him and His Word. Many Christians are not mature spiritually. They wobble from one doctrine to another and from spiritual victory to defeat.
It is one thing to be spiritual; it is another thing to be spiritually mature. Immature believers spend their lives blaming their problems on other people, pastors, or the church. It is always someone else’s fault. “I am really a wonderful person. It is just that no one understands me; that’s all.” That immature posture puts responsibility for their failures on others. People who spend their time running others down will not have any friends either. If these people find patsies, it makes them feel better. Maturity begins by identifying our problems and then building principles from God’s Word that will give us spiritual stability.
