Revelation 3:1-6 - A Good Reputation
As a Christian leader, your reputation is key to your qualification to lead (1 Timothy 3:1-7). I’m a Southern Baptist and I love our church governance tradition of having membership and asking the members for critical input before we ordain a church leader and before we make major decisions of any sort. Yes, we have leaders, elders, and deacons. God expects order and good governance. The Holy Spirit gifts us with many gifts including the gift of leadership to some. But the reason we call together the members is because that is the model we see in Acts. It's God's way. And we ignore it to our peril. And it is a key way to get honest feedback about the reputation of our leaders. We must not tolerate evil people. If our members give a bad report on a leader. Take decisive action. We do not let those with bad reputations lead. They’ve earned their reputation. Likewise, we make sure those who do lead are preceded by and continue to have a good reputation.
You know as well as I do that reputations can be deceiving. I’ve worked with people at big law firms who have stellar reputations. For instance, a young partner (named Jeff) that I worked with at a powerhouse securities and tax firm in Calgary had a reputation for being hard-working. He was truly a legend. Really smart, soft-spoken for a giant of a man, and funny. And he treated his executive assistant like gold (not to mention the word processing staff - sometimes they worked all through the night for him). My office was right next to his. I was a hard worker in those days (it was tough with a young family of five kids to be both a good dad and a good securities lawyer - but I stayed at those big firms for over eight years before going in-house for a better work-life balance). At my previous firm, I had been the top billing associate billing about 2,200 hours a year. At BDP (where Jeff and I practiced together) I billed in the 2,400 to 2,500 range per year. Most months I billed 26-28 days (working basically every day - everyone gets rich but it’s a terrible life (one marked by divorce, alcoholism, and incredible stress)). Jeff, on the other hand, billed over 3,000 hours per year! Every year. I’d get into the office at 6:00 am. Jeff was already there. I’d leave the office at 8pm or later - Jeff was still there - and would be for hours. You could not outwork Jeff. And yet, when I’d go into Jeff’s office and ask for a precedent agreement or for sounding board advice - Jeff was generally patient and helpful. He was a great securities lawyer. I have no idea what Jeff was like at home with his wife and kids - I suspect he was a great dad and husband, but in the legal business he well earned his reputation.
I’ve worked with other people who were rude, arrogant, sharp-tongued, and downright mean. Yet some of them had a good reputation outside the firm as good lawyers. Reputation indeed can be deceiving - but eventually, I think your reputation catches up to you.
At the same firm where Jeff and I worked we had a lawyer who was on various national committees for his security expertise. He was sharp - wicked smart. Let’s call him Steve. His reputation inside the firm (and I suspect those at the Securities Commission and the Stock Exchanges actually knew about it) was that he was kinda nuts. He’d literally throw phones at the window, and scream at assistants; and, if you saw him in the hallway or in the coffee area with blood vessels popping out of his temple you steered well clear. We actually had to pay assistants (temps usually) danger pay for working with him. No assistant lasted more than six months working for Steve. It simply wasn’t worth it. Yet, for whatever reason I liked Steve. I could see that he was troubled, but he also had a raw genuine side to him (I also knew how hard it was for him and his wife that they didn’t have any kids - and he basically had no life other than that firm life). I didn’t put up with his BS and I think he appreciated that. To many in the outside world, Steve was a wealthy big firm lawyer with hundreds of deals - big deals - under his belt. Interestingly, when I left BDP to found the Calgary office of an international law firm Steve organized and generously hosted a going away party for me at a nice Italian restaurant. Jeff didn’t attend. We all make mistakes. None of us is perfect. Reputations take a career to develop - and often they are wrongly interpreted. Fear God. Work earnestly for a good reputation with your neighbors, but truly care about your reputation with God.
Our reputations in the church community and the entire community matter greatly. We see that with the church in Sardis here in Revelation. Sardis was the capital of the powerful and wealthy Lydian Empire - the financial center of that region at the time (like New York, Toronto, or Calgary today). There’s little new under the sun. Revelation speaks to the modern church as much as it was a critical message to the early church to turn to God and prepare for the great tribulation that would come in AD 64-70. That great judgment on Israel did indeed come and every stone of the Temple was thrown down just as Jesus said they would be - and all within a generation of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection.
Jesus said, “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive - but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what little remains for even what is left is almost dead” (Rev. 3:1-2). We too must heed God’s wake-up call. God has requirements that we must live up to. Many of our church leaders today are beta males who acquiesce to worldly ideals such as critical race theory, ideologies of oppression and victimhood, social causes, and cultural Marxism. Others quite openly love greed and power (and American football) much more than they care about helping the poor and the needy and preaching and mentoring the truth of Jesus Christ. God forbid that we put any idols ahead of the Gospel of Christ, and yes that includes careers, money, property, titles, and education. Shame on the leaders who clothe themselves with the things of the devil rather than the things of God.
Jesus says, “All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine” (3:5). Jesus judges. He decides. He writes the names in the Book of Life and holds us there securely. Jesus warned the church in Sardis for a reason. And for us too, He warns us via these precious words in Revelation for a reason. May our reputations be that of men and women who meet God’s requirements and who have a good reputation for being alive in Christ.
Lord Jesus, we repent of anything this is not of You. Please help your church to have a good reputation. Please bless all of us and guide those in servant leadership to live a blames life. May church leaders be honest, good, and faithful to their wives. May our leaders never be rude or arrogant. If they are angry may they repent of that and ask for forgiveness from those they’ve hurt (and more importantly may we ask Your forgiveness for our throwing of phones and any other way we've treated people poorly). Lord Jesus, may your servant leaders be wise and just and hard-working. Holy Spirit, infinite God, please help us to live devout and disciplined lives. Please do not erase our names from the Book of Life for we look forward with confidence to eternity with our Redeemer. And help us share well with others Your wholesome teaching. Amen.
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