1. Our works are not what makes us acceptable to God. We are saved by His grace and mercy, which are in the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ. God justifies everyone who believes in Jesus and His work on the cross. Only God can forgive sins through repentance. Man is saved by faith in Christ Jesus.
2. The problem with the church in Sardis is that from the beginning they did not realize that the government in the period of the church in Thyatira was completely out of line with the Bible. The leadership of the church is by a messenger, who brings God’s message, His Word. The government of God through His Word was lacking in the church.
3. It is the Word of God that sets all things in order. God governs the church through His Word. For that, He needs a messenger. Those who attacked Paul did not know that his message was not his own, but God’s. God governed the church through His own message, and Paul was just a channel that transmitted God’s message.
4. An apostle may even go through imprisonment; however, the prophetic word will never be shackled, and its power will continue to operate in the church. In Paul’s time, he was the one who dispensed the prophetic word. As we see in Philippians, many were jealous of him and preached parallel messages, apparently good, spiritual, and biblical, to distract the church from Paul’s speaking, which caused him immense suffering.