by Robert Turner<\/p>\n
Concerning the church at Sardis, the Lord said, “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead<\/em>” (Revelation 3:1). Now think, where did they get that “name”?<\/p>\n “Name” is here used in the sense of reputation the popular opinion. But the smallness and insignificance of the cause of Christ in the world at that time negates any suggestion that this was a “name” in the world’s Hall of Fame. The world couldn’t care less. Yet, someone had to give them that name, and give it such general acceptance as to warrant significance. The Lord certainly did not sanction this appraisal; so we are forced to conclude that their peers, or social circle, gave them their “name”.<\/p>\n Other churches, others of their professed “kind,” must have talked of their “good works,” “wonderful spirit,” “liberal contributions” or whatever that generation considered great. It is apparent that brethren of that age were no more qualified judges of what God approves than their current counterparts. Doesn’t it shake you? They had a good reputation they got it from their own brethren and it did not amount to a hill of beans (when beans were cheap). No wonder Paul said those who “measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves among themselves, are not wise<\/em>” (II Corinthians 10:12). For the Lord said of Sardis, that Big Name church, “thou art dead<\/em>.” What remained was “ready to die.” The “few names in Sardis” who had not defiled their garments must have stood out from the rest like a sore thumb – a few cranks or “fanatics” who would not line up with the majority. Perhaps those “on the march” wished them gone, so as to remove that source of criticism and embarrassment, not realizing that they were the last bit of salt in the whole stinking mess.<\/p>\n The majority “had a name” – and it seems the “name” was more valued than the truth. Well, we all have a name – of some sort – with both God and man. Our concern for what men think often blinds us to what God thinks of us – and that’s what I’d call real near-sightedness. Man, a good reputation is not enough. We’ve got to consider who gives us our “name.”<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Robert Turner Concerning the church at Sardis, the Lord said, “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead” (Revelation 3:1). Now think, where did they get that “name”? “Name” is here used in the sense of reputation the popular opinion. But the smallness and insignificance of the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[551],"class_list":["post-31785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-reputation"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":94073,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/acquiring-anothers-reputation\/","url_meta":{"origin":31785,"position":0},"title":"Acquiring Another’s Reputation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 21, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Floyd Chappalear via\u00a0Sentry Magazine, Vol. 20 No. 3, September 1994 \"So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62628,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-good-name\/","url_meta":{"origin":31785,"position":1},"title":"A Good Name","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Mark 14:3-9 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0During Memorial Day, this country sets aside time to remember those who have died before us. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How do people remember those who have left this life? (Actual tombstones) \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Beneath this stone, a lump of clay, Lies stingy Jimmy Wyatt. Who died one morning\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33843,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/seeking-to-ruin-a-reputation\/","url_meta":{"origin":31785,"position":2},"title":"Seeking to Ruin a Reputation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 31, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Floyd Chappelear Sentry Magazine, December 1999 He had seen Jesus after the resurrection (Acts 9). He had been left dead and had seen things on the other side that it was not lawful to speak about (see Acts 14:19; II Corinthians 12:4). The man was powerful, influential beyond measure.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94630,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-little-folly\/","url_meta":{"origin":31785,"position":3},"title":"A Little Folly","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 17, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chadwick Brewer \"Dead flies make the perfumer's ointment give off a stench; so a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor\" (Ecclesiastes 10:1). When I was a child, I was told the parable of the ship's mast. The main mast in a ship might take well over a hundred years\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":58277,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-name-of-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":31785,"position":4},"title":"The “Name” of Jesus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 21, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Smitherman via Plain Talk, July 1983 Jesus has a \"name\" that is above every other name (Ephesians 1:21;\u00a0Philippians 2:9) but that \"name\" is not just an arrangement of letters to spell that word: J-E-S-U-S is not this name. It is much more than a title or designation. In\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92114,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/caricatures-of-christianity\/","url_meta":{"origin":31785,"position":5},"title":"Caricatures of Christianity","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by David Gibson What some think The Christian life has been portrayed as a dreary affair. While worldly folks are having all the fun, Christians have to get up on Sunday mornings and go to church and be good all week. They can't do this, and they can't do that.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31785\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}