"And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: 'The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
"'I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'
{Rev. Dwight Yoo}Background: Sardis was a wealthy city. It was were King Midas lived. It was known as a morally loose city, even among those who were largely sexually immoral. Among people who slept with temple prostitutes, Sardis was deemed "loose."
"I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead." - Even though the church in this city had lots of hustle & bustle, lots of action. The church here was dead. Organizations can have marketers to give them good jingles. To give them good reputations, but the church is different. The church's power depends upon the Holy Spirit! If the Spirit is not working, the church is dead.
Our church is known in this area. People have heard of Renewal. We have a reputation. Pastors know of us. But we are not too far off from the road that Sardis is traveling. Sardis thought they were doing well. Everyone around them thought they were doing well. But Jesus said... You're not doing well. When we go to a doctor for a examination, we get everything checked. They look at our eyes with a light, we are tested for reflexes, maybe our doctor runs a blood test. The doctor doesn't just check one thing... Wouldn't it seem absurd, if our doctor only checked our reflexes and said... You're okay!? But often we do this in our spiritual lives. We say... our doctrine is sound. OR I go to community group. OR I attend church.
What kind of spiritual check up is that? You want a real check of our spiritual life? How do you deal with it when we really, really want something.... and God doesn't give it to us? OR How about how to deal with success? OR How do we deal with people who hurt us and treat us bad? Are we spiritually dying?
"Wake up and strengthen what remains..." - However, there is a difference between being completely spiritual dead and being a dead church. A church that can respond to God is not completely dead. A completely spiritually dead person is not a Christian. God tells us to wake up. We are not dead, but we are asleep. It is much like an arm that you've slept on. It's numb and disabled. It is a useless limb until the blood comes back in. Dead churches... churches that are asleep... feel nothing. They are numb. They come into service and stand during worship. They sing and are faced with Christ, but their hearts are numb. They feel nothing. We are not excited about Jesus. He is about as interesting as growing grass. The fruit of these dead churches is just activity. There is no spiritual growth, no life change, no heart transformation.
Notice what Jesus does not say about the church. The church is the lampstand, not the lamp. It is not the light. Christ is the light. We hold Him up. The church is supposed to throw light into the darkness. The church does not look the same as those outside the church.
Jesus' prescription for a Dying Church
- RECOGNIZE your true condition. (Are you spiritual dead?)
If your heart feels nothing...
If you have no spiritual impact on others... - REMEMBER the truth of the Gospel
Change begins with the truth...
Disbelief in the Gospel is at the root of sin in our lives...
Christ RESURRECTS dead people. (Is there anything too hard for Him?)
Satan lies to us... you can't change. Christ can't help you... - Walk in OBEDIENCE
(Our obedience does not save. Jesus' obedience saves. But obeying after saving faith is meaningful!)
ITS EFFECT
(Disobedience grieves the Holy Spirit. We hear the Spirit less. We become more numb.)
(Obedience to God's will causes Jesus and the Holy Spirit to become more real & clearer.)
AS EVIDENCE
(A consistent pattern of disobedience indicates a person may not know Jesus.)
Parable of the weeds {Matthew 13:24-30}
A life in the Spirit wishes to obey God {Romans 8:1-17}
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