Each year, Forbes Magazine publishes a list of the richest people in the world. These billionaires represent a variety of business as well as a variety of nations in which they live. What stands out to me, is that the wealthiest among us are self-made. Most of you may recognize the names of many of these people, such Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Mark Zuckerberg, Carlos Slim Helu, the Koch brothers, Charles and David, Larry Ellison and Oprah Winfrey. Most of these super-wealthy people are entrepreneurs, who came from meek beginnings and grew their financial empires with comparatively little wealth.
What is fascinating to me is that the children of these super wealthy people who have made this list in previous decades, are either no longer listed or their names appear much further down the list than their predecessors. We can therefore conclude, that inherited wealth tends to dissipate rather than grow. A few examples are Rockefeller, Carnegie and Morgan, who are no longer included in the list.
I believe that this observation can be related to the churches. We can think about ourselves as being the "inherited church." While many pastors today are looking for a larger church to serve, with massive established congregations, they were ignoring some significant opportunities to plant churches.
It has long been observed that the fastest growing and most effective evangelistic churches in America tend to be new churches. Therefore, I believe, that there if is to be hope in reaching our nation, and consequently the world with the message of Jesus Christ, we must see a significant increase in new churches rather than just merely hoping that older
churches will somehow rise to the challenge. Newer churches exhibit a new life, with zeal and vibrancy, that is difficult to capture in older established, "comfortable with the status quo" churches.
Since the majority of churches in our nation are "inherited" churches, meaning founded and built by previous generations. We, the next generation of pastors, inherit these churches in that the buildings that were largely built by the previous generations. Much like inherited wealth, the inherited church can live in the afterglow of these previous generations. In both of these scenarios, the tendency is for the accumulated resources to dissipate, rather than to increase. And so, the challenge facing the inherited church, is to rekindle the sense of urgency and spiritual energy that is consistently present in a growing church that effectively reaches the lost. Because many churches today, established by previous generations, are a mere shadow of the greatness that once characterized their presence in their communities.
In other words, in order for that church to resume substantial growth, that pioneering spirit which was present at the beginning, must be recaptured. Otherwise, the previous glory that once adorned the churches of yesterday, will disappear from the future, and find itself in the past.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
A pastor was once asked about his Church membership. "We have eight hundred members," he said. "How many active members?" the questioner asked. "All of them," the pastor replied. "Half are working with me and the other half are working against me."
Open with me your Bibles to the book of Revelation, the third chapter. As we continue in our study we will be looking at the fifth of the seven letters to the churches, which is the letter to the church at Sardis. This is a really tragic letter, to a tragic church because this church is dead.
"To the angel of the church in Sardis write:
He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and 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.’"
The words "you are dead," are the most tragic words a church can hear from our Lord. Though this church had a reputation of being alive it was, in fact, dead. Evangelicalism, as a whole, has a reputation of being alive! With large congregations and vibrant worship services, all communicate that the message preached is acceptable to the current generation. However, whether or not that reputation is deserved may be subject to some question.
I am often inundated with emails from a variety companies intended to equip pastors and worship leaders to be more effective, and instructing us how to make their messages more relevant and dare I say,more exciting. I must say, that the majority of this "advice" is very far removed from the New Testament teaching. Even so far as to say if we as church leaders want to be relevant in today's culture, we must learn to dress like the culture. Whether it is intentional or not, I believe, this is all aimed at turning the church away from what has been done through the finished work our our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
We need to know which traditions are biblical, and worthy of our Savior, and which are consequently, of no eternal significance. I believe that if we will honor the Living God, some elements must be adhered to. Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we must make wise decisions concerning what we are to hold dear and what should be forgotten.
I'm sure many of you may know, it is not always easy to live the gospel, and uphold the gospel, much less preach the gospel in the age in which we live. Many churches today, don’t have a great track record of choosing what should be kept and what should be discarded. In fact, many seem to have discarded the essential requirements of the faith, in lieu of a seeker friendly environment and worship experience, if you can call it that!
The church at Sardis was brightly shining, sadly, solely by the light of its brilliant past. But in the present, it was dead. This is actually quite common today, there are many churches that still possess some glimmer of light, from their brightly shining past. Allow me to remind you, this was an actual church in ancient Asia Minor. Sardis is the ancient capital of the Lydian kingdom, as far back as 1,200 years before Christ. Rich in gold and silver, the city that endured many wars because of it's wealth and its geographic location.
So as we begin to look at this letter, we’re not only learning about the history of a past church, we are seeing the relevancy of what the church is facing today.
As with the previous letters, in verse 1, we meet the receiver of the letter, "To the angel of the church in Sardis." The one who has come to John to receive the word for this church. Then, the Lord identifies Himself as "He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this." As we noted previously, "the seven Spirits of God," appears several times in the book of Revelation.
As a footnote, when the Bible talks about the seven spirits, it's referring to the seven-fold spirit. It is literally the Son who sent the Spirit. If you will remember, that's taken from chapter 1. The seven stars are the seven ministers of the seven churches. He identifies Himself that way because the pastors do not belong to the Lord. So, there’s really no judgment here as such because this is a dead church. And, being a dead church would not have the benefit of the living power of the Holy Spirit.
"‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead." The emphasis here is on spiritual death. This was a church dominated by the flesh, dominated by sin, and unbelief. This was a church populated with the unsaved, indifferent, and unregenerate, who did not have the life of God in them. Their deeds are not acceptable. There were dead men in the pulpit there, dead me in the pews, because sin kills. It had denied the source of spiritual life.
Then, in verses 2-3, "Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you."
Here, the Lord gives them a five key step invocation, "Wake up!" Assess your condition. "If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you." By the way, whenever the Lord talk about coming like a thief, it's always in judgement! Thieves intend harm.
Then He says "And strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die." This is to the believers, if there’s any truth left, if there’s any purity, save it! Strengthen what is still alive.
Verse 3, "So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent." For the congregation seeking to be vibrant for the cause of Christ, God’s divine prescription will transform. We have forgotten, and the consequences of our neglect will be terrible. When we bestir ourselves, recover and remember, we will repent! How frequently we need to awaken ourselves in the Word of God. This is extremely careful counsel to people who are believers in a dead church. The church at Sardis may have been socially distinguished, but it was spiritually.
You know, it is shameful even to speak of the things that some Christians do in the open, much less in secret. Look carefully then how you walk! The world will try to lure us into an ineffectual daze. This admonition serves as a reminder that even when a congregation is suffering from grave dissipation, we must still pray for Him to work in their midst. God hears the prayers of the saints and in His time will work in their lives to stir them up to the praise of His glory. I am convinced that repentance is the normal response of the congregation who truly knows the Lord and Savior. I am always humbled to remember what He has done for me. We must be careful not to imagine ourselves as being not susceptible to falling into the same condition. This is a humbling truth!
Verse 4, "But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy."
God does amazing works even among congregations that appear dead. Because of their refusal to defile their garments, even under the pressure of the church, Christ will replace their humanly preserved clean garments with those that are divinely pure. This is truly a remarkable statement. Since you have a measure of holiness and purity now, I will give you perfect holiness and perfect purity in the future. White robes of purity are reserved for the unfallen angels, for the glorified church and for Christ Himself. These are robes of absolute purity and holiness.
Then, we have a word of counsel in verse 5, "He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels."
This is the reward for those who wake up and repent, the true believers. The overcomers. "I will not erase his name from the book of life." We have the promise of eternal life, never to be removed. The unconverted, the counterfeit Christians, judged by books that keep a record of their sin.
Those of us who know Christ will someday be clothed in the brilliance of eternal purity and holiness. For our genuine faith in Christ, we will receive these precious promises, "to be confessed as Christ’s own before His Father, before the holy angels."
In verse 6, we have the final word, this is how each of these seven letters end. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’"
The Lord is saying again, "If you're alive, faithful and vibrant, count your blessings and your eternal promises that await you. I will affirm that you belong to me. But if you are asleep, dead in trespasses and sins, wake up and repent. If you're saved but indifferent, strengthen what left, remember and repent."
You cannot hide from the Lord, He sees you, He knows your spiritual condition. I don’t want you to get caught up in judgment. I implore you to confess your sin, remember and repent! Don’t be careless, don’t be comfortable, and don’t assume that all is well.
In Closing..
I am deeply concerned that seated in the pews of many churches, that among the professed Christians, will be found people who have never been born again, who have never committed their lives to Christ's Lordship, they may claim His name, sing His praise and from memory recite prayers, but they have never known what it is to actually follow the Savior, they have taken for granted the life we've been promised, eternal life in the kingdom of God.
If you are unsaved, and were to were to die tonight, I want you to know that you would be excluded from the kingdom of heaven. There's hope, because today is not too late for you to trust Christ as your Saviour, to receive Him as Lord. Trust Christ and be saved.
May it be so...
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen