Monday, September 4, 2023
“Write this letter to the
angel of the church in Sardis. This
is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the
seven stars: “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for
being alive—but you are dead. Revelation 3:1
In Great
Britain, each year since 1974, an average of 85 churches closes their doors for
the last time; they go out of business.
As a result, there is an abundance of church furnishings being sold to
commercial enterprises. Christening
fonts are sold as bird baths. Pews and
screens are used as restaurant decorations, and stained-glass windows are now
household ornaments.
We shake our
heads at 85 British churches closing; and then stare in amazement when we are
told that more than double that number are closing each year in America. We should not be surprised. Nearly 90% of America's churches are either
plateaued or declining in membership.
You cannot decline without somehow decaying, and, eventually deceasing! Some would suggest that the Christian Church
is dying for the lack of Christian living.
Our text
tells us that Christianity in the church and the individual Christian can
die. The programs and services can be
staffed and performed, but without life.
The blower in the furnace is on, but the fire has long since been
extinguished! Someone has said that if
the Holy Spirit left most churches today, she wouldn't be missed. Let's look at a church that had that very
problem.
A reputation
for being alive suggests vitality and authority. Sardis was built on the top of a 90o cliff that was totally
inaccessible from three sides. There was
only one gateway into the city; the residents felt safe. They were prosperous, and lived in an
impregnable fortress. However, the city
was conquered and destroyed twice in its history. In BC 549 the Medes under Cyrus came right
through the front gate while the guards slept.
The same thing happened in BC 218.
Antiochus the Great caught the guards napping, and waltzed right in the
front door. This ancient city had a
reputation for being impregnable to military conquest, but it went to sleep,
and the fall was great. In the same way,
Jesus speaks to the fellowship of Christians at Sardis – a group without
financial hardship, or persecution – a church of successful people, and he says:
"Your reputation is that of being
strong, impregnable -- you are badly mistaken!"
Jesus then
cautions them to wake up:
Wake up! Strengthen what little
remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not
meet the requirements of my God. 3 Go back to what you heard and
believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t
wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief. Revelation 3:2-3
If you have
ever pulled guard duty in the Army, you know it requires considerable effort to
keep the eyelids in function-mode for four long hours. There's just something about someone saying,
"Stay awake!" that just makes you want to immediately go to sleep.
The sense of
these verses is that ministry which was ongoing and vital at Sardis had waned;
it was fading fast, and would soon die altogether. Jesus warns them to shake-out of the lethargy
and turn around.
For You Today
The message
of Jesus to Sardis rings as strongly today as it ever has in history.
If you had a
heart on-fire for God, it’s time to rekindle it; blow on those embers before
it’s too late! If you were an evangelistic
soul-winner, get busy in the neighborhood knocking on doors. Don't let the ministry die!
There are about 2,600 devotional
posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library.
Title Images: Pixabay.com Images without citation are in public
domain.
Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT©
