DEAR CHURCH: That's Falling Asleep

Today’s letter is to a church that needs to wake up! Our goal is to examine what Jesus means by that, consider if our church is sleeping, and learn from God’s Word what to do to wake up. Before we begin, a prayer: O Lord, strengthen us by the truth, your Word is truth. Open our eyes to see what you want us to see, our ears to hear what you want us to hear and our hearts to believe what you would have us believe. Amen.
 
I. Looking Alive
 
This letter starts in Revelation 3:1 “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits and the seven stars.”
 
Sardis was a city situated on the Hummus River valley. Records indicate that gold dust was found in the Pactolus River which surrounded the city. Historically, it was the first city to mint its own silver and gold coins. As a result, the citizens of Sardis could afford investing in military might and protection.
 
At the time, it was one of the greatest military strengths of the ancient world. It was an impressive fortress which had only been conquered twice in its history. Because it was so impressive, the ancients thought it has been founded by the sons of the mighty Hercules.
 
Yet amid this unconquerable city, a small church had formed with the goal of conquering hearts with the Gospel. Jesus writes this letter to that church.
 
He introduces himself as the one who holds the seven spirits and the seven stars. The spirits are a reference to the Holy Spirit. The stars represent the churches. With this illustration, Jesus is saying:
 
I am the one who holds the church in his hands.
And I hold the Holy Spirit who strengthens those churches.
 
Finally, Jesus opens with what seems like a compliment, but isn’t.
He says, “I know your deeds, you have a reputation of being alive…”
In the town, in the community, among other churches, the church at Sardis had it together!
 
Maybe they had programs.  
…for the kids, programs for the adults, programs for the youth, the divorced, the teens, and the singles.
 
They probably had events. Things like…
Trunk or Treat. Pie Social. Food Drive. Clothing Exchange. Advent by Candlelight, Christmas for Kids, and Kids’ Christmas Program.
 
It’s possible they even had impressive places. Like…
A state-of-the-art Early Childhood Center, a freshened up fellowship hall, beautiful landscaping, and a Sanctuary Update Committee working towards updating their sanctuary.
 
They were alive…
…looking.
 
Jesus said, 
You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. (v.1)
 
It’s like someone approaching me while I’m eating a bag of Doritos and saying, “You have a reputation…of being healthy.”
They don’t mean it.
 
Jesus doesn’t mean it here either.
 
Think about it.
Every other church that Jesus wrote a letter to was under attack.
Some from outward persecution.
Others from inward false teachings.
 
The church at Sardis? It’s getting along fine.
 
The community lets it do its thing, because it wasn’t really preaching the message of Jesus.
Community leaders weren’t upset, because it wasn’t really rebuking sin.
No one was clinging to false teaching, because no one really cares what was preached.  
 
It’s like one of those really intimidating spiders. Have you seen them? An orb weaver. If you ever come face to face with one of those, it’s terrifying. It happened to me once. They spin such impressive webs that he was right there when we opened the door to our house. He was at face level. His web spun between the roof line and the top of our railing.
 
Looking at that thing. It looked alive, deadly, and ready to take me out.
But then…I blew on it.
And it fell off the web…
…Dead.
 
Jesus says this church is like that spider.
It looks alive;
But really…
It’s dead.
 
TRUTH:
Religious ACTIVITY does not prove spiritual LIFE.
 
Just because a church has a busy calendar, lots of Facebook photos, and cars in a parking lot on a Sunday, does not mean it is spiritually alive.
 
Case in point:
There’s a Jewish Synagogue on this block. Granted, you won’t find any cars there on a Sunday, but on Saturday’s when they run worship – it’s packed. It’s bustling with activity. People are present, engaged, and excited.
 
But they don’t teach Jesus.
And Jesus says, “I am…the Life; no one comes to the Father except through me.” (Jn. 14:6)
And Jesus proved it by rising from the dead.
 
So…
Their church looks alive.
But it’s dead.
 
Granted – that’s with a church that publicly confesses that they do not believe in Jesus.
The church at Sardis publicly confessed to believe in Jesus.
 
And so do we...
 
So…
 
How do we know if we’re spiritually alive or dead?
 
II. Symptoms of a Spiritually Dead Church
 
If you look at the text, you can find some of the symptoms of spiritual death in a church:
 
(1) Members STRAYING
 
In verse 2 Jesus says, “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die…” (v.2a) The indication is that some people in the church still have a living faith in their Savior, but others have a faith that is dying.
 
They never attend worship.
They never attend group study.
They couldn’t care less about serving at church.
They’re just happy that their name is on the member list, because they figure – that’s good enough.
 
Essentially, their faith is no longer in Jesus, but in the fact that they are a member of the church.
 
Did you know at Gethsemane Church we were recently blessed to grow to over 300 members. That’s 300 people who, at some point, heard the Gospel, came to faith, grew in understanding and wanted to become a part of our mission.
 
But…
 
Did you know that we only average 160 people in worship on a Sunday?
In any given month we serve about 300 souls, but…
About 1/3 in that number are guests and visitors.
Meaning…
 
We average about 200 members in worship each month.
 
Where did the other 100 go? There’s reason for concern.
 
Jesus said, “I am the Vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you will do nothing.” (Jn. 10)
Just like a branch that’s fallen off the pine tree will quickly die, so will the person who is disconnected from Jesus.
 
Here’s the concern about straying members:
If they aren’t connected to Jesus, how are they going to grow in faith?  
They aren’t.
 
And how do we know they’re connected to Jesus, if we don’t see them?
We don’t.
 
And this is pastor’s job, yes!
And it is the elder’s work, absolutely!
 
But this letter was written to the church at Sardis.
Not just the pastor.
Not just the elders.
The church.
 
Do you know someone who used to attend here, but doesn’t anymore?
Do you have a family member who no longer worships?
Do you know someone who belonged to your group study, but hasn’t come in weeks?
 
Check in them.
Care for them.
Share Jesus with them.
 
Because Jesus is the Life who gives life to the dead.
Physically.
And spiritually!
 
Share Jesus and you could will be sharing LIFE!
 
(2) Personal Faith Activity DECREASING
 
Jesus said: “Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die…” (v.2a)
Sure, he was probably referring to straying members of their church family.
But also, couldn’t he be referring to staying members with a straying faith?
 
I need you to listen good right here.
These are Jesus’ words.
These are the words of your Savior.
He’s speaking to you.
 
Think back on your spiritual journey:
Did you used to be in Bible study?
Did you used to be an every Sunday person?
Did you used to be involved in serving?
Did you used to care about other members of this church family?
 
Did you used to, but not anymore…?
 
Sure…
Life gets in the way.
There’s things.
There’s stuff.
There’s things and stuff, but…
 
Remember the passage about the Vine and the branches from earlier.
Same truth applies to you.
 
If you aren’t staying connected to Jesus, your faith isn’t growing.
And if it isn’t growing…
 
It’s dying.
 
(3) Mission UNCARED FOR
 
Jesus says this, “I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.” (v.2) The church at Sardis hadn’t finished what they set out to do. And what did they set out to do? Follow Jesus’ mission. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations…” (Mt. 28:19) That included the people of Sardis! Not everyone was a believer.
 
And how did the church at Sardis feel about that?
 
“Meh!”
 
At Gethsemane, we’ve completed a lot of work. We just completed a big task in building that brand new Precious Lambs Early Learning Center. It’s a 1.4 million dollar project. To be fair, this church worked hard on it.
 
People gave lots of money.
People prayed lots of prayers.
People planned lots of plans.
Teachers taught lots of lessons.
 
When we were done, we breathed a sigh of relief.
 
Except…
We aren’t done.
Our goal is to Plant the Message of Jesus in the Hearts of North Raleigh…and Beyond!
 
If we’re content to say:
Welp, we built the building.
We did the Trunk or Treat.
We tried our best.
 
Time to sit, back relax, and be done.
 
We’re wrong! We need to keep sharing the Gospel.
If we stop sharing the Gospel, that’s evidence of a dying church.
 
Because…
If you have a living faith, you know Jesus is the Savior.
If Jesus is the Savior, you know people need him to be saved.
If people need Jesus to be saved, people need to hear about him.
 
III. What Now?  
 
Members straying.
Personal faith activity decreasing.
Mission uncared for.
 
These are the symptoms of spiritual death.
 
So…Jesus says this to the sleeping, dying church: “Wake up!...If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. (v.3)
 
Because most thieves do not announce themselves.
They don’t call you up on the phone to say, “Is this Saturday convenient for a robbing?”
They don’t text you to say, “Be there in a second. Can you leave the crowbar outside?”
They don’t check in on social media, “@PastorPhil, excited to rob you tomorrow. Hope you can make it.”
 
When a thief comes, it’s swift.
It’s unexpected.
It’s a shock.
 
It will be the same with Jesus.
 
If we don’t wake up on our own, Jesus will return to wake us up.
And if Jesus wakes us up, it will be too late.
 
Wake up!
And how do you do that? Listen to Jesus. He says, “Remember what you have received and heard…” (v.3a)
Remember your Savior.
Remember his forgiveness.
Remember the faith that the Holy Spirit worked in your heart.
Remember that you received a place in God’s kingdom.
Remember you received the Gospel.
Remember that you received a mission.
 
Remember…
Hold it fast! (v.3b)
 
Because that is the Gospel message.
It’s what connects us to Jesus.
The reason that a dying church happens is that a church disconnects from the Gospel message.
But when we reconnected?
 
Jesus gives nourishment.
Jesus strengthens our faith.
Jesus gives us spiritual life.
 
And we Repent!
 
We turn from not caring for straying members and we turn to caring for them.
We turn from not growing our faith and we turn to growing our faith.
We turn from not sharing the message of Jesus and we turn to sharing the message of Jesus.
 
And we turn to Jesus, to his Word, to his work, because…God has some amazing promises to those with living faith:
 
(1) Dressed in White
 
Specifically, Jesus says, “Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.” Not that their worthy on their own, but they are worthy because of what Jesus has done. He lived, he died, and he rose for them. With a living faith in Jesus, they were actively wearing the robe of righteousness that Jesus provides.
 
And no look at God’s promise.
To the one who was dying in faith.
To the one who was sleeping.
To the one who repents and turns to Jesus:
The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white.” (v.4)
 
You won’t have to wear dirty clothes!
You won’t have to walk around in the stench of selfishness.
You won’t have to wear those pants with that prideful stained.
You won’t have to put on that awful ascot of apathy that smells awfully apathetic.
You get to wear clean clothes.
Clean from sin.
Clean from guilt.
Clean from shame.
 
(2) Active in Heaven
 
Jesus says about those people dressed in white, “They will walk with me.” (v.4)
 
Think about that.
When you die, it seems like you’re sleeping.
It seems like you’re not moving.
It seems like you’re dead.
And that’s it.
nothing to do but decompose.
 
But not according to Jesus.
 
According to Jesus, those with a living faith, will live; even though they die.
They will walk with him.
They will job with him.
They will sprint with him.
They will jump with him.
Hop with him.
Skip with him.
They will tap dance with him.
Spin in place with him.
And do a whole session of Zumba with him.
 
Those with a living faith in him,
Will live with him…
Because of him.
 
(3) Name Actively Used by God Himself
 
Finally, Jesus says this, ““I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.
 
Because sometimes you might be embarrassed to be associated with someone.
I remember when I and a friend met up for lunch. We were enjoying the meal, having a good time, telling jokes. But then, some people from his work stopped by.
 
He got up.
Slapped high fives.
Greeted them.
 
Finally, he got around to introducing me:
“This is Pa…….his name is Phil.”
 
I’m fine with that intro so I shook hands with his friends.
But afterwards, he confessed to me:
I’m sorry, I felt embarrassed to introduce you as my pastor.
 
Fair enough.
 
Maybe you’ve had a similar experience.
 
Here’s the truth:
Jesus is not ashamed of you.
In heaven, he won’t pretend he doesn’t know you.
He will speak your name.
Often.
To the Father.
 
He will look you in the eye.
Shake your hand.
And say:
 
Loved one, welcome home.
 
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (v.6)
Amen.