Revelation 3:1-6 "Zombies for Jesus"

Revelation 3:1–6 NLT

1 “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. 2 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. 4 “Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5 All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine. 6 “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

I can’t stand our fascination with Zombies!

Zombie movies, tv shows, Zombie Church Camp!

This church is a zombie church

Revelation 3:1 NLT

1 “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.

Zombies walk around with 1 purpose; eat flesh

Never satisfied, they just jump from 1 host to the next, destroying the life of all in their path. There’s no purpose, no vision, no goal. Just to eat and destroy!

Zombies do not have to be nasty looking; although they get that way.

If someone comes back from the dead before rigor mortis sets in then that zombie will not, at first, look like your typical, dragging zombie.

It seems that’s the case with Sardis!

They are dead, there’s no doubt. Except, they don’t know it (that’s odd), and no one else knows it.

That’s why Christ has to deliver this message to them. This really is news to them!

This church is such that it has become a zombie, but it is not showing outward signs of lifelessness.

So, they look alive, but they are actually DEAD

Outward appearances are tricky.

Matthew 23:27 NLT

27 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity.

They have everything that you would think a church needs

Sunday school, life groups, worship services, a church board, a nursery, etc.... All that is necessary to be a vibrant living church. BUT, THEY AREN’T. In fact, Christ has nothing good to say other than there are some in the church who have not soiled/stained their clothes. (This is funny/ironic because Sardis was known for staining linens and it was “all the rage” and fashionably “in”).

Although the church is grossly a zombie, there are certain people who are alive (This seems to be cached again in ACTIONS and PRACTICES; but I believe there is so much more to it than mere outward appearances.

I’m reminded of Ezekiel 37 and the valley of dead bones

When Ezekiel prophesies to them the bones come together and fashion muscle and tendons and etc… The bones begin to take the form of a functioning body. But, there’s something missing.

What was missing? The life giving Spirit/breath/wind from God. Ezekiel begins to speak a message about God’s wind/breath/Spirit returning to them. And, when he does this, the breath and life entered them. Until God’s Spirit came upon them, they were just zombies.

And, we are told “They came to life and stood up on their feet - a great army” Ezekiel 37:10

Ezekiel 37:10 NLT

10 So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.

IT was not until the Spirit of God entered them that they had life and were USEFUL.

It is my belief that Jesus is trying to wake the church up with the gift of the Holy Spirit again. After all, he is declared to be the one who has the 7 Spirits (the complete, whole Spirit of God) available to us in his hand!

Jesus’ message to the church is that they need to wake up. They need to have God’s Spirit anoint them again so that they do not appear to have life, but are actually lifeless, but so that they appear to have life and actually have life!

To those who overcome I will not blot out your name of the book of life

A reminder that in Ancient Rome there would be a registrar in every city that had a list of all the citizens in it. If a citizen were condemned to death, that name was “blotted out” before the execution.

In this courtroom drama, Satan, the prosecuting attorney, will use earthly courtrooms to have faithful witnesses of Jesus condemned to death. If they are, their name would be blotted out of the city’s registrar. Jesus tells them that not only will their name remain in the book of His Kingdom’s registrar, he will also announce them to the Father as those who are victorious with Him!

If the church doesn’t wake up, Jesus will come (not 2nd coming, but a coming in judgment) like a thief in the night

Sardis was thought to be impenetrable. They became arrogant that no one would be able to attack them. The city was built upon a hill with sheer cliffs. Well, in their arrogance, they became lazy.

in 546 BC King Cyrus of Persia waged an attack on Sardis. Well, the “Sardines” had seen this before, and all attackers would leave because they couldn’t penetrate the city.

What a surprise for the lazy and arrogant! One night, soldiers decided to scale the steep, sheer cliffs, and they penetrated the city. SURPRISE!

The city never forgot that! Jesus' message is the same. Don’t become arrogant and lazy! Just because you look alive and look ok doesn’t mean that you are dead. It doesn’t mean that judgment isn’t coming.

How do you know if you are a Zombie?

You have NO purpose (except to destroy and make others miserable)

Zombie Church?

This is the church that has it “all together” but doesn’t have a greater purpose

There’s the children’s ministry, but no real goal or purpose. It’s the church that brings children to “Meet Jesus” but has no plans in place to make this meeting possible. It’s the church that scatters gospel seed into the wind hoping it lands on “good soil” but has no plan for a better way to spread the gospel seed. They have the ministry, but couldn’t tell you why they do it.

It’s the church that has a board, because that’s what a church is supposed to have, but the board argues over the color of the carpet and the amount of money spent on kitchen repairs, But refuses to discuss how to better reach their community for Jesus Christ.

It’s the church that gathers on Sunday morning for worship, but the only thing they worship is the way they have always worshiped. They gather to praise Jesus, but the only thing they are uplifting is their traditions. They gather for worship, but really do not know why they are there and why they do what they do other than that’s the way it has always been done!

Etc…

But, it isn’t all doom and gloom. The message to the church is to WAKE UP! This means there is hope. 1st the church must realize that she is dead and then she must allow God to breathe NEW LIFE into her again.

Are we dead? IF we are we had better confess it. We had better recognize that we are playing a reputation game

And, if we are, we must confess our need for the Spirit to wake us up.

And that is GOOD NEWS. - IF we are dead, we can rejoice that God’s Spirit is available to wake us up!! AND, if we admit our decayed state, the Spirit is PROMISED to come and wake us up!

Let us seek God’s Spirit. Let us allow it to wake us up from a zombie existence. Let us, as a church, allow the Spirit of God to breath new life into all ministries of our church. Let us awake from sleeping/zombie existence and be not only known as alive, but actually BE ALIVE!

Maybe someone today would like a fresh outpouring of God’s Spirit?