Letter 5
7 Letters to the 7 Churches • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Church this was a difficult week not just here locally but with everything going on in our country and around the world
With Israel going to war for the first time since 1973
This is our opportunity to be praying for the nation of Israel
With 3 homicides going on in our own town
This is our opportunity to be a light in such a dark place
It has been a difficult week
That is all on top of what you have going on in your own lives
So Friday as I was trying to finish my sermon I started to question what it should be about
It needed to be about the only hope is Jesus
It needed to be about the only Peace is Jesus
It needed to be about in the midst of the dark moments your only option is to run to Jesus
And so we end up in the 5th Letter
I know it sounds weird and that it won’t fit
But bear with me
If you will recall the letter to the church Thyatira
The city was an insignificant city
Which probably translated to the church
They may have thought of themselves as insignificant which is a lie from hell
God desires all churches no matter the size to be preaching and teaching the entire Word of God
They were a church that had allowed a false teacher to come in and preach a false Gospel
20 ‘But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.
This was a church that had allowed Jezebel to come in and lead people astray
If you will recall from last week
It is believed that Jezebel preached that it was ok to be a part of idol worship
Sort of justified following idols
That it was ok
Which is a lie
Church it is not ok to follow idols
This morning we move to our 5th letter to the church of Sardis
1 “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. 2 ‘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. 3 ‘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. 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. 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. 6 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
This letter is to the church at Sardis
Sardis is a old city
Probably one if not the oldest city of the 7 cities we will see
It is about 30 miles southwest of Thyatira
Unlike Thyatira it was an important city or at least it must have been since the city was destroyed and they rebuilt it
And that is important to note
This was a city that is reliving in the past glory
So lets dive in
1 “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.
As we have seen in the other churches
The author is Jesus through John
This description of Jesus is a nod back to Chapter 1 where John describes Jesus in vs 4
We don’t know specifically what those 7 spirits are but we can make a best educated guess that it is the Complete or Perfect Spirit of God
It is the fullness of the Spirit of God
Rather than getting caught up with debating what those 7 spirits are we see that He
That is Jesus holds them
Remember Jesus is the one who holds the stars and the lamb stands
The holder of the churches has a message
That message to this particular church is going to be short and not so sweet
That message is I know your deeds
Something we have seen in the past
Jesus who is in the midst of the churches knows our deeds
And that is the message to us today
He is telling the church at Sardis that I know you have a name that you are alive but
But you are dead
This is a dead church that is thinking they are alive
This is a convicting message to the believer this morning
But you make think you and Jesus are rocking out when you are really not
It was the message to the pharasies in Jesus’s day and it is the same message to the church today
You make think you are rocking out for Jesus when you are really not
It is a matter of the Holy Spirit telling you
You have a name that is alive but you are really dead
For the believer who is wondering what is happening
For the believer who is wondering in the desert
This is what the God of the universe has to say to you this morning
2 ‘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. 3 ‘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.
So the message to the church is to wake up
This is a dead church
Most of us would probably say what’s the point since its dead and let it close up shop
Or we cling to the dead church and go down with a dead and dying ship never to be useful again
But First we need to understand the character of God
Remember Jesus is still in the business of taking what was dead and bring it back to life
Church in the midst of our dark world and everything going on we need to remember
Think of your own life
At one point you were dead
Scripture says you were dead in your sins and you were
But
But Jesus came into your life and gave you life
That is what salvation is
Jesus is still in the business of bring the dead back to life
That should bring us hope this morning
The fact that you may be so far away from God this morning God is still in the business of taking your dead life and bring you to life giving you life and breath
To the believer who is left wondering what is going on in our world when things s‘em so upside down and backwards
Lean into Jesus
Jesus is our hope in this dark period
Jesus is your only hope and has always been your only hope
So Jesus then gives the message to the church and to our church and to us this morning
WAKE UP
church wake up
Open your eyes and your ears
rub the sleep out of your eyes
Take a breath And wake up
quit being so focused on the past and start focusing on what Jesus is saying now and where Jesus is at work now
Sort of like the part coming into your room to wake you up and the bright light get turned on
Snap out of the stare you are in
Snap out of the fog you are in and focus on Jesus
WAKE UP CHURCH
The next thing the church says is to
Strengthen what remains
There was something there
There was a heart beat there and that was Jesus
You make think I can’t take another day at work
You may think I can’t take reading the horrible news one more time
You may think I can’t take another step
Jesus is our strength church press into Him
Remember what you received and heard
while you are pressing into him
It is what the church at Ephesus is reminded to do
Remember those things you did at first
It is going back to the basics
Reading, Praying, Fasting, Giving, Serving
Church going back to the basics
Read your Bible
well I missed a day in my study and now I am behind
Pick it up and start where you left off
I just don’t know how to start praying
close your eyes and bow your heard
I would suggest getting on your knees is a good start
I am not good at fasting I get hangry
The only way you get better at fasting is to practice fasting and to practice fasting is to fast
same with giving best way to start is to give
ask God where has called you to serve
Remember those basic things you used to do
Then
keep it
Hold fast to them
Don’t allow the world to come in and choke them out
Don’t allow the weeds of this world
Don’t allow the news, the work, the drama to come in and choke out the Joy you have in Christ
Don’t allow what is going on right now in Topeka to choke out the Joy and Hope you have in Christ
Because when that happens we don’t go out and share it with others
And church they are desperately in need of it
Don’t allow the discouragements of this life to darken you so much that you miss out on what Jesus is showing you
Hold fast and Hold Tight to Christ!!!!!
Finally church the message for a dead church
The message to the believer who has fallen asleep and appears dead
Repent
We have heard this time and time again and yet it is something that the church in Sardis is desperately needing to do
And dare I say it church but the western church, the church in America is in desperate need of repenting from the sin they have allowed into the church and being preached from the pulpit
We have seen what happens when given the opportunity to repent and you refuse to do that
Gods grace is evident in that we are still allowed to repent
If we refuse to repent God will come and pour wrath on us
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.
Maybe this is the convicting part for the church
Not all of you are dead
Even though most of you believe or think you are alive and well most of you are not
Most of you have playing Christian or pretending to be so you don’t have to deal with the issue at hand
Church let me clear the issue at hand is death and God has already dealt with it
That is the hope we need to be hearing this morning
Yes it is true that most everyone and everything in Sardis was dead but Praise the Lord
Because God is still in the business of taking dead men and women and bring them back to life
There are some left who are running after Jesus
There are some who have not given into compromise
It is not easy to stand for Jesus when everything around is not
It is not easy to live for Jesus when a world all around is screaming at you to give up and compromise
The Scriptures are crying out to you to stand FIRM
For those who are not dead here in Maranatha
For those believers here this morning who are not fallen asleep STAND FIRM
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. 6 ‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Notice those who overcome will receive the same as those who have remained faithful
They will be clothed in white
They will be written in the Book of Life
They will be saved
Then He has an ear let him hear
Let him listen to what I have to say is what Jesus is saying
Not just let it go in one ear and out the other
But to actively listen to what Jesus has said
Jesus has said to the church Sardis that is dead
I am the God of the universe and I am the author and profector of life
I am the ultimate life giver is the message to the church this morning
It is the message to the believer who has fallen away and is not growing
It is the message to the church who has allowed comprise to come in and begin to grow
That Jesus is in the business of taken the dead the asleep the stagnat and bring them back to life
The message this morning to confused wondering in the desert believer
The message to the broken hearted believer this morning is one of hope
Jesus is still seated on the throne in heaven
Jesus is still in the business of healing the broken hearted, bring peace to a war torn country, healing a broken and lost community
It is done through a personal relationship with Jesus
CLOSING
As the Band comes up
If you are here this morning and you are dead
and you want life
I would invite you to the front to speak with someone about a personal relationship with Jesus
They will show you how your sins separate you from God
How Jesus died to make a way for you to get to God and how his death covered your sins
Or maybe you are here this morning and you are struggling
You are a believer but you are struggling with what is going on the lost world around you and you need some comfort and peace from the God of Comfort and Peace
the altar is open