Untitled Sermon

Have you ever seen a church that was dying or dead already, completely lifeless? A church that was satisfied with itself, keeping things the way they had always been? A church resting on its past history and reveling in what it used to be? If it was good enough in the past, isn’t it good enough today? Not only do they resist change, but they are also opposed to any type of change? This is the church in Sardis. It had an excellent reputation and was highly respected in the community, but it was dead and lifeless. It was put on life support back in its prime and no one was willing to pull the plug. Thus, it was more of a religious institution, a museum for the saints, inward focused, forgetting its mission. It was serving self over the commands of Christ.

Chapter 3 verse 1:

“And to the [a]angel of the church in Sardis write,

‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

Who is the recipient? The minister of the church in Sardis. Though it is written to the minister, He wants it proclaimed to the church as a whole. There is very little hope for a church that is dead from ever becoming alive again, taken off life support, if the minister is not totally committed to Christ and His cause of eternal salvation. Revival is unlikely to take place without the minister first being revived.

Who is this letter from? Jesus Christ Himself. He is the one who has the seven spirits of God or the Holy Spirit of God.

The number seven means the sevenfold ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus spelled this out in the upper room where He revealed who the Holy Spirit was to be.

1. He is the comforter, the counselor, the other helper.

2. He is the spirit of Truth.

3. He is the personal presence of Christ.

4. He is the very manifestation of Christ within the believer.

5. He is the abiding presence of the Trinity.

6. He is the teacher.

7. He is the peace of Christ.

Some of the commentators point out that this is a reference to the sevenfold ministry of the Holy Spirit found in Isaiah.

Isaiah 11:2

The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.

1. The Spirit of the Lord

2. The Spirit of Wisdom

3. The Spirit of understanding

4. The Spirit of counsel

5. The Spirit of power

6. The Spirit of knowledge

7. The Spirit of fear

The number seven also means completeness, fullness, or completion in the Bible. Therefore, the seven spirits mean the Holy Spirit in all His fullness.

A lifeless and dying church needs the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God.

A lifeless and dying church needs to seek Christ for the Spirit of God.

John 14:13-16

13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you [a]ask anything in My name, I will do it. 15 “If you love Me, [b]keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another [c]Helper, that He may abide with you forever—

A lifeless and dying church needs to seek the life-giving, quickening power of the Spirit.

Romans 8:11

11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies [a]through His Spirit who dwells in you.

It is how we are made alive in Christ and no longer dead men walking.

A lifeless and dying church needs to seek the convicting power of the Spirit.

John 16:7

7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.

A lifeless and dying church needs to seek the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 [a]gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

A lifeless and dying church needs to seek the guidance of the Spirit.

Romans 8:14

14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God

A lifeless and dying church needs to seek revival, which is the Pentecostal fire of the Spirit.

Matthew 3:11

11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit [a]and fire.

 A lifeless and dying church needs to seek the witnessing power of the Spirit.

Acts 1:8

8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be [a]witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.

Jesus Christ has the seven stars in His hands, that is, He holds the ministers of the church in His hands. The minister is the one who is responsible for bringing about the awakening. He is held in the Hand of Christ, meaning he belongs totally to Christ. This means the minister is to do only that which Christ wants him to do. If he has been placed into a dead church, he needs to understand that Christ is the one who put him there. and it is important for the minister to understand he has been placed there for a reason. The reason is to find the excitement, to be awakened himself, and to excite and awaken the church.

Acts 20:28

28 Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church [a]of God which He purchased with His own blood.

What else does Jesus say in verse 1?  “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Ouch!!

Unlike the other churches, there is no commendation here for the church in Sardis, just a complaint.

This tells us that the sin of this church was one of the most serious problems that a church can have. What was their problem? It was a dying lifeless church. Based on its deeds and reputation of being alive, it tells us that it must have had lots of programs, ministries, and activities. It had so much activity that it had a great reputation among the other churches. The other churches look at it as being progressive, alive, well attended, liked, prosperous, busy, full of life and good fellowship. It more than likely had ministries for every age group and for every area of need throughout the community. It had the deeds, the right beliefs and doctrine, and it had all of the ministries and activities. But how does Jesus describe it? Dead

How can a church so active, well attended, full of ministries be dying? It means it was spiritually dead. They were just going through the motions.  They had a form of worship and godliness yet denied the one they were supposably worshipping. They were so focused on the ritual, the ceremony, the worship, that they lost their focus on Jesus. They became formal in worship instead of alive in Christ. Their activities centered around staying relevant and keeping the organization going instead of learning about and sharing the gospel. They held services and activities for social fellowship instead of for spiritual growth. They used the ministry as a means of livelihood instead of preaching and teaching to win and grow people in Christ. They were so inward focused when the church was created to be outwardly focused.

Such an active church can be seldom convinced that it is dead and lifeless because of its business and large amounts of activities. What does Jesus say? Jesus says it is dead. It is void of the Spirit of God. The church’s works were only activities, man-made activities and social services. They had become a religious institution as opposed to the Church of Jesus Christ, His bride. Their works and activities did not have the Spirit of God or His power in them.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 But know this, that in the last days [a]perilous times will come: 2 For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 unloving, [b]unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, 4 traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

Jesus says they are dead, but not all hope is lost. Look at verse 2.

2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.

So, you’re saying there is a chance?

Jesus says, “be Watchful or WAKE-UP! Strengthen what remains.” The church had the services, it had the meetings, it had the ministries that were needed. The church was doing what it was supposed to do. But it was on autopilot. The problem was the spirit of the people. Their spirits were not focusing upon Jesus Christ and His cause.

This never happens, does it? Sitting in the pews during the services half asleep and allowing our minds to wander instead of hungering for the Word of God. How about, holding or attending activities designed to just hangout or fellowship because it was the thing to do even though it was focused on the fellowship and not Jesus?

 I can go on and on, but the point is this:

The people that made up the church were spiritually dead. They were not alive to Christ. They were attending and participating because it was the thing to do and because it gave them a sense of religious security.

Jesus says, “Wake-up! Become alert, stir your minds and thoughts toward Jesus Christ. Wake up and be alive in Christ. They needed to reevaluate why they and the church were put on this earth, what was there calling, why were they meeting, why claim the name of Jesus Christ through works and words only, when they were making Him an after-thought?

Be watchful, wake up. It is a command. As true believers we are to awaken, become alert, become true followers of Jesus Christ, not just go through the motions. We are to wake up and make sure we are alive spiritually.

Colossians 4:2

2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Strengthen what remains. Understand, not all services and activities are wrong and not needed in the church. The church had been led by Christ at some earlier point to begin these ministries when the church was alive. These ministries were now dying, if they can be revived and are still relevant in the building up of God’s kingdom, then wake up and give them immediate attention. If they can’t be revived or are no longer relevant for this new generation or not led by the spirit, it is time to bury them, put them out to pasture, wake up to the new spirit led ministries in the church. We have no business holding on to ministries of the past hoping that God will once again bless them. We don’t need to beg and plead with God to get on board with our ministries, we need to find out where He is at work and jump on board with Him. Because believe it or not, God will still get His glory and still build His kingdom with or without us. But because He loves us, He invites us to be a part of His grand plan, and we need to be about getting on board and joining Him where He is at. Then and only then will we experience the blessings of obedience.

James 4:17

17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

What a powerful verse!

Verse 3:

3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.

Jesus is warning the church here. They must remember how they received and heard the gospel, how it gripped their lives, when they had the spirit of devotion, love, energy, hunger, life, service, witness, and ministry. They must awaken and obey the original spirit that gripped their lives. Jesus warns them that they must repent. They had done wrong and sinned against Christ by losing their passion and becoming stale just going through the motions because that is what they have always done. They desperately needed to confess their wrong and repent. They needed to turn from their error and turn back to Christ. They needed to pray and to seek Christ to stir their hearts once again and set them on fire to do His work. They were to know that the judgement of Christ will fall upon them if they refuse to repent. Not only that, but the judgement will also fall quickly and unexpectedly like a thief in the night. The idea that Christ would come unexpectedly stripping them of all of their valuables like a thief would mean that they would be bare and worthless to Christ. No matter what the church members may think, they will be found in vain, empty, and useless. They will have done no good whatsoever for the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 3:13-15

13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

Verses 4 – 6:

4 [c]You have a few names [d]even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but 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.”

There are those who have kept themselves clean, not polluted or soiled, or defiled by the world. They were faithful believers to Christ and the gospel. They kept themselves pure. As one commentator put it:

They didn’t use the church as a religious salve for their conscience, nor social activity, nor a place to build their public image, nor a place to provide activities to keep the family busy.

They stayed focused on Jesus and His purpose. They were still growing spiritually and sharing the gospel to a dark world. They were obedient to Christ and His Word. They constantly walked with God constantly confessing all sin and allowing Christ to forgive them of that sin. Christ has kept them clean and Christ has kept them pure. They are overcomers.

There are three promises made to those who overcome by keeping their spirit alive, who overcome by staying focused on Jesus and His spiritual purposes for His church.

1. They will be dressed in all white. It is the garment of righteousness, purity, and perfection. It will be given the moment they enter heaven.

Isaiah 61:10

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels

2. They will not be blotted out of the book of life. In other words, they that overcome not only have their names written in the book of life for eternity without any chance of it being erased. Our names are written with permanent ink, not a pencil. This scripture is not saying that Jesus is blotting or erasing the names from the book of life as some denominations teach. Instead, quite the opposite, it is Jesus giving the overcomer, those who have been truly saved, those who have put Him first in their lives the assurance that He is not erasing names from the book of life where their names were written when they truly surrendered their life to Him.

Pay attention: you can’t taste and see that the Lord is good and go back to a life of sin without true repentance and really believe your name has ever made it into the book. You haven’t given the Lord your life, you have given the Lord lip service. Lip service is a one-way ticket to hell, not heaven. When you truly experience salvation, the Lord tastes too good to ever go back to the world and its way of living. Because the Lord knows and sees all, He knows the true condition of the heart and whether it is real repentance or lip service.

3. They will be acknowledged by Jesus before God. Jesus Christ will confess that He knows the true believer who overcame by keeping his spirit alive and focused on the Lord.

God does not see the spiritually dead, we are made spiritually alive in Christ and not only are we recognized by God, but Jesus is also the one who is introducing us to Him. Wow.

What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see, when I look upon His face, the one who saved me by His grace, when He takes me by the hand and leads me to the promise land, what a day, glorious day that will be. He is going to take us by the hand into the presence of the Father. If that doesn’t light your fire, then your wood is wet. He who has an ear listen up. Wake up and pay attention!