Sermon Tone Analysis
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Wake Up!
Revelation 3:1-6
If you have your Bible, you can go ahead and open it the third chapter of Revelation.
In 2014, Thom Rainer released a book called Autopsy of a Deceased Church where he documented the common characteristics of churches that had died.
It’s a quick read but is actually very convicting when you read the diagnosis.
Some of the symptoms should give us pause.
These churches would often place more priority on the past than the present.
The good old days were so much better.
They clung to the past and refused to live in the here and now.
They did things the way they always had and change wasn’t an option.
Theses churches became inward focused.
They weren’t reaching their communities because they were more concerned with meeting their own needs and preferences.
Their budgets would be focused on the inside rather than the outside.
Those items for outreach and evangelism might be a line item with an amount set aside but they were often unused at the end of the year.
The Great Commission isn’t even part of their identity.
No one seems to understand that we’re to go and make disciples because we’re too busy making excuses why we can’t.
I’m not smart enough.
I’m not capable or qualified.
I’m too old or I’m too young.
I’m afraid.
Preferences take precedent.
Everything is about me and my wants and needs.
I want the kind of music that I like, the activities and programs that I enjoy.
My music, my church, my desires, my translation, my needs, my, my, my…
There are some other factors but the truth is that churches are dying and closing their doors every single day and there are dead churches that still haven’t recognized the fact that they are dead.
As we look at the fifth letter to the seven churches in Revelation, we see this very thing.
Sardis had once been a magnificent, rich and important city founded in 1200 BC.
It was where the first gold and silver coins in history were minted.
They claimed to be where the art of dyeing wool was discovered.
Sardis was the capitol of the Lydian kingdom.
But all that was in the past.
In AD 17, an earthquake destroyed most of the city.
Sardis was rebuilt with extensive aid from Emperor Augustus but it would never rival the glory of their former days.
Their glory days were well in the past.
The city was proud of its past.
It was proud of its reputation but sadly that was all they had left.
For all intents and purposes, the city of Sardis was dead even though it still lived
Let’s pray and then we’ll look at what Jesus says to this dead church.
Pray!
Let’s look at four things in this letter about the church that had a name but was dead.
The first thing we see is:
The Reputation of the Church
Jesus says to the church:
I know your works.
You have the reputation of being alive…
I’m sure that the church in Sardis was a popular church with a big name and a great reputation.
I imagine if you had visited Sardis and asked someone for directions to their building, everyone would have known, “Yeah, it’s right down there on Main Street.
You can’t miss it.
They are doing so much for this town.
They’re so active in our community.”
I bet their building would have been large and impressive and the preacher would have been polished and told great stories.
They would have had regular gospel concerts.
They would have had committees inside of committees and then a committee to make sure the other committees kept having their committee meetings.
They had a name in Sardis.
They had a reputation.
They had a lot of things going on all of the time
Having a reputation is important.
Sometimes it’s a good one and sometimes it’s a bad one.
And it’s so easy to lose a good one and so hard to get it back.
It was a very popular church with a wonderful reputation.
They had a big name, a good name.
This church has a reputation whether you realize it or not.
It may be good.
It may be bad.
It may be indifferent and people may think we’re not worth bothering with.
But you have a reputation as well.
People have an opinion of you based on your actions and words.
People know us by those things.
A. W. Tozer suggests that we may be known by the following things:
what we want most
What is it you desire?
What is it that you are trying to achieve?
what we think about most
What is it that you daydream about achieving or gaining in this life?
how we use our money
Where does most of your money go?
Does it go for those things that won’t last?
Is it leisure activities or more possessions?
what we do with our leisure time
How do you spend your time?
In front of the television?
Shopping?
Sporting events?
the company we enjoy
The people we spend time with always affects our reputation.
The company we keep matters.
who and what we admire
Who do you look up to?
Is it a sports figure, an entertainer or a politician?
what we laugh at
The things that we find humor in say a lot about our character.
The church in Sardis had a reputation of being alive but the second thing we see in this letter is the:
Rigor Mortis of the Church
Jesus says:
You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
Now, it’s sad to have everybody think that you’re alive, for you to believe that you’re alive, and to be dead.
The organism had become an organization, and the movement had become a monument.
And, they were dead.
And we see the signs of death.
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