Watch Out!
Notes
Transcript
Intro
We’re entering a new chapter together as a church. It’s not accurate any longer to say that we are a church in transition.
A few years ago, we were in a place where we had only a one elder who also happened to the the youth pastor.
We had a health assessment done by our association to help get us back on track.
God brought us Pastor Gary as an interim pastor to help us.
A new team of elders were trained and formed.
And most recently you called me to be your next lead pastor.
We’re no longer in transition but that doesn’t mean there isn’t work to be done.
There is building to be done and I’m not talking about our physical building.
We live in a world and in a community with great needs but none are greater than for spiritually lost and dying people to hear and respond to the gospel.
What our community needs is to see the kingdom of God advance on earth as it is in heaven.
There is kingdom work to be done here so that the kingdom of God would advance in us and through us and out these doors and into...
Our homes
Neighborhoods
Work places
Schools
Sports teams
Today I’ll be beginning a new sermon series around the theme of building well that God’s kingdom would grow and advance through us.
We begin this morning by looking at one of Christ’s letters to the seven churches in Revelation. - His letter to the church in Sardis.
Some of these letters are very sobering and I do not intend to scold you with our text today but instead to let it be a word of caution for us.
So that as we begin to build, that do so in a way that is first pleasing to Jesus. And avoid receiving a letter like the one that the church in Sardis received from Jesus.
700 years before this letter was written, Sardis was on of the greatest cities in the world. This was the city where the king of Lydia ruled over his kingdom in great splendor. The wealth of Sardis was truly legendary.
1500 feet up, on top of a narrow plateau in the Hermus river valley stood the city of Sardis. With steep cliffs on all sides and fortifying walls. The city was thought to be impenetrable.
But in 546 BC Cyrus the Persian led a small band of soldiers up a narrow crevice in the middle of the night. Once they scaled the plateau they found no one on guard and easily took the city.
Again in 214 BC Antiochus the Great took the city in the same way.
Fool me once - shame on you. Fool me twice - shame on me.
At the time of this letter Sardis was only a shadow of its former self that cherished the memory of its glory days.
It has been said that...
Sardis was a city of peace, not the peace won through battle, but “the peace of the man whose dreams are dead and whose mind is asleep, the peace of lethargy and evasion”
Our text this morning is Revelation 3:1-6.
This is Jesus’ letter to a church in a city that was once alive but failed to WATCH and paid the consequence. And this is a warning to a church to stay alert lest they suffer a similar but much more serious fate.
Revelation 3:1-6
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Pray
If you remember nothing else from this sermon remember this.
Faithful kingdom building requires that we be watchful and stay alert to the gospel.
I’ve got three points for you this morning. The first is...
The World Watches
The World Watches
Look with me in verse 1 where we learn that this church had a reputation in its community.
They were thought well of and commended for being alive! But Jesus tells them they are actually dead.
This should concern us because this means is that it is possible for us to build and gain a reputation for being alive in our community while the reality is that we are actually dead.
What are the kinds of things that someone who does not know Christ might be impressed by.
We once received a Google review from someone who gave our church a 4 start review and left this comment. “Great landscaping, building looks kept up and clean.”
A nice looking building and good landscaping are good things but they can’t tell us if our church is alive or not.
You know Mormons have some really impressive buildings and beautiful landscaping. This does not mean they are spiritually alive.
A full parking lot - Wow! every time I drive by that church on a Sunday there’s always lots of cars in their parking lot. That church is really alive!
More people attending is a good thing but this does not inherently tell us anything about the spiritual health that Jesus is looking for?
Football games are well attended but that does not mean that there is a work of the Holy Spirit going on there.
Jesus drew some really large crowds but most of them left him once his teaching became too hard.
Jesus began his ministry with an inner circle of 12 disciples and ended his ministry with 11 - a net loss of 1!
More people attending can be a great thing if it means that more people are hearing the gospel and being transformed by the power of God!
But attendance numbers alone are not a reliable indicator of spiritual health.
Someone may attend a service and be really moved emotionally by the music and determine that our church is alive.
It is not wrong to be emotional in church. We’re a baptist church so I’m going to say that again. It’s not wrong to be emotional in church :-)
You can go to a secular concert and get caught up in an emotional experience.
Singing powerful truths about God should move us emotionally. But emotions in and of themselves do not point to spiritual health.
Jared Wilson writes in his book The Gospel Driven Church
One of the biggest problems with simply counting bodies and budgets is that there is nothing uniquely Christian about these types of increases. Businesses grow in these ways. Cities grow in these ways. Heretical ministries grow in these ways.
Even inside the church we can become enamored by buildings, attendance, and emotional experiences.
They can feed our pride and give us the comforting illusion that we are doing things right.
It’s natural to feel good when people think well of you and your church. But it’s dangerous when a good reputation begins to drive a church.
The approval of the world can be seductive and it’s becoming increasingly more difficult in our culture to be thought well of by the world and not compromise our faithfulness to Jesus.
The world is not the only one watching the church. We have a king that is perfectly watchful.
Our Watchful King
Our Watchful King
Look at verse 1. Jesus tells them that he “knows their works”.
And in verse 2 he says, “I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.”
Jesus is always watching and sees all.
But unlike the world, God has perfect knowledge of all things.
He is not like us, he doesn’t sleep, he’s not caught off guard, and is not surprised by anything.
O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
We will have to give an account for our lives and for how we seek to grow the church because these things do not belong to us.
He created us:
he knit us together in our mother’s womb.
We are fearfully and wonderfully made.
If we are made then we have a maker.
If we have a maker then we belong to someone outside of ourselves.
And it matters how we live our lives.
The church is also his. Look at verse 1. He writes, “the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.” The seven stars are the seven churches he’s writing too. He has them. They are his. The churches belong to Jesus!
Pauls words to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28 makes this clear...
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
The overseers or elders don’t own the church - it doesn’t belong to them. Neither does it belong to the members. Jesus obtained it with his own blood.
So it matters how we build because we are not building upon something that belongs to us.
Think about they way you drive your own car verses the way you drive a car you are borrowing from a friend.
You always want to be careful while driving but especially so when it’s not yours.
I know a youth pastor who needed borrow the Sr. Pastor’s station wagon to bring some teens on a retreat. The only problem was that the Sr. Pastor was away on vacation. Knowing that he had always allowed him to borrow his car for ministry in the past, he didn’t think it would be a problem.
On the way to the retreat the station wagon broke down and they had to leave it on the side of the road and come back for it in the morning. To this horror, when he returned in the morning the sr. pastors car had been stripped for parts and vandalized!
This would be horrible if it happened to your own car but there’s an additional burden that weighs on you when it doesn’t belong to you!
The Church is not ours and it is not even partly ours.
That is why it is good to remember that when our members come together to vote, we don’t vote for our preferences as part of a representative democracy.
When our members vote it is with the intent that we are all seeking to determine the mind of Christ for his church in whatever matter we happen to be voting on.
So if the church belongs to Jesus we must seek to be good stewards. It matters how we build and it is his opinion that matters most not our reputation in the community.
But what is it that Jesus is looking for from his church? What does he value? What does he care about?
It’s clear from our text that he cares about their works. Ephesians 2:10 tells us...
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
So, we are left to wonder how is it that the works of the church in Sardis were incomplete?
It’s unlikely that they were not doing enough as if they were falling short of some quota of good works that Jesus desired. Remember they had a good reputation in the city for doing something that looked good.
I think their works were lacking in character. We all know how easy it is to do the right things for the wrong reasons.
Or to do things with motives that are self serving or prideful.
One of the big differences between the watching world and our watching king is that only Jesus see’s the thoughts and intentions of our hearts.
Often when we consider if a ministry is fruitful we think of the things that are the easiest to see with our eyes — things that are easy to count - budgets, buildings, and attendance come to mind.
But if you look at the other 6 letters, Jesus commends them for certain good works and gives some specifics. Things like:
Patient endurance
Love
Faithfulness
Service
Do any of these sound familiar? Remember Paul’s list of the fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
But this kind of fruit is not as easy to count as attendance and there are lots of ways you can increase the attendance without Jesus.
Counting people is an outward measurement that can’t answer the how or why questions.
Hear Jared Wilson again from The Gospel Driven Church:
Some things in ministry take a deeper wisdom to discern or decipher. These can’t simply be measured by counting heads. I would even argue that the more important a metric is the more difficult it is to quantify. This is one reason why Jesus appointed shepherds for his flock and not accountants. Do shepherds count sheep? Of course they do. Counting is not unimportant. It’s one sign to help a shepherd note problems with his flock. But it’s a blunt measurement. More important still is feeding the sheep, protecting the sheep, and making sure the sheep are healthy.
One of the key figures used by God in a famous revival known as the First Great Awakening was a man named Jonathan Edwards. Edwards was a pastor and one of the most brilliant theological and philosophical minds in American history.
Edwards published a book in 1741 called The Distinguishing Marks of a Work of the Spirit of God.
In this book Edwards analyzes and synthesizes all that he experienced in the revivals of his day and answers the question we’re asking today. What are the evidences genuine spiritual fruitfulness? Edwards lists things like...
A Growing Love for Jesus Christ
A Discernible Spirit of Repentance
A Dogged Devotion to the Word of God
An Interest in theology and doctrine
An Evident Love for God and Neighbor
These things are difficult to count but are the kinds of fruitfulness that matters to Jesus.
We are we are not our own but belong to Christ.
Neither does the church belong to us and it’s not right for us to define success on our own terms. We are stewards who will have to give an account.
So, we too, the church, must be watchful...
The Church On Watch
The Church On Watch
Look at verse 2. Jesus tells this church to wake up!
This is word can also be understood as saying be alert or be watchful.
Did you know that no commandment appears more frequently in the New Testament than to watch?
Be watchful Paul tells the Corinthian church in 1 Cor. 16:13
Think of 1 Peter 5:8
Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
This command to wake up or be watchful would have been especially meaningful for anyone living in Sardis and who knew its history.
The attacks of our enemy the devil are often subtle, so we must be watchful.
Jesus told his disciples to stay awake and pray that you may not enter into temptation.
Paul told the elders in Ephesus to be alert in guarding the church against false teaching.
Look at what Jesus tells this church in verse 3 - Remember what you recieved — this is the present imperative and means keep on remembering. He’s saying, don’t allow yourself to forget.
It is easy to forget — pastor and author Paul Tripp likes to say that Christians are plagued with gospel amnesia.
Listen to 2 Peter 1:5-9
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
Peter is saying that if you find that you are lacking spiritual fruit in your life, its because you forgotten that you were cleansed from your sins.
The prescription is to remember the gospel.
That our sin we were a rebels and traitors to the king of the universe
Deserving eternal separation from all that is good. But this unobligated king took the place of undeserving sinners like us to pay the penalty for our sin with his own life on the cross.
He offers forgiveness to all who will have it and a place in his forever family as sons and daughters.
Do you see it?
If we are struggling to be kind it’s because we’ve forgotten that we’ve been shown the ultimate kindness in Jesus!
If we have a hard time loving our neighbor, it’s because we’ve forgotten that Jesus demonstrated the most profound act of love by dying for us.
If we are harboring bitterness and with hold forgiveness for others, it’s because we have forgotten how great a debt Jesus has forgiven us!
And this is why it is so critical that Fishkill Baptist Church be shaped by the gospel as it says in our vision statement...
Because not only is the gospel the power of God for salvation but it is also the power of God to produce the kind of good works that pleases Jesus!
Every decision we make as people and as a church must be motivated and shaped by the gospel.
Pray for the elders and I. One of the things we’re working on is creating a simple tool - A form that anyone can fill out that will help you and the elders weigh whether particular ideas are in alignment with the vision of our church --
To be a gospel shaped church with passion for God and compassion for people. To be a disciple making church that is on mission together. A church that values healthy loving relationships.
The temptations to compromise and do things in our own wisdom and strength will be subtle.
We must watch out lest we be like the overconfident people of Sardis who let their guard down and paid the price.
We may find our hearts living more for the respect of world instead of the watchful eyes of Jesus.
But whenever we start to get away from the gospel we repent and know that the loving arms of Jesus are wide open to welcome us back!
So, that’s it — Let’s strive together to faithfully advance the kingdom of God here in Hudson Valley by remembering the gospel and keeping our eyes on Jesus as his eyes are on us.
Before I end I want to address verses 4 & 5, let me read it for us again and then I’ll wrap this up for today… Revelation 3:4-5
Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
You may be here today or watching online and you’re not confident these words of Jesus describe you.
You’re not sure if you are worthy.
You’re not sure if you will walk with Jesus in white one day.
You’re not sure if your name is written in the book of life.
Or you’re not sure if Jesus will confess your name before the Father and his angels.
Then I want you to know that today you can know.
You see everything that Jesus says here is language of inclusion and belonging.
And deep down in our core as human beings we all want to belong. We all want to be accepted. And all the places on earth where we strive to find belonging and acceptance are but shadows of the most perfect belonging and acceptance there is in the family of God.
You know I’ve heard that one of the greatest fears that anyone has is to be fully known by some one and rejected.
Even in our closest relationships we often wonder if they knew the truth about me would they still feel the same way about me. Would they still accept me. If they knew some of the things I’ve done or thought about, would they still be my friend?
But the greatest joy is the opposite. It’s to be fully known and completely accepted.
This is what Jesus offers.
He knows your life.
He knows every dark thought you’ve entertained.
He knows the things you’ve done when no one else was watching.
And he died and rose again to forgive you anyway.
His invitation to you is this… stop striving to make yourselves happy by living life on your terms and come to Jesus to be forgiven and cleansed.
He will give you white garments and you will walk with him.
He will write your name in the book of life and confess your name before his father.
He will make you worthy — not because you deserve it or because he is obligated but because he loves you!
Come to Jesus and find joy you never knew was possible and he will not turn you away no matter who you are no matter what you’ve done. He’s that good!
Come to Jesus today and know for certain that verses 4-5 describe you.
PRAY
Lord Jesus we need to be reminded so often that we are not our own but belong to you. Too often we live as though we are accountable only to ourselves. Forgive us Lord. When we live this way true joy is elusive and fleeting. Remind us of the joy of being fully known (warts and all) and completely accepted by faith alone in Jesus. Change us Lord. Make us a people who love like Jesus because he first loved us.