Wake Up!

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!

Revelation 3:1–6 ESV

“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.’

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.

1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV

Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

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. First:

The Spirit goes

Whenever anything dies, a person or a church, the spirit goes. And, that’s what had happened to the church in Sardis. The Spirit got up and went.

Someone once said, “If the Holy Spirit were to suddenly leave us, most of our churches would meet next Sunday, and go right on, and never know the difference.”

Now, think about that. I wonder if that isn’t true about many churches: They have a name that they live, but they are dead, because the Holy Spirit has departed. And all those people are simply going through the motions not knowing.

A lot of the bigger churches with multiple services use a countdown clock that only those on the platform can see. It counts down each section of the service: the announcements, the music, the sermon. They do that so that they can make sure that the service ends at the right time so the next one can start on time.

I read about a church where there was a guest speaker one Sunday and the pastor and his son were there listening to him. His son knew all about the countdown clocks because he knew when it got to zero that church would be over and he could leave.

So, this young man sat there patiently as this man talked and talked and talked. Well, the clock got to zero and started going into negative numbers while this man was still on his first point with little hint of him ever coming to a conclusion.

The boy turned to his dad and whispered, “Dad, he’s finished and doesn’t even know it.”

Well, I think that there are a lot of churches that are finished and don’t even know it today. The timer has run out and they are acting on borrowed time.

Not only does the Spirit depart, but as the Spirit departs, the feeling goes.

The feeling goes

Now, this doesn’t mean that there is no feeling on the part of the people. That’s not the feeling. If you would ask them about it and they would simply say, “We’re too dignified for that kind of thing."

But the truth is that they don't know the difference between dignity and death.

It’s the church where someone visits and they were still alive, they were still filled with the Spirit and during the service, not from anything the preacher said but maybe just from the reading of the Word said, “Amen.” And when he did everyone turned and looked at him because that was simply something that wasn’t done in their service.

And after a while, he said, “Praise the Lord.” And then a little later another, “Amen.”

And before you know it, one of the ushers is beside him and whispers, “Sir, be quiet. You’re disturbing the service.”

The man answered, “I’m sorry but I have religion.”

The usher replied, “Well, that may be true but you didn’t get it here!”

You see, when something dies, the feeling goes.

W. A Criswell tells about a time when he was on vacation and visited a dead church one Sunday morning. It was barren and still with a clammy coldness to the whole service.

After church, he and his wife went out to eat at a restaurant and all the employees were college kids who had big smiles on their faces as they were serving. It was just such a happy place to be.

Dr. Criswell said, “I went out of that restaurant so happy and so blessed. They didn’t give an invitation at the church. They didn’t give an invitation at the restaurant other. But, if they had, I would have joined the restaurant, not the church.”

One of the biggest dangers for us is losing our feeling, our sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.

You see, when something dies, first the spirit goes, then the feeling go and then the strength goes.

The strength goes

What kind of strength, what kind of power does a corpse have? The church in Sardis was a church that had no spiritual power.

The church in Sardis was going through the motions There was activity, there was motion but the church was still dead. Once you cut the head off of a chicken there is still activity but there is no life. The body doesn’t know it yet but it is still dead.

It has been estimated that the northern star is 323 light years away from earth. That means that it takes 323 years for the light that you would see tonight to get from the northern star to earth. The light you see tonight would be 323 years old. That means that 323 years ago that star could have burned out and disappeared. It could have died and we are still seeing its light.

There are some churches today that are burned out. There are churches that are dead and they’re only living in the light of the past. They have a name that they live but they’re really dead. The glory of God has departed from them.

Would it break your heart if that happened here?

We better be careful. Let’s not rest in our reputation. Let’s rest in our Savior.

We see the reputation of the church; the rigor mortis of the church and the third thing is:

The Reformation of the Church

The Lord gave them another opportunity to reform, to get right and to get back to where they needed to be. He says:

2 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.

3 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.

The church was dead but there was still a spark of life in it. So, He tells the church to wake up! Get out of bed, quit sleeping because your work is not finished! And how can they do that? He gives them two things:

Remember

Sometimes it’s good to remember, it’s good to look back. Jesus tells the church to remember what they received and heard.

John Newton wrote the hymn, Amazing Grace. Most of us probably think that he was a real saint but he meant it when he wrote the words:

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like me.

John Newton was a wretch.

He was a sailor and after he deserted the Royal Navy, was caught and put in irons. He would later be placed into service aboard a slave ship. He was arrogant, insubordinate and later wrote, "I sinned with a high hand and I made it my study to tempt and seduce others."

He didn’t fare too well with the slave trader. His clothes turned to rags and was forced to beg for food to survive. During a terrible storm at sea, he accepted Christ.

Leaving the slave trade and fighting against it, he would lead Bible studies in his home. In a frame above where he prepared his lessons, was a verse that he looked at every day:

Deuteronomy 15:15 ESV

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you; therefore I command you this today.

Remember who you were! That’s what God kept saying to John Newton: “Remember who you were.”

You don’t know how many times, when I get ready to preach that I remember who I was and I say, “God, thank You for saving me. Thank You for changing the direction of my life.” And I remember what God has done for me.

We need to remember! But we must also repent.

Repent

Not to be simply broken over our sins but to be broken from our sins.

If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief

I wouldn’t get too excited if I knew a thief was coming to break into my house. I mean, I’d get excited but because that’s a bad thing not a good thing.

Coming as a thief in the night is talking about someone who is coming to break up, to steal, to judge. It’s a picture of judgment. And He had warned this church but they wouldn’t listen.

We see the reputation of the church, the rigor mortis of the church, the reformation of the church and finally:

The Remnant in the Church

Even in the dead church at Sardis, there were some who were holding fast to the faith.

Actually, there were three kinds of people: the dead, the dying, and the dedicated. He told the dying to remember and repent.

And, to the dedicated, He had a word of encouragement for them because, first of all, they were virtuous.

Their Virtuous Life

They were some who had not been soiled by the world.

4 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.

Jesus wants people who will be faithful unto death, who will not defile themselves.

He speaks about their virtuous life and then their victorious life.

Their Victorious Life

Look at what Jesus says to those who are victorious, who conquer, who overcome:

5 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.

Clothed in white

To be “clothed in white” means to be set apart for God, cleansed from sin, and made spiritually pure. Sin and evil deeds soil garments, but Christ can clean those sins away.

In pagan religions it was forbidden to approach a god with soiled garments, so a person had to be clean in order to come into a temple. Christ, however, invites dirty, sinful people to come; He will give them clean clothes.

The Book of Life

“The Book of Life” is where the names of all who have accepted Christ as Savior are written. God knows who belongs to Him.

At that time cities had registry books, so having your name removed meant losing citizenship. A city would also erase a person’s name from the registry when they died. For the citizens of heaven, death is not a cause for a name to be removed; instead, it’s the way of entrance.

Now this isn’t saying that He removes names. This verse is often used by people who try to say that Christians can “lose their salvation.” It isn’t a verse that serves as a threat. Instead it offers a promise of absolute security to all those who believe in Jesus.

Confessed in Heaven

The names of all believers are written in the Book of Life, and Christ will introduce them to His Father and the angels. He will bring the redeemed into the presence of God and say, “This is one of Mine!”

When these bodies die, there’s no more hope. We’re gone from this world forever. However, when a church dies, there is still hope. There can be repentance. There can be restoration. There can be a day of new beginning. There can be revival!

Jesus has His finger on the pulse of this church right now. I wonder what His diagnosis is? Are we alive and well? Are we strong in the things of God? Are we vibrant and active? Or, have we allowed ourselves to become weak and ill? Are we knocking on death’s door this morning?

Is there hope for Ashland Avenue Baptist? Or, is it time to pull the plug?

No one can answer that question but you! You are the church, and what you do determines whether we run to the winner’s circle or we are carried to the grave.