Turn with me to Revelation 3
REVELATION 3:1-6
Over the past several weeks, we’ve been looking at Jesus’ letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor contained in the first three chapters of the book of Revelation. After the Apostle John finished receiving this Revelation from Jesus on the island of Patmos, he wrote it down and sent it to each of those seven churches by a messenger. The messenger would have first stopped at the church of Ephesus since it was the closest. He would have stayed there while the letter was read publicly to the church. Then he would have left them a copy and headed on up the coast to Smyrna where he would have done the same thing. He would have repeated the same thing at each stop along the way—next at Pergamos, next at Thyatira. Then he would have gotten to the church that is addressed in the letter we just read. He would have gotten to the church of Sardis. The church of Sardis was probably a mission church that Paul started while he was in his two year long ministry at Ephesus. Paul planted the church at Ephesus and within two years, Acts 19:10 tells us they were planting churches all over Asia Minor. Sardis was probably one of those church plants.
The city itself was an old city. By the time of this letter, it was already almost 1300 years old. It had a glorious past. It had been a tremendously rich city. But all of that was back in the glory days. And by the time of this letter, the glory days were long past. The city wasn’t dead, but it was dying. All the money in town was old money. They had some industry, but it wasn’t thriving like some other places were. But why was that? Why had they lost their former glory? Because, over the years, they had been conquered and invaded twice. That doesn’t sound like a lot for a city that had been around for over 1000 years. But you have to understand that Sardis was thought to be completely secure. It was located on a hill that stood 1500 feet from the valley below. And there was only one way in and out. The other sides of the mountain were almost sheer cliffs. It got to the point that the people of Sardis felt so secure, they didn’t even post sentries anymore—except on the one entrance. They quit watching. And because they quit watching for danger, they died. They were conquered by enemies who climbed in on their blindside. They were conquered, their wealth was plundered and now they were just a shadow of their old selves. People could look from the outside and think they saw a thriving city. They saw beautiful old architecture, good infrastructure, and rich history. But it was dying on the inside. What a perfect picture of what was going on in that church when they received this letter. They hadn’t been watching for the enemy. They left their borders insecure. They hadn’t been doing the things that it takes to stay vibrant and alive. But instead, they had become distracted. They placed their emphasis on the wrong things. They lost their focus. And what happened? They died.
Oh, they looked like they were alive. In verse 1, Jesus tells them that they have a reputation of being alive. But just because someone can look around and see movement, doesn’t necessarily mean there is life. There was a movie out several years ago called Weekend at Bernie’s. It was a dumb comedy about two guys whose boss had died. The problem was, they had planned a big party at his condo on the beach and he needed to be there for them to use it. So, they dressed him up and carried him around like he was alive the whole weekend. One of the lines from the movie was, “Bernie may be dead, but he’s still the life of the party.” Well, that was the church at Sardis. They may have been dead, but everyone else thought they were the life of the party. They had plenty of people. They had plenty of programs. They had lots of flash and fun. But Jesus said they were dead. The question is, why? Why were they dead? Jesus tells them in verse 2. He said, “I have not found thy works perfect before God.” The original word that’s translated “perfect” here is used like an English teacher would talk about the perfect tense of a verb. It’s used to describe works that were started, but not completed. They didn’t finish what they had started. It was as if Jesus was giving them their report card and they weren’t even deserving of an F. Instead, all they could muster was an incomplete. They had quit doing what was supposed to keep them alive. Sure, verse 4 tells us that there were a handful who were still being faithful. But by and large, the church was dead. A big show on the outside. Full services, the latest programs, great facilities. But spiritually dead on the inside.
When I was in Boy Scouts, I took my first CPR class. CPR is first aid that you give to someone who has stopped breathing and their heart has stopped beating. One of the first things they teach you in CPR is what to do when you come up on a person who is unconscious. The first thing you do is shake them to see if they’re just sleeping. Then, if they don’t wake up, you have to check three things. They call them the ABC’s. When someone is unconscious, you have to check their airway, their breathing, and their circulation. Once you’ve checked those three things, you know how to treat them. A little over 1900 years ago, Jesus looked at the church of Sardis and found them to be unconscious. But he not only found them to be unconscious, He found them to be dead. Have we checked our pulse lately? Have you checked your own spiritual pulse lately? I don’t believe that Brushfork Baptist Church is a dead church. I don’t believe that we’re a dying church. I believe with all my heart that God is about to do a mighty work through us. But that doesn’t mean that we should quit watching. Remember that the city of Sardis was overthrown when they thought they were the most secure. They thought they were secure so they relaxed and quit watching for the enemy. That’s why back in verse 2, Jesus told the church at Sardis to be watchful. Don’t be deceived by the fact that you look like you’re alive. Watch out, because spiritual death could be just around the corner. The question is, how do we watch? What do we look for to keep spiritual death from overtaking us like it did with Sardis? We need to do what I was always taught in CPR. We need to check the ABC’s. In order to avoid spiritual death, the first thing we need to check is our airway.
If you come across a person who is lying unconscious, all the CPR classes will tell you that the first thing you have to do is to check the person’s airway. The reason they tell you to check the person’s airway is that you have to remove any obstructions that might be there. You have to remove anything that could be in the way of the body receiving the air it needs to live. Did you know that choking is the 6th most common cause of accidental death in America? It may be the 6th most common cause of individual death in America, but I’d venture to day that it’s close to the top in church deaths. We all know what individual people can choke on. But what do churches choke on? Sin. Strife. Immorality. False doctrine. Selfishness. Complacency. Unlovingness. When a church takes on a mouthful of unrepentant, unconfessed sin, it’s going to choke. And if that sin remains unconfessed and unrepentant, it will die. When a church continually chews on strife and bitterness like a cow chews its cud, it’s going to choke. And if it doesn’t reject it, it’s going to die. When a church samples and tastes and tolerates immorality in its midst, it’s going to choke. And if it doesn’t immediately spit it out, it’s a poison that will kill it. When a church gorges itself on the buffet of false doctrine, it will choke. And unless it changes its diet to the pure milk and strong meat of the Word, it will die. When a church becomes self-centered, it chokes on itself. And if it continues, it will completely consume itself until nothing is left. Each of those things will kill us as a church. Each of those things will kill you as a believer. They will kill you because each of them will prevent you from getting the life-giving air you need. They are obstacles. The writer of Hebrews used a different picture to describe the same thing. In Hebrews 12:1, he wrote, “let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” Get rid of anything that will keep you from finishing the race. Lay aside the weight—clear the airway. As a church we need to get rid of anything that is choking us. We need to get rid of anything that stands in the way of us fully breathing the air of God’s Holy Spirit. And we can’t do that as a church unless you and I do that as individuals. If you are living in immorality, it’s time to get rid of it. If you’re harboring bitterness and strife in your heart—get rid of it. If you’ve been refusing to give up your selfish wants and desires and prejudices and personal tastes—give them up. They’re choking you. They’re keeping you from the good things God has in store for you. And they could kill you. In order to prevent spiritual death, you need to check your airway. And after you check your airway, you need to check for breathing.
As human beings, we can live without food for several days. We can even live without water for a few days. But we can’t live without air. As a matter of fact, once a person has stopped breathing, the brain begins to die after 3-5 minutes. Did you know that in the original languages of the Bible, the word for spirit and the word for breath are the same? Whether you’re talking about the Hebrew of the Old Testament or the Greek of the New Testament, breath and spirit are translated from the same words. So, if our brains will die after just a few short minutes without physically taking a breath, how do we get the notion that we can spiritually live weeks on end without breathing in God’s own Spirit in worship? There’s a reason that the Bible tells us not to forsake the gathering together of ourselves. It’s not to give us a social outlet. It’s not to give us a weekly pick-me-up. The reason we gather together is to breathe. Psalm 42:1-2 says, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?” Do you starve for corporate worship the way you would starve for water or oxygen? When we gather together in corporate worship, we take in God’s holy presence amongst us like we would take up oxygen when we breathe or water when we drink. We satisfy that panting and thirsting. The air that we breathe in, is the air of God’s Spirit that is present with us when we corporately lift up the name of Jesus in praise and worship. That’s what we breathe in, but what do we breathe out? We breathe out public confession. That’s how we know that most of this stuff that we see isn’t really worship. James 5:16 tells us to confess our sins one to another. How often do you see that happen in church? Not very often. Do you know what that means? It means that we must not be breathing in very deeply. Because when you breathe in, you’ve got to breathe out. If you breathe in God’s holiness and glory, you’re going to have to exhale the impurities in your life. Every true historical revival that I have studied is evidenced by one thing. It’s evidenced by a corporate, public brokenness for sin. If the holiness of God is evident, then sin has got to go. Just like your lungs can’t hold clean fresh air and old spent air at the same time, a church can’t hold God’s holiness and your unconfessed sin at the same time. One of them has got to go. In the case of Sardis, it was God’s holiness. They were too attached to their filthy garments. They were too proud to confess their sin. They were too stubborn and stiff-necked to submit to the holy and righteous Lordship of Jesus. And they died. In order to prevent the death that they died, you need to check your airway and check your breathing. Then you need to check your circulation.
Circulation is the pulse. When you learn CPR, they teach you how to check for a pulse on a person’s wrist or neck. But where do you check for a pulse in a church? Where would Jesus have checked Sardis for a pulse when He found no circulation? What is the lifeblood of a church? Well, in order to figure that out, we have to know what blood does. Blood brings in the life-giving oxygen from the lungs and carries it to the rest of the body. It brings in the nutrients from the stomach and carries them to the rest of the body. If there’s a problem with the blood, the body will quickly become malnourished. And when the body becomes malnourished, it will lose energy. It will begin to feel bad. It will take on disease and begin to waste away. And after a slow, painful, agonizing process, it will eventually waste away and die. How do you check the pulse of a church? You check in two places. First, you check the preaching and teaching. Not for style or flash but for content. Is God’s Word faithfully and accurately taught and preached? That’s what brings the oxygen in. That’s what brings the nutrients in. It helps digest the home Bible study and extracts the nutrients from it. But that’s only the first place. Because blood can take in all the oxygen and nutrients in the world. But it doesn’t do any good unless it goes somewhere. The second place to check a church’s pulse is outreach and missions. Without accurate, truthful teaching and preaching of God’s Word, a church will die of malnutrition. Without outreach and missions, a church will die of atrophy and stagnation. Either way, it will die. Just like Sardis.
When Jesus looked at Sardis, He saw a bunch of unfinished work. He saw a bunch of unfinished work and a dead church right in the middle of it. And it wasn’t like they had worked themselves to death. That’s not possible in God’s economy. In God’s economy, if you work faithfully, He will sustain you until you have finished the race He has laid out before you. The Apostle Paul worked more faithfully in harder conditions that God will call any of us to work in. But did his hard work kill him? No—before he died, he was able to say to Timothy, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.” Which one will you hear one day? “Well done good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” Or “Depart from Me I never knew you.” How can you tell? Check your pulse. Do you eagerly take in the Word of God? Do you reach out to others by witnessing and sharing the gospel with them? Check your breathing. Do you long for those times when you can gather with God’s people in God’s house to lift up the name of God’s Son? Are you broken over your sin and do you regularly confess it? Check your airway? What do you have in your life that is keeping you from those things? What is keeping you from regularly being in church? What is keeping you from sharing the gospel? What is keeping you from true corporate worship? What is keeping you from brokenness and confession of your sin? Today’s the day to lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset you. If you have sin that needs to be confessed, the altar is open. If you have commitments that need to be made, the altar is open. If you need salvation, the altar is open. If you need a church home, the altar is open.
REVELATION 3:5-6
