The Church on Trial Pt. 5
Wake Up
Revelation 3:1-6 (NIV)
1) To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of god and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2) Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. 3) Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. 4) Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5) He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. 6) He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
I want to continue this thought with the help of the Holy Spirit entitled “The Church on Trial”. But I want to use as a sub-thought on today, “Wake up.” So come on and look at your neighbor and say neighbor; wake up.
People of God, there have been four churches who have been brought to trial by God and judged by a righteous God. God is pointing the spotlight on his people who are supposed to be the light of the world, and saying right about now that you are not living up to your calling. God is saying in essence, it’s time to wake up. God is saying in essence it’s time to get your act together. God is saying it’s time for you to stop being a poser and a perpetrator and be the real McCoy. God is saying it’s time for you to stop living in a life of hypocrisy and begin to do the right thing.
God is saying it’s time to wake up, it’ time to get up, it’s time to speak up, it time to stand up, it’s time to point up, it’s time to look up, it’s time to clean up, and it’s time to straighten up.
The bible says that God, first of all, judged Ephesus if you will in chapter 2 and he convicted them because they had left their first love. And the question then that he asked was, “What does love have to do with it?” And the honest answer is love has everything to do with it. The bible says that God so LOVED the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Love has everything to do with it.
Love made Jesus go hang himself on the cross. Love allowed Jesus to give his back to the whip. Love allowed Jesus to die for your sins and my sins. Love has everything to do with it. They were convicted of leaving their first love.
And then Jesus brought the church at Smyrna to trial. And after judging them and weighing the evidence, he determined that they were a storm survivor. A storm survivor, meaning if you will; that they have gone through some things. They’ve gone through some heartaches and pains, but yet they still holding up the blood stain banner. People left them, they were ostracized, people talked about them, but they still hold the blood stain banner up. And through all they’ve gone through, he declared and decreed that they were a storm survivor.
Are there any storm survivors in here on today? I think we got some people who’ve been through some stuff, but can still say in the words of Maya Angelo: And still I rise. Is there somebody in here that have been through some bitterness and some heartache and pain, that can say Reverend I’m right there with you. I’m still surviving. They thought they were going to get me, they thought they were going to kill me. They thought because if they withdrew something from me that I wouldn’t make it. But I beg to differ because I realize that my hope is built on nothing less but on Jesus’ blood and his righteousness. They thought I wouldn’t make it. But on Christ the Solid Rock I stand, and all other ground is sinking sand. I’m still making it because I am a storm survivor. I ought to have a witness right about there. Tell your neighbor, he talking about me.
But then, people of God, he brought the church at Pergamum. And what God told the church at Pergamum was that they need to clean their house. The problem was; it wasn’t that Pergamum was doing something wrong, but rather they were tolerating sin that was in the house. Yeah, what God is saying is yeah you are alright but everybody else in your house is going to hell in a hand basket and you’re not saying anything about it. God says it’s time to clean the house.
Wait a minute. You know God is saying it’s time for some of us to clean our house. Yeah, and I’m not talking about some pine sol and some of that stuff. He’s saying that there is some spiritual stuff. There is some behavior that does not mimic me. And God is saying it’s time to clean the house. Because you’re allowing them to be in sin, and they’re leading other people into sin, so God is saying as long as the church is doing that, it is guilty as charged.
God is saying there are some stuff going on in the house that does not relate to my word. God says that the church is idly sitting by as if we don’t see it. Well just like the old adage that my dad would always say; if there is one bad apple, it will poison all the rest of them.
But then last week God brings the church at Thyatira to the witness stand. And God says that you are the church that put up with what you should have actually put out. God says, okay I see that you’re doing some of my works. But the problem is you got sin right there in the midst of you. With the church before that it was sin in the house. Now you are the one committing the sin because you are seeing things go on and yet you’re tolerating it and contradicting it. So God says you’re putting up with stuff you should have put out.
And all of us can relate to this if you will. Because all of us has had some stuff some people in our lives that we put up with that we should have been kicked to the curb. All of us got some stuff going on that we should have been gotten rid of. But we held on to it and it became like a cancer. It began to eat away at everything. And before you know it, there is nothing left. God said that you should have put out with what you’ve been putting up with. And the time is right now. Tell your neighbor the time is right now.
And so here God is, he has another church he has brought to the witness stand, the church at Sardis. And God is saying that the church needs to wake up. Wake up people of God implies that we are sleeping. Wake up implies that we are in a spiritual haze. Wake up implies that we are not alert. Wake up implies that we see something going on but we’re looking the other way.
Sometimes even in the church now, we’ve got some sleepwalkers, people that are partially sleep and they know what’s going on, but they are looking the other way. God says that we’ve got an issue in the church because the church is sleeping while the world is setting itself on fire. We see things happening in government, see things happening in our schools, see things happening in our community and God is saying we are looking the other way. God says that you are spiritual sleep and he’s bringing you to court because he says you are guilty as charged.
So as the young people might say people, it’s time to wake up and smell the coffee. Okay maybe that’s what my big momma would say. But it’s time to wake up and recognize that our behavior doesn’t please God. It’s time for the church to get up and stand up and say we will not tolerate this. It’s time for the church to stand up that has the power and the influence and assurance that whatever happens, God says I got you covered. But the church appears to be sleep.
Let me give you the three points of this text that I see and expound some, give you the meat, and then maybe add a little desert at the end.
It’s all about a show. He says it’s time to wake up. And so what he says in the text is God says I can tell, and I got three things I want to share with you and be out your way. God says it’s evident that you are sleep because in actuality everything that you doing in the church, it’s all about a show right now.
Now those that want to follow; Revelation 3 verse 1 – God has a particular disdain for this church. Because notice now for the first four churches he compliments them first on their achievements where this one God is so angry with them that he skips the positive stuff and he gets right to the heart of the matter. He says I know your works, thou hast a name that thou livest. You telling people that you’re the real deal. But the reality is you’re nothing but smoke and mirrors. You’re nothing but a perpetrator, nothing but a poser.
God is saying that you’re a hypocrite. God is saying that your actions speak louder than your words. God is saying I have a problem with you because you’re professing one thing, but your life speaks of another. God say listen, I got a term for people like that. It’s called a hypocrite.
God says, and what’s happening is that there is an inexcusable decay that’s happening in the church because not only are you doing it, but other people are looking at you and are saying if she can do it, then I can do it. You telling people that you went to church on Sunday, but you out there drinking, smoking, and everything else out there. And they like, didn’t go to church last week? What did you learn in church the other day? Because whatever you learned you didn’t apply to your life. Because the same thing that you were doing today, you were doing it the day before yesterday. So I see church didn’t do you no good because you’re still acting mean. God is saying you got to wake up. You got to get out of this sleepy daze that you’re in. Because if you say that you’ve been born again, there ought to be some real evidence.
So God says that Sardis had this reputation of being Christians. He says they had this reputation of being alive. They’re telling people we’re the spot, we got it going on, we are the place to be. But because you’re not living right, first of all I’ll withdraw some of the power from you. So all of the power that you say you profess, God is saying that’s you acting. That’s you perpetrating.
So all that spirit that you claim that you got, take the whole usher staff to hold you down, God says that ain’t the real deal. God says because you aren’t living right, he says you don’t have the power or the anointing that you claim you have because everything is not real in your life.
So God is saying you may be a church, but a church in title only. There are a lot of churches, a lot of buildings that got a marquee, that’s got a cross on the front that say they are churches. But their actions speak louder than their words. Matter of fact it is not necessarily the church, it’s the people in the church. God is saying I’ve a problem because we are in a spiritual haze. There’s too many sleep walkers in the church. You know how people can sleep walk. You’ve been there before. We got people that are half-sleep that are more concerned about being asleep than doing the will of God. And God is saying it’s time to wake up and be about the Kingdom business.
Let me see if I can put it to you this way. Yea, you got a good choir, they can sho nuff sing. I mean they are all spirit-filled. They can bring it. But the minute they stop singing, half of them go outside for a smoke. Another 3rd go to the back, in the fellowship hall, and they talking and catching up on the past week of gossip. And the remaining ones are sitting up in the choir stand talking to each other, texting, on Facebook, playing Big Fish Casino, etc… or half-sleep. How are you going to get out of the spirit and 2 minutes later you ain’t got no spirit in you?
I mean you was just up there tearing it up. They was fanning you, and you was all falling all out and doing all that stuff. And the minute the music stopped, you sit there like ain’t nothing happened to you. That’s a poser. God says you’re sleep.
Can I just make some sense on here today? And so he’s letting us know if you will he says it’s all a show. Let me see if I can make it a little bit more personal so I can walk down your street. See people see saved folks. We see folks wearing crosses, but not bearing crosses. We see people that’s got a bible, but they don’t know Genesee from Tennessee. We see people that are carrying Bibles, but they ain’t carried it since the last week. And when they get it they got to blow the dust off of it because they ain’t opened it all week. We got people that had bibles for 30 or 40 years, and none of the pages are crinkled, none of the pages is written on or highlighted. It still smells like it’s brand new. You can look at the bible and it still got that gold lining on the outside cause you ain’t never opened it.
So God says we got saved folks, that’s walking around like they’re saved. They got all of the language down, but it’s all a show. You do know there so people that can pose. Jesus said it this way: Not everybody who calls me Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven. What he’s saying is there are some people that’s got the routine down, they got it down to a science, but it really ain’t inside of them. He’s saying that even about the church, he says we’re spiritually sleep right now. The church is more interested in sleep than anything else.
He says we got some saved folk that can shout on Sunday. Oh they can tear it up. The ushers already know: Ok about this time Sis. So and so is going to be shouting, so let’s get up next to them. Because you know she shout all over the place. Throw her hands, punch people and everything. Let’s get right there next to her. They got 5 ushers assigned to Sis. So and so every week. It’s interesting that you’re shouting all over the church, swinging from the fans, I mean jumping all over the chairs, knocking pews back, and laying all over the offering table, but then the rest of the week you don’t even mention Jesus’ name. How you going to be slain in the spirit and never mention Jesus’ name?
He says that you are guilty as charged. And I understand why the church is being called out on the witness stand. Because the thing that was happening in Sardis, is happening in the church on today. How can you be filled with the spirit and in the spirit and yet you can’t stand your neighbor? How can you call yourself saved, and never pray to God? Never show up for bible study, never show up for prayer service, only show up to church like I said before like the “do drop in’s”. Just do drop in when you feel like it. But you’re saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Ghost.
No, I beg to differ, because if you love Jesus like you claim you did, you wouldn’t have no problem being at church every week because. I know what you’re going to say. Well Reverend I work, I’m tired. That don’t stop you from going to work. You go to work every time. Matter of fact, you got to be at work at 6 o’clock, service don’t start till 10:15. And then you come in at 11:25. I got up late. You didn’t get up late to go to work. And yet God is the one that gave you the job. It’s in him that you live, you move, and have your being. But you show up here creeping and tipping. The last one to come in and the first one to leave. God says we are sleep because we are not about his business. So tell your neighbor it’s time to wake up.
He says we are in a haze. We see stuff happening on our jobs. We see stuff happening in our communities, we see stuff happening in the church, and we keep looking the other way. Because, we are more interested in sleeping than proclaiming the word of God. That’s what he is saying in the text. This is what Jesus says so you don’t think I’m making it up. See Jesus had to call the religious leaders on the carpet during this time. And over in Mark 7:6 this is what he says. He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their but their heart is far from me. There is a lot of people giving lip service, but they are not giving heart service.
I wish I can make some sense here this morning. But God is saying we need to wake up. We need to wake up and see what is going on around us. We need to wake up and see the corruption in our government. We need to wake up see the corruption in our school system. We need to wake up and see what going on that the church can remedies if the church would just wake up, and stand up, and speak up. All you got to do is look around.
The newest sin now is tolerance. That’s the newest sin. We’re teaching our children how to grow up and relate to people that aren’t like us, but that doesn’t mean we ought to accept immoral behavior just as well. And that’s a major problem now. We’re looking the other way, we’re not talking about things, and we got gay people doing things.
And listen, I’m not trying to bash anybody. I’m just pointing out we need to wake up and understand that the times mandate that the church stand up now before it’s ever to late and all that stuff infiltrates the church and we end up in a coma because we won’t do what God tells us to do.
I know some of ya’ll ain’t feeling this but that’s why God has it in the bible. It’s in the bible that God has a problem with it. And if God has a problem with it, you don’t have a choice but to have a problem with it just as well. And so God is saying it’s time for the church to wake up.
So listen, God says it’s all about a show. It’s all about trying to please us. It’s all about trying to impress. God says I am not amused and I’m not impressed. I know you for who you are. Now you might fool them at South Central, but I know you. I see what you do when you’re not at the church.
Regroup, refocus, rededicate. So God says it’s evident that you’re sleeping because it’s all a show. But then the second thing that God points out to those who did fall asleep. He says listen it’s time for you to re-group, re-focus, and re-dedicate. If you fell asleep, you don’t have to stay asleep. God said it’s time for you to wake up.
How you going to come to church, you just got out the bed, got 8 hours of sleep, and then come to church and go back to sleep. I mean is God that boring that you can’t give God and hour or two hours of dedicated service and focus. So he says it’s time to re-group and re-focus and to re-dedicate.
See God issues in verse 2, look at verse 2. God issues a directive in verse 2. He says Be watchful (saying Wake Up!), and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. The bottom line is this. God says I got a problem because some of the things that you started. He says you won’t even finish those.
You start going to bible study, but stop two weeks later. You start tithing and giving, but when you want new flat-screen, the Temptations came to town, God got to be put on hold. Start going to prayer meeting, it’s too cold outside. It wasn’t too cold for you to go to work. It wasn’t too cold for you to go to the club. It wasn’t too cold for you to go down to the boat. You went even if it meant taking the bus. You found a way.
Started living right, but just couldn’t help yourself. Got to go back to the way it was. I need him. What you need is the ring on your finger. What you need a ring on his finger that says from him I am committed only to you. See the leasing program is gone out of business. The leasing program where he can lease you a couple of months, test drive you, nah, there ain’t no test driving. Ya’ll ain’t hearing what I’m saying. At some point in time you got to say enough is enough. I got to get out of this situation. I got to get myself together.
But this is what Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes said. He said wake up everybody. No more sleeping in bed. No more backward thinking time for thinking ahead. He said, the world has changed so very much from what it used to be, so there is so much hatred war an’ poverty. So he says wake up all the teachers, time to teach a new way. Maybe then they’ll listen to whatcha have to say. He goes on to say, Cause they’re the ones who’s coming up and the world is in their hands. When you teach the children teach em the very best you can.
But then he goes a step further and in the chorus and says the world won’t get no better if we just let it be. The world won’t get no better we gotta change it yeah, just you and me.
God says it’s time for you to wake up. It’s time for you to get up; Time for you to straighten up; Time for you to clean up; Time for you to start praising up. God says it’s time for you to wake up and get back on the job.
It’s time for the church to regroup, re-focus, and re-dedicate. See it doesn’t matter why you stopped. What matters is that you get back in the game. God is saying wake up and get back on the job. If you want to teach in Sunday school, get back into teacher’s meeting so you can start teaching. If you are in the choir, wake up. If you are an usher, or a ministry leader, or a deacon, wake up. It’s time for you to refocus; it’s time for you to get your act together if you will. It’s time for you to regroup and let God use you the way he intends to use you.
God says it’s time for you to regroup. And to regroup means to organize; to get yourself together. God is saying, I want to use you but I can’t use you with the mindset that you have right now. And that is why he says in Romans 12. He says Brethern I beseech you by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable unto him which is your reasonable service. And be ye not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye prove what is good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. He says the least you can do is give me you and let me work on you so that I can put you back in the game.
Regroup means a fresh start. God says it’s time to get your act together. But then God says you need to refocus. And refocus means to keep the main thing the main thing. See this is the conclusion that I’ve come up with Deacon Means. That the world is filled with too many distractions that it can easily lead you away from God. Got the latest flat-screen, got to know the latest dance, got to have the latest CD, got to have the latest car, got to have the latest pair of Jordan’s, got to live in the latest house, got to have all of this stuff here and none of it matters at the end of the day because at the end of it when you die, somebody else is going to take possession of it.
God is saying it’s time now for you to get your focus on him. It’s why the songwriter wrote On Christ the solid rock I stand; all other ground is sinking sand. God is saying it’s time for you to get your act together; it’s time for you to make me the center of your joy; the center of life. And in order for that to happen you got to clean up some things. You got to wake up and recognize that you need God in your life.
God is saying it’s time for a change. In order for that change to happen, you got to make your mind up and know that God has more to offer you than the world does. You got to understand that the cares of the world can distract you.
And that is why Jesus one day gave this parable of the sower, when he said, that some seeds were thrown among thorns, and he says the issue is the word was in their own soil, but the issue was that the cares of the world choked them out.
And that’s why every now and then I show up at the church house, I’ll come on Easter, I’ll come on mother’s day, I’ll come on Christmas, but beyond that I got other things to do. Okay, last time I saw you; you were at home in the bed, watching TV. Every Sunday. So I get it. You busy doing nothing. Watching Lifetime network, HBO, ShowTime, TMZ, Wendy Williams, or whatever latest gossip show. You busy doing that, when you ought to be getting some word in you to combat that devil out there.
So he says, listen, you need to rededicate. Re-dedicate means that I’m not so caught up in that when the wind begins to blow, I’m not so easily distracted. Because see sometimes, you need to understand, and let me tell you right up front. The minute you make up your mind that you’re going to be serious about the church. That’s when Satan is going to launch an all-out assault against you.
Anybody been there before? I’m going to start coming to bible school, all of a sudden your car going to stop. The minute you make up your mind you’re going to start giving, then up pops this bill. The minute you decide that you’re going to be more faithful to the church, now all of a sudden you got somebody in your life that doesn’t believe in church. We sleep, because we so caught up by him. That we let them maneuver in. That is what he is saying is the problem in the church now. We know stuff is happening, but we’re so into self, that we don’t care. Some of us be half sleep.
Labor is not in vain. And here’s the beauty of it. Not everybody is sleep. Because when you look in the text, point 3, as I bring you to a close. Verses 4 – 6 in Revelation 3, he says not everybody is asleep. He says unto those of you who are not sleep, I need you to know up front that your labor has not gone unnoticed.
That’s why GSC we can shout, because God says, listen I see what you’re doing, I know you’re doing my work, I know you’re laboring, I know you’ve had some good days, some dark days, I know the wind has blown, but understand that I see it and I’m going to reward you.
And I’m saying that to you right now, that have been through it all. That have tried to do all you can to get your family together, to get your act together, to get through your addictions, to get through issues and your problems. God says I see it and it will not go unnoticed. Look what he says in the text, and I’m going to read it real quickly for you.
4) Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments: (he says I notice some of you are still holding up the blood stained banner. Everybody has left you, but you’re still being faithful. Ain’t but 3 or 4 people at bible study, but one of them is going to be me, ain’t nobody showing up for Sunday school, but I’m waiting out there for them to get there. I’m going to be faithful, because I know God is going to be faithful to me.)
Sometimes you got to go it alone, sometimes you can’t worry about people. You can’t worry about their excuses; you just got to worry about yourself. That don’t mean don’t tell them, what that means is you got to keep doing what God has called you to do.
And I just want you to know up front that God says your labor is not in vain. Can I give it you this way? 1 Corinthians 15:58 he says be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the word of the Lord; Knowing that your labor is not in vain.
God says I see what you’re doing. I know sometimes you’ve had to cry. I know sometimes you had to bear that burden. I know sometimes you had to go it alone, but God says your labor will not be in vain. And that’s why you ought to be shouting now because don’t nobody know more about you than God. Because God says I got you covered. Don’t worry about it. You’re going to make it through this. I’m gonna bless you, I’m gonna see ya through it.
And even though God blesses me here, God is going to reward me up there just as well. So that’s my motivation. I know that everything is not going to be alright down here. I know sometimes I’m going to have some ups and downs. But I’ve decreed that I’m going to hang on in there, because God is worth it all. Will you just tell your neighbor that God is worth it all?
How much is he worth it all? God is all that I need. God can supply all my needs according to his riches in glory. So I made my mind up, I’m going to fight a good fight. Is there anybody here that’s willing to fight a good fight on this morning? Is there anybody here that can say, you know what Reverend, I may not be where I need to be, but as of today I’m a try to do better? Reverend I’m not where I should be, but thank God I am going to change. I am going to do better. I am going to be more attentive, I am going to wake up. I am going praise more, I am going to be a cheerful giver, I am going to study the word, I am going to witness, I am going to let God know that I love him. I am going to tell people when they are right and when they’re wrong. I’m going to stand when people won’t stand with me, because I have a charge to keep and a God to glorify.
Tell your neighbor he’s talking about me. Because I am fired up, and sometimes I may have to stand on my own but I made my mind up that there is nobody that can stand against me. God says greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. So I chose Jesus. I choose to walk this path. I choose to do what God has called me to do. I choose to let the world know that I am saved. That I am sold out, that I am a child of the living God; Because he has all power in his hand.
Come on tell your neighbor that God has all power in his hand. And because he got all power in his hand, I’m not afraid about what people going to say, because I know that when God stands with me, nobody can defeat me. Come on tell your neighbor, can’t nobody defeat me. And that’s why the writer said, can’t nobody do me like Jesus.
Now if you really believe that, will you look at your neighbor and say neighbor, I’ve discovered for myself that can’t nobody do me like Jesus. Now I mean are you for real, because if you’re really real, you should have got excited right about there. You should have been willing to praise God right about there. You shouldn’t have been able to contain yourself right about there.
Because when you’re talking about God… El Shaddai… God Almighty... Jehovah Tsidkenu… Our Righteous Lord... Jehovah Nissi… the Lord my banner... when you’re talking about Mary’s baby… the bright and morning star… you ought to get excited knowing when you’re talking about him. That he hears you that at the name of Jesus, every knee must bow and every tongue must confess... At the name of Jesus demons tremble when you start talking about Jesus’ name. Is there anybody in here that’s willing to tell your neighbor, I’m waking up on toady?
Now just look at your other neighbor and say neighbor, say neighbor, oh neighbor, I’ve made up my mind that I’m going to serve the Lord. And because I’m going to serve the Lord, sometimes I got to go through some stuff. But I made up my mind, I’m going to serve the Lord. I made up my mind that if I got to go it alone, I’m going to go it alone. And I made up my mind that sometimes my friends are going to forsake me, but I made up my mind, that I got to lift him up. Because the Bible says that if I be lifted up, I’ll draw all men unto me.
And I made up my mind, that God is worth it all, and so I decreed and I declared that I’m going to serve him in my good days, I’m going to serve him in my bad days, I’m going to serve him when I’m happy, I’m going to serve him when I’m sad. I’m going to serve him when I’m rich, I’m going to serve him when I’m poor. I’m going to serve him when I’m well, I’m going to serve him when I’m sick.
He’s worth it all. Just tell your neighbor, say neighbor, he’s worth it all. Ain’t he alright?
