Scripture: Revelation 3:1-6; John 11:38-44
Theme: Wake Up and Enjoy Life
INTRO:
Grace and peace from the God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
Did you know that last year (2022) over three million people died in the United States?
Did you know that last year (2022) over 69 million people died all over the world?
Did you know that over 2,400 stores will close in the United States this year? Some of those include such big names stores as Bath and Beyond, Party City, Big Lot’s, Foot Locker and Best Buy.
Already, we have had four major banks fail and over 130 hospitals are in the danger area of closing their doors forever.
Wow! Such happy news for a Sunday morning.
Considering all of that did you also know that thousands of new stores will be open across the United States as well. There will be new Dollar General Stores along with new Costco’s, Aldi, IKEA and Publix stores.
Did you know that the world’s population did not shrink but in fact increased by more than 70 million people. That means while we lost 69 million, we also welcomed nearly 140 million babies last year.
Did you know that over 5 million applications are being filled this year to start a new business?
So, what does all this mean?
It means what we read about in Ecclesiastes 3:1 is true – “There is a time to be born, and a time to die.”
It’s just life. It’s reality.
This year it is true that there will be thousands of churches that will close their doors for the last time. It is also true that there will be thousands of new churches that will be opening their doors.
Of the churches that we have looked at in Revelation some of them had various problems but none of them had cobwebs over their doors. None of them were at the point of near death.
Today’s church – the Church of Sardis – was in deep trouble.
Even though it was less than 60 years old, it was already on its way out.
Jesus doesn’t tell us what it was doing wrong. He refers to the fact that they were living on their past reputation but that doesn’t really key on any one factor that was causing their slide into oblivion.
Some years ago, Thomas S. Rainer wrote an excellent little book to help churches that were in trouble. It is called Autopsy of a Deceased Church and 12 Ways to Keep Yours Alive.
Over the years, I have had the privilege to work with several churches. Some of them were vibrant while others of them were not so vibrant. Sadly, a couple of them no longer exist. Some years after we left, a couple of them just slowly wilted away and finally closed their doors.
One of them was quite a mystery.
It had plenty of finances. In fact, it had an ample number of resources. It owned land, it had a renovated parsonage, and it had a good number of dollars in the bank.
Everything was set up for it to thrive. However, it adopted the idea that it was going to die. Somewhere along the line the thought of its demise took root and continued to grow.
It found itself just going through the motions. It stopped trying. It stopped reaching out. It stopped doing anything that would help it grow. And it died.
I remember when we first got there it was meeting in this horrible location. They had lost their original building and were meeting in one of the worst locations I have ever seen a church try to meet. They had money to be in a better place, but they didn’t want to spend it.
I remember asking for a welcome mat to be bought so that at least people walking into the place would see something nice. For the three years I worked with them as their interim pastor that welcome mat was never bought.
I was offered a used mat to put out, but they just didn’t believe that they could afford a new mat even though they had thousands of dollars sitting in a bank making very little interest at the time.
They just gotten into this rut and were beginning to spiral downward. I finally realized that I couldn’t help them anymore and moved on. They had one more person who tried to work with them before denominational leadership finally dissolved the church and used their assets to start a new church in another location.
It was all a shame. The town where the church was located was busting at the seams. New people were arriving every week. New businesses were sprouting up everywhere. It was a great place to raise a family, work and you would think of growing a church.
Just down the street from the place this particular church was meeting there was another church that at the time was being renovated. While this church was gathering dust and cobwebs the other church was reaching out and growing.
This church had just gotten the Sardis disease.
But as you read that passage did you see what Jesus said?
What Jesus said after he declared them dead?
Listen again –
“Wake up and strengthen what remains and is about to die.”
There is hope. There is always hope. There is always hope in the One who can raise the dead and give strength to those who need it.
Jesus is after all in the miracle making business.
Remember the story of Lazarus (John 11). He wasn’t sick, he was dead. Four days dead. Stone rolled over the tomb dead. You could say – Stone cold dead.
But he didn’t stay dead. Not when Jesus was around. Not when Jesus reminded everyone that He is the Resurrection and the Life.
Lazarus defied all the odds and walked out of that tomb and continued to live an amazing life.
But remember a key part of that story?
The part where Jesus says Lazarus’ name and tells him to come out of the tomb?
Did you realize that Lazarus had a choice?
I mean, he was human and all of us have free will. He had a choice to either stay dead or begin to get up and stumble out of that tomb.
If you remember, he still had his grave clothes on. In other words, he was still wrapped up in strips of cloth looking somewhat like a mummy.
Jesus tells those that were watching to go and help Lazarus. Help this once dead man live like a well man; happy and alive. Help him strip off what looked like, smelled like, and felt like a dead man to be once again be a man full of good health, vigor and life.
It must have felt unsettling and exciting all at the same time.
The same thing happened to Sardis.
Sure, they looked dead. Jesus said so. You can read it right there in the text.
But that is not all that Jesus said. He said for them to wake up and take on some strength. He told them to stop going down the wrong road and begin to take steps back towards life and vitality.
While some may read this passage and see all the negative and the fact that this church was condemned to die, I on the other hand read this passage and see all the wonder and miracles it holds.
Sardis was declared dead, but it also was given the command to wake up. It was said that it was on the road to cobwebs and shut doors but at the same time it was given the opportunity to become alive and vibrant.
All it had to do was reconnect with the One who is the Resurrection and the Life. All it had to do was to get rid of its grave clothes and begin to get busy gaining some new strength and vitality.
In other words, physically it had to get into shape. It had to begin to look good again, feel good again and smell good again. It had to stop looking like a museum and start looking like something that was bursting with life.
Spiritually, it had to get reengaged in prayer and Bible study time. It had to reengage worshipping the LORD and allowing the Lord to fill it with His Holy Spirit. It had to reengage singing songs that praise and uplift the LORD and encourage people; songs of victory and joy.
Socially, it had to get reengaged in working with people, being open and accepting and helping people come to Jesus. It had to be involved in being Jesus to its community not just on a Sunday morning but throughout the week as well.
It had to be concerned about its numbers but not be totally focused on its numbers.
Did you notice that Jesus does not say anything about how many people went to the Church of Sardis. He didn’t say whether it was a small church or a large church.
You can have small numbers and be a live and vibrant church.
You can have large numbers and be alive and vibrant church.
At the same time, you can be small and as dead as a door nail.
You can have large numbers and be as dead as a door nail.
After all, there are some cemeteries located all around the world that are full of hundreds and thousands of people but all of them are dead. They have great numbers, but no one is alive.
So, what happened to the Church of Sardis – did it die or did it listen to Jesus?
It listened to Jesus.
It became alive again. It was able to stay alive for the next 1400 years until the area was taken over by the Turkish army around the 15th century.
It made the decision to wake up. It made the decision to start flexing its spiritual muscles and gaining strength.
There are churches all over the United States that are doing the same thing. There is this church that I know of that it looked very much like it had the Sardis disease. It was on its way out.
At one time it had been the home of over 750 people every Sunday. Then something happened and it was about to close its doors for good.
Another group of Christians decided to purchase the building and see if they could revive the church. Today it serves well over 1,500 people each week and it is very much alive. It has been instrumental in not just bring people to Jesus but helping them grow in grace. It has been instrumental in helping people deal with all kinds of problems and addictions. It is a church being Jesus to the world.
A Church is more than its Sunday morning attendance. It is more than the financial page that it must hand in each year to its overseers. It is more than the square footage that it possesses.
A vibrant growing church is one that does its best to have worship services, prayer services, Bible studies, fellowship times and reaches out to its community the best way that it can for Jesus. A growing church is a loving church, a generous church and a faithful church.
That is something we all can be whether we have a small congregation or a large congregation.
This morning we may have some friends that are in churches that look like they are dying. Some may in fact be dying.
What can we say to them? How can we help them?
We can pray for them. We can even help support them. And we can lovingly tell them that they must wake up and strengthen what remains. They must be ready to transition and to allow the LORD to do a new thing among them.
And sometimes that is the key. Remember the words of the Prophet Isaiah:
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth…” – Isaiah 43:19-20a
That is the key – to be in tune with the Holy Spirit as He leads the Church.
To not get caught in the past as to let the past cause you to gather cobwebs but to see where the Holy Spirit is moving the Church today.
In my lifetime I have watched the church go from dedicated choir music to large church music to praise team music. I have watched the church as it has transition over the years from organ and piano to keyboard, guitars and drums and now we are seeing a touch of violins and string instruments coming into the church.
I am sure that if I am blessed to live for a few more decades that I will see even more change. I may not always understand that change but as long as the Church centers on Jesus and is led by His Holy Spirit than all will be well.
We live in exciting times. Times that we are seeing the movement of the Holy Spirit in so many wonderful ways. Times that we are being given the opportunity to stand up for Christ and be Christ to those around us.
This morning we are invited to participate in one of the things that strengthens the Church – Holy Communion….
Holy Communion – Prayer – Invitation – Blessing
