I read a story this week, from an old Reader’s Digest, about a cat was run over by a car. The cat belonged to 4-year-old Billy, and before he could find out about his cat’s death, his mother quickly disposed of the remains. After a few days, though, Billy finally asked about the cat.
“Billy, the cat died,” his mother explained. Then, in an attempt to comfort Billy, his mother said to him, “It’s all right. He’s up in heaven with God.”
Billy was puzzled by his mother’s statement. “What in the world would God want with a dead cat?”
Now, before I go on let me make it clear that I am not making a theological statement about the state of the dead. What I am doing, however, is making a strong statement about those whom God will take with Him to heaven when Jesus Christ returns to this earth. Will God be taking anyone dead to Heaven? No, of course not! The Scriptures make clear that when Jesus returns, the faithful dead will have life returned to them before He takes them to heaven. And, we are told in Revelation 21:4, death will not exist in heaven or on the new earth. After all, what in the world would God want with dead people?
God’s plan has never once involved that which is dead, but that which is alive. Even the crucifixion of Jesus would have been useless without His resurrection; for it is in the fact that He lives again that we gain our hope of eternity. And so, make no mistake about it: God has no use for that which is dead.
It is important to bear this in mind as we take a look at our letter of study this morning. Today, we will look at the letter written to the church of Sardis – the fifth church in our series on the seven churches of Revelation. So join me, please, as we hear the Word of God spoken from the 3rd chapter of Revelation, beginning at verse 1 (read vv. 1-6)….
As we read this letter, there are two things that stand out to me right away. The first thing I notice is that unlike any of the other churches we have studied thus far, Sardis has nothing good said about it. Did you notice that? Of all seven of the churches God writes to, Sardis is the only one for whom He has nothing to commend. In fact, the only thing that even comes close to a positive statement is found at the end of verse one, where Jesus says that this is a church that has a reputation for being a living church, even though it’s actually a dying church. This is a church that was obviously once very active, and had made a reputation for itself; but now that reputation – that reminiscence of the glory of days past – is all that is left. Resting on the laurels of their past accomplishments, they no longer feel the need to move forward, and as a result, begin to petrify.
The second thing that stands out to me is how Jesus recognises that this church is really dead. What did He say was the indicator? – what they were doing! “I know your works” He says to Sardis, “and it is your works that tell me you are not living but dead.” Now, the Scriptures tell us that salvation is a gift from God. “By grace are you saved by faith” we are told in Ephesians 2, verses 8 and 9. “It is not of yourself, but a gift from God. Not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Let no one argue the concrete truth that salvation is a gift that cannot be earned. But here in our passage in Revelation, we discover that what God is doing is He is using the works as the indicator of just how saved the church really is – just how alive in the faith they really are.
You know, there are a lot of congregations, even today, even in the Seventh-day Adventist church, that would receive this same declaration from God. I’ve heard them referred to as the churches of the Frozen Chosen. You know what I’m talking about. The churches that come together for church each week and talk a lot about God’s salvation, but have lost their drive to do something with it. They talk a lot about what it was like to be saved, and the zeal they had once upon a time, but there is nothing new happening.
It reminds me of a small community that lived along the Atlantic coast. The weather was particularly turbulent in this area, and there was a reef that ran just a few miles off shore. Over the years, many ships had struck the reef in bad weather, and the community decided that it was necessary to form a search and rescue brigade. So they purchased some land and built an emergency shelter. They brought in specialists to train them in how to safely conduct rescue missions. They purchased the highest quality equipment. It was a significant investment of time and resources, but the community was finally able to serve in an emergency, and over the years the rescue brigade saved dozens of lives.
As time passed, however, and nautical technologies improved, there were fewer ships going down on the reef, and the rescue brigade became less active. The weekly meetings to train and drill turned into social gatherings. The emergency shelter became a community hall of sorts, the rescue equipment stored away to make room for a shuffleboard and pool table. The former search and rescue volunteers would gather and reminisce about successful missions of days gone by, while the new volunteers would listen in awe.
This carried on from week to week, until one night during a particularly rough storm, an alarm came in that a ship had gone down with a large crew on board. Time was of the essence –lives were being lost – but there was little that could be done. The men were not well enough prepared; those who had received the training were too long inactive to be of use, and the others were not adequately trained so as to be safe. What’s more, they couldn’t get at the rescue equipment, and even if they could, it had not been properly taken care of. That night, they were caught off guard, and it cost them greatly.
An important point should be made here: up until that night, they still called themselves the search and rescue brigade. They still gathered at the rescue hall, still talked about search and rescue work, and for all intents and purposes, they still appeared to be a search and rescue brigade. But there was one element that was no longer present, a vital element – they weren’t doing the work of a search and rescue brigade.
Friends, there are far too many churches that started off as churches, but aren’t churches any more. Yes, they say they are; yes, they meet at a church building and sit in church pews; yes, they have everything needed to be a church – the hymnals, the Bibles, the declarations of faith. To all appearances, they are a church. But based on what they are doing, they are nothing more than a social club. Rather than serving as a hospital for sinners, many a church has become a hotel for the saints. And when the call comes to go out and help rescue a dying world that is going down with millions aboard, they don’t know what to do.
It was in this state that God had found the church of Sardis. And to this church – to all churches – He gives instruction as to how to get out of this near-dead condition. Notice the call given in verses 2 and 3….
“You are at the point of death” Jesus says, “but there’s still hope.” We may be living on borrowed time, but it means there’s still time left. There may be someone here today whose spiritual life is in a comatose state, but God has said that as long as there’s a breath of life, there’s hope. And friends, I know that even if a church seems like it’s as dead as it can possibly be, there’s hope; even if someone is so spiritually dead that they could be buried right now, there’s hope; there’s hope even for the dead, because my Jesus is in the business of bringing the dead back to life.
Notice what Jesus commands the church to do: He commands them to be watchful. “You want to make sure your spiritual life doesn’t die?” Jesus asks. “Then be on the alert at all times.” It has been said that the cost of freedom is eternal vigilance, and this is especially true of the freedom we receive in Jesus Christ. If we’re not watchful – if we don’t carefully guard this gift of salvation we have, it can be taken away from us.
Being watchful is so important for God’s church that it’s mentioned twice in this command. And pay attention to the warning given if we’re not watchful. “If you’re not watching” Jesus says, “I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not realise what’s happening until it is too late.” Turn with me please, to the gospel of Luke, chapter 12, and read with me starting at verse 37 (read vv. 37-40)…. Jesus is making two points here, which are worth our consideration when it comes to why we must maintain this state of constant watchfulness.
The first reason to watch, we are told, is because when Jesus returns, it will already be too late if you’re not prepared. We do not know the day or the hour of Jesus’ return, but what we can be certain of is this: it’s closer today than it was yesterday, and it’s closer in this moment than it was an hour ago, even a minute ago. Every second that passes brings us one second closer to Jesus’ return, and so we must treat every moment as though it is the moment He will appear.
Anyone who knows the history of the Adventist church knows that our founders started out believing they knew when Jesus would return. As they studied the prophecies of the Word of God, they became convinced that His return was imminent. When it didn’t happen as expected –that day we mark as the Great Disappointment on October 22, 1844 – many began to doubt and fall into discouragement. It was a few weeks after the Great Disappointment that William Miller wrote these words to the discouraged Advent believers:
“Although surrounded with enemies and scoffers, yet my mind is perfectly calm, and my hope in the coming of Christ is as sure as ever…. I have fixed my mind upon another time, and here I mean to stand until God gives me more light. – And that is To-day, TO-DAY, and TO-DAY, until He comes, and I see Him for whom my soul yearns.”
Friends, today could be the day Jesus comes. Today could be the end of time and the beginning of eternity. Today could be the day of reckoning. And even if Jesus does not appear, there is no guarantee that you will live to see tomorrow, and so today could very well be the last day you live before Jesus returns. Would you be ready if He came in this moment? Would you be ready if this were the last moment you had before facing Jesus? Have you put your trust in the Saviour? His call to us today is to be ready at all times – to hold to Him as our Saviour and live every moment in anticipation of His return.
Another reason we are told to be watchful, according to our passage in Luke, is because there is someone else who would like to steal in while our guard is down. Someone whom we are told in Scripture has made it his chief aim to steal, to kill, and to destroy that which God has created. Turn with me please to 1st Peter chapter 5 and verse 8…. Make no mistake about it, we are told to be watchful because if we are not, we risk being consumed.
A story is told about a meeting Satan had with his chief demons. Christianity was spreading rapidly and growing fervently, and they needed to devise a way to undermine the work. The arch deceiver called for suggestions.
“We could bring some more hypocrites into the church” said one.
“No,” said the devil, “the Christians realise that there will always be hypocrites, and are teaching each other to look to Jesus. That won’t work.”
“What about bringing in some fierce persecutions?” suggested another. “If we make being a Christian unbearable, they’ll run away for sure.”
“That might get some” agreed the prince of darkness. “But what we’ve found is that when we bring in persecution, the few that leave are replaced by dozens more who are convicted by the faith of those who remain. It’s not a successful enough campaign.”
Many ideas were suggested, discussed, and thrown out, when at last Lucifer turned to his council. “I think what would work best” he declared “is to make the Christians lose sight of the return of their God. Yes, I think that would work.”
“You mean, tell them He’s not coming back?” questioned one of the council.
“No,” replied Satan, “that would be foolish. If we told them He wasn’t coming, they’d see right through it. But,” he said, “get them to think He’s not coming for a long time, and we’ll make some progress. Remind them of how generations before thought He was coming back in their time, and it never happened. Make them believe that there is are still too many things to happen before He returns – too many prophecies to be fulfilled – yes, that will lull them into thinking there’s still time. Don’t get them to forget it altogether – oh no; just get them to think about it in a distant, almost unforeseeable sort of way. Once we get them to believe that the return of this Jesus couldn’t possibly be as close as their Book says, they’ll stop concerning themselves with being ready. And that’s when we shall have them.”
The chief demons looked at each other and smiled, and then departed to fulfill their assignment.
I fear that for too long, we have fallen for that deception. For too long, we have been unfaithful in our watchfulness for our Lord’s return. Too many have realised too late that they were not ready. We have lost sight of the nearness of Christ’s return, and it has come upon us as a thief. As Adventists, too many of us are waiting for the passing of Sunday Laws before we will believe the end is here. But by then, friends, it may be too late. We say, “Jesus is coming again,” but live as though He’s not coming for years. Too many a Christian has fallen asleep during their watch. Too many a Christian is going to church, but isn’t ready to go to heaven. Too many a church is at the point of death because they have failed to sound the cry of their Lord’s return. The church has become a hotel for the saints because we think there’s still plenty of time to be that
hospital for the sinners.
“Watch out!” is the call from God this morning. We are living on borrowed time, friends, and Jesus is coming. How will He find you? If we want to be ready, then we must be watching for His return. Until He returns, your cry and mine must be, “Today, Today, Today is when He will come for me, and I will be ready.”
To those who were ready at His return, Jesus gives a precious promise. Revelation chapter 3, verse 5…. To the one who overcomes – to the one who is ready. And there may be someone out there today who is asking, “How can I overcome? How can I be ready?” Turn with me please, to our last passage of Scripture, where the answer is found. Revelation chapter 12, and verse 11….
How are we made ready? How do we overcome? We overcome by the blood of the Lamb. What that means is that we put our trust in the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ as the only way to be made worthy of heaven. It was because of our sinfulness that He shed His blood, and because of His shed blood that we are made sinless. “For God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that through Him the world might be saved.” For those who believe, the return of Jesus brings no fear, but joy, for those who put their trust in His sacrifice will be found worthy at His appearing.
And we overcome by the word of our testimony. Now let me ask you this: Can you testify to something you have not been a part of? No. To have a testimony, you must have a connection to what it is you are testifying of. What this means, then, is that to overcome, we must have a relationship with the One in Whose sacrifice we have put our trust. Putting your trust in Jesus is not a one-time event, but a daily, moment-by-moment, any-second-now-He’s-coming-back-for-me-and-I-want-to-be-ready event. If you’re at that point today, then this is your chance to be ready – today is the day of your salvation.
(Appeal & prayer)
