The Dead Church (The Church Of Sardis)

Illus: Some churches have cemeteries on their properties. Your church does not have to have a cemetery to be a dead church.

Illus: Vance Havner once commented that ministries often begin with a man who has a vision. That vision is captured by others and becomes a movement.

As the movement gains followers and momentum, it becomes a machine.

After a while, people forget all about the vision and what was once a movement becomes nothing more than a monument to a man and a glorious past.

There is always the danger that any church can die.

Illus: As Denis Lyle has so eloquently written, “Tragically, many churches are dead. Like the rotting carcass of Lazarus, these church bodies have the foul stench of death upon them. They have the appearance of life, but they are in actuality, dead. Their sanctuary is A Morgue with a Steeple.

• They are congregations of corpses.

• They have undertakers for ushers.

• Embalmers for elders.

• Morticians for ministers.

• Their pastor graduated from the Cemetery.

• The choir master is the local coroner.

• They sing, "Embalmed in Gilead."

At the Rapture, they will be the first churches taken for the Bible says, “the dead in Christ shall rise first”

Illus: One Sunday morning, the pastor noticed little Alex staring up at the large plaque that hung in the foyer of the church. The plaque was covered with names, and small American flags were mounted on either side of it.

• The seven-year-old had been staring at the plaque for some time, so the pastor walked up, stood beside him and said quietly, “Good morning, Alex.”

• “Good morning, Pastor,” replied the young man, still focused on the plaque.

• He said “Pastor Jones, what is this?” Alex asked.

• “Well, son, it’s a memorial to all the men and women who have died in the service.”

• Soberly, they stood together, staring at the large plaque. Little Alex’s voice was barely audible when he finally managed to ask, “Which one, the one at 9:00 am or the one at 10:30?”

Today in the book of Revelation we want to talk about the DEAD CHURCH OF SARDIS.

Illus: When we write a personal letter, we conclude it by signing our name at the bottom.

• That lets the one we are writing to know who we are.

• But, when the Lord writes, He tells them, up front, Who He is!

Look at verse 1, we read, "...These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars..."

This particular church, the church of Sardis, is so typical of many churches that you will find in every city in America today.

I personally believe the church of Sardis is most like the American churches out of the seven churches in Revelations.

That is, people saw it as being a LIVELY CHURCH, but yet the Lord saw it as being DEAD.

Sometimes it is hard for us to DISTINGUISH A DEAD CHURCH from a LIVE CHURCH.

There are two kinds of dead churches.

(1) One is EASILY RECOGNIZED,

(2)The other is harder to recognize.

For example:

1. The easiest to detect is the dead church. As soon as you walk into a church like this, you know that God has long since departed the premises if ever was there.

2. The hardest to detect a dead church.

The one that has been camouflaged with teenagers with their hands in the air jumping up down!

The lights are dim and they have flood lights, mirror balls and the smoke machine operating at full force.

Someone said, this church is alive!!!

• I am not going to judge their church service, but I wonder how many of them when they leave will they go home and shack up with the partner beside them.

• I am not going to judge their church service, but when they leave will they stop smoking their weed.

• I am not going to judge their church service, but when they leave will they continue to curse, lie, watching the filthy they watch on television.

One can only hope these JUMPING JACK CHRISTIANS are sincerely worshipping the Lord and not caught up in some emotional setting.

But so often many of the churches today gives the appearance of being ALIVE, BUT THEY ARE DEAD!

Such was the case with the church of Sardis.

Look at two things that needed to be considered before revival could take place.

(1)FIRST, CONSIDER THE PASTOR.

Again, the letter is being addressed to the pastor. In verse 1 we read, "And unto the angel (Pastor) of the church in Sardis..."

The word ANGEL here is messenger. That is what a pastor is, he is GOD’S MESSENGER.

God give him the MESSAGE and in return he gives the message to the congregation.