The Spiritually Dead Christian Series

The Spiritually Dead Christian

If you have your Bible, please open it to Revelation 3. We are going to look at a lot of scripture today, but that is where we will start. A kindergarten teacher was observing her classroom of children while they drew. She would occasionally walk around to see each child’s artwork. As she goes to one little girl who was working diligently, she asked what her drawing was. The girl replied, “I’m drawing God.” The teacher paused and said, “But no one know what God looks like. "Without missing a beat or looking up from her drawing, the little girl replied, “Well, they will in a minute!”

As I mentioned last week, we are in this 3-part series on the state of many Christians today. Last week was The Unsaved Christian and this week is The Spiritually Dead Christian. Many Christians today have let their fire go out and are no longer on fire for the Lord. Let us look at Revelation Chapter 3 starting in verse 1.

READ REVELATION 3:1-6

A few weeks ago, we looked at the letter written to the Church of Ephesus. Sardis was a town that was not too far away from Ephesus and was the second closest city to Ephesus of the churches mentioned in Revelation by John. Sardis was also the capital of the Lydian Empire at the time. So, at the time that this letter is written, Sardi is this big and booming city and like Ephesus, it also had this big church full of Christians. Notice how the Church of Sardis is recognized for their works and for their reputation. They were a church that had action and was in the community and they were active, but just like Ephesus they were doing it for the wrong reasons. They were more focused on their reputation than people`s eternal destination.

“I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but...”

We just talked about how drastically the word “but” can change things. Everything leading up to that the three-lettered word had been fine. They were acknowledged for their works. They were commended for their reputation. Everything seems to be going good here. I can imagine being the leader of the Church of Sardis and opening this letter and up until this point, I have been smiling and in a good mood and I probably feel like I am about to get a huge pat on the back from John. Look at the rest of that verse.

“I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.”

Complete change of energy here. Like the letter to Ephesus, this one quickly goes down here. See, Sardis had the reputation for being alive, but Jesus knew the reality that they were dead. Many Christians today have the reputation for being Spiritually alive, but Jesus knows the reality that they are as dead as a doornail. Like Sardis, they too are more focused on their reputation than their eternal destination. They have a heart problem. Look at verse 2.

“Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.”

The first two words of that verse show the reality of the Church of Sardis. A church in a deep spiritual coma. A church that is in a deep coma and headed straight for death.

“Wake up, and strengthen what remains”

This shows that there is indeed hope for Sardis. Jesus does not say wake up and build something up. Jesus does not say wake up and tear something down and start over. Instead, Jesus says to wake up and strengthen what is already there. This next part is for the Dead Christians in here... Wake up and strengthen what remains in you. In the early years during World War 2 before the United States was attacked and joined the war, we were often referred to as the sleeping giant. As a matter of fact, a Japanese Admiral is quoted for saying this after the attack on Pearl Harbor:

“I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him will terrible resolve.”

America was this big and mighty nation. The strongest nation in the world but it did not matter because we were in a coma. We were in a coma, and we slept while the evil rose around us in Europe and Asia and it took a devasting attack on our homeland before we awoke from our deep sleep and got to work. What is it going to take for the Christians in that same coma to awaken and get to work? The devil has attacked this nation. He has attacked the American Church. He has attacked Central Baptist Church. He has attacked your family and he has attacked you. I mean what else must happen before you wake up?