Text: Revelation 3:1-6
OPEN:
My wife and I are careful with what we watch on television, and we have our favorites: Downton Abbey, Blue Bloods, most anything on HGTV. One very popular show that we've never watched is "The Walking Dead." The Walking Dead is an American post-apocalyptic horror drama television series that is based on the comic book series of the same name. It stars a sheriff's deputy who awakens from a coma to find a post-apocalyptic world dominated by flesh-eating zombies. He sets out to find his family and encounters many other survivors along the way. Hollywood has given us a name for corpses that walk about as though they are living, but are really dead. The word is "zombie."
Though it may shock some or even many of you to hear it, I need to inform you that there are zombies among us. This is nothing new. It's as old as the passage we're reading today in Revelation chapter 3. The danger is real and it can destroy you if you’re not aware of it and not courageous enough to do something about it.
It is notable that Sardis was so confident it could not be overcome that it failed to guard its walls adequately. In the dead of the night a band of brave soldiers climbed up the sides of the ravine and entered an unwatched gate and overthrew the city. Thus, Sardis was a city characterized by a complacent spirit; however, unlike the other messages in Revelation that we've seen, in the letter to the church in Sardis there is nothing that has a bearing on the city as such. Neither pagan opposition nor heretical teaching threatened this church.
The church in this city is the least attractive of the seven churches to whom these letters are written. Our Lord finds nothing to commend about it. Here is his appraisal of it, given to us in the first verse of Chapter 3:
"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."
The tragic fact was that spiritual life had been crowded out of the church by pointless activity. The church was contaminated with the world -- inward decay, spiritual dry rot. In the same way, we are in tremendous spiritual danger when the context of our lives supersedes the content of our lives.
We are in constant danger of settling for the outward appearance of religion in place of the inward substance of relationship.
I. WE ARE IN DANGER OF BEING SATISFIED WITH THE OUTWARD APPEARANCE OF BEING RELIGIOUS.
1. The key word in verse one is “name.”
It is the Greek word onoma, and it means literally “reputation, title – official designation.”
It means that on the outside the Church at Sardis was officially open for business, giving every evidence of life, vitality, energy, but in reality they were dead. There was a reputation, but no reality.
2. As in all these letters, the life of the church is revealed in its actions. Our Lord says, as he does in most of the letters, "I know your works."
In Sardis these were works that were done to impress people. They gave this church a name to live. They had a good reputation, but it was actually a dead church.
The members of it were for the most part not even believers. They were not spiritually alive.
They were what we would call "nominal Christians." Nominal comes from the word "name" -- someone who has a name for something. Our Lord has declared, "You have a name of being alive, but you are dead!"
There was a time, apparently, when this church was alive, when it was filled with people who knew the Lord. That is the way they won a reputation. Here was a church that once had a great ministry but it had slipped away from them. It once had much impact in the city of Sardis, but now nothing is happening.
3. This church in Sardis was so devoid of life that it actually had no struggles going on within it.
Notice the difference between it and the other churches. There are no Jewish accusers of this church even though there was a large colony of Jews in the city of Sardis. They ignored the church, or perhaps did not even know of its existence.
There were no false apostles here. There were no domineering Nicolaitans who needed to be guarded against. There were no female seducers, as at Thyatira.
There was nothing.
How does this happen?
When we lose our passion for our relationship with Jesus Christ and become preoccupied with what others think about us – allowing ourselves to become spiritually schizophrenic – keep up appearances/reputation while ignoring or avoiding the absence of spiritual depth and substance in our lives.
II. WE ARE ALSO IN DANGER OF SETTLING FOR CHRISTIAN CULTURE RATHER THAN CHRIST HIMSELF.
1. Christian activity is not adequate in and of itself.
Another key part of Rev. 3:1 is the phrase, “I know your works.” The Lord says to these experts in their Christian culture, these busy believers, “Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God."
If we're not careful, busy-ness fills our time and keeps us from thinking, so we never have to face ourselves in light of who Christ is and what He wants for us.
So, what’s the solution to the problem? The remedy is mentioned in verse 4:
“Yet you have still a few persons in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes; they will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.”
The solution is focusing on Christ and not being obsessed with Christian activity.
2. There is constant danger of settling into the comfortable activity of Christian culture and losing sight of the desperate need to walk with Christ for yourself.
You will be tempted to rely on others’ spirituality, church attendance, church activities and ministries, rather than walking with Christ personally.
Does your spirituality consist of a set of habits or a passion for the person of Jesus Christ?
CLOSE:
Some of us are in real danger and we don’t even know it. We can’t see it, we can’t hear it, we can’t feel it. We're in danger when....
We tend to read devotional material but never find time enough to read God’s Word.
We find yourselves talking about church, but never seriously seek the Savior for ourselves.
We attend church because it’s expected, but never come expecting God to speak to our hearts and change our lives.
We are fluent in the language of Christianese, but ignore speaking to the Father in prayer.
We substitute praise & worship for confession and repentance.
Instead of a passion for Christ, we opt for popularity among friends.
Instead of being crushed/broken before him, we do everything possible to appear to have it all together and be in need of nothing or no one.
We are so comfortable with Christianity that we’ve anesthetized ourselves against the penetrating Christ.
Would you pray with me right now that you will allow God rescue you from the Walking Dead, and that Christ will ignite a passion in your heart for Him and Him alone?
(Dr. Dane Fowlkes)
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