YOU SNOOZE YOU LOOSE

Revelation 3:1-6

By this time some of you may be thinking how many churches are there? Is there any end to this? Well you may be pleased to hear that there are seven Churches. And today we’re looking at the fifth, the Church of Sardis which means only two more Sundays to go. But don’t get too excited.

Well our Bible reading this morning is taken from Revelation 3:1-6. Most of the verses are on the screen but if you want you can follow along in your Bibles.  We read these verses earlier in our service.

So what was Church of Sardis like? What were its strengths and weaknesses? What does God have to say to these people? Well in most cases there seems to be a pattern God starts with the good points and then later on He gets to the bad points Well I hate to disappoint you but today is a little different.

We’re not going to be starting on a very good note today! God has absolutely nothing good to say to these people. He’s not pleased with this Church at all.

These people seem to have it pretty easy, there’s no mention of any persecution. These aren’t poor people; they aren’t facing any kind of difficulties. They aren’t unpopular. Their well liked. What more could they ask for?

But they would have been far better off if they had been suffering. You see they had become comfortable and content with the way things were.

In the past this had been a great church. In Verse 1 Jesus says; “...You have a reputation of being alive.” In the past this had been a vibrant church. But judging from these verses my guess is that the glory days were over and their fire had gone out. There wasn’t much left.

Since those earlier days of enthusiasm the vast majority had become lazy, at least in regard to Spiritual matters. However and I thank God for this there were still a few who had remained faithful. There are always a few faithful ones even in the deadest Church.

But I’m not here this morning to talk about the faithful my message is about the unfaithful! These people were living on their reputation and they felt that was fine. They were perfectly content to live with the reputation that had been earned in the past.

So what’s so wrong with that? And the community seemed pleased

With them.

At the time this letter was written this once great city had been attacked and defeated by their enemies twice all because the guards had fallen asleep and left the city unprotected.

And the same thing was happening to the Church. They had lost their zeal, their joy and enthusiasm had disappeared. They had fallen asleep. In God’s eyes they were dead.

No doubt they met every Sunday morning and during the service they would stand up and share their experiences of the past with each other. They would talk about all the wonderful things that had taken place in the past. What God had done in their life 30 years ago.

But there were no today experiences, just what took place in the past, that’s all! I feel as if these people were living on a reputation that had died a long time ago.

From time to time when I’m speaking with people. Usually when I’m standing on the kettles a Legion member might come along and tell me how much they appreciated what the Salvation Army did for them in the War. I think it’s great that our forefathers built such a reputation and that it’s still remembered today but we can’t live on the past. We need to build our own reputation not live on somebody else’s.

What took place 50 years ago doesn’t do much for the grandchildren and great grandchildren of those veterans. We can’t rest contented in that.

As I said before these people met together every Sunday, they sang their songs, they testified to each other, they held activities during the week for members, and they probably had good music. No doubt they had programs, perhaps even a food bank; they were visible in the Community to a certain degree. But there was definitely something missing in their ministry.

You see the Church was born when God’s Holy Spirit was poured out on the Day of Pentecost. The Holy Spirit was their life line. But something happened, over the years as generation after generation passed away the people began to drift away from the real purpose Jesus had intended for them. They had forgotten to listen to the Holy Spirit.

They had forgotten about prayer and Bible Study. They were too busy with other things. They had things to do their schedule was full doing the things they wanted to do And because these people had grieved the Holy Spirit they had fallen asleep and begun to die. The things that used to be important weren’t considered to be necessary anymore. They only had time for what they wanted. As Christians it’s important that we listen to what God’s Holy Spirit is telling us, or we will become totally useless.

We can have all the programs and activities there are but when we loose sight of God, when we become contented and lazy, when we leave the Holy Spirit out of our plans all the programs and activities in the world aren’t going to make a difference.

“It’s been said that if the Holy Spirit was removed from the life of a Church, 90% of it’s activities would just carry on as though nothing had ever happened. That’s sad, very sad! But true, very true! “

We could loose our whole evangelical focus and still be in operation. I pray that it never happens but it could! We have enough respect in this Community so that if we never ever held another Church service

The people would still love us. They might even love us more. The Food Bank would still be open. The Kettles would still go in the Malls at Christmastime and people would still praise us for our good works. 

How do I know that could happen, I know because it’s already happened in many places? I Know Towns where all remains of the Salvation Army is a Thrift Store and Family services. I pray that it never happens in Gibson’s.

It’s so easy for me to stand on the Kettle and take the credit for what was done over 50 years ago in a War that took place before I was even born.

It’s so easy to become proud of the past and I could even claim it as my own reputation.

These people didn’t earn their reputation. Their respect and reputation was something that had been earned by their forefathers. They were just reaping the benefits. Just as sometimes we reap the benefits of our forefathers.

Most of these people had given up on God; they weren’t doing anything worthwhile for the cause. They weren’t concerned about leading men and women to Christ.  They had lost sight of God and they didn’t have a testimony to give. They had fallen asleep. All they could do was talk about the past. Because it was all they knew.

There wasn’t anything recent worth reporting. They took pride in what had been done, they loved their good reputation and they wanted all the praise and glory they could get. They were in a Spiritual rut. And it’s just as easy for us to slip in to that same rut. All we have to do is just for one moment take our eyes off God and look at ourselves.

The danger of living in the past is that we neglect the present. We need a today experience! I’d rather hear what God is doing now instead of what He did 20 years ago. Our experience with God must be a continuous experience, it has to be ongoing.

These people were suffering from Spiritual death. God was fed up with these people; they were of no use to him in their dead lifeless condition. They may have looked good on the outside but what God saw on the inside was totally rotten. On the inside they had become corroded and rusted. Because of their condition they had lost their effectiveness, their witness had disappeared.

These people needed a Spiritual awakening; they needed a wake up call. THEY NEEDED REVIVAL!

These people had fallen asleep. They had become spiritually dead and they didn’t even realize what had taken place. A very scary situation to be in! But one we can all find ourselves caught in if we’re not careful. There are problems with falling asleep;

 (1) We don’t know we’re asleep until we wake up. We could sleep forever and never know the difference, until we wake up. These people had become so spiritually dead that didn’t even realize what had taken place. They were in a deep, deep sleep! They were in a spiritual coma. Someone had to wake them up!

(2) When we’re asleep we don’t like the sound of an alarm clock. Sometimes when the alarm goes off in the morning I’ll push the snooze button and go back to sleep. I just don’t want to get up. And these people didn’t want to wake up either they were very content to remain in their Spiritual slumber. These people just didn’t want to wake up! They were comfortable and they didn’t want to be disturbed.

This Church certainly didn’t have to worry about persecution. They weren’t worth the effort. Why would anyone bother with them? They weren’t causing any kind of trouble; they certainly weren’t any kind of threat. They just kept to themselves. Sure they had their meetings on Sundays but they stayed inside their building, they didn’t interfere. They didn’t even speak about their faith to anyone outside the Church. If you didn’t know what a Christian was you certainly wouldn’t find out from these people.

Everything they did was inward focused, what activities they had existed only for Church members. There was nothing in this Church to spark the interest of any outsider. Who would want to become a member of such a dead lifeless group as that? There wasn’t much excitement of enthusiasm to be found.

In Verse 2 God says Wake Up! He’s their alarm clock!

The first step towards renewal in a dying Church is an awareness that something is wrong. When something is alive there is growth and reproduction. If any of these elements are missing, then the Church is either dying or already dead. These elements certainly didn’t exist in the Church Of Sardis!  God is calling them to wake up!

Secondly God says Watch! Why should we watch?

(1) Matthew 26:41 - “Watch and pray So that you do not enter temptation.”

(2) Mark 13:37 - “Watch! So that you are prepared for the Lord’s coming.”

(3) Acts 20:29 - “Be on guard or watch for false teachers.”

(4) I Peter 5:8 - “Watch or be alert so you will not be devoured by Satan.”

(5) Revelation 3:2-”Watch so that your service will not be incomplete.”

God is continuously watching for our continuous love, loyalty and service!

God also tells them to Remember and be Obedient!

“Keep on remembering; never allow yourself to forget.” “Never stop keeping the commands of the Gospel.”

God told these people to remember and obey the truth they had been taught when they first believed in Jesus, to get back to the basics. We too need to be continually be growing in our knowledge of Jesus Christ, we do this through Bible study and prayer. Most important of all we need to remember what Jesus has done for us on the cross.

And finally they were told to repent!

These people needed to repent of their laziness; they had drifted away from the original purpose which God had called them too. They needed to receive Spiritual renewal in their lives as individuals. They needed to repent. Do we need to repent as well? Have we become spiritually lazy? Are we alive and well? That’s a question only we as individuals are able to answer. Think about it. Is our experience today’s experience or are we living on our past glories? We need that fresh new experience today.

“Wake up! Be watchful! Repent! Remember the word you received and obey it!”

Yes it’s good to guard our spiritual heritage, but we must be careful not to embalm it. It’s not good enough just to have a great history; we need a faith that’s alive and well today! What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?