WEBVTT 00:00:04.400 --> 00:00:06.379 Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of 00:00:06.379 --> 00:00:09.000 Trinity Sermons. This week we are continuing 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:11.679 our sermon series called Dear Church, where we're 00:00:11.679 --> 00:00:14.179 looking at the letters written by Christ to the 00:00:14.179 --> 00:00:16.899 churches in the book of Revelation. How do you 00:00:16.899 --> 00:00:19.699 know if you're really alive? Are you breathing? 00:00:19.899 --> 00:00:22.679 Are you moving? Are you growing? Those are all 00:00:22.679 --> 00:00:25.239 pretty good signs, but how do we know if a church 00:00:25.239 --> 00:00:28.260 is alive? The church in Sardis had a reputation 00:00:28.260 --> 00:00:30.879 for being alive, but when Jesus looked at it, 00:00:30.899 --> 00:00:33.869 he says, you are really dead. So listen in as 00:00:33.869 --> 00:00:35.990 Rob talks to us about what it means to take the 00:00:35.990 --> 00:00:45.149 pulse of a church. Our readings for today are 00:00:45.149 --> 00:00:48.090 from the book of Revelation, beginning with chapter 00:00:48.090 --> 00:00:53.210 1, verses 4 and 5, and chapter 2, verses 1 to 00:00:53.210 --> 00:00:57.429 7. John to the seven churches in the province 00:00:57.429 --> 00:01:01.679 of Asia. Grace and peace to you from him who 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:05.420 is, and who was, and who is to come, and from 00:01:05.420 --> 00:01:08.480 the seven spirits before his throne, and from 00:01:08.480 --> 00:01:11.359 Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:14.219 firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the 00:01:14.219 --> 00:01:18.019 kings of the earth. To the angel of the church 00:01:18.019 --> 00:01:22.700 in Sardis write, These are the words of him who 00:01:22.700 --> 00:01:25.980 holds the seven spirits of God and the seven 00:01:25.980 --> 00:01:30.819 stars. You have a reputation of being alive, 00:01:31.120 --> 00:01:35.700 but you're dead. Wake up, strengthen what remains 00:01:35.700 --> 00:01:40.159 and is about to die, for I have found your deeds 00:01:40.159 --> 00:01:43.159 unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:45.400 therefore, what you have received and heard. 00:01:45.620 --> 00:01:49.319 Hold it fast and repent. But if you do not wake 00:01:49.319 --> 00:01:52.140 up, I will come like a thief, and you will not 00:01:52.140 --> 00:01:56.090 know at what time I will come to you. Yet you 00:01:56.090 --> 00:01:59.049 have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled 00:01:59.049 --> 00:02:01.790 their clothes. They will walk with me dressed 00:02:01.790 --> 00:02:04.969 in white for they are worthy. The one who is 00:02:04.969 --> 00:02:08.090 victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. 00:02:08.430 --> 00:02:11.210 I will never blot out the name of that person 00:02:11.210 --> 00:02:13.650 from the book of life, but will acknowledge that 00:02:13.650 --> 00:02:17.349 name before my father and his angels. Whoever 00:02:17.349 --> 00:02:20.409 has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says 00:02:20.409 --> 00:02:25.759 to the churches. The word of the Lord. That was 00:02:25.759 --> 00:02:29.379 the famous Monty Python sketch about the dead 00:02:29.379 --> 00:02:32.539 parrot, and we laugh on it because it's kind 00:02:32.539 --> 00:02:35.500 of absurd to imagine somebody who is selling 00:02:35.500 --> 00:02:38.860 a dead parrot and passing it off as a live one, 00:02:39.060 --> 00:02:43.580 and yet there is a bit of spiritual truth to 00:02:43.580 --> 00:02:47.659 that, isn't there? Because is it possible for 00:02:47.659 --> 00:02:53.639 our faith to be dead, and yet we pretend otherwise? 00:02:54.460 --> 00:03:00.680 Actually, is it possible for a church to be spiritually 00:03:00.680 --> 00:03:06.110 lifeless and yet convince itself? that everything 00:03:06.110 --> 00:03:09.909 is absolutely fine, all right? Is it possible 00:03:09.909 --> 00:03:12.389 that we sometimes say, oh, no, no, no, my faith 00:03:12.389 --> 00:03:16.449 is just fine. I'm just resting, right? Or a church 00:03:16.449 --> 00:03:19.449 that says, no, no, no, we're not a dying church. 00:03:19.689 --> 00:03:22.909 Well, look, oh, see, look, we just moved, right? 00:03:23.009 --> 00:03:26.509 We did an activity. We had a program. We ran 00:03:26.509 --> 00:03:29.150 an event. See, we're not dead. And actually, 00:03:29.210 --> 00:03:31.770 look at our church. Look at the beautiful plumage 00:03:31.770 --> 00:03:34.270 of our church, right? The beautiful building. 00:03:34.409 --> 00:03:38.669 the beautiful worship space, the beautiful technology. 00:03:39.490 --> 00:03:45.490 But sometimes that which looks alive is actually 00:03:45.490 --> 00:03:51.449 spiritually lifeless. A person or a church could 00:03:51.449 --> 00:03:54.250 have all the feathers in place, could have all 00:03:54.250 --> 00:03:56.849 the right looks, all the right programs, all 00:03:56.849 --> 00:04:00.110 the right activities, all the right staff, and 00:04:00.110 --> 00:04:04.270 still have no heartbeat. It could just be sitting 00:04:04.270 --> 00:04:09.030 there, nailed to the perch. And I don't know 00:04:09.030 --> 00:04:11.110 about you, but sometimes I walk around and I 00:04:11.110 --> 00:04:14.509 look at buildings that were once churches and 00:04:14.509 --> 00:04:17.529 now they're yoga studios or now they're condos. 00:04:17.689 --> 00:04:20.490 And at one point, a spiritually dead church became 00:04:20.490 --> 00:04:23.269 a really dead church. And now they're not a church 00:04:23.269 --> 00:04:26.050 anymore. And sometimes I wonder, well, what happened 00:04:26.050 --> 00:04:29.149 to that church? You know, why did it die? What 00:04:29.149 --> 00:04:32.290 happened to the people that were in that church? 00:04:32.870 --> 00:04:36.670 Well, we are in the middle of a teaching series, 00:04:36.790 --> 00:04:41.019 which we are calling Dear Church. And what we're 00:04:41.019 --> 00:04:43.800 doing is looking at these ancient letters that 00:04:43.800 --> 00:04:46.439 were written to real churches like 2 ,000 years 00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:50.240 ago in Asia Minor to kind of see what we can 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:53.199 learn from those letters. And I want to just 00:04:53.199 --> 00:04:55.139 do a little bit of an activity with you just 00:04:55.139 --> 00:04:56.519 to see how well you've been paying attention 00:04:56.519 --> 00:04:59.220 over the past four weeks. Here, Polly, let's 00:04:59.220 --> 00:05:00.839 just set you right there. Let's just set you 00:05:00.839 --> 00:05:03.399 right there. Okay, good bird. All right, good. 00:05:04.829 --> 00:05:08.550 So I wonder if you can help match the description 00:05:08.550 --> 00:05:10.810 with the church. So do you guys remember which 00:05:10.810 --> 00:05:13.490 of the churches was described as a church that 00:05:13.490 --> 00:05:16.709 had lost its first love? Anyone remember? Ephesus. 00:05:16.970 --> 00:05:19.930 That's right, Ephesus. Which of the churches 00:05:19.930 --> 00:05:25.730 did we discover had the phone call was coming 00:05:25.730 --> 00:05:27.769 from inside the building, that it was corrupted 00:05:27.769 --> 00:05:31.000 from the inside? Does anyone remember? Thyatira, 00:05:31.079 --> 00:05:33.720 good. And which was the church that was suffering 00:05:33.720 --> 00:05:37.819 horrible, horrible persecution? Yep, Smyrna. 00:05:37.899 --> 00:05:39.839 And that means that the other church we talked 00:05:39.839 --> 00:05:42.120 about, the Trojan horse that had been kind of 00:05:42.120 --> 00:05:44.819 compromised from the outside, was the church 00:05:44.819 --> 00:05:48.410 in Pergamos. Today, we're going to look at a 00:05:48.410 --> 00:05:51.029 different church. It's the church in the city 00:05:51.029 --> 00:05:54.370 of Sardis. And Sardis was one of the oldest and 00:05:54.370 --> 00:05:57.389 most prestigious cities in Asia Minor, blah, 00:05:57.490 --> 00:05:59.189 blah, blah. We said that about all the churches. 00:05:59.290 --> 00:06:01.269 I'm not going to go into all the details about 00:06:01.269 --> 00:06:03.970 that church. But what I do want to say is that 00:06:03.970 --> 00:06:07.129 by the time the letter in Revelation was written 00:06:07.129 --> 00:06:11.389 to this church, it was a church that was living 00:06:11.389 --> 00:06:15.500 on its reputation. and not its reality anymore. 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:19.740 The church within the city used to be lively 00:06:19.740 --> 00:06:22.339 and vibrant and had like this great reputation. 00:06:22.420 --> 00:06:26.139 But now Jesus says it has a different reality. 00:06:26.519 --> 00:06:29.399 And he begins his letter by saying this. He says, 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:32.660 listen, Sardis, I know your deeds. You have a 00:06:32.660 --> 00:06:37.379 reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 00:06:38.279 --> 00:06:40.660 Or if John Cleese had written this, he would 00:06:40.660 --> 00:06:42.579 say, listen, Sardis, I know you have a reputation 00:06:42.579 --> 00:06:47.800 of being alive, but you have passed on. You have 00:06:47.800 --> 00:06:54.100 ceased to be, right? You're an ex -church. he 00:06:54.100 --> 00:06:56.819 would say. And maybe that church at one point 00:06:56.819 --> 00:06:58.879 was a very, very busy church and it was full 00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:01.199 of all sorts of activity and it had great plumage 00:07:01.199 --> 00:07:03.160 and wonderful facilities and wonderful things 00:07:03.160 --> 00:07:05.420 going on. It looked good from the outside, but 00:07:05.420 --> 00:07:09.800 they were a dead church. They were an ex -church. 00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:12.860 Jesus has always been able to see through the 00:07:12.860 --> 00:07:15.600 exterior to see what's really going on on the 00:07:15.600 --> 00:07:18.800 inside. In fact, I love that exchange he had 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:21.139 when he was talking to the Pharisees and he compared 00:07:21.139 --> 00:07:24.000 the Pharisees. He said they were whitewashed 00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:27.420 tombs as if they looked really good on the outside. 00:07:27.579 --> 00:07:29.459 Oh, white and shiny. But on the inside, they 00:07:29.459 --> 00:07:31.680 were dead. On the inside, they were just filled 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:35.980 with the bones of the dead. And there is a name 00:07:35.980 --> 00:07:38.680 for that, by the way. There's a name for when 00:07:38.680 --> 00:07:42.180 something has the name of Christianity, but doesn't 00:07:42.180 --> 00:07:44.569 have the life of Christianity. When something 00:07:44.569 --> 00:07:48.750 has the name of Jesus, but doesn't have or contain 00:07:48.750 --> 00:07:52.209 the life of Jesus. And we call that nominal Christianity. 00:07:52.949 --> 00:07:55.629 It means you're a Christian, but really in name 00:07:55.629 --> 00:07:58.829 only. And nominal Christianity is so, so, so 00:07:58.829 --> 00:08:02.050 deadly. Because so many people have walked away 00:08:02.050 --> 00:08:05.459 from the church. Because they met someone who, 00:08:05.480 --> 00:08:08.959 though they claimed to be a follower of Jesus, 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:12.500 did not have within them anything close to the 00:08:12.500 --> 00:08:16.339 life of Jesus. They had the name, but they didn't 00:08:16.339 --> 00:08:20.920 have the life. John Stott once wrote, he said, 00:08:20.980 --> 00:08:24.480 the church is not a building to be filled with 00:08:24.480 --> 00:08:29.120 people, but it is a people to be filled with 00:08:29.120 --> 00:08:33.480 God. Sardis had the building. They probably had 00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:36.080 the building filled with people, but there was 00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:39.620 no God in them, right? There they were. If they 00:08:39.620 --> 00:08:42.659 weren't nailed to the perch, they would have 00:08:42.659 --> 00:08:46.799 been pushing up the daisies, as it says. So I 00:08:46.799 --> 00:08:49.299 was just thinking about this, and you guys will 00:08:49.299 --> 00:08:53.549 remember that a few months ago, We had an AED 00:08:53.549 --> 00:08:57.169 installed out here in our lobby. This is in case 00:08:57.169 --> 00:08:59.629 somebody ever has a cardiac arrest here at Trinity. 00:08:59.669 --> 00:09:03.049 We can hopefully be able to revive them. But 00:09:03.049 --> 00:09:07.049 this is a very smart AED. Before it will administer 00:09:07.049 --> 00:09:11.529 a shock to anyone, it first does a test to see 00:09:11.529 --> 00:09:14.730 if they're really dead. It actually tests and 00:09:14.730 --> 00:09:16.789 says, is there a heartbeat? Is there a pulse? 00:09:16.929 --> 00:09:20.269 And if there is, it will not administer a shock. 00:09:21.519 --> 00:09:24.419 It knows if someone's alive. How do you know 00:09:24.419 --> 00:09:27.940 if a church is alive? How do you know if a Christian 00:09:27.940 --> 00:09:31.200 is alive? Well, I want to suggest to you today 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:35.480 that just like the AED, there'll be a pulse, 00:09:35.659 --> 00:09:41.340 a P -U -L -S -E, right? And in this letter, I 00:09:41.340 --> 00:09:43.080 think what Jesus is trying to do is he's trying 00:09:43.080 --> 00:09:47.220 to shock this Sardinian church back to life. 00:09:47.759 --> 00:09:50.539 and remind them of what a fully alive church 00:09:50.539 --> 00:09:52.720 really looks like. And I'm going to call it, 00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:54.460 you know, Pulse, P -U -L -E -C, because I think 00:09:54.460 --> 00:09:56.480 there's probably five things here. And I've given 00:09:56.480 --> 00:09:59.200 you little sermon notes that you can follow along 00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:02.539 if you want to track with me. Let's start with 00:10:02.539 --> 00:10:04.460 the first one. How do you know if a church is 00:10:04.460 --> 00:10:07.419 alive? Well, the first thing to ask is, is the 00:10:07.419 --> 00:10:11.399 church paying attention? I mean, when you find 00:10:11.399 --> 00:10:13.960 someone who has like, you know, passed out on 00:10:13.960 --> 00:10:16.000 the ground, what is the first thing you do? You 00:10:16.000 --> 00:10:18.440 try to wake them up. You try to see if they're 00:10:18.440 --> 00:10:20.340 okay. You might be like, hey, hey, are you okay, 00:10:20.419 --> 00:10:22.220 sir? What's going on? You give them a shake. 00:10:22.360 --> 00:10:26.000 You'd shout, hey, wake up. Are you awake? And 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:28.600 that's the very first thing Jesus does in this 00:10:28.600 --> 00:10:31.980 letter to the church in Sardis. He says, wake 00:10:31.980 --> 00:10:35.289 up. Are you paying attention? Are you there? 00:10:35.509 --> 00:10:37.230 Right? If he had a flashlight, he'd probably 00:10:37.230 --> 00:10:39.350 like shine it in his eyes. Are you with me? Are 00:10:39.350 --> 00:10:42.629 you? Because a living church is a church that 00:10:42.629 --> 00:10:47.789 is awake and is alert to what is going on around 00:10:47.789 --> 00:10:50.000 them. You know, it's very interesting, the history 00:10:50.000 --> 00:10:53.519 of Sardis. It was actually a very strong city 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:56.879 because it was defended in such a way that there 00:10:56.879 --> 00:10:59.120 was cliffs and mountains and all this stuff. 00:10:59.200 --> 00:11:01.659 And enemies could not really get inside Sardis. 00:11:01.659 --> 00:11:04.100 It was so well defended. But twice in its history, 00:11:04.139 --> 00:11:07.080 it was conquered. And both times, it's funny, 00:11:07.179 --> 00:11:11.389 it was because the guards fell asleep. That the 00:11:11.389 --> 00:11:14.750 watchmen stopped keeping watch and they just 00:11:14.750 --> 00:11:19.129 dozed off. And the church inside Sardis apparently 00:11:19.129 --> 00:11:21.269 had done the same thing. They had just slowly 00:11:21.269 --> 00:11:23.889 kind of fallen asleep over time. They got so 00:11:23.889 --> 00:11:26.429 comfortable in their religion. They got so secure 00:11:26.429 --> 00:11:30.629 in their reputation that the culture just crept 00:11:30.629 --> 00:11:34.639 in and they dozed off. And so Jesus is saying, 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:37.679 hey, hey, hey, wake up. Are you with me? Pay 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:40.899 attention. Polly Parrot, wake up, wake up, wake 00:11:40.899 --> 00:11:43.700 up, right? And I think that if Jesus were to 00:11:43.700 --> 00:11:46.799 say something about the church today, he might 00:11:46.799 --> 00:11:48.580 say the very same thing. He might say the church 00:11:48.580 --> 00:11:51.440 is kind of falling asleep. We've stopped paying 00:11:51.440 --> 00:11:54.950 attention to what... Maybe God is calling us 00:11:54.950 --> 00:11:57.330 to do what God is doing in here, but maybe we've 00:11:57.330 --> 00:11:59.549 also stopped paying attention to what is happening 00:11:59.549 --> 00:12:01.870 out in the world. Have we insulated ourselves 00:12:01.870 --> 00:12:04.429 from what is going on in the world? You know, 00:12:04.450 --> 00:12:07.389 R .T. Kendall, he once wrote this. He said, the 00:12:07.389 --> 00:12:10.370 greatest evidence that we are asleep is our lack 00:12:10.370 --> 00:12:14.879 of outrage. over what is tolerated in the church 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:18.299 and what is going on in the world. Not only are 00:12:18.299 --> 00:12:20.860 we indifferent to what's happening before our 00:12:20.860 --> 00:12:24.039 eyes, but we become so used to it that we are 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:27.440 virtually impervious to it, right? It's a sobering 00:12:27.440 --> 00:12:30.519 diagnosis. So let's apply it to Trinity. Trinity, 00:12:30.639 --> 00:12:34.840 are we awake? Are we just going through the motions 00:12:34.840 --> 00:12:36.980 here on a Sunday morning? Are we just going through 00:12:36.980 --> 00:12:39.559 the motions week by week? Or are we awake and 00:12:39.559 --> 00:12:42.639 aware of God's presence? Are we aware of God's 00:12:42.639 --> 00:12:46.139 activity? Are we paying attention to the needs 00:12:46.139 --> 00:12:49.159 of the world that are out there? Or have we become 00:12:49.159 --> 00:12:51.539 just like Sardis? We're comfortable, secure, 00:12:51.879 --> 00:12:54.259 and now we're asleep at our posts. So that's 00:12:54.259 --> 00:12:59.600 the first sign of a church. It's alive. is awake 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:03.600 right it's paying attention the second test though 00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:09.899 is is the church using the spirit's power now 00:13:09.899 --> 00:13:12.659 at the beginning of this this letter jesus says 00:13:12.659 --> 00:13:15.519 to to the sardinians he says remember what it 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:18.820 is you have received he says now it's interesting 00:13:18.820 --> 00:13:21.659 question what have you received well when the 00:13:21.659 --> 00:13:24.379 very first chart church was kicked off on the 00:13:24.379 --> 00:13:27.889 day of pentecost what did they receive They received 00:13:27.889 --> 00:13:32.049 the power of the Holy Spirit. And every church's 00:13:32.049 --> 00:13:37.080 life. depends on the ongoing power of the Holy 00:13:37.080 --> 00:13:39.419 Spirit. In fact, at the end of each and every 00:13:39.419 --> 00:13:41.000 one of the letters that Jesus writes to these 00:13:41.000 --> 00:13:44.940 churches, he says, listen to what the Spirit 00:13:44.940 --> 00:13:49.159 is saying to the churches, right? The power of 00:13:49.159 --> 00:13:52.700 a church does not come from our great programs, 00:13:52.779 --> 00:13:55.240 does not come from our history or our reputation 00:13:55.240 --> 00:13:59.360 or a pastor. Our life comes from the Spirit. 00:14:00.149 --> 00:14:02.070 And if you want to think of it this way, imagine 00:14:02.070 --> 00:14:04.009 again, there's this person who has collapsed. 00:14:04.409 --> 00:14:05.950 What are you going to do? How are you going to 00:14:05.950 --> 00:14:07.629 see if they are awake? Well, the one thing you're 00:14:07.629 --> 00:14:09.289 going to do is you're going to put your head 00:14:09.289 --> 00:14:10.429 down there and you're going to listen. You're 00:14:10.429 --> 00:14:11.830 going to say, oh my gosh, are they breathing? 00:14:12.450 --> 00:14:15.970 Because we know that breath is a sign of life. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:18.700 Well, I don't know if you know this, but in Hebrew 00:14:18.700 --> 00:14:22.820 and in Greek, the word for breath is the very 00:14:22.820 --> 00:14:27.360 same word for spirit. So therefore, if you have 00:14:27.360 --> 00:14:32.080 no spirit in you, then you have no breath in 00:14:32.080 --> 00:14:37.759 you, and then you have no life in you. A person 00:14:37.759 --> 00:14:46.700 dies when their spirit leaves their body. A church 00:14:46.700 --> 00:14:52.320 dies when the spirit leaves the body of the church. 00:14:53.120 --> 00:14:58.360 Right? I don't know. Maybe this parrot here has 00:14:58.360 --> 00:15:02.519 died. Why? Because there's no breath in it. And 00:15:02.519 --> 00:15:05.600 the church ceases to be when there's no breath, 00:15:05.779 --> 00:15:08.399 when there's no spirit, and when there's no life. 00:15:08.779 --> 00:15:11.320 You know, all through the Bible, people were 00:15:11.320 --> 00:15:14.029 petrified about losing the spirit of God. Because 00:15:14.029 --> 00:15:17.009 they knew to lose the Spirit was death. David 00:15:17.009 --> 00:15:19.629 says, God, please don't take your Spirit away 00:15:19.629 --> 00:15:22.470 from me. Several times Paul says, hey, don't 00:15:22.470 --> 00:15:24.830 grieve the Spirit. Don't quench the Spirit. Don't 00:15:24.830 --> 00:15:27.230 resist the Spirit. Why all the worry? Why all 00:15:27.230 --> 00:15:29.590 the concern about losing the Holy Spirit? Because 00:15:29.590 --> 00:15:34.009 they knew. To lose the Spirit of God is to die. 00:15:34.289 --> 00:15:36.889 And when people grieve the Holy Spirit, or they 00:15:36.889 --> 00:15:38.789 quench the Holy Spirit, or they resist the Holy 00:15:38.789 --> 00:15:41.409 Spirit, then yes, the church may keep going on 00:15:41.409 --> 00:15:44.669 its own power. It may have a beautiful building 00:15:44.669 --> 00:15:46.710 and beautiful plumage and all that good stuff, 00:15:46.769 --> 00:15:50.830 but it will be lifeless. It'll just be nailed 00:15:50.830 --> 00:15:54.429 to the perch. I love this quote from John Stott. 00:15:54.610 --> 00:15:56.970 We administer great projects and create impressive 00:15:56.970 --> 00:15:59.470 committees, but we often leave the Holy Spirit 00:15:59.470 --> 00:16:02.879 out. He's rightly been called the forgotten member 00:16:02.879 --> 00:16:06.000 of the Trinity. Only when the church of Christ 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:09.559 is filled with the spirit of Christ can spiritual 00:16:09.559 --> 00:16:14.720 death be banished and a name for life have any 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:19.039 reality behind it. Guys, every single one of 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:22.919 us was born into this family of God by the spirit. 00:16:23.529 --> 00:16:26.470 And every single one of us must continue in that 00:16:26.470 --> 00:16:32.649 family by the Spirit. And a church dies when 00:16:32.649 --> 00:16:36.269 the Spirit of God is no longer allowed to control 00:16:36.269 --> 00:16:41.889 us, to control this church. I wanted to say that 00:16:41.889 --> 00:16:44.629 I think one of the ways you can tell if a church 00:16:44.629 --> 00:16:48.649 is spiritually alive, just one way, there's lots 00:16:48.649 --> 00:16:51.580 of ways, but might be their worship. And when 00:16:51.580 --> 00:16:53.919 I say worship, I'm not talking about a certain 00:16:53.919 --> 00:16:57.360 style of worship, but I'm talking about the aliveness 00:16:57.360 --> 00:17:02.440 of worship. When a congregation sings, do they 00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:06.759 glorify God with passion? Are they praying with 00:17:06.759 --> 00:17:10.859 expectancy? Do they worship as if God was present 00:17:10.859 --> 00:17:16.140 with them that morning? In John chapter 16, Jesus 00:17:16.140 --> 00:17:18.880 tells us that the Spirit's job is actually to 00:17:18.880 --> 00:17:24.480 glorify Jesus. And then Jesus himself says that 00:17:24.480 --> 00:17:29.079 those who worship me must worship me in spirit 00:17:29.079 --> 00:17:32.559 and in truth. So let's just ask the question 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:35.400 again, Trinity. Are we using the Spirit's power 00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:39.259 here at this church? Or are we relying on our 00:17:39.259 --> 00:17:40.759 own strength? What about you as you go through 00:17:40.759 --> 00:17:43.900 life? Are you... You know, are you depending 00:17:43.900 --> 00:17:46.319 on God's power or are you just pushing through 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:49.059 on your own power? Are we worshiping in spirit? 00:17:49.299 --> 00:17:52.000 Are we worshiping in truth? Or are we just going 00:17:52.000 --> 00:17:55.819 through the motions, a ritual without breath? 00:17:56.200 --> 00:17:58.259 Okay, the difference is the difference between 00:17:58.259 --> 00:18:02.539 a dead church and a living church. So is the 00:18:02.539 --> 00:18:04.680 church paying attention? Secondly, is the church 00:18:04.680 --> 00:18:07.900 using the spirit's power? Thirdly, is the church 00:18:07.900 --> 00:18:12.900 living on the word? If breath is a sign of life, 00:18:13.019 --> 00:18:15.420 then food is also a sign of life. You could be 00:18:15.420 --> 00:18:18.000 breathing, I suppose. But if you are not eating, 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:21.559 then you will languish and you will waste away. 00:18:21.779 --> 00:18:25.819 And spiritually, the same is true. The word of 00:18:25.819 --> 00:18:33.099 God is our... spiritual food. It's what we eat. 00:18:33.180 --> 00:18:36.279 It's what we need to live. And that is why Jesus 00:18:36.279 --> 00:18:38.740 says to the church in Sardis, he says, remember 00:18:38.740 --> 00:18:45.480 what you have heard and hold it fast. Now, Throughout 00:18:45.480 --> 00:18:47.480 the book of Revelation, that phrase, hold it 00:18:47.480 --> 00:18:49.940 fast, comes up again and again and again. And 00:18:49.940 --> 00:18:52.420 every time it comes up, it has something to do 00:18:52.420 --> 00:18:55.440 with holding on to the scriptures, holding on 00:18:55.440 --> 00:18:58.619 to the word of God, right? Blessed are those 00:18:58.619 --> 00:19:01.059 who hold fast to what is written. You have held 00:19:01.059 --> 00:19:03.380 fast to my word. Hold fast to my commandments. 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:05.539 Hold fast to the words of the prophecy. To hold 00:19:05.539 --> 00:19:09.160 fast doesn't just mean that you admire the Bible 00:19:09.160 --> 00:19:11.980 or admire the scriptures. It means you obey it. 00:19:12.440 --> 00:19:15.490 It means... It means that you live it. It means 00:19:15.490 --> 00:19:18.789 that it is your food. The food of the church 00:19:18.789 --> 00:19:23.170 is God's word. And if we stop feeding on it, 00:19:23.349 --> 00:19:26.349 we start dying. Doctors know this. Doctors know 00:19:26.349 --> 00:19:29.589 that if someone stops eating, they'll become 00:19:29.589 --> 00:19:32.809 malnourished. Their body will become weak and 00:19:32.809 --> 00:19:37.430 frail. And when God's people stop eating the 00:19:37.430 --> 00:19:40.450 word of God, stop consuming that, we too, this 00:19:40.450 --> 00:19:44.789 body will become frail. I mean, maybe that's 00:19:44.789 --> 00:19:48.529 what happened to this parrot here. Maybe it actually 00:19:48.529 --> 00:19:51.369 didn't just stop breathing, but it stopped eating. 00:19:51.930 --> 00:19:56.630 And that's why it wasted away. A church can look 00:19:56.630 --> 00:20:00.170 alive. It can still run programs. Beautiful plumage. 00:20:00.329 --> 00:20:04.130 But it can be starving on the inside without 00:20:04.130 --> 00:20:08.390 God's word. I think many churches are languishing 00:20:08.390 --> 00:20:12.579 today because they've been told, That the Bible 00:20:12.579 --> 00:20:16.559 isn't relevant. And now they're emaciated. They're 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:19.140 skin and bones. There's no meat on their bones 00:20:19.140 --> 00:20:22.480 at all. And yet Jesus knew that man cannot live 00:20:22.480 --> 00:20:24.440 by bread alone. But by every word that comes 00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:27.599 from the mouth of God. So I want to ask again 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:30.519 to you. This is the application part. Are you 00:20:30.519 --> 00:20:35.599 feeding on God's word? If here at Trinity, we 00:20:35.599 --> 00:20:39.259 as people ever stop reading God's word in our 00:20:39.259 --> 00:20:42.619 own daily lives, if we ever stop studying it 00:20:42.619 --> 00:20:45.460 in our life groups week by week, and if we ever 00:20:45.460 --> 00:20:48.819 stop preaching about it from up here on the platform 00:20:48.819 --> 00:20:53.240 week in and week out, then we too will begin 00:20:53.240 --> 00:20:57.980 a slow, slow death. Because if you quit eating, 00:20:58.099 --> 00:21:03.400 you quit living. A fourth question to ask to 00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:06.319 see if a church has a pulse is this. Is the church 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:10.460 supporting each other? Because just as food is 00:21:10.460 --> 00:21:13.759 essential to life, so is fellowship. You can 00:21:13.759 --> 00:21:17.339 be really well fed, but if you are alone, you'll 00:21:17.339 --> 00:21:20.779 wither away. That's why Jesus, in this letter, 00:21:20.880 --> 00:21:23.019 he actually looks at the church of Sardis and 00:21:23.019 --> 00:21:26.579 he commends a small group of them that are remaining 00:21:26.579 --> 00:21:29.130 faithful. A group that are supporting each other. 00:21:29.210 --> 00:21:31.470 A group that are trying to hang on. There's a 00:21:31.470 --> 00:21:33.750 few of you who have not yet soiled your clothes. 00:21:33.950 --> 00:21:36.549 This supportive community Jesus sees in there 00:21:36.549 --> 00:21:40.710 is a vital sign of the church in Sardis. It's 00:21:40.710 --> 00:21:42.730 this tiny little heartbeat that's maybe still 00:21:42.730 --> 00:21:45.069 going on in this mostly dead church. A group 00:21:45.069 --> 00:21:48.410 of people who stuck together and supported each 00:21:48.410 --> 00:21:51.509 other. And you guys know that more and more we 00:21:51.509 --> 00:21:54.130 hear research about how isolation and loneliness 00:21:54.130 --> 00:21:58.710 can just... It kills people. When people are 00:21:58.710 --> 00:22:01.589 cut off from relationships, they're more likely 00:22:01.589 --> 00:22:04.130 to get sick. They're more likely to die at a 00:22:04.130 --> 00:22:06.960 young age. And the same is... True spiritually, 00:22:07.079 --> 00:22:10.420 if a Christian gets cut off from the life of 00:22:10.420 --> 00:22:13.420 the community, then you become weak and you become 00:22:13.420 --> 00:22:16.480 vulnerable and you become discouraged. And a 00:22:16.480 --> 00:22:19.079 church that is full of people who say, I'm just 00:22:19.079 --> 00:22:21.380 going to go it alone. I just do my own thing. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:23.759 I'm not into that community stuff. That kind 00:22:23.759 --> 00:22:27.349 of church will decline and will die. In fact, 00:22:27.349 --> 00:22:30.789 this week I read about an elderly man who had 00:22:30.789 --> 00:22:33.589 collapsed, who fell down, had a fall in his apartment. 00:22:33.809 --> 00:22:36.750 And he wasn't found until days later and he was 00:22:36.750 --> 00:22:39.269 dehydrated and he was weak and frail and he was 00:22:39.269 --> 00:22:43.210 near death. And it made me think of another time 00:22:43.210 --> 00:22:44.869 when I was at another church. I remember during 00:22:44.869 --> 00:22:48.210 the service, an elderly man collapsed in the 00:22:48.210 --> 00:22:50.910 middle of the service. Only for him, you know 00:22:50.910 --> 00:22:53.529 what happened? Dozens of people rushed to his 00:22:53.529 --> 00:22:55.589 aid. They gather around him. They started praying 00:22:55.589 --> 00:22:57.390 for him. They started caring for him. They started 00:22:57.390 --> 00:22:59.970 showing great concern for him. And he survived. 00:23:00.609 --> 00:23:02.589 And he didn't survive just because of the medical 00:23:02.589 --> 00:23:07.250 care. He survived because he wasn't alone. Right? 00:23:07.329 --> 00:23:10.970 That's the difference. One man was isolated. 00:23:11.490 --> 00:23:14.069 The other was surrounded. One was cut off and 00:23:14.069 --> 00:23:17.930 the other was supported. That is what Jesus is 00:23:17.930 --> 00:23:21.859 pointing to. In Sardis, right? That there is 00:23:21.859 --> 00:23:24.140 still this faithful few and they're holding on 00:23:24.140 --> 00:23:27.420 together. Community can be the difference between 00:23:27.420 --> 00:23:30.680 life and death. I mean, maybe that's what, again, 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:32.220 maybe that's what happened to this old parrot 00:23:32.220 --> 00:23:35.160 here. The Norwegian blue. I mean, it's stuck 00:23:35.160 --> 00:23:40.119 in a cage all alone its whole life, right? Parrots 00:23:40.119 --> 00:23:42.799 are social animals. They're meant to flock around 00:23:42.799 --> 00:23:45.359 together, to fly and squawk with each other. 00:23:45.480 --> 00:23:49.680 It's not natural for them to be alone. It's not 00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:53.400 natural for Christians to be alone either. So 00:23:53.400 --> 00:23:56.480 God never meant for us to live the life of faith 00:23:56.480 --> 00:24:00.000 alone. Supportive community is a sign of life. 00:24:00.220 --> 00:24:02.339 Bible, I'm not even going to begin, but just 00:24:02.339 --> 00:24:05.359 look, right? Encourage one another, bear one 00:24:05.359 --> 00:24:07.359 another, spur one another, love one another, 00:24:07.460 --> 00:24:10.200 serve one another, forgive one another. So here's 00:24:10.200 --> 00:24:14.680 the question. Is the church a place where people 00:24:14.680 --> 00:24:17.319 are... Truly feeling supported by each other. 00:24:17.420 --> 00:24:20.039 Do we encourage one another? Pray. Stay faithful 00:24:20.039 --> 00:24:22.740 together. Or are we just like a bunch of parrots 00:24:22.740 --> 00:24:26.980 in our own little cages, looking out from the 00:24:26.980 --> 00:24:33.240 inside, slowly dying? All right. If paying attention 00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:35.880 is necessary for life, and so is breath, and 00:24:35.880 --> 00:24:38.339 so is food, and so is community, then this is 00:24:38.339 --> 00:24:43.359 the last one. Hope for the future. A church that 00:24:43.359 --> 00:24:46.690 is alive, A Christian person who is alive is 00:24:46.690 --> 00:24:49.730 one who is expectant about the future. Jesus 00:24:49.730 --> 00:24:52.609 says to the church in Sardis, he says, listen, 00:24:52.750 --> 00:24:55.029 the one who's victorious, one day they're going 00:24:55.029 --> 00:24:57.390 to be dressed in white, and one day I'm going 00:24:57.390 --> 00:24:59.009 to acknowledge their name before the Father, 00:24:59.089 --> 00:25:00.630 and one day they're going to find their name 00:25:00.630 --> 00:25:02.609 written in the book of life, and one day angels, 00:25:02.710 --> 00:25:04.730 and one day heaven, and one day this, and one 00:25:04.730 --> 00:25:07.430 day that. What is all this about? Jesus is simply 00:25:07.430 --> 00:25:12.190 trying to give them a future to look forward 00:25:12.190 --> 00:25:16.230 to. Eternal life. Victory over death and our 00:25:16.230 --> 00:25:19.630 enemies, his own return. What a glorious future, 00:25:19.930 --> 00:25:24.089 right? Dostoevsky wrote that if you lose hope, 00:25:24.450 --> 00:25:30.089 then you cease to live. A living church is always 00:25:30.089 --> 00:25:32.970 looking to the future with expectancy and hope 00:25:32.970 --> 00:25:35.609 and vision. Doctors and psychologists will also 00:25:35.609 --> 00:25:37.950 tell you that if people don't have hope for the 00:25:37.950 --> 00:25:41.960 future, then they don't. They don't fare well. 00:25:42.079 --> 00:25:44.720 They languish. They suffer. Viktor Frankl, you 00:25:44.720 --> 00:25:46.660 remember Viktor Frankl? He was a survivor from 00:25:46.660 --> 00:25:48.960 the Second World War, from a concentration camp. 00:25:49.140 --> 00:25:51.559 And he noticed that those who he was with, who 00:25:51.559 --> 00:25:55.220 lost hope in the concentration camps, they soon 00:25:55.220 --> 00:25:59.140 lost their will to live. And that is true with 00:25:59.140 --> 00:26:01.539 a church. When a church has no vision for the 00:26:01.539 --> 00:26:04.799 future, no expectancy, no hope beyond the present, 00:26:04.920 --> 00:26:08.359 it withers. And again, I look to this parrot. 00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:11.049 Maybe that's what did him in. right? He just 00:26:11.049 --> 00:26:14.490 couldn't imagine a future beyond his cage. So 00:26:14.490 --> 00:26:18.950 depressing, right? His hope died and his life 00:26:18.950 --> 00:26:22.109 followed. As the proverb says, where there is 00:26:22.109 --> 00:26:26.529 no vision, the people perish. So let's ask. Again, 00:26:26.650 --> 00:26:28.730 do we have an expectancy? Do you have an expectancy 00:26:28.730 --> 00:26:32.549 about the future? Do you look forward to what 00:26:32.549 --> 00:26:35.130 Jesus has yet to do in your life? What Jesus 00:26:35.130 --> 00:26:39.029 has yet to do in the life of this church? Because 00:26:39.029 --> 00:26:42.069 I'll tell you, if you are sick, you can endure 00:26:42.069 --> 00:26:45.289 that sickness. If you know that one day you'll 00:26:45.289 --> 00:26:47.650 have a resurrection body and there will be no 00:26:47.650 --> 00:26:49.730 more sickness. If you're weighed down with your 00:26:49.730 --> 00:26:53.480 sins, you can endure that. Because you know that 00:26:53.480 --> 00:26:56.059 Jesus has forgiven you of your sins and there 00:26:56.059 --> 00:26:58.220 is hope for you in the future to be with him 00:26:58.220 --> 00:27:00.960 forever. And if you are suffering, you can endure 00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:03.680 that. If you know that Christ one day will return 00:27:03.680 --> 00:27:09.220 and will make all things. New. Hope is not like 00:27:09.220 --> 00:27:13.059 naive optimism. It's not wishful thinking. It's 00:27:13.059 --> 00:27:15.460 this deep conviction that God is not done with 00:27:15.460 --> 00:27:18.579 you yet. That God is not done with us yet. And 00:27:18.579 --> 00:27:21.119 a dying church is a church that is always looking 00:27:21.119 --> 00:27:23.859 backward, nailed to the perch. A living church 00:27:23.859 --> 00:27:26.400 is one that is looking forward, flying forward 00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:29.720 with hope and expectancy about the future. The 00:27:29.720 --> 00:27:33.599 best is yet to come. Which will you be? And which 00:27:33.599 --> 00:27:40.970 will we be? Jesus' words, they're blunt. You've 00:27:40.970 --> 00:27:43.869 got a reputation of being alive, but you're dead. 00:27:44.509 --> 00:27:49.230 Stone dead. That's a tragic diagnosis for any 00:27:49.230 --> 00:27:53.009 church or for any Christian. But there can be 00:27:53.009 --> 00:27:56.869 a pulse. Again, how? By paying attention to what's 00:27:56.869 --> 00:27:59.450 going on around us. By using the Spirit's power, 00:27:59.529 --> 00:28:01.809 not coasting on our own strength. By living... 00:28:02.329 --> 00:28:05.170 On the word, by supporting each other and being 00:28:05.170 --> 00:28:07.809 expectant about the future. These are the vital 00:28:07.809 --> 00:28:11.829 signs. This is the pulse of a living church. 00:28:11.970 --> 00:28:16.789 Guys, the church, the world does not need more 00:28:16.789 --> 00:28:20.329 churches with good reputations, but no pulse. 00:28:21.190 --> 00:28:25.589 The world doesn't need stuffed parrots nailed 00:28:25.589 --> 00:28:29.549 to a perch. The world needs fully awake, spirit 00:28:29.549 --> 00:28:36.390 -driven, word -centered, community -minded, and 00:28:36.390 --> 00:28:41.890 hope -filled Christians. So let's wake up. Let's 00:28:41.890 --> 00:28:46.950 breathe deeply. Let's love each other. So that 00:28:46.950 --> 00:28:51.450 one day, when our own pulse gets checked by Jesus, 00:28:51.569 --> 00:28:59.549 we will be found very much alive. Thanks be to 00:28:59.549 --> 00:29:01.279 God. Amen.