Hello, and welcome to this week's episode of
Trinity Sermons. This week we are continuing
our sermon series called Dear Church, where we're
looking at the letters written by Christ to the
churches in the book of Revelation. How do you
know if you're really alive? Are you breathing?
Are you moving? Are you growing? Those are all
pretty good signs, but how do we know if a church
is alive? The church in Sardis had a reputation
for being alive, but when Jesus looked at it,
he says, you are really dead. So listen in as
Rob talks to us about what it means to take the
pulse of a church. Our readings for today are
from the book of Revelation, beginning with chapter
1, verses 4 and 5, and chapter 2, verses 1 to
7. John to the seven churches in the province
of Asia. Grace and peace to you from him who
is, and who was, and who is to come, and from
the seven spirits before his throne, and from
Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the
firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the
kings of the earth. 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. You have a reputation of being alive,
but you're dead. Wake up, strengthen what remains
and is about to die, for I have found your deeds
unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember,
therefore, what you have received and heard.
Hold it fast and repent. But if you do not wake
up, I will come like a thief, and you will not
know at what time I will come to you. Yet you
have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled
their clothes. They will walk with me dressed
in white for they are worthy. The one who is
victorious will, like them, be dressed in white.
I will never blot out the name of that person
from the book of life, but will acknowledge that
name before my father and his angels. Whoever
has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says
to the churches. The word of the Lord. That was
the famous Monty Python sketch about the dead
parrot, and we laugh on it because it's kind
of absurd to imagine somebody who is selling
a dead parrot and passing it off as a live one,
and yet there is a bit of spiritual truth to
that, isn't there? Because is it possible for
our faith to be dead, and yet we pretend otherwise?
Actually, is it possible for a church to be spiritually
lifeless and yet convince itself? that everything
is absolutely fine, all right? Is it possible
that we sometimes say, oh, no, no, no, my faith
is just fine. I'm just resting, right? Or a church
that says, no, no, no, we're not a dying church.
Well, look, oh, see, look, we just moved, right?
We did an activity. We had a program. We ran
an event. See, we're not dead. And actually,
look at our church. Look at the beautiful plumage
of our church, right? The beautiful building.
the beautiful worship space, the beautiful technology.
But sometimes that which looks alive is actually
spiritually lifeless. A person or a church could
have all the feathers in place, could have all
the right looks, all the right programs, all
the right activities, all the right staff, and
still have no heartbeat. It could just be sitting
there, nailed to the perch. And I don't know
about you, but sometimes I walk around and I
look at buildings that were once churches and
now they're yoga studios or now they're condos.
And at one point, a spiritually dead church became
a really dead church. And now they're not a church
anymore. And sometimes I wonder, well, what happened
to that church? You know, why did it die? What
happened to the people that were in that church?
Well, we are in the middle of a teaching series,
which we are calling Dear Church. And what we're
doing is looking at these ancient letters that
were written to real churches like 2 ,000 years
ago in Asia Minor to kind of see what we can
learn from those letters. And I want to just
do a little bit of an activity with you just
to see how well you've been paying attention
over the past four weeks. Here, Polly, let's
just set you right there. Let's just set you
right there. Okay, good bird. All right, good.
So I wonder if you can help match the description
with the church. So do you guys remember which
of the churches was described as a church that
had lost its first love? Anyone remember? Ephesus.
That's right, Ephesus. Which of the churches
did we discover had the phone call was coming
from inside the building, that it was corrupted
from the inside? Does anyone remember? Thyatira,
good. And which was the church that was suffering
horrible, horrible persecution? Yep, Smyrna.
And that means that the other church we talked
about, the Trojan horse that had been kind of
compromised from the outside, was the church
in Pergamos. Today, we're going to look at a
different church. It's the church in the city
of Sardis. And Sardis was one of the oldest and
most prestigious cities in Asia Minor, blah,
blah, blah. We said that about all the churches.
I'm not going to go into all the details about
that church. But what I do want to say is that
by the time the letter in Revelation was written
to this church, it was a church that was living
on its reputation. and not its reality anymore.
The church within the city used to be lively
and vibrant and had like this great reputation.
But now Jesus says it has a different reality.
And he begins his letter by saying this. He says,
listen, Sardis, I know your deeds. You have a
reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
Or if John Cleese had written this, he would
say, listen, Sardis, I know you have a reputation
of being alive, but you have passed on. You have
ceased to be, right? You're an ex -church. he
would say. And maybe that church at one point
was a very, very busy church and it was full
of all sorts of activity and it had great plumage
and wonderful facilities and wonderful things
going on. It looked good from the outside, but
they were a dead church. They were an ex -church.
Jesus has always been able to see through the
exterior to see what's really going on on the
inside. In fact, I love that exchange he had
when he was talking to the Pharisees and he compared
the Pharisees. He said they were whitewashed
tombs as if they looked really good on the outside.
Oh, white and shiny. But on the inside, they
were dead. On the inside, they were just filled
with the bones of the dead. And there is a name
for that, by the way. There's a name for when
something has the name of Christianity, but doesn't
have the life of Christianity. When something
has the name of Jesus, but doesn't have or contain
the life of Jesus. And we call that nominal Christianity.
It means you're a Christian, but really in name
only. And nominal Christianity is so, so, so
deadly. Because so many people have walked away
from the church. Because they met someone who,
though they claimed to be a follower of Jesus,
did not have within them anything close to the
life of Jesus. They had the name, but they didn't
have the life. John Stott once wrote, he said,
the church is not a building to be filled with
people, but it is a people to be filled with
God. Sardis had the building. They probably had
the building filled with people, but there was
no God in them, right? There they were. If they
weren't nailed to the perch, they would have
been pushing up the daisies, as it says. So I
was just thinking about this, and you guys will
remember that a few months ago, We had an AED
installed out here in our lobby. This is in case
somebody ever has a cardiac arrest here at Trinity.
We can hopefully be able to revive them. But
this is a very smart AED. Before it will administer
a shock to anyone, it first does a test to see
if they're really dead. It actually tests and
says, is there a heartbeat? Is there a pulse?
And if there is, it will not administer a shock.
It knows if someone's alive. How do you know
if a church is alive? How do you know if a Christian
is alive? Well, I want to suggest to you today
that just like the AED, there'll be a pulse,
a P -U -L -S -E, right? And in this letter, I
think what Jesus is trying to do is he's trying
to shock this Sardinian church back to life.
and remind them of what a fully alive church
really looks like. And I'm going to call it,
you know, Pulse, P -U -L -E -C, because I think
there's probably five things here. And I've given
you little sermon notes that you can follow along
if you want to track with me. Let's start with
the first one. How do you know if a church is
alive? Well, the first thing to ask is, is the
church paying attention? I mean, when you find
someone who has like, you know, passed out on
the ground, what is the first thing you do? You
try to wake them up. You try to see if they're
okay. You might be like, hey, hey, are you okay,
sir? What's going on? You give them a shake.
You'd shout, hey, wake up. Are you awake? And
that's the very first thing Jesus does in this
letter to the church in Sardis. He says, wake
up. Are you paying attention? Are you there?
Right? If he had a flashlight, he'd probably
like shine it in his eyes. Are you with me? Are
you? Because a living church is a church that
is awake and is alert to what is going on around
them. You know, it's very interesting, the history
of Sardis. It was actually a very strong city
because it was defended in such a way that there
was cliffs and mountains and all this stuff.
And enemies could not really get inside Sardis.
It was so well defended. But twice in its history,
it was conquered. And both times, it's funny,
it was because the guards fell asleep. That the
watchmen stopped keeping watch and they just
dozed off. And the church inside Sardis apparently
had done the same thing. They had just slowly
kind of fallen asleep over time. They got so
comfortable in their religion. They got so secure
in their reputation that the culture just crept
in and they dozed off. And so Jesus is saying,
hey, hey, hey, wake up. Are you with me? Pay
attention. Polly Parrot, wake up, wake up, wake
up, right? And I think that if Jesus were to
say something about the church today, he might
say the very same thing. He might say the church
is kind of falling asleep. We've stopped paying
attention to what... Maybe God is calling us
to do what God is doing in here, but maybe we've
also stopped paying attention to what is happening
out in the world. Have we insulated ourselves
from what is going on in the world? You know,
R .T. Kendall, he once wrote this. He said, the
greatest evidence that we are asleep is our lack
of outrage. over what is tolerated in the church
and what is going on in the world. Not only are
we indifferent to what's happening before our
eyes, but we become so used to it that we are
virtually impervious to it, right? It's a sobering
diagnosis. So let's apply it to Trinity. Trinity,
are we awake? Are we just going through the motions
here on a Sunday morning? Are we just going through
the motions week by week? Or are we awake and
aware of God's presence? Are we aware of God's
activity? Are we paying attention to the needs
of the world that are out there? Or have we become
just like Sardis? We're comfortable, secure,
and now we're asleep at our posts. So that's
the first sign of a church. It's alive. is awake
right it's paying attention the second test though
is is the church using the spirit's power now
at the beginning of this this letter jesus says
to to the sardinians he says remember what it
is you have received he says now it's interesting
question what have you received well when the
very first chart church was kicked off on the
day of pentecost what did they receive They received
the power of the Holy Spirit. And every church's
life. depends on the ongoing power of the Holy
Spirit. In fact, at the end of each and every
one of the letters that Jesus writes to these
churches, he says, listen to what the Spirit
is saying to the churches, right? The power of
a church does not come from our great programs,
does not come from our history or our reputation
or a pastor. Our life comes from the Spirit.
And if you want to think of it this way, imagine
again, there's this person who has collapsed.
What are you going to do? How are you going to
see if they are awake? Well, the one thing you're
going to do is you're going to put your head
down there and you're going to listen. You're
going to say, oh my gosh, are they breathing?
Because we know that breath is a sign of life.
Well, I don't know if you know this, but in Hebrew
and in Greek, the word for breath is the very
same word for spirit. So therefore, if you have
no spirit in you, then you have no breath in
you, and then you have no life in you. A person
dies when their spirit leaves their body. A church
dies when the spirit leaves the body of the church.
Right? I don't know. Maybe this parrot here has
died. Why? Because there's no breath in it. And
the church ceases to be when there's no breath,
when there's no spirit, and when there's no life.
You know, all through the Bible, people were
petrified about losing the spirit of God. Because
they knew to lose the Spirit was death. David
says, God, please don't take your Spirit away
from me. Several times Paul says, hey, don't
grieve the Spirit. Don't quench the Spirit. Don't
resist the Spirit. Why all the worry? Why all
the concern about losing the Holy Spirit? Because
they knew. To lose the Spirit of God is to die.
And when people grieve the Holy Spirit, or they
quench the Holy Spirit, or they resist the Holy
Spirit, then yes, the church may keep going on
its own power. It may have a beautiful building
and beautiful plumage and all that good stuff,
but it will be lifeless. It'll just be nailed
to the perch. I love this quote from John Stott.
We administer great projects and create impressive
committees, but we often leave the Holy Spirit
out. He's rightly been called the forgotten member
of the Trinity. Only when the church of Christ
is filled with the spirit of Christ can spiritual
death be banished and a name for life have any
reality behind it. Guys, every single one of
us was born into this family of God by the spirit.
And every single one of us must continue in that
family by the Spirit. And a church dies when
the Spirit of God is no longer allowed to control
us, to control this church. I wanted to say that
I think one of the ways you can tell if a church
is spiritually alive, just one way, there's lots
of ways, but might be their worship. And when
I say worship, I'm not talking about a certain
style of worship, but I'm talking about the aliveness
of worship. When a congregation sings, do they
glorify God with passion? Are they praying with
expectancy? Do they worship as if God was present
with them that morning? In John chapter 16, Jesus
tells us that the Spirit's job is actually to
glorify Jesus. And then Jesus himself says that
those who worship me must worship me in spirit
and in truth. So let's just ask the question
again, Trinity. Are we using the Spirit's power
here at this church? Or are we relying on our
own strength? What about you as you go through
life? Are you... You know, are you depending
on God's power or are you just pushing through
on your own power? Are we worshiping in spirit?
Are we worshiping in truth? Or are we just going
through the motions, a ritual without breath?
Okay, the difference is the difference between
a dead church and a living church. So is the
church paying attention? Secondly, is the church
using the spirit's power? Thirdly, is the church
living on the word? If breath is a sign of life,
then food is also a sign of life. You could be
breathing, I suppose. But if you are not eating,
then you will languish and you will waste away.
And spiritually, the same is true. The word of
God is our... spiritual food. It's what we eat.
It's what we need to live. And that is why Jesus
says to the church in Sardis, he says, remember
what you have heard and hold it fast. Now, Throughout
the book of Revelation, that phrase, hold it
fast, comes up again and again and again. And
every time it comes up, it has something to do
with holding on to the scriptures, holding on
to the word of God, right? Blessed are those
who hold fast to what is written. You have held
fast to my word. Hold fast to my commandments.
Hold fast to the words of the prophecy. To hold
fast doesn't just mean that you admire the Bible
or admire the scriptures. It means you obey it.
It means... It means that you live it. It means
that it is your food. The food of the church
is God's word. And if we stop feeding on it,
we start dying. Doctors know this. Doctors know
that if someone stops eating, they'll become
malnourished. Their body will become weak and
frail. And when God's people stop eating the
word of God, stop consuming that, we too, this
body will become frail. I mean, maybe that's
what happened to this parrot here. Maybe it actually
didn't just stop breathing, but it stopped eating.
And that's why it wasted away. A church can look
alive. It can still run programs. Beautiful plumage.
But it can be starving on the inside without
God's word. I think many churches are languishing
today because they've been told, That the Bible
isn't relevant. And now they're emaciated. They're
skin and bones. There's no meat on their bones
at all. And yet Jesus knew that man cannot live
by bread alone. But by every word that comes
from the mouth of God. So I want to ask again
to you. This is the application part. Are you
feeding on God's word? If here at Trinity, we
as people ever stop reading God's word in our
own daily lives, if we ever stop studying it
in our life groups week by week, and if we ever
stop preaching about it from up here on the platform
week in and week out, then we too will begin
a slow, slow death. Because if you quit eating,
you quit living. A fourth question to ask to
see if a church has a pulse is this. Is the church
supporting each other? Because just as food is
essential to life, so is fellowship. You can
be really well fed, but if you are alone, you'll
wither away. That's why Jesus, in this letter,
he actually looks at the church of Sardis and
he commends a small group of them that are remaining
faithful. A group that are supporting each other.
A group that are trying to hang on. There's a
few of you who have not yet soiled your clothes.
This supportive community Jesus sees in there
is a vital sign of the church in Sardis. It's
this tiny little heartbeat that's maybe still
going on in this mostly dead church. A group
of people who stuck together and supported each
other. And you guys know that more and more we
hear research about how isolation and loneliness
can just... It kills people. When people are
cut off from relationships, they're more likely
to get sick. They're more likely to die at a
young age. And the same is... True spiritually,
if a Christian gets cut off from the life of
the community, then you become weak and you become
vulnerable and you become discouraged. And a
church that is full of people who say, I'm just
going to go it alone. I just do my own thing.
I'm not into that community stuff. That kind
of church will decline and will die. In fact,
this week I read about an elderly man who had
collapsed, who fell down, had a fall in his apartment.
And he wasn't found until days later and he was
dehydrated and he was weak and frail and he was
near death. And it made me think of another time
when I was at another church. I remember during
the service, an elderly man collapsed in the
middle of the service. Only for him, you know
what happened? Dozens of people rushed to his
aid. They gather around him. They started praying
for him. They started caring for him. They started
showing great concern for him. And he survived.
And he didn't survive just because of the medical
care. He survived because he wasn't alone. Right?
That's the difference. One man was isolated.
The other was surrounded. One was cut off and
the other was supported. That is what Jesus is
pointing to. In Sardis, right? That there is
still this faithful few and they're holding on
together. Community can be the difference between
life and death. I mean, maybe that's what, again,
maybe that's what happened to this old parrot
here. The Norwegian blue. I mean, it's stuck
in a cage all alone its whole life, right? Parrots
are social animals. They're meant to flock around
together, to fly and squawk with each other.
It's not natural for them to be alone. It's not
natural for Christians to be alone either. So
God never meant for us to live the life of faith
alone. Supportive community is a sign of life.
Bible, I'm not even going to begin, but just
look, right? Encourage one another, bear one
another, spur one another, love one another,
serve one another, forgive one another. So here's
the question. Is the church a place where people
are... Truly feeling supported by each other.
Do we encourage one another? Pray. Stay faithful
together. Or are we just like a bunch of parrots
in our own little cages, looking out from the
inside, slowly dying? All right. If paying attention
is necessary for life, and so is breath, and
so is food, and so is community, then this is
the last one. Hope for the future. A church that
is alive, A Christian person who is alive is
one who is expectant about the future. Jesus
says to the church in Sardis, he says, listen,
the one who's victorious, one day they're going
to be dressed in white, and one day I'm going
to acknowledge their name before the Father,
and one day they're going to find their name
written in the book of life, and one day angels,
and one day heaven, and one day this, and one
day that. What is all this about? Jesus is simply
trying to give them a future to look forward
to. Eternal life. Victory over death and our
enemies, his own return. What a glorious future,
right? Dostoevsky wrote that if you lose hope,
then you cease to live. A living church is always
looking to the future with expectancy and hope
and vision. Doctors and psychologists will also
tell you that if people don't have hope for the
future, then they don't. They don't fare well.
They languish. They suffer. Viktor Frankl, you
remember Viktor Frankl? He was a survivor from
the Second World War, from a concentration camp.
And he noticed that those who he was with, who
lost hope in the concentration camps, they soon
lost their will to live. And that is true with
a church. When a church has no vision for the
future, no expectancy, no hope beyond the present,
it withers. And again, I look to this parrot.
Maybe that's what did him in. right? He just
couldn't imagine a future beyond his cage. So
depressing, right? His hope died and his life
followed. As the proverb says, where there is
no vision, the people perish. So let's ask. Again,
do we have an expectancy? Do you have an expectancy
about the future? Do you look forward to what
Jesus has yet to do in your life? What Jesus
has yet to do in the life of this church? Because
I'll tell you, if you are sick, you can endure
that sickness. If you know that one day you'll
have a resurrection body and there will be no
more sickness. If you're weighed down with your
sins, you can endure that. Because you know that
Jesus has forgiven you of your sins and there
is hope for you in the future to be with him
forever. And if you are suffering, you can endure
that. If you know that Christ one day will return
and will make all things. New. Hope is not like
naive optimism. It's not wishful thinking. It's
this deep conviction that God is not done with
you yet. That God is not done with us yet. And
a dying church is a church that is always looking
backward, nailed to the perch. A living church
is one that is looking forward, flying forward
with hope and expectancy about the future. The
best is yet to come. Which will you be? And which
will we be? Jesus' words, they're blunt. You've
got a reputation of being alive, but you're dead.
Stone dead. That's a tragic diagnosis for any
church or for any Christian. But there can be
a pulse. Again, how? By paying attention to what's
going on around us. By using the Spirit's power,
not coasting on our own strength. By living...
On the word, by supporting each other and being
expectant about the future. These are the vital
signs. This is the pulse of a living church.
Guys, the church, the world does not need more
churches with good reputations, but no pulse.
The world doesn't need stuffed parrots nailed
to a perch. The world needs fully awake, spirit
-driven, word -centered, community -minded, and
hope -filled Christians. So let's wake up. Let's
breathe deeply. Let's love each other. So that
one day, when our own pulse gets checked by Jesus,
we will be found very much alive. Thanks be to
God. Amen.