Knowing the Church Series Part 20
The Church of the Living Dead
The message to Sardis opens as all others the Angel of the Church is told to write. What he writes first to Sardis is He who has the seven spirits of God. Spirits is pneuma in Greek and means breath, which translates to the breath of life. Genesis 2:7 tells us, "Then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."
Immediately following the seven Spirits of God are seven stars. A star is a life-giving light. There would be no life on Earth if it were not for the sun. Get too close to the sun, and the earth is incinerated; get too far away and freeze to death. In Jesus, no one can get too close, and neither would anyone ever be too far away.
The Church in Name as Living But It's Dead
The God of seven Spirits and stars says, "I know your deeds, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead." The title of this post might be an attention-getter, but it has nothing to do with zombies. Smyrna had a name that said it was alive, but unfortunately, that is all it had because the living God said, "...but you are dead."
God's two words should be frightening to anyone who hears them: "Wake up!" Why? Christ's Church is called to be the light of the world, a city set on a hill for all to see. However, a sleeping Church is good for nothing, least of all for lighting the way.
They are told to strengthen the things that remain. Why? Because their deeds are not complete. Strengthening in Greek means establishing, supporting, and securing, which prevents vacillation. The one who vacillates is the man in James 1:6-7; without faith and instead doubts, he is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
The Church that Vacilates May Seem Alive, But It's Dead
Therefore, they are told their deeds are incomplete. Although they are similar to good deeds, without God-given faith, they are undoubtedly prayerless and a sham.
This Church, like the other four, is told to repent. The horrifying consequence of not repenting is that they will not know when God comes to them. What does that mean you say? When God comes in revival, as during Pentecost, the people knew the power, purity, and presence of the living God energized them. This Church then is given another warning: if they do not wake up, He will come to them when they do not know.
On the day I was working on this post, I exited the building where I work, and suddenly, a man was standing just beyond the door. He was startled as I said, "That's a bad place to be standing." He replied, "You're right; I didn't expect anyone to come out." That was another way to say he wasn't entirely in the moment. Of all the groups of people in the world, the Church needs to be fully present, and with Jesus as the head.
The Church with a Few Alive, But the Rest Are Dead
We are then told that few in Sardis have not soiled their garments. Soiled in Greek means polluting and contaminating oneself. The condition above should be disconcerting to people in the Church. Usually, preachers don't mind speaking against a Church mentioned in the Bible, but when it could be directed at their Church, they'll say something like, "But no one is perfect; we need to show grace because we still sin." It's always the few and the many, the remnant that repents and receives life, and the masses that blindly go self-deceived to destruction.
We always read these words to the Churches: "He who overcomes..." There is always something for the Church to overcome. In Sardis condition, the overcomers will be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."
If you live in Sardis, you must be an overcomer, or the other alternative will reap eternal punishment. Erased from the Book of Life means from the life of God, but hear this: hell is not the absence of God in total, but absent from His grace, mercy, forgiveness, kindness, and love. God will most certainly be present in anger and full fury as He is a consuming fire and will be for all eternity.
Psalm 69:21 reads, "They also gave me gall for my food, and for my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink." A prophetic picture of Christ on the cross. Jesus said that very night, hours before, "I pray not for the world but for those You have chosen out of the world." In verse 27 of Psalm 69, the writer prophesied of the Great White Throne Judgment when not grace but righteous anger will fall on the ungodly, "Add iniquity to their iniquity, and may they not come into Your righteousness."
The iniquity to their iniquity is denying the sacrifice of the cross and rejecting the offering of God's beloved Son. Therefore, in verse 28, the Psalmist said, "May they be blotted out of the book of life and may they not be recorded with the righteous," just as all those who do not overcome themselves from being soiled by the wickedness of self-deception and hypocrisy. In God's sight, Sadis is the Church of the living dead, and He will call for their destruction as those who add iniquity to iniquity.
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