Two weeks ago 30 members of our Church filled out a survey
form developed by Natural Church Development. It was a diagnostic tool to help
diagnose the health of our Church. As I was filling it out I was struck with
the reality that we are not as healthy and vibrant as I thought we were. I am
sure several of you may have felt the same way. We will be sending the survey
to the NCD for their objective assessment of our Church in regards what our
strengths and weaknesses are. I commend all those who participated in the
survey; perhaps for the first time you paused and were able to take a look at
where we are as a Church. I think it was
the right step we took in the right direction but it is only the first step.
As I was
thinking a lot about health, and how to improve the quality of life in our
Church someone gave me a book titled, “Autopsy of a Deceased Church.” He told
me I have specially ordered it for you!! That title gripped my interest; and I
began to read it and the things I found are fascinating. The author actually went around as a Church
growth consultant and conducted what he calls a “Church Autopsy” on 14
Churches. He came away with similar patterns that existed in all those churched
before they died.
Do
churches actually die? This may sound contrary to what Jesus said to Peter in
Matt 16:14, “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build
my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” Indeed the universal
Church with a capital “C” will never die. But churches have and are dying. One record suggests that as many as 100,000
churches in America are showing signs of decline toward death.
Praise
God! They are only showing signs of slow decline but inching towards certain
death, does that concern you? What makes a church die? In order to find out
what causes a church die, we will look at a first century Church in the book of
Revelation and see if there are any warning signs that could lead our church to
an eventual death. Let’s Read Revelation 3: 1-6
I. WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT SARDIS?
Sardis was one of the most glorious cities in Asia, located
thirty to forty miles southeast of Thyatira. Warren Buffet of that time, lived
there. Sardis was the first to mint gold and silver coins. In A.D 17 a terrible
earth quake devastated Sardis and was rebuilt after extensive aid from Emperor Augustus.
To express their appreciation the citizens of Sardis created a coin with his
likeness and inscribed it “Caesarean Sardis.” The people of Sardis had a
special interest in death and immortality, and much of their religious life was
nature worship focusing on the fertility cycle and bringing life out of death.
The church in Sardis looked alive but in reality it was dying.
Vs 1a “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.
As in every letter,
the names of Christ cited here are critical to Sardis. Jesus holds the “seven
spirits” a likely reference to the sevenfold Holy Spirit in Isaiah 11:2 “And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him,
The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge
and the fear of the LORD. Where
is the seventh spirit? In some ancient Hebrew Bible adds a seventh virtue, godliness. In the book of Revelation number seven appears
several times in the first chapter alone it occurs eleven times describing, the
fullness of God’s spirit, angels/messengers of the churches and Churches in
general.
The word seven indicates “completeness.”
So when Jesus is cited here as the one who holds the seven spirits of God and
the seven stars we can read this as Christ having the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and His work
is complete and adequate in the community.
Vs 1b “I know your deeds; you have a
reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” This is one place in the seven
letters where the normal formula for what they were doing right (“I know your
deeds.”) actually details their weakness. Christ had a strong reproof for
Sardis. Hypocrisy and decay in religion are the sins charged against this
church. This church had gained a great reputation; it had a name as a
flourishing church. We do not read of any unhappy divisions among themselves. Everything
appeared well; as to what falls under the observation of men. On the contrary
this church was not really what it was reputed to be. There was a form of
godliness, outwardly but not the power, a reputation of being alive, but no
signs of life.
How does Sardis reflect the modern day Church in the west
even more so in the USA? In some ways Sardis fits the criteria of what happens
to people in the end times. I Timothy 3:1-5, “But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last
days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers
of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their
parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love,
unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the
good, 4 treacherous, rash,
conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having
a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such
people.”
Sardis represents an individual believer, a family, a
society, a church, a marriage, a business and a nation that appears to be lively
on the outside but dying morally and in every way on the inside. Sadly, we see
many of the end time qualities mentioned in Timothy are being reflected in our homes,
society and in our churches.
For example; we all can boast about what a great inheritance
we have as Americans. We talk about the great legacy of the founding fathers.
We say our nation was founded on Christian principles, but I wonder what would
the founders think or say when they see some of the atrocities that are
happening in our country today. Isn’t it sad to see, in what supposed to be the
richest, perhaps the greatest country on earth, where so many innocent lives of
children are being lost due to gun violence? I am saddened in my heart when I
read that there have been 74 school shootings since the Sandy hook Newtown
tragedy. In other words, since
the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School there have been an average of
1.37 school shootings for each school week.”[1] Hardly a regular school week passes by without a violent
incident in the USA.
I wonder how many lives have to be lost before we do
something about it. I believe reports
like this should serve as a wake up call to everyone. In fact Jesus sends a wakeup call; then to the
church in Sardis and today to all those who appear to be alive but in reality are
either dead are slowly dying. Are we paying attention to that wake up call?
II. A WAKE UP
CALL TO A DYING CHURCH
Vs 2, “2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found
your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God.” Coming back to the church in
Sardis, the church is not fully dead; but whatever little life was left among
them was expiring rapidly; a certain erosion was taking place, and they were at
the brink of death and near extension as a church unless they did something
radically and quickly. They needed to act to preserve what still remained in
them.
It is important to take note of how Christ reveals himself
and relates to each Church, for that matter to each believer varies. To Sardis he reveled Himself as the one who
holds the seven spirits of God and seven stars (churches) in his hand. Here we
see Sardis almost dead and about to be plucked by the roots, yet Christ comes
to her still holding her in his hand along with the life giving Spirit. What
does this say about a church or an individual believer? Barton notes, “As long
as there is a bit of life left there is hope for renewal and revival. He does
not abandon His church event at the brink of death. He still extends life to all
those who will receive it.”[2]
Christ’s rebuke to the church in Sardis was to “Wake Up.”
In scriptures whenever you see these words, “Wake Up.” we must pay attention, because
they are reminders of the upcoming judgment of God upon the sleeping believers.
Romans 13:11-12, “And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has
already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is
nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The night is nearly over; the day is
almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of
light.”
I am convinced that similar rebuke is coming upon the
believers in New England. It is time to from our sleep. Let’s look at our
church in light of the Church in Sardis. Are we any different? Or are we just
like them appearing to be alive but in reality experiencing a slow but certain
death? When it comes to think of it we are no way different to Sardis. We fail
to live up to the revelation we have already received. We do not engage in
evangelizing the community we live in. We do not grow up. We act immaturely
towards fellow believers within our own congregation. We appear alive on the
outside in reality we are dying from the inside. What would Christ say about
us, if He is to analyze our Church today?
Is it time for us to wake up?
III. WHAT CAUSES A CHURCH DIE?
In the “Autopsy of a Deceased Church Thom S. Rainer
mentions several reasons why churches die: Slow Erosion, where vibrant
ministries that once existed decline. Prayer lives of the members decline. The
outward focus of the church declines. Connection with one another in the Church
and with the community declines. People become self -centered than Christ
centered and others centered. It is all about “Me, Myself, and I. My music
style, my desired length and order of worship services, my activities and
programs the list goes on. The love for
God grows cold. Great commission becomes great omission.”
I might add, harboring bitterness, lack of forgiveness,
divisions, unresolved conflicts, gossip, undermining spiritual authority,
turnover of pastors, and migration of church members. These are some of the
reasons why Churches die. But it does not have to be that way. When church members
care enough to identify the signs that are causing slow death and develop
strategies to reverse the declining trends, they can actually prevent their church
from dying. What can we learn from this
letter to the church in Sardis? When we live in a secular world it is easy to
get caught in the culture of the Beast and lose sight of Christ and our purpose
as a church.
The
challenge however for all of us is that we continue to live in the awareness
that one day we must give an account to God for all we have done. When Christ
warns us, we heed the warning and repent of our sinful ways and be committed to
do the things that pleases God, then together with his help we can actually see
our church turnaround from a dying church to a healthy, vibrant and multiplying
Church. So our prayer is, God open my eyes that I might see my church as you
see it. Let me see where change needs to take place, even if it is painful to
me. And use me, I pray to be an instrument of that change whatever the cost.
Amen
