The Dead church Rev. 3:1-6
Our lesson this morning comes from the
Revelation 3:1
"And to the angel of the church in
The first thing I want to point out is that this is 5th
letter out of 7 that have been written to the churches in
What I find really interesting is how the history of this city goes hand and hand with history of the church there.
1.
2.
3. By the end of the
first century,
Unfortunately as we are about to see the church at
Revelation 3:1 "And
to the angel of the church in
First of all this letter
starts out the same as the rest of the letters. Now the message being spoken is
coming from Christ and it says he has the 7 spirits of and the seven stars. Another
thing I want you to keep in mind is that these letters did not go out
separately instead everyone of the churches would hear all the letters and it
was probably a shock to some of these church what Jesus says in the last part
of that verse. I know your works, that
you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.
You see at one point I am
sure that this church was very active and did many great things but now they
were living off of their past accomplishments but Jesus who knows the heart was
pointing out that even though they may the appearance of being holy to other to
God they were dead. You see this happens this happens a lot in church today.
There have been some churches in the past that were very busy for the Lord and
they would go out into the community and make difference in their area. But as
times goes those good works go to way side and the church begins to die.
However, because of their past reputation to those on the outside still think
that church is on fire for God when in fact they are not. Folks you can have
church that is meets on time and gives very generously and has beautiful
singing and have a wonderful speaker for a preacher but if a church is just
meeting together and that is far as it goes that church dieing even though has
the appearance of being alive right now. Paul taught this same concept about
the widow in.
1 Timothy 5:6 But she
who lives in pleasure is dead while she lives.
Just as this woman be
alive she is spiritual dead just as the church at
Revelation 3:2 "Be watchful, and strengthen the things
which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect
before God.
Basically Jesus is telling them wake up, pay attention and stop just going through the motions. Increase the few good things you have before they dies as well. Stop procrastinating and finish doing what you started. This great advice for any church that finds itself withering away. To many times congregation lose their focus and they have to be reminded to wake and make the best use of you talents and your time. We also see the importance of finishing what we start. If we don’t do these things we become lazy and the church will die.
Revelation 3:3
"Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent.
This is very important
information for a church to take to heart when they find themselves drifting
toward spiritual destruction. We must remember how we received and heard Gods
word. We must remember how much love we have for God and what he has done for
us. We need to remember how important it was for us to serve God with our whole
heart. Jesus is urging the church at
Therefore
if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know
what hour I will come upon you.
Jesus was informing the
church that if they didn’t change they were going to have to face the
consequences. Now I would like to point out the term come upon you as a thief
is used in 2 basic ways. In one way it is used to describe Jesus second coming
emphasizing that no one know when he will come except the father. The second way this term is used is to describe limited
judgment again emphasizing that no one will know when it will happen just as
Cyrus of the Persians had taken Sardis by surprise. While this letter doesn’t
tells what the punishment would be we can rest assured that it wouldn’t be
good.
Revelation 3:4
"You have a few names even in
Even though the
congregation as a whole was deemed dead by Jesus he now takes the time to point
out that there were at least a few in that church that were still faithful to
God. When Jesus states they have not defiled their garments he is not saying
they were perfect or that they did not have sin he was simply saying that they were
living their lives is acceptable manner to God. The city of Sardis was know as
being an very immoral place and would have a been a great struggle for a
Christian to remain pure but the few had done this very thing and Jesus now
says they are worthy to walk with me in white. Don’t you know that made those
few dedicated Christians feel good when they heard these encouraging words. We
should let these words encourage us today because what he said about these few
he would also say the same thing to those few who are faithful today.
Revelation 3:5 "He
who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his
name from the Book of Life; but 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." '
Jesus is telling us that
we must overcome sin and endure until the end if we want to be clothed in white
Garments. If we will do this then he will not blot our name out of the book of
life. Just as side thought I want you to think how powerful this verse is
against the notion “once saved always saved”. When you become Christian by
obeying the gospel call your name is written in the book of life. However it is
not there in permanent ink because Jesus clearly states IF we overcome then he
will not remove our name from the book which clearly shows that one can become
lost once they are saved. But another important thing we learn from the church
at
In fact there were two
different congregations in the NT that started becoming dead churches but in
the end they turned things around because of some faithful men who went to
these places and encouraged them to turn to back to God and do his bidding. The
first church that was like this was church at
The second church was located at
The Greatest thing that
we can do here at Lone Grove is to realize that it is possible to become a dead
church. Knowing that this is a possibility we need to make sure the we are
constantly watching and serving God to the best of our ability so that we don’t
become a dead church in the first place. There are several signs we need to
watch out for that indicate a church is dieing.
First of all we need to
realize that a church is only as strong as it individual members. That means
that each and ever single Christian here must examine themselves. We need to
ask ourselves question like, what am I doing to further Gods kingdom? Am I
putting God first in my life? Am I helping God cause or am I hindering it? I
can’t stress it enough the strength of this church rests upon each one us and
how we conduct ourselves and how committed we are to serving God. If we have
examined ourselves and we find that we are being lazy servant of God then there
is a great need for us to change and remind ourselves of why became a Christian
in the first place. If everyone does this it would be impossible for our church
to become dead.
There are also other
signs we need to watch out for.
Neglected Bible classes
There are two different
things I mean by this. First of all sometimes you will find churches teaching
Bible classes that have nothing to do with the Bible. Let me give you an
example. Many years ago my wife and I went to a married couples Bible class and
they class was being taught from the book called “Men are from Mars, and men
are from Venus”. Now from what I understand this is a very good book the talks
about relationship and the difference between men and women and it may very
well be a good book for a Christian to read. However this was Bible class and
yet no Bible was being used. Besides that the Bible contains a wealth of
information about man and women and their relationship. When a church begins to teach Bible class out of a man made
book and sets the Bible to the side I see a church that is well on its way to
becoming dead. Just think about term Bible class. When we come to Bible class
we come to learn about the Bible.
Another way Bible class
is neglected is by Christians not coming to it. Why oh why would want to miss
an opportunity to learn more about God and be around your brothers and sister
in Christ. I want you to think about it really hard what possible excuse is
there to miss Bible class all the time.
Maybe the excuse is this, I don’t need to go
to Bible class because I already know everything I need to know about Bible. First
of this cannot be true. You can never know it all no matter how much you study
the Bible and even if this was true then God has truly blessed you with great
ability and you should be teaching what you know if indeed you know everything
that you need to know.
Perhaps someone might say
Bible class isn’t important to me. Saying something like this is basically
saying that God is not important for me. It also states that you God is not
first in your life because you don’t see God words as important. Those who
don’t see the importance of Bible class will also be the same people that don’t
see the importance of worshiping God every first day of the week both morning
and evening. The more individual Christians who think this way the weaker the
church becomes. Friends I plead with you don’t neglect the Bible classes and
don’t neglect the worship services. If we truly have a love for God and we are
actively growing in our knowledge and grace we will be enthusiastic about
coming to Bible class and coming to worship. Those who eager to learn will
arrive to class and worship service on time and they will actively participate
in the class or in worship services. This kind of attitude will keep a church
strong and keep it from being labeled as dead by God.
Another sign of dieing church can be found from what
is taught from the pulpit. Paul
makes it very clear what a preacher should be preaching. He tells Timothy,
2 Timothy 4:1 I
charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will
judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: 2 Preach the word! Be ready in
season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all
longsuffering and teaching.
Unfortunately there are
preachers today that preach more from the readers digest or some other man made
book instead of preaching from the Bible. Now these congregations may have over
500 members and may have the appearance as thriving church but I can guarantee
that if a preacher is not preaching the word that is the whole council of God
then the church will die. They will find themselves being far removed from God because they are only
hearing sermons that make them feel good and doesn’t make them feel bad about
the sins they are involved in. Folks if you ever find a minister preaching or
teaching without using the Bible as their main source then it is time for them
to go.
Another sign of a dieing church is for it to
neglect evangelism
When we be Christians and
we understood the wonderful news of what God had done for us it should have
given you great joy in your life knowing that you could be saved and knowing
that there is life after death and if you live according to Gods will you can spend eternity in that wonderful
called heaven. The worse thing you can do as Christian is to keep this good
news to yourself.
Matthew 5:14"You
are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 "Nor do they light a lamp
and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who
are in the house. 16
"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and
glorify your Father in heaven.
Again this goes back to
the importance of each individual. Everyone of is a light for God. It is very
important that everyone lets their light shine by being a good example or by
leading people to Christ. The more people who hide there light weaken the
congregation as whole. The more individuals who lack the courage or the passion
to evangelize the greater the chance will be that the congregation will die. If
this applies to you I urge you to make a change today because we need every
shining example that we can get. To help you relight your spiritual passion
just sit down and remember why became a Christian in the first place and remind
yourself of what God has given you even though you did not deserve it. Then
simply go out into the world and be shining example that Jesus has told us to
be.
Neglect of the meeting house
Now this may not be one
that you have ever thought of. But I have read several studies that show that a
poorly maintained building is usually occupied by a dead congregation. First of
all the meeting house is just building it is not the temple. It is a fixed
place that we can come together to form the body of Christ. However, the
building was bought and is maintained by the Lords money. As Christians we are
to be good stewards and we can honor God by taking good care of the meeting
house that purchased with his money. This means we need to do our best to
maintain the property and to teach our kids not to do destructive things to our
building. If find a meeting house that well maintained you will most likely
find people who cares about what’s going on. However if you find a meeting
house that is in bad shape you will most likely find people who really do not
care because they don’t have deep love for God.
We have learned several
things from this lesson. First of all a entire congregation can be labeled dead
by God even if man thinks it’s a active church. We also learned that there is
hope for a church no matter how dead it
becomes if it will repent and turn back
to it first love. We also found out that every single person is important to
the strength of the church and we also looked at several signs we must watch
for that shows a church is headed for spiritual destruction. Of course the best
course of action is to never become dead in the first place and this is
accomplished by each individual doing their best to be faithful servants unto
God. I hope that you will take this lesson to heart and be watchful and put
forth your best for God so that we never become a dead church here at Lone
Grove.