I’m so proud of this church! We collected enough stuff to fill sixty-two shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. For a church our size, that’s pretty impressive. Because of that, sixty-two kids will get a present this year that otherwise wouldn’t and everybody that had a part in it got treasures in Heaven for eternity. Thank you to everybody who helped with all of that. That’s very exciting.
Now, tell me something else that Christ Fellowship does that you are proud of or excites you. How about out ministry to the poor, the addicted and the incarcerated? Our ministry to the RV Park down the road? Our part in the Disciple House in Bridgeport? Did you know that as a church we tithe 10% of our gross income to five different missions or ministries? Some of them, in turn, support other missions and ministries. That’s pretty cool. We also have a food pantry that helps people every week. We also go to a lot of time and expense to put our Sunday morning service live on Facebook and I hear almost every week about somebody that enjoyed it.
That’s a lot of stuff for a church. God must be pretty proud of us. I think we can just sit back and take it easy for a little while, don’t you? Maybe we at least take the holidays off and go back to ministry in January, maybe February. What do you think? I don’t want anybody to burn out. Oh, we should continue meeting here every Sunday morning but maybe next week we will discuss some other ways that God must be proud of us because of what we have done in the past.
Ben, will you come lead us in a closing song? I think we have done enough for a while. What? No? Why not? Aren’t you afraid of burn-out? I mean, we have done some really good stuff in the past. Can’t we just cruise for a while; you know, take a little break? Why not? Yes, Paul said in Galatians 6:9, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” But surely we have done enough good things in the past to carry us for a while, right? No?
You know what it reminds me of? Bruce Springsteen has a song from 1985 called “Glory Days” and the last verse goes like this. (Don’t worry. I’m not going to sing it.)
And I hope when I get old I don't sit around thinking about it
But I probably will
Yeah, just sitting back trying to recapture
A little of the glory yeah
Well time slips away and leaves you with nothing, mister, but
Boring stories of…Glory Days.
Time slips away and leaves you with nothing, mister, but boring stories of…Glory Days. How true that is and what a shame that is. It is even more of a shame for Christians in a church to have nothing but boring stories of what they have done in the past.
Every year on our church’s anniversary which is coming right up on December 2, we will take some time to remember a bunch of stories about the early days of our church and when we do we always do it in a way that shows God’s protection and provision for us. We give Him all the glory for those days. That’s good and fine and we should do that but every year we add to those stories and we will add some more when we celebrate again on December 8th of this year.
But if every year we met together to celebrate and every year we told the same old stories about what we did in 2013 and 2014 and what fun we had and how good God was in that, then something is wrong even if we are giving God glory. Something is wrong if a church isn’t doing anything. If a body on the side of the road isn’t moving, you would pull over and try to help that person. You would know just by looking that they were dead or almost dead and something was horribly wrong.
The church in Sardis was laying on the side of the road not moving. They had done some great things in the past but it was just about dead. Let’s read about them in Revelation chapter three. We have made it all the way to the third chapter as we continue our study on the seven churches that Jesus told John to write in the book of Revelation. We have come to the church in the city of Sardis. Today it is called Sart in modern day Turkey.
Anybody want to guess what Sart is known for? Literally even today Sart is most known for some military battles that happened thousands of years ago. Talk about “Glory Days!” It is a thriving little town even today, just like it was back when John wrote them but even today they are living in the past. What’s really interesting is that two of those battles were notable because the guards posted to alert everybody if someone attacked had fallen asleep. And it happened to them twice, 200-300 years apart.
That fact plays a part in how Jesus addresses them in His letter to them so let’s read it in Revelation 3:1-6. "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. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. 3Remember, 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. 4Yet 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. 5The 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. 6Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
First, let me tell you really quick that Jesus is telling John to write what He says and Jesus says in verse 1 that He holds the seven spirits of God. Don’t worry. You are correct. There is only one Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, but the number seven is used biblically to represent perfection and fullness or completeness. He is saying that God’s Spirit is omnipresent in all the churches. He sees what’s going on. He is there. He is a witness. He knows.
But what He goes on to tell the church that He knows is fascinating. Do you remember reading in the Gospels about how Jesus so often cleverly and subtly poked the Pharisees and religious leaders? He would be teaching and say, “You have heard it said…” and I just picture Jesus looking at some Pharisee. “You have heard it said not to murder but I tell you not to be angry.” He knew that Pharisee was so angry at Him that he wanted to kill Jesus.
He did stuff like that a lot. Not only was it teaching truth but it was a subtle dig, a little jab, a poke in the eye to those that needed poking. I want you to see that Jesus writes these letters with the same subtle cleverness. Jesus knows that Sardis had tried to build a temple to Artemis, a Greek goddess, but they never completed it and they became somewhat of the laughingstock around there. Jesus knew that Sardis was known for being on top of this almost impossible to climb cliff but that the guards had fallen asleep and their enemy walked right in on them.
So, look again at how Jesus addresses them. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Ouch! It’s that same clever bite He used with the religious leaders. It was also teaching an important truth to them and to us today.
So, what makes Jesus say to that church in Sardis and even more important to us, why would Jesus say to us that our works are not finished, our deeds are unfinished? Turn to the book of James. Turn left in your Bibles about 1/16th of an inch to James 2:14-17. James was the brother of Jesus and inspired by the Holy Spirit to write this: “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
In this letter to Sardis, Jesus never chastises them about them really doing anything wrong. There was no doctrinal issue to be addressed. There was no sexual immorality like Thyatira had. He is telling them that, yes, in the past you have done some good things but if you really want to be alive; if you really want to take the next step in obedience, then it is going to require faith.
Now, when I say that I can just see some of you taking a breath and thinking, “Wew, good. He’s not preaching to me this time because I have faith.” Right? Let me tell you what faith is. In 2016 I went to Nicaragua on a mission trip with our friends Jody and Trisha Kennedy. I had been with them on other trips and I kind of knew what to expect but there was a lady that went with us from another church that had never been before and I struck up a conversation on the way over there.
I said, “So, you’ve never been on a mission trip before? I’m glad you’re going. That’s good.” She said, “Not good. I’m scared to death. I can’t afford it. I’m afraid of flying and I have no idea what I’m doing.”
I looked at her and thought, “Wow. That’s the faithiest faith that has ever faithed right there. That’s what it looks like!” And do you know what? When we got there, she just melted right into those people. She had a love for people and especially the young teenage girls just really clicked with her and I’m convinced that several of those girls came to Jesus because of that woman’s faith.
Scared to death. Can’t afford it. Didn’t know what to do but God opened the door and she walked through. She was over her head from the first step but she trusted God to provide and protect and she did it while being obedient and doing good deeds. That’s a finished work in the sight of God right there.
Now, I hope that woman is a mature enough believer to not be going around, three years later saying, “In 2016 I had some really faithy faith on that mission trip. Let me tell you about it one more time.” I hope she has other, more recent, stories to tell.
Jesus has something else to say to the church at Sardis as well. Look at verse 3. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. What had they received and heard? Well, the letters of Paul had been written and circulated by this time and most of the rest of the New Testament had been written so Jesus is saying to them, “What you read in the scriptures, hang on to that.”
And here we go again. The same folks that thought I wasn’t preaching to them about faith are relieved that I’m not talking to them about reading the Bible. But I’m preaching to all of us. Again, going back to James. James 1 says, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. 23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror 24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. 25 But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do. Okay, some of us may be doing alright so far but watch out…26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
Ouch! If that didn’t step on your toes, you don’t have toes. Okay, okay, Jesus is telling the church at Sardis (what would you call them, Sardines? I don’t know.) Jesus is telling the Sardines to take the whole canon of scripture and be obedient to it. Hold on to it. But if we just take this one part that James says, that’s probably enough to work on for a while.
Tame your tongue! Keep a tight rein on your tongue. That means to say freely what needs to be said and to keep your mouth shut about the things that don’t need to be said and most of us struggle with both. As Jesus told the church, we have received it and heard it. We have held on to it. Or have we?
Are we keeping a tight rein on our tongue? A man working in the produce department was asked by a lady if she could buy half a head of lettuce. He replied, "Half a head? Are you serious? God grows these in whole heads and that's how we sell them!" "You mean," she persisted, "that after all the years I've shopped here, you won't sell me half-a-head of lettuce?" "Look," he said, "If you like I'll ask the manager."
She indicated that would be appreciated, so the young man marched to the front of the store. "You won't believe this, but there's a lame-braided idiot of a lady back there who wants to know if she can buy half-a-head of lettuce." He noticed the manager gesturing and turned around to see the lady standing behind him, obviously having followed him to the front of the store. "And this nice lady was wondering if she could buy the other half" he concluded.
Tame your tongue. I know. I know. I’ve heard you say it. God made you this way. You aren’t rude. You are just blunt. You are just a straight talker, right? You calls ‘em like you sees ‘em. Yea, I hear ya. But Jesus calls that sin and He tells the church here in Sardis and the church here in Lake Bridgeport to repent! Do you see that in verse 3?
He goes on to say that if you don’t repent; if you don’t obey everything written in scripture, even the hard stuff like taming your tongue; if you don’t repent and wake up then He will come like a thief in the night. When Jesus says He is coming like a thief in the night, He is not coming to give you a reward. He is not coming to comfort you or give you an attaboy or call you sweet baby. He is coming for judgment.
In 1 Corinthians 3 and 2 Corinthians 5, Paul talks about how Jesus will judge all your deeds. If it is done with faith, you will be rewarded. If not, it will be burned up. It will be looked at as worthless. All the time, money and effort you put into things that don’t require faith will be like wood, hay and straw. They will be burned up in God’s judgment. As Christians, we will still go to Heaven but think of all the stuff we spend time and money on in this life that will do us no good in eternity.
I want you to know I have made an important decision. Some of you know I was given a pontoon boat for free. It’s nothing fancy and it needs a little work but I am enjoying it. The decision I have made is the all-important name of the boat. I have thought about it for a while and I was considering naming it “Calm Delight” which is the definition I found for joy. But just this week, going through this study of Sardis, I decided on “Wood, Hay and Straw.”
I know it’s not real catchy but I hope it keeps me reminded as I work on that thing just what really is important in this life. There’s nothing wrong with having stuff but is anybody’s life being changed by that boat? Is that boat going with me to Heaven? Shoot, I’ll be happy if it makes it all the way to the lake.
If Jesus came back tonight, is He going to care how clean that boat is or how well it runs? For the One who walked on water, I doubt He’ll be impressed. What about you? What are you spending your time, money and effort on that will be burned up like wood, hay and straw?
Look again at verses 4 and 5 at how Jesus closes this letter. This is a great comfort to all true believers. He says, “4Yet 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. Stop right there. I don’t know about you but I don’t feel worthy but thank you, Lord, it’s not based on feelings. We are worthy if we confess Jesus as Lord and do what He says. That makes us worthy and victorious. 5The 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.
All my commentaries agree that to read this as it might be possible to have your name blotted out of the book of life is incorrect. In fact, it says just the opposite. Jesus says He will never do that. G.R. Beasley-Murry says that Jesus wrote this book before time began and He didn’t make any mistake so He needs not blot out any names. That’s good news because there are a lot of times that I not only don’t feel worthy but I prove that I am not worthy and it is only by God’s grace and the faith He gives me that I am considered worthy. Thank you, Lord!
When I look back on the history of our church, there is a lot to be proud of. This church has done a lot of good things for the Kingdom of God. We could talk about the time seven years ago that Eddie the Angel came in and we ministered to Him. Or we could brag about how a couple of years ago a guy in the Wise County Jail said, “Christ Fellowship? I know them! That’s the church that helps people!” There are other times and things we have done but I have no doubt that this church’s best days are in the future. Let’s focus on that. What are we going to do next? That’s exciting to me.
Maybe today you don’t know for sure if your name is even in the Lamb’s Book of Life. You can be sure by repenting of your sinful lifestyle. Turn away from that and ask God for forgiveness of your sin. Romans 3:23 says we are all sinners. Romans 6:23 says that what we deserve for that sin is eternal death in Hell. But John 3:16 says that God loved you so much that he sent His Son, Jesus, down from Heaven to die on the cross to pay for all your nasty sins and mine and that all we have to do is believe.
That belief will be obvious because God will change your life and continue to change it until you die or He comes back to get us. Are you ready for that? It could happen at any moment. Go to God in prayer right now as the music plays.
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