Revelation 3:1-2
I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.
Ask anyone on the street why they do not believe in Jesus and you will not hear many complaints about who Jesus was. They will even praise Jesus as a good man and great teacher. Their reason will inevitably be the people who bear his name. Then they will tell a story about their experience in a church. The church in America has a bad reputation. Iago in Othello said that reputations were “got without merit and lost without deserving”. Think of reputation as “name”, as in, “their good name”. The church in Sardis had a good name but they did not deserve the name Christian. That was because Christ is alive, but the church was dead. Their works failed to reflect the love of Christ.
Come to Cape Community Church tomorrow as we perform an autopsy on the church in Sardis and seek out the cause of death. It is likely that they sought to fit in with the culture of the day and, more than the previous churches, compromised with and tolerated the culture. They may have even worshiped other gods along with Jesus. This is adultery and unfaithfulness to God. Jesus knew their works but they did not know at what hour their eternal death would come. Wake up tomorrow, assured in the fact that Jesus is alive and so is his church.
O Heavenly Father, you have promised to build your church but have no patience for dead churches. May we be found fruitful branches on the vine. In Jesus’ name. Amen.