Please turn with me to Revelation 3:1-6.  This morning we’re coming back to our look at the seven messages given by Jesus to the seven different churches here in Revelation chapters 2 and 3.  Remember these?  As we’ve been looking at these messages, we’ve been thinking through how we can live today trusting God - knowing that God is in control of tomorrow.  Today we’ve come to the fifth of these churches - The First Evangelical Free Church of Sardis. 

Several years ago I was sharing in another church - long ago and far away.  There was a man sitting in the exact center of the congregation - right on the center aisle.   This man - during the sermon - was talking - very loudly - in his sleep.  “Well, I think we.... and maybe that... sort of this...”  He went on and on like that until his wife gave him a shot in the ribs.  He woke up with kind of a, “Well, I think.... HRUMPH... uh oh.”

Have you ever been there?  All the time.  Right?  Every Sunday morning.  We’re relaxing in God’s sanctuary - letting go of all the stuff out there.  Comfortable chairs.  The monotony of the pastor droning on and on.  Pretty easy to doze off.  Maybe we should serve coffee before the service.

Today we’re going to look at a church that was asleep.  Sardis wasn’t just worshipping at the church of the inner spring - not just physically sleeping.  Spiritually they we’re comatose - living in the land of Nod.  Our title this morning - of the message - is Wake Up!  The importance of being spiritually awake.  Nudge the person sleeping next to you and tell them that, “Wake up!” 

Revelation 3:1:  “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write:  He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars - this is Jesus reminding the church that He - Jesus - who has authority over these churches - He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars - these seven churches - says this:  ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.’” 

Let’s pause there.  Its important for us to understand what Jesus means by this statement:  “you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” 

Sardis - as a city had a wonderful reputation - a glorious past.  Sardis was once one of the oldest and most important cities in the world.  Until 549 B.C. it had been the capital of the Kingdom of Lydia.  It was an important trade center.  Throughout its history the people had been very prosperous and wealthy.  Sardis was a military power to be reckoned with.

Sardis was also a very complacent city.  The people were self-satisfied - overconfident in themselves because of all their past glories and accomplishments and wealth.  They really didn’t care about a whole lot about anything.  They weren’t thinking about what they could accomplish next - new horizons - new opportunities.  They were in a kind of maintenance mode - going through the motions of being a city - keeping things together - and living off the past.  They were asleep - dreaming of past glory.  That slumber - that complacency was a disaster.

Say this with me, “Complacency is a disaster.”

The city of Sardis was built on a mountain that was about 1,500 feet high.  It was a great fortress city built above tall rock cliffs - with 3 separate walls.  Sardis had a reputation for being impregnable - no army could conquer the city.  An army would surround the city and the people would just wait out the siege - confidently - smugly - complacently behind the walls.  But twice Sardis had been conquered.

In the 6th century a Sardinian soldier accidentally dropped his helmet over the wall and with smug indifference to the Persian army that was laying siege to the city at that time - this Sardinian soldier came down a path outside the walls to pick up the helmet that he’d dropped.  A Persian soldier watched him come down this path - followed the Sardinian back up the path - and discovered an unlocked gate.  So the whole Persian army went back up that path - through the unlocked gate - and conquered the city.

200 years later Anticochus conquered Sardis - using the same unlocked gate!  How does that go?  Fool me once, shame on?  you.  Fool me twice, shame on?  me.  We’d think the Sardinians would have learned.  But, complacency is a disaster..  

The greatest monument in Sardis was the cemetery.  You all have seen that grave marker out in Tuttle - right?  That spire sticking straight up - tallest thing around.  George Hicks Fancher - born in New York, February 9, 1828.  Died in California, March 30, 1900.  Largest private grave marker in the United States. 

The cemetery in Sardis was so large that it formed part of the city’s skyline.  It was visible from over 7 miles away - a great city of the dead - monuments to great persons and events of the past - a memorial to past glory and opulence.  The whole focus was on the past.

That was Sardis - a great city living on its past reputation - their name.  There was no other city in Asia - at that time - that showed such a contrast between past glory and present decay.

What was true of the City of Sardis was also true of the Church of Sardis.  Complacent - they were living off their name - their reputation - and they were asleep - spiritually dying or dead.

The ruins of the church building - which have been excavated - are awesome -  envious facilities.  What’s been excavated indicates that Sardis was a large church - well established - in an important location in the city.  At one time the church had been alive - filled with people who knew the Lord.  They were on fire spiritually.  They were involved in powerful ministry - a church of prominence - position - authority.  They even had their own Bishop. 

But now, this church was inwardly dying.  It was so asleep spiritually - that even in this city where they had the usual assortment of pagans who would usually be against the Christians - unlike the other cities we’ve looked at - there was no persecution.  The Church was so asleep - so ineffective - that the pagans weren’t even bothering to persecute it.  There’s no reason to.  There’s no real ministry going on.  The lights are on.  But spiritually - no one’s home.

Dr. William Barclay - a great Bible Scholar - wrote this:  “A church is in danger of death when it begins to worship its own past; when it is more concerned with forms than with life; when it loves systems more than it loves Jesus; when it is more concerned with material than it is with spiritual things.”  (1)

Jesus says to this church, “I know your deeds, that you have a name - you have the reputation - of being alive - but you’re dead.”

Hear this:  Its possible to have a glowing reputation as a church - or as a Christian - and to be dead as a doorknob spiritually.  That’s a powerful warning to us and we need to listen to it.  For the church - complacency is death.  Say that with me, “For the church - complacency is death.”   

Verse 2 - Jesus goes on:  “Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God.  So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent.”

Two things this slumbering church needs to do.  First:  WAKE UP!!!!  Go out and get a doppio expresso macchiato with six extra shots.  I said that a while back during a sermon and someone told me later they almost did.  Go later.  Not now.  Sardis - wake up and smell the coffee.

The point is that we need a spiritual alarm clock to go off in our heads  -even here.  Its way too easy to come to church and do the religious thing and to never really realize how far our hearts have wandered away from God.  We sit in our comfortable little chairs in the same spot we’ve sat in Sunday after Sunday - smile and make small talk with the same people around us - sing the songs - listen to the sermon - fill in the blanks on the Sermon Notes - even go to Sunday School.  Going through the motions without ever really allowing God to get in - to rip us apart - transform us - to blow our complacent little worlds to smithereens - and to move us forward where He wants to take us.

Jesus says, “Wake up.  Because you’re not done yet.  God has more for you to do.”  Get your head out of the past - get out of the complacency of your comfort zone - start moving forward again.

Way too many Christians are living in the past.  They have great memories of what is it was like - when they repented and gave their lives to Jesus - of the youth groups they were involved with - the ministries they participated in - the people they knew - churches long ago and far far away.  Now they just want to be remembered - respected - live in the twilight zone of what was done.  There’s an embarrassing silence when they’re asked, “What has God been doing in your life lately?”

How would you answer that question this morning?  During the coffee time - ask somebody that and see what they say.

We need to respect those who have served here in the past and to appreciate all of the great ministries that have gone on here.  God has blessed this congregation.  Used it significantly in people’s lives.  That cannot be discounted.

But, we need to stop thinking about the way it was.  How there used to be 300 people and chairs all the way back to the stage.  We need to stop comparing ourselves to the past - or to other churches.  For 21 years this congregation has been a church plant.  For the last 10 or so years this has been a church in maintenance mode - a church plant with a past.  Its time to move forward as a church into the future God has for us.  God has more for us to do.

As a congregation.  As individual believers - if we don’t keep moving forward - then what we have will decay - it will die - and be lost.  What matters most for the Church of Jesus Christ is what lies ahead.

The second thing Jesus tells this slumbering church to do is to REMEMBER - “remember what you have received and heard; and keep it.”

When I was in college - down at BIOLA - my roommate was taking a photography class.  One week he got the bright idea of going to Death Valley to take pictures.  He said something about a class project and the natural beauty of Death Valley.  He asked me if I wanted to go.  Never having been to Death Valley I said sure.

Neither of us had a whole lot of money for food or a place to stay.  Neither of us had a whole of time.  We had classes and ministry responsibilities.  So we planned a schedule where we would leave early on Saturday morning - sleep out in the open - which ended up being on the ground - in the parking lot of a restaurant - in the middle of a sandstorm.  Quick trip up Saturday and back early on Sunday.

Most of you know that I am not a morning person.  Physically I may be up early.  But, I don’t wake up mentally until around 10.  And we left really - really - really - early.  The sun wasn’t up for hours.  And that desert was really empty.  So while I was driving I started to doze off a little bit.

Have you ever fallen asleep while driving?  I remember driving and then bouncing along the side of the road - jerking the wheel to the left and bouncing back onto the pavement.  I wasn’t asleep any more.  I was wide awake.  My heart was pounding.  And I knew - right then and there - why I needed to stay awake - I needed to drive and not sleep.

Spiritually - there are times when we need that kind of jerk back to reality.  To be jerked back to what we’re suppose to be doing.

There’s clarity in what Jesus says.  We’ve received the Gospel.  Heard it.  Understood it.  Trusted it - even individually trusting in Jesus as our Savior.  We need to get back.  Back to the implications of living out life in Jesus Christ.

Our forefathers - the Swedes - the Norwegians - the Danes - the people that founded the Evangelical Free Church were very clear on their mission as evangelicals.  They were focused on a personal saving relationship with Jesus Christ - on living in obedience to Jesus Christ - focused on reaching others with the Gospel.  They were sold out 100% - giving everything they had and everything they were to accomplishing their purpose.

In 1950 when the Evangelical Free Church was born there were 275 churches with about 22,000 people in them.  There were 4 mission fields with 82 missionaries.  50 years later - in 2000 - there were 1,243 churches with over 260,000 people in them - 42 mission fields with 600 plus missionaries.

Looking at Merced - people are hurting - wounded - broken.  They’re trying to fill the emptiness inside with gangs and drugs and sex and all kinds of philosophies and teachings.  They’re so impoverished spiritually that they’ll try anything because they don’t know the difference.  They need to know Jesus.

Like the Church of Sardis we’re strategically located with growing resources.  This is our spot - here on G street - in this neighborhood - in this city.  And, there’s a sense around here that God is doing something.  Do you sense that?  Like something is going on - stirring.  People are coming to Jesus.  God’s making changes in people’s lives.  Like God wants to move us forward.  Great things are ahead.  But, its going to take 100% of who we are in obedience to Him.  This is our time.  We cannot be complacent

Jesus says that we need to remember what we’ve received and heard - the basics of our faith - to turn from anything that distracts us from living totally sold out to Him.

We need to remember what it was like when we first came to Jesus.  How much we needed Him.  To remember the joy.  The desire to be with Him - to read and study and meditate on His word - to be in prayer.  The excitement of being with His other children - to share our relationship with Him.  Learning to worship Him and praise Him.  And we need to remember the passion we felt for those around us who do not know Him.  They need to know Jesus.  We have a unique and crucial ministry right here - right now.

Jesus says:  Wake up!  Remember what it was like to be alive in Christ.  Live as God has called you to live.  Do what God has called you to do.

Then - going on in verse 3 - Jesus gives a warning and a promise.

Verse 3 - first The Warning:  “Therefore - because you’re asleep - Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.”

The return of Jesus Christ will catch people sleeping - even Christians.  The Bible tells us that it will happen very quickly - when we least expect it.  To those who do not know Jesus as their Savior - His coming will be a time of their judgment and destruction - a time of being sent into eternal punishment - into eternal separation from God.  All that stuff about hell fire and brimstone that some avoid talking about - all that horror is really true.

First - the warning.  Then second - verse 4 - The Promise:  “But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments - There are a few believers in the church who are not sleeping - who are spiritually awake and living for me - and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.  He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments…”

The white garments are symbolic of being saved by God’s grace of  having our sins washed away.  Then living in faithful obedience to God.  They’re a fashion statement.  What God’s kids wear in heaven.

“...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.”  Jesus is going to tell everyone in Heaven that we belong there.

Its so much easier to wake up when we’ve got a reason to get out of bed.   God has got so much ahead for us - purpose - usefulness - His presence now - eternity with Him forever.  That’s the promise.

Then Jesus ends as He ends every message - verse 6:  “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

In the Gospels - Matthew, Mark, and Luke - Jesus is telling parables - telling these stories that have meanings that are really deep and often hard to understand.  As Jesus is telling parables He says over and over, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Some people - with all the crowds that followed Jesus - some did not have ears to hear.  Crowds followed Jesus for the miracles and they missed His message.  The Pharisees heard the message and rejected its implication.  What Jesus said went in one ear and came out the other.

Jesus said - Matthew 13:15 - “For the heart of this people has become dull - spiritually they’re dozing - For the heart of this people has become dull, with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes, otherwise they would see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I would heal hem.”

Eyes and ears are the gateway to the heart - the deepest part of who we are.  How easily we cut off - preempt - what Jesus says - without letting His words sink into the deepest part of who we are.  To put away our Sermon Notes - sing our last song - and go on complacently with our lives.  But,  Jesus is saying, “Those who are spiritually alive - let this sink into you - let my words change how you live - on the deepest level of your life.”

“He who has ears to hear” is all about the heart of a disciple - the condition of our heart before God.  Our openness to the work of the Holy Spirit.  Our willingness to act on what we hear - to repent - to change - to grow.  To allow God to move us beyond complacency.  To wake us up - to light fire in our hearts so we will burn for Him.

Are you awake?  Or, are you asleep?

Before we sing our last song - there are some here who have never really come to life in Jesus.  Maybe you’ve been living by all the outward stuff of Christianity.  Looking awake.  But inwardly there’s a void - an emptiness that needs to be filled.

• Christian service is important - but it will never save you.
• Church attendance is excellent - but it will never save you.
• Church membership has value - but it will never save you.

All these things have their place - even as a believer.  But they will never bring us to the healing and fulfillment and purposes that God has for us.

We’re saved - we enter into relationship with God - when we turn from trusting in what we do for ourselves and the hope that we’ll get by or make it on the merits of our own character.  God saves us -  when we turn and give our lives to Jesus - trusting Him as our Savior and Lord.

Jesus has settled it all.  He paid the penalty for our sins by the sacrifice of Himself on the cross.  We could never add to that.  Christianity - Church - at its core - isn’t about who we are - or what we hope people may think we are - its about God - coming into us - living in us - renewing us spiritually - rebuilding our lives.

Today, hear what the Spirit is saying to you. 

______________

1. Quoted by Ray Stedman in his sermon, “The Church Of The Zombies”