DIGGING DEEP NO. 867 – JANUARY 26, 2021 CHRIST AND THE CHURCHES (PART 5) THE FEEBLE CHURCH Rev.3: 1 – 6.

We are still listening to what the Holy Spirit has to say to the churches,
for these messages of Christ belong to our day as well as to the first
century. Churches are people and human nature has not changed.
Sardis was known for the manufacture of woolen garments, a fact that
has a bearing on Christ’s message to the church. The city at that time was but a shadow of its former splendor, and the church unfortunately, had become like the city; it was alive in name only.

The message to Sardis is a warning to all great churches that are living on past glory. Spiritual ministries often go through four stages: a man, a movement, a machine, and a monument. Sardis was at the monument stage, but there was still hope. The Holy Spirit gives life to the church, and life is exactly what the people at Sardis needed.
All of the church’s man-made programs can never bring life. When the Holy Spirit is grieved, the church begins to lose life and power. When sin is confessed and church members get right with God and with each other, then the Spirit infuses new life and there is revival. Sometimes it is a pastor’s fault that a church is dying, and the Lord of the church may remove him and put another in his place.
There are no words of commendation to the believers at Sardis. Nor did the Lord point out any doctrinal problems that required correction. Neither is there any mention of opposition or persecution. The church had grown comfortable and content and was living on its past reputation. In fact, even what they did have was about to die! Why? Because the believers had gone to sleep. It is when the church’s leaders and members get accustomed to their blessings and complacent about their ministry that the enemy
finds his way in.

Our Lord’s counsel to the church began with “Be watchful! Wake up” Rom.13: 11. The first step toward renewal in a dying church is honest awareness that something is wrong. The Lord warned the Ephesian church that He would come and remove their lampstand if they did not repent Rev.2: 5. He warned the church at Pergamos that He would come and make war with the sword of the Spirit Rev.2: 16. If the believers at Sardis did not follow His orders, He would come as a thief, when they least expected
Him, and this would mean judgment.

However, a remnant of dedicated people often exists in even a dying church. The Christians at Sardis had life, even though it was feeble. They were working, even though their works were not all that they could have been. The Lord admonished them
to strengthen what remained and not give up because the church was weak. Where there is life, there is hope.
What was different about this dedicated remnant? They had not defiled their garments Rev.3: 4. The remnant in the church at Sardis had not compromised with the pagan society around them; they had not grown comfortable and complacent, and it was this devoted spiritual remnant that held the future of the church’s ministry. Wake up! Be watchful! Repent! Remember the Word you have received and obey it! This is the formula for revival. The warning here is to not grow comfortable in our churches, lest we find ourselves slowly dying. The encouragement is that no church is beyond hope as long as there is a remnant in it, willing to strengthen the things that remain.