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. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, 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. Yet 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. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his names from the book of life. (Rev.3:1-5)
In his letter to the seven churches in Asia, Jesus delivers a stern rebuke to the church at Sardis. Although this city was the home of pagan temples, a huge Jewish synagogue, and a city under Roman rule, no enemies are mentioned as they have been with the previous churches. The problem with Sardis was that it was living on reputation but in actuality it’s passion and vision for the kingdom of God had diminished to the point of being lifeless.
Sardis was, apparently, an outstanding church at one time. But the church had grown weary. It had stopped serving and evangelizing as it had done in the past. It was a group of believers who had slipped into early retirement. Perhaps they felt that they had done their part for the kingdom and now it was time for others to bear the burden of service and sacrifice. But Jesus declares that there is not retirement in the kingdom. Retirement comes when we are transferred to the home office – not before. The King determines when we retire. We don’t. To Jesus this church had simply decided to stop running the race and had stepped off the track.
They were like servants who had not completed the tasks their master had assigned but decided they had done enough. It’s one thing to miss an assignment God has given us. It is another thing to choose to no longer accept any assignments. Jesus declared that they were dead and called them to renewal and repentance. All was not lost but if they were to receive any reward they had to step back on the track and begin running the race one more.
Years ago I was a campus minister in a small town with a small college. Many churches in tiny rural towns in the area sent their kids to the college where I served and they attended the church that directed and supported the campus ministry there. On occasion I was asked to preach at some of the small churches that supported the ministry. I was invited to preach a Sunday evening service in a particular town where one of the students in our ministry had grown up. The service was to begin at 6:00. I arrived at 5:30. No one showed up to unlock the building until 6:05 and then others straggled in for the next fifteen minutes or so. The girl in our ministry, who was 19 or 20 years old, was the last one who had been baptized in that church when she was twelve. The night I preached I discovered that the baptistery was where the church stored their lawn mower, rakes, and garden hose along with a plethora of dead leaves and spiders. That was a dead church with no passion, no vision, and no fruit. They were an older group who had retired from the kingdom. I’m not saying that no one there loved Jesus; they had just quit bearing fruit in the kingdom. However, the church at Sardis once again suggests that fruit bearing is a genuine indicator of alignment with the heart of the Father.
One consideration for each of us who want to walk in the grace and the power of God is whether we are still passionately engaged in the work of the kingdom or if we have stepped onto the sidelines just waiting for the power to flow again before we get in the game? Are we bearing fruit worthy of our calling and are we still running the race with diligence? Or have we become consumers in the kingdom allowing others to serve us rather than serving them? Are we partaking of other people’s fruit but not bearing any of our own? Do we glory in what we used to do for Jesus or are we asking Jesus to do more through us now than ever before? Jesus said, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (Jn.15:8).
Sometimes our greatest enemies lurk in the culture around us and populate the kingdom of darkness. But sometimes we are the enemy who has let our own passion grow cold and have stepped off the track while others run. Sometimes we have stopped taking assignments from God that were scheduled before the earth was created. If so we can repent, get back in the game, and begin once again to experience the power of God. Be blessed!!! Alignment includes fruitfulness.
