On October 31, 2010 the hit Television series “The Walking Dead” first aired. Over 11 seasons the series focused on the fantasy idea of a Zombie Apocalypse. The idea of Zombies comes from Haitian Vodou. Within the history or ritual practice of Haitian Vodou, Zombies would have their soul stolen and would become as the walking dead. They would appear alive but, in reality, would be dead. No soul equals no life! In the book of Revelation, we find a similar situation with one of the Seven churches of Revelation. The church of Sardis was a church that appeared alive but was lifeless. Let’s see what the John writes about the church of Sardis.
“ “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
“‘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. 3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. 4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’”
Sardis was located in west central Asia Minor and was an important commercial city. It was also a pagan city with a huge temple to the goddess Artemis. Artemis was the Greek god of wild animals, the hunt, and vegetation and of chastity and childbirth. In Roman pagan religion, Artemis was known as or identified as Diana. Religion was a major part of the culture in Sardis and had an impact on the lifestyle of the people of Sardis. This is the culture that the church of Sardis was located in.
In this letter, Jesus doesn’t take long to state what He had against them. They had appeared alive on the outside, but they were dead on the inside. As a church they appeared to have life to them but on the inside nothing, but lifelessness existed. We might state it this way, they had all the programs and activities, but heartless and careless people who participated in the work. The people of the church had no care for the people they were engaging with. No passion for the gospel or to share the love and hope of Christ to those in the community. No desire to help the poor and the hopeless because they had no heart to see the need. It was a church that was making no impact at all! If the church closed the people of the community would not even notice. That is the church of Sardis.
What is scary and heartbreaking to me, is that many churches today function much like Sardis. They appear to have life because lots of things are happening, but little to no impact on eternal life for those in the community. They have an appearance of ministry but no desire for missions. They are just existing, which is the worst existence that church can have. They have adapted to the culture of the community and society, so to distinguish members from everyone else is impossible. They no longer stand on the truth and authority of scripture but have desired to become culturally relevant and that relevance has led to an impact less church.
As I close out this blog, my prayer is that those churches would awaken to the truth of the gospel and that life would enter back into them. They would experience the life of the gospel and hope would spring forth from them. They would once again become a beacon of light upon hill for the Kingdom of God. Hope, always exist because the gospel is always before us!
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