The Dead Church, Pt. 1

Sardis: Passionately reach others for Jesus

The next church on the tour of the churches of Revelation from Bro. David's sermon series is the church of Sardis, which we read about in Revelation 3:1-6. We find that the church at Sardis was a church with a great reputation; Everyone had heard of it! It was an active church, and had many activities for all ages. To the world, Sardis looked love and vibrant. However, when Jesus looked closer, He found a dead fellowship. They did not live up to their reputation and did not embody God's sacrifice, who died so that churches may be alive. So what happened? What can kill a church?

Key to the strength of the church is that of the fellowship. One guaranteed way to smother a growing fellowship is having an inward focus, a lack of care and unity around reaching people for Christ. Being unforgiving also kills your fellowship by damaging your worship, your walk, and your witness. Don't underestimate the power of your worship! Dead, lifeless worship can also kill a church. Worship should have both power and passion, and to have powerful worship you must have the right focal point. This does not mean the songs, music, preaching of the message, or even the sermon itself. The real focal point of worship should be God.

We should leave church on Sundays fired up with the Lord's glory, because if dead worship can kill churches, alive worship can revive and grow churches! The church as Sardis, like some churches today, was filled with dead members. To keep our churches alive and thriving, the focus should be upon reaching people for Jesus and forgiving others as He would have us do.