JUN 28

Revelation 3:1-6
Memorise Revelation 3:3
“Thou has a name that thou livest, and art dead”

IS YOUR CHURCH SPIRITUALLY DEAD?

As we move down the list, we see the state of the churches described getting worse and worse. The church at Sardis received almost no commendation at all, but only very strong words of rebuke. The Lord tells them that He knows their works, and that they are nothing more than an empty shell of a church. They might seem to have a name, a sort of reputation in the past, but at the present, they were just dead. They may have been strong as a church once, with vibrant activities and a strong gospel influence. They may have had past accomplishments, and established a name for themselves, that perhaps even continued to the present. However, the Lord sees and knows exactly what is going on, and His verdict of them was that they were dead. Spiritually dead. Useless for Christ. They were but a shell of their former glories, no longer vibrant, no longer growing. They were like fossilized remains of a church. They still had a name to show that they were a church, but really there was nothing more than that.

The reason for this state, was the Lord did not find their works perfect before God (Revelation 3:2b). What this meant was that for all that they were doing, all their works really amounted to nothing before God. Perhaps as a church they were still going through the motion, in having a weekly church service, a few faltering ministries, but nothing much more than that. There was absolutely no spiritual life in all that they did, they were like zombies – dead, but apparently still moving. How sad isn’t it!

Yet we do see examples of dead churches all around us. They call themselves a church, on the surface, they seem to be doing what churches usually do, but inwardly there is nothing. They claim to be serving the Lord, but they are in actual fact servants of Satan. They teach a false gospel, they have no regard for holiness, they have a low view of Christ and His Word. The truth is not preached in these churches, and people are not being saved! This is indeed a terrifying state to be in. If you find that you are in a spiritually dead church, it would be best that you leave and find a place where the Word of God is taught, and God approves of.

Thought: What would cause a church to become dead?
Prayer: Lord, may You protect my church, and help it never to become a dead church, useless for Thee.