Lenten Midweek 5, 2024
Text: Revelation 3:1-6
Title: “Dear Church, wake up!”
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Dear church,
These are the words of Him who has the seven spirits of God.
Isaiah once said about me:
The Spirit of the Lord rests upon me,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
This is the Holy Spirit, whom I sent at Pentecost to the apostles, and whom I continue to send into the world today through my Word.
This Spirit brought creation to life in the beginning.
This Spirit brought the dry bones back to life in the days of Ezekiel.
This Spirit is the one who will bring you back to life.
Dear church,
There are times when you look alive on the outside, but you are actually dead on the inside.
This was the case in Sardis.
They had a good reputation. The other Christians thought well of them. But I didn’t.
Looks can be deceiving. You may look like a vibrant, growing, dynamic church. People may see you and say, “I wish that my church was like that.”
People may look at you personally. They see someone who appears pious and faithful, someone who even shows up to church on a Wednesday night. They see someone who is an exemplary Christian.
But I don’t merely look at the outside. I don’t judge by appearances. I see your heart and mind. I know what happens behind closed doors.
The Christians in Sardis looked alive, but inside they were dead.
They were going through the motions. They were putting on a show. Their works were incomplete.
They looked alive, but they were dead.
Is that you? Are you merely going through the motions? Are you just putting on a show? Are you only interested in your reputation, what others think of you?
Are you dead on the inside?
The good news is that I can raise the dead. I can bring people and churches back to life through that same Holy Spirit.
I said to the Church in Sardis, and I say to you, “Remember what you have received and heard.”
This word that you received, this word that you have heard is what will bring you back to life, as the Spirit works through that word.
Don’t worry about appearances. Don’t worry about what others see and think.
Worry about what you have heard, this message of salvation that has been handed down from generation to generation throughout the history of the church.
Remember it. Meditate upon it. Listen to it over and over again. Pass it on to your children and grandchildren. This word and the working of the Holy Spirit will bring you back from the dead.
This is terribly important because, dear Church,
I am coming soon. I am coming on a day and at an hour that you do not expect. I am coming like a thief.
Thieves do not make appointments. Thieves do not schedule their crimes. Thieves come when you are unready and unprepared.
You must stay vigilant. You must keep watch and stay awake so that you are ready to greet me when I come.
If you are asleep, wake up!
I know it’s easy to doze off. I know it’s easy to get lulled into a sense of security by routine. I know it’s hard to stay vigilant day after day, week after week, year after year.
But I am coming, and once I return there will be no second chances, no additional opportunities to repent. It’s all or nothing.
I have given you everything you need. I have done everything for you. Simply trust in me. Rely on me, and you will be good.
If you conquer, you will be clothed in white garments, washed, cleansed in my blood.
Just as you wore a white robe on your baptism day, just as you will wear a white pall on your funeral day, so you will wear white eternally in my presence.
I know you. I know your name.
It’s written in my book.
It’s on my lips, and as you confess your faith in me, I will confess you in the presence of God the Father and the holy angels.
I raised you to life at your baptism, and I will raise you to life on the last day, when your baptism is complete. I will wake you from the sleep of death to live with me forever.
Dear church,
Wake up!
Love,
Jesus
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