Church on Life Support

Revelation 3:1-6

It is a tale that is all too familiar: A new rescue station is built on a dangerous mountain. A new seminary is founded. A new community center is constructed. A new charity comes on the scene. A new nation emerges from the fires of revolution. A new church is planted; usually these new ventures begin with great hopes and a clear, passionate purpose to save, teach, support, aid, liberate, worship. They tend to exist in their proper state long enough to grow in their influence, gain a reputation of great value and prestige, but as the attention grows, so does the pressure from the world around them; Investors come with lofty promises of better experiences, and over time, the original purpose is slowly forgotten and forsaken, as if those who founded it have slipped into a coma, ignoring the slow decay. The rescue station becomes a ski resort. The seminary becomes a secular college that spurns the idea of God. The community center becomes a trade hub for drugs. The charity pays out more to its CEO than it does to those in need. The nation that once loved freedom falls into the very tyranny it fought to be freed from… The church plant becomes… Well, we’ll come back to that.

All too often, the few left in the organization, nation, or church, etc, who still remember the original purpose take action far too late. They are eventually forced to conform, or forced to leave. Often choosing the latter, they found a new seminary, start a new charity, fight for a new nation, plant a new church, maybe a new denomination…. and the cycle continues. This is the risk being faced by the church of Sardis. If it were not but for a few remaining individuals, a few small signs of life, this church would be completely dead. But as it were, there is still a chance to break the cycle, a chance to come out of the coma, and return to the former state of life it once had. Now, what can we possibly learn from Sardis? Stay awake and stay alive. How do we do this? I’ll present 3 headings 1. Learn to recognize when the church is in a coma. 2. Wake up if you are “dead”. 3. Experience the rewards of being awake.