“I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” – Revelation 3:1b
We see this harsh description of a faltering spiritual state in the letter to the church at Sardis, one of the seven churches of Asia. The message goes on to say that their works were not perfect before God. They were a church who were perceived by others and even themselves as alive and active, but the actions and the lifestyle weren’t there to prove it. The church was resting on reputation rather than doing the works of the Father and excelling still more. In short, the church was dead.
Now consider the church in 21st Century America. Oh, we have our doctrine right, because we worship God in the form He commanded and we obey His explicitly stated commands in the plan of salvation. For many years we were thought of as “people of the book,” and we were (and are) proud of that. And we still have the ’50s and ’60s, when we were one of the fastest growing faiths in America. We like those facts. We like to talk about them, to remember them fondly, and to stand on our doctrine today and say, “We have it right!” But are we patting ourselves on the back for a reputation of being alive while being dead on the inside?
Consider what the primary purposes of the church are. 1. Defend the truth 2. Keep the saved saved 3. Bring souls into the kingdom 4. Do good unto all men. Speaking in a general manner, we’re hitting 1 for 4 there. As we at Focus Press discuss quite frequently, we do a miserable job of holding on to those who are brought up in the church and are baptized as young adults. Evangelism is an after thought. If they come into our building, we think, maybe the preacher will get a chance to study with them. What we do today is a far cry from “Go into all the world.” As for doing good to all men, sure we give our money and that money gets given to someone else who works with people, and that’s not a bad thing, but it’s clear from Jesus’ teaching that He wanted us to be directly involved with helping other people, “doing unto the least of these.” It’s by being in their lives that we can show His love and feel the compassion He had for them. But we’re busy.
We think, “Well, if I just live as a Christian, maybe my example will be enough for someone to ask about the church.” First of all, example is a great starting point for evangelism, but we’ve failed if that’s where it ends. Second, what difference do people see when we go to church all day Sunday and then post to Facebook Sunday night about watching Breaking Bad or The Walking Dead? What difference do they see when we wear bad attitudes on our sleeves or talk negatively about other people? What difference do they see when there are people hurting around us and we don’t have the time of day to help? What difference do they see when they know our family has time for soccer and baseball and school functions, etc., but can clearly see that the Bible isn’t regularly a part of our family lives?
Am I generalizing? To a certain extent, yes. On the other hand, you know exactly what I’m talking about. You’ve seen it in the church. You see it on Facebook. Yes, the church has doctrine right but if we continue to rest on correct doctrine alone it will mean nothing. Ephesians 2:10 tells us we were created in Him for good works. Once God saves us we’re responsible to do as He would do, and that’s where we’re severely lacking. The worst thing about the church at Sardis? They were dead and they didn’t even know it. The church in America isn’t dead, but it’s not exactly healthy, either. It’s time to stop living off of reputation and start doing the perfect works Christ has prepared for us.