During Lent, my church has been reading the letters to the seven churches in the book of Revelation. Jesus accused the church in Sardis of being dead. He warned them to remember what they had received and heard, or they might be caught off guard when he returns.
To the angel of the church in Sardis, write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They walk with me dressed in white, for they are worthy.
Revelation 3:1-4
The church in Sardis had a reputation for being full of life. They thought they were invincible. Jesus exposed them for what they really were.
How did the church become dead? My pastor said that they were too comfortable and they compromised their faith, acclimating to the ways of the Roman culture.
The church in Sardis was not walking with Jesus. They forgot the gospel message.
Although this revelation was for a specific church, it is applicable to Christians today.
Many American Christians don’t separate their Christian identity from their national identity. Loving your country is fine, but a Christian’s identity should come from Christ! We must not idolize our country.
Many American Christians have what Tim Alberta calls a “lust for hegemony.” (I had to look it up.) They want Christians to have dominion over the country. Jesus did not seek to dominate the culture. He was concerned about God’s kingdom – the realm where God reigns.
Christians can easily become compromised when their knowledge of scripture is shallow and when they take their eyes off of Jesus. They can easily be deceived by false teachers. They choose to be discipled not by Christ but by the media, politicians, or others who are not motivated by the issues that mattered to Jesus.
One of the biggest deceptions is that character doesn’t matter, that anti-Christian conduct should be excused because God uses flawed people.
[Trump] persuaded the churchgoing class that it was better to win with vice than lose with virtue. He had blinded believers to the means and fixed their eyes on the ends. Most significantly, he had shown evangelicals that their movement need not be led by an evangelical.
Tim Alberta, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory
If Christians in America don’t want to be caught off guard, they must wake up spiritually and hold fast to the words of Jesus.
More than any figure in American history, the forty-fifth president transformed evangelical from spiritual qualifier into political punchline, exposing the selective morality and ethical inconsistency and rank hypocrisy that had for so long lurked in the subconscious of the movement.
Tim Alberta, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory
Christians have become a political punchline. Our selective morality and rank hypocrisy have been exposed. We pretend to be righteous while walking around in filthy clothes.
It’s time to wake up!
Innermost Being 