Mickey Cohen
Mickey Cohen was a famous Los Angeles
gangster of the late 1940s. When he made a public profession of faith in
Christ, Cohen became the talk of the town. But for some reason he didn’t leave
his gangster lifestyle. So as time passed, some of his Christian friends began
to wonder and finally confronted him. But Cohen protested, “You never told me I
had to give up my career. You never told me that I had to give up my old friends.
There are Christian movie stars, Christian athletes, Christian businessmen. So
what’s the matter with being a Christian gangster? If I have to give up all
that—if that’s Christianity—count me out.” Cohen gradually drifted away from
Christian circles and ultimately died lonely and forgotten. Chuck Colson notes in
this way: “Cohen was echoing the millions of professing Christians who, though
unwilling to admit it, through their very lives pose the same question. Not
about being Christian gangsters, but about being Christianized versions of
whatever they already are—and are determined to remain.”[1]
Nominal Christianity
Today we explore Jesus’ 5th
pastoral letter – the letter to Sardis. The church of Sardis had a reputation
for its vitality and zest. The church was always busy with the different activities,
programs, and projects. Its congregation was stable and growing. The church had
no lack of money, talent, or human resources. Those who were visiting the
church of Sardis would exclaim, “What a live church you have in Sardis!”
Outwardly, the church of Sardis had every indication of life and vitality. But
we need to remember this: “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord
looks at the heart” (1 Sam 6:7). Jesus saw through all their activities and
looked at their hearts, saying, “I know your works. You have the reputation of
being alive, but you are dead” (v. 1). Sardis church members belonged to Christ
in name, but not in heart. They were actively working, but they didn’t have an
active relationship with Christ. They were nominal
Christians.
The
Lausanne Committee for World Evangelism defines a nominal Christian as “a person who has not responded in
repentance and faith to Jesus Christ as his personal Savior and Lord.” They can
sing the hymns. They can recite the Lord’s Prayer and the Apostle’s Creed. They
can say the confession and join in the prayers. But their minds wander and
their hearts are far from God. They are preoccupied with all the things they
have to do and all the things they want to do. In Isaiah 29:13 the Lord says, “These
people come near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but
their hearts are far from me.” In 2 Timothy 3:5 Paul warns Timothy about
nominal Christians in this way: “They will hold to an outward form of godliness
but deny its power. Stay away from such people” (ISV). Nominal Christians are
formalists and hypocrites. In Jesus’ time, there was a large group of nominal
Christians, whose name was the Pharisees. They did tithing, gave alms, said
long prayers, and disfigured their faces to fast. They did all this to gain a reputation
for being religious. But it was nothing more than a public show. Jesus said to
them, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are
like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside
are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the
outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of
hypocrisy and wickedness!” (Matt 23:27-28). Probably when the church of Sardis
was established, it was filled with people who loved Jesus. But as time passed,
slowly and gradually, their love grew cold, their passion faded away, their
energy got exhausted. Finally, they have reached the point that they experienced
no life in the church. They have become a dead church.
The Remedy
Can
a dying or dead church like Sardis live? The answer is “YES”! Our Lord
Jesus rebukes the hypocrisy of Sardis Christians (and our hypocrisy), and then
he gives the remedy. He says, “Wake up!
Strengthen what remains and is about
to die… Remember what you have
received and heard; obey it, and repent!” (vv. 2-3a) Here I want you to
pay attention to these 5 imperatives: “Wake
up! Strengthen what remains! Remember! Obey! Repent!” Here I also want you
to pay attention to who the main recipients
of the message are. Jesus addresses these commands to the whole church, but particularly to a certain group of minority,
the remnant. In verse 4 Jesus says, “Yet
you have a few people in Sardis who
have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for
they are worthy.” There was a godly
remnant left in the dead church of Sardis. They were the “holy seed.” They
were “a stump in the land.” They were the church within the church.
In his redemptive history God has
always spared his godly remnant and fulfilled his promises through them. When the
world was filled with wickedness and violence, God spared Noah and his family. When the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah was
so great and their sin was grave, God rescued Lot and his family. And now when the church of Sardis was dying and
almost dead, God spared his faithful,
committed remnant. But because of their depressing circumstances the remnant
became weary, unstable, spiritually sleepy. So now the Lord Jesus commands
them, “Wake up! Strengthen what remains! Remember! Obey! Repent!”
What Do You Remember?
Among these 5 imperatives, I want
to stress the power of remembrance.
The remnant in the church of Sardis is told to remember. Today Sardis church is dying or dead, but there were
times when they were growing in numbers and spiritually, and enjoyed a vital
relationship with Christ. When you look back on a long and glorious history of
our church (your home church), what do you remember? What can we learn from our
past history? For me, personally, my spiritual heritage that I always remember
and keep going back to is Early Morning Prayer. There I met the God of my
grandparents, the God of my parents. There I met my God. So I always remember it
and guard Early Morning Prayer with my life. It’s very important to remember what
we have received and heard, and obey it, and repent today.
In John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress Christian arrives at
the Interpreter’s house. The interpreter shows him several things for his
spiritual benefit. One of them was a man in the iron cage. Christian asked, “Who
are you?” The man said, “I once appeared to be a good and successful Christian.
I thought I was on the way to the Celestial City and was happy at the thought
of getting there.” Christian said, “But what are you now?” The man answered, “Now
I am a man of despair because I left off to watch and be sober and gave rein to
my lusts. I sinned against the light of the Word and goodness of God. I tempted
the devil, and he is come to me. I have grieved the Spirit, and He is gone. I
have so hardened my heart that I cannot repent.”[2]
This story is actually based on Hebrews 6:4-6: “It is impossible for those who
have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared
in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the
powers of the coming age, if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance.”
So the author of the Book of Hebrews says in the Spirit, “Today, if you hear
his voice, do not harden your hearts” (3:15,4 :7). Today is the day of
salvation. Today is the right time to remember, obey, and repent!
Be Filled with the Holy Spirit!
When Jesus says, “Remember what you
have receive and heard,” ultimately it refers to the Holy Spirit himself. The remnant in the church of Sardis had
received the Holy Spirit. They had tasted the Holy Spirit. But now they almost
quenched the Holy Spirit. So Jesus says to them, “Wake up!” “Strengthen!” “Remember
the Holy Spirt you had received!” “Obey him!” and “Repent!” In a word, “Be filled with the Holy Spirit!” That’s
the best remedy. Who can wake us up
and revive us again? The Holy Spirit! Who
can breathe into our lifeless worship and make it alive? The Holy Spirit! Who can rescue a dying church and revitalize
it once again? The Holy Spirit!
I love the vision of the river of
life in Ezekiel 47. Ezekiel is taken to the entrance of the temple. Then he
sees water pouring out from the Temple porch to the east. At first, the water
is ankle-deep. Then, it is up to his knees. Then, it is up to his waist. Then now the water has become
a river over his head, water to swim
in. Then Ezekiel sees wherever the river goes, everything becomes alive. This
is who the Holy Spirit is and what the Holy Spirit does. He is the Spirit of
Life. He is the life-giving Spirit. Let us filled with the Holy Spirit, not
just ankle-deep, or knee-deep, or waist-deep, but over our head. Let us plunge
into the river of the Holy Spirit. A boring static church can be refreshed by
the Holy Spirit. A sleepy church can be awakened by the Holy Spirit. A dead
church can be made alive by the Holy Spirit!
O Breath of Life, come sweeping through us,
Revive your church with life and power;
O Breath of Life, come, cleanse, renew us
And fit your church to meet this hour![3]
Amen.
[1] Craig S.
Keener, The NIV Application Commentary:
Revelation (Zondervan, 2000), 147-48.
[2] John
Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress (Charles
Foster Publishing Co., 2014), 35-37.
[3] “O
Breath of Life” UMH 543
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