Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction:

Earlier this week, I was reading Fox news and came across this article:

Deadly ‘zombie’ deer disease could possibly spread to humans, experts warn

In this article it talks about chronic wasting disease as a fatal neurological disease that is able to transfer to humans.

Currently, there are no vaccines or treatments available for the disease, which scientists say spreads directly through animal-to-animal contact but also indirectly through contaminated drinking water or food.

While there have been no reported cases of chronic wasting disease in people, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, warns that human cases of this “Zombie disease” will likely be “documented in the years ahead.”

Symptoms of the disease include drooling, stumbling, lack of coordination, lack of fear of people, aggression, and listlessness — which explains the “zombie” nickname.

The symptoms are a result of neurons being killed off in the infected deers’ brain.

I would imagine that all of us are familiar with the term: “Dead Man Walking.”

If not for any other reason than it being a title of a book, as well as a 1995 movie.

This is a phrase came from prisoners to refer to those awaiting execution on “death row.”

Apparently, those on death row are considered already dead in the eyes of the other prisoners.

With no cure to this “Zombie” disease in sight, these deer that are affected are as good as dead within days of displaying the symptoms.

Those affected are “Dead Deer Walking”

Transition:

The next church we will look at in Revelation consists of Dead Men (& Women) walking.

This church is the church in Sardis and can be found in the very start of chapter 3

Scripture Reading:

Revelation 3:1–6

The problem in this church was not heresy but spiritual death.

Despite its reputation for being active, this church was near terminal with sin.

The church’s deeds were evil, and its clothes were soiled.

Jesus had no words of commendation for this church that looked so good on the outside but was so corrupt on the inside.

Much like with the

Transition:

The church at Sardis was an example of congregations that had basically quit walking with the Lord and standing for Him.

They may have still been going through the right motions, but in God’s eyes they were about to die (v.

2).

There was a faithful remnant (v.

4), but it was time for the spiritually lethargic majority to wake up (v. 2) and repent (v. 3) or face serious consequences from the Lord.

We start once again with what all these letters start with: Christ!

I.

The Proficiency of Christ (v.1)

“He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars” This phrase is another allusion to the glorified Christ from Chapter 1.

We already know the seven stars refer to the churches and her leaders in 1:20; the seven spirits may be a related metaphor because in Rev 4:5 they are related to the seven lampstands, which are also mentioned in 1:20 as referring to the churches.

The first question that might come to our mind is what is meant by the seven Spirits of God? - well, turn to Isaiah 11:2

“The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him-- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD”

We have here part of the prophecy of the Messiah and it lists seven spirits

The Spirit of the Lord

The Spirit of Wisdom

The Spirit of Understanding

The Spirit of Counsel

The Spirit of Might

The Spirit of Knowledge

The Spirit of Fear of the Lord

I think that the seven spirits of God refer to the completeness of the Holy Spirit in Revelation

The church at Sardis desperately needed to experience the reviving power of the full/complete Spirit of Christ.

As in the message to the Ephesian church, Jesus also holds the “seven stars” or the seven angel/messengers of the seven churches.

“I know your works/deeds” Jesus was aware of the strengths and weaknesses of His churches Only Jesus’s power and sovereignty, made available through the complete Holy Spirit, can revive those on the verge of death.

“that you have a name that you are alive” ὄνομα — a name is the literal Greek

Throughout this passage, there is a powerful wordplay using the Greek term ὄνομα (used four times):

(v. 1) the church has a “reputation” (or “name”) for being alive,

(v.

4) although there are only a few “people” (names) who have not compromised.

(v. 5) To the faithful, Jesus promises never to blot their “names” out of the book of life but instead to acknowledge their “names” before the Father.

The problem for the majority of these believers is that their outstanding worldly reputation doesn’t match the reality of Jesus’s revelation of their spiritual condition.

Everyone in that congregation thought that they are alive and well, yet Jesus pronounces them near “dead”.

This was a devastating revelation.

They thought they were right with God, spiritually pleasing to Him [[Isa.

29:13]]

It is too easy for us to look good on the outside and deceive ourselves thinking, “I look so good on the outside, I do so many things for ministry, so I must then be okay on the inside” We avoid looking too close to ourselves in fear that our insides might show through.

And before you are quick to dismiss this as being for a church from centuries past, we must first ask: Does Grace Baptist Church have a reputation of being alive?

Could this sound like us here at Grace? Are we looking alive to the rest of us here, only to be near dead on the inside?

Is your relationship alive with Christ?

Illustration:

Reputation is not always reality

Quote: What Christ Thinks of the Church, by John Stott.

The distinction between reputation and reality, between what human beings see and what God sees, is of great importance to every age and place.

Although we have responsibilities to others, we are primarily accountable to God.

It is before him that we stand, and to him that one day we must give an account.

We should not therefore rate human opinion too highly, becoming depressed when criticized and elated when flattered.

“but you are dead”

but this congregation was not spiritual at all!

They were only about appearing spiritual to the rest.

This cannot be us!

How is it that we come to a point like this?

How is it that we end up like dead men walking?

One way is that we believers compromise our loyalty to Christ by doing anything which violates God’s standards for conduct—little sins, or as Jerry Bridges would call it, respectable sins.

One such small sin act quickly snowballs to further compromises which become even easier to make.

Finally the “Christian” has nothing left worth serving, suffering for, much less worth risking his life.

Being a constant witness and having a consistent resistance to the world’s ways and standards finally becomes a risk of one’s life.

Accepting that risk is the meaning of bearing one’s cross.

Transition:

So the root problem was a spiritual “zombie” like state.

Verse 2 elaborates with commands

II.

The Problem at Church (v.2)

The following two verses record five commands keeping watchfulness.

The city of Sardis was recorded by this time being attacked twice because the watchmen on the walls had not seen the enemies scaling the cliffs.

Thinking that they were invincible on the mountaintop led to a deadly complacency.

What had happened to the city was happening to the church, and it needed to wake up.

“Wake up”

NKJV says: “Be watchful” This is an IMPERATIVE and is the first of the five found in verses 2 and 3 in order to shock them back to life.

Jesus commands His church to keep watching and it is the same command Jesus uses a bit in the Gospels to the disciples in talking about future things!

Some of you may recall a while back, I titled one of my sermons this exactly “Wake Up!” now it is wake up, Jesus is among us!

Illustration:

It is difficult to “wake up” if the church around us is sleeping soundly

In the church, one of the most dangerous places to be is alone.

When we do not have others helping us move forward, we are like an ice cube in room-temperature water—destined to dissolve to room temperature.

That is why we must reach out and find at least one other person to help us stay awake.

If you were to place an ice cube in your water at the start of my sermon, it would be long gone by the end of my 2 hour sermons.

“strengthen what remains” This is the second IMPERATIVE.