Grace Notes // Letters to the Churches
To the Church of Sardis, “Wake Up”
Written by Dillon Turner
This week, Pastor Chris took us through the letter John writes in Revelation to the church in Sardis. The letter calls out Sardis for pretending and presenting as if they are a spiritually alive church when they were actually dead. John warns the people of Sardis that God will come like a thief in the night if the people of Sardis do not repent. John then encourages those in the congregation who are actually spiritually alive by saying that they will be clothed in white garments and their names will be written in the book of life forever.
Pastor Chris tackles complacency and numbness in the hearts of Christians, especially in this past season. Sardis was known for being defeated and Pastor Chris connects those defeats to the personal defeats many experienced because of the pandemic. Through the repeated call of “wake up,” Pastor Chris preaches of how God calls us to more in the face of defeat. Pastor Chris really hammers in the point that God will honor our best efforts even in defeat. There is something so sacred and precious about God’s people doing as much as they can. The enemy wants us to hyperfocus on our defeats, but the Lord calls us to give the wholeness of what we can.
The pandemic was hard. For a lot of people around the world, it is still hard. As things start opening back up here in DC, many people will be met with problems they haven’t had to think about in a year and a half along with problems that are completely foreign as a society grapples with returning to a sense of normalcy after a pandemic completely changed the lives of so many people. All of this to say that in overwhelming circumstances it is easy to fall into a state of numbness. I, personally, have a really bad habit of completely numbing out and going through the motions of life just to try to preserve my state of mind. So, hearing Pastor Chris say over and over “wake up” was the wake up call I needed.
It might just be because we spent ten months in Kings, but this numbness and performative spiritual fire on Sardis reminds me of King Amaziah of Judah who was known for doing things right in the eyes of the Lord but not with a whole heart. Maybe it was the fact Amaziah took the throne after the assassination of his father at a fairly young age, maybe it was because of his focus on avenging his father, maybe it was a lot of stuff, but for some reason, Amaziah’s whole heart wasn’t fully dedicated to the Lord, and that is how he was remembered. What is going to be our story? The Lord is calling us to do more than appear like we are alive and healthy but to fully live and grow and thrive. Are we going to answer that wake up call?
PROCESSING
Where has your heart been hardened?
In what ways do we need to wake up?
What would that look like in our lives?