APPEARANCE OF LIFE.... BUT DEAD
Revelation 3:1-2
"I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God."
While guiding fly fishermen on the Karluk River for silver salmon, the fish were so thick that I was able to squeeze a salmon between my legs and hold him there. Looking down I was shocked to see the fish who looked perfectly healthy. I put my fly rod in my teeth and reached down, lifting the salmon by gripping him under the gills.
When I pulled the fish from the water he was as shiny and silver as many of the other fish we had caught, when I squeezed her sides, she was very mushy. I set her back in the river to head back to ocean or onto shore where a brown bear or the seagulls would eat it.
That's fish looked alive at first appearance, but when I checked closer it was dead and quickly inside. The church, in the verse above, had all the appearance of this fish. It looked to everyone around it as if it were alive and thriving. However, Jesus knew the truth and He knew it was dead.
Many of our churches in America are like this church, the church in Sardis. They look clean and beautiful from the outside, with white steeples a d stained glass windows, but they are dead, dying or rotting on the inside. These churches have stopped praying with an expectation of God working. They have twisted the Gospel message to fit their own desires, even to the point of denying Christ's true identity as God. The people inside the doors fight to see who can become more important instead of who can lower themselves to be a servant.
We must be on our guard to see what is happening around us in our churches. Are there people coming to Christ through the ministry of the church? Are new believers being baptized as a sign of their faith? Is there true ministry to the needy inside and outside the church and strong evangelical work being done? Has the morning service become commonplace and predictable? Has giving dropped? And, is there no feeling of the Holy Spirit in the midst of the worship and church body?
If people aren't being fed and new believers being added to the congregation and true discipleship taking place.... You are probably looking at a dead or dying church. Our country is full of these buildings today... some appear from the outside to still be thriving, but they are not... others are so far gone you can easily see the death in them. However most dead churches are still standing and from the outside they appear healthy... this was the case of the Church of Sardis. It had the appearance of being healthy and alive, but was dead.
We must all be alert and aware of what is going on in our own churches. We must remain on guard for the signs of decay in the church. A dead church will have no purpose to Jesus and eventually it will even lose its appearance of being alive and will take on a look of death. We can't let that happen... we must fight to keep Christ's church alive. Be on guard for the signs of coming death and change it.
Help achieve the mission - GIVE today
Click the button to sign up for Dean’s Daily Devotional. FREE and delivered daily.