April 12 Reading Comprehension

April 12

Reading Comprehension

Ne 8:8 So they read in the book in the law of God

distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused

them to understand the reading

 She was anxious to get home and tell her mother. In Sunday School they had been memorizing verses and she had learned a new one. When arriving home she happily recited the verse she had learned. “For many are cold but few are frozen, Matt 22:14”

During the song service little Johnny requested they sing the song about the bear. “Which one is that?” the song leader asked.

“You know …the one about Gladly, the cross-eyed bear”

Those are cute stories about how children don’t understand what they have read or heard. As adults we are sometimes guilty of the same things. I saw a little test that demonstrates that idea. Read the following sentence and identify what is wrong with it.

It is important to read the

the words that are on the page.

If you didn’t see the problem right away read one word at a time and you will see the problem.

Sometimes we do not understand what is actually being said because we do not know the meaning of a word but think we do.

A man was arrested for stealing a watch but there was not enough evidence to convict him so the judge told him “Due to a lack of evidence you are hereby acquitted of this crime”

“Oh thank you judge, but does that mean I have to give the watch back?”

 But understanding what the Bible says requires more than proficiency with our language. It requires a relationship with Christ.

1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

In the last few verses of the book of Luke we find another requirement for understanding what we read.

Lu 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Lu 24:45 Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,

We certainly need to be spiritually alive, and have the aid of the Holy Spirit to fully grasp what the scriptures teach, but there is a lot that we miss just by not noticing some wonderful things in the scripture. For instance. In the Revelation 3:20 where it says “I stand at the door and knock” we may get the mental image of Christ knocking and overlook where he also says

.. if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” 

Christ was also speaking as he knocked. We do not know what he was saying, but just knowing he spoke as well as knocked gives us a better understanding of the verse. It allows us to ask if we hear his voice when he speaks to us?

 Another simple example is in Genesis chapter 3. The woman told the serpent “neither shall ye touch it” but we do not find that prohibition in chapter 2:17.  Comparing scripture with scripture will help us get a more accurate understanding.

In Genesis 22 in the story of Abraham’s willingness to offer Isaac we read Isaac’s question in Genesis 22:7 “…behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”  Abraham’s answer has deep meaning if we read it carefully.

Ge 22:8 And Abraham said, My son,

God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering:

so they went both of them together.

 

And we know that God did provide himself a lamb that taketh away the sins of the world.  The animal caught in the thicket was a ram, an adult male sheep. Now is this a prophetic reference to Christ, the Lamb of God, or is that reading too much into it? It is by reading closely that we find such questions and sometimes wonderful answers that we had not seen in scripture before.

Often the first and last verses of a book are instructive. For instance in Genesis the last verse we find “….in a coffin in Egypt”. What an ending to a book that had a beginning in the Garden of Eden.

The last word of the Old Testament is the word “curse”.

Mal 4:6 …lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Finally I should say something about our memory and how we recall the words of a verse. The computer Bible program I use in writing these devotionals has a wonderful search feature. You type in a word or two from a verse and all the verses with those words pop right up. I have been sure that a certain verse had some words in it but when I searched they were not there. I had recalled the verse incorrectly. Perhaps it was because I was reading the verse incorrectly?

And of course there are those things people think are in the Bible that are not. Don’t bother looking up “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” It just isn’t there. You also won’t find any mention of a cross-eyed bear!

Hopefully we will all do better at reading the Bible more often. With today’s devotional in mind may we also read it more attentively.

2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God,

a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,

rightly dividing the word of truth.

April 11 A Rough Life

April 11

I’ve Had a Rough Life

De 5:16 Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee

I know a pastor’s wife who is ..well…let me start over. A pastor’s wife should be loving, thoughtful, kind, gentle, caring, personable, friendly and a bunch of other nice things. You know, sugar and spice and everything nice. Well, I know a pastor’s wife who has not yet attained these virtues. One of many reasons she gives for her behavior is the way she was raised. Bad parents, poverty, misfortune and neglect are some of the reasons she has been denied the opportunity to nurture the positive qualities listed above. It just not her fault. She is a victim.

2Ki 24:9 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.

We find this and similar phrases repeated in the Old Testament 22 times! Now who gets the credit for being evil? Does the father get credit (blame) for what the son did? The old expression “fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree”, means like father like son. But it does not have to be that way. Yes, if a child is raised in the midst of wickedness, they may have more to overcome. The point I am trying to make is a person should not excuse bad behavior by blaming their parents. At some point people become responsible for their own decision making, and choose how they want to behave.

The old question of “nurture or nature” comes to mind. If that is an unfamiliar phrase it just means do people become bad because they are raised in a bad environment (nurture) or are they bad because they were born that way. (Nature).

Please excuse a personal story. I was born into a large family of uncles and aunts that had a bad name in the community. Their own misdeeds made up much of their reputation, with gossip filling in the rest. My parents were divorced shortly after I was born. I lived with my brothers and sisters (who were older and married) and was moved every few months to someone else. I attended three different schools when I was in the first grade. I grew up poor until I was able to get a job in high school.  Etc etc.

After I was married for a few years we had some guests in our home and the subject came up about parents. So I unloaded specifics about my parents, and my early hard life. Our guest stopped me and reminded me that we should honor our parents. My anger poured forth as I challenged him. “How are you supposed to honor people who did thus and so?”  His answer was a well-deserved rebuke to me.

“You honor them by not telling everyone about all their faults!”  Wow! His comment sank into me like a knife. I instantly knew he was right and I had been so terribly wrong. I thanked him for such great advice and never again spent time explaining the details of how I was raised. 

I felt great freedom after that. They were not the reason I was who I was. I had been released from carrying that burden of blame.

OK enough about me.

Ex 20:12 ¶ Honour thy father and thy mother …

Now this verse is pretty simple to understand. There is no need for a deep study of Hebrew, piles of thick commentaries or a highly skilled evangelist to explain these words.  Yet as a Christian I ignored these words and felt justified in doing so, because of my past. How is it possible that such a simple verse can be ignored by a grown man who wanted to learn all he could and grow to be a mature Christian?

Oh dear here comes the application. You might want to stop reading here. My dear reader, you may have honored your father and mother and have been a better person than I was. But is there some simple verse from the Scriptures that you avoid, ignore, or make an excuse why you do not need to do what it says? 

If you had a “rough life” a difficult childhood, and it has stayed with you, please consider the following.

Ge 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife…

There comes a time when you can no longer cling to your parents. Any feelings you have for your parents other than love, respect and honor should not be an excuse for you to do what you do or be who you are. “Therefore shall a man leave…” Let it go.  You may not be able to forget the past, but you can keep it from controlling the present.

I sincerely hope no one reads this and finds any application to themselves. I think I have written it to remind myself of my need to study harder and learn more and apply what I have learned.  May God help all of us to do just that. May God bless you for having the patience to read my babbling comments and overlook my faults.

May we all become more sensitive to those parts of Scripture where we need to be more compliant. It is too easy to excuse our disobedience and blame it on someone else.  

Jas 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and

not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

 

April 10 - Spiritual Money

April 10

Spiritual Money

Rom 12:2 …that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Did you know you can find God’s will in your check book? Neither did I but it must be you can, because I have seen it happen time after time. Many years ago some people in the church I attended started talking about getting a church bus. That was during the time that the Hyles-Anderson theology was creating a buzz in churches that wanted to grow. A new family was all for getting a bus right away. Many people in the church were opposed to spending money on a bus.

One evening during the deacons meeting the church treasurer read the financial report. It included $25 in the bus fund! I was unaware that we even had authorized a bus fund. But someone had taken out their checkbook and with a stroke of a pen our church now had a bus fund. Even though the deacon board returned the money to the donor, the die had been cast and within a few weeks there was enough money in the general fund to purchase a bus. So the church bought a bus.

I know of a church that wanted to build on to their church. The pastor told the congregation to use their homes as collateral and take out a loan to give to the church so they wouldn’t have to wait to build the addition.

Well, while that plan is a bit unusual, it sure beats waiting for God to supply the money.  It is just another example of the Spirit of the Checkbook. “Oh mighty checkbook, is it your will that we install a new sound system in the church? It will cost $5000 dollars. Let us look in your pages and see your balance. Oh Praise you lovely checkbook. We have $7238.73, so it must be your will for us to do it. Amen”

OK So that is a little melodramatic. But while no church or pastor would actually do that, I have been in countless meetings where a question of buying something or spending money has come up and the first question is not is it the will of God. The first question is “How much do we have in the general fund?” 

Now before you stop reading and write me off as some kind of hyper spiritual nut ball, let me share with you the story of a man who lived according to the will of God. His name was George Muller. If you aren’t familiar with him, he was the guy in England that started orphanages and depended on God to supply everything. He had some rules he followed. He never told anyone there was a need, except God. He prayed several times a day. Time after time he was faced with supplying the food and clothing needs of hundreds of orphans without more than a few dollars. He would pray and God would answer. The money would come in from the most unlikely and unexpected places.

But today we are talking about the will of God and not how God answers prayer. So let me get back on track.

The reason I have introduced Muller is I learned a great lesson from his narratives. On page 50 of a book entitled Answers to Prayer  Muller makes the following entry from 1864 in regards to the purchase of 17 acres for his #4 and

# 5 orphanages. “I might have bought it years ago; but that would have been going before the Lord. I had money enough in hand to have paid for it years ago; but I desired patiently, submissively, to wait God’s own time, and for Him to mark it clearly and distinctly that His time was come, and that I took the step according to His will…”

The property had been for sale. Muller had sufficient funds to purchase it, but he did not because he did not feel it was God’s will at the time. He prayed thousands of times and after a few years, events clearly indicated that it was God’s timing and God’s will to go ahead.

Our modern churches know nothing of such a mentality. The thought of doing what Muller did is so foreign to our way of thinking that we are tempted to call him too extreme. But God blessed this man and answered his prayers for 64 years during which he provided for thousands of orphans.

May we be more anxious to apply our faith to determining God’s timing and His will as we make decisions about how to be faithful stewards of what He has entrusted to our care. May we also be less anxious to use our check book balance as a substitute for the directive will of God.

The measure of success in churches today is number of people, size of buildings, and how quickly a church is growing. These are meaningless to our God. He requires obedience to His will and Word. 

1Co 4:2  Moreover it is required in stewards,

that a man be found faithful.

 

April 9 -Angry Lemon Tree

April 9

The Angry Lemon Tree

Ge 1:12 and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Maybe lemon trees are not actually angry but you would never know it. They certainly aren’t friendly. As a kid who spent a year in Florida I used to find wild lemon trees. Even a dumb 14 year old soon learns there is no safe way to climb a lemon tree. The branches don’t have thorns like a rose bush. They have long, pointed, sharp, wooden spines that are two or three inches long. Maybe you have been able to climb one of those lemon trees but not me. The best comparison I can think of is a lemon tree is like a Hawthorne bush on steroids!

Another reason I think lemon trees are angry is the fruit they produce. I know there are lots of uses for lemons and they are a good thing, but not if you sit down and peel one and try to eat it. What kind of tree is so unfriendly it grows long spines and so mad it makes bitter fruit?

Well, Science has the answer. 90 kabillion years ago the lemon tree was a simple blade of grass. But after getting stepped on by dinosaurs some blades of grass were pretty unhappy about it so they decide to become herbs. Naturally all the grass did not become the same kind of herb. They were all too angry to agree on anything so they each went their own way. A small group of mad grass blades decided they would become catnip. It took a long time but they eventually figured out how to change into catnip. They no sooner had become catnip than saber tooth tigers began to chew on them and roll around on them. Now the grass blades that had become catnip were really mad. After a lot of planning they decided they would become lemon trees with long needle like spines and bitter tasting fruit.

What?  You don’t believe that is how it happened. Don’t take it from me. Scientists with oodles of college degrees say that is how it happened. Mr. Darwin said that is how it happened. High School biology teachers are pretty well agreed that evolution is a fact. 

The Bible says God created animals and plants and gave them the ability to reproduce after their own kind. I find it is easier to believe the Bible than the evolutionary silliness that science has accepted. 

I have a package of tiny itsy-bitsey seeds that are paper thin. They are Douglas Fir tree seeds. Just imagine that inside that thin tiny seed are all the instructions, germinating qualities, chemicals and food, that remain viable though dormant for years. Then one day when they are in moist soil, something awakens and a small sprout comes out of the ground. It has the ability to take nourishment from the ground, grow, and eventually produce a huge tree which will reproduce thousands of Douglas Fir tree Seeds.

The devotional thought for today is to remind us to be amazed that the perennial flowers we planted years ago have survived a very long cold winter. As the warmth of spring…or this year, maybe summer, warms the ground and the rains fall those plants will come to life again and grow. You do not have to wonder what you will get. If you had a deep red mum it will still be deep red this year. How is that possible? The coming of life of grass and trees and shrubs should be our constant reminder that they are the handiwork of our great God. We should be amazed every day. Stop to look at a bud on a tree, or even a single blade of new grass pushing through the soil. Then say to yourself that this is the handiwork of a sovereign God. No scientist in the world can duplicate this process in a laboratory.

There are many lies in the world today. Some of them are very clever. Some are diabolical. Others are just plain stupid. I like to put evolution in the list of stupid lies. A little piece of poetry says it as well as anything.

               First I was a tadpole, long and thin,

               Then I was a frog with my tail tucked in,

               Then I was a monkey swinging in a tree

               And now I am a Doctor with a Ph. D.                               

Please join me in delighting with all the newness of life this spring. What a fantastic show of how magnificent our God really is.

Le 26:4 Then I will give you rain in due season,

and the land shall yield her increase,

and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.  

Now scientists are warning us “The sky is falling, the sky is falling” and the glaciers will melt and the earth will become a desert of overheated land and there will not be enough crops to feed the world.

But God promised,

Ge 8:22 While the earth remaineth, seedtime

and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and

winter, and day and night shall not cease.

As you notice new life sprouting all around you this spring take a moment to realize it is because our great God cares for and provides for us.  In addition to seeing how plants and bushes and trees come to life and flourish perhaps you will also consider how God wants you to be nourished, grow and bear fruit. May our thoughts turn heavenward as we take joy in seeing new life this spring. Maybe when it gets warm enough you can enjoy a nice cold lemonade. The lemon tree is not really angry. It is just bringing forth fruit after its own kind as God has designed it. While you enjoy your lemonade think of another tree God wants to prosper.

Ps 1:2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD;

and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers

of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;

April 8 Church at Laodicea

April 8

Is Someone At The Door?

Re 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:…

Warner Sallman may not be a name you recognize, but you have seen his paintings. The picture “Christ at Hearts Door” is a picture of Christ knocking at a door with a wistful look on his face. It comes from the verse in Revelation that was addressed to the Laodicean church. 

When I was in high school two or three of the main line churches in town had an open house week. During the tour of one of the churches we stopped in front of a copy of the Warner Sallman painting of Christ standing at the door. Several features of the painting were explained.

The light shining on the door forms a heart shape with Christ in the middle, signifying we should have Christ in the middle of our heart. There is no handle on the outside of the door, indicating someone from inside must open the door and let Christ in. The small grillwork in the door reveals there is darkness behind the door, indicating those behind the door are lost in the darkness of sin. Finally Christ has a patient look on His face, as he continues to knock.

I have never liked that painting.  Probably because I knew the Bible well enough to know it misrepresents the verse it is based on.  It may confuse people who don’t know the Bible message about salvation. Now it is a nice painting, well done and as an art object is a marvelous piece of art. It is the theology that is too easily attached to the picture that I do not like.

To understand the meaning of a verse in the Bible we need to look at the context, what is being talked about, and how does a verse fit into the subject matter at hand.  Fortunately that is pretty easy with Revelation 3:20.

In the early part of the book of Revelation we are told that there were seven churches that would be mentioned.

Re 1:20 …and the seven candlesticks which

 thou sawest are the seven churches.

The church at Laodicea is the last of the seven churches that Christ mentions. The verses from 3:14–22 are easy to grasp.

Vrs 14 identifies Christ is speaking to the Laodicean church.

Vrs 15 and 16 The church is lukewarm and it makes Christ sick. The language is figurative. The word spew in the text means vomit. The Laodicean church made Christ sick to his stomach.

 Vrs 17 They thought they were rich and did not need anything. Christ said they were poor, blind, miserable and naked. Again it is figurative language.

Vrs 18 continues figurative speech. He tells the church to buy from him what they needed.

Vrs 19 requires them to repent.

Vrs 20 Here we find the text for today.

Re 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock:

if any man hear my voice, and open the door,

I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Here is Christ knocking on the door of the Laodicean church. Some evangelists may use this verse as an invitation to salvation but it is not that at all. He is knocking on the church door where His name is already known and saved people are inside.  He is not knocking on the heart of the unsaved here.

There is no handle on the outside of the door. The interpretation of that is Christ won’t force the door open. He will stand there forever and knock, pleading for entrance. Nonsense!

Most Bible believing fundamental churches teach that man is dead in trespasses and sins.  Now how dead are they?  Can they get up and answer the door?  Is salvation conditional on what we do first?  

Joh 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me

Joh 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

Now the argument over election and free will is an old and still unsettled one. But I think we can all agree that dead men are not saved because they got up, unlocked the door and invited Christ in. They are saved because the Holy Spirit has already come in and quickened them so they respond. Whatever your doctrinal position I think the text we are studying does not support the idea that Christ is knocking on the door of a church filled with unsaved dead men.

This lukewarm church probably did not have a welcome sign and a door handle on the outside. It looked dark inside because no one was in there. They were all busy. It was a town of wealth, business, banking and a medical center.  Who knows what they were doing? We just know it wasn’t anything radically religious or completely pagan. It was sort of in the middle. You know lukewarm.

One last comment about the painting. Christ was not knocking with the hopes of saving some poor lost sinner who opened the door. Nor was he planning to meet with the entire church.  He was calling out names, and said if any man hear my voice and open the door that he would come in and fellowship with him around the table. They would eat a meal together. But it required someone to be in tune with Christ’s voice.  They might have ignored the knocking, but they should have recognized the voice of the master.

The devotional thought for us today is to consider if our life is so filled with other things we neither hear the knock of the Holy Spirit nor recognize His voice. May we become more sensitive to the still small voice and stop what we are doing for a time of fellowship and nourishment with Christ as he speaks to us through the Holy Spirit.

Eph 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

 32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

April 7 Steady As She Goes

April 7

Steady as She Goes

Re 3:11 …hold that fast which thou hast,…

What sustaining devotional thought can we take away from these seven verses addressed to the church at Philadelphia?

This church did not seem to be either a dynamic powerful church, or a miserable failure filled with idol worship. A quick read of the verses will help us understand what kind of church it was and what the conditions were in Philadelphia.

Verse 7 describes Christ as holy and true. Holy remind us of his Holiness, which speaks of judgment. True brings to mind the book of John, chap 7; “…I am the way, the truth, and the life…”. The world says there are many ways to the happy hunting grounds, nirvana, paradise, supreme enlightenment. The Bible says there is only one way to heaven, the Man Christ Jesus.

Verse 8 tells us Christ knew their works. He then described their works. First they had little strength, but in spite of that they kept the Word and did not deny Christ.

Vrs 9 and 10 tell us there were difficulties. A large settlement of Jews opposed them and were slandering the church and its members. Also there was greater tribulation on the way. But Christ said he would keep them from that hour of tribulation.

    The last 3 verses are promises and a final admonition

 Re 3:13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the

Spirit saith unto the churches.  

What is the devotional thought for us from this passage? It is simply to keep on keeping on. Or in nautical terms “steady as she goes” which means to keep your eye on the compass and make steering adjustments to maintain that compass heading.  You do not need to add some marvelous sailing skills, try shortcuts, or anything untried. Just keep on doing what you are doing with adjustments to maintain it.

To continue with the nautical theme of a sailing ship let us consider what it takes to maintain “Steady as she goes”.  The first requirement is you need a compass and we have that in Christ and our Bibles. It is impossible in the middle of the ocean to maintain a heading if you have neither compass nor landmarks to go by.

A bunch of guys decided to go ice fishing on a large lake. They all had snowmobiles and about noon the fish started biting. Reluctant to leave for lunch a couple guys volunteered to go in, use the bathroom and gather all the lunches. Warm temperatures had produced a thick fog on the frozen lake and with no compass or visible landmarks the guys with the lunch discovered they had missed their group and were at the opposite shore of the lake. A second try and they were back at the parking lot. Etc etc for several more tries. They even stopped and yelled but no one responded. Eventually they found their group and asked if anyone had heard them yell. Yes, but didn’t respond because they enjoyed hearing them roar by several times somewhere out in the fog.

But we have a compass to guide us in the way that we should go. The helmsman also needs the skill to read the compass and understand what it is telling him. In addition he needs to be familiar with his craft, to know it’s strengths and weaknesses in order to control the ship. The helmsman needs to know what currents are running contrary to the ship, and keep an eye on the wind. All these and more are required to maintain “steady as she goes”.

Oh and a couple of other things. When the waves are calm and the wind is steady the helmsman must stay alert. He must not become weary or impatient. He must remain faithful to his assigned task.      

That gives us a lot of devotional thoughts for today. The Church at Philadelphia had little strength but had maintained their course. That church had not leaped tall buildings in a single bound, but they had not denied Christ in a strongly pagan city. They were not mightier than a speeding locomotive, but they kept the Word of Christ.

We all have the compass of God’s word. What kind of helmsman would only check the compass once a week on Sunday morning at 11 AM?  What kind of helmsman would see the needle move a little and declare “Close enough. What does it matter if I miss the mark a little?”  Could you maintain your course even with unexpected huge waves or stormy winds?  And even more important could you maintain a course that keeps you in God’s will and do so with patience when life is calm and monotonous?

Here are some navigational aids for you to meditate on as you keep an eye on God’s compass for your life.

Jas 3:4 Behold also the ships, which though they be so great, and are driven of fierce winds, yet are they turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth.

Here James is referring to the tongue. If you can’t control that thing, you can't stay on course.

Ps 107:23 ¶ They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; 24 These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. 25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.

Turn to this wonderful 107^th psalm and read how God sends the waves and brings us through the storm to build our faith in Him.

What can we learn from an ancient church that had little strength, did not deny Christ, and kept His Word? 

Heb 12:1 Let us run with patience

the race that is set before us…..

April 6 Zombies in Sardis

April 6

Zombies In Sardis              

Re 3:1 …I know thy works, that thou hast a name

that thou livest, and art dead.

The parking lot was full and I had only minutes to get to class so I parked on a street near a large church near campus. To save time I hurried across the lawn behind the church. That was when I saw something so startling I remember it almost 50 years later.

I have forgotten the name of the church but it was one of those big busy churches often found near a university. Maybe it was named the “Nondenominational, Universal Church of World Peace” or some such meaningless title. But the thing that caught my eye was an old cornerstone. It was located in the most remote corner of the back of the church and was nearly moss covered. It read “First Baptist Church of Flint, Michigan.” There was a date from the late 1800’s. Here was a modern day Sardis. They thought they were alive but were dead.

Christ had a message for the church in Sardis.

Re 3:1 ¶ And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write;

These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God,

and the seven stars; I know thy works,

that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.  

I know thy works. There is no listing their good qualities for this church. Just the reminder that what they were doing was known to Christ. What were those works? There are some clues. There was no mention of persecution in this church. They were an active church. Christ said He knew their works. They may have had several busy committees in this church. We don’t know what the works were but they were the kind that made people in the area regard them as a living church. But Christ said they were dead!

Christ had also confronted the religious leaders of Jerusalem with the same charge.

Mt 23:27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

James says faith without works is dead faith, but Christ acknowledged they had works and they had a reputation. So how could they be dead? The answer from Hebrews 9:14 is they had dead works. They had works without faith!

We do not know what they had done to be well spoken of in the community. We do know that a huge temple of Artemis was in the city and had been for nearly 500 years. When the Romans took over they changed the Greek god Artemis to the Roman god Diana. In Acts 19 we can see the enthusiasm of the worshipers of Diana. But in Sardis neither the pagan worshipers of Diana nor the large Jewish settlement had anything bad to say about the church in Sardis.

The devotional thought from the Church of Sardis is simply how does a church that was alive become dead? The text tells us that not everyone was dead. There were some who were still alive unto Christ and He tells them to hang in there. Then He addresses what they must do to be awakened and restored.

How do great churches of today die? The Crystal Cathedral went broke. The pastor of the 2^nd largest church in Florida resigned over “moral issues” (infidelity and porn). Jim Baker was a crook and Tammy Faye was……who knows? (Who cares!)

 But the normal, everyday local church seldom dies with such fanfare. What kills them?

I knew a marvelous man of God who used to say humorous things like, the thing that kills everybody is they stop breathing.  The same is true of churches. The root cause is failure to know and apply what God has said in His Word.

I could list dozens of verses that say “Thy word have I hid in my heart”, “Study to show thyself approved…”, “They searched the scriptures daily”, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.” But you already know these verses.

Nearly every church I have been in has the Matthew verses (18:15-17) that talk about going to your brother, take some witnesses, then take it to the church. It is not only in Scripture it is part of the church constitution and a requirement of both God’s Word and ecclesiastical governance. When problems arise I have never seen it applied! Not even when suggested. I think the real reason those verses in Matthew are not obeyed is because some pastors or congregations are more concerned with winning than healing.

Let us not be confused by the term dead church. The building is not what is dead but the people who make up the church. You and me. Every time we ignore what scripture says we should do, we die a little.  Every time we sit quietly while a pastor or church leaders depart from the Scriptures, even in minor ways, the whole body dies a little. It is a slow process. But it only takes one generation or one bad pastor and the church that thinks it is still alive because it is filled with activity becomes spiritually dead.  

Let us search our hearts and ask God to point out the places where we are slow to obey His Word. Our reasons to not obey are but treason. May we have wisdom to understand the Word and courage to obey. May it not be said of us “I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”  

Jas 1:23 For if any be a hearer of the word,

and not a doer, he is like unto a man

beholding his natural face in a glass:

24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way,

and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.