The Dead Church/Christian

 Dear Saints:

It’s an oxymoron for the these two words to go together - Dead and Church. The Church is a living organism with Christ as the head and Christ’s followers as the body. The Church lives forever because Christ lives forever. How can a church be dead? What makes a church dead? 

The headline today reads, “The Lutheran church elected its first transgender bishop, who will lead 200 congregations”.  Dead or alive church? You decide.

The Lord Jesus pronounced and declared a local church dead i.e. the people not the building. Basically, this church is only one in name only. The church at Sardis was dead. The city of Sardis was wealthy and proud. Let’s hear it directly from Jesus in Revelation 3 (please read the entire chapters 2-3):

"And to the [a]angel of the church in Sardis write,

‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “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. 

3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. 4 You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 

5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 3:1-6.

Are you a dead Christian or in a dead church? Do you only have the title tag/label “Christian” and you are really not one? If Jesus himself can probe deeply into this church and her people, why not us? It’s  time to pause, and ask ourselves the same serious questions. Am I dead or alive? If this pause wasn’t important and necessary, Jesus would not have brought it up. It’s a loving probe and rebuke of Christ.

Apostle Paul would advise thus: “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified. 6 But I trust that you will know that we are not disqualified.” 2 Corinthians 13:5-6. Are you "in the faith", in Christ, the first time?

A dead church or person is influenced by the culture than the person influencing the culture. Preaching and living the gospel and seeing people saved is not an interest and concern for a “dead” Christian. You can only give to others the Spirit of Christ in you.

Are there areas of your life and mine that appear alive to people but inwardly dead? The Lord Jesus would say, “2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.” Christ’s goal is not to watch a dying church but to revive any dead person or church to life everlasting.

Note that there are  “few names” who are truly followers of Christ in Sardis; and their names are in the book of life and will never be erased. There’s assurance of salvation to all whose faith are in Christ.

Lord please help me to look inside and deal with every false appearance of godliness and where I am denying the power of your grace to transform me. Please Lord, revive me and revive your church. Thank you for your love that looks inside and not just outwardly.

Friend, if you are dead, meaning “Jesus Christ is not in you” in the first place; I invite you to be made alive today by the power of the Holy Spirit. Put your trust and faith in Christ, the everlasting giver of life who paid once for all times penalty for our sins on the cross that we will be forgiven forever. Our works can only be “perfect before God” in the person of Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace through faith and we have no righteousness of our own.

So, a dead church or dead Christian is not and was never in Christ. This person must repent and turn to Christ. Please see the consequence of not repenting. "I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you". This is how Christ will appear to the unrepentant and unbelieving. Therefore, repentance and turning to Jesus is for the immediate. Now is the day of salvation; not tomorrow.  May the Lord grant you and me the grace to repent and turn to Him.

May we live and preach this gospel of salvation in Christ to all including the progressives who think we must conform to the present culture instead of the culture submitting and conforming to the Lordship of Christ. Lord, please have mercy and remove the blindness of this so called "transgender bishop" and others wallowing in various sins.  Amen.

May we approach the spiritually "dead" person with conviction of Scripture and compassion; not with compromise. We were once described as dead too; but the grace of God saved us and He will do the same for others. "And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, 2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world" Ephesians 2:1-2