Spiritually Dead

Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.” (Revelation 3:1-3) 
 
John opens chapter three of the book of Revelation with a message to the church of Sardis. The problem with the church of Sardis was that while it was experiencing major growth, the growth was purely numerical, not spiritual. They had a lot of bodies in the building, a lot of people in the pews, and a very nice edifice in town. It was the happening place to be.  
 
But despite having a name and reputation around town for being alive, it was really spiritually dead. It was a place where people gathered, but they did so because it was customary, or they did so because it was the popular thing to do. You wanted to say at the water cooler on Monday morning that you were at Sardis Baptist Church the day before.  
 
Sadly, those same people had no power. They couldn’t get a prayer through. They were dominated by the flesh and the things of the world, and as a consequence, they were spiritually defeated and did not walk in the victory that Jesus gave them. To make matters worse, not only was this a problem with the church of Sardis, but it’s a problem we’re still facing today.  
 
So many of us have experienced feeling spiritually dead, where we are going through the motions, but we’re not growing and maturing in our faith, and we’re not being fulfilled in our walk with Christ. The circumstances we’re facing are testing our faith, deepening our doubts, and challenging our convictions, but we’re not making any progress spiritually.  
 
But it doesn’t have to stay this way. Now is the time to get back what we’ve lost. Now is the time for us to ask God to restore the power, restore the strength, and restore the joy we once had, so that we might become spiritually alive once again.