The Walking Dead

Rev 3:1-6
The past decade or so has seen movies and TV shows that feature the walking dead… zombies. Young people find them entertaining, they like the adventure of imaging trying to survive in this fantasy world. I remember my youngest son, in urgent dialogue with his friends, discussing strategies to survive the zombie apocalypse.

Those creepy movie characters are great illustrations for the problem of the church at Sardis. One of the city’s features was a cemetary of “a thousand hills.” They were burial mounds which could be seen from seven miles away. It also featured the largest synagogue yet found in the ancient world. This synagogue suggests a Jewish community in the thousands.

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​You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead

In a spiritual sense, Jesus writes this letter to a church of zombies. He holds the seven spirits/stars. He knows the living from the dead. He has the authority!

It is easy to fake it. You can put on your Sunday best, a big grin, recite the Lord’s prayer and Apostles Creed. Raise holy hands and speak in tongues. Whatever the public practice, it can be faked. But we can’t fake it with Jesus. After the previous two letters it is startling to find such harsh warnings to a church who is not named for such bad outward behavior. In fact, they are the opposite. They seem to have good outward behavior. The problem is on the inside.

Jesus is harsh in this passage but all is not lost. He offers hope for those who will listen and obey. He shares a string of verbs; Wake up, strengthen, remember, keep it, repent. It is easy to go with the flow. Sometimes peer pressure, even in the church, can be a bad thing. We can fall asleep at the wheel and live like the walking dead.

Sardis had history of being sacked twice because of complacency. They thought they were safe and failed to keep watch over the city walls. The same can happen in the church. Despite our good, protestant, evangelical, reformation theology… our works really do matter. (v2) The promise to those who will listen and follow is white garments and our name written in the book with indelible ink. 

It’s all about keeping our hearts alive! It is about continuing to worship Jesus with our whole life. Living for His mission and not for our own personal goals. How will we respond to His call?