Scripture Reading: Revelation 3:1-6
The letter to the church at Sardis is the fourth letter of seven letters Christ spoke to these select churches. The problem in the church at Sardis was spiritual deadness, even though they appeared to the observer to be a church brimming with vitality. ". . . you have a name that you are alive, and you are dead" (Rev 3:1).
This passage cuts to the very nature of spiritual life in a church. It is possible to have an external appearance of life through forms of worship and programs, while at the same time lack spiritual passion in the heart. God's evaluation of a church (or a person) is not based on any external forms. It issues from the status of the heart.
It is possible to sing songs without any earnest reality in the soul. It is possible to pray without any heartfelt humility or awe or longing. It is possible to go to church without any deep hunger to know God better.
True worship is not something we can turn on once per week, like a light switch. Whatever our hearts are like during the week, that is what they are like on Sunday. If there is no thirsting after God on Tuesday, there will be no thirsting for Him on Sunday morning when the forms of worship are employed. Genuine worship is an overall perspective and passion of the soul. Sunday simply gives this passion corporate expression in a church service, but the longing after God is there quite independently of Sunday worship forms. If such spiritual yearning is not present within each of us, our church can look like it is alive, while all the time being dead.
