That's what was happening in one of the churches in the first century, but their spiritual laziness was a real danger. Here's what Jesus says in the fifth letter of Revelation, in Revelation 3:1-6:
To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have no soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.The church at Sardis looked pretty good on the outside. But Jesus knows their true state. They're asleep at the wheel. Even worse, he says that even though they look like they're alive, they're really dead. They might have the outer fixings, but they are internally weak.
An interesting bit of historical background is that, in Sardis' history as a city, there were a couple of times when the situation Jesus talks about literally came into play. Sardis was an exceptionally fortified city. It should have been nearly impossible to overtake militarily. And yet, not once, but twice, the city was overtaken because the guards were sleeping on the job. The city's enemies (Cyrus in the 6th century B.C. and Antiochus III in the third century B.C.) would send someone to climb up the city's walls and open the door to let the army in. The city was also captured on another occasion by Alexander the Great simply because they were afraid to face Alexander, even though they had what should have been an impenetrable fortress. So in a very literal way, Sardis had gotten into major trouble because they had been asleep, even though they looked strong on the outside.
The church in Sardis is spiritually asleep. But what is it about them that is evidence of this slumber? I think the answer is in verse 2: "I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God." The church as Sardis had only gone halfway. They perhaps had made some promises about how they would follow Christ, but they just didn't make it to the finish line. They were like the hare from the fable--fast out of the gates but settling down for a nap part way through the race. So what does Jesus say to them? Wake up! Get out of bed! Finish what you started!
If I can be honest, I feel like I relate more with the letter to Sardis than any of the other letters in Revelation 2-3. I'm a chronic non-finisher. I like to start projects and give them up after a while. About a month ago, I wrote a blog post about making goals to be the person you want to be, and when I made my own list, I included things like "Do the dishes every night" and "Clean my apartment every weekend" and several other simple practices that I wanted to get into the habit of doing. A few days ago I looked back at my list and realized that I kept up with only a few of my goals.
Those are small things. It becomes a bigger problem when that tendency affects our life in Christ. We dedicate ourselves to a certain task. We say that we'll set aside time every day to spend in Bible study and prayer. We promise to invite that coworker to church. We vow to get into an accountable relationship so that we can rid ourselves of a sin that keeps dogging us. But not long after, these tasks that we had undertaken remain undone. Our deeds are complete. And even though we might look pretty good on the outside ("That guy goes to church every Sunday. He must be a thriving Christian"), we've flatlined on the inside.
I think that Jesus would give many of us the same instruction that Paul gives to Archippus in Colossians 4:17: "See to it that you complete the work you have received in the Lord." I don't know what it was that Archippus was supposed to bring to completion, and I don't know what it is for you. I only know that, as Christians, we can never say that we have arrived. At least not until the day when Jesus returns and takes us home. We are always growing and maturing. God always has more work for us to do. I have heard it said that a Christian who is not growing is dead. There is no coasting in the Christian life. Or, as Craig Groeschel puts it, "If you're not dead, you're not done" (The Christian Atheist, pg. 137).
Here's an unrelated sidenote: At my church this last week, we had the chance to be visited by Mary Kamau, a Kenyan who directs a mission called Hope Missions International. Hope Missions reaches out to one of the slums in the Kenyan capital city of Nairobi. It was really cool to be able to listen to Mary and hear about the incredible work that is being done in one of the most destitute places on the planet. Hope Missions is one of the most holistic missions I have heard of. It's involved in church planting, business training, micro-loans, education, AIDS awareness, community development, and several other works. It's meeting individual spiritual needs, individual physical needs, and community needs. It was such an encouragement to hear how God is blessing this mission, which started just over ten years ago with a school for less than 50 children and now includes eleven schools with over 3000 children, plus all of the other programs. Anyways, I would encourage you to check out the mission's website at www.hopemissionsintl.org and to keep their work in your thoughts and prayers.
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