Please turn with me to Revelation 3:1-6. The title of our message this morning is Wake Up! We are looking at our 5th message in our series of 7 Messages to the 7 Churches of Asia. Our passage today brings us to the Church of Sardis - which was asleep.

In another church - not here - there was a man sitting in the exact center of the congregation - who, during the sermon - was talking - very loudly - in his sleep. “Well, I think we.... and maybe that... sort of this...” And on and on he went until his wife gave him a shot in the ribs. And he woke up, “Well, I think.... HRUMPH... uh oh.”

What we’re looking at this morning is not about physically sleeping in the church. But a church that is asleep spiritually - spiritually dead - and the importance of waking up.

Revelation 3:1-6: “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of Him - Jesus - who has the seven spirits of God - this is a reference to Jesus directing the work of the Holy Spirit in these 7 churches - Him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars - that’s the 7 churches. I know your works; you have the name of being alive, and you are dead.

Let’s stop there and think about what Jesus means by, “You have the name of being alive, and you are dead.”

The city of Sardis was once one of the oldest and most important cities in the world. Until 549 B.C. it had been the capital of the Kingdom of Lydia. Sardis was an important trade center. Throughout its history the people had been very prosperous and wealthy. Sardis was a military power to be reckoned with. It had a wonderful reputation and a glorious past.

Sardis was also a very complacent city. It was a city that was living in the past. They were self-satisfied - overconfident in themselves because of all their past glories and accomplishments and wealth. They really didn’t care about a whole lot. They weren’t thinking about what they could accomplish next. They were asleep dreaming about the past. And, this complacency was a disaster for the city of Sardis.

Two examples:

First: The city of Sardis was built on a mountain rising about 1,500 feet. It was a great fortress city built above tall rock cliffs - with 3 separate walls. The city of Sardis had a reputation for being impregnable - no army could conquer the city. The people of Sardis were really self-confident - smug - behind the walls of their city.

But twice Sardis had been conquered - simply because they were too complacent - too smug.

In the 6th century a Persian soldier watched a Sardinian soldier come down a path outside the walls, to pick up a helmet he had dropped. The Persian soldier followed the Sardinian back up the path and discovered an unlocked gate. The whole Persian army went up that path - through the unlocked gate - and conquered the city.

Now, we’d think that the Sardinians would have learned their lesson and that they’d have locked the gate. But they were just too complacent. 200 years later Anticochus conquered Sardis - using the same unlocked gate!

Second example of complacency. The greatest monument in Sardis was the cemetery - kind of like Colma down here - where the deceased population is larger than the living population. The cemetery in Sardis was so large that it formed part of the city’s skyline. It was visible from over 7 miles away - a great city of the dead - monuments to great persons and events of the past - a memorial to past glory and opulence. Build a monument - a memorial - and the focuses is on the past.

This was Sardis - a great city living on its past reputation - their name. There was no other city in Asia - at that time - that showed such a contrast between past glory and present decay.

The same was true of the Church of Sardis. They were living off their name - their reputation - and they were asleep - spiritually dying or dead.

At one time the church had been alive - filled with people who knew the Lord. They were on fire spiritually. They were involved in powerful ministry - a church of prominence - position - authority. They even had their own Bishop. The ruins of the church building - which have been excavated - show a large church - well established - in an important location in the city.

But now, this church was inwardly dying. It was so asleep spiritually - that even in this city where they had the usual assortment of pagans who would usually be against the Christians - unlike the other cities we’ve looked at - there was no persecution. The Church was so asleep - so ineffective - that the pagans weren’t even bothering to persecute it. There’s no reason to. There’s no real ministry going on. The lights are on. But spiritually - no one’s home.

Verse one - Jesus says to this church, “I know your works; you have the name - the reputation - of being alive - but you are dead.”

Hear this: It is possible to have a glowing reputation as a church - or as a Christian - and to be dead spiritually. That’s a powerful warning to us and we need to listen to it.

Jesus says - verse 2: “Awake, Wake up - and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God. Remember then what you received and heard; keep that, and repent.”

This was the first thing the Church of Sardis needed to do. Wake Up! “Smell the coffee” folks! Honestly face where you’re at. The churchgoer who’s just going through the motions spiritually - coming to church - doing the religious thing - will never realize how much his own heart has wandered away from God. We need a spiritual alarm clock to go off in our heads.

Today there are a lot of people preparing for the 1700th anniversary of the Christianization of Armenia which will take place in the year 2001. In the midst of all the preparation some people have been asking, “Why are we celebrating?”

Ask any Armenian - and they’ll tell you that we were the first nation to adopt Christianity as our national religion. What is a disaster - and definitely not a reason to celebrate - is that today only a small minority of Armenians know what it means to have a saving personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

Dr. William Barclay - a great Bible Scholar - has said: “A church is in danger of death when it begins to worship its own past; when it is more concerned with forms than with life; when it loves systems more than it loves Jesus; when it is more concerned with material than it is with spiritual things.”

Here at Calvary - our circumstances are similar to the Church at Sardis. Through all the ups and downs this congregation has been successful. We have a reputation for life and vitality. We’ve been blessed with many hard workers and committed people. This building has been built and paid for. There are a lot of people in the San Francisco Armenian community who still can’t figure out how that happened. And there’s no major persecution against us. We have the freedom to come together to worship God and to study the Bible.

But - after listening to this warning - we need to ask - are we awake? Many in the evangelical movement today are living on reputations they made long ago. They have great memories of the old Christian Endeavor days. Of the youth groups they were involved with - the schools and churches. Others talk about churches they’ve built in the past or ministries they’ve been involved with. Their homes used to be open for hospitality and ministry. But today they’re too busy. They’ve done their job. Now we want to be remembered for what was done. People who act this way are living on a reputation they’ve made in the past.

This letter to the church in Sardis should motivate us to ask ourselves, “Do my memories of vital Christian fellowship and service come from things I was involved with a year ago - five years ago - 10 years ago? How long has it been since I experienced similar times of fellowship and service - the excitement of a dynamic relationship with Christ and His church?” We may be living on a reputation that is empty of spiritual reality.

Jesus says - verse 2 - “Wake Up! and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death....” If we don’t strengthen it - if we don’t keep moving forward - then what we have will decay - it will die.

Jesus says - verse 2 - “I have not found your works perfect - complete - in the sight of my God.” You haven’t finished the job. Don’t stop now. There’s more to be done. The greatest monuments of history are all becoming dust. What matters for the Church of Jesus Christ is what lies ahead.

Then - verse 3 - the second thing Jesus says that the Church of Sardis needs to do: “Remember then what you received and heard; keep that, and repent.”

In 1846, the Armenian Evangelical Reformation formally began with one church with 40 members. 65 years later - just prior to the massacres - there were 137 churches with an attendance of over 51,000 - phenomenal growth.

Here in North America - in the last 65 years - we’ve gone from 38 churches and missions - with an attendance of around 13,000 - down to 26 churches and missions - with an attendance of around 11,000. Today, within our North American Armenian churches there are very few that we can point to and say - they’re awake - alive - vital and growing. Something has gone terribly wrong.

When I was in college - down in L.A. - my roommate was taking a photography class. And one week he got the bright idea of going to Death Valley to take pictures. He said something about a class project and the natural beauty of the Death Valley. He asked me if I wanted to go and never having been to Death Valley before I said sure.

Neither of us had a whole lot of money - or time for the trip. So we planned a schedule where we would leave early on Saturday morning - sleep out in the open - which ended up being the parking lot of a restaurant - and make it back early on Sunday.

I am not a morning person. And we left really - really - really - early. The sun wasn’t up for hours. And that desert was really empty. So while I was driving I started to doze off a little bit.

Have you ever fallen asleep while driving? I remember driving and then bouncing along the side of the road - jerking the wheel to the left and bouncing back onto the pavement. I wasn’t asleep any more. I was wide awake - and my heart was pounding. And I knew - right then and there - why I needed to stay awake - I needed to drive and not sleep.

Spiritually - there are times when we need that kind of jerk back to reality. To be vividly brought back to the purpose of what we’re suppose to be doing.

Our forefathers were very clear on their mission as evangelicals. They were focused on a personal saving relationship with Jesus Christ - on living in obedience to Jesus Christ - focused on the reformation of the Armenian Apostolic Church and the spiritual transformation of the Armenian nation and beyond. They were sold out 100% - giving everything they had and everything they were to accomplishing their purpose. And it showed in their results.

Jesus says that we need to remember what we’ve received and heard - the basics of our faith - to repent and turn back to it.

We need to remember what it was like when we first came to Jesus. How much we needed Him. Remember the joy. The desire to be with other Christians - to share our relationship in Him. The desire to be with Him and learn about Him and worship Him.

The basics of our faith are crucial - spending time talking with Jesus in prayer - spending time reading what He has written in the Bible - spending quality time with Him and His other children. Learning to worship Him and praise Him. Telling others about our relationship with Him.

Jesus says: Wake up! Remember what it was like to be alive in Christ. And then Jesus gives us a warning and a promise - verses 3-6.

Verse 3 - the warning: “If you will not awake, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I come upon you.”

The return of Jesus Christ will catch people sleeping - even Christians. The Bible tells us that it will happen very quickly - when we least expect it. To those who do not know Jesus as their Savior - His coming will be a disaster - a time of their judgment and destruction - a time of being sent into eternal separation from God.

Jesus goes on - verses 4-6: “Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments - a few believers in the church who are not sleeping - who are trusting Me as their Savior - awake and living for me - and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He who conquers shall be clad thus in white garments - the sign of being redeemed - saved by the grace of God - and I will not blot his name out of the Book of Life; I will confess his name before my Father and before His angels - I’m going to tell everyone in Heaven that he belongs here with Me. Jesus - our Savior - will vouch for us before God - He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”