Daily Devotional For Friday, January 31, 2025
Well, it is Fabulous Friday. Hopefully in a few hours you can rest for the weekend. Most of you have unfortunately been to funerals. If you have ever seen a dead body lying in a coffin, it is further proof that the person is dead. We know death when we see it. Death is not a topic that people like to talk about today. If you want to “kill” a party, bring up the topic of death. Everyone will get deadly quiet.
Death is a major topic in Scripture. It is sad to see for example a church that is dying or is already dead. Jesus admonishes such a church in the book of Revelation. Look at Revelation 3:1-2, “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. (2) Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which are about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God” (NASB).
It seems the church at Sardis was dead spiritually. In the book of Revelation, we find messages from Jesus to seven churches. In this message to the church in Sardis, He said that even though they appeared to be alive with activity, He knew that they were spiritually dead. He encouraged them to wake up, regain their spiritual strength, and return to His Father’s business. We don’t have to look very hard to see that many of us and many of our churches may be engaged in spiritual activity, but individually and collectively, we are not completely committed to Jesus. We may be busy with church activities, but that does not mean we are yielded to the lordship of Jesus. I extend to you the same challenge I give myself: Let’s open our hearts to the Holy Spirit. Let’s allow Him to show us where we have missed His invitations. Then, let’s be determined to be people who make a difference for God.
Church activity does not equal church vitality. Even in a morgue there is lots of activity by the ME and his/her assistants but the dead bodies in it are still dead. Today, this means that churches must prove they are not dead, but very much alive with God’s mission for them. What would you do if you had to prove to the state that you were very much alive and not dead? This happened to woman in France:
“Jeanne Pouchain knows she’s not dead. But she has to prove it in court. The 58-year-old French woman was declared dead by a court in 2017 during a decade long legal case. An employee Pouchain had fired years ago sued her for lost wages and told a court that Pouchain was dead after she stopped responding to the employee’s letters.
Without evidence, the French court accepted the allegation and levied a judgment against Pouchain’s estate. The court’s decision set off a chain reaction in France’s bureaucracy, which scrubbed her from official records and invalidated her identity cards and licenses.
Pouchain recently told The Guardian, “I have no identity papers, no health insurance, I cannot prove to the banks that I am alive … I’m nothing.” Pouchain’s attorney then presented an affidavit to the court from her doctor attesting to her continued existence. Her former employee says Pouchain had been pretending to be dead in order to avoid paying the court-mandated damages” (Source: Staff, “Fighting for Life,” World, 3-13-21).
Christians can also appear to be dead if they let their spiritual life lapse. This is true in church membership (Rev. 3:1) and also in the lifestyle they choose if they fall into worldliness (Eph. 5:14-15; Rom. 13:11). There are many churches that have plateaued and lost their zeal for the Great Commission. They are content just to get enough new members or attenders to make up for the lost by death or attrition. Jesus would say these are dead churches. Church activity does not guarantee church proclivity to missions, evangelism and discipleship.
Jesus commanded the church at Sardis to come alive and He commands you too. John Ortberg tells a true story that is funny and has a valid point:
“A friend of mine used to work as a denominational official in Minnesota. One of his jobs was to travel to little rural communities where they didn't have churches to do funerals. He would go out with an undertaker, and they would drive together in the undertaker's hearse. One time, they were on their way back from a funeral, and my friend, John, was feeling quite tired. He decided he would take a nap. Since they were in a hearse, he thought, Well, I'll just lie down in the back of the hearse.
Sounds like kind of a creepy thing to do, but this is a true story. The guy who was driving the hearse pulled into a service station, because he was running low on gas. The service station attendant was filling up the tank and he was kind of freaked out, because there was a body stretched out in the back. While he was filling the tank, John woke up, opened his eyes, knocked on the window and waved at the attendant. John said he never saw anybody run so fast in his whole life.
When people see life where they were expecting death, they start running. On the third day, everything changed! Where everybody thought they were just going to see death, there was life! And that shook things up! After the third day, as a matter of historical record, his followers, who were shattered, disillusioned, and heartsick following the Crucifixion, went out to face all kinds of difficulties and suffering and imprisonment and spread the word, because they believed they had seen life where they were expecting death. That shakes people up!" (John Ortberg, The Empty Tomb: How Will You Respond?
Questions To Consider
- If you had to write the obituary of a dead church, what would be in it and why?
- How does your life make a difference for God?
- Do you know any churches that are dead spiritually? If so, how do you know that?
- If you had to prove to heaven that you are alive spiritually, what evidence would you present to the Judge at His throne?
- If you really came alive spiritually, what would be the result?
Scripture To Meditate On: Ephesians 2:1-10, “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, (2) in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. (3) Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh,]indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. (4) But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, (5) even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (6) and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (7) so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (8) For by grace you have been saved through faith; and ]that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; (9) not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. (10) For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (NASB).
Prayer To Pray: “Heavenly Father, awaken me fully to Your character and purposes. I choose to cooperate with You more completely than ever. I submit my entire life to the Lordship of Jesus. May Your wisdom fill my mind and Your Spirit strengthen me to fulfill all Your purposes. Help me to come alive as never before for Your Mission, purpose and for discipleship. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
I love you Southside!--Pastor Kelly