Published: September 12, 2008 03:37 pm            

This is our wake up call!

“This is your wake up call!” Most of us have heard this greeting on our hotel room phone, letting us know it’s time to wake up. And very few of us like to hear that wake up call, do we? This week we answer the question, “How can we restore life to the church?” Or, more specifically, “How can I restore the newness of life - Christ’s resurrection life - to my own life?”

As we read Jesus’ words from Revelation chapter 3, we see that it will require a “wake up call”! In verse 2 and 3, our Lord gives a warning to the church at Sardis - and to us: “Wake up! Strengthen the things that remain which were about to die...remember what you have received and heard...and repent!” The implication here is that we have fallen asleep and must wake up before it’s too late. So, how is this to happen? How can life be restored where it is dying? It starts with a wake up call! It starts with a recognition that there is a problem that needs our attention! It begins with a realization that we are not living up to our position or our potential in the life Jesus Christ died and rose again to give us! And it starts with a desire to begin again!

There also needs to be a “strengthening of what we have (see verse 2).” We must return our focus on what God has done in our lives - and in our churches. We must once again depend on His resources and what He has provided for us in Christ, and allow Him to complete the work He has begun in us so we can complete the work He has for us to do! We need to “remember what we have received and heard (vs 3)”. The people in this church at Sardis had perhaps forgotten what it was like to be lost ˜ have we? They had heard and responded to the gospel and had even taught it to others, but the truth of the gospel had failed to continue to be relevant in their own lives! Has that happened to any of us?

Colossians chapter 2, verses 6 and 7 says, “As you therefore have received Jesus Christ the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.” You see, the Christian life is a continual walking with the Savior. And when we stop walking, we’ll get weak and eventually die to the life Christ promised us. We must continually turn around when we find ourselves walking in the wrong direction. We must continually return to the basics - reminding ourselves of the truth of who we are in Christ! I remember the wise words of Vince Lombardi, head coach of the professional football team, the Green Bay Packers in the 50’s and 60’s. The Packers had been beaten badly in the first half of an important game, and at half time it was up to Coach Lombardi to turn the team around so they could win the game. The coach walked into the dressing room and spoke only a few words, but words which would be remembered to this day. He simply held up a football and reminded his team, “Gentlemen, it’s time to get back to basics; this is a football!” We must all be reminded of the basics of the game of life! We all need to be reminded of how Jesus taught us to live life His way!

Finally, we need to have an attitude of repentance. We must be willing to turn around from where we’ve been walking, turning away from our dead direction in life - our dead attitude and dead activities which have been dragging us down. We must be honest with God and ourselves that we have not been walking in the truth, not living out who we say we are! Repentance is a complete change of mind and direction, and it allows us to once again experience the newness of life in Christ He promised us. And because of God’s incredible grace, it’s never too late to turn things around! The message of or text is this: We can always have another chance ˜ there’s still time to answer that “wake up call!”

        

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