Tonight, is Oscar night. The Academy will cast its approval on all things Hollywood—that great story-telling machine. Who will win best actor, actress, director, or movie? We all sit on the edge of our seats with bated breath when each presenter tears open the envelope and says those iconic words “And the winner is…” One best picture nominee that I’ll be watching closely is King Richard, the story of Richard Williams, who coached his two young daughters—Venus and Serena—to tennis fame. Will Smith, who plays the famous father, is, no doubt, sitting on pins and needles as he’s up for best actor. But, the pressure of the Academy’s approval is nothing compared to the pressure of approval of Venus and Serena. He didn’t have their “OK” in the beginning.
He recalled, "I went to the family and said, 'I want to tell this story," "And Venus and Serena said, 'OK, …we're going to have to see the movie before we decide whether or not we put our names on it.'"
"So, I get the call that Venus and Serena were going into the theatre” Smith remembered, “…it was literally the worst two hours of my life waiting until they came out." Smith recalled. “They loved it.”
If churches were movies, wouldn’t you love to get a “Loved it” from God?
In a way, churches and Christians were on the big screen of Shakespeare’s day—the stage. He said: All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances”.
Consider the exit of Othello: “Soft you, a word or two before you go. I have done the state some service, and they know't. No more of that. I pray you, in your letters, when you shall these unlucky deeds relate, speak of me as I am… killing myself to die for a kiss.”
Othello wore a mask of love for Desdemona, yet he wore a mask of jealousy, too. You know the end of the story. He killed her then himself. Yes, all the world is a stage, and all men merely players, actors…wearing masks. That’s what actors did in that day, they wore masks when roles required it.
Acting with masks may work on Shakespeare’s stage, but on God’s stage with His church, acting—wearing masks—is hypocrisy.
Hypocrisy comes from the Greek word hypokritḗs derived from two words: hypo, "under" and krínō, "judge". It literally means, a judging from underneath, like performers acting under a mask. Figuratively, it means a two-faced person whose profession does not match their practice, someone who "says one thing but does another” like some churches—hypocritical churches.
How will God grade the hypocritical Church? In Revelation 3:1-6, we have a stage preview of the hypocritical church—Sardis. They are one of the seven churches Christ gave an advanced Academy Awards preview—if you will—of His approval, not as cinema, but as His Church. Sardis is the fifth church in our Lenten Church series: Lent: It’s more than what you give up.It’s what you gain. As you look within for what you need to give up in your Christian walk, and look forward to what you gain as His “award winning” Church, consider Sardis.
We will see the reality of the hypocritical church, the remedy for the hypocritical church and the reward for the “real” church. Reality, remedy and reward. Someday, Christ will open an envelope, and read his own rendition of those iconic words, “And the winner is…”. Will your name be called?
First, the reality of the hypocritical church is this: it has a reputation given by men that does not live up to God’s expectations. Sardis was such a church, like an actor, wearing two masks—playing church. The Sardis Church had a reputation of being materially alive, but the reality was they were spiritually dead. We see this in Rev. 3:1:
"To the angel of the church in Sardis, write this: " 'The one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says this: "I know your works, that you have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Revelation 3:1
In a sense, they were the church of the living dead. In the movies, they call the living dead zombies. Zombies are big at the box office, not so big on Christ’s stage. Sardis was walking around like a zombie. To have the reputation of being alive yet being dead is the height of hypocrisy; the pentacle of pretend; the summit of charades. They had a reputation by men of being an alive church. If seen through today’s lens, they'd visibly have the money, the membership, and the music . But on the inside, they were spiritually flat-lining, with no meaningful activity registering. How can you tell if a church is dying? Like a doctor with a stethoscope, you can listen. There are signs you can hear in the bywords of a church’s worship that point to an unhealthy condition. If not addressed, it can mean death. Just listen:
If you hear often:“Back in the day, we were this.” History worship might be setting in, signs of a dying church.
If you hear often:“This is the only way we do around here.” Ritual worship might be setting in, signs of a dying church.
If you hear often:“The policy and procedure manual say this.” Policy worship might be setting in, signs of a dying church
If you hear often:“We have this much money in the bank.” Material worship might be setting in, signs of a dying church.
But the biggest sign of a dying church can be seen: hypocrisy where your confession doesn’t match your conduct. King Saul, the first king of Israel, suffered from hypocrisy. It showed up in his leadership that resulted in heart failure for the people of God. He turned their hearts away from Him; and his hypocrisy was fatal for Saul’s crown and life. He fell on his own sword.
King Saul was a hypocrite: one thing on the outside and a different thing on the inside. Saul was “a choice and handsome man and there was not a more handsome person than he among the sons of Israel” according to 1 Samuel 9:2. But on the inside, Saul wore another mask. He had a disobedient, prideful spirit. When God commanded him to destroy the Amalekites and all of their animals in 1Samuel 16, he kept them for himself. Later, King Saul took on the role of a priest and made sacrifices in the temple. He got out his lane, and out of God’s approval. In the end, he would take his own life. In reality he fell on the sword of his own hypocrisy.
Many churches do the same. Their profession does not match their practice. The public sees it and are repelled by it. Mahatma Gandhi is quoted as saying, “I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.” There is some debate whether he said it or not, but there might be more than a kernel of truth to the quote. There has to be a reason why marketing researchers have surveyed the religious landscape and have determined:
“Half of American adults are religious skeptics or cultural Christians—people who believe in Jesus but don’t have an active relationship with him.” Christianity Today, March, 2022
Why? It might be our own bad PR. People don’t see Christ in His Church. One advertising marketing exe put it this way: “How did the world’s greatest love story in Jesus become known as a hate group?”, according to Chrisianity Today, March, 2022 issue. To address this, a $100 million-dollar national ad campaign began this month to attract skeptics and cultural Christians. It’s called, “He Gets Us”. Perhaps you’ve seen it. It’s an effort to make Jesus the ‘biggest brand in your city’ according to Christianity Today.
Church, I don’t know about you. Maybe you have a 100 million for an ad campaign. May I suggest a more affordable Lenten approach. Look within for your own hypocrisy. If you want people to “get Christ” who “gets us”, then “get him” inside and out. I come from an advertising background. The first thing I learned is this: Word of mouth is the best form of advertising. When your profession matches your practice, your mouth lines up with His heart seen through your hands, people will get Him and you? So, look within for hypocrisy. Are you wearing two masks: a saint on Sunday, and an ‘ain’t” on Mondays? Do you have the reputation as “alive” in Christ, but inside you are spiritually dying? You might be coming down with Sardis—the church of the living dead syndrome. Thank God there is a remedy for hypocrisy.
The remedy for the hypocritical church is spiritual revival. Christ gave Sardis five commands to revive them spiritually. We see them in verses 2 and 3.
2 Be watchful and strengthen what is left, which is going to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember then how you accepted and heard; obey it, and repent. If you are not watchful, I will come like a thief, and you will never know at what hour I will come upon you.
First, Christs commanded Sardis to wake up from spiritual sleep and watch out for their weakness (2a). Christ told his disciples the same thing on the night of his arrest in Mark 14: Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Every rock has a crack. Every Titanic has an iceberg with its name written on it. Watch out for your cracks and icebergs. Wake up.
Second, strengthen your spiritual embers. Don’t let your spiritual fire go out. In ancient Israel, the priests were instructed in Leviticus not to let the altar fire go out. Keep it stoked. The Church keeps its fire stoked with prayer. Did not Jesus tell his disciples in the garden to watch and pray. Christ admonished us to “pray and faint” not according to Luke 18:1. So, pray up.
Third, remember your spiritual roots. Those roots are fixed in the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2 when the church received the power of Holy Spirit. Frightened disciples hiding in an upper received that power and spilled out into the streets of Jerusalem and turned the world upside for Jesus. Remember your power point—Pentecost. Plug up.
Fourth, obey the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised that Holy Spirit to be our Advocate and Counselor. He wouldn’t have given you an advisor unless he wanted you to follow His advice. So, trust and obey for there’s no other way to happy in Jesus than to trust and obey. Listen up.
Finally, Christ commands us to repent of your spiritual laziness. Turn from a napping Church to an alert academy, lest He comes as a thief in the takes your lampstand. Don’t be like the 5 foolish virgins in Matthew 25 who did not keep their lamps trimmed and burning. The bridegroom came at an unknown hour. He would not let them in. He replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’ Church, if you don’t turn, you will be turned away. Turn around.
Look within. Wake up, pray up, plug in, turn around. The remedy for the church of the living dead—the zombie church—is revival. Resuscitate before it’s too late.
Finally, the reward for the revived, remnant church is a true spiritual reality, outside and inside. Instead of hypocrisy, you can look forward to authenticity. Instead of wearing two masks, you can look forward to real clothes and a real name that represents the one face whose approval that matters—Christ. Look at verse 4 and 5:
"The victor will thus be dressed in white, and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name in the presence of my Father and of his angels."
The one real spiritual Christ church will be wearing white. The white stands for:
Purity: You will not be stained with your sins of the past. I don’t know about you, but I have some things in my closet, I don’t want to wear again. They will not follow me into heaven. Neither will your dirty laundry follow you. You will be washed in the blood of the Lamb, and shall be whiter than snow" according to Psalms 51.
Festivity: White stands for stands for celebration. You will not carry defeats into heaven. You will be properly dressed for the marriage supper according to Revelation 19:9. White is what everybody will be wearing to the party.
Victory: White also stands for victory. You won’t be waving a white flag of surrender in heaven. You’ll join those who have been martyred. Though death was not cancelled, it did not cancel you. Everybody knows from the Westerns that the good guys wear white hats according to Rev. 6:11.
Not only will the authentic church wear on the outside that represent their spiritual worthiness on the inside, they also will have a name written in the Book of life. You won’t have to rely on the reputation of man for your entry into heaven. Your name is good enough because it’s not your name, but Christ name that gets you in. In ancient days, the Greeks kept registers of the names of their citizens. Criminals were removed from the list. In heaven, Christ is the pass word.
Church, look forward to the rewards of the real church: authenticity, inside and out, purity, inside and out, and a name above repute.
The reality of the Sardis Church was hypocrisy: it was a church of the living dead. It was materially alive in reputation, but spiritually dying on the inside, an actor playing the two-faced church.
But there was a pulse of hope for this zombie church. The remedy for hypocrisy is revival, to: wake up, pray up, plug in, turn around. The reward for the real church is authenticity, inside and out. Instead of wearing two masks, you will have the clothes and name that match one face—Christ. You won’t be the living dead, but the dead, now living.
Will Smith got the approval of the Williams sisters in telling their story. The Academy’s approval with an Oscar tonight would be nice, but it was the sister’s “love it” that mattered to him.
If Shakespeare is right, that “all the worlds a stage, and men and women mere players who have their exits and entrances”, then the church should covet an exit that will meet God’s approval.
Someday, the great Presenter will tear open an envelope, and pronounce his own version of the iconic words, “And the winner is…” Don’t stay seated until your name is read. Rise with blessed assurance, on this side of terra firma. Confidently make your way to the podium to hear him say, “Loved it”, my good and faith church. “Loved it”! Your cue to rise will be when the angelic orchestra plays the theme song of the confident, real church.
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in His blood
This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long
Have your speech ready, but you won’t have rush for a commercial. You’ll have eternity. Just don’t use it all up.
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