The Sleeping Church

By Matt Watson

I named my blog "Awake! Put on strength!" because I wanted to challenge others as I also challenged myself. For years I had been asleep, then Jesus changed my life and I started following him. The calling of my life is to know Jesus and help others know Jesus. I write to wake myself up and to help others wake up, to walk in the light, and to ride forth to victory.

Let us then, consider the sleepy church at Sardis:

'I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.'
Revelation 3:1b-2 ESV

The church in Sardis was asleep. They had a great reputation, they were fun, winsome, and attractional, but they were asleep at their posts. This mirrored the history of Sardis. One commentator said

Sardis was built on a mountain and had an acropolis which was viewed as impregnable. ‘To capture the acropolis of Sardis’ was proverbial in Greek to do the impossible. But no less than five times the acropolis was conquered, twice through lack of vigilance. The parallel with the church’s lack of wakefulness and its dire situation is striking (2–3).1

Jesus is saying to this church, “Wake up! Renew! Semper reformanda! Constant vigilance! The enemies are at the gates!” If they don’t stay awake, and let enemies slip in and ruin the city, then Jesus himself will attack them, suddenly and secretly. And that is terrifying to think about.

“Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.”
Revelation 3:3 ESV

Three Kinds of Churches

There are three types of churches: the compromised, the complacent, and the combatants. I wish I had come up with that alliteration, but alas, a truer Baptist than I coined it (but let me steal it).

The first kind, the compromised, is like the church at Thyatira that used to be a church before pinching incense to the culture’s idols and false gods. They had that “Jezebel spirit” (Rev 2:20) that led to sexual immorality and participation in the worship of false gods and emperors. The modern equivalent would be leftist churches who display their Pride flags and celebrate sin, rather than confronting it. They ignore the parts of the Bible they don’t like and let cultural influence rule over their faith.

However, It would also be those churches who insist on having the American flag on stage behind the pulpit, congregational singing of the national anthem on the Sunday nearest Independence Day, and those who think Trump is the second coming of Jesus. These on the right can also be apostate churches.

The second kind, the complacent, is the church which thinks it is still peacetime. These are the Neville Chamberlains, who attempted a policy of appeasement to deal with Hitler, rather than confrontation. They are in denial, operating on an old paradigm and trying to maintain an unoffensive, apolitical status quo.

These are like the church in Sardis. A lot of these churches have reputations for doing great work. They have popular outreach programs, fall festivals, large congregations, and emotive worship services. None of these things on their own are bad, hear me. But if a church does these things, but doesn't faithfully preach the Bible and Christ crucified, if all their worship songs are anemic without mention of Christ’s blood on the cross, and sin is not called out, then they are in spiritual comas, asleep and dying.

The third kind is the combatant churches. These are ecclesiastical Churchills; They know the spiritual war rages and operate both defensively to protect their people from the blitz of cultural attacks, and offensively by invading the beaches of occupied territory, marching on the gates of hell with the gospel of Christ. The church in Ephesus is a good example of this, including their unloving blind spots.

G.K. Chesterton said

The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.

That was the error of the church at Ephesus, and therefore the error of some wartime churches. Churchill was a great wartime prime minister, exactly the kind of man Britain needed at the helm during the war with Nazi Germany. However, he was a rubbish peacetime prime minister. The church militant must remember that we fight because we love those behind us and those we are rescuing. We fight for the truth with the same love that Christ showed while his breath death rattled on the cross.

A Remnant

Two of the three churches are in bad shape. Some are dead and some are dying. Yet, God has set aside a remnant from these churches.

Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.
Revelation 3:4-5 ESV

(See also Rev 2:24-28)

A remnant is a part of the whole, a portion set aside for a special purpose or preservation. That means that not everyone who attends a church run by Lesbyterians, nor those run by angry fundies, are necessarily apostates. Some are faithful, like the French resistance in Nazi-occupied France, trying to reclaim and reform from within.

Similarly, not everyone who attends a church that is asleep and dying is also dead. Even when they attend churches run by heretics like Steven Furtick and Bill Johnson, they may be spiritually immature, but not dead.

And, to be fair, not everyone who attends a wartime church is a Christian either. Sometimes they are wolves waiting to be handled by the guard dogs. Others have faith without works, those armchair theologians without love for anyone with different opinions.

A remnant is good news because it shows the love of Christ for his people. He will not let the heretics, wolves, and drag queens win. The gates of hell will not prevail from keeping the gospel out. The sleepy will wake up and feel their strength again as they place their hands on their Bibles and their plow handles.

What Does It Look Like to Be Part of the Faithful Few?

Over and over again in the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, Jesus says “I know your works.” All of life is done before the face of God; we can’t hide our hearts and actions.

Jesus also says

You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
Matthew 7:15-20 ESV

So, the faithful will be known by the fruit they produce. That is why our faith must produce works (fruit), and our works must be rooted in true faith. But it is not enough to say “To be part of the faithful few, do good works.” We can only do those good works when we are made alive in Christ and empowered by the Holy Spirit. It is within that context that the faithful few exist. But there are steps.

Wake up. “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you” (Eph 5:14). Take a step back and observe. Get some perspective. Drop the denial.
Repent. Turn from your sin and turn towards God. Let the God of the Bible dictate truth and reality, not your experiences, feelings, or culture. Ironically, the culture that claims to be woke is asleep. “Shake yourself from the dust and arise” (Isa 52:2).
Hold fast and conquer. “Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations …” (Rev 2:25-26).

Wake Up and Answer the Call

To be part of the faithful few your allegiance must be with King Jesus, not the Baals and Caesars of culture. The time for slumber is over. The church cannot afford to sleep through this critical moment in history. Whether we find ourselves among the complacent, the compromised, or the combatant, we must examine our hearts and our works before God. Jesus is calling us to awaken, to repent, and to stand firm in the faith.

The remnant will rise—not because they are stronger or more skilled, but because they are surrendered to Christ, empowered by His Spirit, and driven by a love that transcends fear and cultural pressure. We must be among those who are ready to fight the good fight, standing at the gates of hell, with the banner of truth in hand.

Let us be a church that is not only awake but alive with purpose. The faithful few are not defined by their numbers but by their obedience. Together, let us hold fast to what is true, conquer with the gospel, and never forget: the victory is already won in Christ.

1 Beasley-Murray, George R. 1994. “Revelation.” In New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, edited by D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, and G. J. Wenham, 4th ed., 1431. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press.

This article was originally published by Matthew Watson with Awake! Put on strength!, and is used under a CC BY-SA 4.0 license.