Losing your Impact for Christ?

A Preacher said once “The two greatest problems today are ignorance and apathy.” He then asked a man on the front row what he thought about that and the man replied, “I don’t know and I don’t care!”

Many Christ-followers are losing their impact today and do not appear to know it or care about it. Consider that 20-25% of churches that meet today will cease to exist by the year 2020. We are seeing more than 80 Evangelical churches close each week across America. And many who are active worshipers in a church are only three bad Sundays away from never stepping foot in the door of a church again. 

We have lost our passion for Jesus. We have lost our concern for the people in our communities. We have lost any impact that we may have had for Christ in our neighborhoods. And we may be in danger of losing that impact with our families, if we haven’t already.

How does a Christ follower lose their impact?

There are at least two ways our impact is lost according to Revelation 3 in the note to the church at Sardis. These two ways are subtle and simple for any of us to fall prey too.    

     

First, attempting to maintain our reputation loses our impact.  Revelation 3:1 …I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Here’s a question to wrestle with seriously - Are you continually living in the past? Many of us are stuck in the glory days. Or we cannot overcome a painful event and bitterness sets in. We get frozen by failures on our part or others. And my personal pet we begin playing the what-if-game. We can spend too much time fighting for our reputations and not enough time living holy lives before God.  

               

Secondly, we may become tempted to relax our guard. Revelation 3:2 – 3b …Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God… but if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.

Twice in the history of Sardis they fell to sneak attacks. In the 6^th century B.C., “a shrewd Persians soldier observed a Sardian descending the southern winding path to retrieve his fallen helmet. Unknown to the soldier, the Persians followed his path back up to the summit and captured the whole city, taking them quite by surprise.” (Alan Johnson, The Expositor’s Bible commentary – Revelation, p. 51). A similar sneak attack occurred 200 years later.

Be careful not to relax your guard in this world we are in. The minute that we think we will not fall maybe the second of the attack from evil. “So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!” 1 Cor. 10:12

What do you do when you have lost your impact?

There must be a Reversal of Direction

Revelation 3: 3 states it perfectly in one word – “repent”. This is not only a spiritually solution for reclaiming our impact. It is also practical. My dad used to have great line he shared with me as a teenager “Stop it!” Or like Barney Fife so eloquently said, “Nip it! Nip it in the bud.”   

There must be a Renewal of Doctrine

I love the flow of Revelation 3:3a – Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard…We must go back, remember our doctrine and practice the truth of this Christ life we have been given. We walk in the true doctrines and the impact will come naturally.

There must be a Restoration of Discipline

Revelation 3:2 sounds the alarm -  Wake up!  What will it take for us to wake up? What is the line that has to be crossed in our life before we come to our senses? Jesus sees some who walk with him faithfully. Rev. 3:4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. We must practice the spiritual disciplines in our life out of love and reverence.  Spiritual discipline is a daily practice in the small things not a big leap once in a while.

Here’s encouragement for us to renew our impact, restore our passions, and resolve our faithfulness to the Lord.

“ ‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.

“  ‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove savage beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.

 “ ‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you.

Leviticus 26: 3-9

 Will you be faithful to make an impact?

Or, will you be one of the stats that has waltz out the door?