Alive in its beauty or alive in its reality?

I will never forget the day: a bright sunny afternoon, unseasonably warm October day, driving through an unnamed small town in the middle of Pennsylvania. On this Sabbath day as we were driving, it showed itself unexpectedly; a large stone church, magnificent in its imposing power, dated to the beginning of this country, pointing skyward to heaven.

If the strength and glory of the Church was built upon the visible beauty this church claimed in the middle of this small town, we would be close to heaven because I have never seen such a startling picture of a church. Yet the contrast to the world we live in quickly led me to this part of the Word.

For it is written:

"To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.” Revelation 3:1-2

It was difficult to watch person after person come out of this magnificent church who was in their sixties or older and not question: ‘Where are the youth in this church?’ Now I know I did not sit there and watch every member come out after the service was over. Nor did I ask any member in the congregation if there were any youth at the church. Maybe there was a youth service or a youth retreat happening? Maybe it is because of where the youth live?

But the picture was startling because of which generation was coming out of the church while we were passing by. There was a definite tilt on the generation gap to where it did not take long for my wife and I to strike up a conversation on the topic. All this happening while there were kids driving their parent’s car, bumping to rap music right outside of this gorgeous structure sitting there in honor of our God.

The reputation of a church such as the one I saw this morning must be about how it has survived the test of time. It is definitely a testimony to how God is glorified by beautiful houses of worship man can construct. The deeds of this church on these two facts alone represent great glory given to God. But this means nothing if this church is like the church in Sardis in the book of Revelation. For the building is just a building and can never represent the state of the church.

We must concern ourselves about the future of the Church from experiences such as these. We must wake up and become alive again for Christ. This means passing on our beliefs to our children and sharing the good news to the next generation. I am really afraid that many churches are already dead because they have failed to pass on biblical truths to the next generation and keep them from falling prey to the god of this age.

If a generation gap does exist in churches and we do not involve our youth in the church, how can we not fall into the trap the church of Sardis so warns us of? We must strengthen the Church by strengthening our youth in Christ. If we do not, churches will become museums. We will come back and look at the glory we gave God in the past and not find this worship toward our God anymore in the society around us…

We will ask of these glorious churches—are they alive in their beauty or are they alive in their reality?