SARDES – The Spirit of the Brazilian Church After a Pandemic
Romans 6:11 and Revelation 3:1
INTRODUCTION: A conversation I have with fellow pastors, teachers and people concerned with the evangelical church in Brazil has led everyone to a question that expresses our concern:
What happened to the church in the post-pandemic period? Are we better off the pandemic at the other end? Have we survived the pandemic? Are we other people? (About three years since it all started.)
During the pandemic we did not see the time to return to the cults. When we couldn’t get together, we gave a way, we turned around, we broadcast online, we worshiped fewer people.
I remember we had online meetings, books and studies on “The Church in the Post-Pandemic”. Everyone thinks about how we should think, change paradigms, and prepare for when it all ends.
We take vaccines, we wear masks, we isolate ourselves and we take all the care and precautions.
I wrote an article at the time of the pandemic, which was published in the Light in the Darkness with the title AC/DC – Before the Crown, After the Corona. That time I wrote: (05/2020)
“This moment is unique in our history. A new water divider. DC is better than AC. We have to get out at the other end not only survivors, but fit for a full life in all respects. This is translated into one word: focus. It will be time to focus on the things that really matter, on the essence of what really matters. In the tasks that will leave legacy and inheritance for the future. Love people, serve the needy, help those in need, forgive debts, and expand friendship. Embrace and relate to someone who is worth it. Leaving where we are not valued and entering where they really need us.”
Not to mention the tragedy and deaths that have occurred. But the pandemic situation brought us to a condition of comfort and comfort. At first, we did not want to fight. Staying at home all day? But then we got used to it and decided for comfort. And that generated today a church accustomed to the Comfort Zone.
I think that in the pandemic period, we went through the phases of mourning and when we left most of us failed to reverse the situation of comfort and comfort. Do you know the stages of grief? They’re about dealing with death, but let’s adapt here:
Stage 1: Negation and isolation – It is not happening, there is no virus. Not all of that is no. I do not want to talk to anyone.
Stage 2: Anger – How is it possible? How does God allow this? This is the fault of the cyclone. How did I get the mask and the vaccine?
Stage Three: Bargain – Lord, if you make Covid end, I will do this or that. Take away the sickness of my relative and put it on me.
Stage Four: Sadness – Really there is no more way. I cry and grieve for the people and for the life we had before the pandemic.
Stage 5: Acceptance – We’ll have to wait even until it’s all over. In the meantime, we will stay here at home. We decided to wait.
The church in the post pandemic is focusing on yes, as I predicted in my 2020 article. But the question is: are we focusing on the right things? If so, why are we not moving forward? Why are there so many missteps in the cults? Why are many running for compromise? Why does laziness bother us so much? Why is rest a priority on holiday?
My conclusion is that the pandemic has confused the believers’ notion of their commitment to Christ. Although we know everything, our identity has been distorted and our foundations of faith have been shaken and we have lost the notion of the power of the decision we have already made in Christ. We changed the name. Now we are sardines. We seem alive, but we are dead.
For some believers, the pandemic has become the perfect excuse. Once it was cold, heat, wind, no wind, rain, everything could hinder the commitment or be in the church. The pandemic fit like a glove as the perfect excuse.
For other believers, there were doubts, confusion and even a weakness in some areas. When the pandemic came, as a loud blow ended up overthrowing everything and as the focus changed, when the pandemia ended these believers failed to return to the same interest in Christ and the church.
Matthew 13: The seed that falls on rocky ground is glad in the beginning, but does not take root. When problems or tribulations arise, he immediately abandons.
All this then made me think all this time, pray and read the Bible looking for an answer. And the Holy Spirit has led me to rethink our spiritual condition of believers which was initiated in Baptism. We need to go back to the basics and really understand what Christian life after Baptism means in order to overcome all this comfort and comfort.
Romans 6:11 says, “Thus also, consider your dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Other Biblical Versions:
In the same way you must consider yourself dead to sin, but because you are United with Christ Jesus, they must consider themselves alive for God.
Therefore consider your old nature as dead and deaf to sin, while you, on the other hand, are alive to God, attentive to Him, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
- λoγίζεσθε – The verb “consider” in the original means = Consider, calculate, reason with yourself, make an estimate.
Imperative verb – an order, a supplication. Something that needs to be directed, ordered.
Medium/passive voice – an action that we either do in ourselves or allow the actions to be done in us.
The sixth chapter of Romans is about Baptism in Christ. In verse 11, we see that to be baptized it is necessary to consider, reason well, calculate, make an estimate of life with Christ. It is not a decision to be made by impulse. We cannot be believed because someone is forcing us or insisting on us.
But once the decision is made, we receive the Power of God to live this life of Christ and keep us dead / away from the death we were in before.
The literal idea of Romans 6:11 is “Likewise consider yourself, on the one hand, to be dead to sin, and on the other hand to be alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The Christian life after baptism is to practice this death and life. It is to enjoy the power of the decision we have already made. It is to repeat the meaning of baptism every day. It is to remember what we have done, and we decide on a well-thought-out case, to every decision and attitude we take.
Baptism is not just the gateway to the kingdom of God. Baptism is not just an event, a ritual of salvation, which begins the public Christian life. We prepared, studied, baptized and ready.
Baptism is the power of the decision in Christ reaffirmed every day. That is, in our lives if something leads us to sin, the answer: I am dead. If anything leads me to Christ, the answer: I am alive. We are empowered to practice this.
The question is, are we able to do that? with success? The pandemic? Or do we have a third option? We are neither dead nor alive, but inert, indifferent, zombies.
The spiritual situation of the church after the pandemic is similar to that of the Church of Sardis. Jesus himself declared:
To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works; you are known to be alive, but you are dead.” (Apocalipse 3:1)
Are we going to be “walking deads”? We have developed a dependence on mobile phones, technology and so many other things that were once accessories to help us and now even hinder our communion with God and our contact with people of flesh and bones.
** We will go deeper into this, to understand in practice how to overcome this condition. Answer with me this question: What did I do when I was baptized? What happened when you and I decided to be baptized in Christ and in the waters?
I bowed my head in Christ and wrapped myself in His power.
Two basic phrases about the meaning of Baptism: Dive and Dress
A) Baptism is dive. When we are baptized we are completely immersed in the water. So, figuratively, baptism in Christ causes us to fully immerse ourselves in Him and He completely immerse us. It is not a bath, or a simple wash. It’s a deep diving, like the dives tourists do in the oceans.
“And this is represented by the baptism which now also saves you—not the removal of the dirt of the body, but the commitment of a good conscience before God—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” (1 Pedro 3:21)
Therefore we were buried with him in death by baptism, that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so may we also live a new life. (Romans 6:4)
B) Baptism is to put on Christ. It is a partnership, an alliance with Him. He dressed me and I looked at him.
“For all you who have been baptized in Christ Christ have been clothed.” (Galats 3:27)
“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not premeditate how to satisfy the desires of the flesh.” (Romans 13:14)
“To be clothed with the new man, created to be like God in righteousness and holiness from the truth.” (Ephesians 14:24)
“Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old man with his practices, and you have put on the new one, which is being renewed in knowledge, in the image of your Creator.” (Colossenses 3:9-10)
In converting and being baptized we must bear in mind that we are immersed in Christ as we are diving deep into the waters and we are clothed with his power, as we put on a protective garment on cold or rainy days. and so:
Jesus died, we die with Him. His death gives me the power to die for myself.
Jesus was crucified, and we are crucificated with Him. His cross gives me the power to be crucified.
Jesus was buried, and we were buriet with Him. If he was buried I can overcome sin
Jesus was raised, and we are raised with Him.
Jesus is alive, we are alive with Him.
I was promoted to Christ and became part of something greater.
“Then baptism makes us partners of Christ. Co-heirs and co-participants in everything: victory, glory, power, authority, suffering, betrayal, persecution, struggle.
Jesus is the partner-owner – He founded the church and is responsible for it.
The creditor is the co-administrator – with the order and authority of the owner’s partner, the managing partner makes the decisions and resolves the issues on a daily basis.
“And if we are children, we are also heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs of Christ; if it is true that we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.” (Romans 8:17)
The Apostle Peter had this clear conscience of participating in suffering and glory:
“I therefore plead with the elders who are among you, as I am an elder like them, a witness to the sufferings of Christ, and a shareholder of the glory that is to be revealed.” (1 Pedro 5:1)
To be a believer is not to be a member of a club – there is no wallet, rights and duties in society with Christ. The church is not a club. The church is a body.
Baptism is the access of every believer to the Body of Christ, transforming it into a part of the church. I am the Church – it does not exist. We are the church, it exists. The Church is not me, it is us.
Thus, when we baptize ourselves in addition to ceasing to be slaves of sin to be partners of Christ (co-participants), we are also part of the Body of Christ, gaining a place, space, function and importance within this body.
Now as the body is one, though it has many members, and all the members, though many, form one body, so also Christ. For in one body we were all baptized in one Spirit, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free. We all have been given to drink from one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:12-13)
The comfort and comfort of the believers has given them the condition again of slaves, and when each part does not do its role it damages the whole body, the whole church:
Instead, following the truth in love, let us grow in all things in Him who is the head, Christ. From Him the whole body, adjusted and united by the help of all joints, grows and builds itself in love, in the extent that each part fulfils its function. (Ephesians 4:15-16)
Baptism is the sign that we went from being slaves of sin to being partners of Christ and members of the Body/Church.
“But unfortunately we behave as SOLITARIANS in the Body/Church, REBELDS in relation to Christ, and we become again Slave of sin, now even worse, for whoever thinks to be in control outside of communion and service deceives himself.
I defeated my enemies because Christ took my place on the cross.
Christ’s replacement work on the cross was accomplished by his action, by giving his life and dying in our place.
But the effectiveness of this substitution comes only when we co-participate with him in this life. It is not something we carry or possess. It is something we do. It is not a good that belongs to us and we use and abuse it as we want. It is something that is only produced by continuous action.
It’s like getting carbon gas – we only get it if we breathe oxygen.
It’s like getting clear in the snow – we only get if we beat the eggs.
It’s like producing vitamin D – our body only produces when we’re exposed to the sun.
Christ, by dying in our place, replaced us. He died for us to live His life. But if we do not live his life, we will not obtain the power of his death.
Only by understanding this substitute death of Christ will we be able to defeat the enemies that Jesus defeated on the cross: sin, the flesh, the world and the law.
Likewise consider yourself dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:11)
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with their passions and desires. (Grace to Galatians 5:24)
Let me never boast except on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world was crucified for me, and I for the world. (Listen to Galatians 6:14)
Thus, my brethren, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, to belong to another, to him who rose from the dead, that we may bear fruit for God. For when we were controlled by the flesh, the sinful passions aroused by the law acted in our bodies, so that we yielded fruit for death. But now we have been released from the law, by dying for what once held us in prison, so that we may serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old form of the written law. (Romans 7:4-6)
“Many are still subjected and imprisoned to sin, the flesh, the world and the law. And why? Because they did not understand that Christ took his place. Why did they not understand? Why do they not remember or know what the act of baptism really meant?
CONCLUSION: Having said all this, I reflected: (I don’t want to look rude or rude, but let me:)
After the pandemic, believers became selective about the commitments they wanted to take.
Did Covid make the church sick? The “Corona virus decease = disease of the corona virus” has its version in the church “the disease of co-life?”
Can we no longer be co-participants and live this co-life that Jesus offers us?
When we have problems with something, we say it won’t happen again because we’re “vaccinated.” Have believers been vaccinated against Covid and also against church service?
Covid affects the respiratory system and suffocates, taking away the air from contaminated people. Did the covid stifle the church, taking away the will and joy of the believers?
So as I have already stated that our identity has been distorted and our foundations of faith have been shaken, it seems to me that post-pandemic believers are discouraging faster, leaving their commitments and joy they had before and have no strength to return or are not realizing all this situation.
The problem is that the believer may think that this is a loss only for him, or that no one has anything to do with it, whether I want or not want to work or serve in the church anymore. But the point is that by taking this attitude, missing in worship and ceasing to serve, I do not harm only my spiritual life but that of the whole Body of Christ.
Don’t be fooled or deceived by saying, “Ah, I see churches crowded all the time, and a lot of people in other churches.” Yes it is true. But I ask: Are these churches growing or swelling? Does everyone have a voice? Can everyone talk? Does everyone have the opportunity to work and serve? Are you really growing up spiritually? Is solid and biblical food offered or is there a show every weekend?
***I apologize for the disappointment, but my experience has shown me that in these places the working team is reduced, who commands is at the top and the rest obeyes. Not everyone has a voice and if you don’t like it, it’s your problem. You are welcome to attend the cults, programmes and offer but we do not want to know your opinion.
- Should the decision we have already made in Christ be overshadowed and forgotten in a sea of people? Will I gather in a place where I can hide myself and be one more, or do I want to grow spiritually, serve in a ministry, evangelize and lead others to grow too?
Some may even think that it is nonsense or exaggeration what I am saying here, but after a lot of study and meditation I have the conviction to say that either we do what Romans 6:11 says or then the future of the Brazilian church will be the same as that of other nations. Temples closed because the temples of the Spirit have been closed long ago. Churches dying because baptism and all that it means no longer matters to believers. Comfort and relaxation is what matters.
Romans 6:11 says, “Consider your dead and alive.”
We understand that consideration is a decision. And the decision has to be confirmed, living and speaking.
Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has power over life and death; those who love to use it will eat its fruit.”
What you say and say has the power of life and death. What will be your decision today?
Use your tongue to say once again, “I’m discouraged, I don’t want more, I can’t, I cannot. I have worked hard and now I want to take care of my life. I have the right to rest.” Well, as Proverbs says, you will eat of the fruit/result of what you say.
Or you will declare what Paul said:
In all things we are afflicted but not troubled; perplexed but not discouraged; persecuted but not desolate; defeated but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that also his life may be manifest in our body. For we who live are always handed over to death because of Jesus, so that also the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”
(2 Corinthians 4:8-11)
Jesus did not leave Sardis. Jesus did not abandon the church. Jesus has not given up on you and me. He is warning you:
“Be careful! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found his works perfect in the sight of my God.” (Revelation 3:2)
