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One of our older hymns asks the question, “Have we trials and temptations, is there trouble anywhere?” Umm, yes! The answer doesn’t require a lot of thought. Trials come in many forms and often discourage us. Temptations are sneaky and deceive us into thinking that life can be found through means that are actually harmful. This life is fraught with both trials and temptations, and they are often coming at us at the same time.

When someone is looking at an old house that they are thinking about remodeling, they will sometimes say, “Well it doesn’t look like much now, but it has good bones.” Not being an expert at home renovation, I understand that phrase to mean that the foundation and basic structure is sound. If the foundation is bad or the walls are rotten or full of termites, more thorough renovation will be needed. I’ve walked through several homes that people have been remodeling that required ripping everything out but the framing. It’s a messy business. Over the centuries, Christianity has been painted, wall-papered and redecorated by denominations and culture.

We are emerging from a hard winter. Driving has been treacherous. There have been numerous massive accidents sometimes referred to as “pileups.” Many people were all trying to get somewhere and their paths converged due to ice, snow, fog or a combination of all of it. Palm Sunday could be called a pileup. Soldiers, pilgrims, religious leaders, disciples and Jesus all converged in Jerusalem on the same day.

Some of you will recognize that phrase from The Princess Bride when Miracle Max diagnoses Westley’s condition. He goes on to say that “mostly dead is slightly alive.” Slightly alive is how Jesus diagnosed the church at Sardis. They had a reputation of being alive, but they were actually dead—mostly dead. That they were slightly alive is indicated by the instructions that Jesus gave the people who had not yet succumbed entirely to a false sense of reality.

At the church in Ephesus, there were people calling themselves apostles that were not. In Smyrna, there were people that called themselves Jews that were not. In Thyatira, there was a woman who called herself a prophetess that was not. Are you starting to see a pattern here? Spiritual imposters abound. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They prey on God’s people and while they gain some short-term ground, their deception is actually to their own peril and to the peril of those who follow them.