“Sardis”
Revelation
3:1–6
November
19, 2023 YouTube
The church in Sardis was thirty-five miles east of Thyatira
– at the base of Mount Tmolus and extending through the valley of Hermus – the
point being, it was a perfect location for the trade routes that ran through
it. Sardis was the capital of Lydia
(which has nothing to do with the Lydia we mentioned last week). Sardis was
exceedingly wealthy – not just from the trade routes, but because the rivers
were filled with gold.
“And
to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven
spirits of God and the seven stars.
As
we have seen, each letter begins with a greeting and an additional revelation
about Who Jesus is. As with the other churches, Jesus addresses the minister
and the church – here, in Sardis.
Jesus
says He has the seven spirits of God.
Remember, seven stands for completeness, wholeness, perfection, and we
saw that the seven spirits of God is God the Holy Spirit. How do we understand that Jesus has the Holy
Spirit? Jesus is revealing – at the time
that He is speaking these words – He is at the Right Hand of the Father,
reigning in glory – as the God-man.
Right now, Jesus is 100% God and 100% human with God in Heaven. His human body ascended with Him. And we will remember that Jesus was baptized
in the river Jordan, and when He was, the Holy Spirit descended on Him and
indwelled His humanity.
And
Jesus has the seven stars – the seven minsters – the ministers of the seven
churches of Revelation and the ministers of all the churches throughout time
and space. Jesus is Sovereign over every
Christian minister, and they are His for His pleasure and Glory.
Jesus speaks a strong denunciation of the church in Sardis:
“‘I
know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
Jesus knows the works of the church in Sardis. And because
of the works they have done, they are known to be a living church.
No false doctrine or false teachers were to be found in the
church. They had a great reputation in
the city. They had been there for
decades, and they relied on and leaned on that reputation – their name, their
heritage. They were overconfident and
boastful about their church. “Afterall,
we have been here for generations. All
the right people go to our church. It’s
hard to find a seat for worship. We have
the most eloquent preacher, choirs and musicians, full offering plates every
time they are passed. We are involved
and finance all the events and programs in the church and in the community. Everyone
wants to be like us.”
The church in Sardis had a reputation of being alive. To look at their works, you would certainly
think that they were blessed and a blessing to Jesus, but Jesus says that this
church is dead. (That’s not to say that every big, wealthy, involved church is
dead, but, in this case, they were.)
What was the problem?
The church in Sardis was a church of nominal Christianity –
of nominal Christians. They were
Christian in name only. They had a name
and a reputation, and they professed faith, but their hearts were far from God. They were busy with all the externals, but
they had no spiritual life or power.
They followed after everything except spiritual growth and true riches. And, over time, they fell into
disbelief. They did all their good works
and were known for their good works, but they didn’t believe the Gospel.
In the days of Isaiah, God says, “And the Lord said: ‘Because
this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while
their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by
men,” (Isaiah 29:13, ESV).
Jesus says to the Pharisees, “Woe to you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly
appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all
uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you
are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness” (Matthew 23:27-28, ESV).
Again, Jesus says to the Pharisees, “And he said to them,
‘You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.
For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God’” (Luke
16:15, ESV).
These texts are not about the church in Sardis, but they describe
what Jesus condemns the church for.
Do you know a church like this? Are you in a church like this? What ought a
church like this to do?
Jesus
tells the church in Sardis to do four things:
First,
“Wake up,”
The
first thing they were instructed to do is to wake up – to stop being asleep and
letting the world go by without knowing what has happened – what is true and
what is good. If you are asleep, it is
impossible to know what is happening.
You may dream that everything is well.
You may dream about your church’s name and recognition in the community,
but you cannot know what is real and true.
Paul
writes, “But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for
anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, ‘Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you’” (Ephesians 5:13-14,
ESV).
Second,
“and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your
works complete in the sight of my God.
There
is hope. Amidst the dead church, there is
still someone who is weak in the faith but has not fully turned away from the
faith. There are still some who can
strengthen their belief in Who Jesus is and what He has done. They can repent and pray that God the Holy
Spirit would teach them and grow them in faith and obedience so they will not
die. The works that they had given a tip of the hat to would be taken up again
and lived out in full. They would live
out their belief, come back to life in full, and survive the church in Sardis.
James
writes, “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does
not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly
clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace,
be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what
good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead”
(James 2:14-17, ESV).
Strengthen
all that you believe through reading the Scripture and praying for
understanding – and for the ability to carry it out. Knowing all the right things and not acting
on them is dead. Doing all the right
things, but not believing all that God has said is dead. We are saved by faith, but the works God has
destined for us to do must follow out of all the things we have believed by
faith.
Third,
“Remember, then, what you received and heard.
At
some point, all of the people of the church in Sardis heard the Word of God
read and preached. They had come to the
church because they heard it and believed it – they received it as true by the
work of God the Holy Spirit in them. So,
Jesus tells them that they will be restored in the faith and forgiven if they
go back to what they heard and taught and received – dig deep in your memory
and think back to when you first believed and see why you responded to the Word
of God the way you did then. If you
truly remember and truly believe, you will be restored to the faith and
obedience you were called to.
Paul
writes to the young minister, Timothy, and tells him to remember all of the
Word of God he heard read and preached and that he believed in, and he will be
firm in the salvation he received and the good works that come from it.
“But
as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing
from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with
the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through
faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for
teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that
the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (II Timothy
3:14-17, ESV)
Fourth,
“Keep it, and repent.
Keep
the Word of God as you heard it read and preached. Repent of the sins that are brought to light
through it. Repent of being more
concerned with looking good than being holy.
Believe
every word that God has given us and do all those things that we are called to
do. As Paul writes, “I therefore, a
prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to
which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in
the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to
the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one
God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Ephesians
4:1-6, ESV).
There
was a remnant in the church in Sardis that has not been lost, and if they woke
up, strengthened the things that remain, remembered Who Jesus is and what He
did, and repented and do the things that God commands in His Word, these will
be raised from their sleep and their sickness and brought to being a light to
the church and the world.
But.
“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.
Any
who refuse to waken and be saved will find Jesus coming against them.
“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.
Again,
Jesus says there is a remnant in the church in Sardis who have not completely
fallen away in sin. This remnant who
truly believe in Jesus for salvation and live the life He has called all
believers to live, Jesus will give them white garments – He will make them pure
– He will make them worthy by giving them His Worthiness.
“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.
The
one who conquers the nominal Christianity that we see in the church in Sardis –
in our churches? – the one who says it is not enough to have a great heritage
and to know all the right things and to look like everything is well, rather
humbled, repentant believing in Jesus, the Word of God read and preached, and
the living out of all God calls us to do – that one will have his name in the
book of life. He will have the security
of being a member of the Kingdom of God.
All
those who belong to Jesus through His salvation of them, Jesus will confess their
name – He will witness to their righteousness before His Father as an act of
His completed work.
Likewise,
Jesus says, “So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will
acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before
men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32-33,
ESV).
Jesus
again calls on all those who can and will hear what He says to this church, and
the seven churches, and to all the churches throughout time and space, to hear
this message.
“He
who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
If
all we have in our church is a great reputation and a long history, and great
speakers and music, and the appreciation and involvement of our neighbors, we
may be dead – or on the way to death.
Let
us pray:
Almighty
God, we thank you for Jesus’ message to the church in Sardis. Thank You for showing us that even though
everything might look fine, our church may be dead. Help us to grow in faith and obedience by the
reading and preaching of Your Word.
Cause us to believe and then do all You have called us to do – as You
enable us through the Work of the Holy Spirit.
May You be glorified as Jesus gives His worthiness to all those He came
to save. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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