The Church in Sardis
Notes
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We hide the the things we don’t want people to see… things that we are ashamed of… we like to put our best foot forward, not our worst.
Our previous church had a 100 years old history.
I remember talking to people who remembered those days gone by and wanted to relive that success.
This church was around in the boom of the steel industry and then when the steel industry shut down in the late 70’s, there was a mass exodus of people leaving the city of Warren, Ohio throughout the 80’s. But, they kept living as if nothing was changing around them. They kept wanting to relive the “good ole’ days” instead of reaching out to the new people who were living around the church.
When we become more focused on our reputation then seeking God’s direction it’s only a matter of time when we cease to be relevant as a church.
When we want our reputation in tact, we only listen to the positives, we only remember our past projects, our past outreaches, our past ministries. We focus on what we did instead of what God wants to do through us. We become more focused on appearances instead of being focused on loving Jesus, obeying HIS commands, and being fully dependent on HIS power.
We can easily become prideful instead of humble… we get lazy, we go through the motions, how quickly does our reputation change because our reality changes.
Regardless of what people notice, Jesus is telling this church that I see everything not just the things we want visible. But, Jesus sees those things that matter, the things that are under the surface.
Revelation 3:1–6 (ESV)
1 “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. “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. 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.
4 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. 5 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. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
PRAY
Jesus commanded this church to wake up! There is still work to be done. I don’t care about your great history, I don’t care about your reputation in Sardis. Jesus said, I am not the God of the dead, but the God of the living. You have a reputation to others but as far as I see, you are dead!
Being a church that is alive has nothing to do with the volume… the quality and energy of the music… How much the pastor sweats and spits… Being alive has everything to do with being filled with the Holy Spirit, loving Jesus and loving people… the whosoever.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
A church that is alive is fulfilling the mission and purpose of Jesus.
Sardis was dead. What was so significant about Sardis?
What about Sardis?
What about Sardis?
The city was wealthy. It had 2 locations; the old town and the new town; the old in the mountain, the new in the valley below.
The newer section of the city boasted a theater, a stadium, and a huge temple to Artemis that had been started but never finished. The older city on the mountain had an acropolis and had become an emergency refuge for the city’s inhabitants when under attack.
Sardis was also known for its impressive cemetery, with hundreds of burial mounds.
At one time, Sardis had been one of the most powerful cities in the ancient world. They would trade among the Aegean islands gold and silver and coins were first minted at Sardis.
The original city had been protected by its natural rock walls that were nearly vertical on three sides. Sardis had been taken over only twice in its history, although it had been attacked several times because of its strategic location.
The first time the city was defeated by the Persian general Cyrus in the sixth century b.c. One of the Persian soldiers had observed a soldier from Sardis making his way up the winding road into the city. The people of Sardis thought they were safe in the upper city on the mountain, but Cyrus’s soldiers climbed the cliffs. After Cyrus’s victory, Sardis became the capital of Persia.
Later, in the third century b.c., the city was conquered again the same way by Antiochus the Great. A few of his soldiers climbed the mountain, entered the city, and opened its gates to the invading army.
In 17 AD, a devastating earthquake destroyed the city and several others in the area (including Philadelphia and Laodicea).
The wealth of the city eventually led to moral decadence. The city had become lethargic, its past splendor a decaying memory. Sardis was a wealthy and secure city. The believers were lethargic as well, unwilling to fulfill their Christ-centered ministry purpose.
This letter to this church had no compliments from Jesus.
Jesus begins each of HIS letters with HIS unique Characteristic to the church and a clear criticism in vs. 1.
The Unique Characteristic
The Unique Characteristic
Revelation 3:1 (ESV)
1a “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.
The “sevenfold Spirit of God” (1:4, 1:16) is another name for the Holy Spirit. The seven stars are the messengers, or leaders, of the churches.
The Clear Criticism
The Clear Criticism
The church in Sardis received no compliment from Christ, just criticism.
Revelation 3:1 (ESV)
1b “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
Knowing this church’s deeds, Christ had no good words to say. The believers may have thought they were a living and active church, but according to Christ they were dead. Like the city itself, the church in Sardis may have been trying to live on past glory.
Jesus said that this church has a reputation that is faulty. The church is almost spiritually dead. A corpse may be beautiful, but it is still dead. In contemporary terms, the Sardis church was filled with “nominal Christians.”
They had compromised with the surrounding society to the point that they had become lethargic. They were as good as asleep, so Jesus told them to wake up and repent.
Jesus’ Urgent Command
Jesus’ Urgent Command
2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. 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. 4 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.
The following verses record five commands… a series of 5 verbs:
wake up
strengthen
remember
obey
repent
Foreign armies had captured the city of Sardis twice in its history because of its failure to watch.
The church’s deeds appeared wonderful to those outside the church, but they were not complete in the sight of God.
Christ did not accuse them of heresy, but neither had they offended Romans or unbelieving Jews. They were not being persecuted, but they had offended God by emphasizing their reputation over reality.
Part of the remedy was for this church to remember its glorious past, when it had been spiritually alive. When the Christians at Sardis were converted, they had received something important.
They had received the gospel but they had also received the Holy Spirit of life. They had forgotten about the Spirit’s work. They must repent of their neglect of the Spirit and obey the command to “be filled with the Spirit”
18 Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit,
If they didn’t repent, unexpected judgement would be imminent.
Christ had threatened to judge the unloving Ephesian church by removing its lampstand.
Jesus had promised to judge the heretical teachers in Pergamum by fighting with his sword against them if they did not repent.
Now he threatens to judge the lifeless church of Sardis by coming against them like a thief at an unexpected time.
Some interpreters believe this refers to Christ’s second coming, which is often said to be like a thief (Matt. 24:43; Luke 12:39; 1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 16:15).
However, in this context the “coming” of the Lord to judge will take place only if the church does not repent. The second coming of Christ is not conditional. The church of Sardis will be visited by the judgment of Christ—if it does not change.
Christ commanded the church at Sardis to get back to the basics of the faith and remember … what you received and heard. Get back to the message, the teaching that changed them at the beginning.
It’s easy to get lost in the details and eventually loose our purpose. You went back into the house to get something and you forgot what it was that you were suppose to get?
These believers had slipped away from that teaching into compromising with the world. Only a change of heart could save them from punishment.
Repentance means that this church must start taking God’s Word seriously and purposefully obeying it. If they refused to wake up and see what was happening to them, Christ would come like a thief, unexpectedly, as had the soldiers who had climbed the walls to capture the city.
The soldiers brought destruction; Christ would bring punishment, giving them what they deserved.
Jesus’ Commitment to those who OVERCOME.
Jesus’ Commitment to those who OVERCOME.
5 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. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Not every believer in Sardis was being condemned for complacency and compromise with the world. Christ pointed out that some had not soiled their garments with evil deeds. These believers were being faithful.
It must have been encouraging to those few who had been attempting to live for Christ in this dead church that Christ was acknowledging them as worthy of his name. Jesus promises a threefold reward for these faithful few:
They will be clothed in white.
In pagan religions it was forbidden to approach a god with soiled garments, so a person had to be clean in order to come into a temple.
Christ, however, invites soiled, sinful people to come; he will give them clean clothing.
2. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life.
“The Book of Life” refers to the heavenly registry of those who have accepted salvation in Christ.
This expression appeared elsewhere in the Bible, the first being Exodus 32:32-33. Psalm 69:28 Daniel 12:1
This “book” symbolizes God’s knowledge of who belongs to him. At that time cities had registry books, so having one’s name removed meant losing citizenship. A city would also erase a person’s name from the registry when he or she died. For the citizens of heaven, however, death is not a cause for one’s name to be removed; instead, it is the way of entrance1
Those who remain faithful to him are promised future honor and eternal life—they are guaranteed citizenship in heaven
3. I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.
The names of all believers are registered in the Book of Life, and Christ will introduce them to the hosts of heaven (“my Father and his angels”) as belonging to him. Christ had stated,
32 “Everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven.
Believers can have no greater reward than to stand in heaven with Christ and have him announce to the entire assembled host, “They are mine.”
6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Jesus again emphasizes the importance for the readers of Revelation to listen and understand. This message is a letter for you also.
Take Away:
Nobody wants to be a dead church but there are so many churches that are unwilling to listen to God’s voice and speak God’s truth boldly.
Jesus is saying, only in ME will you have life.
“I am the God of the living, not the dead.”
“I am the resurrection and the life”
1. Are we trying to find real life outside of Jesus?
power, gain, control, worldly… success, wealth, an image that we aspire to be.
2. Are we more interested in keeping a good reputation then true obedience to Jesus?
Jesus talked to the pharisees about cleaning the outside of the cup but inside they were full of death.