The Lord Jesus calls the church of Sardis to wake up and repent, because they were dead!
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Sardis: The Church That Needed To Be Resuscitated
Revelation 3:1-6
“On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was a once a crude little life-saving station. The building was just a hut, and there was only one boat, but the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the sea, and with no thought for themselves, they went out day or night tirelessly searching for the lost.
Many lives were saved by this wonderful little station, so that it became famous. Some of those who were saved, and various others in the surrounding areas, wanted to become associated with the station and give of their time and money and effort for the support of its work. New boats were bought and new crews were trained. The little life-saving station grew.
Some of the new members of the life-saving station were unhappy that the building was so crude and so poorly equipped. They felt that a more comfortable place should be provided as the first refuge of those saved from the sea.
So they replaced the emergency cots with beds and put better furniture in an enlarged building. Now the life-saving station became a popular gathering place for its members, and they re-decorated it beautifully and furnished it as a sort of club.
Less of the members were now interested in going to sea on life-saving missions, so they hired life boat crews to do this work.
The mission of life-saving was still given lip-service but most were too busy or lacked the necessary commitment to take part in the life-saving activities personally.
About this time a large ship was wrecked off the coast, and the hired crews brought in boat loads of cold, wet, and half-drowned people.
They were dirty and sick, and some of them had black skin, and some spoke a strange language, and the beautiful new club was considerably messed up. So the property committee immediately had a shower house built outside the club where victims of shipwreck could be cleaned up before coming inside.
At the next meeting, there was a split in the club membership. Most of the members wanted to stop the club’s life-saving activities as being unpleasant and a hindrance to the normal life pattern of the club.
But some members insisted that life-saving was their primary purpose and pointed out that they were still called a life-saving station. But they were finally voted down and told that if they wanted to save the life of all the various kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they could begin their own life-saving station down the coast. They did.
As the years went by, the new station experienced the same changes that had occurred in the old. They evolved into a club and yet another life-saving station was founded.
If you visit the seacoast today you will find a number of exclusive clubs along that shore. Shipwrecks are still frequent in those waters, only now most of the people drown.
Brothers and Sisters, that parable by an unknown author may be fictional, but it truly illustrates the real history of too many denominations, ministries and churches. What’s more, it accurately illustrates the church of Sardis.
Brothers and Sisters, though this little story is fictional, it fits the real history of a church in the first century located in the city of Sardis. Sardis began, as all true churches, with a passion and a zeal to serve Jesus Christ. However, over the last 30 years, the church had died. They had been transformed from a life-saving station to a social club. And the same situation has occurred over and over throughout history. John Wesley was the founder of the Methodist movement. That movement morphed into a denomination, and now it barely resembles the passion and zeal of its founder. Wesley would be devastated if he knew what had become of the movement he spearheaded. He same could be said for the YMCA – the “Young Men’s Christian Association.” When you think of the YMCA today, you no longer even associate it with anything Christian at all! The same could be said of the Salvation Army. What started out as a passionate movement to reach the worst of sinners with the gospel, has morphed into an organization dedicated to social improvement. Harvard College’s original mission statement, formed in 1642 was “Everyone shall consider as the main end of his life and studies, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life.” Today, no one thinks of Harvard in that way. It has gone from a life-saving station to a social institution for higher learning.
I can’t think of anything more devastating that could come from the lips of Jesus Christ than for Him to tell a church that they are dead! May God use this passage of Scripture to keep us from becoming a dead church!
1. The Author
He who has the seven Spirits of God. The seven Spirits of God refers to the Holy Spirit. He is referred to as the “seven Spirits of God” probably because seven is the number for fulness, and Jesus possesses the Holy Spirit in His fulness. In Isaiah 11:2 we have a seven-fold reference to the Holy Spirit as “The Spirit of the Lord, the spirit of wisdom, the spirit of understanding, the spirit of counsel, the spirit of strength, the spirit of knowledge, and the spirit of the fear of the Lord.” Further, in Zech. 4 there is a picture of the Holy Spirit as a Lampstand with seven lamps.
and the seven stars. In 1:20 we discover that the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. The seven angels are much more difficult to identify with precision. However, I think we can safely deduce that these seven angels represent the seven churches themselves. When Jesus writes to the angel of each church, we discovered that He is actually writing to everyone in that church.
So, if that is true, then Jesus here is describing Himself as the One who possesses the Holy Spirit in His fulness, and He is the One who is the Lord of the church. But why would Jesus use these titles for Himself? Because this church is dead, and they are dead because they are devoid of the Holy Spirit! What this church needs is for Jesus to pour out the Holy Spirit upon them to resuscitate them. In this way Jesus is helping them to see their need so they will cry out to God for it.
2. The Recipients
The church in Sardis. What do we know about the city of Sardis?
Sardis would have been the next city on a postman’s route. It was about 30 miles south of Thyatira.
We know that it was a very wealthy city. It was situated near the Pactolus River which yielded large deposits of gold, making it one of the richest cities in the ancient world. It was ruled in ancient times by King Croesus. There is an old saying, “as rich as Croesus.” Historians tell us that it was in Sardis that gold and silver were first minted into coins. Sardis was also the place where the process for dying wool was developed.
Now, a city of vast wealth had to protect itself. Fortunately for Sardis, this was not too difficult because it was situated on a hill 1,500 feet high surrounded by sheer cliffs on three sides. It was believed that no one could attack from those three sides, so all the inhabitants of the city had to do was post guards at the fourth side. However, in 549 BC, the Persians sought to conquer the city. King Cyrus offered a rich reward to any soldier who could devise a way to get up to the city. One soldier spied a soldier defending Sardis accidentally drop his helmet. The soldier walked down a hidden trail to recover his helmet. The soldier watching all of this, noted the location of that hidden trail, and led a detachment of troops to that hidden trail. They were able to climb to the top of the hill and when they did so, they found the city wall to be unguarded. The scaled the wall, and attacked and conquered the city that night while the people were asleep. The people of Sardis had thought their city was impregnable, so they had not even posted a guard at the three sides of the cliffs. In actuality, Sardis was conquered because the people there were smug in their self-satisfaction and self-confidence, and slept right through the attack.
3. The Commendation
Interestingly, there really isn’t a commendation! “I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” There is a tiny commendation in verse 4, “But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.”
Notice – “you have a FEW people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments.” They walked with the Lord in righteousness. They had not assimilated into the world. They had not defiled themselves. Out of all of the Christians in this city, there were only a few true Christians! This church was made up mostly of unregenerate members. Now the church in Pergamum and Thyatira had their problems. In Pergamum there was a small group that were holding to false teaching allowing immorality and idolatry. In Thyatira, they tolerated a false prophetess who was leading a larger subgroup in the church into immorality and idolatry. But in both Pergamum and Thyatira it was the minority that were infected by false teaching. Here in Sardis, almost the entire church had been defiled. There were only a few who had not soiled their garments. Thus, I think we can safely say that the church in Sardis by and large had apostatized from Christ. The people in Pergamum had been seduced by the world. In Thyatira they had compromised with the world. But in Sardis, they had become the world.
We can learn a lot by noticing what Jesus does not mention in this letter. There is no mention of persecution or martyrdom. There was no reason this church should face persecution, because they were not burning brightly in their witness for Christ. In fact, their lamp near nearly been extinguished. This church had completely blended into the pagan world, so that they were nearly indistinguishable from it. They had done all they could to make peace with the world. Their preaching was inoffensive. There was nothing for anyone to get upset about. They were very tolerant of all beliefs and practices.
4. The Correction
I know that you have a name that you are alive. They had a good reputation. Everything looked great on the outside. However, the Lord does not see as man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. The Lord took note of all their activity, but recognized that it did not spring from spiritual life. They had works, but they were “dead works.” Their actions did not flow from the new life of the Spirit. These people were dead in their trespasses and sins. The vast majority of the church was unsaved. The world had taken over the church.
Wake up and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. Wake up! Just like the inhabitants of the city which needed to be awake and on their guard so that their city was not invaded and conquered. They are in the slumber of spiritual death. They needed to obey Ephesians 5:14, “Awake sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Peter tells his readers in 1 Peter 5:8, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” They were like the deer in the African jungle who the lion finds sleeping, so he can easily devour them.
Notice that there is still some hope for this church. Jesus speaks about “things which were about to die.” It is as though the wick of their lamp is barely flickering and about to die, but it has not totally gone out yet. The whole church is not totally dead yet.
So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. What had they received? The gospel! Sardis is an example of a church loses the gospel. They might keep the machinery of the church running. They might participate in their community. They might give themselves to some social causes. But if they don’t cling to the gospel of Christ, they are dead.
There are many liberal churches today that have totally repudiated the gospel of Christ. They do not believe in the inspiration and infallibility of Scripture. They do not believe in the virgin birth, or the miracles of Christ. They deny the deity of Christ. They don’t see the need for His substitutionary atonement, because they believe man is basically good. They don’t believe in the bodily resurrection of Christ, His ascension or second coming. They are no longer a true church. They have a name that they are alive. They go through the forms of liturgy and worship. They continue to meet on Sundays. However, they have degenerated from a life-saving station to a social club. There is no passion to see the lost saved, because they are lost themselves.
Jesus is calling the people of this dead church to repent. He is calling them to forsake their sin and worldliness and to deny themselves, take up their cross, and follow Him.
If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. They were in the sleep of death. Jesus is commanding them to wake up. If they refuse, Jesus will come like a thief. A thief takes from you. He comes in stealth. Their status as a church of Christ is in jeopardy. If they will not wake up, He will remove their lampstand from His presence.
It is important to notice that Jesus is not talking about His second coming here. This “coming” is conditional. It is conditioned upon whether they would wake up or not. It was also only a coming to them, not to the entire world. It also would occur in their lifetime, in the first century – not the end of the world. So, this is a coming of Christ in judgment during their lifetime, not His second coming. There will be no prior warning. He will come unexpectedly. If they are not ready it will be too late!
5. The Promise
Jesus makes two promises to the overcomers. Even in this dead church, there were a few true believers. Remember, that these promises concern the age to come.
They will walk with me in white… clothed in white garments. Revelation 7:14 says “… they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” In other words, Christ will give them a righteous standing based on His atoning work, which will endure forever. There will never come a time in which their garments will turn brown from stains. They will have the righteousness of Christ put to their account for all eternity.
I will not erase his name from the book of life. This statement has troubled many Christians. They think, “Oh no! Maybe Jesus will erase my name from the book of life! What if I’m not an overcomer?” But my friends, we know from 1 John 5:4-5 that an overcomer is one who is born of God and believes in Jesus Christ as the Son of God. Jesus was not giving this as a threat, but rather as a promise. He wanted born again believers to know that their names would never be erased from the book of life. In other words they were eternally secure. They didn’t ever need to worry that at some point in eternity, they could somehow be rejected from God’s presence. Once they enter heaven, they will never be cast out!
Conclusion
Brothers and Sisters, I believe the message of this letter for us, is that we must make sure we never become like Sardis. We must never become a dead church. How do we do that?
- We need to insist on a regenerate church membership. If someone is recognized as a member here, there should be good evidence that they are a born again believer, showing signs of spiritual life.
- We need to insist on practicing church discipline. Paul taught that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. If we want to protect the purity of the church, we must discipline those who live in sin.
- We need to insist on the primacy of the gospel. The gospel must be believed, taught and lived. We must never set it aside in order to focus on social issues alone. Social issues can flow from our devotion to the gospel, but they should never replace our devotion to the gospel.
- We need to insist on Scripture as our final authority in all things. If we open the door to church tradition as being equal with Scripture, we open the door to error and sin.
Brothers and sisters, let us keep this local church from degenerating from a life-saving station to a social club – having a name that we are alive, but in actually, being dead. Let’s pray.
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