You’ve Got Mail: Sardis
Scott Bayles, preacher
First Christian Church, Rosiclare, IL
From the manufacturing hub of Thyatira a first-century postman continued southward another forty miles until arriving at the acropolis of Sardis.
Sitting atop a steep hill roughly 1,500 feet above the main roads, Sardis’ location formed an almost impregnable fortress. The natural rock walls on the north, east and west slopes of this hill were almost completely vertical. The only access to the city was from a narrow path on the south slope. This made Sardis one of the most easily defensible cities of the ancient world. In fact, any attempt to capture the acropolis of Sardis was considered utterly impossible. So you can imagine the shockwaves that resonated throughout the known world when King Cyrus of Persia did the impossible.
More than five hundred years before the birth of Jesus, the king of Lydia instigated an attack against Persia. He was thoroughly beaten and retreated to Sardis where he felt quite safe and secure. King Cyrus and his men surrounded the city and camped outside of it for days, but the people of Sardis still didn’t feel threatened. Sitting comfortably within their fortress the citizens of Sardis became overconfident and complacent. Cyrus sent a handful of men around to the north side of the acropolis, who then slowly and carefully scaled the rock wall which had been left completely unguarded. One by one the soldiers scaled the wall, entered the city and slaughtered its citizens in their sleep—a disaster that could have been easily avoided had they been alert. Three and a half centuries later, history repeated itself, when Antiochus the Great conquered Sardis using the exact same tactic.
I tell you that story because history was about to repeat itself, yet again. In many ways, the church in Sardis was plagued with the same problems as the city itself had been. Let’s look at what Jesus had to say to them:
“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief. Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine. Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.” (Revelation 3:1-6 NLT)
As always, before critiquing of the church, Jesus begins by giving his credentials.
• CREDENTIALS
In description of himself, Jesus says, “This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars” (vs. 1 NLT).
This sevenfold Spirit of God is, of course, the Holy Spirit of God. The “sevenfold Spirit” refers to the fullness of the Holy Spirit. The number seven is used throughout Revelation to symbolize completeness and perfection. Also, these letters were, of course, sent out to seven churches and Holy Spirit is depicted as being present in each of them—thus we see a “sevenfold” Spirit.
Now, because the church in Sardis was on the verge of death, Jesus wanted to remind them that it is he—Jesus—who holds and who gives the Holy Spirit. And it’s the Holy Spirit who breathes life into his children and his church.
To a dying congregation, nothing could be more important than the Holy Spirit. Jesus said it himself: “It is the Spirit that gives life” (John 6:63 NKJV). Do you remember Jesus’ conversation with the woman at the well? He told her, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life” (John 4:13-14 NLT). What is this water that Jesus was talking about? It was the Holy Spirit. A few chapters later this becomes much more obvious:
On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. (John 7:37-39 NLT)
Over and over throughout God’s Word the Spirit is likened to water. Why do you suppose that is? Maybe it’s because the Holy Spirit does for souls what water does for bodies. Dr. Don Colbert, in his book The Seven Pillars of Health, devotes seven whole chapters to the benefits of water. He writes, “Water is the single most important nutrient of our bodies.” He goes on to explain some of the advantages of keeping our bodies properly hydrated including greater energy, a heightened immune system, better nutrient absorption, prolonged life, weight loss, greater metabolic efficiency, reduced risk of heart attack, improved attention span, better memory, and the list goes on.
It’s amazing what just a little water can do! If natural water is so important for our bodies, how much more important do you think spiritual living water is for our souls? The Holy Spirit—the living water that Jesus offers—does for our souls what H2O does for our bodies. Like the morning dew on dry grass, the gift of God’s Spirit refreshes, revitalizes, and renews dry and thirsty souls! As Max Lucado puts it:
You’re acquainted with physical thirst. Stop drinking and see what happens. Coherent thoughts vanish, skin grows clammy, and vital organs shut down. Deprive your body of necessary fluid, and it will tell you. Deprive your soul of spiritual water, and it will tell you. Dehydrated hearts send desperate messages. Snarling tempers. Waves of worry. Growing guilt and fear. Hopelessness. Resentment. Loneliness. Insecurity. (Lucado, Come Thirsty)
Every genuine believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit from the moment of conversion, but we all have to return to his well of living water to be in-filled over and over again. Any professing Christian or church that isn’t saturated in God’s Holy Spirit might look alive, but their really just undead zombies apart from the life-giving Spirit of Jesus. That brings us to the next part of Jesus letter—the criticism.
• CRITICISM
Jesus skips his usually compliment for the meantime, and dives right into his criticism of the church in Sardis. He says, “You have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead… I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God” (vs. 1-2 NLT).
What surprises me most about this criticism is what’s not there. There is no mention of any false doctrine having been adopted by the Christians in Sardis. Jesus doesn’t chastise them because of some immoral or idolatress behavior. These Christians weren’t under any kind of persecution that we can tell. Rather, like the soldiers who should have been standing guard when King Cyrus captured the city, the church had become complacent, perhaps over confident, and they just stopped caring.
You know, I am just fascinated by the universe God has made. I am awed by the cosmos of creation—it’s sheer vastness and immensity. Our galaxy alone is so huge that astronomers had to come up with a whole new unit by which to measure it—it’s called a light-year. One light-year is the distance light can travel (going more than 186,000 miles per second) in one year, which amounts to more six trillion miles. The incredible distance that the light from some stars has to travel in order to reach our tiny little globe creates an interesting paradox.
Let’s say, five years ago a star went super-nova and exploded some thirty light-years away. We wouldn’t know about it for another twenty-five years—because that’s how long it would take for the light to reach us. So even though the star is dead and gone, for the next twenty-five years it would seem as if that star were right where it’s always been—twinkling across the galaxy.
That’s what happened to the church in Sardis. There was a time when this church was alive and active, when this church was an influence in the community, a time when their passion for Jesus burned as brightly as any star. They still had their reputation. But that’s all they had. Some time ago, without anyone even noticing it, their passion died—their star burned out. And all that was left was a husk of a once proud congregation—a fancy, stained-glass sanctuary that served as nothing more than a monument to past glory. A cathedral-ceiling tomb.
It wasn’t because of violent persecution or heretical teaching. It was because people just stopped caring. They were content with all the good they had done in the past. One by one, they stopped ministering to one another. They stopped fellowshipping. Maybe they decided that they didn’t need to go to church three times a week, so they skipped Sunday and Wednesday nights. They quit inviting their friends and neighbors. They probably would be interested anyway. Perhaps the pastor still asked for volunteers occasionally, but who has time for that sort of stuff. Maybe they still enjoyed coming and listening to a sermon, but rarely if ever did have any impact on how they lived their lives.
Like the fig tree from Jesus’ parable, they were bore leaves but no fruit. They were alive on the outside—dead on the inside.
So what do you do when you find yourself living among a dead or dying church? Lucky for us, Jesus gives a command to the Christians in Sardis that answers that very question.
• COMMAND
Jesus’ command to Sardis is broken into several parts, but it begins with two little words: “Wake up!” (vs. 2). If only someone had shouted these words to the people of Sardis when King Cyrus snuck into their city like thief in the night. Wake up!
The first step in revival—which is what this church desperately needed—is to recognize their situation. As the say in Alcoholics Anonymous, the first step is admitting you have a problem. These people needed to wake up to the reality around them. Most of the church-goers there were just playing at church. Many of there members were spiritually dead or dying and the church body as a whole had one foot in the grave. The situation wasn’t going to get better on its own. It was past time to wake up and take action. “Snap out of it!” Jesus was saying.
And then he tells them, “Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead” (vs. 2 NLT). In other words, you’ve got to start building one another up before it’s too late. As the author of Hebrews puts it: “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT).
Finally, Jesus commands them, saying, “Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly and turn to me again” (vs. 3 TLB). These believers needed to get back to basics—to return to the foundational teachings of the apostles that had changes their lives in the beginning and once again make those things the central focus of their spiritual lives. They needed to be re-filled with the Holy Spirit. They needed to fan the smoldering embers of their love for Jesus into flame once again. They needed to remember the hopelessness of life without Christ and the sense of relieve and awe they felt when they were born again, experiencing his forgiveness, his grace, his mercy and love. They needed to return to the central theme of the gospel—the sinfulness of man, the love of God, the sacrifice of Jesus, and life that he offers.
It might take a while for the rekindled light of Jesus to reach the darkest places of their hearts, but if they would just let him in—if they would open their lives to his sevenfold Spirit, then streams of living water would once again flow through their hearts. The same is true for each one of us.
INVITATION
There were some in Sardis who hadn’t given up, who hadn’t fallen asleep. To them and to those who were ready to wake up, Jesus gave this beautiful promise: “They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.” His promise to them is his promise to you—if you are awake!
