The letter to Sardis Rev:3:1-6
Sardis was probably the oldest of the seven cities, probably being founded at the very beginning of the Iron Age, possibly as early as 1000 BC.
In it's past it had been the capital of the Kingdom of Lydia and it had become very rich and prosperous. It was also built on a busy trade route and like the City of Thyatira it was well known for woollen dyeing.
The cities most prosperous era was in the mid 500's BC. The King at the time had been very ambitious and he had invaded and beaten most of his neighbours which also gained him a vast amount of money. According to the historians a lot of the wealth of the country also came from the gold which was found in the mountains that surrounded the city. Lots of gold could be easily found in the Pactolus river which flowed through the city.
Tradition has it that the gold was in the river because King Midas, the one who turned everything to gold, had been told to bathe in the river to get rid of the curse put on him by Bachus..
Everywhere seems to have a particular claim to fame and Sardis was no different. It was here that the first ever coins were minted in about 550BC, the first time anywhere in the world that little bits of metal had been used for trade.
The King of Lydia at that time was also famous and has been immortalised today in a saying that many of us will have heard. If someone is really well off he is often referred to as being "as rich as Croesus".
Well that's who was King of Lydia at it's most prosperous time. King Croesus. He reigned for only 14 years and died in 546 BC after becoming too greedy for money and power. The country was invaded by Cyrus the Great, the king of Persia, the same person who 8 years later would free the Hebrew exiles from their captivity.
Croesus was burned alive.
But there is a tradition that he survived because the god Apollo, who Croesus worshipped, sent a rainstorm and put the fire out, but this story seems to have no evidence to support it..
In AD17 the town was devastated by a great earthquake and it was only because the Roman Emperor Tiberius gave the town money that it was able to be rebuilt. By the time that this letter was written it was just a small struggling provincial Roman town.
Nothing is known at all about the origins of the Church in Sardis although it is likely that
the good news spread from the surrounding Churches.
The letter which Jesus dictated to John for the Church in Sardis is one of the most severe of the seven letters. It appears that the Church had adopted the same attitude as the rest of the city.
They were sitting back thinking of the past and not getting on with the present or planning for the future. All of the Church's activities were rooted in the past. The good reputation that Jesus mentions is a past reputation. It's something that they used to have but not anymore
The reputation that they had was for being a Church that was alive. They were known as a progressive Church and were talked about far and wide. They would have been well known among the other six Churches in the area. There would have been no false teachers or false doctrines in this Church.
Jesus doesn't even mention the Nicolaitans or the followers of Balaam or Jezebel that we heard about previously.But now we see Jesus telling them that they are living under a complete misapprehension. Not only are they not really alive, they are actually dead!
That's a terrible condemnation to make to a Church of Jesus Christ.
To be told that you are dead, that all of your good works are worthless. That your worship is worthless, that your praise is worthless. The outward appearance of the Church was obviously deceptive because this happy, vital and hard working congregation was more like a spiritual graveyard.
The eyes of Jesus could see under the surface and He tells them "I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God"
The good deeds that the Church were doing were only a series of rituals, of duties, which did not even start to fulfil God's plan for them.
Jesus made a point of saying that it was "in the sight of God" that He found them deficient. In the sight of man they probably appeared to be doing OK.
This is important for us to note.
We need to remember that "The Lord does not look at the things that man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance but the Lord looks at the heart." (1 Sam 16:7)
The Lord can read our thoughts, in fact He knows them even before we think them He also knows our motives for doing things. the real motives not the ones we often present to the world.
There is another clue in the letter that gives us a little insight into the kind of spiritual death that had overtaken the Church. In verse 4 Jesus says that there are a few people in the Church who "have not soiled their clothes"
This suggests to us that the death that the Church had suffered was caused through sin. Sin had managed to creep into the Church although it was not so obvious as the sin of Jezebel at Thyatira. None the less Jesus had seen it, He had detected this weakness in this apparently strong church.
Beneath the pious exterior of that respectable congregation was secret unclean-ness.
According to the Greek historian, Herodotus, the people of the City of Sardis had managed to acquire a reputation for lax moral standards and even open licentiousness. It looks as though the Church may have forgotten Paul's words "Do not conform to the pattern of this world". It may be that slowly and gradually worldliness had crept into the Church until it had become totally infected with sin.
If this is the truth then the reputation that the Church in Sardis had must have been false. Maybe the Church was the first in the history of Christianity to suffer from our 21st century problem of "nominal Christianity".
The members of the Church belonged to Christ in name but obviously not in their hearts. According to their reputation they were alive but in reality they were dead. He tells them in verse two to "wake up". The Greek here actually means "Be watchful". The few members of this Church who are true followers of Christ are being given an opportunity to change things.
The Bible devotes a lot of space to the difference between outward appearance and inner reality. Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah and all of the other Old Testament prophets tried to teach this distinction to Israel and Judah.
The Temple in those days was full of dutiful worshippers.
Incense, sacrifices and music were all being offered to God but without real meaning.
The prophet Isaiah reports the words of God Himself when he says "
The Lord says: "These people come near to me with their mouth and honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. (Isaiah 29:13)
Jesus quoted this same verse to the Pharisees when He called them the successors of those who had killed the prophets. They gave money to the poor, they said long prayers and fasted regularly and publicly. They did everything they could to gain a reputation for being very religious people. But it was nothing more than a public show.
So what did Jesus tell these people? Well we can find out in Matthew 23:27
"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness. "
It also looks as though Timothy had come across a similar problem in the Church at Ephesus because Paul wrote to him about some people there who
"have a form of godliness but deny its power. Have nothing to do with them." (2 Timothy 3:5)
So this tendency to hypocrisy has happened right the way through the Bible. Hypocrisy can so easily creep into the life of a Church. Particularly in the area of worship. We can stand up and sing hymns and choruses, we can read the Bible and listen to the sermons, while our minds wander and our hearts are far away from God.
Even Pastors and Preachers can be guilty of this.
We can lead a service without any real knowledge or awareness of the greatness of our God we are professing to worship.
So what's the cure for this problem? Well Christ tells us in this letter. He tells the church in Revelation 3:2-3
Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is
about to die, 3:Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent.
These are not suggestions these are orders. Wake up! Strengthen what remains! Remember! Obey! Repent!
The Church in Sardis is being told very plainly what to do. First it has to wake up to the fact that there is a problem. Then it has to strengthen the good that is left. Only after they do this can they remember the former times, the good times. Only when they have done this can they repent and be obedient.
And yet in the middle of all of the hard words and orders comes a breath of fresh air. Jesus reminds the Church that not everyone is like this. there are some in the Church who still faithfully follow Christ. Jesus had nothing against these few people and it's to them that Jesus speaks when He commands them to Wake up! Strengthen what remains!
These people are not dead, they are just asleep. Jesus now calls them to rouse themselves and take notice of the things that are happening around them. Then they are commanded to strengthen what is left.
The Greek word translated strengthen here is the same one which was often used for "nurture or discipleship" in the early church.
This is the sort of strengthening that is given to new Christians. They need to be loved and nurtured into maturity, they need to become established.
It's the responsibility of older more mature Christians to ensure that this takes place. This is the instruction now being given to the remaining Christians at Sardis. Start changing things back to the way they should be. Make sure that the people receive proper teaching and that they understand the consequences of this letter.
Because Jesus warns that if they do not repent he will "come like a thief and you will not know at what time I will come to you" This sounds like the second coming that the Bible promises, but it appears that Jesus is actually saying that He will come especially to this Church.
That His coming would be unannounced and that He would bring judgement of them. Once the people have heard the truth that this letter contains, once they have repented and turned back to God, Jesus tells them to remember. They can look back and remember what they used to be, how faithful they once were. Remember what you received and heard and obey it.....What was it they received? The gospel? yes undoubtedly, but there's more to it. They had received the Holy Spirit in the past.
Now they are being called back to Him. Now they were being asked to remember what their lives were like when they lived in the fullness and power of the Spirit.
The letter finally ends with a promise to those who can overcome. Jesus had said that many people in the Church had soiled their clothes. Now he is saying that they will be dressed in white. The Church had received a false name, a false reputation. But now their names would be remembered in heaven. The names of these overcomers will never be blotted out of the book of life.
As for us today it's a fact that we, as individuals, can have a reputation for being alive.
We can have a reputation for being close to God, of being a "religious person". That reputation will not get any of us an entry into the Book of Life.
Reputations are given by people to people. But we should be more concerned that we have a good reputation with our Lord Jesus.
We should be concerned that we are not hypocritical, that we are not just play acting in our faith. We don't know if the Church in Sardis listened to this message from Christ. We do know that the city was finally totally destroyed in 1402 and that there is only a small village on the site now.
Even if they chose not to take note of the warning in this letter, we must! It's our responsibility to make sure that we don't soil our clothes, that we truly possess an inward reality and purity which is pleasing to God.
The Bible tells us in Proverbs 29:18 that “without a vision the people perish”
That’s a vision for the future. A vision that is open to God not reliant on the way things have always been.
