7 Churches of Revelation
Waking the Walking Dead: Sardis
Introduction: This week, the supreme court has endorsed same sex marriage. I'm not surprised. Sometimes we feel like the psalmist when he writes “When the foundations are being destroyed what can the righteous do?” (Ps. 11:3) It seems that the urgent warnings, the rebukes, the fiery sermons, the desperate calls for prayer and fasting have fallen on deaf ears for the last decade and now America will be judged for her sin. You see when God turns you over to your sin, that really is the worst judgment there is. All we can do now is weep for the lost and pray for those who are blinded.
Ill. An old tale says that one day Satan sent some of his minions from the bottomless pit for the purpose of doing all the harm they could to Christians. On their return one of the demon generals reported that he sunk a ship full of Christians caught in a storm on the sea. “You did them no harm.” said Satan “for they all went straight to heaven.” Another had set fire to property and destroyed much wealth that belonged to Christians. “You done them no harm.” he said “for their losses make them all the more determined to fight against us.” Finally one reported that he had succeeded in putting to sleep a large number of Christians. Then Satan smiled, and all the host of devils shouted their approval.
This old legend has in it the awful truth that nothing can do the cause of Christ more harm than for His people to go to sleep. The worship band, 'Casting Crowns' sings a song about adultery called “Slow fade” and in it they say “people never crumble in a day. Its a slow fade.” America has committed spiritual adultery on God. It didn't happen over night, it was a slow fade from their first love.
Year after year, while we were sleeping; the enemy offered one small sin after another and when preachers roared against it from the pulpit, many rolled their eyes in the pew. When the church sleeps, what we call sin in the present, will be called a 'right' in the future. One sin piles on top of another until we are at a place where our freedoms, our rights, and our spiritual hunger are lost. And now we are living in an nation that has made prayer, speech, & worship in public illegal and have made drugs, abortion and now homosexuality legal. How could this happen? How could such a drastic change happen so quickly. It didn't. I read this week about an actor that revealed that T.V. Producers know when the public is “ready” for something (homosexuality) so they have to take 'small baby steps' toward that end. Incrementally the enemy smuggles in “small sins” until we accept it without a struggle. The church has been asleep for many years and now we are paying the consequences.
Transition: Starting today, and in no particular order, I am going preach a series of sermons on the 7 churches of Revelation. We will begin with Sardis. Some refer to the church of Sardis as the “zombie church” or “the church of the Walking Dead”. It's an apt description. Sardis was filled with the dead, had a remnant of the dying, and possessed a few that would never die.
I. Sardis was filled with the dead (Rev. 3:1)
Jesus introduces himself differently to every church. And to Sardis, He introduces himself in verse 1 as “him who holds the seven spirits and the seven stars.” He holds the Holy Spirit and all his various powers and faculties. Seven is the number of perfection, The Holy Spirit is perfect and infinite. He holds the seven stars or pastors who are sent to the seven churches to be a light to them and to guide them in godly truth. He has the authority, and all those who receive his word should heed it! How many sermons are heard but never heeded, listened to but never lived out?!
Then he says “I know your deeds you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.”
He says “I know your deeds . .” Christ is omniscient and knows our works. Christ sees what others do not, because he sees behind our works into our hearts. Samuel thought Jesse's son Eliab looked the part of a king but the Lord said “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord odes not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” -I Samuel 16:7 He knows when are intentions are good or when they are evil. He knows what motivates our deeds, and for what purpose we aspire to do them.
Then Jesus said “. . . you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.” This church had a beautiful appearance, and it had a great name. It had a grand title and a noble & honorable reputation. There was unity, decency, and order. Just because a church has a beautiful steeple, the best organ music, a fifty member choir with pressed robes, and like a well oiled machine the service runs smoothly week after week, doesn't mean that God is impressed with it. What impresses men does not impress God. Man may look at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart.
Among men, Sardis was enviable. After all, who wouldn't want to be a part of a church known for its faith? Who wouldn't want to participate in a church that had a reputation of diligence, and holiness?
But Christ can see what men can not. It seems that the majority of the members were proud of their religious motions, as if their pious actions alone, were represented by their hearts. They were happy to say they attended a church with a great reputation and a great name. How many people make this mistake: Someone asks, “What church do you attend?” A man says, “I proudly attend the church “with a great name!” And while their attendance is impeccable, they couldn't tell you two things that got from the sermon. They were just content to say “This morning, I went to the church with a great name.”
There was a beautiful building that was missing its support beams and was rotting away behind the walls, termites had eaten through much of the wood. And yet no one, except an inspector, could tell it. He was as puzzled as he was amazed that the structure hadn't fallen and asked aloud “How does it still stand?” A passerby not realizing his own wisdom said “out of habit”
Spiritually speaking, Sardis was like that building, they had a beautiful appearance, but were only holding up out of habit. Like the headless chicken in the barnyard, he makes a show of being alive but is only running around out of habit.
Jesus describes Sardis much like he described the Pharisees who were like white-washed tombs with dead men's bones. A beautiful and honorable tomb but hiding inside was nothing but a rotting, worm infested DEAD carcass. Sardis was known for their faith being “alive”, but without suitable works, were dead.
“outwardly splendid as of old,
Inwardly lifeless, dead and cold.
Her force and fire all spent and gone
Like the dead moon, she still shines on.”
(Author unknown)
Those who only make a show of faith are dead and they are not coming alive by preaching, teaching, or any thing else. Only Christ can resurrect the dead. So our only hope for the spiritually dead is prayer.
Transition: Sardis was filled with many that appeared alive but were dead, but they also had a remnant that was not dead yet, even though they were well on their way to being so.
II. Sardis had a remnant that was dying (Rev. 3:2,3)
“Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the eyes of God.”
He says to “Wake Up! strengthen what remains”. What good does it do to strengthen the dead? They're dead! But there was still hope for some who kept their integrity and faith but they were spiritually asleep and in danger of spiritual death, if they did not wake up! Sardis had some that had hollow 'hallelujahs', empty emotionalism and their prayers were external only – that is what they were suppose to do so they did it. Some sing because they are suppose to. Some pray because it is the right thing to do. Some give because it is good to give. Sardis had some sleeping members who did all these things but they did them for the wrong reason. They did them out of obligation but never out of desire. There was no life in them! They were a body without a spirit!
The warning is given to “wake up!” Some translations say “Be watchful” During war a watchman or sentinel was sent to stay awake throughout the night to look out for the enemy approaching and then alert the others when he saw danger.
According the uniform code of Military justice article 113 “Any sentinel or look-out who is found drunk or sleeping upon his post . . . shall be punished, if the offense is committed in a time of war, by death . .” We know this to be the case with other ancient armies. There is no stronger encouragement to stay awake , than to know the guy you are replacing was put to death for falling asleep.
We are to be watchmen or sentinels over our own souls and over the souls we are responsible for. Whether they are in our family, our church, our own ministry, etc.
Ezekiel warns the watchmen “But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and does not sound the alarm to warn the people he is responsible for their captivity. They will die in their sins, but I will hold the watchman responsible for their deaths.” -Ezekiel 33:6
There is real danger in falling asleep when you should be watching out for your soul. America like Samson has enjoyed God's supernatural strength, but like him we have been lulled asleep on the devil's lap. Samson was sleeping with the enemy turning to sin instead of trusting in God. Delilah kept up her persistent nagging until Samson couldn't take it any longer and gave away the secret to his strength. This is a key strategy of the devil. Daniel 7:25 reveals that the devil “wearies the saints.” His persistent oppression vexes our souls to death. He would have you believe that resistance is futile. He wants to dispirit you and make you believe that all is lost and there is nothing you can do about it. That's a lie. Greater is he who is within me than he that is in the world, we know that with God ALL things are possible, even changing the tides of dissipation. Isaiah said “when the devil comes in like a flood the spirit of the Lord shall rise up a standard against him.” Isa. 59:19
It's amazing how the spiritual effects the physical. Samson had his eyes gouged out. He was blinded by sin both spiritually and physically. One leads to the other. If we don't wake up and turn back to God
and strengthen those around us and strengthen what little life we have in us, America will go the way of Samson and Sardis. A great name and a superpower in name only but lulled to sleep in apathy by the enemy.
The sleeping church of Sardis was given a reminder in the next verse: “Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.” -Rev. 3:3
This was the last warning – And the Lord was gracious to give it! Those things that don't convict us to Heaven, ripen us for Hell. He said “Obey and Repent”. And if they don't, He promises to come not as a friend to bless them but like a thief to rob and destroy them. You may look around one day and with amazement ask what happened? A thief came in subtly and quickly and suddenly valued items gone. We may look around and wonder where did the blessing go? The power go? Where did our greatness go?
The French man Alexis de Toqueville after visiting America said:
“I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors . . ; in her fertile fields and boundless forests; in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her public school systems and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power.
America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”
If Samson had never turned to harlotry, he never would've fallen asleep in the lap of the enemy.
Transition: Sardis was filled with the dead, had a remnant of the dying, and a few that will never die.
III. Sardis had a few that will never die (Rev. 3:4-6)
“Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me dressed in white for they are worthy.”
The unsoiled few were fewer than the sleeping remnant. How narrow is the road that leads to life? Jesus said that “few” find it. It is available to all but only a small number find it. And even among the dead masses that attended church service in Sardis, there are still a few true Christians there that held to godly doctrine. They were disciplined, upright, and the opposite of those around them, these few carried Christ in their daily lives and in their daily conversations. While many around them only had a “form of godliness” these few had the “power thereof”
Christ gives some comfort and proves that amongst the herd of goats, there are a few sheep. In some very liberal states, there are some devout saints, that are just as disgusted with their hedonistic surroundings as those from the Bible belt. Even though difficult the lukewarm are more likely to join the cold than to join the hot, but they can still overcome. Jesus ends his word to them by saying:
“He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” - Rev. 3:5,6
Sardis was said to have been the first city converted by John's preaching, and some say the first that revolted from Christianity. But there is still hope for them. If those sleeping Sardians will wake up before the enemy is upon them and overcome his lullabies and run to God, then they will join the few that will be dressed in white and will never have their name blotted out of the book of life.
Conclusion: we are living in perilous but glorious times. The great and dreadful day of the Lord is coming soon! Are you ready? If not, then repent! Will you be one of the few people who have not soiled their clothes? Will you be the over-comer dressed in white? Will your name be written in the book of life? Will you be among the most privileged that will be acknowledged before the Father and his angels.
We all must die. Our time on earth is shorter than a vapor that appears briefly and then disappears. It may be shorter than we realize. Can you remember what your great grandfather did? Where he was born? Do you know his life story? Do you think your great grandchildren will remember you? Probably not. It doesn't matter who you know or how much you had or how old you are. Charles Spurgeon said “Six feet of dirt makes all men equal.”
The worm in the carcass that lies in the casket doesn't care who you are, what you did, or what you were known for. The one thing that does matter is your relationship with Jesus Christ. Pray with me for Christ to raise those who are dead and to wake those who are asleep.
