Grace Community Church
Winchester, VA
www.gracecommunity.com
View this sermon at https://youtu.be/3TRIaa_CqZQ
Introduction
We are now looking at the 5 of 7 Churches addressed to by Jesus himself in the Book of Revelation. These churches were located in the Roman Province of Asia Minor, which is modern-day Turkey. They were 7 real churches, filled with 7 real congregations living in a pagan culture.
When I say ‘pagan culture,’ I mean worldly and apart from God. They had plenty of gods, but in the Roman world, as it is common today, the ultimate deification is the god of ‘self.’ Worshiping other gods was for self-pleasure, prosperity, and veneration of one’s own life. The pagan culture is about a person’s desires, a person’s lusts, and what is most satisfying.
The Christian life; the life of a true believer is just the opposite. We honor others before ourselves. We worship Christ for his glory. The world says, live for your wants and greeds; Christ said to deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow him.
When the church begins to change the central message of the gospel, it begins to die. In the church world, we call that decline. Churches decline because they become tolerant of sin. They try to make themselves likable to the world apart from the gospel. So there is a compromise on the authority of scripture, areas of sin, and worldliness. The first step in revival or revitalization is to return the church back to biblical teaching.
Now we come to the church in Sardis of Revelation 3:1-6: “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.’
A light-year is the distance light goes in a year, moving at 186,000 miles a second. I was reading about one particular star that astronomers estimate is 33 years away from earth. It would take 33 years for that light to reach earth. That star could have burned out into darkness 25 years ago and died. But the light would still be reaching the earth. It would be shining in the sky as brightly as if the star was still alive, but in reality it was dead. (MacArthur)
The church at Sardis is something like that. It was dead, but it was still shining by the light of a brilliant past. It was a dead church. That is the worst thing that could ever be said about a church: it’s dead. The church is to be a place of life. It is a place where God lives, where Christ lives, where the Holy Spirit lives, and where believers are alive. So how can a church be alive but dead?
Let me also say this to our church before I get into this message: The week I started here at GCC, there was an article in the Brethren Evangelist entitled, “We were at death’s door.” That’s important for us to keep in mind as we move into this. There are similarities to Sardis here at GCC. That was 4 years ago. It takes anywhere from 5-15 years for a church to revive after being in a place where we were before I came. So we need to be careful about mistaking the light from the past as something that is pertinent to today.
We can’t live in the past, but we can’t forget about it either. It’s like someone who was on a ventilator and is revived. There were things this church had to do during critical years to stay alive that we don’t do any longer. You don’t stay on the ventilator because it kept us alive. We have a new lease on life and we should turn to build our lives on health, not the destructive patterns of the past. There are 5 instructions Jesus gives to the church in Sardis that we should pay attention to because this message is for us as well.
Sardis is the first church among the tares. You could say that the congregation in Sardis was the very reverse of the congregation in Smyrna. Smyrna was being put to death and yet lived. Sardis appeared to be alive; it was dead. A dead church living a fake life.
The City of Sardis
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis” (Rev 3:1). We don’t know much about the city of Sardis and we know even less about the church. But it was a real city with a real church with a real congregation. Jesus knew well the history of the church and the city. The city is was wealthy and very well located. It was the ancient capital of Lydia going back to 1200 BC. It is said that the city was rich in gold and silver. There was a river there where plenty of gold was mined and it is believed that Sardis was the first to mind gold coins for money. It was also the center for wool and dying fabric.
It was conquered in 549 BC by the Persians and then again in 195 BC by the Greeks. After an earthquake hit it in 17 AD, Tiberias Caesar rebuilt the city. Today if you go there, it is nothing but a pile of rubble.
Revelation Chapter 13: How to Revive a Dead Church (Revelation 3:1–6)
Sardis was the story of a city famed for wealth and power that lost both. Among its features was a necropolis known as “the city of a thousand hills,” so named because of the burial grounds that marked its skyline. Jesus picks up on this history in rebuking the church of Sardis in Revelation 3:1: “You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” Just as Sardis’s famous cemetery had a thousand hills, Jesus reminds us that “a church can have a thousand (or more) members and still be as dead as the inhabitants of a cemetery.”
There was a pastor there that is recorded in church history by the name of Melito. It said that he wrote the first commentary on the Book of Revelation. There’s no mention of persecution against this church, although there might have been some; there must have been some. There’s no mention of bad theology. There’s no mention of any false teachers. There’s no mention of any compromise with the world. There’s no mention of any sin. But the church must have imbibed all of that because it was dead – no spiritual life. It was alive physically and organizationally, but dead spiritually.
Jesus’ Commendation to Sardis
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. (Rev 3:1)
The title Jesus uses to address the church is “Seven Spirits of God and the seven stars.” This may be a reference to the various characteristics of the Holy Spirit found in Isaiah chapter 11: The spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Wisdom, the Spirit of Counsel and Might, the Spirit of Strength and Knowledge, The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord or Worship. This is the fullness of the Spirit. It may also refer to Jesus’s authority over the seven churches he is writing to in these letters. It speaks of the unity of the God-head.
Jesus’s authority comes through: “I know you’re works and your reputation.” The message here is not positive, as was in the case with Ephesus or Smyrna. This is a message that should cause some fear in the hearts of the hearers of this letter. The people of Ephesus would have heard these words and felt affirmed. The people of Sardis should see this as a revelation that they are not fooling anyone, especially Christ Jesus.
This is a church that has all the names and no reality. All the reputation of being alive, and energetic. It is in with the culture and popular. Here is a church receiving a letter from the one who has the seven spirits of God and it is without the Holy Spirit. They are self-sufficient and the work of the Holy Spirit is optional.
They’re being led by false leaders void of the Holy Spirit. The life and power of the Holy Spirit are not present. The ministry and work of the Holy Spirit are not there. There’s no godly leadership. Without the Holy Spirit and without godly leadership, in the church was dead: a church dominated by the flesh, dominated by sin, dominated by unbelief.
Ephesians 2:1. That’s where that death is defined: dead in trespasses and sins. Colossians 2:13, “Dead in transgression and the uncircumcision of your flesh.”
When it says dead, it means spiritually dead. A church with a congregation full of spiritually dead people who say they are believers is the most difficult church to lead and minister because they have little care about anything spiritual. They are concerned with tradition. They are concerned with comfort, social acceptance, tolerance of sin, material things.
Our driving force must be to proclaim the gospel. We don’t cut corners doing that. Be it with our facilities, programs, outreach, preaching, discipline, leadership. It is obvious when you walk in the door that there is nothing there spiritually. There is no hunger there for the things of God. It’s a dead religious fellowship.
Jesus’ Command to Sardis
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. (Rev 3:2-3)
The call of Jesus to Sardis is a call of revival. There are 5 things that the church in Sardis needs to do in order to come alive: Wake up, Strengthen, Remember, Do, and Repent
1. Wake up.
I think Jesus is speaking to the remnant of the believers there in Sardis. He’s throwing a bucket of cold water on the congregation. Snap out of it. Look around you and see what is going on here. Ever fallen asleep driving?
They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace. (Jer 6:14).
2. Strengthen What Remains.
Stop trying to hold onto broken dead things. Focus on discipling those who are still there and faithful. The first thing that must happen in a church for revitalization is the ministry of the Word of God must be restored. Strengthen the spiritual life that is still there. How does one become strong? Through exercise, repetition, practice, perseverance, putting aside things that impede growth.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. (Ephesians 6:10-11)
3. Remember what you have received and what you have heard.
What is this? The full Gospel and the work of salvation through Jesus Christ. Remember is used in the present tense, mean that it is something that we are to do and continue to do. The gospel is to be at the forefront of our minds always
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14:26)
4. Keep it.
Just as important as knowing and remembering is doing. Merely reading and hearing God’s Word is not enough, we must let it transform us. Once you have it, don’t go back.
Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62)
5. Repent.
Jesus calls his church to repent. A spiritually dead church or someone who is spiritually dead will not repent. There’s refusal because of a lack of humility. Yes, believers and churches need to repent often and publically.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:9-10)
This is not a casual reminder nor a gentle nudge. This is a stern warning and churches today must weigh heavily the seriousness of what Jesus is telling to churches. Despite the clear warnings written here, there are churches today that continue to mingle eastern mysticism, paganism, and satanic teachings. They deny the power of the gospel and the Holy Spirit and rely on man-made programming to entertain.
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:1-4)
False teachers like Rob Bell, Oprah, Joel Osteen, Bill Johnson, Todd White make their rounds in Christian circles while openly deny the fullness of Jesus Christ, the work of the Cross, and the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s satanic teaching. The result is the church full of people who identify themselves as Christians, but in reality they have no faith in the
Jesus’ warning to those who do not repent is grave: "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."
Whenever the Lord talks about coming like a thief, it’s in judgment. This is pretty consistent through the New Testament. In 1 Thessalonians 5:2: “You, yourself know full well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. And while they are saying, “Peace and safety!” destruction will come on them.” Despite God’s constant warnings and invitations to repent, to turn away from Satan’s lies and traps, people continue to ignore him and dismiss the gravity of the situation. Like Noah the flood will sadly catch many off-guard. Jesus is calling to the church, no less, wake up! before the judgment comes. Wake up.
Jesus’ Commitment to Sardis
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. (Rev 3:4-5)
What a promise. Despite the condition of the church, Jesus has not forgotten the few that remain who are faithful to him. There are a couple of important concepts here before we close. First the idea of garments:
Garments refer to one’s character. It identifies your righteousness. Think of it as a uniform, almost. Even in pagan worship, they were required to come in certain clothes that were clean. It was a symbol of their goodness.
When you confess Christ and receive him as Lord of your life you trade your filthy rage for linens white as snow. A reflection of your righteousness.
“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)
That’s God’s righteousness being conferred upon you. Jesus is telling the church to remain in that purity and faithful to our Lord. What a blessing it is to read of Christ’s calling true believers “worthy.” Not perfect Christians, but sincere people who earnestly live out your faith and are accepted by the Lord. Many people struggle with a sense that we are never measuring up to please the Lord. Yet throughout Revelation, we find that Jesus continually praises those who are faithful, even in Sardis the dead church.
Along with that is a promise of security to the overcomer: “I will never blot out their name from the book of life. What is the book of life? It’s a record. In ancient days, a citizen of a city or country would be recorded from a census. Your name would be erased two ways: 1.) You died 2.) You committed a capital crime against the state. You would lose your citizenship. Jesus promises that will never happen to those who are faithful. What does that mean conversely? Don’t find out.
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. (Rev 22:14)
Conclusion
6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
Do we realize how crucial it is that we not dabble in nominal Christianity? We can dazzle ourselves before man, but we’re not fooling God. Be an overcomer because in Christ you are an overcomer. Hear the message of Jesus. Jesus is saying, “Are you listening? If you are dead in trespasses and sins, wake up and repent and come to Christ. If you are saved, but sleeping and indolent and indifferent and worldly, remember and hold fast and strengthen. And if you are vibrant and alive, count your blessings and your eternal promises that await you.” (MacArthur)
I want Grace Community Church to be alive. Not an appearance before men that we are alive, but before God. Alive with the presence of God. Alive in the power of the Holy Spirit. Alive with the truth and saint who are alive eternally.
Take it to the Cross
Close
Pray
