The Letter to Sardis
Revelation 3:1-6
Michael H. Koplitz
The letter to the church at Sardis is a straightforward letter with very little symbolism. The one who holds the seven stars is Jesus Christ. We have read about this symbolism in earlier letters. The reference that is made to those who will be dressed in white is symbolic of the righteous who will be going to heaven on the Day of Judgment.
Jesus makes a direct statement that He knows the church's deeds, but He says that they aren’t complete. What this means is that what the church is doing does not honor God. To honor God indeed means that everything the church does must glorify and proclaim God’s love and grace as proclaimed in the Gospels. The church needs to be evangelical in all that we do. Today’s churches must examine everything that we do in the name of Christ to determine whether we are truly evangelical, thus proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ. Those deeds of the church which aren’t in line with Christ’s Words must be changed or dropped.
This letter raises another contention that will, unfortunately, bring some heartburn to some. That issue concerns the statement “once saved, always saved.” In the Wesleyan Methodist tradition, our doctrine does not hold onto this statement. In his writings, John Wesley was quite clear that he believed that one could lose his or her salvation due to what he called “backsliding.” This means that once you proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you must also commit yourself to live a new life. We die to our old ways of sin and are reborn into a righteous way of life in Christ.
This doesn’t mean that we won’t make mistakes. This doesn’t mean that we won’t stumble. It does mean that we don’t intentionally violate God’s Laws and Commandments. When we fall, we pick ourselves up with prayer and repentance. When we fail to follow all of God’s Laws as described in the Holy Scriptures, then we are backsliding, and we can lose our salvation.
In this letter to the church at Sardis we find biblical proof for a Wesleyan position on salvation. If your name is not written in the book of life by Jesus, then Jesus will not be standing with you on the Day of Judgment. Instead, Jesus will be your prosecutor. This is certainly something that we don’t want to happen! Jesus says that those who are dressed in white, clothed in the righteousness of baptism covered by the blood of the Savior, will not be removed from the book of life as long as they live by the manual of life, the Bible.
None of us can wait until judgment day to decide to follow Christ. The decision must be made now. If we wait until the end of our days, then it will be too late. This letter tells us that we will be judged individually for our actions, and it will be Jesus who will either be for or against us. Remember that to keep our names in the book of life, we must follow the manual of life.
