To the Church of Sardis
In this series on the Seven Churches of Revelation, we have examined the Church in Ephesus, the Church in Smyrna the Church in Pergamum and the Church in Thyatira. Today we will look at the Church in Sardis and not only how our Church compares to it, but also how we as individual Christians compare to the Christians in Sardis.
Let’s stand as we read God’s word:
Rev 3:1-6
1 "To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.
3 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.
4 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.
5 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.
6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
(NIV)
(Prayer)
The City:
Sardis was the capital of ancient Lydia and geographical located as the junction of five main trade routes. Sardis was the first city in that part of the world that was converted by the preaching of John. It was known as a wealthy and wicked city. The citizens of Sardis lived in luxury, which led to moral decadence and decline. Sardis was also the first that revolted from Christianity, and one of the first that was laid in its ruins, in which it still lies, without any church or ministry.
The Condemnation:
Rev 3:1-3
1 "To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.
3 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.
(NIV)
Jesus holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. The seven spirits of God is the Holy Spirit that encompasses these seven churches, just has the Holy Spirit encompasses our churches today. The seven stars are the seven ministers of the seven churches of the book of Revelation.
Christ says that He knows their deeds. They have a reputation of being alive, but they are dead. We can fool people in making them think that we are really on fire for Christ, but we can’t fool Christ. Jesus knows our inner most thoughts and we can’t fool Him. Why do we try to impress others anyway? Can they save us? The One we need to impress is the One that can condemn to us to eternal suffering in hell. Going to church doesn’t save us. Doing good deeds doesn’t save us. Impressing others doesn’t save us. The only thing that can save us is to truly accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and let Him be the Lord of our life.
The church at Sardis had gained a great reputation. They appeared to be doing great works through out the city, but inwardly they were dead. Today there are many magnificent church buildings, but inside the Christians are no longer filled with the spirit. Yes they attend church most Sundays if there isn’t something better going on like a super bowl or first day of hunting season. Even some churches fill most of their pews, but can’t find people to teach Sunday school or drive the church van. Outwardly they appear to be alive, but inwardly they don’t want to get involved with church serving or witnessing.
Christ is telling the Church of Sardis to wake up and strengthen what remains before it dies. A Church doesn’t have to close and lock its doors to be dead. If the members are not serving God and the Church, then the Church and its members are spiritually dead. Christ wants us to serve. The pastor is lead by the spirit to minister and to preach the teachings of Christ to the members of the church. The members are to serve. They are to help with the day to day routine of the church and to teach classes, drive the church vans and to witness to others. Our Pastors shouldn’t have to drive the vans or play the piano. Jesus gave us the great commission to go out and teach the gospel to everyone. Are we doing that or are we waiting for the pastors to do it? Many today have become so spiritually dead that we don’t even care what is happening in our world today. We don’t care if thousands of unborn babies are murdered everyday. We don’t care if today’s children hear the gospel. We don’t care if our government forces us to accept homosexuality as an acceptable life style. We don’t care if prayer become unlawful except in churches. Just as the Christians of the Church of Sardis were spiritually dead, many of our Christians today are just as spiritually dead. Being a mature Christian means that we should be working more for Christ, teaching the new Christians in the way that Christ expect them to live. We should be doing everything that we can to help our Pastors so that they can spend more time ministering to individuals. We must listen to Christ’s warning to the Church of Sardis.
The Warning:
Rev 3:3
3 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.
(NIV)
We must always remember what God did for us in giving His Son for our sins. Jesus loves us so much that He was willing to suffer and die on that old rugged cross. All He expects in return is for us to read and hear His Holy Word and obey it and repent from our sins.
If you did something to save my life, I would be indebted to you forever. Christ saved your life. Are you indebted to Him? We should be. We should be doing everything that we can in serving Him, including working in our Church. Sometimes we give others more respect and do more for them than we do for God. I believe this is what the Church in Sardis was doing. Let’s get it right. God first and everything else second. We do not know when Christ will return, but I believe by the teaching of the signs in the Bible that it may be soon, even in our lifetime. If Christ would come tomorrow, what would He find you doing? Serving Him or serving the world?
The Commendation:
Rev 3:4
4 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.
(NIV)
Out of a very large church, Christ could only find a few people that was following His teachings and had not soiled their clothes with sin. As Christians we are not to sin. We are to repent of our sins. That means that we are to ask forgiveness for our sins, but also it means that we will turn away from our sins. We are to live a righteous life. Jesus said that these few righteous people will walk with Him dressed in white for they are worthy! Don’t you want Christ to say that about you? You may not think that you have sin in your life, but if you are not standing up against all the sin that is happening in our country today, then you are condoning the sins of others and that is a sin. Christians should live a very public Christian life so other may see the light of Christ in us and maybe they too will want to know that Jesus that you know.
The warning:
Rev 3:5-6
5 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.
6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
(NIV)
Christ is telling us if anyone overcomes their disbelief, and repent from their sins and accept Him as their Savior and Lord, then they too will be dressed in white. Jesus has promised us that He will never blot out our names from the book of life if we have truly accepted Jesus.
Sitting in a church pew every Sunday and doing good deeds doesn’t get your name in the book of life. Walking the isle doesn’t necessarily get you name in the book of life either. Being baptized with water doesn’t get your name in the book of life. We may fool others by saying that we have accepted Christ as our Savior, but God knows our hearts. He knows if we have truly accepted His Son Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. We can go through all the motions, but if our heart isn’t in the right place, our motions means nothing.
Let’s read:
Rom 10:9-15
9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-- the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,
13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
(NIV)
How can someone call on the name of the Lord if they don’t believe and how can someone believe in Christ if they haven’t heard the gospel message? Are we as Christians fulfilling the great commission of going out and spreading the word of Christ? Ask yourself when was the last time that to talked to a non-Christian about Christ. Are you obeying Christ’s teachings or are you like the Christians of the Church of Sardis and just putting on a show.
Are you here today and have never confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord? Or are you here today and have walked the isle before, but you have never really believed in your heart that Jesus is alive today and that He is your Savior and Lord? Then you have no excuse. You have heard the Gospel message today and the Holy Spirit is calling you to accept Christ as your Savior now. This is the only way that you will get your name written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Let’s read what will happen if your name is not written in the book of life. What happens if your name is not found in the book of life?
Let’s read:
Rev 20:15
15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
(NIV)
If you never accept Christ as your Savior, you name will never be written in the book of life. At the judgment, if your name is not found in the book of life, you will be thrown into the lake of fire, where you will suffer in pain for eternity with no second chance to change your situation. You are there forever. You may be thinking that if you die then it is all over. You do not feel pain, because you no longer exist. This isn’t true. Your soul and spirit is still alive and you will still feel pain in the lake of fire. It is not an accident that you are here today. God is giving you the opportunity to give your heart and life to Him. If you come and accept Christ today with your mouth and believe in your heart that He died because of your sins, your name will be written in the book of life today and you will have a one-way ticket to heaven for eternity. The angels in heaven will rejoice as will everyone here today. Come now and make your reservation for heaven in the Lamb’s book of life. Tomorrow may be too late. Come now!
