THE REVELATION OF JESUS
SARDIS - THE DEAD CHURCH
Revelation 3: 1-6
Warner Sallman was a gifted American artist and illustrator. During WWII his popular and sympathetic Head of Christ inspired and comforted millions. More that 500 million copies of his portrait have been printed.
Among his other representations of Christ is a painting of Christ at the Door. This is Sallman’s rendering of Revelation 3:20, Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
The symbolism of this painting is powerful. Jesus is standing patiently at the door, just about to knock. The door itself, unlike any real door, has no outside latch. Sallman understood our verse to be speaking of Jesus’ knocking at the door of an individuals’s life, only to be opened from the inside.
These seven letters to the churches contain much to encourage the faithful, but five of the congregations have members that are ordered to repent. This painting that is based on Christ’s call to the Laodicea church should make us stop and think. Is Jesus knocking at the door of Neighborhood Church? Is He knocking at your door?
Sardis was about thirty miles south of Thyatira, at the foot of Mount Tmolus that rose about 1,500 feet above the valley of the Hermus River. The Turkish town of Sart now occupies the site.
Sardis had been a great city. Seven hundred years before this letter was written Sardis had been one of the greatest cities in the world. It was the capital of the kingdom of Lydia. It’s wealth was legendary, even the river that flowed through the city was said to be lined with gold.
Croesus was the most famous sardian king. He built the city to the point that no one thought it was vulnerable. In 546 BC Cyrus, king of Persia, laid siege to the city and captured it. His men had watched one of the Sardian guards come down and pick up the helmet he had dropped. That night Cyrus’ men went in through the breach in the wall and found no one on watch.
Three centuries later, the army of Antiochus III used the same tactic to conquer the city and again no one was on watch.
Recent excavations have unveiled much information about the city. They found an ancient Christian church building next to the temple to Artemis as well as the largest synagogue ever found with seating for 1,000 people.
I read this past week that the light from the polar star takes thirty three years to reach the earth. That star could have died thirty years ago and it’s light would still be pouring down on earth.
It would be shining tonight as if nothing had happened, living off the light of it’s past. That’s the story of Sardis.
Characteristic vs 1a
Jesus declares to the church in Sardis that He holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. From our study of the vision in Chapter 1 the seven spirits is simply another designation for the Holy Spirit. It makes reference to Isaiah 11: 2-5. The seven stars are the seven pastors of the churches.
The lifeless church in Sardis desperately needs the life giving power of the Holy Spirit. What could be more exciting than for the Lord to bring his hands together so that the pastors are overflowing with the Holy Spirit!
Compliment
NONE! There are those in the church that have remained, but the church is not complimented at all. Also, notice the lack of persecution.
The only other church not to receive a compliment is the last church, the one at Laodicea.
Criticism vs 1b
The complaint Jesus lodges against this church is that its reputation is faulty. Evidently, others regarded the church at Sardis as a lively church. This church had gained a reputation for being an outstanding church, but it had lost its spiritual punch. Jesus knows differently. The church is spiritually dead.
A corpse may look good, but it is dead!
In our terms, the church was filled with nominal Christians.
Many churches love to be fashionable. They fear to take a stand that would cast them as odd. They want respectability over all. Sad!
Churches can be full of ministries and activity having a reputation as spiritual giants, while at the same time being spiritually dead.
i.e. Harvard & Princeton stated out as Bible Schools. What do we hear from the men and women that graduate from these school? Is there spiritual power there? How about our own church?
Command vs 2-4
The urgent command Christ gives lies in the five verbs he uses, wake up.....strengthen.....remember..... obey ..... repent.
Wake up! Jesus wants the church to be vigilant about spiritual death among Christians. Apathy, laziness and indifference results in spiritual death. Believers need to stay awake.
Foreign armies had captured the city of Sardis twice in it history because of its failure to watch. These believers now have an opportunity to avoid a parallel spiritual destiny.
Strengthen The churches’ deeds appeared wonderful to those on the outside, but they were not complete in the sight of ... God. Jesus does not accuse them of heresy, but neither had they offended the Romans or unbelieving Jews. They were not being persecuted, but they had offended God by emphasizing formality over reality.
Remember Part of the remedy was for this church to remember its glorious past, when it had been spiritually alive. When the believers at Sardis were first converted, they had received something important. Not only had they received salvation, but life in the Holy Spirit. They had forgotten to obey the Spirit’s prompting and the command to be filled with the Spirit. Ephesians 5:18
Repent Jesus had threatened to judge the unloving Ephesian church by removing its lampstand if they did not repent. He promised to judge the heretical teachers in Pergamum by fighting with his sword against them if they did not repent.
Now he threatens to judge the lifeless church of Sardis by coming against them like a thief at an unexpected time. Spiritual deadness gives people a false sense of security.
Thieves come when we do not expect them. They don’t call ahead and make an appointment. In the same way Jesus will come unexpectedly and believers out of fellowship will be totally unprepared.
Repentance is more than just turning around, it is coming to God with a submissive heart. Repentance is more that emotion, it is a change of attitude. Repentance is more than fire insurance, it is the transformation of one’s life.
Now, is it possible for a dead orthodox church to change?
In the case of Sardis, the answer is yes, because a few people had remained faithful. They had not soiled their clothes. How? By not assuming that the appearance of religion was a substitute for the real thing.
Jesus does not ask these faithful to leave the nominal majority, but to maintain their presence as a witness. They will have a difficult time doing it, but He commends them as worthy of special praise.
These believers will appear dressed in white one day, revealed as truly righteous. Their righteousness was based on Christ’s death for them, which resulted in righteous living.
Commitment vs 5-6
The overcomers of all ages and of all the churches will be dressed in white, just as the few faithful believers from Sardis.
The reference to God having a book goes all the way back to Moses’ time (Exodus 32: 33) when God said to Moses, ... whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book.
In this verse Jesus makes his commitment to the overcomers with a negative and positive promise. First, their names will never (negative) be blotted from the book of life.
Second, their names will be acknowledged before my Father and his angels. Both of these references speak of eternal life.
In ancient cities the names of the citizens were recorded in a register until their death. Then their names were erased or marked out of the book of the living. A person’s name could be removed from the city register before death if they were convicted of a crime.
In the first century, Christians were under constant threat of being branded political and social rebels and therefore stripped of their citizenship.
Christ offers them an eternal, safe citizenship in his everlasting kingdom if they remain loyal to him.
Overcomers demonstrate their righteousness in this life by confessing Christ faithfully before a hostile world through the help of the Holy Spirit. For these Jesus has promised that whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. Luke 12:8
I conclude tonight asking what would Jesus say to the Neighborhood Church tonight?
