Sardis: The Church of the Dead
Revelation 3:1-6, "Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: "I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive--but you are dead. 2Now wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is at the point of death. Your deeds are far from right in the sight of God. 3Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly and turn to me again. Unless you do, I will come upon you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief. 4"Yet even in Sardis there are some who have not soiled their garments with evil deeds. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine. 6Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers.
Thirty miles southeast of Thyatira in Asia Minor lay Sardis. Sardis was well known for many reasons. This city was well known because it was a crossroads to five of the major trade cities in Asia Minor. This crossroads connected it northwest to Thyatira, and Pergamos; west to Smyrna fifty-four miles; east to Phrygia; southeast to Philadelphia, and finally southwest to Ephesus. Sardis was also known for its wealth as a result of its commercial trade. Sardis was a center for the woolen industry. The people of Phrygia also known for being great sheep-masters would bring their goods along with their costly dyes to the markets of Sardis.
It is in this wealthy environment that the Christians lived with the appearance of godliness, but in truth there hearts were far more content on what they could achieve. True peace shows itself on the outside; the direct response to the decisions that we make on an everyday basis, and even more showing where our heart lies thus revealing our relationship to God to a watching world. The Gospel of Christ is all about transformation from peace being on the outside; to peace being on the inside. This is the message that Christ addressed to the Christians of Sardis to move from peace on the outside, which was caused by Sardis being a rich city to having peace on the inside. The peace of Christ is not a mere exercise; it is the fruit from, which obedience is bred into the depths of our character; affecting every area of our lives; yes, even our decisions.
Vs.1, “"Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: "I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive--but you are dead.
“Sevenfold Spirit of God”
It is significant but for any reason that the number seven is used here in these verses; if not because seven in the Bible is the sign for completeness, but the Apostle John identifies the fullness of the Holy Spirit through the number seven. Isaiah 11:2 gives reference to this. Isaiah 11:2 says, “And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him- -the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.” Zechariah 4:1- 10 also gives reference to this the seven-fold spirit of God. Zechariah 4:1-10 says, “Then the angel who had been talking with me returned and woke me, as though I had been asleep. "What do you see now?" he asked. I answered, "I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl of oil on top of it. Around the bowl are seven lamps, each one having seven spouts with wicks. And I see two olive trees, one on each side of the bowl." Then I asked the angel, "What are these, my lord? What do they mean?""Don’t you know?" the angel asked. "No, my lord," I replied. Then he said to me, "This is what the LORD says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD Almighty. Nothing, not even a mighty mountain, will stand in Zerubbabel’s way; it will flatten out before him! Then Zerubbabel will set the final stone of the Temple in place, and the people will shout: `May God bless it! May God bless it!’ "Then another message came to me from the LORD: "Zerubbabel is the one who laid the foundation of this Temple, and he will complete it. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me. Do not despise these small beginnings, for the LORD rejoices to see the work begin, to see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand. For these seven lamps represent the eyes of the LORD that search all around the world."
These two verses serve to explain a plausible solution to the meaning of the seven-fold spirit of God. The characteristic shown of Christ as the seven-fold Spirit of god is that of a righteous judge of the wicked.
“Seven Stars”
This is significant for many reasons, but especially because all of the towns of Asia Minor, now of which lay in Modern day Turkey, were all connected in some way to Sardis. The seven stars is a reference to the seven pastors, or bishops of the seven churches listed here in Revelation. This was a reference to the pastor’s having the ability, authority, and responsibility not to any man, but to Christ alone. Pastor’s are responsible to no man, but only to Jesus Christ. As my dad always tells me, “David look up for your answers; from the Father, for He will give you the answers you seek; as you seek Him.” “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive-but you are dead.”
Our performance for God ought not to be the overriding factor in our Christian life. Steady obedience in the Christian life is the end result of consistently being in His Word. Often in Christian circles; leaders tell us that we must “do” more in order to be “more” effective for the Kingdom of God. This is not true. True biblical effectiveness is the direct result of our relationship with Christ, and its fruit is shown in our ministries.
The Christians in Sardis were well known; just as the Christians in America are well known, but it matters little to Christ about our fame, or prestige; the only thing He cares about is our hearts and us dying to ourselves so that He might be glorified through our lives. True greatness focuses not on what it has achieved, but on what fruit has been born in others as a result of the greatness it has achieved. This is why the Christians at Sardis were rebuked, because while their deeds may have been great; it was their spiritual vitality that was not. This is really the by product of not being in the Word of God, of not letting Him who is like a river that flows down many vales with great speed allowing Him to pour out His love into the inner recesses of our hearts. When this doesn’t happen we have lost the wonder that we have once had at first; the joy of being in Christ, the wonder of the adventure, which Christ has given to us that our souls like the water we drink when we are thirsty would satisfy the depths of our souls; as the water we drink satisfies the desires of our physical thirst so His Word ought to satisfy the spiritual thirst of our souls. Vs.2, “Now wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is at the point of death. Your deeds are far from right in the sight of God.”
The reason for Christ’s counsel is the same as we have already outlined in Vs.1. The direct result of not being in Christ affects every part of our lives, and leaves us dry instead of with a continual taste of drinking in Christ. As a result of this therefore, we are to strengthen what remains of our faith; though often times we may fall, or seem to fall away from Christ; it is He who stands beside the great rivers of our lives awaiting us to return to Him. Yes and even when we fall; His power is made manifest through our greatest weakness. Vs.3, “Go back to what you heart and believed at first; hold to it firmly and turn to me again. I will come upon you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.”
The very language of this verse is the strongest that we have thus seen Christ use. The language of going back to what we first believed indicates that we ought to repent of being performance driven and instead be grace driven. It is, because of His Death on the Cross- that we are now able to have life in Christ. This is what Christians not only in Sardis, but every Christian who falls must return not to the “meat” but to the “milk”. In fact it is not the “meat”, or the “milk” that matters; it is only the Cross-that our eyes ought to linger on and that our minds ought to be attuned too. “Unless you do, I will come upon you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.”
This is not a reference to the Second Coming of Christ. It is; however, a warning as we have seen already that if we shall not turn wholly towards the Cross, and embrace Him; He shall come as a thief comes when we least expect Him, and give us our due reward. Vs.4, “Yet even in Sardis there are some who have no soiled their garments with evil deeds. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.”
Morgan wrote, “In Scripture the robing of the saint is eve an expression of the saint’s own service and character. In the description of the white-robed multitude in Revelation, it is said that their white robes are the righteousness of the saints-not the righteousness of God, but the righteousness of the saints. This is to say that fidelity of character and of service shall presently have its outward manifestation.” Jon Walvoord in Revelation of Jesus Christ echoes this past quote with far greater brilliance than I ever could. He writes, “The thought seems to be that the righteousness of the saints bestowed in the form of a garment is a token of their acceptability to God and the divine recognition of their office and ministry as the priests of God. They have not defiled their garments as others have done in Sardis, and now they are promised that in the future they will have the heavenly white garment and will walk with Christ, because they are judged as worthy.”
Vs.5,”All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.”
William Barclay said in his letters to the seven churches, “The Risen Christ is saying that if we wish to remain on the roll of the citizens of god, we must keep our faith flamingly alive.”
The idea of this verse is to those who keep passionately pursuing Christ not only in the times where it is merely convient, but even more in those were it is not. It is in the valleys of despair that our faith is made as bright as the sun. To God there is no greater thing than for us to be in the valley, for it is there that we discover Him through all of life’s nuances, and are able to light the fire deeply within our hearts, and commit deeply to obey; to give Him that, which He desires a consistent obedience to Him. That is what fans the flames of a Christian who is walking with consistency before the Lord; the embers of obedience spawn the greatest fires of a soul that is deeply committed to the life of being in radical obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, because of His Death on the Cross. This very act in us ought to spawn a great commitment to obedience not merely outward either, but to inward obedience; to be transformed by the Word of God. It is this obedience to Christ that will keep us in Him thus enabling our names to be announced before the Father, and the angels.
Vs.6, “Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches.” As always this is a call to listen to the Spirit and to be still before God that we might understand what He wants done with our lives as well as our churches.
If this sermon touched you in some way or you felt a stirring in your heart that was the Holy Spirit trying to get your attention. Don’t let your soul be unattended too. God has called us to live our of our hearts. He speaks to our hearts, and stirrs them up when He speaks to us. If you felt that stirring and would like to ask that Lord Jesus Christ into your life all you have to do is confess your sins to Him, repent of them, and ask Him to come into your life as Lord over every area of your life and as Savior to cover for those sins.
God bless,
Pastor David
