"Wake Up And Live!" (Sardis) Series

"Wake Up and Live!" Revelation 3:1-6, Sardis-The letters to the 7 Churches

Pastor Bob Leroe, Cliftondale Congregational Church, Saugus, Massachusetts

Many times during my Army career my sleep was disrupted by a phone call informing me that my unit was having an alert, otherwise known as an Emergency Deployment Readiness Exercise. I had to drag myself out of bed, put on my combat gear and report to the company HQ. In these letters to the 7 churches Christ is calling us to be on high alert status. In chapter 3 we read His rousing call to the slumbering saints of Sardis.

The city of Sardis was located 50 miles east of Ephesus and 30 miles south of Thyatira, overlooking the plain of Hermuz and situated at the foot of Mount Tmolus. Excavations of the city have unearthed a Roman theater, stadium, and a large but unfinished temple to Cybele, a fertility goddess and the patron deity of the city. The most prominent section of the city was the necropolis, or cemetery "of a thousand hills", just outside the city and so-named because of the large number of burial mounds visible from the city walls. The citizens of Sardis were preoccupied with death.

Sardis was the ancient capital of Lydia (13th Century BC); in 546 BC it fell captive to Cyrus and became the seat of the Persian governor. In 133 BC the city fell to Rome. Sardis was a prosperous center of trade and industry. The art of dyeing wool was invented and perfected by Sardis merchants.

Very little is know about the Christian congregation of Sardis. Melito, a 2nd Century pastor of the church of Sardis wrote the first known commentatary on the book of Revelation.

In verse 1 Christ describes Himself as the One "who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars." The 7 stars are identified in 1:20 as the angels or messengers of the 7 churches, and most scholars interpret this to mean their pastors. The 7 spirits perhaps represent the Holy Spirit (7 in the Bible is the number of perfection). Isaiah describes the character of the Spirit as having many qualities (11:2).

Our Lord writes to a congregation which had lost its vitality and was a corpse instead of a living church. Nearly all that remained was a mere façade. The church had become a spiritual graveyard. How does a church die? They believed in God, but weren’t actively living out their faith. They were content with mediocrity. They weren’t making an impact in the community. The church at Sardis is a perfect model of inoffensive, complacent, nominal Christianity.

The pagan goddess Cybele was believed to have the power to raise the dead. The Risen Christ writes to those who claim to have been raised from spiritual death to life; yet in reality, their appearance didn’t match their true condition. It’s possible to profess Christ but not possess Him; genuine faith results in an active Christian lifestyle. Our Lord’s rebuke is similar to one recorded by Isaiah: "This people say they are Mine; they honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me" (29:13).

We may talk the talk but we’ve gotta walk the walk. A hypocrite has been described as "someone who’s not himself on Sunday"! The word comes from the name of the Greek actor Hypocrites. Hypocrisy is make-believe, pantomime. We see hypocrisy in a recent poll-75% of Americans think it is important for people to read the Bible, but only 13% actually read the Bible daily.

The rebuke continues in verse 2. Jesus tells the church to wake up and live! The life of this church was hanging by a thread. Like the unfinished temple of Cybele, their works fell short of completion. Before God their efforts hadn’t measured up.

The city of Sardis stood atop huge rock walls like a watchtower overlooking the Hermuz valley, yet despite its strong natural defenses the city fell to invading armies 3 times in its history. The most notable defeat came by the Persian conqueror Cyrus. He offered a reward to the first one who was able to climb the seemingly impregnable city wall. A watchful soldier observed a city guard accidentally drop his helmet over the battlements. Thinking that no one was watching, the guard climbed down the precipice to retrieve his helmet and carried it back. Natural decay of the cliff enabled the guard to climb down the cracks in the rock and return. The watchful Persian soldier that night scaled the rocky cliff unhindered, followed by a large number of his fellow troops. When they reached the top they discovered the battlements were completely unguarded. They moved with the element of surprise and quickly penetrated the city’s defense. The erosion of the wall and the un-watchfulness of the city’s guards undermined the defense of Sardis and it swiftly fell to the Persian invaders.