Postcards from Patmos: Dear Sardis

Transcript

JRS 8
08/14/2022
Postcards from Patmos: Dear Sardis
Revelation 3:1-6
Jesse Randolph


A few days ago I read an article that had this title, “Real Estate Resurrection: 9 Former Churches You Can Buy Right Now.” Well, as the title of the article suggests, it was all about featuring these nine physical structures located throughout the United States which used to be churches but which now are on the market. These former church buildings are now being sold at cut rates so that the buyers can turn these buildings into whatever they want. For instance there is a church building for sale in St. Paul, Minnesota, an old brick church building, and according to the article it says,”A new buyer could decide to demolish the church built in 1952 to make way for a brand new structure.” Then there is the little church building in Westernville, New York of which it is said, “Vintage items like the stained glass, repurposed beams, and a steeple with views were meticulously preserved. A finished basement adds 1,400 square feet of living space and boasts a wet bar [and a] wood-burning fireplace.” But the line that really gripped me was this, when the author of this article, obviously trying to be witty and obviously trying to be punny says this, “Some of the structures we have found have received glorious renovations. They have been transformed from houses of the holy to fascinating family homes. However, a few of these churches are in need of divine intervention and will require a savvy buyer to resurrect them. Join with us as we sing the praises of these nine spectacular properties, all blessed by their past and sure to provide abundance in the future.”

Well, not only do these words reflect atrociously bad theology, they ultimately tell such a tragic story. See, each of these empty churches, empty church buildings, tells the story, and a sad story of a church that has died. No more pastor, no more preaching, no more pulpit, no more Bible, no more members, no more attendees, no more resources, no more vitality, no more life. The stories only get sadder when we look across the pond to Europe and read stories of also former churches that have been turned into things like skate parks and bookstores and hotels and restaurants and night clubs and bars. At the risk of stating the obvious, these churches are dead, like really dead, like dead dead. But these aren't the only churches in the world that are dead today. Churches, you see, die long before their former building gets put up on the market to sell them in the real estate market, long before their building is profiled on HGTV. No, churches die long before they become skateparks or movie theaters or coffee houses. See, there are plenty of churches out there that have the lights on still and the lawn is still being mowed and the roof is still being maintained. People are still attending and a pastor is still preaching and offerings are still being made and programs are still being offered. But the church is
dead.

This morning we're going to be looking at a church, Sardis, which was such a church. It was a hollow shell, it was a spiritual graveyard, it was a religious morgue. Everything appeared to be normal from the outside and on first appearance, but in reality this was a dead church. A church that was still gathering, a church that was still collecting offerings, a church that we know from our text this morning was still checking the mail. But a church that was dead.

Let's look at our text this morning, Revelation 3:1-6. God's Word reads as follows. “To the angel of the church in Sardis write: He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says this: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ”

Now to give you a reminder of some of the context here. The words I've just read, like those contained in the other six letters, were written sometime toward the end of the first century A.D., right around the year 95. And during this time it was not easy to be a follower of Christ, no matter where you lived. See, at this point in history Christ had been rejected and crucified. His followers were being persecuted. And each of His apostles had been killed with one exception, John. As of the writing of this letter John, the last living apostle, was a very old man, an old man who was spending his 80s not visiting the grandkids, not touring the eastern seaboard in his RV and checking items off his bucket list, but rather he was spending his 80s in this unforgiving labor colony on this desolate island called Patmos, breaking rocks, toiling to the point of exhaustion with little food, little shelter, and little relief. And why? Well, for no other reason but his allegiance to Jesus Christ as Lord. And no other reason but his refusal to acknowledge anyone else, including the emperor and any other so-called god of the day as Lord. And as we've seen in this series, while John was laboring there on Patmos, laboring and sweating and toiling, it was then that he received this vision from the ascended Lord of glory, Jesus Christ, the most extensive vision of future events that has ever been given, all of which we now hold in our hands in the book we know as the book of Revelation. And in the beginning chapters of this book, specifically chapters 2 and 3, we have these seven letters, what we've called postcards, written to seven real churches in this time, that were attended by real people, real blood-bought sinners, led by real pastors who had been called to shepherd real flocks, who faced real problems and real struggles and real circumstances, not only in their communities, but right there in the church.

So far we have looked at four of those churches, all of them encapsulated in Revelation 2. We've looked at Ephesus, the church that was doctrinally orthodox but which had lost its first love. We looked at Smyrna, the dear, suffering saints in that church. We looked at Pergamum, that church that had compromised with the world by letting false teachers, namely the Nicolaitans and the Balaamites, into their midst. We looked at the Thyatirans who were tolerating false teaching and immorality in their midst, brought by that woman Jezebel, by allowing those elements to stay. The church we are looking at this morning is the fifth church, the church at Sardis. Now Sardis is a bit different than the other four churches that we've looked at up to this point. See, in the first four letters to the first four churches Jesus didn't say only good things to those bodies of believers, but He at least had something good to say to each of them. Not to the church at Sardis. About the church at Sardis, Jesus has nothing good to say and that's because Sardis was a dead church. It was a lifeless church. It appeared to have life but it was all a mirage. The church in fact was dead.

So what do we know about this church, this city, its context? Well, geographically speaking Sardis was an inland city, sitting about 50 miles northeast of Ephesus and about 35 miles south of Thyatira, which is where we were last week. So again, if we put it into this greater Lincoln context, if Ephesus were like Crete and Smyrna were like Seward and Pergamum were like Raymond and Thyatira were like Waverly, out city today, Sardis, would have been like Eagle. The city of Sardis was originally built upon this natural granite plateau. It sat high up on a ridge about 1,500 feet in elevation. It was like this gigantic, naturally fortified watchtower that was guarding the valley beneath it. And the city Sardis was built there because it was so easy to defend. You could see your enemies from all around. Historically, Sardis had a very rich and storied heritage. It was a city with a tremendous past. It had experienced great days of glory. The city was founded somewhere around the year 1,200 B.C. But it reached its height, its pinnacle of glory, around the year 600 B.C. And it reached that pinnacle under the rule of a man named Croesus. Croesus was a king. And there is an old saying back in these days you can find, that refers to being as rich as Croesus. Because Sardis was a very wealthy city. Sardis had natural gold reserves in the river surrounding it and Sardis also was very involved in the dyeing of garments and wool. So they had a dual stream of income coming in, gold and the garment industry. It was a wealthy, wealthy city, historically.

So here sits this city Sardis. It's in peak form in terms of its wealth and its industry. It's in peak form in terms of its leadership and its prestige. And it's literally sitting on this peak, this granite edifice, that protects it from invaders and intruders. But then as we lead into the years leading up to the birth of Christ we see that this city started to experience some real difficulties. See, this once proud and impenetrable city eventually found itself hit with various issues and difficulties. It was twice conquered militarily leading up to the birth of Christ, once in 549 B.C. and again in 195 B.C. And just as it was picking itself up off the ground from those military defeats, it was hit by a massive earthquake in 17 A.D. which reduced this city to rubble and required a total rebuild. See, it turns out that wars and earthquakes are pretty expensive. So Sardis was not quite the economic powerhouse it once had been. And then to make matters worse, by the time Jesus in around the year 95 A.D. addresses this church here in Sardis, like many other cities that we have covered, it had become a hotbed of false worship. First, this city was engaging in the worship of Caesar, the old emperor cult. Also, this city was engaged in the worship of Artemis, Diana. It had erected a massive temple to worship her. And third, the city was devoted to the worship of Cybelle who was a local goddess of nature who was believed to possess special power of restoring the dead to life.

And we also know that there is a church in Sardis, hence the letter that we are reading this morning, addressed to this very church. And what do we know about this church? Well, we know the church's existence primarily because of the existence of this letter. We also know from Acts 19:10 that there would have been some point in time, as the Gospel was reaching all of Asia Minor, that it eventually would have landed on and settled there in Sardis. We know of a man named Melito of Sardis who was a pastor in this city in the second century A.D. who we believe actually wrote the first commentary on this very book, the book of Revelation. Other than this, we actually have very little direct information from the scriptural account itself to build out a real complete profile of this church. There is no mention of persecution against this church, though there certainly, given the context, could have been some. There is no mention of bad theology or false teachers, though in this era there likely were some. There is no mention of any compromise with the world, though again in this climate there could have been some. And there is no mention of any sin, though certainly, because this church was comprised of sinners, there were some. But simply put, the church at Sardis (I've said it already), was the church to which Jesus had nothing good to say. He didn't have anything nice to say so He didn't say anything. As one commentator notes, this church “had become a model of inoffensive Christianity.” It added nothing to the society around it, its light was so dim that it couldn't event penetrate the darkness of the city there in Sardis. It was the church that was accomplishing nothing for the glory of God. Just as the city had declined politically, apparently the church in Sardis had declined as well. It was now in this degenerating, rotting condition. Its vitality and its power were gone. It had ceased to matter. It had had its heyday, its glory days, but those days were now gone. The church still had money in the bank but it was full of dry bones. It had full coffers but it was a religious coffin. It had history but it had no future. Nevertheless this was a church and it was a church that Jesus loved and a church that Jesus died for and a church that apparently Jesus felt the need to address.

With all of that as background let's get back into our text, Revelation 3:1, starting with the familiar line here at the head of the letter, “To the angel of the church in Sardis write.” At this point I've preached so many of these letters I think anyone of you could come up and preach the first part of this message because you are going to hear what I've said in the last few sermons, that this word “angel” here is a transliteration of the Greek word “angelo.” And that word “angelo” simply means, translating it straight across, “messenger.” And in the context of these seven letters, including this letter that Jesus is addressing to these churches, these messengers would have been those who are the leaders of the churches, what we would call the pastors of the churches. And so a fair and appropriate rendering of this opening address here at the head of verse 1 would be to say, “and to the pastor of the church in Sardis write.”

And then as He does in each of these letters, after identifying the one to whom He is writing, our Lord notes something unique about Himself, something He wants this church, and by extension us, to know. He says as we read on, “He who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars, says this.” “He,” that's Christ. Christ is the One who has the seven Spirits of God, Christ is the One who has the seven stars. And what do those terms mean? We've actually covered both terms in the sermons I've already preached here out of Revelation 1, but it would be helpful to briefly review. The seven Spirits of God harkens back to Revelation 1:4. In fact, why don't we turn our pages back to Revelation 1:4 so we can see what this means. Revelation 1:4, “John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne.” Now as I mentioned when I preached this passage several weeks ago, the plural reference here to the seven Spirits is actually a reference to the singular Holy Spirit, as in the third person of the trinity. I'm in good company, by the way, with a lot of commentators on that point. Though some commentators will use a different passage than I do to make that point, to arrive at that same conclusion. Many commentators will look at Isaiah 11:2 as being evidence that what we have here in Revelation 1:4 and Revelation 3:1, referring to the seven Spirits of God, is actually a reference to the singular Holy Spirit. But as I mentioned in the sermon I preached on July 3, 2022, a better place I believe to go to make that case exegetically would be Zechariah 4:5-6. We're not going to turn there just now in the interest of time. But I direct you to our website, ihcc.org, find sermon JRS 2. And you'll find all my reasoning for why Zechariah 4:5-6 will give you that basis for concluding that this is the Holy Spirit being referred to.

But the main idea I do want you to grab onto here this morning is that when Jesus in Revelation 3:1 here is referring to Himself as the One who has the seven Spirits of God, He is referring to the Holy Spirit. God the Son has the Holy Spirit, He possesses the Spirit, He has the fulness of the Spirit. It was the Son after all, who along with God the Father sent the Spirit. John 15: 26, Jesus there says, “When the Helper comes,” a reference to the Holy Spirit, “whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father.” Or Romans 8:9, Paul here says, “You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” See, these texts are teaching us that God the Holy Spirit proceeds from God the Father and God the Son. The Holy Spirit then proceeds from Christ. So it is right to say, as Christ does here as He addresses this church at Sardis, that He has the Holy Spirit, He has the seven spirits of God.

But next in verse 1 it says that He also has the seven stars. And that's a reference back to Revelation 1:20 which says that “the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches.” And as we've already seen, the angels of the seven churches, I would say, are the pastors of those churches. So Christ, the One who possesses the fullness of the Spirit also holds the leaders, the ministers, the pastors of these churches in His right hand.

Now, why go through all this labor and explanation? There is apparently a relationship here that the Lord is drawing between His mentioning the Holy Spirit and the pastors of this church or the pastor of this church in one breath. And what might that relationship be? Well, I think a reasonable conclusion to draw from this church and all that was going on in this church, is that starting at the very top with its leadership, they had started to look inward to themselves for power and wisdom. Rather than relying upon the Spirit of God to lead and to guide them. See, this was the church that, like many Bible churches in our day, was autonomous in the worst sense of the term, in that they were disconnected from the power of God's Spirit which He offers through the ordinary means in which He operates today. See, this was the church like many churches in our day, which had forgotten that it is the Spirit of God, Romans 8:11, who gives life to our mortal bodies. This was the church that had forgotten that it is the Spirit who is in us, 1 Corinthians 6:19. This was the church that had forgotten that it is the Spirit, Romans 8:14, who leads believers. This was the church that had forgotten that the Spirit of God produces spiritual fruit in us, Galatians 5:22-23. This was the church of God that had forgotten that it is the Spirit who distributes the gifts to members of the body of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:11. And this was the church that had forgotten that it is the Spirit of God who promotes unity within the church, Ephesians 4:3. See, the church at Sardis, as they sat under the leadership there, had apparently ignored or at least minimized the ministry of the Spirit. They no longer felt the need to pray, or to open their Bibles, or to serve, or to witness, or to engage in any of the other basic spiritual responsibilities that a Spirit-indwelt follower of Christ engages in. Now note, everyone who had trusted in Christ there in Sardis had the Spirit. But because this church was no longer truly Spirit-led it was anemic. This was a church that was sputtering, this was a church that had run out of gas, this was a church that had stalled out.

Now, I always have to come back around to make this observation and it's this, that a church, any church whether in Sardis or Lincoln, is the sum of its parts. That was true of the dead church there at Sardis. Its deadness was a reflection of the deadness of its members. And at the same time that's true of our church here as well, Indian Hills. That as a church we reflect who we all are individually as Christians. I'm guessing there might be some of you here this morning who are thinking, as he is talking about this church at Sardis, this guy is perfectly describing my own Christian life. I'm tired, I'm weary, I don't know how much longer I can go on, I'm running out of gas, I don't know if I'll be able to push across the finish line. If that describes you, I want to encourage you here this morning, I want to encourage you specifically to pursue Spirit-filled living. By that I don't mean anything crazy. I know, in Bible churches like ours, when somebody talks about being Spirit-filled or Spirit-led, the elders might rush up and tackle the preacher. Don't worry, I'm not talking about speaking in tongues, I'm not talking about prophesying, I'm not talking about looking for nor hearing an audible voice from heaven, I'm not talking about gold-glittered, Shekinah-glory clouds enveloping the pulpit. None of that. No. To pursue Spirit-filled living first of all means to know what Scripture teaches about how the Holy Spirit functions in the lives of believers today. And then it is to be committed to live in subjection to the Holy Spirit for you as He has revealed that will in His Word.

Let's start by discussing or describing some of the basics about what the Scriptures teach about how the Holy Spirit functions in the lives of believers today. We'll call this Pneumatology 101. First, the Spirit of God comes to live in you the moment that you put your faith in Jesus Christ. At that point, at the moment of conversion, you get all of God's Spirit that you are ever going to get and all of God's Spirit that you are ever going to need. At that point, the moment that you repent and believe in the Gospel, you are indwelt by the Spirit and you are sealed, Ephesians 1:13 says, “with the Holy Spirit of promise.” At that moment God gives you the Holy Spirit, 2 Corinthians 1:22 says, in your hearts as a pledge. Then after the Lord saves you, you are called to “walk by the Spirit” and “not carry out the desires of the flesh,” Galatians 5:16. Then you are called to pray in the Spirit, meaning with alertness and perseverance, Ephesians 6:18. Then you are called to “not quench the Spirit,” 1 Thessalonians 5:19, by running back to your old sinful habits and practices. Rather what you do is you read God's Word which is “the sword of the Spirit,” Ephesians 6:17, you manifest Christian traits known as “the fruit of the Spirit,” Galatians 5:22-23, and then you submit to the men who have been set apart by the Spirit as elders to shepherd the church that you attend and submit your life to.

See, what I've just described is not how the church at Sardis was functioning. Rather this church was just going through the motions. But don't take or mistake their motions for spiritual vitality. Don't mistake their activity for life. Because in reality they were dead. And without much in the way of transition and without any words of commendation to precede them, Christ moves right into His words of criticism of this church which we see at the end of verse 1. By the way, if you're a note-taker this morning, I think I'm halfway through the message, but here is our first heading, “The Deeds of the Dead.” Look at the last part of verse 1. He says, “I know your deeds, that you have a name, that you are alive, but you are dead.” Wow. No words of praise, no gold stars on the behavioral chart, no buttering them up, no priming the pump. No, Christ just launches right into His words of criticism in those words.

Can you imagine being the church at Sardis? Or a believer in that church at Sardis in the last first century and you hear these words? Try to picture it. Word is spreading throughout this little section of Asia Minor in these little cities along this postal route. And the other churches have received their letter. Ephesus got its letter, and Smyrna and Pergamum and Thyatira. They all got their letters. And to be sure, Christ has dished out some words of criticism and rebuke to these churches. But He was also giving them something positive to take home and chew on and work on. And now you're there at Sardis and now your letter has arrived. I wonder what He has to say about us. Pastor, read it. We can't wait. The pastor opens the letter, he is internalizing the letter before he reads it to the church. His face falls, he is looking sullen and then finally he realizes he has to read this letter to his people out loud. And then the words, you say “you are alive but you are dead.”

Can you imagine the pall that must have come over the people as they had those words read to them? Can you imagine their jaws hitting the floor in what was likely dim candlelight? You, Sardis, are a dead church. That's an absolutely terrifying phrase. It's the worst thing that could ever be said about a church, that it is dead. See, churches are by definition to be places of life and vitality, a church is a place where God lives. It is the actual “household of God,” 1 Timothy 3:15. It's the place where Christ lives and where the Holy Spirit lives. A church is to be a place where believers are spiritually alive, reflecting the fact that they have been given new life. It's a fellowship of individuals who now possess eternal life. A church, 1 Peter 2:5, is to be a place, a collection of “living stones.” Living -- with breath, with life, with vitality. Sadly that wasn't the case at Sardis. The church at Sardis was dead. Now to be called dead is quite the statement, it's quite the indictment. And it's an indictment that modern churches, including ours, want to avoid at any cost.

So how can a church today tell if it is dead or on life support or dying? I'll give you a few ideas. In some cases a church is dead because they are the “we've always done it this way” church. This is the church that is concerned with tradition or form, and in some cases, liturgy. This is the church that refuses to examine itself because it doesn't want to ask the hard questions of itself. Because it is easier not to ask those hard questions and stagnate than it is to ask those hard questions and change. In some cases the dead church is the “build a bigger tent and preach a broader and more inclusive message” church. This is the church that finds itself caught up with the things of the world. Concerned with welfare and social ills and making the world a better place more than preaching the Gospel and calling on sinners to repent and believe in Jesus. In some cases the dead church is the liberal church. It is denying the inerrancy of Scripture, it doesn't preach the Word, it refuses to preach on doctrines plainly taught in the Bible like predestination and election and hell. And it holds back on preaching the whole counsel of God for fear of offending its attendees, especially those attendees that have deeper pockets. These are all ways that churches die, churches like the church at Sardis. Surely, though, there are many more ways that churches die, but these just represent a few of the common means of ecclesiastical death.

So if those are some of the marks of churches that are dying or churches that are dead, what is the flip side? What is the positive side of this coin? What are marks of a church that is living and vibrant and alive? I'm glad you asked. A church that is living, a living church, is one that loves and submits to God's Word, 1 Peter 2:1-3. A living church is one that seeks God's approval, 2 Corinthians 5:9, we make it our aim to please Him. A living church is one that strives for holiness, 1 Peter 1:14-16. A living church is one that seeks to serve others, Romans 12:10-13. A living church is one that faithfully proclaims the Gospel. A living church is one that emphasizes strong spiritual leadership, 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1. A living church is one that devotes itself to prayer without ceasing, 1 Thessalonians 5:17. A living church is one that is unwilling to compromise. Note what I didn't mention, I didn't mention the size or the scale of the church as being the right metric to look at. See, death and life in the church is not dictated by the dimensions of the sanctuary or how many derrieres are in the seats. No. A church can have three people left in the front row, it could be Jeff and Janice and Jenna and me and still be a healthy and vibrant church. But a church could also, on the flip side, be packing out weekend services, adding new service times, adding new staff, adding new square footage and yet be a dead church.

The church at Sardis was not a living, thriving church. The church at Sardis was a decayed and disintegrated and dead church. In the words of Christ here in verse 1, “you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” This was a church that was full of unconverted people, people who were yet dead in their trespasses and sins as Ephesians 2:1 says. Or as Colossians 2:13 says, this was a church whose chairs and pews were filled with people who were dead in transgressions and the uncircumcision of their flesh. This church was going through the motions, it appeared to have life, at least to the watching world. But in reality it was a empty shell, a lifeless husk, a spiritual corpse.

Putting it in our context, the doors to this church were open but the hearts of its people were closed,. The people of this church would have been the type of people that brought their Bibles to church, maybe even toted their Bibles around in fancy leather cases. But they didn't open those Bibles, they didn't study those Bibles, they didn't preach from that Bible, they weren't living out the Bible. This would have been that church that was no longer the church that leaned forward with rapt attention as the man preaching the Word was preaching. Rather this was the church that kind of folded its arms and leaned back and crossed their arms and just kind of looked skeptically at the pastor as he was preaching. Only interested in whatever that man had to say when it interested them personally, like by way of a funny story or a relateable illustration. This was the church that was no longer gripped by admittedly familiar truths. This was the church, to put it in our context, that was there for the programs, there to keep themselves occupied, there to keep their kids out of trouble, there for the potlucks and the punch and the cookies, rather than the pursuit of God.

This was the church that was no longer serving joyfully and faithfully. The heart of service that the church once had was now gone. It was a church full of spectators, sideline sitters. This was the church that no longer regularly proclaimed the Gospel. It had gotten lazy, they had stopped sharing their faith in Jesus Christ. Now they were using these throwaway trite lines like, “I just preach the Gospel with my life.” As opposed to pleading with sinners verbally and passionately to repent and believe in the Gospel. The good news had become old news to them, which as an old pastor of mine once said, is bad news. This was the church whose regularity in prayer was at an all-time low. They were dribbling out a few prayers over pursed lips -- “Come Lord Jesus, be our guest” -- “Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, bless the bed that I lay on.” But they had long stopped regularly and from the heart communing with God through prayer. They had long killed off the prayer meeting.

This was the church that was no longer actively pursuing holiness, no longer striving for Christ-likeness. They found themselves now affirming things that 20 years ago they could never believe they would have affirmed. They would have found themselves allowing things that 40 years ago they never would have allowed. This was the church that was no longer concerned with what the Lord thought about their church. Instead, they were seeking the approval of man, seeking the approval of the community, seeking the approval of the local leaders. Toning down, taming and ultimately defanging the Word of God. This was the church that had shown itself to be hollow and hypocritical. It was the collective version of a whitewashed tomb. The church at Sardis was like the ghost ship that is portrayed in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's “Rhyme of an Ancient Mariner,” with dead men rowing the oars and steering the ship.

I've said it already this morning and it bears repeating again and again in this series as we look at these letters and this book. Our church is the sum of its parts. And I don't think it would be much of a stretch to say, looking out here this morning, that we have representatives or delegates, we could say, of each of the ancient churches that we have studied, here this morning. Over here we might have some loveless Ephesians. Over here we might have some suffering Smyrnans. Over here we might have some compromising Pergamese. Over here we might have some tolerant Thyatirans. And over here we might have some dead Sardians. Obviously I don't know, I don't know who's who here this morning. Maybe this is a reason to mix up the seating arrangement from time to time. I know, that's like the rail you don't touch around here. Of course I'm not omniscient, but the Lord is and the Lord knows who's who here this morning.

With that let's turn to verses 2-3. I'm almost out of time. I'm in verse 1. Great. Verses 2-3, we're going to see the Lord's corrective words for this ancient church. His corrective words not just for this church though, for anyone here this morning whose heart is not right with Him, whose heart is not truly devoted to Him. Let's look at verses 2-3, the Lord says, “Wake up and strengthen the things that remain which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God. So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. Therefore if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.”

So our first heading was “The Deeds of the Dead.” If you are a note-taker, this morning our second heading is “Divine Directives.” Here, what Jesus is saying to this church is, I want you Sardis to regain your life. I want you to come back to what you once were and I'm going to tell you how to do it. I'm offering you in a sense here spiritual rehabilitation.

And his offer really consists of five parts that we see here in these two verses. First, he tells them to “wake up.” To wake up here, a better translation would be, be watchful, become alert. And that exhortation to be watchful to Sardis, given where it sat, that would have meant something. Because remember, this city, I mentioned at the beginning, sat on this natural 1500-foot high, granite plateau. And it was required, because of where it sat in this position of prominence with invaders and intruders looking at it from all around, to always be watchful and mindful of the activity in the valley below. And remember twice in its history leading up to the birth of Christ, it had already fallen to an enemy invader due to its lack of vigilance in protecting its high walls.

And of course it's not just historical facts I'm dropping up here. We are called to be watchful as Christians. Watchfulness is a constant posture of the Christian life, is it not? Romans 13:11, “It is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed.” 1 Corinthians 16:13, “Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong.” The Christian of course is to be watchful against the ways of the devil, which 1 Peter 5:8 tells us, he is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. The Christian is to be watchful against false teachers, Acts 20:29-31, Paul's address to the Ephesian elders there. Jesus called on His disciples to watch and pray that they do not enter into temptation, Matthew 26:41. And of course we're all called to be watchful in anticipation for the one day return of our Lord, 1 Thessalonians 5:6, “Let us not sleep as do others.” Watchfulness is a hallmark of Christian faithfulness. Now our text here this morning doesn't tell us how this church at Sardis had fallen into their spiritual slumber, it just tells us that they have. And what Jesus here is doing is telling them to snap out of it, to come alive, to wake up and see what a sad condition they were in. And once they had wakened to remain watchful.

Here is the second part of his charge. He says to this church to “strengthen the things that remain,” verse 2, “which were about to die; for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of my God.” In medical terminology this church was flat-lining, it was in ICU, it was barely hanging on, the light was about to go out. But there was a flame that was still faintly, faintly flickering. Its wick was about to be snuffed, but it had just a little bit of time. Because as we are about to see, there was yet a faithful remnant here in Sardis who held fast to Christ. But they didn't have forever, time was running out and Jesus wanted this church to wake up and be strengthened, to fulfill the works, Ephesians 2:10, He still had for them to do.

Here is the third part of His charge as we drop down to verse 3, Jesus calls on this church to remember. To “remember,” He says, “what you have received.” This is a present tense imperative, meaning this church is being told here that they need to keep on remembering, to remember every day, to never allow themselves to forget. See, their deadness had left them lethargic. And so the Lord here is telling them to remember the thrill and the enthusiasm they once had when they first heard the message of the good news of the Gospel. He is calling on them here to remember that feeling they felt, that hurt-so-good feeling when they first heard the Word of God preached, when it first carved those channels of conviction through their hearts. Now sadly those same channels had since become overgrown with familiarity, with boredom, with hardheartedness, with sin. And so now what it was time to do was clear the brush in those channels so they could again feel those piercing but profitable pangs of conviction.

Fourth, the Lord calls, we're still in verse 3, on this church to “keep it,” meaning the Word of God. To obey it, to go back to what once was their joy. Folks, if your prayer life today is not what it once was or not what it was the year you were first saved, or if your time in the Word, your Bible intake, your involvement with the church, your giving to the church, your marriage, your parenting, your evangelism, if you aren't who you were in the time right after you were saved, and not in a good way but in a bad way, Jesus here is saying to remember. He is saying, quit being hollow and superficial and fake. He is saying, enough with the games, enough with the charade, enough with playing church. Just be faithful and true to Me and to My Word the way you once were.

Fifth, and perhaps most importantly He calls on this church, verse 3, to “repent.” This is an aorist imperative, meaning it is calling for a one-time definite action. To repent. Repentance is an acknowledgement before God -- Lord, I have strayed; Lord, I have done wrong; Lord, I need your forgiveness. Repentance is turning from something that is wrong to something that is right. It's a decisive turn, a one-time turn, a turning from the old ways of living and toward new ways of living by the power of the Spirit who lives in you. There are people here this morning who need to repent. You turn from the sin that you are in, whether it is cheating on your tax returns or just fudging them a bit, whether it is repenting of the things you are looking at on your phone, or the conversations that you are having with people of the opposite sex who are not your spouse that you know are inappropriate. If it's repenting of the lust that is in your heart or the envy that is in your heart or the critical, unloving, unforgiving spirit that you carry around all day. You need to repent and you need to resolve in a manner worthy of Christ and His Gospel. The Lord here is being brutally honest and quite direct and straightforward with the church at Sardis. As He is to all of us as we read from His Word.

And now here come the consequences, here comes the “or else” statement at the end of verse 3. He says, “Therefore if you do not wake up,” if you don't heed those five things we just went through, “I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you.” Now that's not an eschatological statement here in this setting, this is not Christ talking about the rapture or the Second Coming. All Christ is saying in this context is that He is going to come unannounced in judgment over this church. And that picture of Him coming as a thief in the night, it always, whatever context you see those words in Scripture, it always has the idea of imminence, and imminent in judgment. Christ is going to be arriving on this church's doorstep there in Sardis unannounced, when they least expect Him. They will be doing their thing, going through the motions of business in the church and church activity Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night. They are going to start a new ministry year, maybe they call it Adventure Club and Titus Tuesday. Maybe they dunked the pastor at Fall Kickoff, they are just kind of doing their thing. And that's when He'll arrive. That's when He will put out their candlestick once and for good, to bury them and to put this dead church in the grave. (Feel free to dunk me, by the way.)

Well, all hope in Sardis wasn't lost because as I mentioned a bit earlier there apparently was a faithful remnant here in this church. Look at verse 4, He says, “But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.” If you are taking notes, our final, our third heading, is “Devoted Disciples.” See, while Jesus had nothing positive to say to this church in terms of the good that they were doing, because He is good He actually gives them this sliver of hope to hang onto. See, there apparently were some in this church who were true believers who had not soiled their garments, spiritually speaking, by falling into sin. The Greek word for soiled, “moluno,” means to stain or to defile or to smear or to pollute. And it's a word that would have been very familiar to these people here in Sardis because of the city's familiarity with the wool dyeing industry and their work in the garment industry.

And we know that garments symbolize character in Scripture. Isaiah 64:6, speaking of us in an unregenerate state, “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.” Or Jude 23, “Save others, snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear, hating even the garments polluted by the flesh.” There was a faithful remnant here in Sardis, just as there was in Sodom, just as there was in Israel, just as there are in many dying churches today. And this believing remnant here in Sardis is pictured here in verse 4 as walking with Christ in white. And the white robes that they are described as walking in -- those picture the righteousness of the spotless lamb that has been imputed to them. Their sin has been scrubbed away, their debt has been paid. Isaiah 1:18, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool.” And these words, walking in white, describe having been washed and having been pardoned and having been saved. They describe the faithful and holy living that this righteous remnant was now committed to living. See, the faithful few in Sardis were the ones like James 1:27 describes who were unstained by the world. They had not fallen into pagan impurity, they were not engaged with the sinful practices of the culture, they had not bought into the lies and deception of Satan and the world.

And with that, knowing that there is this remnant in Sardis, we turn to verse 5. As He does in each of these letters, or these postcards, the Lord gives these words of promise and assurance to those who overcome, to those who conquer, which we have seen in previous messages simply refer to what 1 John 5:5 says, believing “that Jesus is the Son of God.” That is the overcomer, that is the conqueror. To those overcomers, to those conquerors, Christ gives them these three promises. See if you can find them in verse 5. “He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” The first assurance Christ gives here, the first promise He gives them, is that they will be clothed in white garments. In the ancient world white garments were worn for festive occasions like weddings. And we know that all true believers in Christ will wear their white garments on a future day on an event that we know as “the marriage supper of the Lamb,” in Revelation 19:7-9. The white garments described here will display outwardly that the believer had been saved from their sin and is now cloaked with Christ's perfect and inherent righteousness.

Here comes the second promise from Christ, He says that “I will not erase his name from the book of life.” For those who overcome, those who conquer, those who believe in the name of Jesus Christ, He is saying quite simply they will not have their names erased from the Book of Life. The Book of Life is God's book in which He keeps the record of all those who have eternal life. We see it referred to in Philippians 4:3 in the context of Paul sort of mediating and describing the brewing conflict between Euodia and Syntyche. We see the Book of Life mentioned in Revelation 20:12, There it says, “I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.” That is saying that the dead, the unconverted, will be judged by books that keep a record of their sin. But the Christian's name is in the Book of Life. So, if you have believed in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, if you are that conqueror, if you are that overcomer, you will not only be clothed eternally in white garments, but when you die you have assurance that your name will never be erased out of the Book of Life. It has been etched in heaven by the divine finger of God and it will never be erased.

Here is the third promise from Christ. He says, “And I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” Christ here is saying if you overcome, if you conquer, if you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, I will personally confess your name before My Father and His angels. And that hearkens back to what the Lord said during His earthly ministry in Matthew 10:32, whoever confesses Me before men I will confess before My Father who is in heaven. The point being Jesus is forever true to the one who is true to Him.

And then comes this final word, and this will be the last word for this morning. I'm out of time and the Lord should get the last word. In verse 6 He says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” See, the Lord here is saying, are you listening? Are you processing this? Is it sinking in? Or are you dozing off? Are you heeding what I am saying? And that's the final word for this morning. That is the final word. Are we listening? Do we have attentive ears to what the Lord is saying to us here today? And are we willing to listen to what He is saying, not only to the church at Sardis, but to the church at 1000 S. 84th Street? Because if there are any areas of our life that need to change and need repentance, we need to heed these words. Are we going to individually and as a church, borrowing from what He says here in verses 3-4, are we going, if we need to, “wake up?” Are we going to “strengthen the things that remain?” Are we going to “remember” what we've “received?” Are we going to “keep it,” meaning the Word? And if there are any areas that we need to “repent,” are we going to do so?

Let's pray. Our great and mighty God, we give You thanks again this morning for this time in Your Word. It's always a feast, it's always rich, Your Word is profitable and true, compelling and convicting and comforting all at once. We give You thanks and praise for the faithful ministry You have allowed us to do as a body of believers for so many years and decades. But at the same time as we read these letters from You through Christ to the church at Sardis, and by extension to us, we have to humbly acknowledge that there may be areas in our church ,and by extension our lives individually, where we need to grow, we need to change, we need to remember, we need to repent, and we need to honor You more faithfully than we have been up to this point. So, God, would You do Your work in our hearts in the hours and days ahead as we prayerfully and carefully reflect on our individual walks with Christ, as we think of our collective witness as a body. And God, if there is anybody here this morning who is not a follower of Jesus Christ, would You bring that conviction to their heart. Help them to see that what they need to do is not clean up the outside, not become a better version of themselves, not to ditch old practices for the sake of ditching them. But rather to repent and believe in the Gospel of grace. May You be greatly glorified through all that happens after this service. In Christ's name, amen.