Sardis -- The Dead Church

In 2014 Thom Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources, wrote a highly acclaimed book titled Autopsy of a Deceased Church. In this book Rainer identifies several fatal causes that put once-alive and vibrant churches in the grave. These include

treating the past as the hero;

refusing to adapt to the needs of the present community;

moving the focus of the budget inward;

allowing the Great Commission to become the Great Omission;

letting the church become preference-driven out of selfishness and personal agendas;

seeing the tenure of the pastors decreasing;

failing to have regular, corporate prayer;

having no clear purpose or vision; and

obsessing over the facilities.

Here is a common life cycle of many churches.

Begins with a man

Reaches out with a mission

Becomes a movement

Ends up a monument or in the mortuary

The stark reality is that many a church begins with life but ends in death…a glorious past is all it has…it is now a ZOMBIE church …a church of the living dead.

There are live bodies walking around in the building, but their souls are dead.

Amazingly, sometimes only God notices!

There is no spiritual pulse, no spiritual heartbeat…they have flat-lined.

Dead churches are nothing new…they have plagued our existence and testimony for centuries…with that in mind please turn to Revelation 3:1-6.

In these 7 letters of Jesus to His church we are listening to what the Holy Spirit has to say to the churches…these messages from Jesus to them in the then and there applies to us in the here and now.

Churches are people…people haven’t changed…remember that we embarked upon this study declaring we need to be aware of both the external and internal dangers that impact our life this side of heaven.

When he says let him who has an ear let him hear he is talking to us individually as well.

So as we read this letter to the church of Sardis we need to take notice that Jesus is speaking to us as individuals, not just as a corporate body.

Main Point: Believers Need to Wake Up and Stay Vigilant!

Truths to remember to help us wake up to our spiritual condition and stay vigilant.

We have a great need for vigilance…Satan prowls like a roaring lion…disguises himself as an angel of light…knows where we are unguarded and its his desire to destroy us.

Important facts regarding Sardis

It was one of the oldest cities in the province of Asia, having been founded around 1200 B.C.

It was located on the crossroads of five main roads making it a center for trade…a great wool industry flourished here...

It enjoyed prominence as a commercially prosperous and militarily strategic city throughout its history.

The fortress here was 1500 feet above the lower plain and was considered impregnable because of the nearly vertical rock walls with only 1 entrance on the south side.

Only twice was this fortress ever taken…by the Persians…they discovered a way to take the fortress because a Sardian soldier dropped his helmet and walked down a path to retrieve it…the Persians followed that path and took the fortress by surprise.

A similar occurrence took place when Antiochus attacked it some 200 years later.

In both situations, the guards became lazy and failed to keep watch.

Archaeological discoveries revealed a significant Jewish presence here with a fairly large synagogue complex.

By the time this letter was written to the church in this city, the city of Sardis was in major decline…all its splendor was in the past.

We Cannot Hide From Jesus

Revelation 3:1 ““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.”

Jesus describes himself to this church as the one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

Remember the number seven is symbolic of completeness…seven Spirits of God is not a group of angels…it is symbolic language once again referring to the complete ministry of the Holy Spirit…the Spirit in all His fullness...

It is an allusion to Isaiah 11:2–5 “The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And He will delight in the fear of the Lord, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.”

Also to Zechariah 4:1–6 “Then the angel who was speaking with me returned and roused me, as a man who is awakened from his sleep. He said to me, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.” Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, “What are these, my lord?” So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.”

It emphasizes His omnipresence, wisdom, and life giving power…Jesus has the Spirit, but Sardis does not…Jesus has life, Sardis does not...

Sometimes we have no idea of our true spiritual condition…we live in the fog of deception…Jesus discerns the reality…His perfect Spirit sees everything...

by mentioning the stars again like that in Ephesus, Jesus communicates they are His possession and under His protection…so is the church…He sees, He knows, He cares...

Here is why this is important....

Jesus is going to tell them they are dead. Therefore, they need the Holy Spirit to breath new life into this church.

None of the programs we can create and implement will bring life to the church...

Since the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2, the church became a living organism by the life-giving power of the Holy Spirit.

When the Spirit is grieved, the church begins to lose life and power. When sin is confessed and church members get right with God and with each other, then the Spirit infuses new life—revival!

Jesus is the one who will send the Holy Spirit to do just that…but Jesus needs to make them aware of how serious this is.

We Cannot Rest Upon A Good Reputation

Revelation 3:1 ““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.”

This is a letter of complete rebuke…much like her sister church of Laodicea...

Chuck Swindoll says the church at Sardis was a “morgue with a steeple.”

“You have a name” — Sardis had a reputation of being a solid church…appearing to be healthy and successful…at one time they were making a significant impact for God, but those days were in the past…the church was taking on the identity of her city…once was glorious, now not so much.

Others think this church is something to notice…but Jesus notices something different.

but you are dead… it is an adjective Jesus chose to indicate this church no longer had life...Jesus performs an MRI, Divine CAT Scan, and X-ray on this church that on the outside seemed strong and healthy, but upon closer examination Jesus reveals it to be dead…it was a ZOMBIE church…living dead...

This really is a frightening verse...

It is possible for a church to have all the signs of life, for people to look at a church and say, “That church is alive and active” and for Jesus to look at the same church and say, “Completely dead.”

It is possible for a church … Let me be more specific: it is possible for Open Door Bible Church to look like it is alive to everyone around us in the world and for Jesus to say, “You’re dead.”

We need to come grips with the truth that we are all prone to spiritual deception. We are all prone to overestimate our spiritual condition, to think that we are fine when we may be far from it.

What was the cause of her death?

I think we can gain some insight by first looking into what is NOT here...

Remember at the beginning I said there was a significant Jewish presence in the city of Sardis with its large synagogue complex.

Along with that, remember life in the first century meant worship of pagan gods was expected and a failure to do so brought persecution, sometimes in extreme measures.

In the letters to this point, there was significant outward persecution and influence from Jews, Rome, and other false teachers and immoral people that Jesus noticed and mentioned.

Nowhere in this letter does Jesus identify a doctrinal error or an outward persecution or a negative influence impacting this church.

Now, if we look to what Jesus promises the victors we can put all this information together and come to a reasonable conclusion to what happened...

Revelation 3:5 “‘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.”

This is reflective of what Jesus says in Matthew 10:32–33 ““Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. “But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.”

It appears they had compromised their PUBLIC witness to Jesus to avoid opposition and persecution…They were trying to blend in with the culture and go along to get along...The Jews and Rome did not feel threatened by the efforts of this church so they just left them alone.

They were living on their reputation of being a church without taking the responsibility to proclaim Christ.

They gloried in past splendor but ignored the present decay.

The impression we get here is the church had not invaded the enemies territory with an aggressive message…the pagans of Sardis saw this church as a nice group of people who were neither dangerous nor desirable…decent people…dying witness…decaying ministry.

We Must Obey the Lord’s Directives

Revelation 3:2–3 “‘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.”

All is not lost with this church…there is still hope…just as God is in the business of bringing dead sinners to life, he is in the business of breathing life back into dead churches.

Jesus peppers the church of Sardis with five imperatives and steps to take if she were to be the church Jesus wants her to be…we would do well to listen.

Wake Up

Revelation 3:2 “‘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.”

Twice the fortress of Sardis was taken because the sentries failed to do their jobs faithfully…when the church’s leaders and members get accustomed to their blessings and become complacent about ministry, the enemy finds a way in…Jesus doesn’t want the church to suffer the same fate as the city.

Wake up - present active participle…meaning STAY AWAKE…this indicates there was still some life left in the church…we cannot go to sleep to what is happening around us…we must remain vigilant to both internal and external dangers…

Jesus sees a lethargy among his people that needed to stop…they were not fighting against the forces of evil, they were not standing for the truth of Scripture, they were not proclaiming the truth of the gospel…they were content to do nothing!

Please listen close…Our past pursuits of God will not sustain us in the present and the future…we must wake up and stay awake by continually pursuing God both individually and corporately.

Strengthen What Remains

What little that remains must be strengthened…built back up…Why?

Strengthen = to fix, to make fast, to set” — the window of opportunity was closing…it is about to die — there is a still a glimmer of hope because it is not completely dead yet…

Jesus says “for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.”

You have settled for half-hearted obedience…you are apathetic to what should matter most…your efforts don’t measure up to the standard I have set for you...they were okay with a mediocre, halfway, comfortable, and convenient Christianity…a Christianity that didn’t make waves…in today’s vocabulary…they were NOMINAL Christians.

One of the biggest threats I see to the life of the church today is COMPLACENCY!

We become complacent as individuals when…we rest on our reputation that at one point in our life we trusted Christ, but then there is very little evidence of life change…we lull ourselves into a spiritual stupor with minimal to no effort of growth and change…we don’t want to draw the negative attention of the world, so we become okay with mediocrity when it comes to living for Christ.

Personal holiness and growing faithfulness are a thing of the past…our speech doesn’t change, our thinking doesn’t change, our behaviors don’t change, our marriages don’t change, our parenting doesn’t change, how we handle conflicts doesn’t change…we’ve become apathetic to our relationship with Christ and make no efforts to mature in Him or serve Him.

The message of the gospel is that Jesus Christ not only died to pay the penalty of our sin, but to provide a new way of living that pleases God.

We become complacent as a church when we are satisfied with things as they are (fear to invest time, treasures and talents into the ministry to make more and better disciples)…more concerned about comfort than conviction (in many churches sound doctrine that proclaims the truth about sin and the cross is considered taboo and must be avoided)…desire to please man more than God (more concerned about offending man than a holy God)…

It is no secret that the ministry of many churches, including this one, is carried by the efforts of the 20%… Jesus himself said the fields are white unto harvest, but the laborers are few...

What do you think will happen if those 20% of faithful workers died today?

That is what Jesus says here to strengthen that which remains…we need to strengthen those people and ministries that are still functioning within the church…because if we don’t wake up and strengthen them, the works of love and faith practiced by a few devoted members have the potential of dying out.

Remember What You Have Received and Heard

Revelation 3:3 “‘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.”

The idea here is that they will continually call something to remembrance…what are they to remember?

The GOSPEL!

They need to continually recall the truth of the gospel they had received and heard.

They needed to preach the gospel to themselves daily…to remind themselves of what Christ accomplished for them through His bloody cross and glorious resurrection.

He died they death they should have died…he experienced the wrath of God that should have been theirs…He paid the penalty for sin they should have paid...

He gave them the gift of eternal life that they did not deserve…he wrote their name in a book of life that can never be erased (will talk about this in just a few moments)

Keep It

Jesus encourages the church to hold on, to guard what they have received and heard...

We live in a time where the truth of the gospel and the implications of that gospel are easily lost…it is a precious treasure we can never take for granted…we must never let it slip away…both individually and corporately we must never forsake the truth of Scripture and the gospel.

If we don’t hold these tight, It becomes so easy to drift away from truth into error…to drift into doctrinal compromise…to drift away from godliness into worldliness…

It is a daily struggle that necessitates the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and for us to equip the full armor of God to protect our hearts with the gospel and all that it means...

We should never shrink back from proclaiming the truth of the Gospel and our loyalty to Christ.

Repent

Repentance is not just a one time act…it is a lifestyle of a changed mind, that results in changed attitudes and actions.

The church at Sardis forgot this…as a result they were in danger of Jesus coming unexpectedly in judgment like a thief…a thief doesn’t call you or text you alerting you to his coming…he just shows up...

This is a powerful, yet grace-filled warning…Repent now, because there is no promise you will have time later…my coming to you may catch you unprepared.

We Look Forward to Jesus Fulfilling His Promises

Revelation 3:4–6 “‘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.’”

He Promises Pure Righteousness

Jesus identifies a remnant of believers here who were not tainted by the world around them.

“Not soiled their garments” — in the worship of pagan gods, it was forbidden to approach the gods in garments that were soiled or stained...

The implication of garments that are soiled is a mingling of pagan life with your spiritual walk with Christ…think contamination...

The picture here is that there were some in the church of Sardis who bucked the trends, swam against the current of their culture…there were some who did take a stand, both in their confession and in their conduct…this would prove costly to them in the future and Jesus encourages them that it will be worth it…they will walk in the purity of white clothing provided by Christ.

He Promises Never to Erase Your Name from the Book of Life

Time does not permit a full disclosure of this…but let me say this right out of the gate…THIS IS NOT A WARNING THAT BELIEVERS CAN LOSE THEIR SALVATION.

The Greek structure of this verse is one that is worded in strongly negative terms to assure faithful Christians in Sardis…Jesus says “I will never ever, remove your name from the book…you are absolutely safe and secure.

Later in Revelation 17:8 we see the names are recorded there from the foundation of the earth...

In ancient times, Jews kept accurate records in regard to vital statistics…excluding people from the records was practiced in the days of Ezekiel…false prophets were ostracized and banned from the land (Ezk 13:9).

Romans also kept books of the citizenship of the cities…the name of a criminal would be blotted out of the book before they put him to death…Christians who would not worship Caesar as Lord were considered convicts who would lose their citizenship.

In stark contrast to what happens on earth, Jesus assures the believers in Sardis that their names would never be erased from the book of life kept in heaven.

Scripture is also clear that those who proclaim Christ but have a lifestyle contrary to that profession never had their names recorded in the book of life…Jesus says he never knew them and orders them to depart from him (Matt 7:21-23)

In the OT, to be blotted out of the book on earth simply meant to die…to be blotted out from the civil registry (Exodus 32:32-33; Psalms 69:28; Dan. 12:1)…it contained names of both the righteous and the wicked.

In the NT, it is a reference to all those whose names were recorded in heaven who have received the gift of eternal life. From the idea of being recorded in God’s book of the living (or the righteous) comes the sense of belonging to God’s eternal kingdom or possessing eternal life (Da 12:1; Lk 10:20; Php 4:3; Heb 12:23; Rev 13:8; 17:8; 20:15; 21:27).

For Christ to say that he will never erase the overcomer’s name from the book of life is the strongest affirmation that death can never separate us from Christ and his life (Ro 8:38–39).

He Promises To Acknowledge Us Before God and His Angels

Jesus will acknowledge their names as evidence that He knows them and claims them as His own.

They were not ashamed of Him, and He is not ashamed of them. Jesus will tell His Father, “Kevin belongs to me. He is mine.”

The angels of God will hear the same message.

The promise that our names are permanently affixed signatures in the book of life is a promise that should move us, motivate us, and compel us, out of “grace gratitude,” to complete our works, bear our witness, stay clean, and pursue purity that reflects the transforming work of Christ.

Matthew 10:32 NASB95

“Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 10:33–34 NASB95

“But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven. “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Life Lesson — Don’ Wait Until It is Too Late!

We need to turn from our stale religious routines…We must forsake the pursuit of our own needs, preferences, and comforts.

We must repent of half-hearted efforts of service and devotion.

Let us not grow fearful to continually proclaim Christ and to hold one another accountable to live in light of the gospel.

Let us wake up and strengthen what remains…let us surrender ourselves to the power of the Spirit to continually breathe life into our ministry.