Christ sees all of it.

Introduction

Scripture

Father God, we thank You for Who You are. A great Big God who sees each and every one of us here and cares deeply about us. We ask this day, as we are continuing in this time of worship to You, reading Your Word and hearing Your Word, that You refine us with it. Mold us, make us, shape us, rearrange us so that we can more like You, and more made into the image of Christ. Help us be a people who love You and love others so much, that we are moved into action by whatever it is You are going to show us about Yourself today and what that means in our lives. Help us do this, because all to often our selfish and sinless flesh war against our will to follow Yours. As we are doing this, and as we are coming into Your Word today, we ask that You take away any distraction that we may have, and make it go as far away as it possible can, because we want to see and we want to know You better. It’s in these things that I ask and in Jesus Christ’s Holy and precious name that I pray, Amen.

“Write to the angel of the church in Sardis: Thus says the one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. 2 Be alert and strengthen what remains, which is about to die, for I have not found your works complete before my God. 3 Remember, then, what you have received and heard; keep it, and repent. If you are not alert, I will come like a thief, and you have no idea at what hour I will come upon you. 4 But you have a few people in Sardis who have not defiled their clothes, and they will walk with me in white, because they are worthy.

5 “In the same way, the one who conquers will be dressed in white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name before my Father and before his angels.

6 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.

Context

Today, we move into the 5thchurch of the 7 that is addressed in the book of revelation. Just a reminder, that if you don’t already have your worksheet out, go ahead and grab it, and fill it out as we go along (the answers are in the book).

Over the past weeks, as just a reminder, we looked at Ephesus (the loveless or pharisitical church), Smyrna (the persecuted church), Pergamum (the church trying to have it both ways), Thyatira (the church that tolerated false teachers and leaders), and today turn our attention to Sardis (the church that was caught up in the past, riding the coattails of their past and losing sight of Christ in the meantime, the dying church). Remember, these churches and the two others we will look at are representatives of all churches everywhere, they represent the individual expressions of the church (ie, the local church, like us) and give real life warnings, commendations, punishments, and rewards from Christ Himself. We have much to learn from these letters to the churches from Christ. We have a lot to learn from the heart and mind of Christ, what He loves and what He desires for each and every one of His churches. So, as He is sending this out, we must do what the end of each of these letters end with, that we are to hear what The Spirit says to the churches.

Sardis the town and Sardis the church, seemed to be 2 peas in a pod. They thought and acted in much the same way. That is, they remembered their past splendor and wonder, how great things “used to be” and kind of existed off of that. You see, this town was once a prominent and prosperous commercial and military city. In fact, it hosted one of the great military strongholds of the ancient world, who’s ruins can still be found today. This city stood as the test of wars and armys for hundreds of years, until it’s weakness was exposed and it consequently was conquered twice. So now, the town was a dying city, that was caught up in the past and how things used to be. Of this it was a common saying and thought that no city showed such sorrow between past splendor and present decay as the city of Sardis.

It seems that this way of thought and thinking, turned into the church in Sardis. Whereas the citizens of the city were living off of their past and ancient fame, now the same thing had crept into the church, that is they were once loyal and loving to Christ; but these ways seemed to be the way of the past, now they were weren’t even “cruising” or plateaued, now the steady decline has long crept in, they know it, but are trying to hide it not face the fact or they aren’t willing to do what it takes to get back on the right track; they too were a dying or dead church just like the dying or dead city they are in. As Christ is addressing all churches throughout time, it is important for us as well to hear this message, and heed Christs call. So, let’s dive in and take a look and From the text today I want you to understand these truths about Jesus, because He sees all of it.

Message

Jesus knows who you really are

“Write to the angel of the church in Sardis: Thus says the one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. 2 Be alert and strengthen what remains, which is about to die, for I have not found your works complete before my God. 3 Remember, then, what you have received and heard; keep it, and repent. If you are not alert, I will come like a thief, and you have no idea at what hour I will come upon you.

As with all of the other churches, Christ addresses them; telling them about who He is and what kind of power He has. Christ reminds them here, that He has the seven (which as you will remember 7 means complete in prophecy) spirits of God (so, the Spirit of God in completeness), and the seven stars (looking back at rev 1, this points to control of the elders of the church). Christ says here, I am God and through the Spirit empower You and I hold the leaders/elders in your church in my command, they are mine. I know everything about You, I see it all. I know it all. You have a reputation of being a very alive and active church, you make and move and rearrange and alter things so that people perceive and think that you are a very alive and active church. BUT, I know the truth. I know that You are dead. I know that You have forgotten about the most important thing (Me, and telling others about me). I know that you are pretending to be alive, but I know who you really are. I know that you are dead. So, listen up! What you have left, the few of you that remain, strengthen yourself in Me (in the love of Me). You have grown complacent, and this has made you get off of mission. You have been focusing on the wrong things. Get back on task before what is left of you dies and goes away! The quality of your deeds and works are not up to what Christ wants you to be. So wake up! Wake up or I will come like a thief in the night, when you don’t expect me, and I will remove you.

So remember the past, know that mission, simply put to love God, Love others, and make disciples remember the Gospel of Jesus and repent for not doing these! I am coming! You don’t know when, so their may be time yet! Get to it! Go Church, Go!

Repent…. That’s a word we all know. It’s a word that we all need to do often. Yes, repentance is a part of salvation. But believer, hear me. Repentance is not a one and done affair. It is an always looking and always eliminating throughout our faith lives kind of thing. Never will you or any other Christian have a perfect faith life from the start. You will make mistakes, I will make mistakes, that show a lack of faith in God, who He is, and what that means for us. We all do this, and even with the best of intentions, we still need to repent. That is, stop doing whatever that lack of faith thing was, ask God for forgiveness, and make it so that we don’t make that mistake again. Repenting doesn’t mean that you are a bad Christian or a bad church, it is a sign of a maturing and healthy (or healthier) Christian or church. In fact, not repenting a sign of an unhealthy believer or church. So, church; both as individuals and as a whole; as we continue on this journey; we need to honestly ask ourselves, where do we need to repent? Where do we need to have more faith? Where do we need to ask for more faith? Because Christ is happy to give it to us if we ask. Remember, Jesus knows who you really are, so lets not try to hide it.

The next truth to understand about Jesus is that: Jesus knows who the worthy are

4 But you have a few people in Sardis who have not defiled their clothes, and they will walk with me in white, because they are worthy.

In the previous few verses, Jesus had nothing positive to say about this church, but now He turns His attention to the few people within the church that He can say good things about. Clearly, within this church there was a few, a small and righteous remnant, that was clinging close to Christ and keeping their eyes, hearts, minds, ears, hands, everything about them directed towards Christ and sharing Him with others. These believers understood what it meant to follow Christ personally, but they also understood the purpose of and reason for existence of The Church, the Bride of Christ. Now lots of things fall into these categories, but some of the basic reasons The Church or a church body exists is: To Evangelize, to share Jesus with the lost. Edification (we might call this discipleship), to teach the saints (the believers) more about God and help them apply the truths of God to their lives. Worship, to worship God corporately and equip us to worship God individually; to administer the ordinances of the Lord’s Supper and Baptism; and to meet Social Concerns/needs such as feeding the hungry and going to the elderly/needy. These believers would have understood their role in this, and done their part and sought to honor God in every single turn. Notice what Jesus says about them, that He will robe them in White and they shall walk with Him.

Brothers and sisters, Christ knows who you, who we really are. Christ knows who the worthy and the unworthy are. Christ knows who is pretending, and who is for real. And guess what, He is calling all pretenders to be real and those of us that are real who are pretending in some areas to be real in all areas. Yes, Christ is calling Sardis, Christ is Calling us, Christ is calling you into a great and deeper faith. Not a faith that responds in fear of loss, but a faith that responds in joy when a trail comes our way; because we know that God is testing us and if we pass His test or trail, then we will understand, love, and grow towards Him all the more. So brothers and sisters, as you are seeking God in your life, don’t leave any stone uncovered; earnestly and vigorously seek Him; and You will find Him, all you have to do is put your want of self away and replace it with a want of God! Remember, Jesus knows who the worthy are, and even those He is calling, ever more towards Himself!

Jesus robes the conquerors in white

5 “In the same way, the one who conquers will be dressed in white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name before my Father and before his angels. 6 “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen to what the Spirit says to the churches.

Jesus tells us here, the conquers, the people that turn from their sin and repent; who turn towards me will be dressed in these white clothes. Those sheep of mine that heed my voice and call. They are and will be clean. Notice this too, he says that it will never as in (it is impossible) for them to have their name removed from the book of life; meaning you are saved and when the next age comes, when the Father asks for an account of who you are and what you have done, I will tell Him about you and how you are one of mine, you had faith and repentance and your love of God showed itself continually and frequently through your thoughts and deeds on earth as a result.

So, here these words church, and churches God is speaking to us! Don’t be like Sardis, don’t be like the dying church who was so preoccupied with the past that they had only a little good in them at the time! God is calling us and all churches to look at the present and the future and know that God is still before us! He is still amongst and within us! We have a mighty God that we serve right now! Not later, or some day later down the road when things get better! If this is you or if this is your church, it is time to right the wrong, because God doesn’t rely on you or your power or your resources, He only relies on Himself, and He says that He will empower and enable anyone who works in Jesus name!

He still has work for us and desires us to grow in the Love of Him and others around us to grow in the love of Him! He has not found the works complete, because there is work to do still. There is no time to run out the clock, to just exist; because there are eternal souls around us every single day, and every single day they don’t know Jesus, is a day that they may pass and never know Him; meaning they will be eternally separated from God. And we have a God that is jealous, very serious about His glory and worship. So, if we know that; than beloved lets glorify and worship Him with excitement and wonder as we see Him do things our natural selves would have thought impossible!

Conclusion

Beloved, I want to read to you a story that I think speaks very similarly about the church in Sardis, specifically what it might have been like to be one of the faithful saints who heard this letter from Christ and went to right the wrong. This story is about a man named Alfred Nobel. It goes something like this,

“It is possible to live under a delusion. You think you are kind, considerate and gracious when you are really not. You think you are building positive stuff into your children when in reality, if you could check with them twenty years later, you really didn't. What if you could read your own obituary? How do people really see you? Here is the story of a man who did (read is own obituary).

One morning in 1888 Alfred Nobel, inventor of dynamite, awoke to read his own obituary. The obituary was printed as a result of a simple journalistic error. You see, it was Alfred's brother that had died and the reporter carelessly reported the death of the wrong brother. Any man would be disturbed under the circumstances, but to Alfred the shock was overwhelming because he saw himself as the world saw him. The "Dynamite King," the great industrialist who had made an immense fortune from explosives. This, as far as the general public was concerned, was the entire purpose of Alfred's life. None of his true intentions to break down the barriers that separated men and ideas for peace were recognized or given serious consideration. He was simply a merchant of death. And for that alone he would be remembered. As he read the obituary with horror, he resolved to make clear to the world the true meaning and purpose of his life. This could be done through the final disposition of his fortune. His last will and testament--an endowment of five annual prizes for outstanding contributions in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace (the sixth category of economics was added later)--would be the expression of his life's ideals and ultimately would be why we would remember him. The result was the most valuable of prizes given to those who had done the most for the cause of world peace. It is called today, the "Nobel Peace Prize."” That of course would be the most sought after and prized prize in humanity today.

Brothers and sisters, we have an even greater prize that we can leave behind. We have the opportunity to participate in ALL the prizes that Jesus said the conqurors will have. We have the opportunity to share the ultimate prize (God/Christ) with others that they could receive the greatest reward and prize anyone could ever have, fellowship with God and adoption to His family. We have and give this prize through the power of The Gospel, how we have it, how we share, and how we support others that do likewise.

Brothers and sisters, remember these things as we consider this prize. That Jesus knows who you really are; Jesus knows who the worthy are; Jesus robes the conquerors in white. Jesus sees it all, so lets let Him see us with our works complete in our ends, and now incomplete as He was seeing in Sardis.

As we contemplate this, I want to invite you; if you have not yet filled out your worksheet, the answers will be on the screen. Take a few moments to fill it out, consider it and the implications it has on us. Then, take a few moments in personal prayer about it. While you do this, the alter will be open and anyone who needs can come forward. Also, as you go through the week, continue to pray as we have done today, and if anything comes to mind, write it down on your worksheet. After this few moments Then, I will lead us in a prayer to God that He will strengthen us, and give us all knowledge and wisdom as we seek His will for us.

· Give 4-5 minutes to fill out worksheet and for prayer.

· Lead a prayer