As We Are Called to Move

In this series, we haven’t talked about the title of this book, which these days is Revelation. Its earlier name was the Apocalypse of John, because the very first work in the original text is Apocalypse. Apocalypse originally meant heavenly revelation. Heavenly revelations had and have a tendency to upset the current things, so that the ways of old either need to be transformed or die. Thus the English meaning of apocalypse changed from Revelation to the End of the World.

From an ancient standpoint, apocalypse could be a great thing. Jesus coming back is, to us, a good thing. It is also an apocalypse. COVID was a bad thing, and while I don’t believe it was itself a heavenly revelation, it was apocalyptic in that the US church is having some serious meeting time with Jesus as it tries to find the next best step.

Sharing that felt important to me because we’re going to talk about two very different churches today from the Book of Revelation. We might even say they are polar opposites.

I want to start with a reminder from the beginning of the section of Letters to the Churches.

Revelation 1:12–20 “…I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man…In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force…[He said], As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

I want you to keep this imagery and symbolism in mind as we read today’s Scripture. Please rise for the first reading of God’s word.

Revelation 3:1–6 ““And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works; you have a name of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard; obey it and repent. 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. Yet you have still a few persons in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes; they will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not erase your name from the book of life; I will confess your name before my Father and before his angels. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

The Word of God for the People of God. Thanks be to God. You may be seated.

The church of Sardis pretty much has nothing going for it. The spirit of the church is dead, but it’s so busy.

An “active” church can be just as spiritually lifeless as a “stagnant” or “dying” church.

The church in Sardis probably resembled its surroundings. The city of Sardis was wealthy. It had large quantities of gold deposits, and is even identified as the first place where coins were ever minted. It was a city of commerce and trade. It was a transportation hub for the activities of the empire. The city seemed so alive, and did the church.

The repeated symbolism of the seven spirits and stars implies the totality of condemnation. It is a unanimous condemnation by all the spirits of the churches. Today, we’d call this church discipline.

While we often limit church discipline to bad behavior of varying types and sins, sometimes, as in the case of Sardis, the bad behavior isn’t obvious.

As such, the church of Sardis likely appeared so active and so alive, maybe something like lots of church programs, church events, an active church life that everyone raves about.…except to the person who matters. Jesus called the church dead.

A “faithful” church can be dead where it really matters…the heart.

A spiritually lifeless church can look as busy as a successful business and yet be doing nothing to build the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. It’s not about money or people, or nickels and noses. It is about where the heart of the church is. We are called upon, just like Sardis, to wake up from our dead sleep.

As a pastor, I have many pastor acquaintances on social media, for good and for bad. One thing that I keep seeing over and over again is this quote supposedly from a man named Michael Carl

As church attendance numbers fade across the nation and online services become very convenient, it's important to remember why church attendance for you and your family matters so much.

You can't serve from your sofa. You can't have community of faith on your sofa. You can't experience the power of a room full of believers worshipping together on your sofa.

Christians aren't consumers. We are contributors. We don't watch. We engage. We give. We sacrifice. We encourage. We pray by laying hands on the hurting. We do life together.

The church needs you.

And you need the church.

There are aspects of this that are true, fellowship and discipleship with believers, for example. The greatest problem with this quote is the presupposition that the church, as a whole, has been doing this well.

The quote, or at least those who continue to share it, operates with the assumption that this is the fault of the internet, social media, live streaming. Outside of this quote, I’ve heard COVID, politics, bad leadership, bad worship, bad preaching, bad theology, all blamed, too. And, it is not to say that none of these contribute.

Beware when activities about important things became paramount, while a strong relationship with God fades away.

I’ve heard many stories about the successes and failures that have occurred here. When we were first interviewing here, we heard a number of, “when you come, you can start” or re-start something. They were activities that the church did that were great and had purpose. It’s not that the ministries of the past were bad, they were good, and you all have testified.

Upon reflection, some of those same ministries may have turned to have not produced the long lasting fruit that a successful ministry should have. Many of us have family that grew up in church. We tried to teach them the right things. Yet, they are not here.

When we remember the apparent good of the past, we have to look to today for the results. What we remember, and how we remember, can blind us from reality.

People tend to idolize past success and demonize past failure, without recognition that both led to the present.

This is true with the church. I’ve heard, we did this for years. We loved them for years, and where are they?

I’m sure most have heard, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the different results.” This can be true. However, if we change it up with, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same results, despite everything around us changing,” you get much of the US church today.

If we are to wake up, which I pray we want to do, we have to pay attention to what we actually strengthen. To figure that out, we have to remember the who, the what, and the why.

The church in Sardis is told to remember, but what they remember must be what they were taught, not what they did, for their works had already been condemned.

What we remember matters, because when we remember what matters, we obey what matters. The Scriptures tell us to tell each other what God has done. We are to remember.

While I’ve heard some say, here and in other churches, those that don’t attend church now, but grew up in it, aren’t obeying the faith they were handed, and that’s true, but were we obedient in what we handed them? If we based it upon the evidence before us, maybe no. Jesus decides that not us, yet just like Sardis

We must pursue obedience to Jesus.

Sardis was told to obey. That was part of the admonition to them. It remains true for us. We can get distracted by the things of the world, even confusing them with things of the Kingdom. As such we get distracted from obedience to Christ, while still thinking we are doing the right thing.

Like the US church, Sardis was rich. It could do a lot of great things. The spirit of the church in Sardis seems to match the superficial decline of the church. It may well be that Sardis represents far too much of the church as a whole. It might even represent us.

The plenty in the US has shaped us much the same way. Surrounded by luxury, your car, housing, paved roads, electricity, clean running water, are luxuries in much of the world.

The US church has been blessed by this. We thought we were doing great because of all that we could do and all we have. Yet, having so much can be a curse just as it can be a blessing.

So much of modern church success is based on culturally related growth, not Jesus relationship growth.

In the last year, or so, Pastor Joni and I, and some of you, came from other churches. That would, on paper, equal growth. That isn’t, however, necessarily growth for the Kingdom of God.

The appearance of growth often hides death or sleeping.

The death of the church in Sardis, the removal of so-called Christians from the Book of Life, should concern all of us. For each of the churches, where do we see ourselves. We each have aspects of all of them, including Sardis who had fallen asleep.

The message to Sardis is very dark. They’re dead.

This, however, is the grace that is also present, Jesus is in the resurrection business.

Through Jesus, death can lead to life.

There were a few in the Sardis church that were spiritually alive. They had not succumbed by or were consumed by the world. I hear far too often about the kinder, gentler Jesus. The Jesus who loves. Which is true. Yet, this same Jesus tells the church of Sardis that if they do not wake, their names will be removed from the Book of Life, and will not be presented before God the Father.

We have to actively seek repentance.

There is a tension between security in the love and sacrifice of Jesus and the reality that we don’t get to laze about and let Jesus do the work for us. I don’t think this is a cause to be terrified, but it is cause to be alert and on watch. Jesus being the thief in the night alludes to the truth at the time of thieves waiting until owners fell asleep to break in and steal. There is also the Scriptural tie between falling asleep and death.

Is this the difference between so-called religious behavior and faith? Maybe. Is it being more concerned with the measurements of the world versus the kingdom? Maybe.

What needs to be pruned in the church and in each of our lives? Pastor Joni and I cannot answer that alone. That is a conversation within community. We need to understand of what, not if, we are to repent.

As dark as the letter is to Sardis, it did its job. The church in Sardis saw a revival to a degree. In fact, it remained a center of the church even as the Roman Empire crumbled. We can pray for such a revival.

Now, please stand for the second reading of God’s Word.

Revelation 3:7–13 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the Holy One, the True One, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens: “I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door that no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not but are lying—I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. Because you have kept my word of endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. I am coming soon; hold fast to what you have, so that no one takes away your crown. If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.”

The Word of God for the People of God. Thanks be to God. You may be seated.

The church in Philadelphia is only the second church with fully positive things said. Two out of Seven. Not exactly a good ratio. The opening phrase of this letter comes from Isaiah 22:22, and conveys who truly controls access to God and to Heaven.

We do need to pick at this a little bit, because this letter has been used by Christians to demonize the Jews, which not what the text says. It seems that in Philadelphia, the Jews were dominant, at least in comparison to Christians, and some, only some, were oppressing the Christians.

The text appears to define genuine Jews by how they treat Christians. Which leads us to

What defines Christians is how they treat others.

This isn’t new. Jesus told us that the world will judge us by how we love one another.

The city of Philadelphia was (and remains to this day) on a faultline. It was regularly flattened by earthquakes. Taxes were high. The place was dirty and was not a gloriously marbled place.

The church of Philadelphia was neither culturally, socially, nor financially strong. Thus, it was the weakest in a city that was perpetually overwhelmed. Yet, they were commended for their endurance in weakness. As we perceive the church becoming weak in the US, how many will endure in the weakness. The numbers are not comforting.

Jesus’s promise though is that it is He that keeps the door to Heaven open, no one else. As the world judges us for our stances on certain issues, we need to make sure we are holding firm to Jesus’s teachings, not the world’s teachings, and we must be loving.

While church in Sardis was rich, wealthy and busy, it was condemned for faithlessness. While the church in Philadelphia was struggling and appeared weak, it was commended as faithful and enduring. Just as wealth, numbers, and activities do not define a healthy church, neither does weakness or meekness define an unhealthy one.

Jesus defines what a healthy church is. It’s not finances, numbers, or activities.

As I pondered the church of Philadelphia, its weaknesses and even its love, I became concerned that we here would say, whew! We’re not Sardis, we’re Philadelphia. We are probably both, having features of both.

Just as we have things we likely need to repent of as a church so that we are not Sardis, nor ought we to be reassured when we look at Philadelphia. Neither success nor weakness should cause us to be comfortable.

Both Sardis and Philadelphia were given the same conditional phrase

If you conquer…(Rev 3:5, Rev 3:12)

The resulting promise to each were different, but the conditional beginning is the same. Both the failed church and the succeeding church were told, if you conquer.

We are not a denomination that believes in unconditional election and eternal security. We must view if statements like this with great seriousness.

Is it conquering the world? No. It’s conquering ourselves. Whether it is Sardis’s getting lost into the world, or the ongoing need of Philadelphia to endure, it is about us and our faithful and obedient response to Jesus.

To conquer means that we allow Jesus to conquer in us that which expands and glorifies the Kingdom of God.

No matter the state or condition of the church or this church, we are called to always move forward, leaning into the promises of God. The time of sleep is over. It is time to awaken who we are.

As you spend time with God this week, think on the words given to Sardis and Philadelphia, and how they should apply to your life, and how you see them apply to the life of this community of believers in Jesus Christ.

Awaken, Strengthen, Remember, Repent, Endure, Conquer