Church: Sardis

Introduction:

Astronomers tell us that the light from a star takes years to reach the earth. So when a star dies it could be years before we would ever know it becasue the light form the star would keep pouring down onto the earth for years.

The church at Sardis was like that.

On the outside everything seemed to be ok.

The church building was maintained - the yard was well kept - there was plenty of cars in the parking lot on Sunday mornings

but on the inside they were dead and the results were devastating

Chuck Swindoll had this to say about the church

The church of Sardis took its cues from the city. It had all of the external marks of a busy, productive church life. But decay was taking its toll internally, leaving its glory days lost in the memory of what had been. Unfortunately, like the city that surrounded it, the church’s current reality no longer matched its former glory.

This would be fitting for many churches in our country today and the same could be said about many Christians - on the outside everything seems to be good but on the inside all we see is spiritual slumber

So how did the church get there and - how do they fix it? that is what we are going to explore here this morning but before we do let’s start by reading the letter that Jesus wrote to the church

turn to Rev 3 and stand with me as we read

Revelation 3:1–6 NASB95

“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.’

Ok before we dive to deep into the letter first let’s take some time to set the scene

The City of Sardis

The city of Sardis was about 30 miles east of Thyatira located on the Pactolus river - and in that river was an abundance of Gold

So needless to say It was a very wealthy city

Now the city itself was located on a Acropolis - which basically means that the city was located on a hill - and while the hill was not square I want you to think of it as square this morning…..it will help you understand the significance of this placement - on all but one side the of this hill were step treacherous cliffs - the 4th side was a cliff as well but it had a small path that you could use to enter the city

So as you can see the city itself was well protected - It has been said that it would only have taken about 5 well trained men to defend this city form 1000’s of soldiers becasue of the way it was set up

The city seemed to be impossible to defeat however on 2 different occasions the city was taken by surprise and suffered a humiliating defeat

Both attacks occured at night and basically the soldiers quietly scaled the cliffs and found the city asleep - with no one on guard - the city had fallen asleep on the job and their pride lead them to believe that they could not be defeated

So what about the church?

The Church of Sardis

As we will see the church was guilty of the same thing

they had let down their guard - and prided themself on how great the church was on the outside but on the inside the enemy had managed to take them down - Isn’t that how it always happens?

Ok let’s get back to the letter by first taking a look at how Jesus describes himself - This plays a key role in how he diagnosis the church latter in the letter

look

Revelation 3:1 (NASB95)

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.

if you recall a several weeks ago we looked at this same phrase in Revelations 1 and we discussed how the 7 spirits represent the Holy Spirit and the 7 stars are the 7 pastors of the church

but what does that all mean and why did Jesus describe himself this way

well think back to John 6:63 - in this verse John tells us that

John 6:63 (NASB95)

“It is the Spirit who gives life”

Jesus is the one who gives power to the church and that power is received through the person of the Holy Spirit

It is the HS that brings life to the church - you see the church as we will discover have loss contact with the HS…they have grieved the HS….they have quenched him

now this is usually where we look at the good that Jesus had to say about the church - but it is missing form this letter

This church was in some serious trouble - and while Jesus is not done with the church - He had some strong words of rebuke that they better pay close attention to WHAT HE HAS TO SAY

The Diagnosis of the Church

to this church he says

Revelation 3:1 (NASB95)

“I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.”

To the community and probably even to most of the church members everything seemed to be good - the building was in great shape - the budget was stronger than it had ever been and the seats were full - they had made a great name for themself

but even though the church has a reputation for being alive - for the most part rigor mortis has set in

the church was dead

we need to stop right here for a second and understand what Jesus means when he says that the church is dead

Because when we here the word dead we think about the physical properties of death

but that is not what Jesus is saying here - becasue in the next verse he calls on them to wake up

so what Jesus is actually saying to this church is that they are in a spiritual slumber - they are buys doing things but very little if any of what they are doing are things that he would call them to do

so what he is saying is actually pretty harsh - he is saying that they are “utterly useless”

we see this same concept in

James 2:20 NLT

How foolish! Can’t you see that faith without good deeds is useless?

Now I don’t know about you but those are not the words I want Jesus to say about me or about this church

so we better pay close attention and ask God to search our hearts

So to sum it up the church was no longer operating under the guidance and power of the HS and because of that they are of no good to God and his kingdom

The Fix

So how do they fix it?

One commentary describes the situation in this church as a scene straight out of the ER - where Jesus comes rushing into the church as a physician trying to breathe life back into this comatose congregation

Wanting to revive and restore it’s health

and in order to do just that 5 things have to occur - these 5 things can be applied to any church that finds themself in this situation

now as we cover these 5 things we are looking at them form the lens of the church but i want you to also see that they can be applied to your personal life as well is you find yourself in this comatose state

Ok Here are the 5 steps - I would write them down

Step 1 - Wake Up

The first thing you have to do is wake up

This church is a deep sleep and so Jesus walks over to them and shakes them

Have you ever watched the doctor interact with some one who is in a deep sleep and they are trying to wake them up (the fist rub)

that is what Jesus is doing here

Just like the city - this church had fallen asleep on the job and left the doors of the church unguarded

and so the enemy walked right in the front door - unnoticed - undetected and he is having a hay day in the church

drawing the church away form obedience - some theologians say the church was so far gone they were practicing paganism

I don’t know about that it is possible - but they were in such a state of slumber that they were no longer working for the lord nor did they have any desire to

Husbands have you ever sat down in your chair knowing that you had a hone do list - but you sat down any ways and you told yourself I will get to it later but before long you are in a comatose state - knowing you should get up and knock this list out but you still just sit there

that is this church

We should be asking ourselves this morning if we to are guilty of falling asleep on the job…Asking God to show us where we are in a deep slumber…

and jesus is shaking them saying wake up - they needed a revival

Step 2 - Build your Strength

After getting them to Wake up Jesus tells them to strengthen what remains

the good news here for this church is not all hope was lost their was still a flicker of life

and he is calling the church to regain their strength - and get back to work

think about a runner who has not ran a marathon in years - he has let himself go - in fact he gets winded going to the mailbox and back

that man is not going to wake up today and go for a 5 mile run - before he can get back to running marathons he has to condition his body

that is what needs to happen here

they need to restrengthen what little bit of faith and obedience that they have left - and get back into shape - spiritually speaking

We would do well here to ask the Lord to show us where we have let ourself go as a church and as individuals…

Step 3 - Plug back into the Holy Spirit

So first of all they need to wake up - then they need to regain there strength now this 3rd step is huge

look at what Jesus says in Rev3.3 he tells them to “remember what they has seen and heard”

For years I have missed this connection and I do not want you to miss so pay close attention

what is is that they are to remember? What is is that they have heard

look back at verse 1 the answer is found in the description of Jesus - look at the words on the screen

He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars

They needed plug back into the work of the HS

Church It is the HS that brings us to a point of salvation - convicting of our sin and calling us into a life with Jesus

It is the Holy Spirit that gives power to the church

and it is the Holy Spirit that will bring life back to the church here in Sardis

You see the major problem of this church here in Sardis is that they had forgotten about power of the HS and they were no longer under his direction

How can you tell if a church has lost the power and direction of the Holy Spirit

In the words of Dr David Jeremiah - all you have to do is observe their worship service - because it is the HS that causes authentic heart felt worship to burst out of us

and so if the worship is lacking that is a huge indication that the power of the HS is lacking in that church

I want you to examine your time of worship - and ask yourself what does it say about me - Is the HS working in me are am I trying to fabricate genuine worship

Step 4 - Keep It

Now we move into Step 4

and we see Jesus share the simple to letter phrase “keep it” What are they to keep? We know form other passages in scripture that he is calling them to keep the word

This one is really simple they are to get into the Word of God and become doers of the word

Church you have heard me say several times before that just Merely reading the word of God is not enough - we have to take it and apply it to our life - we have to let it transform us

Ask yourself this question - When I read the Word of God what is my goal…is my goal to be able to have something to say during Sunday school or Bible study ….is my goal to check it off my lost for the day….or is the goal of reading the Word god to transform my life

There is still one more step and it is a big one - without this step all the other steps will be undone - IN this step Jesus calls the church to repent

Step 5 - Repent

This is a call for a decisive change of mind and attitude

this is what they needed

they needed to look at what got then there in the 1st place and turn away form that behavior and chase after the one that holds all power in His hands

That would set them on the right course toward recovery.

Jesus did not mince words here - he wanted them to know they are headed down a path they did not want to be on and they need to make a change very quickly are he would come to them like a thief in the night and pull the plug

In the words of Chuck Swindoll Jesus came into the church and said

“No more playing around with spiritual things. No more talking about doing what’s right. The time has come to do it! Start today!”

How do we apply this?

Where do we need to repent?

Jesus is calling us to examine our life and the life of this church and ask ourselves this question

Are we dead?

As the worship team comes up think back to the question we asked our selves - they are on the handout if you need to refer back to them

What did the HS put on your heart?

do you need to repent of something?

do you need to pray for some one who appears to be in a spiritual slumber

maybe he is saying you are dead and it’s time to wake up

or maybe he is saying it is time to accept him as your lord and savior and stop living for yourself - Jesus came so that we could have life and have it more abundantly - all we have to do is surrender to him asking him to be the Lord of our life

remember what Swindoll said as we go into a time of worship

“No more playing around with spiritual things. No more talking about doing what’s right. The time has come to do it! Start today!”