Superficial Sardis - Rev 3:1-6

There is a wasp native to the tropical regions of Africa, South and Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands called the Emerald Cockroach Wasp, or the Jewel Wasp.

Personally, I hate wasps, but these wasps are stunning. They are a bright emerald green and blue, which is of course how it gets it’s name.

What make this wasp stand out more than it’s color is how it feeds and reproduces. When it is ready to lay eggs, it will find a cockroach, sting it directly in the brain which disables the escape reflex, leads the cockroach into it’s nest, then attached it’s eggs to the roach. When the eggs hatch, the larva will feed on the roach, keeping it alive, but in a quasi zombie-like state, until the new wasp is matured and finishes off the cockroach and emerges from the shell of what once was a living and thriving cockroach.

It’s a bit of a gruesome picture, and you may hate me forever for using it as an illustration. But there are ways in which Christ’s warning to Sardis has what should be equally bone-chilling resemblances to this bit of nature.

The cockroach looked alive as it moved about, but for all practical purposes it was dead. It was no longer under its own control, but the control of the wasp. It seemed to have a superficial life, and yet it was slowly being consumed from the inside out.

Sardis was a church that has appearance of being alive, but was dead. No longer under the control of the Spirit of God, they were being consumed by the inside out from their own apathy and impurity.

There is one significant difference however; once the roach was stung, it’s fate was sealed. there was no coming back. That isn’t true for Sardis. For them, there is still time to wake up and show true life again.

Let’s read our text this morning:

Revelation 3:1–6 LSB

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: This is what He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says: ‘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 complete 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 names in Sardis who have not defiled 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 never 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.’

The history of Sardis is a fascinating one. I don’t have time to dive deep into it today, but here’s just a brief sketch.

Sardis was built on a high plateau and was nearly impossible to conquer. On one side were sheer cliffs, and the road leading into the city was steep and winding. Because of it’s strategic local, for centuries who ever controlled Sardis controlled the surrounding regions. Eventually The city came under Greek control and then Roman. As the Roman empire expanded and adapted to being just that-am empire, the strategic importance of the city of Sardis declined.

Once teeming and full of life, Sardis began to dwindle and eventually lose its place on the world stage.

By the time of the writing of Revelation, Sardis was well into it’s decline, and though it would have people dwelling there for several more centuries, eventually the entire city would lie in ruins and remains so to this day as just one more relic of the ancient world.

At the time of writing, Sardis’ religious landscape looked very similar to many Greek or Roman cities of the era. Multiplicity of temples, alters, shrines, and cults. One thing that stands out, however, is that there seemed to be a preoccupation with the concept of death. They were a dying city, and yet nearby hot springs were viewed as connected in some way to the gods of the underworld and had some healing power and even the ability to restore life to the dead.

If that is indeed part of the city’s background, imagine how salient Christ’s words to them would be: you have a reputation of life, but you are dead.

As well at this text today, I’m continuing with the same outline we’ve been using as we study these letters. We consider Christ, The condition of the church, Christ’s command, and then His commitment.

Christ: Has the seven Spirits and the seven stars

Once again we have this emphatic statement from Christ, Thus saith the one who has the seven spirits and seven stars.

These are details discussed with John’s initial greeting and description of his vision of the exalted Christ.

The concept of the seven spirits is an allusion to Zech 4 which describes the Spirit as seven eyes of Yahweh which roam the earth, and then Isaiah 11:2

Isaiah 11:2 LSB

The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and might, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of Yahweh.

In this context, the Spirit rests on the Messiah who is sent out to judge the earth and bring about justice.

Zech 4 speaks of the seven eyes, and we find a similar detail in Rev 5:6

Revelation 5:6 LSB

Then I saw in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.

The Holy Spirit likened unto seven spirits and seven eyes, signifying the all-seeing nature of the spirit. He knows all. There is nothing hidden from his gaze.

Christ: Has the seven Spirits and the seven stars

So when we consider Christ and that he has the seven spirits, and when we consider what those seven spirits were doing in the context of Isaiah, we see that Christ comes to Sardis 1) with all seeing eyes that knows all things, and 2) he comes to judge and bring about justice.

As we will see, Sardis is going to be the first church so far for whom Christ has very little to say in regards to positive commendation. They are the dead church, and Christ comes to wake them up.

And so, though it may seem that Christ comes ready to wield judgement, we also recognize that he comes with what is needed to impart the very thing the church needs: life! They need the spirit of God to bring them life!

Christ comes not only with the seven spirits but with the seven stars.

As a reminder, Christ told us in chapter one that the stars are the messengers to the seven churches. The fact that Christ holds them signifies his authority and ownership of the churches.

So Christ is thus pictured as the empowered judge who has authority over the churches, but also as the one coming with the only means of life—the Spirit of God.

Why do they need life so badly? They are characterized as the dead church.

Condition: Dead (mostly)

Revelation 3:1 LSB

“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: This is what He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars, says: ‘I know your deeds, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

I know you deeds. For some churches this phrase brought comfort. The Lord saw their plight, their labor, their faith, their perseverance!

Here. He sees them like that dead carcass of the cockroach. It may look alive as it moves about, but in reality, it is being consumed from the inside out.

Christ says you have a name that you are alive. Other translations render this “you have a reputation of life”

Sardis was once a church teeming with life! So much so that they gained the reputation as being such a living church!

And yet, Christ says. and yet. you are dead.

Sometimes the busiest people are the deadest. We’ve all heard the stories of people that just seem to happy, so full of life, and yet live with internal anguish. Robin Williams is a classic example. He always seemed so happy. Was always doing stuff.

And yet, his internal depression and neurological disease led him to take his own life.

We cannot assume that just because someone looks like they have all their stuff together that the outward appearances reflect the inward reality. Sometimes the business is a mask to cope with the internal struggle. If you ever feel that way I hope you can feel comfortable coming and talking to someone about it, be that me or some other person you trust.

But this outward appearance that is at odds with the inwards reality, that’s true of individuals... That’s true of churches as a whole as well.

Sardis. A busy church! Lots of activity! They were doing it! They had the best praise band. They had their soup kitchen, their clothing drives, their VBS was always the best one in the area, and their pastor probably got millions of view on YouTube and Tiktok.

Anything necessarily wrong with any of that? Not necessarily.

But does business mean life? No.

Pillar! We have Sunday school, morning worship, bible study, fellowship meals, fireside theologies, and regular activity in evangelism of our community.

That’s stuff! We’ve got stuff going on! Some might look at that and conclude that we have a healthy balance of discipleship, teaching, evangelism, and fellowship.

Does it mean we’re alive? Not necessarily.

This reminds me so much of Isaiah 1, where God is talking about how the people were bringing their sacrifices to God, they were participating int he festvals, and doing all the things, and God turns around and says, thanks, I hate it.

I hate you religious festivals, I have had enough of your sacrifices, I’m incensed at your incense.

Why?

Because it was religious activity for the appearance, and not from the heart.

Because it was religious activity that seemed good, but all the while the people are out participating in other sinful practices that shows their hearts weren’t wholly devoted to the Lord.

Pillar we cannot think that we are immune from this danger.

If we get everyone busy serving, but never tend to each other’s souls we will die.

If we do well for a period of time, and kick back and rest on past accomplishments and lean on that reputation without taking new steps forward we will die.

If we manage to draw in tons of people, have lots of programs, become the next SouthEast in terms of influence and size, but fail to proclaim the true Gospel, and fail to disciple one another in the faith, we will die. W’ll look busy! We’ll be doing stuff. But is it stuff that really matters?

If we focus being exciting and experiential instead of communing with our Savior and exalting Him, we will have missed the whole point.

Let’s bring it down even closer:

You in your personal walk. Apathy toward the things of the Lord. Apathy toward personal devotion, holiness, prayer, etc. Maybe you volunteer for things at church. Maybe you put money in the offering box.

But you can do all things, and be so, so SO far from God.

Busyness doesn’t save you.

Sin will kill you.

Apathy will starve you.

That’s true of individuals. You. Me.

That’s true of Churches. Sardis. Pillar.

It’s sobering to think about, but there is good news.

I love the line from the princess pride where Wesley has died and they bring him to miracle max, and max says “you’re friend here is only mostly dead. There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all the way dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.”

And so Jesus issues a command here:

Command: Wake up! Strengthen! Remember! Keep! Repent!

Revelation 3:2–3 LSB

‘Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of My God. ‘So remember what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent.

There are some things that remain in Sardis. All hope is not lost! the church still have time to wake up, to come to their sense, to realize how their own sin and apathy is killing them.

Christ says I have not found your deeds complete. You still have work left to do. I’m not finished with you yet.

It seems that the idea here is less about quantity of works, but their quality. There are deficiencies in their work because their hearts are not in it. They needed their hearts tuned to serve the Lord with sincerity and devotion. Strengthen what remains, don’t let that die too!

Muscles atrophy if they are not exercised. As long as some muscle remains, it is possible to strengthen what is there.

How do you do that?

Remember. Remember what you have received! what have you received? The gospel! You know the truth of the Gospel! You know that Jesus died, was buried, and was born again, and that he lives to make intercession for you! Remember that! Jesus gave a similar charge to Ephesus: remember from whence you have fallen.

Keep. To keep it is to guard and obey it. back in chapter one there was a blessing to those who keep the words of this book. The church needed to walk in obedience to Christ.

Repent. turn away from your dead works. Turn away from your apathy. turn away from going through the motions. Turn to a vibrant walk with the savior and king.

This is what is needed.

Sometimes people will come to a place of realizing that a change needs to be made, and they try to subtly make those changes without addressing how they’ve been going about things wrong the whole time. Usually it doesn’t make for lasting change.

Lasting change only comes about with true repentance and godly sorrow over the sin. If you aren’t willing to name your sin, confess it, and seek forgiveness and reconciliation, why should I or anyone else believe your change of heart is genuine? There must be biblical repentance.

And if there isn’t? Christ has a bone-chilling warning:

Commitment: I will come like a thief

Revelation 3:3 “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 imagery of Christ coming like a thief is found in a handful of contexts, most of which are associated with the Second Coming of Christ to establish his millennial kingdom.

There is debate about whether Christ is speaking of a special coming in Judgment against this church in particular, or if he is using the phrase to speak of the the general judgment at his return. Neither option is particularly exciting for the church. In the first case, a special coming in judgment sounds horrific. Things were so bad Jesus brought judgement early. In the second case, that means being “left behind” in the rapture, enduring the seven-year tribulation, and facing Christ in judgment when he returns.

In either case, the warning is striking, and the call is clear. Repent now, while there is still life left in you!

Because there is still some life left.

Commitment: White garments, name secure in book of life and confessed before the Father and angels

Revelation 3:4–5 LSB

‘But you have a few names in Sardis who have not defiled 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 never erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

There are some who have not defiled themselves. This here makes it clear that mere apathy isn’t the only issue in Sardis. They are caught up in some sin and are defiling themselves in a moral sense in some way.

Apathy will always lead to immorality, if left unchecked.

Immorality will lead to antagonism against truth, if left unchecked.

Antagonism leads to apostacy.

But not all walk that path.

There were still some who were living holy lives, and for them, they get walk with Christ in white, for they are worthy.

White is a color of purity.

Walking with Christ speaks of the relational element with the savior. Listen to Christ, and you will walk with him because you are worthy. Not because of anything in yourself, but because you are in Christ, and Christ is the true worthy one.

This ties in to the promise to the overcomer:

1) he will be clothed in white garments. Again, a symbol of moral purity. Not because you are inherently righteous, but because of the righteousness of Christ.

2) Christ will never erase your name from the book of life. There are many debates about the implications of these words. I’ll save the details of that debate for another day. For now, the emphasis is on the surety that we have in Christ here. There is an emphatic negation - I will never, ever, EVER blot your name out, no way, no how, you can take it to the bank, your name is secure before the Lord.

3) and finally, your name will be confessed before the Father and his holy angels. Christ will say “this one’s mine” no matter what the accuser of the brethren may say agianst us, no matter what charges are brought, who can bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies. Who is the one who condemns? Jesus Christ is he who died, yes, rather who was raised who is at the right hand of God who also intercede for us! Our name will be confessed before God as Christ claims us as his own!

It’s a beautiful thing!

And so we are challenged once again: he who has an ear, let him hear what the spirit says to the churches.

Are you alive today? Or are you playing a game? Going through motions. Doing what’s expected.

Do you have a habit of personal devotion to the Lord? Do you pray? Do you abide in Christ and abide in his word?

Or are you a busy shell with nothing but death on the inside, being consumed from the inside out by your own confessed sin and apathy?

Wake up! Strengthen what remains! Remember what you’ve been given! Keep it! Repent!

I close with this.

William Patton MacKay was a Scottish doctor who lived in the mid-to-late 1800s. He grew up in a believing household and he went through all the motions you’d expect someone to do as he grew up, but his heart was cold. He eventually left he church, and sold the Bible that his mother had given him. He eventually became a doctor, and was attending to a patient one day. He wrote of the story how the man’s condition was terminal and they sought only to bring him relief from pain. William was amazed at the man’s peace even as he knew he was dying. Eventually the man passed away. As they were attending to his body and cleaning up the room, one of the nurses asked what they should do with the man’s bible.

William relates how he could not believe his own eyes, but that was his own Bible, the one given to him by his mother, the one he had sold to make a little money to spend on sinful pleasures, the one that still bore his own name written in his mother’s own hand, with a passage of Scripture she wrote underneath.

It was through that unlikely event that God led William to confess, and I quote him now

“the accusations of an awak­ened con­science drove me al­most to des­pair, un­til was ena­bled to em­brace the faith­ful say­ing, wor­thy of all ac­cep­ta­tion, that Christ Je­sus came in­to the world to save sin­ners, ev­en the chief; and that my new dis­co­vered Bi­ble is dear­er to me than all the books in my lib­ra­ry, be­cause the gos­pel it con­tains has been made to me, though faith in Christ, the pow­er of God un­to sal­va­tion!”

William was dead. But God used that event to awaken him. He remembered the truths of what he had been taught. He repented of his sin and clung to Christ. And his name will never EVER be erased from the book of life.

William eventually was ordained as a minster, and wrote the hymn that we are going to sing as we close here today. Revive us again.