The Seven Churches (Sardis)

For 50 years, King Croesus ruled with pride and prestige.

Ruling Lydia, modern day west Turkey, he resided in the capital city of his kingdom known as Sardis.

A wealthy, fortified city built on cliffs, seemingly impenetrable.

He was known for his wealth- the first to mint gold and silver coins in standardized form.

To protect his wealth,. he built an acropolis to hide it.

With all his wealth and glory, it was once said… “If Croesus goes to war, he will destroy a great empire.”

In 546 BC, his power was put to the test.

One night, while their enemy, the Persian army, was watching the guards of Sardis at night, there was a clashing sound, similar to that of someone dropping a plate down a case of stairs…

As a Persian soldier watches carefully, he notices a guard look over the mountain cliff… moments later, the guard arrives at the foot of the cliff to retrieve what is seen as his helmet which was dropped down the side of the cliff.

The guard returns through the secret door in the mountain and appears back on guard at the top in a matter of moments…

Immediately, the soldier reports to his commander all that he had seen.

After careful planning, the Persian Army took action in the middle of the night, taking over Sardis, ending the reign of Croesus, and exposing a false reality, diminishing his reputation.

All while the kingdom of Lydia and the city of Sardis was asleep… complacent… and unaware and comfortable.

This is a true story. This is a part of the history of the city of Sardis. This is a picture that rests as a piece of the backdrop of Jesus’ letter to the church in Sardis.

Revelation 3:1–6 ESV

1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. 4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Sometimes, we need someone or something to bring us back to reality.

Whether through receiving a challenge, being slapped in the face, or enduring something that is hard.

All throughout the book of revelation, Jesus is revealing the reality of believers by expressing what is happening on earth and in the unseen.

This letter enables us to widen our eyes to what is actually around us, what we tend to miss and not see.

This morning, on this father’s day, I pray this passage acts as a challenged, a wake up call, and a pull back to reality for us as a church here on Davis Islands.

Sardis was a wealthy city with a huge sports arena.

After the city was taken by the Persians, it was later assumed under Roman rule.

This is where we find the church today- in a time where the city was no longer what it used to be…

And much like the city, the church suffered from the same attachment to their past- the constant obsession with the “glory days.”

The church thought that since everything seemed to be going ok, that they were doing alright...

Here is the reality of the church in Sardis…

Comfort leads to carelessness.

The christian life is not a comfortable life.

It involves sacrifice and refinement.

It is in the sacrifice of personal comfort that the Lord rewards us with peace and comfort for our souls.

None-the-less, it is a life of commitment regardless of our circumstances…

Revelation 3:1 ESV

1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

The number seven represents fullness- completeness.

Describing the Spirit of God as being seven points to a passage we see in Isaiah 11.

Isaiah 11:2–3 ESV

2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. 3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

This is a prophecy we see describing the coming messiah… Jesus…

So… the words of him- He is Jesus!

And then He says…

Revelation 3:2-3 “ ‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.

In other words… The Spirit of God we just referenced is not active within the life of your church that you feel is “going well.”

If Jesus was writing to churches today, He would probably say something like this….

“I see your livestream. I see your social media posts. All of your programs. Youth camp, VBS… Even though all of those things SEEM well… you are still dead!”

Regardless of your reputation, you are dead!

What gives Jesus the authority to speak like this?

Ephesians 2:5 ESV

5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—

Jesus didn’t come so we could just learn about Him, make bad people god people, get the better versions of ourselves, and make life better by our standards…

Jesus came to bring the dead to life.

Churches across America today seem like they’re alive.

Endowments keep the lights on in our historical churches that seat hundreds when only tens attend.

We fall into this habit of preserving what we think is good even if it isn’t a thing of God.

We settle for a faith that is fake instead of a faith that is unfathomable.

And we wonder why our friends and family won’t step foot inside our doors…

Is it because the church is full of people that don’t look any different than those on the outside?

Here me when I say, I am not referring to a body of people who do good things and serve well…

I am talking about a people who are so radically in love with their God, they are willing to look and live differently in response to what He has called them to live in!

Does your life match your proclaimed motive?

You come to church wanting what you can’t give yourself- new life, purpose, fulfillment- that’s the best assumption.

But are you willing to live according to the words of Jesus to experience it, even at the cost of what this world says you need…

Our life has to be different that the lives of others in this world.

Let’s not look holy, let’s live holy. (Pastor JJ)

Let’s not just wear the cross, let’s carry our cross.

My greatest fear for any church is to begin to assume the reality of the church in Sardis- to become so complacent with what we are doing and what we once did that we neglect who we are called to be.

Did you know that you could be doing everything right and still miss it?

You can…

Go to church on Sundays

Join a community group

Attend a Bible study

Rest on the weekends

Build relationships within the church

Register for conferences

Study God’s Word daily

You can DO all of these things and and still not BE who Jesus wants you to be!

Notice that nothing I listed are evidences of a true believer…

How will they know if we are believers?

Matthew 7:16 ESV

16 You will recognize them by their fruits.

What are the fruits?

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

These are the fruit that bears when seeking to become a faithful, transformed, follower of Jesus!

Sure, these things can be fruition of what was just listed…

But unless these things are done IN THE SPIRIT, you cannot bear this fruit and we cannot be the church God has called us to BE.

I believe this is why Jesus ensured that the beginning of this passage emphasized that He contained the fulness of the Spirit…

Unfortunately, churches wouldn’t whether or not the spirit is moving because they’ve never invited Him in the first place…

We are too busy holding revivals when God just desires for us to allow one to break loose….

A gospel-centered church is a church that relies on the presence of God’s Spirit.

Have you ever experienced a move of the Spirit?

Sardis needed to be revived…

A dead church is an ineffective church. It’s building becomes a tombstone for what it once was.

Let’s look at Jesus’ warning to this church.

Revelation 3:2–3 ESV

2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.

Wake up!

We can become like the soldiers who were sleeping the night the Persian army took the city over…

We have to have a spiritual awareness!

Do we know what is at stake?

Are we in complete step with God’s mission?

Do you seek to be a disciple of His word and to follow every word in obedience?

Notice Jesus wasn’t saying “Get better at what you are doing!”

He says, “Wake up!”

Men… there has never been a more urgent time for you to wake up.

Strengthen what remains.

The church still had a vital sign of life… Jesus was calling them to strengthen the things that are still useful for the kingdom!

In other words, don’t give up.

If your marriage is strained, it can be restored!

If your child is a prodigal, he can be saved!

If your walk is weak and you are drowning with fear, it can be revived!

How can these things be strengthened?

Through the power of the Holy Spirit.

God can minister to your soul and bring purpose, healing, comfort, peace, and clarity.

He can also bring direction, confirmation, and empowerment.

Trust in the giver of life, Jesus.

He entrusted to you our helper, the Spirit of God.

The same Spirit that was in him!

Revelation 3:3 ESV

3 Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent.

Remember and repent.

Remember the day you recognized that your life could look differently?

The day you fell in love with Jesus?

The day you received grace for the first time?

The day your life began to be restored?

Unfortunately, we are forgetful people.

If you have read the Bible, it is full of people like you and me.

People who, under pressure and/or hardship, fall into a state of forgetfulness.

In doing so, we trade our trust in God for our destructive trust in ourselves.

We begin to believe that we know what’s best.

We begin to operate out of a fear that derived from our forgetfulness.

Jesus is telling the church something I think we should receive as well.

Remember.

Why?

Remembrance leads to repentance.

When we remember who Jesus is, what He did for us, is doing for us, and will do for us, we recognize His mission- to save us from ourselves through His forgiveness of our sins against Him!

It is then we can have the confidence to repent!

To turn our focus from what we are or aren’t doing and lean in to who we have been created to be!

And then lastly, as a result, we can be a people who live victorious.

Revelation 3:4–6 ESV

4 Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

Sardis was known for making woolen garments.

White garments would have been special to the people of Sardis- embodying a sign of purity.

Forgiven and empowered.

It is then, in response to His call to repent and continue to believe, that our names will forever be written in the book of life- to live in eternity with Him forever.

Revelation 3:6 ESV

6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’

What will you do with what you have heard today?