Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Thank you for sending me to the preaching and teaching convention this week at OCC.
-Needed it spiritually, emotionally, mentally, professionally.
I bought some of the recordings, which will be back on the media shelf in the library.
I got DVDs of what I thought were the three best sermons that kicked my butt, woke me up to some blind spots, and called me to follow the mission of Jesus as we seek to be a Jesus people.
Thank you, again for sending me.
Today, we’re going to talk about Sardis and before we get into this city, I just want to read the letter to Sardis:
And Sardis is a tragedy for many reasons.
It should be a chilling reminder of the danger of falling asleep on the job.
Sardis got comfortable.
You won’t see any of the understanding from Jesus of their persecution because they didn’t experience any.
As Keener says:
Despite the city’s paganism, the Christian community there seems to have experienced no persecution—and hence no spiritual life.
There was a saying "to capture the acropolis at Sardis." "When pigs fly."
Nevertheless, the Acropolis at Sardis was captured THREE TIMES throughout history.
Croesus vs. Cyrus the Persian- no one on the guard station (549 B.C.).
Colin Hemer describes the incident this way:
He sent messengers to test the wisdom of the oracles, and gave his implicit trust to that of Delphi, which answered him correctly (1.47–49).
On consulting it about war with Persia, he was encouraged with the response that if he crossed the Halys, then his frontier, he would destroy a great empire (1.53).
He accordingly found pretext for war, disregarded wiser counsel, and attacked and captured Pteria (1.71–76).
On the arrival of Cyrus an indecisive battle was fought.
Croesus, having the smaller army, withdrew to Sardis, dismissed for the winter season his powerful allies from Egypt, Babylon and Sparta, and summoned them to reassemble in five months.
Meanwhile he disbanded all but his Lydian troops, ‘never expecting that after so close-fought a campaign Cyrus would venture against Sardis’ (1.77).
Cyrus however followed unobserved: αὐτὸς ἄγγελος Κροίσῳ ἐληλύθεε (1.79).
Croesus, caught off guard, led his formidable Lydian cavalry desperately into battle, but the horses were thrown into confusion at the sight and smell of the camels which Cyrus had posted in front of his army (1.79–80).
Croesus then summoned his allies and prepared to endure a siege in his precipitous stronghold.
But on the fourteenth day Sardis fell.
An enemy succeeded in climbing to an unguarded point, ‘where no guard was stationed, for there was no fear that it would ever be captured at that place, for the acropolis is sheer and impregnable there’ (1.84).
They thought they were so secure that they didn’t even bother keeping watch!
Alexander the Great didn't even fight- “you have a name of being strong.”
At the approach of Alexander, however, the Sardians hastened out to surrender their city without resistance (Arr.
Anab.
1.17.3;
cf.
3.16.5).
Alexander ascended the undefended citadel and was greatly impressed by its immense strength (1.17.5; 334 BC).
Nevertheless the place was again captured by Antiochus III in 214 BC through the negligence of the defenders.
Three times, Sardisians fell asleep on the job and they were conquered because of it.
Two times, they simply fell asleep.
Once, they simply abdicated their responsibility to defend their friends and family and opened the gates to the enemy.
They city was living off of a former reputation as a place of importance and military strength.
They had since lost their prestige.
And there was no recovering it.
They were also well known for their rich dyed fabrics.
In fact, they claimed to be the place where the process of dying fabrics was created.
Seven spirits- this is the complete Spirit of God.
Father, Son, and Spirit are aligned in the testimony that Jesus will bear concerning this church.
They have a reputation that they do not live up to.
Just like the city is living in the prestige of the past, so is the church here.
They have a reputation in the community of being alive, but Jesus contradicts it.
There is no indication that the Christians at Sardis are being persecuted at all.
They have made themselves so comfortable with the culture around them that they are not offensive to anyone at all.
They have synchronized.
They don't stand for anything.
They don't call anything sin.
They tolerate everything so as not to offend anyone, except God (all in the name of love, of course).
Does this sound familiar?
They are so like the world that Jesus says, "You're dead, just like the world!
The Holy Spirit left your city a long time ago and you didn't even notice!"
That should be haunting to the people of God.
And that’s why my prayer is that if the Holy Spirit isn’t in an event that we do, that it would fail spectacularly.
"Wake up" is a present active participle!!! Literally "become alert, and continue to be alert ALWAYS!"
More like "I have not found your deeds in the present state of being made complete in the sight of my God."
This harkens back to Jn. 19:30, where Jesus says "it is in the present state of being paid in full."
It's almost like they are undoing the work of Christ in their lives due to their failure to obey as a church and be a light to the world- a city on a hill that cannot be hidden.
What is the action?
Love of God and others.
What does love of God and others look like?
Proclamation of Truth and service.
Meeting needs while speaking truth, in a word, ministry.
Ministry isn’t an office reserved for those who are paid for it.
It is the duty of all Christians everywhere.
Ministry starts from the moment your feet leave the baptistry and ends the day you die.
If you’re a Christian, that’s when you’re done.
This is judgement language here.
Jesus will come against them suddenly, unexpectedly.
That Jesus will come unexpectedly is the message of the New Testament after his ascension.
We should live every moment as though Jesus would return right then.
Think about this as you live your life- would you be ashamed or pleased in any given moment if Jesus returned?
What would he say?
Would he rebuke you, or embrace you?
He will come unexpectedly.
We are to work like he will come back immediately.
He could come back any moment.
Don’t let him catch you sleeping.
What does it mean to have soiled clothing?
See, in Revelation, clothing tells you what kingdom people belong to.
Soiled clothes belong to the kingdoms opposed to God and only those with pure white belong to the Kingdom of God.
They are the evidence of salvation.
So John defines this symbol later:
They are worthy because they act like Jesus.
They serve like Jesus, they put on Jesus’ righteousness, and they died (if necessary) like Jesus.
And this is how he demonstrate his worthiness:
They stubbornly refused to compromise in the face of a culture (even people claiming to be brothers and sisters) saying "just keep your Christianity at church, where it belongs.
Will you really go to hell if you bake that cake/take those pictures/issue that license?
Jesus would have done it."
The culture will ALWAYS try to make us more tolerant than our God is.
Therefore, behind the image of receiving “white robes” in 3:4b–5a, as well as elsewhere throughout Revelation, stands the idea of a purity that has resulted from the fidelity of the faithful being tested by a refining fire.
You want unsoiled clothes?
Submit to Jesus.
Love who Jesus loves.
Serve who Jesus serves.
When we put ANYTHING above the mission of God (sports, politics, sex, fun) we are soiling our garments.
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