Sardis: The Church of Deadly Complacency
Dearly loved congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ,
The church in Sardis was located in a proud, prominent city. At one time, this was the capital city of the Lydian empire. The city was famous for having a high place that could not be conquered – the acropolis. That was the high place where the temples were situated and where everyone in the town could retreat if an army was approaching.
In fact, if something was impossible, you would say it was as difficult as capturing the Acropolis of Sardis. The cliffs below the walls of the fortress were very steep. It was a natural defence against attackers. It was so steep at times they figured you didn’t need to post guards above the cliffs.
Of course, everyone in John’s day knew that Sardis had been conquered – twice for that very reason! First in the 6th century BC the King of Lydia was under siege by the Persians. No guards were posted on the cliffs of Sardis. Several Persian soldiers climbed up the cliffs at night, jogged through the town to opened the gates and let the Persian army in.
Once again, when Greek armies besieged Sardis in 215 BC, the king of Sardis trusted the cliffs so much he also didn’t post guards there. History repeated itself: 16 Greek soldiers climbed the cliffs, opened the gates, and conquered the city.
Jesus uses these historical events to make his point to the church in Sardis. He identifies that the church is comfortable, not watchful. They’ve fallen asleep and are in danger of dying.
Let’s unpack this message, using the structure Dr. Weima recognized in each of the other letters to the churches.
· Christ-title – refers to the author of the letter
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
— Seven spirits / seven-fold Spirit
— Also seen in Rev. 1
— Grace and peace to you from him who is and was, and who is to come and form the seven spirits before his throne and from Jesus Christ . . .
#7 = fullness
Therefore: the fullness of the Spirit of God
— Seven stars: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches (Rev 1).
— Much discussion about identity of the seven stars/angels:
— Guardian angels for congregation?
— ἀγγέλῳ = messenger
— Could refer to a preacher or pastor instead of an angel.
Taken together, this picture of Jesus holding 7 spirits & 7 stars, the Christ-title underlines Jesus’ authority and power.
It’s a word-picture of the divine ruler of the universe: different Kingdom/Empire, the divine ruler is not Caesar, but Jesus.
· Commendation – generally you expect to find praise for what’s going well in the church. But for Sardis there is no commendation. Jesus praises them with faint praise later in the letter: You have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes.
· Complaint – description of what not going well.
“I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead” (3:1).
What a difficult thing to hear. Jesus punctures their reputation and good opinion of themselves. He tells them, essentially, that they’re fooling themselves. They’ve been fooling others. But Jesus knows how their spiritual health is – and it’s not good.
They are dead.
A little later in the message, that diagnosis is softened a little bit. They are encouraged to “strengthen what remains and is about to die.” The embers are still glowing. The church’s flame can be coaxed into life again, but time is running out.
The danger the congregation faces is not persecution from non-believers. They aren’t facing heresy within the church. The problem is internal.
It’s a historical problem in Sardis – they are complacent. They’re not standing on guard, watching for Jesus’ return. They are not keeping their lamp burning in eager expectation of the bridegroom’s arrival. They are like the foolish girls, in Jesus’ parable, who ran out of oil before the bridegroom arrived. Their lamp is flickering and about to go out.
Jesus knows their deeds and they are not doing the good work that God prepared in advance for them to do. The lack of activity for the Kingdom of God is a serious threat to the life of this congregation.
· That’s where we find the Connection Point
This is Jesus’ message to the church. It’s a love-letter from Jesus, and the last line is: “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” – Not just Sardis, but other churches have this problem: complacency, passivity, a sleepiness about their faith.
It is a problem in our day as well. There’s a tendency to get comfortable. We risk being lulled into a very relaxed position regarding our allegiance to our God and Saviour. Sometimes it’s because of pride or self-righteousness. Sometimes it’s because of spiritual blindness to the dangers and snares in our on-going fight with sin and evil.
It’s when we get the most comfortable with our spiritual walk that we let our guard down and become vulnerable to temptation and spiritual attack. This message is a call to arms, a call for constant vigilance.
Of course, it’s not our deeds that save us. Jesus is our Saviour. But we’ve been redeemed to serve the Lord and our neighbour. We are co-workers with Christ and His Spirit in building up the Kingdom of God.
Our actions are the fruit that demonstrate that we are branches drawing nourishment and life from the Root. We’ve been grafted into the shoot from the stump of Jesse. The question we’ve got to ask ourselves as we read this message to the church in Sardis, is: are we being fruitful – or does the Lord have reason to call us to wake up, to look alive?
Keith Green was a Christian singer who identified this problem in the Church of North America a generation ago. He sang songs intended to spur people on to faith and good deeds. He recorded a lament that described the church as “asleep in the light.” It’s an uncomfortable thought; a challenge we need to wrestle with.
· Correction – 5 directives for fixing the problem.
1. Wake up! – look lively! There’s no room for sleeping in the church. Stand firm in your faith and keep watch!
2. Strengthen what remains and is about to die. If the church is a lamp that is flickering, guttering out, how do you strengthen that flame?
More fuel, more oxygen. The fuel for Christians is the grace we’ve received through Jesus Christ. Oxygen comes from the Spirit of God, blowing life into the church. So:
3. Remember what you’ve received. Remember the gospel message. The grace of Jesus, making us alive when we were dead. If death threatens again, it is only through the miraculous rebirth of the Word and Spirit that the church can be made alive again. It’s only by the Spirit blowing that the flame has the oxygen needed to burn brightly.
4. Obey – obey the message you’ve received: the call to live by faith, to proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes again, to make disciples
5. Repent of in-action and sinful action. Repent of sins of omission and sins of commission. Hear the assurance of pardon through Jesus’ sacrifice again. Be washed clean from the stain of sin – put on white robes. As it says in Revelation 19:
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.”
(Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.)[1]
Taken together Jesus’ correction is a call for spiritual vigilance – the opposite of complacency.
· Consequence – Now that they’ve heard the diagnosis and prescription, Jesus tells the church what will happen if the problem continues OR if it is corrected.
· Negative consequence: If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you (Rev 3:3.)
o Thief – comes when people aren’t watchful.
o Peter makes the same point in his second letter:
The day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.[2]
· Positive consequence: You have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy (Rev 3:4).
That image arises again in the
· Conquering Formula – prescription for overcoming = Nike. Becoming Nike Christians:
He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches (Rev 3:5-6).
· Dressed in white – the colour of purity: washed whiter than snow (Ps 51:7). We get a picture of that in Revelation 7, where John sees a great multitude that no one could count. The angel explains:
These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.[3]
· Acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. Reference to the gospels, where Jesus says:
“Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. [4]
·
With thanks to Dr. Jeff Weima and his seminar.
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[1] Rev 19:7-8.
[2]II Pet 3:10-12.
[3] Rev 7:14.
[4]Mt 10:32-33.