Revelation 3:1

Revelation 3:1

“And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write:”

· We now come to the fifth church, the church of Sardis. This church was located about 30 miles south of Thyatira.

· Sardis, like many of her neighboring cities, was involved in textiles and jewelry. Being in an area where much of the world crossed its path, made it a prime place to do commerce and it became very rich because of it.

· It was a city that worshipped false deities as well, and the most prominent was the goddess “Cybele” who is Greek culture adopted to be “Artemis”, a deity that was believed to possess the special power of restoring the dead to life.

· This almost seems to be a foreshadowing of what we will find in this church.

· Sardis was also located in an earthquake prone area, it was in fact, in AD 17 that the city suffered a major earthquake, opening a rift in the mountainous region, that would eventually lead the enemy forces in to overthrow the city.

· In a lot of ways, the history of the city reflects what was happening in the church as well, as the church had become very reliant on wealth and programs, but we must remember, a church can only be alive if it is living for Jesus Christ.

“These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars”

· So, as Jesus begins to speak to this church, he identifies himself in a special way, sharing with them that it is He that has the spirit and stars of God.

· What Jesus is sharing with this church, is declaring His ownership of this church. So often, we think that the church belongs to us, and that we make the decisions and choices of how things should be done. But in reality, the church belongs to the Lord. It is his, and it belongs to him.

· The Lord then is identifying to this church, that they are to be judged or weighed in a sense. He is coming to them with his deity to assess them.

· Jesus knows the life of a church, with this reference, the Lord will be able to measure this church and their livelihood.

“I know thy work, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”

· The church of Sardis, can be compared to many churches of the day. From man’s perspective they are a church that has it going on.

· It would be a church that has a lot of eloquence, popularity, a church with a lot of programs and activities. This was a church that kept its members engaged with lots of projects. Now to us that seems great.

· I mean if this church were here today, we would say that this was the church to be at. They have a lot of money, they are building some grand structures, they have all of these areas where you can be involved in. That would sound like a church we would want to be a part of, right?

· Well, here is the problem, Jesus looked at them and said to them, you have the name or reputation for being a church that is alive, but in reality, you’re dead.

· Now this is frightening, because as a church aren’t we to be working for the Lord? And the answer is yes. But the problem comes in when we take the focus off of the Lord and put it on ourselves. Where the church has become the god instead of Jesus being our God.

· This church had become very reliant on its money and programs that they didn’t even realize that they were dead spiritually.

· In the world we live in today, we are surrounded by individuals that don’t want to hear the whole gospel, but just the parts that make them feel good. The positive picture of how their life is okay and that they are going to heaven.

· They do not want to hold to the doctrine of the Word of God, but instead replace it with feel-good messages that may pull on our emotions but never bring about in real change in our life.

· Programs and activities are great, but listen, they are not to replace the real reason why we come to church.

· If you were to ask many people why they go to church where they do, they might say things like:

o They have a great facility

o They like the music

o They have an active youth program

o They like their small group

o They have a sports or recreation program

· Well, from the surface when we hear things like that, we say wow, that sounds like a great church. But what should be the reason we go to church?

· This is not a trick question, it should be THE reason why we are there. For Jesus Christ, to learning His Word and living according to it.

· Church is not about what we desire, its about it being focused on Jesus and being alive for Him. That we aren’t about the wealth, that we aren’t all about our programs, but that we are about Christ.

· Here was a church that had a reputation in the community for being alive, but in the eyes of Jesus, they were dead.

· In this pagan city where people worshipped Artemis, a god that was suppose to raise the dead. Here was a church that laid dead within this city. It had become complacent in its activities and wealth and had died spiritually.

· Now here is the problem, this church didn’t know it was dead. Just like a chicken with its head cut off, still running around the yard, it thinks it is alive, but in reality, it is dead. Here was a church that was active, but it wasn’t alive, it was just busy doing nothing but giving people something to do.