What is Jesus saying to His church? (6)

Reputation for having life

This summer, we have been looking at the seven churches in the book of Revelation.

Today, we are looking at the church that was in Sardis.

Sardis

Information from LANTC & BKC

was located about 50 kilometers south-east of Thyatira. It was a city that was well protected, but had been overthrown a couple of times because their watchmen didn’t pay attention to their adversaries.

It was found along an important trade route. Important industries included jewelry, dye, and textiles, which had made the city wealthy.

Walvoord, J. F. (1985). Revelation. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 938). Victor Books.

They worshipped Artemis, and had a temple built for her. Artemis was the goddess of the hunt, wilderness, wild animals, chastity, and the Moon. She was the daughter of Zeus. (Brittanica)

All that’s left today, is a small village called Sard.

Let’s see what Jesus had to say to the church in Sardis.

Revelation 3:1–6 (NLT)

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead.

Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God.

Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.

“Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.

“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

How does Jesus describe Himself?

Revelation 3:1 (NLT)

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars:

The One who has the sevenfold Spirit of God

Jesus is the One who has the Holy Spirit.

Even when Jesus was on earth, John the Baptist recognized that Jesus was from Heaven. This is what he said,

John 3:34 NLT

For he is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit.

Jesus is the One who promised that He would baptize or immerse believers in the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:5–8 NLT

John baptized with water, but in just a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” So when the apostles were with Jesus, they kept asking him, “Lord, has the time come for you to free Israel and restore our kingdom?” He replied, “The Father alone has the authority to set those dates and times, and they are not for you to know. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Jesus not only has the Spirit, but He gives the Spirit. The Holy Spirit isn’t given to us to make us look good or to bring glory to us, He causes people to praise and worship Jesus.

He has the seven stars

Revelation 1:20 NLT

This is the meaning of the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven gold lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

The seven stars are the messengers, leaders, and pastors.

Revelation 2:1 NLT

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Ephesus. This is the message from the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands:

Jesus holds you in His hand. Just as Jesus had the leaders in the seven churches. He has you. He holds you. He will carry you.

Jesus’ Compliment

Revelation 3:1 (NLT)

I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead.

This isn’t a compliment. Jesus is stating a fact that it doesn’t matter what others believed about them, He knew what they were like.

They had a

Reputation

You have a reputation or a name.

Reputation is what others think you are, your character is who you really are.

The church in Sardis had a reputation of being alive, but they were dead.

This morning, I’d like to spend a few minutes talking about

our relationship with God

We can look like we are alive. We can fool everybody, but we can’t fool God.

In John 15, Jesus uses a grapevine as an illustration as to our relationship with God. In science class, we studied trees.We can tell how old a tree by its rings. WE call that dendrochronology.

We studied the process of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is the process by which plants use sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide to create oxygen and energy in the form of sugar. (National Geographic)

John 15:1–8 NLT

“I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. Anyone who does not remain in me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned. But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted! When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.

We can have a reputation of being alive , but we can have no life in us except through a relationship with Jesus Christ.

This church was going through the motions. It looked like it was alive and yet it had fallen asleep and was virtually dead.

We can’t function as believers. We cannot function as a body without God.

We can do kind things for others. We can try to earn our salvation through works or even by being baptized, but we can’t bear fruit that will last except through Jesus Christ.

Psalm 1:1–6 NLT

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. But not the wicked! They are like worthless chaff, scattered by the wind. They will be condemned at the time of judgment. Sinners will have no place among the godly. For the Lord watches over the path of the godly, but the path of the wicked leads to destruction.

Trees that don’t produce fruit are ornaments, and there aren’t any ornaments in vineyards. The natural thing for us as Christians should be to bear fruit.

There are

2 Kinds of fruit

Galatians 5:22–23 NLT

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

The other kind of fruit is that we bring people to Jesus and walk with them as they grow. Our desire as a church is to see people come to faith in Jesus. Love Him with all of their heart, and to follow Jesus all the days of their lives.

A church that doesn’t bring people to Jesus eventually dies.

Jesus’ encouragement and exhortation

Revelation 3:2–3 NLT

Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.

Wake up! and Strengthen what remains

Life Application New Testament Commentary (The Message to the Church in Sardis / 3:1–6)

The city had been sacked twice because the watchmen on the walls had not seen the enemies scaling the cliffs. Thinking that they were impregnable on the mountaintop led to a deadly complacence. What had happened to the city was happening to the church, and it needed to wake up. The situation was not completely hopeless—if they caught themselves in time, they could strengthen what little remains even though it, too, was at the point of death.

Let’s not be lulled to sleep! Let’s wake up!

Church family, it’s great to remember what God has done in the past. We remember that this church was a Centennial project. I praise God that He moved here and did a great work among young families and children when Pastor Kevin and Rachelle were here, but I believe that God wants to move among us here and now!

Isaiah 43:19 NLT

For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

This verse is speaking to the people of Isaiah’s day, but I don’t believe that God is finished with us yet. I believe that He wants to move in us and among us.

Philippians 2:13 NIV

for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

Go Back to what you first believed

Revelation 3:3 NLT

Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.

Do remember the fire you had when you first believed? Do you remember the urgency to tell others about Jesus?

If we aren’t careful, we can drift. We can trust in our own abilities. We can become careless, and complacent.

God is calling us to go back and hold firmly to your faith that you had when you first knew that you were God’s child. Don’t go down the broad road that leads to destruction! Take the narrow path that leads to life!

Repent and turn to Me again

Isaiah 55:6–7 NIV

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

Repentance means to change our minds, our plans, and our actions.

If we ask the Lord, He will show us where we need to change, and chances are, many of us already know that we need to change, but we’ve been procrastinating. In other words, we’ve been too stubborn to change.

In Psalm 51, King David prayed and asked God,

Psalm 51:10–13 NLT

Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you. Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you.

What are the results of doing nothing?

Revelation 3:3 (NLT)

...If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.

This isn’t speaking of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, but to many Jesus will come as a thief in the night.

What He is speaking of is coming and bringing judgment. Jesus is merciful, but Genesis 6 says that the Spirit of God will not always strive with humans.

1 Peter 4:17 NLT

For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household. And if judgment begins with us, what terrible fate awaits those who have never obeyed God’s Good News?

When the Holy Spirit is speaking to us, let’s not resist or reject. He wants us to repent and receive God’s mercy, but if we refuse, our hearts become seared and even dull. Then all that is left is judgment.

Yet there are some...

Revelation 3:4–5 NLT

“Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.

Some in the church in Sardis had not soiled their clothes with evil. They were washed in the blood of Jesus.

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!

We can’t get to heaven on our own. We must believe that Jesus died for our sins. He calls us to abide, remain in Him because without Him we can do nothing.

To the victorious

Revelation 3:5 NLT

All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.

Love Jesus! Walk with Him all the days of your life. Follow Him. Be found in Him. Your name will never be erased from the book of Life.

It doesn’t say it, but I would also say to the one who drift, the one who has a reputation of being alive but is dead, don’t take the risk that your name will be there when you meet Jesus, but Wake up! Strengthen what remains! Go Back, Hold firmly to what you first believed and Repent and turn to the Lord.

In Matthew 7:21-27

Matthew 7:21–27 NLT

“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ “Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.”

Revelation 3:6 NLT

“Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.

According to what Jesus said to the church in Sardis, let’s not become complacent, but let’s love the Lord and find life in Him. Let’s not drift but let’s make sure that our relationship is alive and let’s keep on being filled with the Spirit.

Where we have drifted, let’s return to the Lord and He will freely pardon.

Let’s expect that God wants to do something new in us today.

Let’s pray