SARDIS: THE WAKE-UP CALL
I have a gift. A very special gift. I can fall asleep just about anywhere. And I fall asleep sitting up. I just fold my arms, lean back, close my eyes, and drift off to my “happy place.” Whether it’s the car dealership when I’m getting an oil change or recently when Sharon had her eye examined, if I have to wait, I read something, play on my phone, and suddenly my eyes are closed.
One time, I was in the waiting room at the doctor’s office and patients were slowly being seen. I did my thing. Out like a light. Not sure if my snoring scared the children. I was so far gone that when my turn came to see the doctor, the nurse called my name three times, and I didn’t answer. She was afraid to touch me for fear that I would wake up swinging. I was dead to the world. Finally, I don’t know how many times she called, the nurse roused me enough to wake me and I could see the doctor.
How fair is it to say that the church in Canada has fallen asleep? The church is multifaceted and has many faces and thousands of expressions in our nation alone. To make an accusation of such broad proportions fails to consider the tremendous work of individual churches for the kingdom of God. We can’t paint all the churches with one brush.
That’s why, I propose, Jesus speaks to each church individually and gives them his evaluation. Jesus is so intimately involved in each church he is able to accurately and lovingly sound out a wakeup call that is specific to their need. He can see what’s missing and speaks to it. If the church is asleep, will it hear the call?
The church at Sardis was a sleeping congregation. What Jesus says about this church is the most severe of the seven churches of Revelation. He does not commend it at all. What’s most frightening is that they don’t even know how close to death they are as a church. They think they’re doing great. But Jesus has nothing good to say about this church.
The Church of Sardis (3:1a)
The city of Sardis had an unfortunate history that reflected the 1st century church. In the 6th century BC, the city was a prosperous hub of life and wealth. It was here that King Croesus reigned in his impenetrable fortress until the Persians under Cyrus attacked. A few centuries later, it happened again. Both times the city’s walls were breached because the city slept and did not keep watch. They didn’t think they needed to keep watch; no one had ever gotten past the walls.
Just as the city tried to live in the wake of its former glory, the church in Sardis also thought it could exist on its reputation. Here’s how Jesus addressed this congregation:
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits and the seven stars…”(1a).
This is almost identical to his self-identification to Ephesus. Why does Jesus talk about “the seven spirits” in relation to the Holy Spirit when the Spirit is one person in the Godhead? It may be that Jesus is not referring to his personal oneness, but to his many ways of relating to the church. In Isaiah 11:2 he is described as “…the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” And in Romans 8, Paul speaks of how the Spirit gives life to the Christian if the Spirit of Jesus is truly in him or her.
You are going to see that Sardis is in desperate need of all the Spirit’s gifts to revive it. While the city slept it was invaded; while the church sleeps, Jesus is coming. Wake up!
You’re DEAD!!! (3:1b)
“I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” This is really scary. Of all the churches, Sardis is the one that should concern us. Look, there is no talk of false teaching, no Balaam, no Nicolaitans, and no Jezebel. What’s wrong with this church that Jesus would say, “You’re dead!”?
I “googled” how you can tell when a church is dead. The result was overwhelming in terms of the various signs. I could give you a list of 30 or more things that “church leadership experts” claim are missing in today’s church. But the answer is right here in the text. What does Jesus say made this church at Sardis dead?
It's image (3:1) – If a church becomes more concerned with its image or reputation or legacy, it ignores God’s image. If we are worried about building a brand or keeping up with programs, it’s a sign of spiritual illness. Outward appearances are notoriously deceptive. Sardis was distinguished among the other churches, but it was a spiritual graveyard. “Its works were beautiful graveclothes which were but a thin disguise for this ecclesiastical corpse.”
It's agenda (3:2) – It seems that the church left Christ’s agenda unfinished to pursue their own. Jesus said, “I know your works…I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God.” God’s appointed mission for the church is a continuation of Christ’s earthly ministry. This is why Jesus gave us his Holy Spirit. Sometimes you can enter a church, hear great praise music, a decent sermon, but find that there is no Spirit in the fellowship. We can get distracted by trying to do the right things to attract people, to be culturally relevant, to grow, but miss what the Spirit wants us to do. Our human efforts to “help” the Spirit get in the way of God’s work.
It's message (3:3) – The messages from the pulpit and the classrooms were becoming human-centered rather than truth-centered. Jesus said, “Remember, then, what you have received and heard…” In an age of tolerance, to reach people with the good news, many modern churches have compromised biblical teaching for humanistic teaching that doesn’t offend. Preaching “Christ crucified” offends people because Jesus died for sinners, something many don’t want to think about themselves. We cannot water down the gospel and trivialize hard truths. Sardis was dying because they were not feeding on the living bread.
It's attitude (3:3-4) – Repentance! They were unwilling to change their ways. When they remembered what they had received and heard, the gospel of Jesus Christ, they are told to “keep it, and repent… Yet you still have a few…people who have not soiled their garments…” So, this death was dirt. Sin had crept into the church, less openly than with Jezebel or the Balaam party, but it was not missed by Jesus. And it seems that repentance came hard for these folks. I think it comes hard for us too. Do you know why? Confession! Confession accompanies repentance. Who wants to start? But if we would confess and repent, we would have revival.
It's condition (3:2) – Spiritual lethargy! Jesus says, “Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die…” The church was playing the pretend game. “Let’s pretend we’re serving Christ and worshiping God.” We can mouth the words of our songs and sing them with skill while our minds wander our hearts are far from God. That lethargy infests the life of the church so that our impact on our community becomes benign. Notice anything missing at Sardis? They’re not being persecuted. They’re not a threat to anyone.
These are the signs of a dead or dying church.
Wake up! (3:2-3)
So, let’s say you’re attending a church like Sardis, what do you do? What would Jesus have you do? Throw in the towel? Give up? Go somewhere else? In the wake of Covid and the moral failures of several Christian leaders, many have given up on the local church. But it is a mistake to assume that it is irredeemable or that the local church cannot be revived. If this were true, then why would Jesus bother to speak to Sardis?
Jesus urges the church at Sardis, “Wake up, and strengthen what remains…Remember, then, what you received and heard…” We come back to those words to highlight why Jesus identified himself as the one who holds the seven spirits of God. What had they received from Jesus and what were they supposed to hold on to? What was missing from the life of the Sardinian church? The Holy Spirit.
All through the Scriptures we are told that God judges, not the things we do but the reason we do them. In the OT, God rejected the sacrifices of the worshipers because even though they did everything right, their hearts weren’t in it. David figured that out in his own crisis with God when he wrote, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise,” (Ps. 51:17). God is looking at our hearts to see if our work is done out of love for him and gratitude for what he has done in Christ. We don’t care what people see or don’t see – God sees. We do these works because we want to please God. That’s what Sardis needed to wake up to, that it’s all for Jesus!
Mother Theresa in a Time Magazine interview commented on the work she was doing in Calcutta, India, decades ago. She said, “We try to pray through our work by doing it with Jesus, for Jesus, to Jesus. That helps us put our whole heart and soul into doing it. The dying, the crippled, the mentally ill, the unwanted, the unloved – they are Jesus in disguise.” That’s the spirit that Sardis was missing.
If the church is dead, Jesus invites you to be the change agent. He asks you to wake up and pray for the church to be renewed and to find its life again in the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Those worthy few… (3:5)
Those few who “get it,” who have not soiled their garments (stained themselves with the world – lit), they receive the promise: “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,” (5).
Who are the conquerors? They are the believers who overcome the temptation to water down their witness for Jesus. They are the ones who are “all in” or “sold out” for Jesus and don’t care how they look when worshiping or how they sound when talking about the cross of Jesus.
The question you may be asking of this verse is this: Can my name be blotted out of the book of life? And I would answer that this is probably the wrong way to look at the verse. The emphasis is on those who prove themselves to be genuine followers of Jesus – they receive the promise – and their names are already in the book of life. Jesus is using what is called a negative-positive – it is a positive guarantee expressed negatively “I will NOT erase your name.” It is not a matter of losing your salvation – the context of the book of Revelation never suggests that. What it does suggest is that those who profess the name of Jesus but are not genuine in their faith were never written in the book.
Do we hear what the Spirit is saying? (3:6)
“Sleep” is a common biblical euphemism for death. Is the church sleeping? Is the church dead? Is RFC in danger? I think any congregation risks falling asleep and should be drinking some Holy Spirit coffee to stay awake. Be filled with the Spirit, Paul says.
No, I don’t think we are sleeping here at RFC. But as I searched “signs of a dying church,” I picked out the signs that concern me. These are my observations:
The role of prayer in the life of the church: I confess that when we first came to RFC that I was filled with holy fear, and I wanted to be a good pastor. So, I prayed with everybody. Lately, I’ve noticed that, after becoming friends with many of you, I have slipped in this aspect of my reliance on Jesus. I want to be your friend who prays for you. I want both. And I desire that we would be praying together as a church more and more. Please help me to do that.
Discipleship: This came out in the church evaluations, and it has been on my mind for a long time. Some of you have asked that there be space made for mentorship in the faith. That’s great. But do you know what you are asking? If you are in the role of discipler or the discipled, it means time. Lots of time. It is so rich and so rewarding, you will never forget it. But can you make the sacrifice for it?
The reputation of RFC: Do we rest on it, or do we live it? Forget about what we did in the past, what are we doing now? If RFC were to shut down and the building bulldozed and a Tim Horton’s went up on this spot, would anybody remember what we did, who we worshiped, how we impacted the community for Jesus?
The Holy Spirit: Do we want more of him? Some of you by your testimonies and how you live your lives have inspired me that though we have the Holy Spirit in us, there is more of him to discover. Are you ready for the adventure he wants to take you on? I know that I can’t do this Christian thing without him? I’m losing steam and I need the Spirit of Christ.
These are some challenging observations. Maybe you are wondering about your own flagging spirit and heart for Jesus. Are you worried that you are not that genuine follower of Jesus who has not soiled their garments? Jesus understands the struggle you face. He knows the emotional and psychological turmoil you are engaged in, and there is grace for that. Do not condemn yourself. Walk towards him and let him help you the rest of the way to sincere discipleship.
Hey, are you sleeping?!?
One last bit of encouragement: Even though Christ’s assessment of the church was that it was dead, he still spoke to the congregation. There is hope!
AMEN
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