The Seven Churches - Sardis

Notes from our Wednesday night Bible Study...

Profile of Sardis

• 30 miles south of Thyatira.
• Lies in what’s now the country of Turkey.
• A river runs through the center of town that literally flowed with gold. (Gold dust from nearby Mt. Tmolus.)
• First place to ever mint coins.
• Very large Jewish synagogue – the largest ever excavated in the Mediterranean world.
• It was connected a greek gymnasium and bathhouse.
• It adjoined a row of shops.
• This tells me that the Jewish community in Sardis had most likely sold out to the culture around them in a number of ways.

…the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

• Isaiah 11:1-2 – “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse: from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”
• Jesus bears all these things.
• He is superior and the ultimate authority.
• You cannot argue with him about any of the things he’s about to say.
• The seven stars are the seven angels of the churches he is addressing.
• The messengers – literal angels or the human pastors.
• I believe there are angels given charge over areas or even churches – ministering spirits.
• God does call individuals to be his messengers, mouthpiece, to churches and nations.
• I tend to lean toward the literal angel theory.

You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.

• A good reputation is a good thing.
• But their reputation didn’t match who they really were.
• What could you speculate would be the cause of this?
• What kind of things would give a church a reputation of being alive?
• What would make them dead?
• All the outward show without the inner support.
• Is the church today living off of its reputation?

Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die.

• They were mostly dead.
• All dead – there is nothing you can do.

In verse 2 I see the reason why they were dead.

• “I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.”
• They were doing something, but only what was required and no more.
• They maintained the look and feel of a church because they had Sunday morning services, Sunday night services, and Wednesday night services.
• But there was nothing more than that.
• I see churches all over the place who are simply keeping the saints happy and feeling good.
• But they’re not fulfilling the mandate Jesus gave to make disciples.
• Remember what Jesus said to the church in Thyatira?
• You’re doing more now than you did at first.
• I’m not going to ask you to do anything more—just keep up the good work.
• He talked about their love for one another.
• Their service in the world.
• Their faithfulness to God.
• Thyatira was increasing while Sardis was decreasing.
• Presbyterian leaders project that their denomination will be dead in 50 years or sooner.
• The Episcopal church has lost 1/3 of it’s members since 1965.
• The United Methodists are losing 1500 members per week worldwide.
• I’m not trying to badmouth these churches—this is statistical fact.
• If you look at these churches, you can see trends.
• Each of them have or are looking to ordain homosexuals.
• Although they used to be highly evangelistic, they have predominately stopped these efforts.
• They are more like civic organizations than the Living Church of God.
• Lest we think we are something, if we don’t wake up and start doing what we did at the first and do more of it, the Assemblies of God will die right along with them.
• Church as usual will not get it done.
• Doing what we’ve always done will not yield better results.
• In Sardis, they had become lazy.
• They stopped caring for each other.
• They stopped reaching out to the world.
• They got a little too comfortable in the faith in God.
• The church was only a shell of what it could be.
• Jesus might call this a white-washed tomb.
• Good-looking on the outside, but dead on the inside.
• Much like the city of Sardis itself.
• In its day it was one of the greatest cities in the known world.
• But by this time, it was a far cry from its past slendor.
• It is said of Sardis that it was a city of peace.
• Not the kind of peace won through battle.
• “The peace of the man whose dreams are dead and whose mind is asleep, the peace of lethargy and evasion.”
• This deadness had crept into the church as well.
• His word is WAKE UP!
• Remember what you have received—what you have heard
• Obey it and repent.
• Repent of what?
• They weren’t participating in any sinful behaviors.
• They needed to repent for what they were not doing.
• Sins of omission.
• He’s giving them a wake up call.
• But they have to get out bed.
• If they don’t, he’ll come unexpectedly like a thief in the night.
• 1 Thes. 5:1 – “Now, brothers, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.”
• It’s not that Jesus wants to surprise them.
• He’s giving them warning now.
• My return will be like a thief in the night.
• Make sure you’re awake when I come.
• There’s a reason why Jesus used this analogy.
• Sardis was known for its great military strength.
• But on two separate occasions, history tells us that the city was attacked and overthrown.
• The invading armies waiting for the cover of night and attacked while the army was sleeping.
• They were comfortable with their reputation for being strong.
• They didn’t think it would happen to them.
• But it did on two separate occasions.

You have a few people who have not soiled their clothes.

• The thought here is that the majority of the church in Sardis had soiled their clothes with sin.
• Not doing the right thing is just as bad as doing the wrong thing.
• It stains us and separates us from God.
• Jude 23 talks about hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
• These people will be dressed in white—purity
• What is on the inside will be reflected on the outside.
• Matt 5:8 – “Blessed are the pure in heart for they will see God.”
• They are worthy of heaven.
• They will dressed in white just like Jesus is.
• They will walk with Jesus because they are worthy.
• Human being? Worthy of heaven?
• He makes us worthy.
• It’s because of our unworthiness that he wants to make us worthy.

He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white.

• Those who overcome the sin their in.
• Those who follow his instructions and repent.
• It’s a dead church, but there is still hope!
• How are their robes made white?
• Isaiah 1:18 – “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”
• Washing in the blood of Jesus.
• That’s how he makes us worthy.
• Not by the good that we have done.
• But by his grace.

I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.

• I want to reassure you on something.
• 1 Thes. 4:17 – “…we will be with the Lord forever.”
• Once you get there, you are there forever.
• Matt. 10:32-33 – “Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.”
• In order to make our works complete before God, we must acknowledge him before men—the world
• Stand up for him and be his witnesses.
• Then he’ll say, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into my rest.”
• Then he himself will announce our names as we enter God’s Kingdom.