The Messianic congregation at Sardis was in for a big surprise. This devotional reading looks at how a strong congregation got a harsh condemnation.
Nuggets
- Sardis was a wealthy city set upon by hard times.
- The Messianic congregation at Sardis was doing God’s work but not properly.
- Sardis was warned that their congregation was in serious trouble.
Ooo, baby. There wasn’t anything good said about the Messianic congregation at Sardis.
Well, “… ‘… I know your works …’” (Rev. 3: 1 ESV) can be taken either way. Since the rest is negative, I don’t think they would have considered that knowledge is a pleasing thing.
Let’s see what the letter said.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the The Letters to the Congregations series
To the Church in Sardis
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write …” (Rev. 3: 1 ESV)
Sardis was a wealthy city set upon by hard times.
At one point, Sardis had been a city of importance, as it had been the capital of Lydia. However, an earthquake had caused its destruction.
Though it was struggling economically, Sardis was said to have been a city well able to defend itself. Because of this, it prospered.
But no defense is always perfect. The city was conquered by the Persians, Macedonians, and Romans. That may be in part why it was known for its burial mounds.
Today, Sardis is in ruins. It boasts the ruins of the largest ancient Jewish synagogue ever built.
Instead of Sardis, the near-by town is called Sart. Unfortunately, there are no Christians to be found.
Vision Man’s Greeting
“… ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead’” (Rev. 3: 1 ESV)
The Seven Spirits of God and the Seven Stars
Audio Man talked again about the seven spirits of God. It is generally believed this is talking about the Holy Spirit.
I, personally, don’t get caught up by the word has. “… him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars …” (Rev. 3: 1 ESV). The Holy Spirit is an equal part of the Trinity, but He is also a unique part.
We have God the Father and God the Son. Using the familiar family terms makes it just that – familiar. We can identify with them.
Then, here comes this Spirit thing that we have no concept what He really is. That is one reason why we can label Him as our conscious. We can wrap our heads around that.
Add to that what the Holy Spirit can and cannot do. “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (Jn. 16: 13 ESV).
To put it in our vernacular, we would say God has the Holy Spirit under His employ. I say this in the sense of the Holy Spirit does what God asks Him to do.
We just have to decide what way was being asked.
The Holy Spirit doesn’t do anything that God hasn’t told Him to do.
Maclaren went a different route. He saw the seven spirits as Jesus.
Resource
That could buy into the belief that Vision Man is God and He is Audio Man. It would also make the Spirit concept a little less confusing for the congregation at Sardis.
I just don’t see the seven Spirits as Jesus.
We’ve already been told what the seven stars are. “As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches” (Rev. 1: 19-20 ESV).
Throw in who all the letters are addressed to – the angels of the Messianic congregations. We said that most scholars agree this isn’t a heavenly angel but a human messenger.
The seven stars – angels of the churches – if they are human messengers – aren’t physically in the palm of Jesus’ hand. So, why should we quibble about the Holy Spirit being there?
But we are in the palm of God’s hand now, aren’t we? There are several ways we can apply that. “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me” (Isa. 49: 36 ESV).
God has got us.
Your Works and Your Reputation
The Messianic congregation at Sardis was doing God’s work but not properly.
What happened at Sardis? The Messianic congregation had been going strong.
But Jesus knows the true condition of our souls. He knows when we are living church and playing church.
God sees everything about us. Not only that, He judges us. He keeps books detailing our thoughts and actions.
We also keep saying that works aren’t just the Matthew 25 to-do list. It is about our spiritual condition.
It is also about the words and thoughts we have regarding our spiritual condition. They don’t always line up with our actions.
Jesus knows that, too.
The disciples at Sardis were putting on a show. They weren’t really who they said they were spiritually.
Sardis had the reputation for doing the work God had for them. Then something happened, and they died spiritually.
Rogers thought the backslide was gradual. Usually, it is so gradual that we don’t see it.
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What causes us to backslide?
- We don’t keep up our personal relationship with God.
- We focus more on the world than on God.
- We are critical of others instead of loving them.
- We refuse to submit to God.
They looked alive spiritually. But they were, in fact, dead.
The same happens with us. Our acts are a costume for our hearts.
How do we know someone is spiritually dead when they keep functioning in the church? We lose our spiritual graces.
I wonder how many disciples in churches today are doing the same thing. Visibly they look like disciples, but the inward transformation just isn’t there.
We not only have to talk the talk, but we also have to walk the walk.
If we do not work to grow in grace and knowledge, we will morally decline. The churchy term for this is backsliding. We are sliding back to where we were when we met God.
Reputation is what others see on the outside. God sees our hearts and knows our motivations.
Too many times, we think reputation is good enough. It isn’t.
It was really interesting. Several of the sermons I read mentioned that we need to be given a name to love. This not only shows us we are known by the Savior, but it also shows that we are God’s children and pure.
Sometimes, we tie our name into our reputation. Our reputation is the outward manifestation of our actions. Our character is the inward workings of the Holy Spirit within us, changing us to have God’s character.
In order to not be like the congregation at Sardis, we have to evaluate ourselves. We have to check at the heart level to make sure we are truly in God’s Will.
God wants us to be consistent. If we present that we love Him, we should truly love Him.
Sardis’ Warning
“Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God” (Rev. 3: 2 ESV)
Sardis was warned that their congregation was in serious trouble.
The good news is that Vision Man tells the Messianic congregation Sardis that there is hope. I don’t think they would have gotten the letter if there was absolutely no hope.
Wake Up
They could wake up. God the Father and Jesus the Son wanted them to wake up.
Let’s think this through and tie it to the last section. The purpose of this letter to the Messianic congregation at Sardis was to wake them up and get them back into obedience. This happens by the presence the Holy Spirit.
About to Die
But how much hope did this letter actually give them? How can the congregation be “… about to die …” (Rev. 3: 2 ESV) and not know it?
Well, how can we as churches today not know we are a dead church? (And I am not talking number wise.) Probably most of them that are dead because we don’t want to admit we are Matthew 7: 21 people.
We don’t want to be Abraham. We don’t want to leave what we know and believe for something that we have no clue on and can’t control.
But that is what God calls us to do.
But let’s get back to the question at hand. How can we tell a church is dying? Boston gave us a list.
- Sin doesn’t bother us anymore.
- We are more focused on the religion and ceremony and not the relationship with God.
- We are missing any part of God’s plan.
- We don’t try to withstand against sin and temptation.
- We aren’t evaluating ourselves in order to repent and turn from our sins.
- We are doing church on autopilot because the spiritual aspect is gone.
- We no longer seek God or Jesus.
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We have to be very careful. We start dying when we start quenching the Spirit.
“Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil” (I Thess. 5: 19-22 ESV).
We are not to lessen the impact of the Holy Spirt. We are to remain watchful and diligent. We are to do our duties as disciples with haste.
Incomplete Work
Sardis’ work was deemed incomplete by Audio Man. They were in complete danger of dying spiritually because they were working from the wrong principles and working toward the wrong ends.
They were organized as a congregation. They were doing things congregations did but were going through all the motions and rituals.
The Messianic congregation at Sardis did not do all God required.
Rogers thought this letter would have absolutely mortified them. They who thought they were going to get attaboys and attagirls were told they were all but dead and heading the wrong way.
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We have to wake up in order to watch. God called us frequently in His Word to watch. “But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man” (Lk. 21: 36 ESV).
The only way their situation was going to change was if they realized they were in a dire situation. They had to make the decision to turn back to God.
We think church should be all rainbows and unicorns. Nothing bad should ever happen to us again.
But then it does because Jesus said we would be persecuted.
That is when it doesn’t become enjoyable, and we think we’ve gotten on the wrong bus.
Loss of enjoyment is a symptom caused by neglect of growing our faith.
What we really need to do is make sure we are doing the relationship God’s way. God determines the way to salvation. “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Ac. 4: 12 ESV).
Then we have to submit to the sanctification process His way. There is no other way to do that, either.
We have to worship God individually and corporately as He requires, not as we want to do. He is Creator of all. He deserves it the right way.
Most of all, we have to leave the final decision to God. Are we perfect in His eyes or not?
We’re not using our standard or the world’s standard to make that call. We have to use God’s.
Making the Connections #1
Okay, Sardis got this scathing letter, but we don’t have many details about what their problem was. How do we learn that way?
Mackennal said that the anonymity is intentional. Instead of showing His might and power, Audio Man retreated into the confusion of what the Spirit is.
Resource
This withdrawal is further evident in the call for repentance. It is there — sort of. “Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent …” (Rev. 3: 3 ESV).
That’s it. It is as if Audio Man knew it wasn’t going to make a difference, so He wasn’t going to waste His breath.
We don’t expect that from God, do we? We expect it from mankind.
But we always expect God to be there to save us and forgive us whenever we get around to repenting.
Well, we expect God to honor our halfhearted attempts at repenting, too.
I bet some expect God to give us salvation without repenting and turning from our sin.
Yet, we expect God to always be there with the welcome mat out?
Time ran out for the congregation at Sardis. It will run out for us, too.
Making the Connections #2
There are so many things that cause a church to die. One is inattention. Another is indifference.
Griffin championed inattention. We don’t pay attention to what he called “… the characteristic spirit of the gospel …”
No, this isn’t probably how we would have fashioned a Savior. It sure wasn’t the way the Jewish people were expecting Him.
But it is the way God did. God knew what we needed, and He gave it to us. We just have to accept it.
We have to do it God’s way – and we have to do it for the right reasons. We can’t be looking for fire insurance or a way to save the world from poverty and sickness.
Our faith and our love for God has to be front and center.
Neglect is a big killer of our faith – and our churches. We have to be buried in God’s Word because it is our guidebook for life on this shore.
But then that gets into Woodford’s indifference. He makes a great point.
We do tend to neglect the familiar. We grew up that way, or it has become habit.
There is a big ouch in there. It is the part where Wooford says that it doesn’t mean much to us when we grow up with religion.
No, I don’t think that is a one-size-fits-all deal. We all have to be honest and say we know some who fit that bill.
We need to make sure our focus is on God.
Making the Connections #3
What would God do with a dead church?
Wagstaff thought we would probably rebuild or revive. What is the buzz word these days – church revitalization?
What Wagstaff thought was we would cut out the bad and transplant programs that had worked elsewhere.
Nope. Wagstaff thinks God strengthens what remains.
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I can see that, but I am not convinced that is always the case. None of the congregations that got a Revelation letter are going intact today.
God can and will close church doors.
How Do We Apply This?
- Evaluate ourselves as God will judge us on the Day of the Lord.
- Understand that Jesus knows the condition of our thoughts, words, and works.
- Don’t engage in hypocrisy when we try to say we are disciples but aren’t.
- Strengthen our spiritual graces.
- Seek God more consistently and more deeply.
- Have each congregation member cognizant of the need to impress on themselves and others the need for revival.
- Eliminate whatever is keeping us from God.
- Unify the congregation.
- Become more active in what our soul needs to find strength.
- Strengthen the talents of the soul – grace, energy, thought, generosity, love, and enterprise.
- Evaluate ourselves so that we know the condition of our own spirits.
- Constantly ensure that our doctrine is correct.
- Make disciples of others.
- Reprove those who are backsliding as needed.
- Pray for our endeavors.
Resources
Father God. We don’t want to be a dead church. We don’t want to be pretending. We want to truly be Your children. Help us to grow in faith. Amen.
What do you think?
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