Word of Salvation – Vol. 73 No. 06 – June 2023

 

The Living Lord And His Church At Sardis

 

Sermon by Rev. John Westendorp on Revelation 3:1-6

Reading: 2Timothy 3, Revelation 3:1-6

Suggested Songs: Immortal, invisible, God only wise (BoW.360)
                        Glorious things of you are spoken (BoW.490)

 

Theme: The Sardis church rebuked for having a form of godliness but denying its power.

 

Introd: It’s very easy for us to make judgments about churches.

I don’t just mean that we attach labels to them: Reformed… Arminian… Charismatic.

I mean judgements that go much, much deeper than that.

‘Times when we say:  That Baptist church down the road, that’s really an alive church.
                        That Church on the corner is as dead as a dodo, no life there at all.

We not only ‘pigeon-hole’ a church… we make pronouncements about it.

We need to be cautious – in Rev. 2 and 3 it is the Living Lord who makes such pronouncements.
And Jesus sees much more in the church than we do… He sees it differently.
Take Sardis, for example, where Christ’s evaluation and general opinion were poles apart.
We have to be very careful when we make judgments about a congregation.
We judge by what our eyes see and what our ears hear…. Jesus looks at the heart.

For that reason too we ought to beware of comparing today’s churches with these seven churches.
Pergamum… that is what we are like…  and Sardis… that’s the church down the road.
We then forget that each letter is addressed to a specific church at a specific moment in history.
These 7 letters were sent by Jesus to churches that no longer exist today.
So we must be very careful about saying:  This or that church is like Sardis.

However that does not make these letters to the seven churches irrelevant.
Each of them is recorded in Scripture to teach us lessons about Jesus and about the church.
All of them are there also to make us pause and do some self-examination.
So we may never say either: Sardis doesn’t apply to us… let’s go on to Philadelphia.
            Sure, these letters were written to specific churches at a specific time.
            But they were also recorded as the Word of God for our instruction.

So as we study Sardis let’s not think of other churches to which it applies.
But let’s ask ourselves what this letter to Sardis has to say to us here in [our church].

 

A]        SARDIS – A DYING CHURCH.

1.         Sardis is the church that has made a name for itself.
            It had a reputation… and a very good reputation at that .

Sardis is the church everyone wants to attend… it’s the envy of other churches.

In poor old persecuted Smyrna they probably said: If only we were like Sardis.

In loveless Ephesus many might well have wished to be in Sardis.

There was probably envy in Pergamum, infested as it was with false teaching.

Sardis didn’t have any of those problems… everything was going along fine.

Here was a church that didn’t have to do much PR work…. it was already well known.

Everyone was saying:  Now that is really a ‘with it’ congregation.
                        Sardis:  An alive church where it’s all happening.

When folk skipped their own evening services
…to worship elsewhere you always knew where to find them… Sardis.

Yet right away we see how wrong people can be in their judgments.

Jesus did NOT share the popular opinions about Sardis.

Jesus said:  Oh, yes!  It’s alive alright… but only in name.
         In fact it is dead.  Not just dying… but dead.  D.E.A.D.

Sardis is the church that has become a graveyard.
Only trouble is – people aren’t aware of yet.
            Because the tombstones are shaped like church pews.

Only Jesus can see the true state of this church: ‘You have a reputation for being alive.. but you are dead’.

2.         It’s worth noting that in Sardis there is no mention of persecution as there was at Smyrna.

Probably because satan can’t be bothered persecuting a dead church.

Paul spoke about persecution to Timothy in 2Tim.3:
Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

    But the faith and life of these people was so tame… no one bothered them.

In Sardis there is no mention of false teaching at there was at Thyatira.

Probably because people were too disinterested in Christian teaching anyway.
Too much apathy about doctrine – even for folk to have heretical thoughts.
Satan leaves a dead church alone.
Why should he trouble such a church?  Things are going his way in any case.

Why then did Sardis have such a good reputation as an ‘alive’ church?

Because there was still a lot happening… much busyness and activity.
Lots of programs to draw people in.
But the trouble is that these things were all empty forms.
Jesus says that He hasn’t found their deeds ‘completed’ (lit. filled up) in the sight of God.
            IOW their deeds are empty deeds.

Sardis is the church of the empty formalities.  Let me use my imagination:

Plenty of ceremonies and liturgies, customs and traditions.

They still held worship services… with fluent prayers and some good singing.

Their pastor still preached theologically correct sermons that were easy to listen to.

And the kids all went to cato classes… they even had a youth worker in Sardis.
Outwardly everything was going fine…
Sardis is a picture of the church at peace… but it’s the peace of the cemetery.

3.         There is an important lesson for us in this letter to the church at Sardis.

The lesson that it’s possible to have all the right forms and traditions.

    To have good theology and yet be as dead as a dodo.

    To have a great reputation for being ‘with it’… a name for being ‘alive’.
But that somehow it is all nothing but an empty, hollow show… all froth and bubble.
Like a shell washed up on a beach… beautiful… but empty inside.
            Paul spoke about those who have the form of godliness but who deny its power.

And that leaves us with some questions.
Why are you in church this morning, Mums and Dads?  Tradition?
Why attend Catechism class kids?  Only because Dad and Mum make you go?
Why busy yourself with youth programs, young people? …and outreach activities?  Custom?
I wonder what Jesus would say of us today with all our busyness?

            As a church we haven’t been troubled by persecution or by heresy.
            But is that maybe because our faith challenges no one?
            Is it perhaps because our life and witness are too subdued?
            How much of what we do is just going through the motions….  empty forms?

Sometimes it might be better if Jesus said:
You don’t have a good reputation and your name is denounced… but at least you are alive….!
            In Sardis it was the other way around.

 

B]        SARDIS IS CALLED ON TO DEFY DEATH.

1.         Interestingly Jesus calls on this dead church to cheat death.

He wants this congregation to defy death and live: “Strengthen what remains and is about to die”.

Strange isn’t it?  Jesus pronounces this church dead and then still calls on it to fight for its life.
How can you challenge a dead church?  Surely, it’s too late for that?

Sometimes in our modern hospitals a patient dies.
The heart stops beating… there’s no more breathing… no more pulse.
The patient is clinically dead… and yet resuscitation begins.. and the patient revives.

Well, here is a dead church… but the great Physician doesn’t give up.

Just because there’s no heartbeat doesn’t mean He deserts the patient.

            Any feeble flicker of life that lingers needs to be awakened.

            The flame on the candlestick has gone out… but the wick still glows.

                        Maybe it can be encouraged to burst into new flame.

To understand how that’s possible let me remind you again why Jesus regards this a dead church.
The key is in v.2. “I have not found your deeds completed (filled up) in the sight of my God.”
            IOW the empty forms have to be filled up again.
            The customs and rituals have to become meaningful once more.

There is absolutely no point in just running more programs and activities to solve the problem.
The ritual of worship by itself… is no guarantee you are alive.
The routine of attending youth group as such… does not mean Jesus is pleased with you.
Sardis reminds us that busyness in itself is not a sign of life.
            Jesus doesn’t measure a church (or youth group) in terms of how many activities it runs.
            Our vitality is not measured by the number of committees and programs we have.
            What is important is the content of all those activities.

2.         So Jesus challenges this church to live… He issues a double challenge.

First – there is a call to awaken.
The structure of the grammar indicates this is not just a simple command to awake.
Rather it is challenge for them to have an ongoing change of attitude.
            To be aware of their condition and do something about it.

Second – there is a call to strengthen what remains.
Strong, effective measures must be taken to rescue what is still good and true.
To deal with what can still be rescued even though it is at the point of death.
            At the least the forms and traditions can still be rescued and given new meaning.

Sardis is dead because its works are a hollow shell.
Busy, busy, busy with long Session meetings and a C.O.M. run off its feet.
Always introducing new programs to keep up the appearance of a church that is alive.
And now Jesus says – first – Come on… wake up!
            Develop a new attitude to those deeds that are so hollow.
            Do they really serve to extend my Kingdom of grace and mercy?
            Are they really done in faith and love to point others to me and to the gospel?

And then Jesus adds – second – Strengthen what remains!
Work on those things that are really good and alive – the gospel…!
Focus again on the Word of life that is still being preached in Sardis.
Use the means of grace that I have provided… the sacraments.

To show how Sardis is to be revitalised Jesus adds three other instructions:
First:  remember… remember what you received and heard.
            IOW the gospel… the Word of God you have been receiving all along.
Second:  keep it… keep on holding on to that Word by obeying it.
            IOW keep making that your focus in all that you do.
Third:  and then also repent.
            IOW a turn away from that empty religion without power.

3.         Today we need to take Jesus’ instructions to Sardis to heart.

Jesus does not say: You’re alive and well because you have Cadets, GEMS and a Sunday School.
You’re a vibrant church because you ran a Holiday Club and have a church soccer team.

No!  He says that for there to be life we have to make sure that all those things are not empty shells.

Because Jesus measures us as a church in terms of our faith relationship with Him.
He calls us not first of all to busyness… but to fellowship with Him.
And our worship… and our Bible Study… and our Catechism must all flow out of love for Him.

When what we do is not done out of a faith relationship with Him then all we have is the empty forms.
And there is no power… and no life…!
Then we are not an alive church… but a dead church.
The Lord is saying to us:  Church of Jesus let your often empty deeds become deeds of power.
                                  Remember, obey, repent that your faith may be an aggressively alive faith.

To Sardis Jesus emphasised the importance of this with a dire warning.
If they don’t do these things and get a gospel focus then He will come to them in judgment.
If Sardis doesn’t stir the glowing wick back into flame
            Jesus will come unexpectedly and take away the lampstand of the church in Sardis.
            And in the same way He will remove us if we do not keep alive the flame of His love.

 

C]        PERSONAL FAITHFULNESS ENCOURAGED.

1.         All of this may still leave you with some problems.

You’ve had times when the life and the zest went out of your spiritual life?
There are moments when our faith is very much alive.
There are also moments when it is more like Sardis in our spiritual life.
            At those times we find it difficult to wake up and to strengthen what remains.
            That’s like trying to lift yourself off the floor by your own shoe laces…. it doesn’t work.

And if you were a faithful person in a dead church like Sardis you might feel the same way.
You try and try to get a dying church back on track again.
You call the congregation to wake up, to repent, and yet nothing happens.

So let me highlight that here it is not first of all what WE are to do… but what Jesus does.

Imagine again that clinically dead patient at the hospital.

The heartbeat on the monitor has flattened right out… the breathing has stopped.

At that point it’s no good telling the patient to get up.

            No matter how loud or how often you call… it won’t work.

            It is now all in the hands of the doctor… he has to do the resuscitating.

In Sardis people are called to a renewed devotion to Jesus… but only in context of what Jesus does.

Because Jesus doesn’t give up where there is death… after all He is the resurrection and the life.
So He doesn’t give up on a dead church either.
In fact this very letter is actually part of Jesus’ resuscitation process.
            That’s why we should notice how Jesus introduced Himself to this church in vs.1.

Jesus is the One who has the Seven spirits of God.
That’s simply Revelation’s way of speaking about the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
And that Spirit of God was sent to work in the church – also in Sardis.
            Jesus still works there with His Holy Spirit.

Jesus is also the One who has the seven stars in His hands.
And those stars are the messengers of the seven churches.
They are the pastors and teachers who bring the Word of God.
            And that messenger of Sardis is still in Jesus’ hand too

So through His Word and Spirit Jesus is still busy… also in Sardis… also in [Our Church].

In fact through this very letter Jesus is still breathing life into Sardis… and in to us.

2.         Because of that we are not surprised that there are still some in Sardis who are very much alive.

In verse 4 Jesus speaks of some in Sardis who have not soiled their clothing.
That implies that most others had soiled their clothes.
A dead and dying church no longer has reason to keep itself spotless.
The empty forms and traditions go hand in hand with a slide into sin.

Just a few folk hadn’t soiled their clothes with materialism… and worldliness.
Literally Jesus says:  You have a few names in Sardis…
IOW:  Just a few… but He knows them personally and by name.

And then I find it beautiful what Jesus says to these faithful few.
He doesn’t say:  You’d better get out and start a new church because Sardis is dead.
He doesn’t say:  Why not leave this cemetery of a church?  Go and move to Smyrna.
Why doesn’t Jesus encourage people to leave a church which He has labelled a dead church?

It’s because Jesus is not a Captain who calls out “Abandon Ship!”
       just because someone opened the sea valves and let the water of worldliness into the ship.
Rather He calls for the faithful few to persevere.  All hands on deck!

There is hope and encouragement for the church, even in times of spiritual decline.
Because Jesus does not desert the work of His hands… He doesn’t give up on His church.
Right in the midst of the general deadness of Sardis – Jesus is still busy.

3.         It’s because of these faithful few that this letter ends with a call to perseverance.

That call to personal faithfulness is a call we hear at the end of each letter.

The call to OVERCOME!
It’s an important call since Jesus issues it in each letter.
  So we need to ask: how we can overcome.
  You can find the answer to that by turning to  1John 5:4,5.
            We are called to overcome in the battle against sin, the world and the devil.
            And John tells us there how we are to overcome.

<<< READ I JOHN 5:4,5 >>>  The way of faith is the way to victory…. even in a dying church.

It is to these faithful ones who overcome that Jesus gives three lovely promises.
First:  they will walk with Jesus in robes of purest white.
Second:  their name will never be blotted out of the Book of life.
Third:  Jesus will confess their name before the Father and His angels.

Wonderful promises… that are true for all who will repent of an empty form of religion with no power.

Promises for all who keep their faith focused on Jesus, the Son of God.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Amen.