Letter 5: A Dead Church
Sermon Notes
“The 5th Letter: A Dead Church”
Intro:
Hey, my name’s Louis I’m the lead pastor here at City Awakening. Welcome to those of you on-site and to those of you watching online, we’re glad you’re joining us online. At this time let’s dismiss our children to children’s church, and if you didn’t get to check your child in, please see our children’s ministry leaders in the back and they can assist you with that...Today we’re continuing our teaching series on a book of the bible called Revelation. It’s a series about finding peace in a world of chaos. The text we’re studying today is about living a false reputation. It’s about living a false reputation, a false ideal image of yourself, trying to make yourself look better than you are. Some of you do this on social media, posting edited ideal images of yourself. Some of you do this on a first date, trying to impress the person to get a second date. Some of you try to be the confident person, the happy person, the funny person, the smart person, the tough person, and the list goes on. We create all kinds of false ideal images to try to make ourselves look better than we are. Well, today’s text teaches we don’t have to try to be something we aren’t in front of Jesus because he sees exactly who we are. It teaches that Jesus cares more about our transformation than our reputation, so let’s turn to Revelation Ch 3 and get into it. You’ll find Revelation in the back of the bible, it’s the very last book of the bible, and we’ll be in Revelation 3:1-6. The title of the message is The 5th Letter: A Dead Church. The big idea is Jesus cares more about our transformation than our reputation...Jesus cares more about our transformation than our reputation.
Context:
Here’s your context. The Book of Revelation is about the 2nd coming of Jesus, and what will happen at the end of history when he returns. We’ve broken the entire book down into four major visions, and right now we’re studying the 1stvision, which is where Jesus tells John the author to write 7 letters to 7 churches in Asia Minor. These letters are intended to encourage John and these 1st Century Christians to keep their faith, as they’re facing afflictions from the Roman Empire. The letter we’re about to study is the 5th letter, which is written to the church in Sardis. I’ll follow the same breakdown I used when we studied the Ephesian and Thyatiran churches, except the order is a little different. The Sardis Church is in such bad shape, that Jesus doesn’t start with a compliment like the other churches, instead he starts with a criticism. So, my breakdown for this week is The Criticism, The Correction, and then The Celebration. We’ll learn about the criticism Jesus gives them, the correction for how to turn things around, and then the celebration. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
Revelation 3:1-6 states, “Write to the angel of the church in Sardis.” Jesus is telling John the author what to write to the church in Sardis, and here’s what we know historically about the city of Sardis. It was a city located roughly 30 miles southeast of Thyatira, which we studied last week. At one point it was a fairly large city with thousands of people and was considered one of the greatest cities in the ancient world. Some historians say its population started increasing when gold was found in the area. It’s like what happened with the gold rush in California, where people started rushing to California to find gold and get rich. In fact, archaeologists have found hundreds of artifacts in the city that were used for refining gold and silver, and they believe gold and silver coins were first minted at Sardis. So, this was a very wealthy city, but it was also a very fortified city because of its surrounding terrain. There were numerous hills surrounding the city, and the city sat roughly 1500 feet above the valley floor. So the only way in was through a steep difficult path on the south side of the city. This caused the Sardis people and their ruling empire to become overconfident. They were proud of their strong reputation, for being a city that couldn’t be breached and conquered by enemy forces. But that overconfident, proud reputation, would be their downfall.
In the 6th century B.C., the Lydian King Croesus initiated an attack on the Persian King Cyrus. His army was easily defeated by the Persians, so he retreated to Sardis to heal and rebuild his army for another attack. He was confident the Persians couldn’t breach the city’s steep difficult terrain, and if they tried they’d be easy prey for the Lydian army to crush them. But the Persians waited until it was dark, then they climbed the rough terrain one by one until they reached the top, and they attacked the city. Sardis, this great city with a reputation for not being conquered, was finally conquered by the Persians. Sardis eventually became a part of the Roman Empire, and in 17 A.D. the Roman Emperor Tiberius had the city rebuilt after it was destroyed by a catastrophic earthquake. John the author is writing this letter in the 1st Century when the city is declining. The glorious reputation they had was fading, and they’re now a declining, decaying city. The famous historian and archaeologist William Ramsay said, “Sardis was a relic of the period of barbaric warfare, which lived more on its ancient prestige than on its suitability to present conditions...No city of Asia at that period, showed such a melancholy contrast between past splendor and present decay.” Yet somewhere in this decaying city was a church, a group of Christians. Their role was to bring the life-giving hope of Jesus into this city, but instead, they started decaying like the city. They were supposed to be transforming the city, but instead, they started decaying like the city.
Again vs. 1, “Write to the angel of the church in Sardis: Thus says the one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works; you have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.” There’s the Criticism...Jesus is criticizing them for being dead. He’s criticizing them for being a spiritually dead church, filled with spiritually dead people, who are decaying like the city of Sardis. Jesus says they have a reputation for being alive, but they’re really dead. Chuck Swindoll states, “The church at Sardis was a morgue, with a steeple.” The church at Sardis looked more like a cemetery, than a church. At one point they were a church bringing life-giving joy into the city, but they’ve become a decaying church like the city of Sardis. We aren’t given any specific reasons for what led to their decay, we just know they’re a decaying church. They have a church name, a location, and people gathering, look physically alive on the outside, but they’re spiritually dead on the inside. Jesus sees right through their false reputation, their false image, straight into the heart of who they really are. He says they aren’t alive, they’re dead. He’s criticizing them because he cares more about their transformation than their reputation. He cares more about their relationship with him, than their reputation in the world. The Sardis Church was physically alive but spiritually dead. They were being influenced more by the decline of their city, than the hope of their savior. It’s a great reminder for us to not be influenced by the moral and political decline of our country, but to focus more on the hope we have in our savior. We shouldn’t let the moral and political decline of our country lead us to despair when we have the hope of our savior Jesus.
Again vs. 1, “You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. 2 Be alert and strengthen what remains, which is about to die, for I have not found your works complete before my God.” There’s the Correction...Jesus criticizes them for being dead, but now he’s giving them a corrective plan for how to turn things around. It’s a corrective plan for how to go from being spiritually dead to being spiritually alive. He’s letting them know their situation is critical, but not terminal. They can be spiritually alive if they follow his corrective plan, which entails two things. The 1st thing Jesus tells them is to be alert! The original Greek can also translate as to wake up! Jesus is saying “Be alert! Wake up! Don’t fall asleep on your faith! You have an enemy named Satan, and he wants to attack your thoughts, your mind, and your faith. He wants to get you to fall asleep on your faith like Sardis fell asleep on the Persians. So be alert! Wake up! Don’t fall asleep on your faith.” 2nd Peter 5:8 says, “Be alert, and sober-minded. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” The people in the Sardis church need to wake up from their spiritual slumber, or else their enemy Satan will devour them, and they’ll continue to have the same fate as their decaying city. It’s a great reminder that we can’t fall asleep either, or else we’ll be devoured by Satan too. We can’t fall asleep, can’t fall into the habit of not reading our Bibles, not praying, not going to church, not seeking a deeper relationship with Jesus, with an enemy like Satan who’s constantly prowling around looking to attack our minds and devour us. Lamentations 3 says the Lord has new mercies for us every morning, and we need to rely on his new mercies every morning because Satan’s ready to attack us every morning. So be alert!
The 1st thing Jesus tells them to do is to be alert, and the 2nd thing he tells them is to strengthen what remains. The implication is there’s still a little good, a little pulse, a faint heartbeat in the church. Jesus says they need to focus on that, focus on strengthening the little good that still remains in the church. Sometimes when a church is decaying and dying they’ll focus so much on their past, that they can’t see any hope for their present or future. We sometimes do this in our own personal lives. We’ll focus so much on our past, especially the negative things, that we can’t see any positives in the present or hope for the future. There’s actually a great counseling method that helps with this called Solution Focused Counseling. It helps people shift from focusing on the problems to focusing on the solutions. The counselor’s goal is to help the person focus more on the solutions and positive things that are currently helping the person, and then get them to do more of those positive things in the future. It’s similar to what Jesus is doing here with the Sardis church. He’s wanting them to focus on the good that’s still in the church, and he wants them to do more of those things. He wants them to strengthen the good that still remains. It’s a great reminder that when we’re feeling spiritually dead, we need to focus on the good that still remains in our lives. Philippians 4:8-9 says, “Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things...9 And the God of peace will be with you.” No matter how spiritually dead you feel, you can always find something good to focus on, when you have a relationship with Jesus.
Vs. 3, “Remember, what you have received and heard; keep it, and repent. If you are not alert, I will come like a thief, and you have no idea at what hour I will come upon you.” Jesus tells them to remember, what they’ve received and heard. In other words, if they’re going to remember anything from their past, the most important thing for them to remember is the good news of the gospel. It’s the most important thing for us to remember too! We need to remember who Jesus is and what he did for us on the cross. We need to remember he died for our sins on the cross and rose again on the 3rd day proving we worship a living savior, not a dead savior. Jesus is a living savior, not a dead savior. Our lives and churches should reflect we have a living savior, not a dead savior. Our lives and churches should reflect that faith in Jesus brings life, not death. Is your life doing that?... Is your life reflecting that faith in Jesus brings life, not death?... Is your life reflecting that you worship a living savior or a dead savior?... Jesus says we need to repent, if we’re treating him like a dead savior. We need to repent, if we’re never seeking him, never wanting to spend time with him, walking through daily life without him, treating our relationship with him like it’s dead. Our lives and churches should be reflecting to our city, that faith in Jesus brings life not death.
Now this doesn’t mean we have to put on a fake happy face, or that we won’t ever face hardships, days where we don’t want to get out of bed to face the struggles of the day. Instead, what it means is we can get out of bed to face those things with hope, because we know we have a living savior who can guide us through those things. We can get out of bed because we know we have a living savior whose new mercies are always there, ready to greet us in the morning and sustain us in the day. 2nd Corinthians 4 says, “We’re afflicted in every way, but not crushed. We’re perplexed, but not in despair. 9 We’re persecuted, but not abandoned. We’re struck down, but not destroyed...11 For we who live are always being given over to death for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be displayed in our mortal flesh...16 Therefore we don’t give up! Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person is being renewed day by day...” The Christian life isn’t an easy life, it’s a hopeful life, because we have a living savior who renews our lives day by day. Jesus says we need to remember that daily and repent for not seeking him as our living savior daily. We need to repent for sometimes living a dead life, like the Sardis church.
Vs. 4, “But you have a few people in Sardis, who have not defiled their clothes, and they will walk with me in white because they are worthy. 5 In the same way, the one who conquers will be dressed in white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the book of life but will acknowledge his name before my Father and before his angels.” There’s the Celebration...Jesus criticizes them, he gives them a corrective plan, and now he’s giving them a little celebration. But it isn’t a celebration for the entire church, it’s only a celebration for a few people in the church. It’s a celebration for the few who haven’t fallen asleep on their faith. Jesus says they’ve remained undefiled, meaning they’ve remained faithful in their walk with Jesus. He encourages them by telling them he’ll never erase their names, from the Book of Life. The ruling empires back then kept registry books of the citizens in their cities, and if somebody died or committed a crime, they’d erase their name from the registry. Jesus is promising the few faithful Christians in the Sardis church, that he’ll never erase their names from heaven’s registry book. He’ll never erase anyone’s name from Heaven’s registry book of life if they put their faith in his name! He promises anyone who puts their faith in him, will get to enjoy eternal life in heaven with him. But the people slumbering in their faith need to follow his corrective plan if they want their church restored. If they don’t, he’ll close their local church doors forever. Like I said a few weeks ago local churches can die, but the global church never dies. If they follow his corrective plan he’ll restore their church, but if they don’t he’ll close their local church doors forever. He celebrates the few who remained faithful, but he also gives an invitation for the entire church to have restoration, instead of death.
Vs. 6, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen, to what the Spirit says to the churches.” Like I’ve said in previous weeks the word churches is plural, and so this is something every church needs to listen to, including churches today. Jesus says it’s something that everybody who has ears, needs to listen to. So we need to read this letter to the Sardis church and ask what would Jesus say about us?... Would he say you’re spiritually dead, or spiritually alive?... Would he say you’ve been treating him like a dead savior or a living savior?... Would he say you’ve been treating your time with him like it’s a routine or a relationship?... Routine is where you read your bible, pray, go to church, and do things like that because you feel like you have to. Relationship is where you do those things because you want to. You’re like “Jesus loves me, and I love him. He already knows me, but I’m still getting to know him, and there are still a lot of things I need to learn from him. So it isn’t that I have to spend time with him, it’s that I want to spend time with him, so I can learn more from him and deepen my relational friendship with him.” People and churches start becoming spiritually dead when they start turning their relationship with Jesus into a routine. They start turning their relationship with Jesus into a chore chart. When that happens, we need to repent for treating our relationship with him like it’s a routine. We need to repent for treating Jesus like he’s a dead savior instead of a living savior and get back to spending time with Jesus again.
But this is true for our church too! We need to ask ourselves what kind of church we want to be?... Do we want to be a spiritually dead church or a spiritually alive church?... I can tell you when we first started City Awakening, our team had to persevere and trust Jesus through some very tough times. In our first few years as a church, it felt like we were doing more grieving than celebrating. But like the Sardis church, we still had some faithful loving people in our church who persevered through the tough times, and Jesus has brought a lot of new life-giving joy into our church. If you’re a member or regular attender Jesus has you here to help us continue to spread more life-giving joy in our church and city. Jesus has us in this city to be a life-giving church, not a dead church like the Sardis church. But the question is what kind of church attender will you be?... Will you be a life giver or a grave digger?... Will you help us build a church or a cemetery?... Jesus is a living savior, not an undertaker. He’s a living savior who resurrects the dead, not an undertaker who takes away the dead. He says in John 11:25, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me, even if he dies, will live.” He’s a living savior who wants to build a life-giving church for us and the people in our city, instead of a dead church like the Sardis church.
The Big Idea:
The big idea is that Jesus cares more about our transformation than our reputation...He sees right through our false images and reputations, right into the heart of who we really are. You don’t have to try to be something you aren’t in front of Jesus, because he sees exactly who you are, and he cares more about your transformation than your reputation. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done, he’s willing to restore you and transform you. So if you’ve been feeling spiritually dead, if you haven’t been walking with Jesus, he wants you to know he’s willing to restore you and transform you. If you’re willing to turn to him and walk with him, he’s willing to restore you and transform you. If you’ve been feeling spiritually alive, if you’ve been walking faithfully with Jesus, he wants you to be alert, to stay awake, instead of falling asleep like the Sardis church. He wants you to keep spending time with him, keep walking with him, so he can keep transforming your life into a deeper, more life-giving relationship with him. He wants you to reflect on his life giving hope to the people in our moral and political declining country. The question is will you walk with Jesus and be spiritually alive, or walk without Jesus and be spiritually dead? Will you walk with Jesus and help build a life-giving church, or build a cemetery?... Let’s pray...