Trinity Baptist Church

The Right Kind of Church

Sardis: An Alive Church

Revelation 3:1-6

 

We're doing a study of the seven churches of the book of the Revelation, the letters of our Lord to the churches.  We're trying to learn from them how to identify the right kind of church according to Jesus.  Today we come to the church of Sardis and I want to use them as an object lesson for us as we talk about “An Alive Church”.  Now if you know anything about the church at Sardis, you know that title does not describe them.  They were anything but alive.

 

And yet I believe the church of Jesus Christ ought to demonstrate life and health and vitality.  It just makes sense that One Who began this book by identifying Himself as the One Who was dead and is alive would have a body on earth that was alive also.  So what I want to do, by way of the Sardis letter is try to put a positive spin on a very negative message.

 

Unfortunately, the church of Sardis is a church to whom Jesus Christ has only one positive comment to make and it is only in regard to a few of the members.  There is no general word of praise or commendation.  The majority message to this church is a warning from the Lord.

 

Let me give you a little bit of the background about the city of Sardis.  When you learn about the cities, it will tell you something about the churches which are located there.

 

The city of Sardis was about 30 miles southeast of Thyatira where we were last Sunday.  It was located in a very fertile, productive area.  It was a rather large city, about one hundred and twenty thousand in population, and was known for its commerce.  The primary industry was wool garments. The first minted coins that we ever have a record of were minted in the city of Sardis.

 

It was a city filled with many pagan temples.  They had a theater that would seat between 12 and 15 thousand people. There was also an arena for entertainment that would accommodate large crowds.

 

They enjoyed a reputation for their military strength.    Because of its location, the city was considered to be impregnable. There were high slopes going up to where the city was, and the people felt like it was impossible to conquer them; although there were two occasions in history that because they didn't watch and wait, they indeed were not impregnable, but they were conquered.

 

The city of Sardis was a city that had been very famous.  Its reputation was well known.  But it was a city that was living on its illustrious past.  It was no longer the city that it used to be.  Now it was a city of over-the-hill musicians.  It was a city of run down shops and dishonest shopkeepers.  It was a city that had become morally degenerate, and yet they prided themselves about their past.  They were living on their past reputation.

 

It is important to know the background about these cities because you learn a great deal about the churches by what you find in the cities.  Unfortunately, there is a tendency for churches to take on the characteristics of the cities where they are.   There is a danger that churches will become like the culture in which God has placed them.

 

God intends for a church in a city to be a thermostat, regulating the spiritual temperature of the city rather than being a thermometer just reflecting the spiritual temperature of the city.

 

I’m of the opinion God put a church in the city of Sardis because He wanted to change the atmosphere spiritually of Sardis.  In like manner, God has placed churches in the city of Ardmore for the same reason.  But if churches aren’t careful, they can become the influenced rather than the influencer.

 

So here is a church in Sardis, a city of used-to-be’s and from the Lord’s letter, it appears the church was int eh same condition, a church living on its past, living on its previous reputation.

 

Did you know that can happen to you as well? Did you know it is possible for a Christian to live on past reputation, to just be constantly talking about what you used to be and what you used to do for the Lord and to live on that past reputation? The joy, vibrancy, the fire, and the life of the Christian life has long been gone from that Christian.

 

Chances are good I speak today to some Christian and if you’d be honest, the former days were a whole lot better, spiritually speaking than where you are today.   You used to pray, but not anymore.  You used to enjoy coming to church; now you have to make yourself get up and come.  You used to know the joy of serving God; now it’s a drudgery.

And for those on the outside looking in, everything looks good, but you know you’re just living on a past reputation.  IF that describes you, you’d do well to sit up straight and listen really close this morning as the Lord Jesus addresses this church.

 

He begins with a description of Himself.  He says specifically to the church that He is the one with the seven spirits and the one with the seven churches.

 

In particular, focus on that statement, "I have the seven spirits of God." That is a descriptive way of talking about the Holy Spirit in all of His fullness and completeness.  The Lord Jesus Christ is saying, "I have the seven spirits of God. I have the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit."

 

Jesus had the Holy Spirit, but unfortunately this church doesn't seem to have much evidence of the Holy Spirit.  It has become a church that is living on reputation, and what it desperately needs is the life and the power and the fire that comes by the presence of the Holy Spirit in its midst.

 

In simple language, they needed to be a church that was alive with the power and presence of God, full of the Holy Spirit of God, led by the Word of God.  So let’s take a look today at what the Lord says to a dead church about being alive.

 

He begins with

 

 

Verse 1

 

 

He starts with their reputation.

 

He begins by saying, “I know your works”.  That’s not the first time we’ve heard the Lord say that.  In fact, He’s said in 2:2, 9, 13 and 19 and without exception it has been a word of commendation and approval.  But here it is disapproval.  In other words, He says, “I know about you and I don’t like what I know.”   Everyone else thought they were really something, but Jesus didn’t approve.

 

This was a church that had a reputation that it was an alive church.  Now reputation is nothing more than what people think you are.  Reputation is the name you have.  The church of Sardis certainly had a name.  It had a reputation.  We are not given any details in particular about their ministry other than, according to verse 2, whatever they were doing wasn’t perfect.

 

This was a busy church.  It was a working church and apparently the city was very much aware of the church’s presence in the community. If you had moved into the city of Sardis, it wouldn't be long until folks would say that you ought to take a visit to the church of Sardis.  It is an alive church.  They had a reputation.

 

But Jesus says, “You may have a name that you are alive, but I know that’s not true because you are dead.”

 

Suddenly He moves from reputation to reality.  Reputation is what people think you are.  Reality is what Jesus knows you are.  It is possible for a church to get a reputation and its reality not measure up to its reputation.

Outward appearances can be very deceiving.  Sometimes things can seem to be alive but they're not.  My mother came home one day to find my dad in the color cleaning up some water.  With something of a red face he admitted to watering the artificial flowers.  He thought they were real but they weren’t.  Artificial flowers can look real, but all you’ve got to do is touch or smell them and it’s easy to see they aren’t alive at all.  Outward appearances can be deceptive.

 

The same thing can happen to churches.  It is possible for a church to have the reputation of life and yet not be really alive.  The Lord Jesus Christ said to this church, "You have a reputation; you have a name that you are alive but you are dead." I think that's one of the greatest tragedies that could ever be addressed to a church because a church is named after the Lord Jesus Christ who is the resurrected, living Son of God.

 

There is a message here that we need to heed. God has given us a glorious past.  God has given us a tremendous reputation in this city and even in many places around the nation and the world.  But we must be very careful that we do not live simply on past reputation.

 

I thank God for everything that has happened in the past.  I thank God for our heritage.  We ought to praise God for every victory that God has ever given to us.  I rejoice in knowing God has done some amazing over the years.  I am still amazed at what I saw God do as we merged together a few years ago.  But I’m not living in the 1990’s or even in 2001.

 

 

This is a brand new day with brand new opportunities.  I praise God for the past but I'm more interested in what God's going to do in our church today.  I'm interest in what God's going to do in our church tomorrow.

 

I want us to be a live, vibrant, living fellowship of believers who are tuned in to winning this city to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.  May it never be said of our church that you have a name, you are alive, but you are dead.

 

Let me encourage you to get involved in ministry and classes and opportunities to serve.  I know there are some who would discourage you and they’re negative about everything, but I want to ask you silence them through your joy.  Get involved in Sunday School.  We’re going to have a High Attendance Day in a few weeks.

 

Decide right now you’re going to be here and do your best to bring someone with you.  Some of you who come only to church, decide to get up an hour earlier and come to Sunday School.  It will be easy to do because it is time change Sunday!

 

Some of you who’ve been visiting, you need to come down during the invitation and move your letter or follow in baptism and do all you can to build an atmosphere of excitement and life at Trinity Baptist Church.

 

Get involved with those who are about Bible study and serious about their witness for the Lord and committed to serving the Lord.  Don't let it be said that you have a name, you are alive, but you are dead.

He gives us the reasons why they were dead.

 

verse 2b

 

The word perfect doesn't mean sinless.  It means complete. "I have not found your works complete before God."  The deeds weren’t bad, they just didn’t have any spiritual power in them.

 

I am alive this morning. I can sing.  I can speak.  I can feel.  Do you know why I am alive?  I am alive because there is breath inside of me.  One of the things they always do to check to see if someone is still alive if there's been an accident or whatever, they check to see if their breath is still in the body.

 

Jesus said, "I have the seven spirits of God."  What gives life in a church is the breath of the Spirit of God.  He's not saying, "Don't do the things you've been doing."  He's saying, "Put life in the things you've been doing." He's not saying to quit praying. He's saying to pray in the Spirit.  He's not saying to quit singing.  He's saying to sing in the Spirit. He's not saying to quit preaching.  He's saying to preach in the Spirit.  He's not saying to quit visiting.  He's saying to visit in the Spirit.

 

Do you hear that?  We need to hear that!  If ever there was a church that described us, it might well be the church at Sardis.  We have the name and the reputation.  We send mission teams and build churches and do visitation and support all kinds of good things. But somewhere along the way, maybe we’ve gotten the idea that we’ve arrived.  We’ve completed the task and there is a temptation to believe we can coast for a while.

 

But we must not yield to that temptation.  We’ve only just begun to scratch the surface.  We have not arrived.  We’ve not completed anything.  May the day never come when we have a reputation that we are alive, but the Lord ahs to say, “Because you’ve walked out from under the anointing of My Spirit, you are dead and you don’t even know it!”

 

Jesus says, “I know you.  You have the reputation of really being something.  But you are dead.”

 

Then the Lord does an interesting thing.  Typically, we take medicine while we are alive.  After all, if someone has died, the prescription won’t do them any good.  But that’s not the way the Lord does it.  He specializes in bringing back the dead.  Death is no problem for Him so He offers this church a prescription that will cure even a dead church.  

 

 

verse 2a

 

He's saying that you still have some potential for life.  Be alert and watchful and wide awake.  What you have to do is to keep yourself awake.  Don't ever allow yourself to go into spiritual slumber.

 

They tell me that a man who is in a freezing situation, that there is the tendency for him to want to go to sleep.  The worst thing that can possibly happen to a man in a freezing atmosphere is to go to sleep.  If he goes to sleep, he's a goner.

 

He's saying that we must never allow ourselves spiritually to go to sleep.  We ought to be watchful and we are to strengthen the things that remain.

verse 3

 

He's saying, first of all, to remember those things that were real in your life.  Remember those things that used to vibrate with spiritual power and life in your life and hold fast on to those and repent of any spiritual deadness in your life.

 

We are to strengthen the things that remain, and we are to put reality in those things that remain, and we are to keep ourselves alive and awake.  Work at staying on fire for the Lord Jesus Christ.  Don’t neglect spiritual disciplines.  Don’t take for granted your spiritual well-being.  Have some urgency and intensity in your walk with the Lord.  I don't want to come just barely walking into the gates of Glory.  I want to go in there wide awake on fire, shouting the victory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

"Remember," He says.  Repent.  Then He says, "Be watching.”

 

The city of Sardis was originally built on a high plateau and was unapproachable except from the south.  The rocks were unscalable on the other three sides. They believed themselves to be absolutely secure from enemy attack because of that.  They could watch from one area dn always know when enemies were approaching.

 

However, they were attacked and subdued on two different occasions.  They were taken by Cyrus and the Persians and by Alexander the Great and the Romans.  Both times is was because the guardsmen on the wall got careless and went to sleep on the job.

 

Hear what Jesus is saying?  He’s reminding them that one days is coming back.  And that’s not so much a 2^nd coming reference as it is a reminder of our responsibility to Him.  We must give an account for what we’ve done and how we’ve done it and that day will come.

 

And Jesus says, when I come, it will be as a thief.

What do we know about a thief?  One of the things we know about them is that they don't announce their arrival.  You don't ever have a thief call you on the phone and say, "I just want you to know that I'm your area and I'll be hitting your place about 11:30 tonight."  That's not the way thieves work.  They come unexpectedly.  They come when you don't know they're going to come.

 

Jesus is saying, "That's the way I'm going to come to you."  Let me ask a question.  If Jesus should come today, would you be glad or would you be sad?  Do you desire the coming of the Lord or would you dread the coming of the Lord?

 

You may know Jesus as your Savior and you may be looking for Jesus Christ to come, but the question is are you loving His appearance?  If Jesus should come today would you say, "Jesus, I'm awake and alive.  I'm on fire for You.  Come, Lord Jesus.  I've been serving You to the best of my ability"?

 

Thirdly, Jesus talks about

 

 

Verse 4

 

 

Now here is a church where Jesus, the Great Physician, had felt the pulse of the church and had declared them dead, yet there were some people in that church who were committed to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

I have found in the years of my ministry that God always works through the faithful few.  God always has a faithful remnant.  God always has a master's minority.  God always has that little group of committed people.

 

He addresses the committed in the church.  He says, "I know that there are a few names."  That's God hope always in a church.  Jesus said, "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst."  No church is a dead church if you've got a committed core of people who welcome the Lord Jesus into their life and into the fellowship of their church.

 

I want to call upon every committed Christian in our fellowship to be sure that we stay alive for Jesus Christ, to be sure that we pray, to be sure that we witness, to be sure that we're committed to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

He says, "You have not defiled your garments."  He's saying that you have kept your life clean.  If we're going to be used of God we've got to keep our life clean.  If God is going to use us as a church, He wants the people of God to walk in white, not to defile their garments but to walk with Jesus in white.

 

Then He says to the overcomers, they will be clothed in white garments. What does that mean?  I don’t know for sure, but in that day, a white garment was the clothing of festivities.  They would put on those white togas and off they’d go to party.

 

So maybe it’s a reference to that day when we will gather at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and we will be robed in white.

 

White garments were also the garments of victory.  When the armies would return form battle, led by the commanding general, they would put on white garments and maybe Jesus is reminding them of the victory that is ours in what He did on the cross.

 

White garments are also the garments of purity.  For centuries a bride will come to the wedding altar dressed in white as a symbol of her purity before God and her husband and maybe Jesus is reminding us that the pure in heart are blessed and they will see God.

 

And I know I don’t have to remind you, but the white garments are the garments of the resurrection and one of these days, I will either come out of a grave or rise from this earth dressed in His righteousness alone and faultless I’ll stand before His throne.

 

Maybe it’s none of that and maybe it’s all of that but to this faithful minority, living in the midst of those who were dead and didn’t even know it, the Lord says, Just be faithful and you’ll wear the white robe of my blessing and approval.”

 

Then notice verse 5b

 

As you can imagine there is a lot of discussion about that verse and at first glance, it appears to suggest one could lose their salvation.

 

The quote actually takes us all the way back to a comment Moses made to the Lord regarding the sins of the children of Israel.  He says, “Lord, if you won’t forgive their sin, then blot my name out of the book You’ve written.”  The Lord replies, “The ones I will blot out are those who’ve sinned against Me.”

 

What they are talking about finds its meaning in the practice of keeping a census of every person who had ever been born a Jew.  By the way, the Jews were and are meticulous record keepers.  In fact, in doing some research recently, I came across a web site that tracks Jewish families and it provided the history of Judaism in Ardmore, including the history of the synagogue, as well as every Jewish family that has ever lived in Ardmore, including the number of the present population.

 

In Moses’ day, they kept a record of the birth of every baby.  And God forbid, if someone got in trouble with the law, they rubbed their name out of the book.  When a person died, there name was removed from the book.  And it is to that practice Jesus refers.

 

God keeps records of His people also.  And He has a Book of Life and when you are born your name is placed in the book of life.  That means that you have physical life.

 

If along the way, you commit the crime of refusing to receive Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and you die physically, at that point in time your name is taken out of the book of life.

 

In fact, Revelation 20:15, speaking of the last judgment, tells us “whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."  If you have rejected Christ, your name has been blotted out of the book and you receive the judgment of the death and hell. 

 

But the good news is if you receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior, not only is your name in the book of life, it will never be taken from the book of life.  According to Revelation 21:27 the only ones in the New Jerusalem are “those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.”

 

That means that when you are born physically your name is in the book of life.  But when you are born again spiritually, that name in the book of life is now inscribed in the precious blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, and your name is there for eternity.  Your name will never come out of the Lamb's book of life.

 

Here in the letter, the idea is not the possibility of our name being erased as a child of God, but, in fact, just the opposite.  He’s talking to the faithful few.  There’ are a few names, He says, even in Sardis, who are faithful, and to those He makes the promise of eternal security!

 

In fact, He says of those,

 

Verse 5c

Now the word “confess” means “to say the same thing about” or “to agree”.  In other words, Jesus says, Whatever you say about Me, that’s what I’m going to say about you.”

 

In Matthew 10:32, Jesus said, "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him will I also confess before My Father, Who is in heaven."

 

The next verse He says, "But whoever denies Me before men, him will I also deny before my Father, who is in heaven."

 

When we get saved, it is only natural and expected that we would confess Him before men.  I’ll never understand, in fact, I do not accept that anyone who refuses to go public with that confession has genuinely been saved.

 

It is not right to say it is a private matter.  Personal, yes, but not private and it requires a public confession.  It makes no sense to say we believe in Jesus and want Him as Savior and Lord, but we would be ashamed to say so.

 

In like manner, baptism makes sense.  It makes all kinds of sense that we would shout from the rooftops to anyone willing to listen that Jesus has forever saved us and we belong to Him!  It is absolutely right that we would confess Him before men!

 

Want to know what doesn’t make any sense?  I don’t understand why Jesus would want to stand before the Father and confess me!  That makes no sense.

 

See what verse 5 says?  That’s Jesus saying, “Terry, as you say about Me before men I will say about you before our Father and all of heaven.”

 

Is that not amazing?

 

Someday Jesus will stand before God and put His arm around the Apostle Paul and say, “Father, this Paul.  I met him on the road to Damascus and he gave his life to preaching Your word and serving as a missionary.  Father, He’s mine!”

 

And all of heaven will say, “Amen!”

 

That just makes sense!  I can understand how Jesus would confess Paul before the Father!

 

Then Jesus will stand there before God and Heaven and say, “Father, this is Billy Graham.  I met him in 1934 in Charlotte, North Carolina when he was just a teenager.  He spent his life preaching your gospel and millions were converted because of his faithfulness.  Father, this is Billy, and He’s mine!

 

And all heaven says,, “Amen!”

 

That just makes sense.  I can understand how Jesus would confess Billy Graham before the Father!

 

But then some old boy that nobody ever heard of steps up beside the Lord and Jesus says, “Father, this is Jim.  I met him in a back alley on skid row when he was nothing but a drunk wasting his life.  But he trusted Me and repented of his sins and stood before a little mission congregation and confessed Me before me.  Father, this is Jim and He’s mine!”

 

And lo and behold, all of heaven will say, “Amen!”

 

And then the Lord will slip His arm around me and say, “Father, this is Terry.  I met him when he was 18 years odd at Rexroat Baptist Church.  And Lord, he stood before that little congregation that night and confessed me before men and Father, I want you to know, he’s mine!”

 

Is that not amazing?  That Jesus would stand before heaven and confess people like us before God?

 

What’s Jesus going to say about you?

 

Father, this one’s mine, or

 

Father, this is __________.  He had religion.  He went to church and did a lot of good stuff.  But Father, He’s dead and doesn’t even know it.  And now he must die for all eternity because he never confessed my name before men.

 

Verse 6

 

Let's bow our heads in prayer.