Revelation 3:1 To the messenger of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God. 3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. 5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. 6 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Sardis was first built as a hilltop citadel; an impregnable defensive stronghold. As it grew it became a wealthy commercial and industrial center. Despite all of its defensive strength, Sardis was conquered on several occasions, notably by Cyrus II King of Persia and Alexander the Great.
Revelation 3:1 To the messenger of the church in Sardis write:
These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.
Christ announces that he is the one who holds the seven spirits, a reference, as we saw in Revelation 1:4, to the Holy Spirit. Isaiah 11:2
Christ wants the Church to understand that it is the Spirit, under the direction of Christ alone, who brings life.
Christians are:
John 3:6 born of the Spirit
John 6:63 given life by the Spirit
I Corinthians 2:14 unable to accept God without the Spirit
Galatians 4:29 born by the power of the Spirit
Ephesians 2:8-9 salvation is a gift of God
John 15:26 the Spirit testifies about Christ
John 16:13-14 the Spirit does not speak on His own, He brings glory to Christ.
Think of it this way; as a spotlight illuminates a cathedral so that we may admire the workmanship, so to does the Spirit illuminate Christ. We do not ignore the cathedral to admire the light bulb in the spotlight. Neither should we ignore Christ while seeking the work of the Spirit. The work of the Spirit is to illuminate Christ so that we see, are drawn to, and give glory to Christ alone.
Seven Stars: as we have seen, the seven stars are the seven pastors, elders, of the seven Churches. Revelation 1:20
Christ holds the pastors/elders in his hand. Christ is the head of the Church. The Church is the object of his special care. Pastors are to take care not to depart from the teaching of Scripture.
If the pastor was not under the authority of Christ, the Church (sheep) would be subject to the tyranny of leaders who govern by the world’s standards, or just as bad, who govern by no standards but those they find expedient at any given time. The Church and its ministries are not to be thought of or run like a business or corporation. We are redeemed slaves under the rule of Christ. Leaders are to be servants faithfully teaching the Scriptures and gently and lovingly caring for the sheep.
The pastor ought to have two voices; one, for gathering the sheep; and another, for driving away wolves. John Calvin
Revelation 3:1 I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.
There is a difference between appearance and reality. Sardis was all about image. Actually they were not so very different from social media today where people post pictures pretending to have full and meaningful lives and thousands of friends. But if you scratch below the surface many times the images are contrived, the friends are distant and the posters are actually lonely and unfulfilled. Similarly and scathingly Christ sees through the false image projected by the Church and says, “You look alive but you are dead.”
Hypocrisy is not always about deceiving others; it can also be self-deception. I John 1:8 You can look at yourself and see someone who goes to Church, says grace, works on committees, but outward, observable behavior is not always the reality. James 1:23-25
How can this be true?
Paul explains: But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. 2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— 5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. II Timothy 3:1-5
Do you have a hollow and empty form of godliness or do you have true faith?
Faith by itself, if not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2:17
Of course James had heard this teaching directly from Christ: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23
I once saw a helpful diagram explaining true faith. I would like to credit the author but cannot recall where I saw this. Just know I am passing along someone else’s work:
Some falsely teach that good works grant salvation.
- Works = Salvation
Some falsely teach that Faith in Christ plus good works grants salvation.
- Faith + Works = Salvation
The Bible teaches that Faith in Christ equals salvation, which results in works.
- Faith = Salvation + Works
Contrast that definition to:
- The false teaching that while you are saved on the basis of professing that Christ died for you, the actual life that accompanies that profession is not important. The important thing is that you believe. It does not affect the way you speak, live, treat others, work, etc. To that Christ says, you may appear alive but are, in fact, dead.
- The teaching that faith in Christ has freed you from the demands of God’s moral law. The teaching that as a Christian, with the Holy Spirit, you can be sure that whatever you do is necessarily by the leading of the Spirit ignores Christ’s teaching that our natural tendency is toward rationalizing and self-deception. To which Christ says, you may appear to be alive, you have a form of godliness, but you are really dead. 2 Timothy 3:5
Sardis had a reputation for being alive but according to Christ, it was really dead. Notice that there was no persecution of the church of Sardis. The letter mentions no persecution of Christians. There was no opposition from the outside. There was no opposition from the inside. Sardis was a peaceful Church. There were no internal or external problems. This is just the kind of Church you might hope for. It was peaceful.
But this was a church for the spiritually apathetic. They had a reputation but they lacked Christian service, they lacked Christian teaching, they lacked righteous living, they did not stand for the truth. There was no persecution because they had made peace with their culture. They were good neighbors. They gave no offense. They never warned anyone about the God, the Judge, before whom everyone would one day stand. But though they were at peace with the culture they were not at peace with God.
Christ, and His message of our being hopeless and helpless sinners, is offensive to the unbelieving world. The truth is a stumbling block and if we live and speak the truth we will be, at many times, in conflict with our culture and even with those unbelievers who have risen to prominent positions of authority within the Church.
Without going into too much detail at this time, what does the Bible teach about the following topics?
- Creation
- Gender
- Fallen nature
- Salvation in Christ alone
- Crime & Punishment
- Economics
- Race
To just simply teach Biblically on such topics would bring howls of condemnation from both without and within the Church today as you would be goring sacred cows: evolution, LGBTQA+, the innate goodness of all men, not to mention the corrupting effects of society, intolerance of other’s beliefs, Marxism/socialism, Critical Race Theory/Social Justice, Allah, to just name a few of the false, destructive ideologies folks chase after today.
The citizens of the city of Sardis could say, “Our community never had any controversies like this coming out of the good Church at Sardis.”
Paul understood and Christ had taught, that if you followed Christ faithfully you would, most assuredly, suffer as He had suffered.
I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:10-11
Contrast the life of the church at Sardis to that of Paul;
| Paul: 2 Corinthians 6:4-10 | Sardis: Revelation 3:1-6 |
| Persecuted by unbelievers | At peace with unbelievers |
| A genuine Christian | An imposter |
| Regarded as an imposter | Regarded as genuine |
| Poor yet rich | Rich yet poor |
| Having nothing yet possessing everything | Having everything yet possessing nothing |
Revelation 3:2 Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have found your deeds unfinished in the sight of my God
Wake up! As we saw, Sardis though built as a stronghold was conquered on numerous occasions. The citizens had become careless and inattentive to its defenses.
Christ makes a parallel between historical Sardis and the Church’s lack of vigilance. The Church needs to wake up or it could find itself under the judgment of God.
Strengthen what remains. Sardis had works but they were not completed; they remained unfulfilled. They had grown complacent. They were told to begin building on what remained. The task might seem daunting particularly in light of their former acquiescence but believers are told to never despise the days of small beginnings. Zechariah 4:10
How were they to do this?
Revelation 3:3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; hold it fast, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
- Remember the gospel message, your sin, your hopelessness, and your helplessness before God. Remember God’s message of the provision of life to you when you did not deserve it. And, in context, as this is addressed to the elders of the church, they are to remember the privileges and responsibilities of office bearing in the Church of Jesus Christ.
- Hold fast to it; keep, watch over, guard.
- Repent; as a result of remembering you will see how you have departed from the truth and from faithful living. You will, as a result, repent; turn around.
- If you do not stop the decay, Christ threatens to come, unexpectedly as a thief, to judge them.
At a time when the Church had forgotten its calling of proclaiming salvation as the free gift of God, not to be earned by works, Seminary Professor, Dr. Martin Luther: Posted, October 31, 1517, on the Door of the All Saints’ Church of Wittenberg, 95 challenges for the Church to wake up.
Out of love and concern for the truth, and with the object of eliciting it, the following heads will be the subject of a public discussion at Wittenberg under the presidency of the reverend father, Martin Luther, Augustinian, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology, and duly appointed Lecturer on these subjects in that place. He requests that whoever cannot be present personally to debate the matter orally will do so in absence in writing.
- When our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, said “Repent”, He called for the entire life of believers to be one of penitence.
62. The true treasure of the church is the Holy gospel of the glory and the grace of God.
92. Away, then, with those prophets who say to Christ’s people, “Peace, peace,” where in there is no peace.
94. Christians should be exhorted to be zealous to follow Christ, their Head, through penalties, deaths, and hells;
95. And let them thus be more confident of entering heaven through many tribulations rather than through a false assurance of peace.
Martin Luther’s wake up call changed the course of history bringing countless hundreds of millions to salvation. You may feel overwhelmed but Do not despise the day of small beginnings. Zechariah 4:10 God uses the smallest acts of faithfulness to do his will.
Revelation 3:4 Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy
There were a few people in Sardis, however, who had remained faithful to what they had received and heard, and had not soiled their garments; they had not become secularized and had not conformed to the surrounding unbelieving culture. Romans 12:2
The phrase white garments is used seven times in Revelation 3:5,18, 4:4, 6:11, 7:9,13, 19:14
This is a symbol in scripture for righteousness.
All who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ.
Galatians 3:27
Put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:24 & Colossians 3:10
Revelation 3:5 The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels. 6 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Christ is repeating the exact same teaching here that he taught to John during his ministry here on earth:
Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. Matthew 10:32-33 When we are bold enough to honestly and without apology or embarrassment represent Christ and his offer of salvation to everyone, he promises to present us to God the Father as his children. However, if we deny Christ, if we are too cowed by unbelievers to boldly and faithfully represent Christ, Christ says he will deny us before his Father. This is something that the Church must take seriously because we alone have the words of life.