The Church At Sardis

Revelation Chapter 3:1-6
1"To the angel[a] of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits[b]of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. 2Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. 3Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, 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. 4Yet 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. 5He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. 6He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Jesus doesn't take long to get to the point with the church at Sardis. He judges them quickly: they are dead. Unfortunately, they have a reputation for being alive. Why is that unfortunate? Think of it this way: You're new in town, and you are looking for a church. You ask around and you hear about a church that's supposed to be pretty cool. You go, and the music is good, the preaching is sound- all in all, things seem good. But after a while you realize that the church isn't doing anything. It turns out, the church had been alive in the past, but at some point...it just stopped. But of course, now you have been there for awhile, it's comfortable, it's a pain to look around for another church, and before you know it, you're dead too. If only the reputation had matched the reality.

The church at Sardis still had their good reputation, but Jesus isn't fooled. He tells them what they are and isn't mincing words. But how did they get that way? Why did they die?

According to historical records, Sardis was once one of the greatest cities in the world. it was on a hill, it was an acropolis. It was almost impregnable. However, two times in their history — and before the time Revelation was written — the city was conquered. How? They didn't keep watch. They thought they were secure, and left themselves vulnerable to attack. Basically, they were living in luxury and security, and didn't believe they could be captured.

In chapter 3, verse 2, the NIV says "Wake up!". In the Greek (yeah, I know, but it's important) the idea is to keep watching/be vigilant/be watchful. The city of Sardis had a problem watching out for its enemies; the church at Sardis had the same problem.The fact that Sardis was conquered twice in part because they were not watchful would probably have been known by the people of that time, making that warning even more poignant.

I think there is a good lesson to be learned from the church at Sardis. Frankly, I think the names of many local churches today could be substituted for "Sardis" and what Jesus said about them would apply. Beyond our churches, we can look in our own hearts and see if how Jesus describes Sardis is how He would describe us.

Next time we'll look at the commands Jesus gave Sardis and how they apply to our churches and ourselves.