Bible Gem 2206 – The Church of Sardis: Do You Have A Reputation? Does It Match Reality? (Rev 3:1)

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Sardis. This is the message from the one who has the sevenfold Spirit of God and the seven stars: “I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.

Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that they are mine.

Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.”

Revelation 3:1-6

Did you notice that difference in this introduction compared with the others to the other churches? No one has noticed it yet, or at least drawn my attention to it. All of the other introductions begin with the positive and then broach the difficult stuff. You know the strategy I am sure. When you have hard things to say, you smooth the way with praise and point out the positive things first, then move on to handle the hard things. It is like getting a bad report card from school and you draw your parents’ attention to the results you are proud of in the hope they won’t notice the bad results.

This is the kind of report which is daunting. After all, it is serious and it matters. You can’t brush it off and pretend it doesn’t matter. This report card matters. It’s Jesus Christ’s evaluation of how you are doing on things that really matter. I guess if you tried to play it down you could pretend that you didn’t care. Or alternatively you could trivialise the importance of the contents and pretend they don’t matter. ‘It’s a subject I am not interested in really, beside my other subjects are good grades so I can afford to let this one slide.’ Or you could take the viewpoint it’s the teacher’s fault. ‘He just wasn’t a good teacher. So hopefully I will strike a better teacher next year. I still have time to improve.’ But when you grasp the reality, your situation is not good. The subject matter does matter and the evaluation is a fair one. This evaluation of Sardis has been given by Jesus Christ, who is the Son of God, the faithful and true witness and the One Who knows all things. He sees everything, the outer visible things and the matters of the heart and the things you think before you even say them. Let’s face it you don’t have a leg to stand on. The Christians of Sardis (and us too, Christians of the 21st Century if we are in a similar situation) have been weighed in the balance and found wanting by Jesus. Ouch!

They had a reputation for being alive BUT they were dead [nekros]. That is an interesting sentence to say the least. It could have been written in many different ways but it ends with [nekros] in the final emphatic position after Jesus has said, “I know all the things you do, and I know that you have a reputation for being alive, BUT you are dead.” You are like a corpse. You are unresponsive to spiritual things! Isn’t that interesting in the light of the final statement, “Let [those] who have ears let them hear.” Well the saints of Sardis had ears. Jesus knew everything about them, including what others thought about them, but He also knew their spiritual state. One assumes their ears worked, but they were dead spiritually.

Jesus also told John to tell them, “Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God.” The last clause of this statement can read “I have not found that what remains and is about to die have even been completed or fulfilled.” Notice there is no reassuring statement like for other churches:-

Ephesus:

• I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance.
• I know you don’t tolerate evil people.
• You have examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but are not.
• You have patiently suffered for me without quitting.

Smyrna:

• I know about your suffering and your poverty—but you are rich!
• I know the blasphemy of those opposing you.

Pergamum:

• I know that you live in the city where Satan has his throne, yet you have remained loyal to me. 
• You refused to deny me even when Antipas, my faithful witness, was martyred among you.

Thyatira:

• I know all the things you do. 
• I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance.
• And I can see your constant improvement in all these things.

Isn’t it curious that there are no comments like those above made for the Christians of Sardis? Don’t you think Jesus could have come up with a positive comment on something. But no, the commendations are conspicuous by their absence! Not one typical teacher’s report type comment on something positive like ‘but he excels at lunchtime’. Nothing. There are not even any extenuating circumstances listed like threats made to them, suffering they experienced, martyrs among them, or even heresy among them, leading them astray. Their lack was laid at their own feet.

Have a look back at Gem 2205 to refresh your mind on what the city of Sardis focused on. It seems the church in Sardis had bought into the culture of Sardis and was as complacent as the rest of the city. One ancient writer described those in Sardis as “a bunch of dance band leaders and shopkeepers”. Below are comments from Melito, who was the Bishop or Pastor of the church in Sardis following the delivery of Christ’s comments in John’s time. Melito was in fact credited with the first commentary on Revelation from antiquity. I would love to read it; I believe it would be revelatory and interesting to say the least. A commentary written on this book from the one who was pastor / bishop of the Church of Sardis. But it no longer exists. Here however is what he wrote describing the church:

The church of Sardis . . . is a fashionable church . . . full, busy and alive. What a live church, big crowds, big collections, lots of action. It has the best reputation of the seven churches.

Melito of Sardis

Well isn’t that revealing? Set against the words of Jesus!

I know all the things you do, and that you have a reputation for being alive—but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what little remains, for even what is left is almost dead. I find that your actions do not meet the requirements of my God. Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly. Repent and turn to me again. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.

Revelation 3:1-3

The most important opinion about your church is not what anyone else says but what Jesus says.

David Pawson

The Church of Sardis was popular, a big church, big collections, full programmes but they honoured God and His Word with their lips and not their lives.

Ian

The record of the church in Sardis on earth didn’t match the record kept in heaven.

Ian

Even though the Sardis Church had a reputation for being alive, seemingly more so than any of the other seven churches, it was spiritually dead. Yet there were still those who walked in white and whose names are recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Ian

I want to say so much more but I must admit it leaves me both with more questions and some further thoughts of my own by way of comment. I need to add one more fact for you, my Gem readers. Melito Bishop of Sardis was martyred for his faith in 177 AD. Now that leaves me thinking, what happened in the years following Melito reading or hearing the words of Jesus via John’s letter? Something must have happened to inspire him to be willing to become a martyr and follow the truth of the True Witness unto death. How many others in the church woke up, repented and strengthened that which remained after hearing John’s letter read to them. They must have pondered it surely! After all Melito wrote a commentary on the full letter. Surely he also preached it to the people. Imagine that! Melito preaching to the people concerning the very words Jesus Himself said about THEM. Now that lifts the Word preached to a whole other level. Not prophecy, nor preaching but a personal reminder of what Jesus Himself said about them as a congregation. WOW!!!

I have two more things to tell you concerning the remaining verses and then I will stop.

1. If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.
2. Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. All who are victorious will be clothed in white. I will never erase their names from the Book of Life.

Coming like a Thief

Coming like a thief is full of meaning for two reasons. Sardis was known for thievery. Because of the gold in the city and the prosperity of the city they had their share of burglaries from outsiders. The idea of coming like a thief was well known and talked about in Sardis. Not only that, remember in Sardis’ distant past the city had fallen at least three times due to invaders sneaking in to the unprepared, complacent city. Wake up citizens of Sardis and remember.

Names not Erased

I can’t substantiate any others, apart from Melito himself, who repented and strengthened the things which remained. There is no other record from antiquity that I am aware of which can add any further detail. But Jesus himself stated there were.

Yet there are some in the church in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes with evil. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.

Revelation 3:4

Which leaves a follow up question: what about the others in the church in Sardis who didn’t repent, walk in white, or were not victorious nor persevered to the end? That infers that some had their names erased from the Lamb’s Book of Life. Now that adds some food for thought related to the doctrine of once saved always saved.